Day 10: Weekend Challenge

 

Day 10 of Nutrisystem 2.0 ! I titled this Post "weekend challenge" because weekends have always been a challenge for me, and this is the second weekend since my restart. I don't eat at the same intervals and have a lot more free time to think about eating ! This is where my mom's advice to "keep busy" comes in. Last weekend I slacked off on exercise but I didn't overeat, so there is hope. The challenge for this weekend is to keep to my exercise routine and to eat at the same intervals. I want to get 3 workouts in each day, but I'll be okay as long as I get 2 each day. These are entirely reachable goals, so I have no excuses if I fail to meet them.

Heard the sad, sad news that Lisa Marie Presley passed away at the age of 54 yesterday. This girl had such a sad life, losing her dad when she was only 9, and now her children have been left without their mom. My first thought was drugs as she was found unresponsive in her home yesterday and she didn't look well at her last appearance, only 2 days ago. She had an opioid addiction in the past and there is always the possibility that she was using again. However, media reports lean towards a heart attack as she wasn't feeling well. Elvis' mother died from a heart attack at 46 and he did as well at 42, so it's possible there is some sort of genetic heart problem that runs in the family. Regardless of the circumstances, it is a very sad day for her family and friends. Hopefully she will be at peace with her son and her dad. In other sad news, the closing on my mom's house is 1/18. After that date our childhood home, the only home we ever knew, will be gone. Although it's sad and it makes everything final, we are all glad to bring this chapter in our lives to a close. Hopefully my mom and dad are resting in peace.

I was awakened at 4:30 am when heavy rain started to fall. I laid there for a long while listening to the rain and hoping I'd go back to sleep. Despite my best efforts that did not happen, so I finally got up around 6:30. I didn't want to get up "too early" because if I get up early I tend to have breakfast earlier than usual and that throws off my whole day because I'm hungry again too soon. When that happens I run the risk of being hungry in the evening. I don't worry so much Monday to Thursday because I go to bed pretty early. Since today is Friday I am likely to stay up later and that is when the snack monster strikes. I thought about getting on the treadmill before work but in the end I decided to just enjoy a quiet morning before the work day began.

I mentioned it was raining when I woke up at 4:30 am. Well, when I got up at 6:30 we were having a blizzard ! We got enough snow to cover the ground and then it turned to flurries on and off all day. Temp is supposed to drop into the teens tonight after it was near 40 yesterday ! This is classic upstate NY weather !

Breakfast was a 260 calorie Jimmy Dean Delights breakfast sandwich. Morning snack was a 120 calorie chocolate shake. Lunch was a chef salad and a 220 calorie pepperoni pizza melt. Afternoon snack was 80 calorie cottage cheese and 80 calorie pineapple. Serving is 1/2 cup each. Dinner was 220 calorie chicken fettuccine alfredo over riced cauliflower. Evening snack was a 130 calorie vanilla ice cream sandwich. Total calories for the day are 1110.

My lunchtime workout was 28 minutes at 3 mph for about 24 minutes of the "walk". When I saw the stats on this one I immediately looked for something "easier" because I didn't think I could sustain 3 mph. Well, I decided to go for it, just as I did yesterday. I surprised myself but I made it through the entire workout without changing anything. I did put my hands on the rails for about a minute when the incline went to 6%. That is the only concession I allowed myself and I'm pretty proud that I made it through ! I doubted myself yesterday and I doubted myself today, and both times I did what I didn't think I could ! Did I sweat ? Yep. Did I huff and puff a little ? Yep. Did I give up ? Nope. I wiped my brow, took some deep breaths and kept going. After work was nearly 14 minutes at 2.2 mph. It was a relaxing way to end the day and the week ! I wanted to get a 3rd workout in but I was too tired. 

Since I got up early today I had breakfast early and I worried about being hungry in the evening. My plan for the day was just to hold off eating until I was absolutely starving. That worked out because I was working on a big project for work so I had my salad around 1 but didn't have my pizza melt until nearly 4 pm. I had my afternoon snack at 5:30, so it was easy to delay dinner too. I also planned to double up on veggies at dinner. The lesson here is to have a plan when your schedule changes. Too often I used days like this as an excuse to eat whatever I wanted, instead of figuring out a way to make it work within the confines of the Nutrisystem plan. It's really not that hard to change things up. I did make a mistake when it comes to dinner. I waited too long and by the time I started preparing my dinner at 7 pm I was starving and had that weak feeling you get when you go without eating for too long. I grabbed a small portion of nuts to have while my dinner was cooking. Lesson learned. When it comes to frozen veggies, I will cook them earlier and just reheat when I am ready to have my meal. My dinner turned out to be a little bit of a bust because the brussel sprouts I made for my 2nd veggie were just awful. I think I overcooked them because they were just mush. I ate a few and then had to toss them.     

I made it through the evening without snacking, other than the nuts I had while my dinner was cooking. I'm heading to bed now and looking forward to a productive weekend !