The Journey Back: Day 26

  

“Success at anything will always

 

come down to this: focus and effort. 

And we control both."

Focus and effort. When I read this quote my first thought was that effort is the easier of the 2. But then I circled back to focus and realized that it takes EFFORT to FOCUS !! So the two go hand in hand. Focus has been hard for me at times, whether on a personal level or a professional level. I've always found that I have a hard time focusing when I have a lot going on. In reality you need focus, effort, commitment, determination .. to name a few .. if you want to achieve anything. In the weight loss and fitness groups that I'm in people are always asking how you motivate yourself or how you get the weight off. Well, there is no one size fits all answer. I've said this before: what works for me may not work for you. Some people love Nutrisystem, some people hate it. Some people love the treadmill, some like the bike or the elliptical or a good old fashioned jog around the block. Other people just plain hate exercise. There are days I fall into that category ! If I charted this journey I've been on it would look like an EKG, full of ups and downs, fibrillations and a flat line here and there. It has not been a graceful curve stretching up from the lowest low to the highest high. I lost focus at times. I didn't put in the effort I should have at times. Sometimes my commitment and determination were lacking. What keeps me moving forward is the fact that I never gave up. Every single day I thought about where I started and I knew I never wanted to go back there. That didn't keep me from making poor choices but it helped me find the determination to focus and put in the effort needed to get back to where I was. I try to look at every challenge in life as a learning opportunity now. I couldn't do that a few years ago when my life was a chaotic mess. Even now there are times I just want life to flow along peacefully and when it doesn't I can't always embrace the "learning opportunity" mantra. Sometimes you just look up and say "why me?". The answer is always "why not you?". So focus and effort is the name of the game and it most certainly is within my control !

Today is Day 1114 of Nutrisystem. 182 days since I reached my goal weight. I maintained it for a while but as you know I've gained some weight and I'm working to get it back off and it's Day 26 of that effort. I'm pleased with the progress I'm making and have no doubt I'll settle back in at my goal weight soon. My jeans now allow blood flow to the lower half of my body, so that is a plus ! LOL. 

Breakfast was pancakes with sugar free syrup and a yogurt. Morning snack was a vanilla shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was a spinach & cheese pretzel melt with a chef salad. Afternoon snack was cottage cheese and oatmeal cookies. Dinner was an Italian sausage & turkey pepperoni pizza with roasted veggies. Evening snack was a lemon zest cake. 

I spent about 45 minutes on the treadmill today. Each day it gets a little easier to commit to 2 workouts so I'm hoping when I bring the Total Gym back into my routine I'll be able to integrate that without the same struggles I had getting back onto the treadmill. Winter is really tough - I think I was a bear in a previous life and this body wants to build a layer of fat and hibernate until Spring ! Someone said it's 58 days until Spring .. I cannot wait for that ! We still have a lot of winter to go but I think Spring will be here before you know it !

As expected, it was bitter cold when I woke up today, just after 5 am. I couldn't go back to sleep so I finally got up at 6. Normally I'd have got my coffee and logged into work but that is no longer an option. I thought about getting on the treadmill but I just can't function on these frigid winter mornings. So I basically just wasted those extra hours. I guess it was the day for wasting time .. I had a 90 minute meeting and a 90 minute training session so that was 3 of the 8 hours I had to get any work done. The training was for yet another new task I'm taking on and it really wasn't a waste of time - I enjoy having new things to do because I tend to get bored quickly. In spite of the shortened day I feel like I got a lot accomplished. 

Temps are headed below zero again tonight so I'm looking forward to a hot shower and my heated blanket. Tomorrow will be my usual casino day with mom and I'm looking forward to that ! I'd like to get out and do some shopping on Sunday but there is snow in the forecast - we'll see how that goes ! Although working from home is my dream come true it can be isolating, especially in the dead of winter, so I look forward to getting out most weekends. It is so quiet in my house ! I'm thinking about getting a small tv for my office just so I can have some background noise. Sometimes I'll put on music but that can be distracting. Speaking of music - I was sad to hear that Meatloaf passed away ! Then on top of that came the news that Louie Anderson passed ! So many of the great ones have died lately. It makes me more determined than ever to get in as much enjoyment as I can during the years I have left ! On that note I'm heading for that hot shower and my warm bed !