Day 605: New Day

 

                                                                                              🖤  Get well soon Tommy ! #teamrivs #RageOn 🖤

"It’s a new day, fresh start, fresh 

energy, new opportunities. Get your 

mind right, be thankful, be positive 

and start your day right."

It's day 605 of Nutrisystem. I woke up with renewed determination to get this job done. I may allow myself the occasional pity party but it never lasts long. Yesterday was a good day despite the scale. I exercised, only ate what I was supposed to and gave a lot of thought to what I can do better. I felt less bloated today, lighter if you will, but I resisted the temptation to weigh myself again. I'm not going to let the scale rule my life. I have to buckle back down and trust the process. The Nutrisystem program has gotten me this far and there is no reason to believe it won't get me to my goal weight. So I crossed feta cheese and olives off my grocery list today. No muffins fell into my cart at Walmart. If the scale doesn't move next week it won't be because I didn't try my hardest and really, that is all I can do. I am so thankful to be as far as I am in this journey. I may have stumbled, I may have fallen, I may have gotten lost and I may have wanted to give up ... but I am still here and I will finish this journey. It's not easy. I still think about all the junk I used to eat and sometimes I wish I could have it. When that happens I remind myself those things did nothing but push my weight up to 304 pounds. I'm liking 168 a lot better and 150 will be pretty sweet ... so all of my old comfort food friends will have to remain nothing but memories.

Sweet update from Tommy Rivs brother today. He was able to see and speak to Tommy for the first time in months. He is acclimating to the speaking valve in his tracheotomy but in his weakened condition he can't speak for long, pretty much whispers and drifts off a lot. His dad's update indicates a CT scan is planned to check his overall condition and to see if the chemo is working. With all the tubes and wires attached it will be a monumental effort to get him through that. A 3rd round of chemo is coming too. Tommy's wife shared that he is showing amazing hand strength and is able to wiggle his toes and legs. He's pretty weak so those are encouraging signs. I don't think anyone will relax at all until they are able to get him off the ventilator and ECMO. Even then the fight will not be over but it will be major progress. So we, his fans, continue to hope and pray for the best possible outcome. Rage on Tommy !

Breakfast was a 2 ounce 180 calorie cinnamon roll and a 5.3 ounce 80 calorie Light & Fit lemon meringue yogurt. Morning snack was a 120 calorie chocolate shake with peanut butter powder. I did not have lunch or an afternoon snack. Dinner was an 8 ounce 210 calorie homestyle beef and vegetables that I served over riced cauliflower. Evening snack was a 1.8 ounce 140 calorie s'mores pie. Total calories for the day are 730 and I got 64 ounces of water in.

I woke up around 9 today, got up at 10 and got on the treadmill around 11:30 for the first workout of the day. It was a 52 minute hike in Northern Utah with iFit trainer Chris Clark. Incline was at 10% for the first 43 minutes and the pace ranged from 1 to 3.1 mph. I was able to get through this one without changing any of the settings because it included frequent cross-training stops where the pace dropped to 1 mph. That allowed me to recover since I don't do the off-machine workouts. What I did do today was on-machine lunges while the pace was so slow. I've never really done that before and was surprised at how easy it was. I guess I'll do those more often when the pace allows ! The trainer wanted you to walk carrying weights (he carried 50 pounds!) but I opted not to do that. I had all I could do to carry my 168 pounds, let alone weights. I have 5 and 8 pound weights and an extra 10 or 16 pounds was not going to happen. After the workout I sat out on the front porch to enjoy a second cup of coffee before heading out to grocery shop. I needed gas too so I went to Delta Sonic first then over to Wegman's for fresh produce. It is still weird to have a cart full of vegetables every week ! After Wegman's I headed over to Walmart in Cicero. It was crowded and in every aisle I encountered multiple people ignoring the arrows. I don't bother to say anything because you can't fix stupid, but it's annoying. I much prefer the Central Square Walmart because it's usually less crowded and the customers are much better at following direction. Walmart has stopped using plastic bags again (at least in Cicero) so I had to buy a couple of their reusable bags.They check carts at the door there and the guy looked at my receipt and my cart and said "you spent too much" .. lol ! I'm stocking up for winter so my cart was overflowing. After I got home and put everything away I had my morning shake (it was somewhere around 5 pm!) and then it was time for workout #2 with iFit trainer Chris Clark. This time it was a 46 minute studio incline workout. I don't usually care for studio workouts but he has comedic streak that makes them fun. The incline was at 10% most of the time but there were some breaks where it dropped to 3% so that made it easier to get through. I did have to reduce the speed because he threw in a lot of jogging. My pace ranged from 2 to 3.2 mph. I only did 2 treadmill workouts today since I was out for several hours to shop. I only have 2 left in the August challenge and then I'm going incline free for a while ! I logged 98 minutes, 3.6 miles and 798 calories. After dinner I did my usual Total Gym session.

I didn't have lunch or an afternoon snack today only because I was out for several hours to shop. I'm not trying to starve myself and I know I'll be starving in the morning. By the time I finished my 2nd workout it was nearly 7 pm so I just went ahead and had dinner instead of trying to stuff myself with lunch, dinner and 2 snacks before bed. Tomorrow is my birthday and I intend to have a glass of wine, so I won't feel quite so guilty about the extra calories ! Since there is no State Fair this year I didn't take my birthday off from work, so I'll be working all day. I haven't worked on my birthday in years and I'll miss the State Fair day with my older sister. Hopefully we can resume this tradition next year ! 

On that note it's about time for a shower and bed. One good thing about all this exercise is I have no trouble sleeping !