My Nutrisystem Journey

    Get well soon Tommy ! #teamrivs #RageOn 🖤 "We don't have a choice in how or  when our bad days will blindside us .  But what we choose is how we allow  them to leave us once they're gone. You  can use those moments as a catalyst to  spur you on to greater things or you  can let it be the event that breaks you  and leaves you shattered and forever  lost in darkness . "  Today is day 818 of Nutrisystem. I didn't blog yesterday because I had a complete and total meltdown, one that actually started on Friday. I've been having trouble with my heating system on and off since it went out on me Super Bowl Sunday. I tried to work through it on my own but yesterday was the end when I woke up to no heat. I can't even tell you how many times this has happened over the past couple of months. Yesterday I could not fix the problem. Everything was running but nothing was circulating. I didn't panic at first because I knew it was going to be 70...

  🖤  Get well soon Tommy ! #teamrivs #RageOn 🖤 "It's a slow process, but  quitting  won't speed it up. "  Today is day 816 of Nutrisystem. I've never given any serious thought to quitting this journey but I like the reminder this quote brings. It's so true - quitting would definitely not speed up the process because the journey would be over, and I'm not ready to admit defeat. I'm not starving myself and I'm not exercising like a maniac, so I'm not doing any harm to myself by continuing to try. That's important to note because weight loss can become an obsession and when that happens people start doing crazy things to get that scale to move. I'm willing to continue the Nutrisystem program along with a healthy fitness program and we'll see where it goes. My goal weight is so close yet so far ! People say "oh, you're building muscle" or "you're losing inches" ... which may be true but in the end we all wa...

  🖤  Get well soon Tommy ! #teamrivs #RageOn 🖤 "Make each day your masterpiece . "   ~ John Wooden ~ Today is day 815 of Nutrisystem. There's not a lot to share so I'm going to deviate from the norm and not psychoanalyze a thing. Today was a casino day with my mom. I didn't get to sleep until well after 3 am so it was after 10 when I woke up this morning. After a quick breakfast of waffles with sugar free syrup and a toasted coconut vanilla yogurt I was out the door ! It was a gray and rainy outside so it was a perfect day to spend inside at Turning Stone casino. Seemed like a lot of other people had the same idea ! We beat the crowd and had dinner at Upstate Tavern where I indulged in the beer special, some kind of tangerine ale. It was pretty good ! My dinner was a burger with bleu cheese, caramelized onions, bacon and a whiskey glaze. It was delicious ! I had broccoli instead of fries and I only ate the bottom half of the bun. A few of mom's fries might h...

  🖤  Get well soon Tommy ! #teamrivs #RageOn 🖤 "Words are meaningless without  intent and follow through . "  Today is day 814 of Nutrisystem. I'm really good at intent .. it's the follow through that trips me up every time. I have a tendency to over promise and under deliver, and that has been a source of frustration for years. No one to blame for that really, other than me. Intent really falls by the wayside when you don't follow through and you don't deliver on your promises. It's so easy to say "I was going to but ....". Then comes all the lame excuses. It's not an easy behavior to change when you've been programmed to be a people pleaser. That's a bit of an oxymoron because when you continually over promise and under deliver you are NOT pleasing anyone. You end up being labeled unreliable, so your intent is meaningless. People stop believing you, and rightly so ! I'm working on making realistic goals and trying to under pro...

🖤  Get well soon Tommy ! #teamrivs #RageOn 🖤 "Celebrate the idea that you don't fit  in. Find your own fit. Stay unique . "  ~ Betsey Johnson ~  Today is day 813 of Nutrisystem. Did Fashion Designer Betsey Johnson ever have to worry about fitting in ? Hard to say, but she probably stopped worrying about it once she became successful. The success I've had with weight loss & fitness has boosted my self esteem to the point that I'm not worried about fitting in any more. I feel like I just blend in now and that works for me. When I weighed 304 pounds I stuck out in a crowd because of my size. I was very self conscious about it so of course if anyone looked in my direction I immediately assumed they were staring at me and judging me. Being less self conscious means I barely notice things like that now. Unlike Betsey, I'm not fashion conscious and I'm certainly not a trendsetter but I think I'm unique. Aren't we all unique ? We really shouldn't...

  🖤  Get well soon Tommy ! #teamrivs #RageOn 🖤 "Be yourself no matter what. Some  will adore you and some will hate  everything about you. But who cares ?  It's your life. Make the most out of it . "  Today is day 812 of Nutrisystem. I'd like to think there isn't anyone who hates everything about me, but I'm sure there is. For many years that would have bothered me but I'm over it now. I don't worry about "fitting in" and being like everyone else or being someone I am not. Guess what ? Trying to fit in didn't work, because I never did. It didn't matter how hard I tried and I wasted so much time on people who were not worth the effort. It didn't matter what I did, they were never going to accept me. Why should I be unhappy because someone doesn't like me or accept me the way I am ? I'll be honest - I faced a great deal of name-calling and ridicule because of my weight. Kids didn't want to be my friend and men didn...

  🖤  Get well soon Tommy ! #teamrivs #RageOn 🖤 "Adversity is like a strong wind.  It tears away from us all but the  things that cannot be torn, so that  we see ourselves as we really are . "  ~ Arthur Golden ~ Today is day 811 of Nutrisystem. I know a thing or two about adversity. Who doesn't ? Adversity can certainly take a lot from you but it can't take the person you are on the inside. It might change you a little, in that you see life from a different perspective, but you're still you in the end. Adversity has made me more careful, sometimes to an extreme, but I'd like to think that's a little security blanket that will keep me from making the same mistakes again. You might say I have trust issues too and I tend to agree with that. Years of lies and broken promises will do that to you. I'm lucky I had the strength to keep going until life started to get better. I'm even more lucky that life actually did get better ! December 25, 2018 advers...

  🖤  Get well soon Tommy ! #teamrivs #RageOn 🖤 "One day you will thank yourself  for not giving up . " Today is day 810 of Nutrisystem. During my first workout today the trainer was talking about not giving up on your goals, even when you're tired. Hmm. I very often skip workouts on the weekend "because I'm tired". There's a fine line between tired and lazy and I think I'm more lazy than tired when this happens. I'm okay with one day of rest each week but too often it's turning into 2. My fear is that it will become 3 .. then 4 and I'll eventually abandon exercise completely. That's not an option if I want to keep the weight off. In fact, Nutrisystem recommends 1 hour of exercise per day when you get to the maintenance phase. They only recommend 30 minutes while you're actively losing weight (likely due to the calorie restriction) and I've been doing 60 or more minutes for quite some time. I do pretty good with my "rout...

🖤  Get well soon Tommy ! #teamrivs #RageOn 🖤 "Gratitude and attitude are not  challenges; they are choices . "   ~ Robert Braathe ~ Today is day 809 of Nutrisystem. Gratitude and attitude .. 2 really important things if you want to be successful at anything in life. Before 2017 I didn't feel like I had much to be grateful for, other than surviving leukemia. My life was such a mess and I was in a hole I didn't think I'd ever get out of. The fire was the turning point in my life and that is where my attitude of gratitude began. How could I not be grateful for the remodel of my home ? The new furnishings ? What had been a dark place suddenly became my happy place. Still, it took me a while to finally get around to taking care of myself. I survived cancer but didn't bother to start taking care of myself. I was always going to start that diet next week or next month or tomorrow .... which never came. So I'm pretty grateful to my mom for taking the picture tha...

🖤  Get well soon Tommy ! #teamrivs #RageOn 🖤 "It's a new week. It's time to rise  up.  Time to work. Time to chase  down  your dreams . "   Today is day 808 of Nutrisystem. I chose this quote because it seems like a good inspirational start for the week, after a weekend of being a bit lazy and out of sorts. I always have great intentions for the weekend but when I'm out most of the day it's just really hard to motivate myself enough to exercise. I either don't get up early enough or I'm too tired when I get home. My sleep schedule gets thrown off too and that doesn't help. If I'm home all day I am much more successful with the exercise so that's why I work really hard Monday through Friday. I'm doing the best I can but there will always be room for improvement and I think that's a good thing ! I look at this weekend as one of those times I wandered off track and tomorrow I will return to the route I started on January 4, 2019. Tom...

  🖤  Get well soon Tommy ! #teamrivs #RageOn 🖤 "All endeavour calls for the ability to  tramp the last mile, shape the last  plan, endure the last hours toil . "   ~Henry David Thoreau ~ Today is day 807 of Nutrisystem. I'm not one for poetry but this quote caught my eye today because I'm in the last mile of this journey and it's proving to be the roughest road. I suspected this would be the case as I got closer to my goal but way back at the beginning it was not something I thought about. I started this journey with zero expectations but so many high hopes. I honestly don't know where I found the courage and dedication to lose 140+ pounds, get fit and pay off my credit card debt. I think that as each pound came off it fanned a tiny little flame inside me and the more weight I lost the bigger the fire got. Considering a fire helped change my life it only makes sense to use it as a metaphor. Yet here I am, pretty well unprepared for the last mile, stumblin...

  🖤  Get well soon Tommy ! #teamrivs #RageOn 🖤 "Pay attention. Are your daily  choices in alignment with the life  you want for yourself ? If not,  nothing will change . "   ~Steve Maraboli ~ Today is day 806 of Nutrisystem. Most of the time my daily choices ARE in alignment with the life I want for myself, but it wasn't always that way. For years I made choices that did nothing but make my life worse. One bad choice after another became a snowball rolling downhill that I could not stop. At some point I stopped caring and I was resigned to my fate. When I think back to those turbulent years I have to wonder how it is that I'm still standing. You really don't know how strong you are until you have no choice. Sink or swim. Fight or flight. I chose not to sink and circumstances kept me from fleeing. It took a few years to climb out of the hole I had dug for myself, but now that life has gotten better I'm determined to keep it that way. I'm determined to...