My Nutrisystem Journey

"Goals. There's no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There's no telling what you can do when you believe in them. And there's no telling what will happen when you act upon them.     ~Jim Rohn~ I never really had many goals in my life. I suppose that's an indication I wasn't very ambitious when I was younger. I wouldn't say I'm "ambitious" today but I do have some goals. Losing weight is the big one and it's what I'm putting most of my energy into. Financial fitness is also a goal, along with caring for my career aspirations. One thing I've learned over the years is you can't set too many goals, because each goal you add dilutes the resources you have available to work on them. You also have to balance the type of goal to ensure you don't have a bunch of goals that each require intensive effort on your part. That's admirable but you run the risk of not achieving those goals because there are j...

"Patience is not passive waiting. Patience is active acceptance of the process required to attain your goals and dreams."      ~Ray Davis~ Patience is an apt topic for today, considering last nights treadmill fiasco. The more tired I am, the less patience I have and by the time I resolved the treadmill issue I was too tired to even consider getting back on it. I'm usually pretty patient but we all have our breaking point. I've had to exercise a lot of patience over the past 5 months as I acclimated to the Nutrisystem way of eating. In the beginning I was confused by what I should or shouldn't eat. It took some time to understand Power Fuels and Smart Carbs and to find multiple options for these items. I knew I couldn't eat the same thing day after day and be successful because I would get bored. I also had to try lots of the foods and then decide what I did or didn't like and then customize my shipments. That took a few months ! Once I ironed that out...

"Part of being the heroine of your own life is accepting the bad with the good. Not dodging it or covering it up or glossing over it to make it look prettier. I think it's a lot braver to talk about our doubts and fears instead of acting like everything is perfect. Life without both joy AND sadness is a life without balance.   ~Mandy Hale~ Balance was always missing from my life, mostly because I never put any focus on what I needed for myself. As a result I always felt deprived and didn't really know why. Once I turned the focus to myself life changed in a hurry. I've had to be careful not to tip the scales too far in either direction in order to keep the balance I've found. I'm also working on staying humble. I get a lot of compliments on my appearance these days and it would be very easy to let that go to my head. Instead I remind myself I'm still the same person, just happier in a smaller body, and I think that happiness radiates outward ! The ...

"Life is like a camera.... Focus on what's important, Capture the good times, Develop from the negatives, And if things don't work out, Take another shot." This is exactly how I try to live my life now. What's important to me right now is losing weight. Being able to get back to exercise last night really gave my spirits a boost, because I was afraid the hip issue was going to linger. If I was already at my goal weight a couple of days without exercise wouldn't concern me, but I'm nowhere near my goal and exercise is critical to my success. So I'm glad to be past this latest bump in the road ! I guess life would be boring if every day was the same. Having to deal with my hip pain gave me a minute to think about other things I can do. I really need to start working on strengthening my muscles and the 5 pound weights I have really aren't going to do the trick. So it's about time to invest in that inexpensive weight bench I saw at Walmart. I ...

"Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it." ~Michael Jordan~ Today was all about not letting my sore hip keep me from continuing my exercise program. In the past, fear would consume me and I'd baby it for an excessive period of time. A few years back I had an incident where I literally could not walk on it. It happened suddenly one morning and I had to use a step stool as a makeshift walker all day. That is no exaggeration and although it scared me quite a bit it cleared up within a day. It only happened that one time and it doesn't bother me very often so I don't really worry about it a lot. I think it flared up now because I'm walking a lot more and at faster speeds or because I sat on my butt too much on Saturday ! Anyhow, it's feeling much better and I decided last night that even if I couldn't tolerate my normal workout today ...

"Life is full of disappointments, failures and setbacks. None of those things can permanently stop you. You have the power in you to overcome anything that life throws at you. There is nothing as powerful as a made up mind. Surround yourself with people who remind you that you matter, and support you in the ways that matter most to you. No person, situation, or circumstance can define who you are. Don't give up, cave in, or stop believing that it's possible. It's not over until you win." After yesterday's indulgences I'm refocused on Nutrisystem and exercise today. I realized yesterday that I do miss the freedom to just eat whatever I want. I really would have liked some of the bread that was served with dinner and I'd have liked to order dessert. I also could have stuffed myself and ate my entire dinner entree in one sitting. The good news is I want to be thin more !! I don't feel like what I ate yesterday was bad but when you can't accur...

"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new." ~Socrates~ Wise words from Socrates ! This is exactly where I am today. I've put the past behind me and I'm focused on building my life into what I want it to be from this day forward. Losing the weight is my primary focus but I've also taken the time to address my career and ensure I'm prepared for the future. I'd like to work another 8-10 years and my hope is that I can do that with the same company. I don't really want to start over again, but I will if I have to. That is nothing new for me !! Today I am better equipped to deal with change and it doesn't seem so scary. I'm looking forward to new adventures and hopefully, new opportunities ! Would I be happy to stay in my same job until retirement ? Of course, I have a great job and work with some great people but I feel like I have a lot more to offer. So we'll see where that go...

"As you get older you find out that true happiness is not in how much you make or how many degrees you have or how big your house is or how fancy your car is. It's finding peace and joy and calmness in your life that will soon become the most important thing to you. Your family is what matters to you, love is what matters to you; things that are of quality, not quantity." Happiness was on my mind this morning and this quote embodies what I was thinking. For so many years I thought I would never be happy again. I thought I would never feel again. I felt like I had nothing and that no one cared. I don't know that I'll ever forget the broken empty person I was and maybe that's a good thing. Today I do feel again and some days the happiness I feel just overflows. Today is one of those days. It's Friday, the end of the work week. The sun is shining and the sky is clear and blue. It's going to be a beautiful day. A far cry from a couple of years ago whe...

"Whenever you find yourself doubting how far you can go, just remember how far you have come. Remember everything you have faced, all the battles you have won, and all the fears you have overcome." Lack of self esteem and a whole lot of self doubt seem to go hand in hand. As my self esteem increases, doubt in my ability to overcome whatever life throws at me seems to decrease ! Considering all I've been through, I couldn't tell you why I would ever doubt myself. It's a process I guess and I'm still working through it all. Being successful at losing weight and increasing my fitness level have made all the difference. When you try hard and succeed it definitely motivates you to keep going. I still remind myself there may be weeks I won't lose weight so I am prepared for it and don't get discouraged. I've never stuck to anything for 154 days straight so this is a new record for me. Last night was a good example - I really wanted to stay on the co...

        Photo Credit: Ales Krivec , Lake Bled Slovenia "Live the life you've always dreamed of. Be fearless in the face of adversity. Never stop learning. Use your imagination whenever possible. Recognize the beauty that surrounds you. Remember where you came from, but never lose sight of where you are going." I take time every day to think about where I came from. A little over 5 months ago I was walking around thinking I was happy, when in reality I wasn't. My weight was back on the rise and I had lost focus. I was eating whatever I wanted and not exercising. Food was my friend again ! I don't think I will ever forget the jolt that came after I saw the Christmas Day photos. Photos taken innocently, not to shame or embarrass, but shameful and embarrassing to me nonetheless ! So I haven't stopped learning. When I saw those photos I realized just how out of control I was, again, and recognized that I had to take action. Committing to the expense ...

"If you want to live an authentic, meaningful life, you need to master the art of disappointing and upsetting others, hurting feelings, and living with the reality that some people just won't like you. It may not be easy, but it's essential if you want your life to reflect your deepest desires, values, and needs.      ~Cheryl Richardson~ I can relate to this quote because I spent years trying to make everyone else happy. Some people want to be the "fixer" or the peacemaker and that person was me. I always went along with what everyone else wanted or needed or thought because I wanted them to "like" me. Looking back, I can see that I was just letting myself be used. People either like you or they don't. Bending over backwards for them doesn't really change what they think of you. The users will just use you even more. Wanting people to like me was more about my own self esteem than anything else. If you feel like you're worthless, the...

"Life is not about looking back and wishing that today will be the same as the past. Life is about moving on, accepting change and looking forward to what makes you stronger and more complete, because it's never been too late to have a life and never too late to change one." The next 20 working days will be the hardest of my career as we count down to the closure of our office. Life is going to change for all of us. Some will happily embark on retirement. Some will take the time to enjoy the summer and then think about what is next. Some will move to Florida and continue their employment. Some may jump right in to finding new employment. Some will continue with the company right here. No matter what we do it will mean change and that can be hard. My only hope is that everyone finds their way to something that makes them happy. I've already accepted that my life is going to change and I firmly believe that, for me, it's going to be a change fo...

"The longer you wait for something, the more you appreciate it when it finally arrives. The harder you fight for something, the more priceless it becomes once you achieve it. The more pain you endure on your journey, the sweeter the arrival at your destination. Remember ... all good things are worth waiting for and fighting for." This was the perfect quote for today since I've reached a milestone. Five months on Nutrisystem ! 150 days of eating healthier. 150 days of drinking more water. 150 days of exercising more. 150 days of boring you with my daily routine. 150 days of celebrating every little success ! I did not expect to have lost 64 pounds this quickly. Every day I remind myself this journey may get harder as the amount of weight I need to lose decreases. I have to prepare myself mentally to accept weeks with no loss or inching towards my goal with small losses. I think it will get harder the closer I get to my goal weight, and if I don't prepare mys...

"Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success. ~Swami Vivekananda~ This was the first quote that caught my eye this morning but I skipped over it and continued looking. I needn't have bothered because I compared every quote after that to this one and kept coming back to it. It really describes my journey with Nutrisystem. I have made losing weight my life and it really is all that I think about. Yes, there was a time I was distracted by the uncertainty with my job and I had to spend some time considering career options, but today I am back to 100% focus on losing the weight. There have been so many "non scale victories" (NSV) over the past 5 months. The other day I sat in the "big and tall" desk chair that I bought a few months back and I felt like I was sittin...

"Our lives are made up of a million moments, spent in a million different ways. Some are spent searching for love, peace and harmony. Others are spent surviving day to day. But there is no greater moment than when we find that life, with all its joys and sorrows, is meant to be lived one day at a time." This is so true. Focusing on one day at a time has been of great help to me. I no longer feel like I'm "surviving" on a day to day basis. I used to say I have no luck but I really can't say that anymore. I think I'm pretty lucky to be where I am today. I've gone through a lot to get here and the hard work is not over. Losing weight is my new day to day battle ! In 2 days I will be at the 5 month mark. When I set out on this journey back on January 4 I didn't know what to expect. I wasn't sure I'd be successful. I wasn't sure I'd be able to stick to a "diet". I wasn't sure I'd be able to commit to regular exer...