Day 11: The Daily Struggle

 

Day 11 of Nutrisystem 2.0 and it's a chilly Saturday. It was 17 degrees when I got up shortly before 9 am, with just a trace of light snow falling. Our "high" was 20 and we're headed back to the teens overnight. Since I got my heating system fixed I haven't had to worry about the house being warm enough. This has been a huge stress reliever. 

Breakfast was a 260 calorie Jimmy Dean Delights breakfast sandwich. Morning snack, lunch and afternoon snack ended up being low fat wheat thins and peanut butter. I don't think the calories exceeded the allotment for my lunch and 2 snacks, but I wasn't hungry so there was no point in forcing myself to eat more. Dinner was a 250 calorie chicken enchilada with a bowl of green beans. Evening snack was a 140 calorie chocolate cupcake with a large glass of milk. I don't have an exact calorie count but I'm sure it was 1200 or less. My "countable" calories are 650, which leaves 550 to spare. I don't think my crackers (120 calories in 18), peanut butter and milk were more than that.

Although life has gotten better financially, I still obsess a little bit about my bills. All of my credit card debt is paid off and any card I use is paid in full every month, but I still have some anxiety when it comes to money. I keep a spreadsheet of my accounts and, although most are on autopay, I check them to make sure payments were withdrawn and posted to each account. I always breathe a sigh of relief once the last bill of the month is paid, but that usually coincides with the start of the next month and the cycle starts all over again. My mom used to pay bills as soon as she received them, but that makes no sense to me. Why give them the money before the due date ? There is no benefit if you pay early. When I was going to the casino every week I very often cut it close and sometimes had to withdraw money from my savings. I realized every extra penny I had was being thrown away at the casino, so it wasn't that hard to stop going there. Now I've reached a point where I have to move money from my checking to my savings, because my pay deposits far exceed my monthly expenses and there is no reason to let all that money sit in checking. I don't think I've ever been in this situation before, and it feels good. At this point in my life I need to save as much as possible to ensure a worry free retirement. I do have a 401k but it has taken a massive hit over the past 2 years. I have a pension and will get social security, so I'm really not that worried. I just want to be able to maintain my current lifestyle, which is pretty simple. I bring up finances here only because that is how I started my morning. I checked in on my bills and my bank account and noted that I got paid Friday. There was a time that I was afraid to check my bank account. I was also afraid to check my mail. I also never answered my phone. All hallmarks of someone with financial issues ! I never want to go back to that place Once that was done it was time to get off the couch and get some things done around the house. Motivation was low but I forced myself and started with the Christmas tree.

Once the tree was down and all decor was packed away upstairs I took a break and had a snack, some low fat wheat thins and peanut butter. While I was doing that my latest Amazon order arrived. I treated myself to just about everything that was left on my Christmas wish list ! I spent about $150 but that includes nearly $25 for a box of cat food. I got another My Pillow, a food scale and a stand/holder for my tablet so it's easier to use in bed. The rest of the order was delivered yesterday and I got 2 throw pillows for my bed and a set of covers that match my winter comforter, along with a tall glass vase, which I love ! I got the food scale because I'd like to have cheese & crackers for my afternoon snack and weight is the best way to portion the cheese. The nice thing about the throw pillows I bought is the covers are removable so I can buy more covers and change them whenever I want. The current covers are snowflakes to match my comforter and I absolutely love them ! I'm going to start looking for covers that are summer or beach themed, so I can swap them out when I switch to my summer comforter. I got the vase because my sister brought me flowers when I had the family for dinner and I did not have a nice vase to put them in. It's 16" tall so I need to find some tall fake flowers for it.

2:55 pm rolled around and I hadn't gone near the treadmill or started many of the things I want to get done this weekend. Not a great start, but NO surprise ! I evicted myself from the couch and got moving. Well, I moved a little bit and ended up vacuuming the carpet, which was long overdue. Then I was back on the couch. I finally got on the treadmill at 5 pm and completed 20 minutes at 2.5 mph. I got back on the treadmill around 7 for another 13 minutes at 2.2 mph. With warmups and cool downs I spent about 45 minutes on the treadmill and it's a good start for the weekend. I really wanted to get a third workout in, but by 8:30 I knew it wasn't going to happen. I was done for the day.

So, what did I accomplish ? Well, the tree is down and all the Christmas stuff is put away. The carpet is vacuumed, so the house looks a lot nicer. I got 2 workouts in. Not bad for me on a Saturday. I have laundry to do, so I'm going to get that started tomorrow. I'm also going to clean out the closet in my office. I do need to go to the grocery store but I also need to pick up my new glasses and they are closed tomorrow, so I'll do the grocery store and glasses on Monday. I need to call to make sure the eye place is open since many businesses are closed for MLK day.

It's after 10 and I have a lot I want to do tomorrow .. so it's off to bed for me !