Day 557: Back On Track

"When you think you're off track,

 refocus on where you've come from and

 what it's taken to get to where you are

 today. Focus on the great achievements

 you've made, the milestones and reach

 within and feel those successes. All that

 matters is getting back on track and

 turning that dream into your reality."

It's Day 557 of Nutrisystem. Today was all about refocusing after slacking off all weekend. I've accomplished a lot in 557 days but there is plenty more work to be done ! I can't sit back and say "this is enough" because it's not. Those last 14 pounds still need to go and if I can get under 150 that would be a bonus. I feel like lately I've been falling back a little and using sketchy excuses not to exercise. Sure, I didn't feel my best yesterday morning but I didn't try as hard as I maybe could have to work out more. Saturday I was just plain lazy - there is nothing to justify the lack of effort. I made more of an effort today and it seems like it's easier to stay on track during the week when I have a more structured schedule. Still, the expectation of 3 treadmill workouts and a Total Gym session every day is not realistic. I have to keep reminding myself of that and accept the fact that some days it is not going to happen. The only caveat is that laziness is not excusable. If I don't feel my best or I'm out for the day I can cut myself some slack. If I'm vegging on the couch all day ... that's not acceptable. So I will take today as a good start to the week and see what tomorrow brings.

Breakfast was a 2 ounce 180 calorie cinnamon roll and a 5.3 ounce 80 calorie Light & Fit strawberry cheesecake yogurt. Morning snack was a 155 calorie vanilla shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was a 3.8 ounce 220 calorie pepperoni pizza melt with a chef salad. Dressing added 30 calories. Afternoon snack was a 1.42 ounce 200 calorie Nature Valley salted caramel nut protein bar. Dinner was a 4 ounce 190 calorie artichoke & spinach stuffed chicken breast with roasted veggies. Evening snack was a 2.2 ounce 140 calorie lemon zest cake. Total calories for the day are 1195 and I got 64 ounces of water in. 

I opted not to get up early and get a workout in, only because I was much too comfortable in bed on this nice cool morning ! I got with it at lunchtime and completed a 20 minute walk in New Zealand with iFit guide Jed Brophy. The programmed speed was 3 mph or less so I set the pace at 3 mph for the duration. There was very little incline so that made it easy. After work I completed a much more difficult 32 minute interval hike in Iceland with iFit trainer Jonnie Gale. The pace ranged from 1.6 mph during the steepest incline and 3.6 mph on some of the flatter terrain. Since my incline only goes to 10% the slower speed during the max incline gave me some much needed opportunities to recover and keep pushing through it. The first 3 intervals were 3 minutes each with only 1 minute to recover. The last interval was 6 minutes. It started off at 3.4 mph but about 3 minutes in the speed dropped to 2.4 mph because the incline went to 10%. So I logged 52 minutes, 2.3 miles and 300 calories today. I took a short break after dinner but then it was time for the Total Gym. I put in the usual 45-50 minutes there and felt great afterwards. Fitbit says I got about 10,600 steps so that's an improvement !

I spent most of the day working on the front porch. We had a quick rain shower this morning but it cleared up later and got warm. The guy who cares for my lawn stopped by to weed whack and stopped to give me an update on his wife. She was recently diagnosed with stage IV small cell lung cancer that has already spread to the brain. Although the prognosis is not good it appears the chemo is making a difference. She's having terrible headaches and falling a lot so that is a concern. I feel so bad for them because it's apparent he is struggling to process this awful thing and I can only begin to imagine how devastated the whole family is. Then I saw the news about Kelly Preston ... and Naya Rivera ... then I was informed one of my cousins on my mom's side passed away yesterday and she was only 6 months older than me. So it was a pretty somber day. I was glad to have the distraction of work and exercise to take my mind off these tragedies. What can you do other than pray for them ?

On that note I'm heading for a shower and bed. I'm tired but it's a good kind of tired.