Day 12 & 13: Just Keep Going

 

Day 12 and 13 of Nutrisystem 2.0 was a pair of chilly days. We did have some sun, which was nice to see, but we barely made it to 20 degrees ! My days have not gone as planned, and I'm really disappointed in myself. I spent much of yesterday on the couch. Didn't go near the treadmill. Didn't start the laundry until 6 pm. Didn't clean out the closet as I planned. I did start the job but it quickly became overwhelming because there is so much stuff in there. I did manage to reorganize the drawers that hold my workout gear. I moved the stuff that doesn't fit (but will!) to the bottom drawer, put the summer stuff in the middle drawer and put what I am wearing now in the top drawer. No surprise, the top drawer has a lot of room in it ! I said the job became overwhelming and that's because I let myself be tripped up by the thought that I have to start and finish the job right now. Same goes for the box of paperwork that is destined for my new file cabinet. Looked in the box, immediately overwhelmed. The only good thing is I didn't spend the day sitting on the couch eating ! Today was a little better. I changed the sheets on my bed and did the rest of the laundry. I brought the box of paperwork to the living room so that I'd have to see it and get started going through it and filing what I need to keep. Well, that didn't work out. It's still sitting there. I did go and pick up my new glasses and I went to the grocery store. I didn't need much, mostly just salad ingredients, whipped cream and I grabbed a big bundle of tissue. $14 for 12 boxes seemed like a good deal ! I also bought another box of Jimmy Dean Delights, as I'm running low on breakfast items AND I really like them. I found that at Wegman's a box of 12 is only 50 cents more than Costco ! I'd spend more than 50 cents on gas to go to Costco and I'd end up buying stuff I don't need ! My Nutrisytem auto-ship will be here in the next week and I have plenty of lunch and dinner items. I always run short on breakfast because I rarely miss a breakfast at home. When Nutrisystem has 50% off sales I usually buy extra breakfast items. 

Breakfast both days was a 260 calorie Jimmy Dean Delights breakfast sandwich. No morning snack either day. Lunch both days was a 220 calorie pepperoni pizza melt. Afternoon snack yesterday was 80 calorie cottage cheese & 80 calorie pineapple. No snack today, I'll explain later. Dinner yesterday was 260 calorie roasted turkey with mashed potatoes and a bowl of brussel sprouts. I didn't overcook them this time ! Dinner today was 250 calorie chicken enchilada with a bowl of broccoli. Evening snack both days was 140 calorie chocolate cupcake. I can't really put a concrete number on my total calories for either day, so I'm going with 1200 each.

In happier news, my Christmas Cactus is getting ready to bloom ! I bought it last Spring and I'm going to guess it was in bloom when I bought it. I took some online advice and moved it to the laundry room a while back, because it's cooler and darker, and just ignored it. I noticed recently that it had what I thought were new leaves, but it turned out to be buds ! I moved it back to the kitchen and I've been watching the buds get bigger. I'm really excited as I've never had one bloom. I don't know if I've ever owned one before, but if I did I'm sure I killed it ! Next year I'm going to try to remember to move it to the laundry room sooner to see if I can get it to bloom for Christmas. My African Violet is doing well also, that seems to bloom constantly. I bought that last summer. I had some kalanchoes too but they got some fungus and I ended up just throwing them all away. My pothos is doing really well too. It really needs to be repotted but I will do that when the weather is warmer. I keep it out on the front porch all summer and it seems to like that. I also only water it once a week. Overwatering is probably what did in my kalanchoes. I had a couple mini roses too and they ended up with some parasite and went to the trash with the kalanchoes.

So, I mentioned I had no morning or afternoon snacks today. Well, I did but it wasn't Nutrisystem compliant. I was hungry while I was at the grocery store (no excuse, just the facts) and bought a package of 5 frosted cutout cookies. These things are like my Kryptonite ! So I ate one with a cup of coffee when I got home from shopping. I could easily have eaten all 5 of them, they are that good. I restrained myself and bagged each of the remaining 4 and put them in the freezer. They are going to be a once a week treat for the next 4 weeks. Nutrisystem really does a good job balancing what you eat throughout the day with good carbs and lots of protein to keep you full. The problem with not eating everything you should or eating empty calories (all sugar) is that you aren't full and then you tend to snack. Full disclosure - last night I was hungry at bedtime and had a few pretzels. When the current barrel of pretzels is gone it will not be replaced. The night before I had some of the trail mix that I have left from Christmas. That is almost gone too. It just goes to show you that skimping on calories during the day isn't sustainable. Tonight I had dinner a bit later and I made a generous bowl of broccoli, so I'm pretty full.

My plan for the closet is to chip away at that a little bit at a time. Same with the box of files. I would also like to straighten up my spare room upstairs because it's a mess, but I'll do that on a warmer day. My upstairs is not insulated so it tends to be cooler. I've had a heater going in my bedroom since Thursday or Friday. It's going to be warmer starting tomorrow so I should be able to turn it off. I don't care about the utility bill as I spent too many years freezing to death in this house. I'm hoping that putting siding on the house will help and I can't wait to get that job done ! Spring will mean siding, a new garage door, maybe a new front door, maybe new basement stairs. Siding is the priority and I'll see what $$$ I have left after that job.

In general, I'm not happy with the effort I put towards exercise these past 3 days. I'd be lying if I said I was surprised, because I'm not. I know myself and I knew this would happen. Yet again, I set unrealistic goals, didn't meet them, and ended up disappointed in myself. Winter is just really hard for me. I hate the cold and when I'm cold I just don't want to move. Work days are different because I have to get up and get moving. I get dressed early, eat on my schedule and have a routine. Weekends or days off I just throw my routine out the window. This is what trips me up every time, because I don't have to get up. I don't have to get dressed. I don't have to do anything I don't want to. In a perfect world I would roll out of bed, get dressed, feed my cats and myself and then hop on the treadmill. There really is NO reason I couldn't do this every day. I'm going to set a goal now to actually do this, but I'm not going to put a date on it. It'll give me something to think about every morning. 

On that note, I'm going to head for bed. Looks like the next few days are going to be warmer but with rain and little sun. I'll take rain over snow any day !