Day 7: The End of Week One

 

Here is the link to my original Day 7 on Nutrisystem. It was Thursday January 10, 2019. I was still absorbing the shock of our office closing and Tigger passing away. I was on the third vacation day of the new year, mostly because of the plumbing issue that started on Tuesday but repairs weren't finished until Wednesday. It was a cold and dreary winter day and I sat at home watching movies on TCM. I was feeling pretty alone. I wasn't yet exercising because calories the first week are under 1000, which is pretty drastic when you weigh 300 pounds !

The new Day 7 dawned bright, sunny and warm. I don't know what the temp was when I got up, but it was likely in the high 60's. By late afternoon we were at 77. The scale read 280 this morning and I suspect my first week will result in no weight loss. Lesson learned ? I don't know. All I can do is try harder next week. 

I chose today's photo because it's a good representation of where I am. Every day I set goals and most days I fail to achieve them, so I keep finding myself saying I'll try again tomorrow. Is it better to set no goals ? My fear is no goals means I will ignore the things I need to do even more. However, every time I fail to achieve a goal I feel discouraged. Here's the thing: I know what I need to do to lose the weight. I just need to do those things every day. Simple. Losing weight and getting fit is not easy but it's also not impossible if you try. So I'm just going to try a little harder each day.

I spent the morning watching YouTube and playing Cookie Jam. I surpassed level 4000 and I believe at the time my job ended I was in the 1700's .. so I've completed a lot of levels ! However, there are players up near 12,000 so I have a long, long way to go. They add new levels all the time so I'm not sure I will ever reach "the end". I'm not sure I want to, since you then have to wait for new levels to be released. The game is a good distraction from being unemployed. Call it my escape. I guess this is better than turning to drugs or alcohol. Food is my coping mechanism and in recent months its contributed to my additional weight gain and my inability to motivate myself to get back on track with food and exercise. Knowing this and being able to do anything about it are two entirely different things !

Breakfast was 150 calorie pancakes with low cal syrup. Around noon I had an 80 calorie yogurt. Lunch was a 220 calorie pepperoni pizza melt around 2:45 pm. I also enjoyed a Diet Coke, which tends to make me feel full for a little while. I finally made my lunch salad at 4:30, which is great because I'll be able to eat dinner pretty late ! The later I eat dinner, the less the chance I'll be tempted to snack. It was nearly 5:30 by the time I finished my salad. I didn't have an afternoon snack and skipped right to dinner around 7:30. I microwaved a bowl of carrots and had a 260 calorie roasted turkey medallions with mashed potatoes. By 8 pm I was sitting here fat and full ! Veggies really are the key to a diet because they fill you up. Evening snack was a 140 calorie cupcake with whipped cream and a small scoop of the remaining ice cream. I had intended to throw it away but that didn't happen ! There is a tiny bit left and then I'll be done with it, just in time for the end of summer ! My total calories are 850 but I have to count the breakfast syrup, the salad items (olives, feta, dressing), the whipped cream and the ice cream. That likely brings me close enough to 1200 for the day.

In AT&T news, the strike goes on and if the bargaining updates from the union are any indication this strike is not going to end soon. I feel bad for the folks out there on the picket lines as I understand they lose their health benefits after today. I don't see how that can be. When I was on strike in 1986 our medical benefits were good for 30 days. I remember what a mess the office was after the strike. We worked OT for a long time to clear the backlog and I always felt that what what we gained in the new contract did not make up for a month of lost wages. I hadn't even been employed a year when that happened and by the time we went back to work I was nearly broke. I was living in an apartment so I had rent to pay. I didn't have a car at the time, so I was lucky I didn't have that expense. I was only 24 so I was pretty naive and didn't think about saving money, but even if I had with less than a year on the job and bills to pay I didn't have a lot of extra money to put in the bank. We never had another strike, so this is the first one in 38 years for the work I used to do. I hope the a-hole that laid off all the managers in May is getting slammed for his handling of the business unit ! Couldn't happen to a nicer jerk.

In positive news, I'm finding that scrolling reels on Instagram is less entertaining to me these days. I guess I got that out of my system because most of them are just stupid and really annoying. Some creators put a lot of time and effort into props, story lines and backgrounds for their skits while others do not. Holding a bottle of perfume as a "phone" is stupid and just lazy. You can buy a cheap phone without even activating it and use that for your skits. Same goes for those who hold up a phone case as a "phone". There's one girl that pretends to be a restaurant waitress but just sits there switching back and forth on her laptop and delivering one sided dialogue. How lazy can you get ? If you're going to be a "creator" then put some effort into it. I'm also very much over the "ASMR" (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) reels. I don't find some broad tapping her fake nails or squeezing product out of a pastry bag entertaining. I'm over the fake customer complaint videos too. People use those to try and gain followers and most of their stories are not true. I've never been a fan of the "get ready with me" stuff either. Girl, slather your 17 layers of makeup on privately ! I reviewed the people & pages I follow today and ended up deleting 20 of them. I tend to do this periodically as my interests change and new creators come to my attention. Other things I'm tired of are politics, Brangelina, Bennifer and every other celeb that people are obsessing over. Who really cares about these people ? They could care less about their "fans" .. they are all about power and money. I've never been one to "fangirl" over a celebrity. Oh sure, when I was younger I was attracted to young handsome stars but I was under no illusion that it mattered to anyone but me. Any show I watched with a handsome actor was only because I enjoyed the show. I didn't watch to drool over the star. I just don't understand the level of obsession young people today have. It's just not healthy. I make my own decisions based on what I know or believe in. I don't go by what the celeb of the hour thinks. It's a little too cultish these days. I swear Taylor Swift fans would jump off a cliff if she told them to. Totally not healthy. I don't know .. maybe I'm just a cranky old lady.

I forgot to clean out the litter box after I fed the cats this morning, but I got it done this afternoon. So far Minnie seems fine with just having one. Keeping it clean is super important so that's a "goal" I cannot ignore.

Around 6 pm I decided to head upstairs and take a look at the tub spout. because I want to take a shower without having it cause a water spot on the dining room ceiling. Turns out my spout is the screw on type and it was loose and not tightly sealed to the shower enclosure wall. I took it off and cleaned it good, then screwed it back on tightly. I had a tube of silicone I bought a while back, so I used some of that to seal it all around. I turned the shower on and checked behind the wall as my pipe access is in a cabinet right next to the tub. I saw nothing leaking, so I think the biggest problem was leaking around that spout because it was loose and not sealed. I will wait until tomorrow to shower so that the silicone can dry. I still need to redo the caulking around the whole tub but that is a job for another day. Once I've done that and am sure there is no more leaking I can sand and paint the dining room ceiling. It's only a small area and I think I can handle it. I may also throw a plastic tarp in that space behind the wall, to catch anything that might leak in the future. It would be easy enough to check periodically.

In the spirit of trying again, tomorrow is another day. I'd like to mow the lawn unless Doug happens to come by. That effort will easily take the place of any treadmill workout. If Doug happens to come by and do the lawn then I'll be on the treadmill. I also plan to take a shower. The silicone on the tub spout should be set by then. Being that the spout is seated tightly, it shouldn't move and allow water to get behind it. I plan to check behind the tub after my shower as well. That's about it for my Sunday goals. There are other things around the house that need to be done but there is no urgency. The kitchen needs to be cleaned up and the upstairs bathroom needs a good scrub. A quick mop of the floor and I can put my bathroom rugs down. They are washed and ready to go but I didn't want to put them down until I was sure the flea problem was under control. I didn't see any today, so that is a good sign ! 

All in all, today was a good day !