Day 869: Comfort
Today is day 869 of Nutrisystem. I consider today to be my own personal historic moment, as I received the first dose of the COVID vaccine. It was quick and easy and I feel fine. I may have a sore arm tomorrow but that's no different than the flu vaccine - I always had a sore arm from that. I actually came home and did 2 treadmill workouts. I know the side effects hit most people with the 2nd dose, which is why I opted to get it on a Friday. My second dose will be on 6-11 and as of 6-25 I can shed the mask ! The 3 places I go to the most have all dropped the mask requirement: Walmart, Wegman's and Turning Stone. I was in Walmart yesterday and Wegman's today and it seemed like most people are still wearing the mask. I wore mine in both places. We'll see what the casino looks like tomorrow ! Anyhow, today's quote is about food and its ability to comfort. Why did I choose that today ? Well, when I went to Wegman's I had "comfort food" on my mind. I was dangerously close to KFC but I was able to drive right on by. I'd just rolled the dice with a hastily developed vaccine and I didn't want a Nutrisystem meal to be my last. I know that sounds dramatic but that is what was swirling around in my head today. I even wrote out emergency instructions for my family in case something happened. When I was diagnosed with Leukemia I never said "why me?" .. it was more like "why not me?". I felt like I was nothing special and cancer had struck much more important people than I, so why should I expect to be spared ? Same goes here with the COVID vaccine. A few people have died from rare reactions to the vaccine ... why would I think it couldn't happen to me ? So off to Wegman's I went in search of something decadent for this evening. I ended up buying a package with 2 pepperoni calzones and then I picked up a naan pepperoni pizza too ! I also bought a piece of their strawberry shortcake and some chocolate chip mini scones. I also bought a bag of cherries - something I never buy. Obviously I didn't intend to eat it all tonight but I had to have it. I wasn't going home to my empty house to microwave a Nutrisystem meal and snack .. not tonight. So I ate half of the pizza (450 calories) for dinner with roasted veggies and about 10 pm I had the strawberry shortcake (590 calories). I could easily have eaten the entire pizza but I had the good sense not to. It will likely go in the freezer tomorrow with the calzones. I was going to have a glass of wine too but coffee sounded better so that's what I had. My point is I thought I was over the "comfort food" phase of my life but I'm obviously not .. either that or I just used this as an excuse. How do you tell the difference ? I'd be lying if I said I didn't have some anxiety over this vaccine but I had to weigh the risks and in the end getting it just made sense for me. I've had urges for comfort food on other occasions since I started Nutrisystem but in most cases I fought them off or didn't go quite so far off the track. Today was just a lot more stressful and the whole train derailed ! Anybody who says this vaccine is "no big deal" is flat out wrong in my book. We have no idea what the long term effects of this vaccine are, so it's a big decision to make. That's why I can't blame anyone who refuses to get it. I understand the reasoning. A few people had brought their kids to get the vaccine today and seeing young people with their whole lives in front of them getting it ... well, I felt sad for them and I pray this vaccine doesn't harm us. I can't imagine being a parent and having to make that decision ! So tonight it was food that wrapped me in a warm embrace and tomorrow I hope to put this behind me for a bit and get back to my usual routine. I will likely spend the next 3 weeks building up anxiety associated with dose #2 but maybe I'll have a calzone after that one .. lol ! I don't regret what I ate today but I'll stop short of saying I "deserved" it. I've tried hard to not attach emotion to food or use it as a reward .. but I guess I need to spend a little more time working on using it for comfort. My treadmill time offset nearly half of my total calories today and part of the deal with the pizza & shortcake was getting in all 3 treadmill workouts.
Breakfast was a 160 calorie buttermilk waffles with sugar free syrup and an 80 calorie Light & Fit strawberry cheesecake yogurt. Morning snack was a 120 calorie chocolate shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was a 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 and evening snack was described above and my total calories for the day are 1790 and I got 80 ounces of water in. I also had a snack on the way home from Wegman's that consisted of apple slices, grapes and cheddar cheese cubes. I don't remember the calories on that so we'll just say today was a grand total of 2000 .. that's a nice round number !
First workout of the day was a long one (53 minutes) with iFit trainer Alex Gregory. Second was another in the Mount Everest series, with iFit guide Lydia Bradey. Last workout was Zimbabwe with iFit guide Mick Davie. I logged 119 minutes, 6.8 miles and 811 calories. I did not use the Total Gym. Fitbit says I did over 20,000 steps ... which is an all time high for me !!!
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