My Nutrisystem Journey

"When you're trying to motivate yourself, appreciate the fact that you're even thinking about making a change, and as you move forward, allow yourself to be good enough. ~Alice Domar~ I could have used this quote a long time ago ! Now more than ever I feel like I will reach my goal weight. Getting the first 100 pounds off has shown me that I can do this. The next 50+ pounds may come off slower, but they will come off.  I've been motivated from Day 1 but in the first few months I had some ups and down in life that left me feeling a little wobbly. I was sick in January and had heating & plumbing issues, there was uncertainty with my job and I had a lot of starts and stops (and failures) when it came to exercise. Fortunately all of those things have resolved and I feel stronger than ever. I've settled into a good routine when it comes to what I eat and that has allowed me to put some time towards my fitness goals. I'm more consistent with my workouts...

"Your biggest challenge isn't someone else. It's the ache in your lungs and the burning in your legs, and the voice inside you that yells "can't", but you don't listen. You just push harder. And then you hear the voice whisper "can". And you discover that the person you thought you were is no match for the one you really are." This quote is perfect for today, because my lunch time workout truly challenged me. I looked at the description and said "I can't do that", then settled on something easier. Then I remembered "can't" isn't in my vocabulary and unless I tried I wouldn't know if I could do it ! So I hit the start button on workout #12 in the Grand Canyon series, which was 20 minutes at max incline (10% on my machine), with speeds ranging from 2.2 mph to 2.6 mph. I didn't think I could do it and I did have to briefly hang onto the rails 3 or 4 times, but I finished it without changing the s...

"Grit is that "extra something" that separates the most successful people from the rest. It's the passion, perseverance, and stamina that we must channel in order to stick with our dreams until they become a reality." ~Travis Bradberry~ Grit. I think I have that. I don't know that I've always had it but today I feel like it's helping me achieve my weight loss goals. When I started this journey 290 days ago it was the biggest leap of faith I've ever taken. It was also the costliest. I've seen so many stories of failure on the Nutrisystem group I belong to - many people declare the program is not for them and give up. Many go off searching for pharmaceutical solutions to lose the weight or jump to another program. There is no magic pill - if there were there would be no more obesity !  There are also other programs and they aren't magic either. You have to find what is going to work for you . Many want to eat the same foods and sti...

"The biggest source of motivation is your own thoughts, so think big and motivate yourself to win." Motivation is a huge part of any success. Until I decided to give Nutrisystem a try I really didn't have any true goals in life and therefore wasn't motivated to achieve anything. Without motivation I was just going through the motions, not really "living". I've found that being motivated is NOT easy. It's something I have to work at every single day. I've also found it's fairly easy to lose your motivation if you're not having the success you want. For me, it's meant dialing back my goals from lofty to realistic at times. If I lost 3 pounds one week and only 1 the next I'd wonder what I was doing wrong, instead of being happy with that 1 pound. So although I agree with "think big", it's important to not think too big and end up having it negatively impact your motivation. I've had plenty of disappointment...

"No magic potions. No fairy dust. No one to do it for you. Just me, I will push you, show you, how to put one determined foot in front of the other,That's what I will do. I am inside you. I'm called your Inner Strength. Dig deep down and find me." My inner strength has definitely seen me through the past 288 days. Statistics say most people's New Year's resolutions were abandoned long ago, but mine is going strong - for the first time in my life - and I can't wait for January 1st to roll around again ! Never in a million years did I expect this level of success with Nutrisystem, nor did I think I would remain committed to it. I never had before so why would I expect it to be different this time around ? For so many years my life felt like I was running downhill and could not stop. I was reminded of this during my workout yesterday, when someone who was running downhill on the Grand Canyon trail blew past the trainer. Pretty dangerous considering t...

“Real beauty isn’t about symmetry or weight or makeup. It’s about looking life right in the face and seeing all its magnificence reflected in your own. ~Valerie Monroe~ I was thinking about body image this morning because for a long time I had a distorted view of my own body. When I looked in the mirror I didn’t see the reality that everyone else saw. Maybe I just didn’t want to, because it was too painful. It took those Christmas photo’s to shock me back to reality and to see just how far I had let myself go. I still have a lot of weight to lose and I still have a lot of work to do when it comes to fitness, but I’ve reached a point where it no longer feels like a mountain I can’t climb. I can take a picture of myself and not be afraid to let others see it. I can’t remember the last time a glance made me think that person was judging me because of my weight. I’ll never be a size 4 and I won’t have the body of a 20 year old but I’ll have something I am happy with. Something I...

"It starts with a dream. Add faith, and it becomes a belief. Add action, and it becomes a part of life. Add perseverance, and it becomes a goal in sight. Add patience and time, and it ends with a dream come true." ~Doe Zantamata~  When I started Nutrisystem back on January 4th I never really thought about what life would be like as a "thin" person. I guess maybe I didn't really expect to ever be anything other than fat, old and ugly. Sitting there on my couch December 29th I was so unhappy. I had been given a fresh start after the fire and had every reason to be happy, but all I could focus on was my weight. So this didn't start with a dream but it become one somewhere along the way. I think I started with more of a wish, a wish to not be fat anymore. I don't think I ever said to myself "I want to be thin". That word just wasn't in my vocabulary when it came to myself. I also don't know that I had faith in myself. Again, somewh...

"Change is sometimes needed to better yourself, love yourself and truly be happy. Never stop working on being the best you can be. It's a life long endeavor. ~Angelique Laforest Tremblay~ Change is hard and my first reaction to it is usually fear. That's probably true for most of us, because very often the change is not by our own choice. In my professional life I'm pretty much still doing the same job but with a different group of people. That change was hard because I hated seeing the folks I worked with for so many years go. I still miss most of them and I'm hoping this forced change is turning into a positive for them. At the same time, this change brought me the flexibility to work from home 3 days a week, which is a huge positive with winter coming, and I'm so grateful for it. This change, while difficult, has worked out for me and that brought a significant amount of guilt with it for a while. You would think that since the decision to join Nutr...

"Never be embarrassed by your struggle. Never apologize for the things you've worked hard for. Every part of your journey has beauty in it, so never let anyone drag you down for climbing to a better place." ~ Vex King ~ I love this quote and it really fits where I am right now. For a long time I was embarrassed by the state of my life and home but I've gotten past that, now that both are in better shape ! I don't think I've ever apologized for the things I've worked hard for but I do keep some things to myself, because there's a thin line between sharing your happiness and bragging about it. How do you tell the difference ? I don't really know that you can, because everyone has a different way of looking at things. When you put something out there you'll find some people are genuinely happy for you and others, not s o much. It's okay, because I've been there and I know how it feels when your life is a hot mess and other people ...

"At any given moment you have the power to say: This is not how the story is going to end." Some days I really have to search for inspiration, but today this quote jumped right off the page. There was no need to look any further because this quote is so true. You do have the power to decide how life is going to go, but again - that is easy to say when all the things that were wrong in my life have been swept away ! Fall of 2017 was really my first attempt to exercise and lose some weight. I had some limited success but I was clearly not committed to a true lifestyle change because I let my broken wrist be an excuse to basically give up. Once I moved back into my house I fell right back into my old habits and used food for comfort as I adjusted to being back home. It wasn't until 12-25-18 that I really saw, for the first time, how out of control my weight had gotten. So the fire on 8/8/17 didn't quite wake me up. Getting hit by a car that October didn't d...

"Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams." ~Ashley Smith~ Perfect sentiment for this rainy Saturday ! Who doesn't love lying in bed listening to it rain ? I didn't mind it today since tomorrow is supposed to be a beautiful sunny day. Today was a good day to relax on the couch all morning. Unfortunately there were NO good movies on so I put Pandora on and just listened to music all day. I didn't really accomplish much of anything and I'm okay with that.  PROGRESS UPDATE: scale says I'm down 1.4 pounds this week, for a total loss of 101.4 pounds to date. I'll take that all day long ! Breakfast was a 1.6 ounce 150 calorie cinnamon raisin bagel with maple pecan coffee. This bagel only had a couple shreds of raisin in it ! I added the last of the fat free cream cheese and that added abou...

"Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude." ~Denis Waitley~ As I was waiting for my coffee to finish brewing this morning I was watching the wisps of steam from my boiler exhaust float past the kitchen window. Gratitude immediately came to mind because this will be the second winter I have an energy efficient heating system that actually keeps the house warm. When I first bought this house the heat worked fine but the upstairs had no duct work and tended to always be cold. I relied on an electric blanket and a space heater to keep warm at night. The windows were also old and drafty so that didn't help. I was able to replace all the windows back in 2009 when I had the roof done, but a few years ago (after a basement flood) the blower on the heating system failed and I couldn't afford to get it fixed. So we lived with heat that circulated via gr...

"Fitness is about so much more than exercise. It's a catalyst for positive changes, and it affects every aspect of your life." As you can imagine, I've never been about fitness. I don't like exercise but I know it's necessary. I also know how good I feel after a workout, but I still drag my feet every day. I'm feeling better about it this week because I've branched out and tried some new workouts, but it's still a struggle. I'm starting to see why a lot of people exercise in the morning or afternoon, because it's not so hard to get myself on the treadmill then. Evenings are a problem, maybe because I'm tired or just lazy. On days I work from home I may try getting a workout in before work and then during lunch so that I can have the evening off. The days I go to the office would be the only evening workout. Weekends could be morning and afternoon workouts too. I may try to do this starting next week. I'm already trying som...

“Healthy isn’t a goal, it’s a way of living. Think positively. Worry less, laugh more. Exercise daily. Exercise to be fit, not skinny. Stay strong. Get strong. Love yourself. Love your body. Today is the day to change. Put in time. Make sacrifices. Avoid temptation. Make goals, reach goals. Do not expect it to be easy. Healthy is hard. Healthy feels awesome. Healthy is happiness. Be better, live better. Just do it.” A long quote for today, but it pretty much sums up where I am in life. I’ve had a lot of time over the past 9+ months to think about my life and where it’s headed next. I still have days where I regret all the years I wasted, but I don’t dwell on it. We all have regrets. We all make mistakes. I missed out on so much in life and I can't ever get most of it back. At this point my goal is to not repeat the mistakes ! Weight loss figures into that. I’ve lost weight in the past but I never made it a lifestyle change and I never got to the point where I wasn't...