2023: Finding My Way Back

  Today is day 116 of Nutrisystem 2.0 and it's the last day of April ! It was 50 degrees when I woke up just after 8 am. Looks like we've reached the point where daytime highs will be in the 50's and 60's, but today and the next few days are expected to be rainy. I guess the April showers have arrived a little late ! Breakfast was a 270 calorie Jimmy Dean Delights breakfast sandwich. I didn't have a morning snack. Lunch was a 220 calorie pepperoni pizza melt. Afternoon snack was 80 calorie cottage cheese & 90 calorie oatmeal cookies. Dinner was green beans and a 250 calorie meatloaf sandwich. Evening snack was a 130 calorie carrot cupcake. Total calories are 1040. I got up today feeling pretty sluggish and I think not taking my vitamins is a part of the problem. A week or so back I didn't feel good one evening and I blamed it on taking all the vitamins at once, so today I took a couple with my breakfast (multivitamin & evening primrose oil) and a few mor...

  Today is day 115 of Nutrisystem 2.0 and even though it was Saturday I was wide awake just after 6. It's a little spooky, because I've been waking up at 6:08 lately ... and my mother's birthday happens to be 6-8. Perhaps she is thinking of me ! I think about her every day. Breakfast was 160 calorie waffles and an 80 calorie yogurt. I didn't have a morning snack. Lunch was a chef salad & 220 calorie pepperoni pizza melt. Afternoon snack was 80 calorie cottage cheese & 90 calorie oatmeal cookies. Dinner was broccoli & a 250 calorie meatloaf sandwich. Evening snack was a 140 calorie lemon zest cake. Total calories are 1020. Today's exercise consisted of a walk to the post office and cleaning out the cabinet under my kitchen sink. Mice tend to get in there and leave their droppings so I pull everything out and sanitize. I also drop in a few d-con chunks for them to nibble on ! I also used the self-cleaning function on my oven today and then scrubbed the ove...

  Today is day 114 of Nutrisystem 2.0 and it was an almost balmy 45 degrees when I got up ! I poked my head out the front door to see if the porch was warm enough to work out there, and it was a big nope until after lunch ! By then it had warmed up into the 60's so I spent about 4 hours out there. I woke up shortly after 6 today and it seemed to be pretty light out, so I grabbed my phone to check the time. For some reason my alarm is shutting off on Fridays and I haven't quite figured out why. I got up shortly before 7 because there was no point in trying to go back to sleep for less than an hour. I got dressed, made the bed, fed the cats and sat down to enjoy my first cup of coffee and start this post. Breakfast was 150 calorie pancakes with sugar free syrup and an 80 calorie yogurt. Morning snack was a 120 calorie vanilla shake. Lunch was a chef salad & 220 calorie pepperoni pizza melt. Afternoon snack was 80 calorie cottage cheese & 90 calorie oatmeal cookies. Dinner...

  Today is day 113 of Nutrisystem 2.0 and it was a frosty 29 degrees when I got up ! That's a little ridiculous for April 27 ! I woke up before 5:30 and gave up trying to go back to sleep just before 6 am. I took a shower and made my bed, then headed downstairs to feed my cats & the outdoor cats. I got dressed and just before 7 I sat down with my first cup of coffee to start this blog. Breakfast was 160 calorie waffles with sugar free syrup and an 80 calorie yogurt. Morning snack was a 120 calorie chocolate shake. Lunch was a chef salad & 220 calorie pepperoni pizza melt. Afternoon snack was 80 calorie cottage cheese & 90 calorie oatmeal cookies. Dinner was 220 calorie chicken fettuccine over riced cauliflower. Evening snack was a 130 calorie carrot cupcake. Total calories for the day are 1100. Today's workout was 26m1s and I opted for intervals today. At 24 minutes to go I increased the pace to 3 mph for 3 minutes and then decreased to 2.7 for 1 minute. I did 6 rou...

  Today is day 112 of Nutrisystem 2.0 and it was a brisk 38 degrees when I got up. Glad to have a toasty warm house ! I was awake around 6:15 and got up shortly after 6:30. By 7 am the bed was made, the cats were fed and I was enjoying my first cup of coffee. Breakfast was 150 calorie pancakes with sugar free syrup. I never got around to having my yogurt. Morning snack was a 120 calorie vanilla shake. Lunch was a chef salad & 220 calorie pepperoni pizza melt. Afternoon snack was 80 calorie cottage cheese & 90 calorie oatmeal cookies. Dinner was broccoli and a 190 calorie artichoke & spinach stuffed chicken breast. Evening snack was a 130 calorie strawberry shortcake cupcake. Total calories are 980. First and only workout of the day was just a second or two under 28 minutes, 26 of which I maintained a pace of 3 mph. I made sure to have my shoes & socks on long before noon so there would be excuses to not work out ! Work was busy today but that was the plan ! I was ab...

  Today is day 111 of Nutrisystem 2.0 and it was a brisk 35 degrees when I got up. My heat can keep up with these temps so the house is comfortably warm. It's always a relief once I get to this point ! I'm looking forward to shutting it off for good until Fall, but for now I'm grateful to have heat and to be able to afford to pay the bill ! Breakfast was 160 calorie waffles with sugar free syrup and an 80 calorie yogurt. I didn't have a morning snack. Lunch was a 220 calorie pepperoni pizza melt. Afternoon snack was 80 calorie cottage cheese & 90 calorie oatmeal cookies. Dinner was green beans and a 250 calorie meatloaf sandwich. Evening snack was 140 calorie toffee crunch cookies. I have 7 packages of these (6 now!) and their "best by" date was June 2022 - so it's time to eat them up ! I've gotten rid of a lot of the older stuff I had (ate some, tossed some) but I still have a few items lingering. I plan to get all that eaten in the next week or s...

  Today is day 110 of Nutrisystem 2.0 and it's also Monday. Weather is back to cold and gloomy. Breakfast was 150 calorie pancakes with sugar free syrup. I never got around to having my yogurt. Morning snack was a 120 calorie chocolate shake. Lunch was a chef salad & 220 calorie pepperoni pizza melt. I didn't have an afternoon snack either. Dinner was the other half of the pepperoni pizza I bought yesterday. Evening snack was a 130 calorie strawberry shortcake cupcake. I'll put total calories at 1200+ because of the pizza. First (and only workout of the day was just under 30 minutes and I put in 28 minutes at 3 mph. I had planned more workouts but I worked late. Work was busy to start and it got even busier in the late afternoon as my boss asked me to take on some additional items, which included some big projects. I'm feeling a little stressed but she also offered me 8 hours of OT this week and that's a huge plus ! With the money I am planning to spend on the h...

  Today is day 109 of Nutrisystem 2.0 and it's Sunday. I woke up just before 9 and as tempting as it was to go back to sleep, I got up to start the day. As expected, temps are back to seasonable 50's and 60's during the day with lows in the 30's and 40's. Looks like this is where we'll be for the remainder of the month. I had my first cup of coffee and breakfast, then lingered on the couch for too long.  Breakfast was a Jimmy Dean Delights breakfast sandwich. I haven't had one of these in a while and it was just delicious. I didn't have a morning snack. Lunch was a pepperoni pizza melt. Afternoon snack was cottage cheese & oatmeal cookies. Dinner was pizza and evening snack was a pint of Ben & Jerry's. Calories are off the chart. I didn't work out today. I spent much of the morning on the couch (again) and finally headed out to grocery shop around 2 pm. Today I decided to stop at Walmart in Central Square first and get whatever I could th...

  Today is day 108 of Nutrisystem 2.0 and it's Saturday ! I slept in for a change, not getting up until around 9:45 am. I was awake earlier but opted to go back to sleep. I felt like a truck ran over me once I finally got up but that didn't last long. I weighed myself this morning for laughs and the number was 231, so I'm heading in the right direction. My next official weigh in will be May 4, which is almost 2 weeks away. I'd like to be at 227, which would still leave me with 67 pounds to go ! Ugh. Breakfast was 160 calorie waffles and an 80 calorie yogurt. I didn't have a morning snack. Lunch was a chef salad & 220 calorie pepperoni pizza melt. I didn't have an afternoon snack. Dinner was broccoli and a 260 calorie lasagna. Evening snack was a 130 calorie carrot cake cupcake. Total calories are 850. I had to sit and think about what I ate today because my calories are so low, but I didn't miss anything.  Exercise ? Sigh. Didn't happen today. I had ...

  Today is day 107 of Nutrisystem 2.0 and it was 52 degrees when the alarm went off ! The forecast called for a high of 79, so although it was too chilly to work on the front porch at 8 am, I had hopes I would get out there before lunch but I didn't make it out there until after lunch. We made it up over 80 degrees today but it's not going to last. We're headed back to the 50's by Sunday and it looks like we're staying there for a while. I rolled out of bed around 7:10 and had enough time to feed the cats, make my bed, get dressed, brew my first cup of coffee and start this blog before it was time to work. Breakfast was 150 calorie pancakes with sugar free syrup and an 80 calorie yogurt. Morning snack was a 120 calorie vanilla shake. Lunch was the usual chef salad and 220 calorie pepperoni pizza melt. Afternoon snack was 80 calorie cottage cheese & 90 calorie oatmeal cookies. Dinner was roasted carrots and a 200 calorie cheddar & bacon stuffed chicken stick....

  Today is day 106 of Nutrisystem 2.0 and it was 34 degrees when the alarm went off ! I really miss that little taste of summer we had last week ! I woke up feeling rested and I attribute a lot of that to having the estimate phase of my siding project out of the way. I've accepted that it's going to cost more than I expected and I feel blessed to be able to afford what is needed to give the exterior of my home the facelift it has needed for years. I'm starting to get excited about it ! Breakfast was my favorite 160 calorie waffles with sugar free syrup. 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 90 calorie oatmeal cookies. Dinner was roasted carrots and 220 calorie chicken fettuccine alfredo over riced cauliflower. Evening snack was a 130 calorie strawberry shortcake cupcake. Total calories are 1020.  I was able to get a solid 3 workouts in today and I'...

  Today is day 105 of Nutrisystem 2.0 and it got off to an early start. I woke up just after 5 and there was no going back to sleep, so by 6 I was up for the day. I don't actually mind these early mornings because it gives me time to blog without feeling rushed. After a few days of summer like weather we are back to chilly spring weather. It was 35 degrees this morning .. brrr ! Last week I was able to work out on the front porch for several days but I'm right back inside now.  So yesterday I mentioned that I had reflected on the first 100 days of this journey in an unpublished blog entry that I wrote on 4-13 (day 99). Here is that item in its entirety: "I was reflecting this morning on where I am today, since tomorrow marks 100 days since this new journey started. I was thinking about how President's chronicle their first 100 days in office. As much as you try to put positive spin on it, my first 100 days have been chaotic, to say the least. I'll reflect more on t...