Day 624: Space To Grow
It's day 624 of Nutrisystem. I found a lot of truth in this quote. Stubborn and defensive is a good way to describe the old me, although the new me is not completely free of those characteristics. I do think it's okay to have a certain degree of stubbornness, if only to ensure you live your life the way you see fit, within reason. I also think you need to be a little defensive, otherwise you end up being a doormat. Been there, done that ! A lot of this is about balance. Too much compassion for yourself or being too gentle with yourself is how I ended up weighing over 300 pounds. I had no boundaries so I ate whatever I wanted, when I wanted, in whatever quantity I wanted. I could have tried to cope in other ways but eating made me feel good. Food ultimately became the only source of pleasure in my life. That mindset didn't do me any favors and eating myself half to death was not the answer. Now I find myself having to be "firm" when it comes to food and it's not easy. I don't deny myself everything but I try hard to keep to the Nutrisystem guidelines. I suspect this will be a lifelong struggle. Over the past 624 days I've gained a lot of insight into why I did some of the things I did and why I allowed my life to get so bad and stay bad for so long. I've shared some of those experiences and kept the deeper, darker things to myself. What's matters is I have a greater understanding of the reasons my weight got so out of control. Same goes for my spending habits. It's hard to look back and see what I spent and realize that I really have nothing to show for it. It feels good to finally see my goal weight and the end of my credit card debt on the road ahead. It's been a long journey but both goals are in sight and I am proud of what I've accomplished to date. It scares me a little too, because once I achieve these goals my focus will move to maintaining them. That's a big responsibility ! My process may not make sense to a lot of people but it works for me.
There wasn't much of an update on Tommy Rivs today. His dad did say that he was "vertical" yesterday so I'm going to assume they had him standing using the special bed that provides secure support but allows him to bear weight in a standing position. My fitness journey is showing me how important it is to keep moving in order to build strength and endurance and with his physical therapy and athletic background Tommy is pretty darn prepared to participate in his rehabilitation. He is probably exceeding all expectations. Rage on Tommy !
Breakfast was a 2.8 ounce 150 calorie homestyle pancakes with sugar free syrup and a 5.3 ounce 80 calorie Light & Fit strawberry cheesecake yogurt. Morning snack was a 120 calorie vanilla shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was a 4 ounce 230 calorie spinach & cheese pretzel melt with a chef salad. Afternoon snack was a 1.42 ounce 190 calorie Nature Valley peanut butter dark chocolate 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 1100 and I got 80 ounces of water in.
I was not motivated to get up this morning so I didn't get a workout in before work. I made a deal with myself to sleep a little later but still get 3 treadmill workouts in. Bad decision - I forgot that lunch was only 30 minutes today (I'm in training) so that meant squeezing a short workout in or having to do all 3 after work. I managed to complete a 23 minute workout in Antarctica with iFit trainer Betina Gozo. I wanted to work harder than the programmed intervals so after a 2 minute warm up I set the pace at 3 mph for 7 minutes, then increased to 3.2 for 7 minutes and then finished the last 7 minutes at 3.4 mph. I was gearing up for my after-work workout. I thought about this one all week and I wasn't sure I could do it. It was a 40 minute audio only interval workout with iFit trainer Phil Catudal. It consisted of two 16 minute intervals separated by a 1 minute recovery. I wasn't sure I could sustain the speed I wanted (3.4 mph) for 16 minutes, let alone 16 minutes twice. Surprisingly enough I was able to do it and I was pretty proud of that ! After dinner it was time for workout #3. It was a 26 minute "steady state" walk with Betina in Ushuaia City, Argentina. I opted to go with the programmed pace of 3 mph and use it as a recovery workout, instead of pushing myself to work harder. All the intervals I've done this week helped me sustain 3 mph for 21 minutes ! Sunday I'll be doing one of the toughest workouts I've ever attempted - 32 minutes non-stop at 3.4 mph. Basically the same workout I did today but without the 1 minute recovery in the middle. I should be able to do it ! I logged 89 minutes, 4.6 miles and 411 calories. At first I was disappointed with the calorie stat because I spent less time on the treadmill yesterday and burned more calories. That's the difference incline makes ! Today's workouts were more about building endurance and I think I'm accomplishing that. Friday is usually my day off from the Total Gym but I had the time and I'm going to be out tomorrow, so I went ahead and did that too.
Chilly nights and mornings are here so I didn't venture out to the front porch until late this morning. Although it was sunny the air was cool so I didn't open any of the windows. I'll be putting the heat on at night for the next few days. I did that last night and it was much nicer to get up to warm house. I also didn't wake up during the night freezing !
As I mentioned I'll be out tomorrow - finally getting my hair colored after over 6 months of letting it grow ! My brother's wedding is 2 weeks from today so goodbye gray hair ! My hair is finally getting long enough to do something with it and I'm going to let it keep growing through the winter. The sides need to catch up with the back and then I'll probably need a serious trim to even things up. I am not one to fuss with my hair so we'll see how long I can last. I liked the wash and go short hair I had for years ! I broke down and bought a blow dryer and a curling iron but I've only used the dryer once and I have yet to use the curling iron. I'll have plenty of time to play with my hair this winter !
I will probably grocery shop while I'm out since I need fresh veggies but not much else. On that note it's about time for a shower and bed.
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