Day 811: Adversity

 

🖤 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 adversity and it's strong wind hit me head on and tore away the blinders I'd been wearing. On that day I saw myself as I really was .. all 304 pounds of me. Christmas should have been the happiest day of the year but it all came crashing down when I saw just how fat I really was. It's not like I didn't know it - you can't carry around 304 pounds and not know you're fat. I just never really "saw" it and for some reason that day I finally did. That's why I found myself sitting at my computer on December 29, 2018 contemplating signing up for Nutrisystem. Considering I was already deeply in debt it wasn't easy to commit to spending $300 a month on the program. I hovered over the submit button on their website for a long time that day but once I did the math on what I was already spending on food in a month, I was out of excuses. I was spending just as much, if not more, on food that was horrible for me. Once I hit submit I finally had a plan. I had a goal. I didn't have to try and figure it out on my own. I was not alone. Nutrisystem really did make it easy. 2019 was a turning point in my life after over 20 years of adversity that had taken so much from me. I've come to realize there will always be adversity in my life but I've reached a point where I can work through it without letting it tear me down. Adversity also showed me just what I am made of and I am stronger than I thought. 2020 was a year unlike any other, for all of us, and I haven't lost hope that we'll see some semblance of "normal" life before 2021 is over. 

Breakfast was a 2.8 ounce 150 calorie package of pancakes with sugar free syrup and a 5.3 ounce 80 calorie Light & Fit strawberry cheesecake yogurt. Morning snack was a 120 calorie chocolate shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was a 3.8 ounce 220 calorie pepperoni pizza melt with a chef salad. Afternoon snack was 1/2 cup cottage cheese (80 calories) and 2 Alyssa's oatmeal cookies (90 calories). Dinner was an 8 ounce 240 calorie chicken alfredo with roasted veggies. Evening snack was a 2.2 ounce 140 calorie lemon zest cake. Total calories for the day are 1120 and I got 80 ounces of water in.

First workout of the day was a beautiful walk in Maine with iFit trainer Casey Gilbert. Second workout was in Vietnam with iFit trainer John Peel and #3 was a return to the Abandoned Deep South series with iFit guide Dalen Spratt for a walk around the abandoned Rivers State Prison in Georgia. If those walls could talk, just imagine the stories they could tell ! I logged 91 minutes, 5.2 miles and 610 calories. I also got 20 minutes of lower body workout on the Total Gym. Fitbit says I did over 15,000 steps.

 

It was cool and rainy today so I didn't venture out onto the front porch. The sun popped out around 6 pm and it looks like tomorrow will be near 70 .. definite front porch weather ! I had a productive morning at work but it didn't carry into the afternoon yet again. We'll see what I can do tomorrow morning ! This week is flying by because we're so busy, but that's the way I like it. There is nothing worse than having no work to do. On that note it's about time for a shower and bed.