Day 570: So Can You
"Never assume that you're stuck with
the way things are. Life changes every
single moment and so can you."
It's Day 570 of Nutrisystem. I felt stuck for many years and in fact, I was stuck. Stuck in a situation I had allowed to happen. A situation I felt powerless to change. I had dug a hole so deep, one I felt I could never climb out of. Instead of putting my energy towards changing that I turned to food. The easy way out. I never felt more alone in my life and food was the only thing that made me feel good. Food didn't judge and it was always there when you needed it. It was the warm embrace and the reassurance that everything was going to be ok. Eventually it started to turn on me because my body was rebelling against the years of abuse. Still, I kept eating. It didn't matter how much my feet hurt or how much my hip and back ached. It didn't matter how much I hated what I saw in the mirror. Take an aspirin for the pain and don't look in the mirror ... easy fix ! It didn't matter that heart disease and diabetes were looming .. ignore it and don't go to the doctor. In reality the symptoms crept up on me slowly and over time I changed the way I lived to accommodate the limitations my weight was putting on me. Until I changed my eating habits and the weight started coming off I didn't realize how much I had changed my life to offset what my weight was doing to me. I didn't realize how bad I felt physically and mentally until I started to feel good. I started this journey with the hope of losing half of my body weight but if I'm being honest I don't think I expected to succeed. I had never stuck with anything for very long and losing 154 pounds was going to take a long time. It was also going to take a lot of hard work. I had never put much effort into taking care of myself so this was all new territory. 570 days later I've shattered all expectations and proven I can do amazing things if I just put my mind to it and work hard.
Breakfast was a 2.1 ounce 160 calorie cherry cheese roll and a 5.3 ounce 80 calorie Light & Fit toasted coconut vanilla yogurt. Morning snack was a 120 calorie vanilla shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was a 4 ounce 230 calorie spinach & cheese pretzel melt and a chef salad with fat free dressing. Afternoon snack was a 5.3 ounce 80 calorie Light & Fit lemon meringue yogurt and 12 reduced fat wheat thins (90 calories). Dinner was a 4.7 ounce 250 calorie meatloaf sandwich with roasted veggies. Evening snack was a 2.2 ounce 140 calorie lemon zest cake. Total calories for the day are 1150 and I got 64 ounces of water in.
Anybody who reads my blog frequently might notice that today I didn't document calories for the peanut butter powder in my shake (shake calories went from 155 to 120) and the 30 calories of dressing on my salad. In recent months Nutrisystem has changed the calorie count on some items and it has made it hard for me to continue eating my favorite foods while staying at or below 1200 calories. So today I hopped on a chat with a Nutrisystem counselor to find out what is going on. They couldn't really explain the change in calories other than to say that sometimes they change manufacturers or reformulate products, but they took a look at what I've been logging in the app. The first thing they noticed was that I'm logging 35 calories for the peanut butter powder in my morning shake and 30 calories for the dressing on my salad. They advised that BOTH of these items qualify as an "extra" since they are less than 35 calories each, so I don't need to count them in my daily calorie intake. You get up to 3 extras per day, which I knew, but I didn't realize I didn't have to count them as part of my 1200 calories. You can log them and go over your calories in the app every day or just not log them. So I basically "found" 65 calories per day ! This is huge because for my latest order of food I was going to resort to some non-frozen dinner options just to get lower calorie items. I don't have to do that now ! The counselor also explained that anything with 10 calories or less is considered a free food, provided you're not dishing up 10 servings. That's where the sugar free jello comes in. One serving is 10 calories. Same goes for the 5 calorie squirt of fat free whipped cream. Both are free foods unless you sit down with 10 servings. This was all a huge relief as I was spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to adjust my meals while staying within 1200 calories. They also commented that based on my activity level I may need to add in an extra power fuel or smart carb. I told them I already do that sometimes (and do not log it) and they were happy to hear that. Some days something as simple as a bit of cheese and a couple crackers is enough to boost my energy level. I've honestly been at a crossroads for the past couple of months. I was struggling to figure out how to adjust my meals to accommodate the calorie changes and I was starting to think it was time to start cooking some of my own meals. I say it was a struggle because I don't feel ready to leave the structure of the Nutrisystem meals and I really wanted to stay on their program 100% until I reach my goal weight. The good news is I can do that now without going over my calories or eating things I really don't like or want just because of the calorie count. As is my habit, I suffered in silence with this and only share it now because the problem is solved and it was a learning experience. The silly thing is that most of the time it was a matter of being short 10-20 calories a day. So now I can refocus and stop stressing about what I am going to eat every day. I still have to be careful not to choose a high calorie item for all 3 meals but I have some breathing room. An example of poor planning would be having a cinnamon roll (180), four cheese melt (240) and a roasted turkey medallions (260) all in the same day. The problem here is when you add in the yogurt (80), shake (120), afternoon snack (200) and evening snack (140) you end up with 1220. Doesn't sound bad - only 20 over .. but don't forget the 65 calories in extras. Now you're at 1285. So I've adjusted my next order to remove all the items I didn't really want and added in some old favorites that I gave up months ago.
I woke not long after 6 again today but I was tired. Yesterday I was awake and there was no going back to sleep - not so today ! I went back to sleep until just after 8 and woke feeling refreshed. After a leisurely breakfast on the front porch it was time to hit the treadmill for the first workout of the day. I started with a 38 minute walk in the Holy City of Petra, Jordan with iFit guide Fadi Abu Jaber. The pace was a steady 2.5 mph that slowed a bit in the middle when we hit some steep inclines. I'm really enjoying this series !
Not long after my workout an update came from Tommy's father. He's alive and responding to the chemo. Baby steps. Still on ECMO, still in a medically induced coma, but alive. This journey is going to be a marathon, not a sprint, and the outcome remains uncertain. It's one day at a time, parallel to the journey I'm on but with much, much more at stake. Tommy is used to marathons and this is the most important one of his life. It's all uphill and if anyone can make it he can. I grabbed on to that tiny piece of hope and used it to carry me through the rest of my day. Throughout the 570 days of my journey towards wellness I've been reminded at different stops along the way just how lucky I am to be where I am. Today is no different. I can step on that treadmill today and work up a sweat. I can eat a healthy meal. I can work my muscles on the Total Gym. My life is so blessed. These reminders keep me motivated and keep me working towards achieving my goal and being happy with where I am in life.
After lunch I hit the treadmill for workout #2. It was a 31 minute interval hike in Southern Utah with iFit trainer Ashley Paulson. This was perfect for a hot afternoon as it was 3o seconds at 2.6 mph with 90 second recoveries at 2.2 mph. There was some incline but until the last 5 minutes all of the incline was 5% or less. We hit max 10% for those last few minutes but a reduced speed made it pretty easy. Ashley talked about changing your mindset when it comes to exercise. Tell yourself you "get to workout" instead of "I have to workout". She talked about being grateful you can get on your machine and workout. This was filmed long before Tommy got sick but he was all I could think about. He's lying in a hospital bed comatose and reliant on a machine to oxygenate his blood while I'm trudging along in 85 degree heat counting down the minutes to the end of the workout. Needless to say I stood up a little straighter and watched the clock a little less until those 31 minutes were complete. Before dinner I got workout #3 in. This time a 28 minute walk in Phoenix, AZ with iFit trainer John Peel. There was no incline and the pace started at 2.7 mph for the first 5 minutes. Then it switched to 2 minute intervals at 3 mph with 2 minute recoveries at 2.5 mph. After 3 rounds of that it finished with another 5 minute stretch at 2.8 mph. I logged 97 minutes ( ! ), 3.9 miles and 413 calories. After dinner I put in the usual 45-50 minutes on the Total Gym. I'm happy that I finally made it through a weekend without using 100 excuses not to workout !
Today was a steamy day and tomorrow looks to be even warmer. I spent most of my free time out on the front porch until around 4 pm when it got too hot. I did have breakfast, lunch and dinner out there. I had thought about going to Wegman's today but decided I didn't really need anything urgently, so I'll go next weekend. It was nice to just spend the entire day at home.
On that note I'm heading upstairs for a shower and bed. Looks like it's going to be an air conditioning kind of night !
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