Day 120: May The 4th Be With You !

 

Today is day 120 of Nutrisystem 2.0 and marks 4 months of this effort. Let's rip the bandaid right off ... my weight was disappointing. The scale first said 235 ( ! ) but a second shot gave me 233. Still horrible as it means I gained or didn't lose anything in the past month. I'm really disappointed in myself. Maybe I am a self-saboteur when it comes to what I eat. Pizza, burgers, Ben &  Jerry's, Hershey Kisses, cinnamon pretzel crisps ... none of these are my friends. I've said it 1000 times, but I am going to try harder to eat nothing "extra". I've been adding olives, roasted red peppers, pickled onions & feta cheese to my salads, perhaps those are just too many calories. Starting tomorrow I'm going to use them sparingly. I always end up with a ton of that stuff left in my salad bowl, so I know I'm adding too much. I can add more radishes & cucumbers. I've also been going way overboard with whipped cream on my evening snack. I cut that back severely starting tonight. Week after week I'm watching the scale not move and yet I keep stuffing my face. The good news is I have nothing "open", meaning the 2 bags of cinnamon pretzel crisps will stay in the pantry. I did open the box of tea cookies but I haven't opened the cookies themselves. Those will stay closed as well. The Hershey Kisses can stay in the jar. If I get desperate I do have 80 calorie bags of Smart Pop popcorn or 90 calorie packets of thin cookies. Single servings are what I need because portion control is not my strong suit. I'm doing better with exercise but I'm clearly eating too much. I did take progress photos today and I'll post them in tomorrow's blog as I don't have time this evening. I'm not going to let my current weight get me down. The number is a point in time. I'd actually been feeling slimmer and it's possible I'm losing inches. I really need to dig out my tape measure and start looking at that. I could also be retaining fluid. Tonight I feel super bloated. I read some disturbing facts about the Evening Primrose Oil supplement I've been taking. Side effects include HIGH blood pressure & weight gain ! I started taking it because it supposedly helps with hot flashes, but I still have plenty of them. I tossed the bottle I have and I'm going to return the new one I just bought at Walmart. 

Breakfast was 160 calorie waffles 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 was green beans & a 250 calorie meatloaf sandwich. Evening snack was a carrot cupcake. Total calories are 1130.

I put in 51m25s on the treadmill, plus the usual 12 minutes w/u and c/d for a grand total of 63m25s.

Work was pretty productive today ! I finally reached a point mentally where I could tackle the really complicated projects I've been avoiding this week. I took the next step on all of them and then started on some other items. My project list has really ballooned lately but I'm waiting on other people or departments for a lot of them. I think tomorrow will be another productive day. 

I got a rather odd message today from the kid that gave me the first estimate for siding. He said he only gave me the cost for "labor". Say what ?!?! You wait 3 weeks to tell me that ? I had no intention of going with him, especially considering my 2nd estimate was $40k ($30k after a recalculation with cheaper siding) and my 3rd estimate was $48k plus the cost of wood to replace any rotted siding (likely at least $3k per the guy that gave me the estimate, so the cost was closer to $51k). At this point it's unlikely I will ever do business with him, because I feel like that is shady. I was thinking I might need to have the garage roof done and thought I'd offer him that job, but I'm rethinking that. He's young and just getting started but if you're giving an estimate it needs to include material costs. At the very least he should have told me then that his price only included labor ! My 4th and final siding estimate was $42k and that includes everything, so that is the one I'm going with. The guy is coming Tuesday to go over the plan and he'll be bringing the contract. I'm going to walk around the house with him again and make sure we are clear on what he is doing before I sign anything.

So tomorrow starts Month 5 of Nutrisystem 2.0 and I have got to do a better job. I'm giving myself a 30 day challenge of NO extra's. That's a really, really tough challenge. I was going to get the Total Gym set back up after work today but the litter boxes and laundry room in general needed attention, so I did that while my dinner was cooking. I also got the shake tubs into the cabinet in the pantry ! I stopped doing a 3rd workout because my free time in the evening is so limited and I do like to watch a little tv and relax. I'd be fine with using the Total Gym in the evening because I can watch tv at the same time. So a little more exercise and a lot less food is the plan ! 

On that note, I'm going to have my evening snack, feed the cats, chug my mag & Meta and then go to bed !