Day 43: Yes It Is

 

Sunday September 29, 2024

Here is the link to my original Day 43. It was  Friday February 15, 2019. My headline that day was "Peace Is A Journey". I was feeling pretty peaceful at that time and I'm starting to reach that point today. I'm beginning to accept that I may not find a job and retirement may be my only alternative. Although I'm not ready to be retired, I am financially secure enough to get through the next couple of years before Medicare kicks in. That is a big relief and not something most 62 year old single people can say.

I got up around 9 am today and only had the new mama cat waiting for me outside. Much later the friendly young male showed up, but the other mama and the younger male were nowhere to be seen. Hopefully that means someone else is feeding them ! Minnie seems to be doing better now that she is eating mostly wet food. I will never leave her alone overnight again. She's fine if I'm out for the day or for a few hours, but that is it. She is so funny - it seems like she has a "bedtime" and last night around 11:30 she basically demanded that I get off the couch so she could settle in for the night ! I was sitting on the couch scrolling my phone (I know, I know) and she was meowing insistently at me. She didn't need food or treats and she didn't want to sit with me. As soon as I got up and put her blanket on my cushion, she hopped right up and curled up to snooze. I guess she's used to be going to bed much earlier and it was rather comical. I guess I'll start going upstairs earlier, lol !

After my breakfast and first cup of coffee I finally took a shower and washed my hair. It always feel so good and I was glad to check those 2 items off my "to do" list. I dusted off the scale I have upstairs but it seems like the battery is dead, so I'll see about replacing that. I also need to clean off the coating of hair spray .. yuck ! I have a working scale downstairs but sometimes it's easier to weigh myself upstairs. 

I didn't make it to the treadmill for my 2nd workout yesterday. Instead, I spent hours scrolling my phone ! Grrrr ... I am SO mad at myself ! I am determined to kick that habit, so I started by deleting TikTok from my phone. It's bad enough that I get lost in Instagram reels.

Breakfast was 160 calorie waffles with sugar free syrup and much later, an 80 calorie yogurt. Morning snack was a 155 calorie chocolate shake with peanut butter powder. Lunch was the usual 220 calorie pepperoni pizza melt and a chef salad. Afternoon snack was an 80 calorie cheese stick and 100 calorie crackers. Dinner was 220 calorie rotini & meatballs and 12 pieces of fried eggplant. Evening snack was a 140 calorie chocolate cupcake. That puts my calories at 1155 plus the calories from the breading and oil on the eggplant. I don't have anymore of the fried variety, so it'll be a while before I have that again.

Looking at the radar, it appears the remnants of Hurricane Helene went out to sea, so it doesn't look like we'll get any rains from it. We do have rain and cooler temps in the forecast for the week ahead, but it's nothing drastic. Typical fall weather really. I was going to go to the grocery store today but I really don't need anything today so I'm going to wait and go tomorrow. There will likely be fewer people out and about. I'll get gas, go to Wegman's and then stop at Walmart. If the oil change place isn't packed I'd like to get my oil changed. It's the end of the month so they may be slammed with inspections. We'll see !

I got dressed about noon, made my shake and had my yogurt. I resolved to be on the treadmill by 1 pm. I also checked in on my bank account to make sure all was well. I also treated myself to a skincare set from Beekman 1802. The products I have are getting low (I bought them in January) and I bought a $175 set today. I almost bought the 3 products individually but at the last minute I decided to review the sets they have to see if any of them included the products I was buying. I found one that had the exact same items, was $2 less than I was spending AND it included 3 additional products ! The total was $189 with tax, but it is the one luxury I will allow myself. It comes with the new jumbo size bloom cream, which is great because you can purchase refills for it at a lower cost. This item alone is $82 but refills are only $68. I am trying to take better care of my skin and I like these products, so it's well worth the expense.

I didn't make it to the treadmill until after 2 pm, but all that matters is that I got there ! I did the Hauru Beach Walk and it was tough. I think I avoided it yesterday, because I was afraid I couldn't do it. That is my avoidant personality disorder showing itself ! Well, it was tough but I did it ! The workout was exactly 20 minutes with the usual 3 minute warm up and 4 minute cool down. My heart rate peaked at 146 according to my Fitbit, which is well below my max heart rate of 165. I will say the 2nd half of the workout wasn't quite so hard, so that is an indication that there is hope to regain my stamina and endurance. I was sweaty after the workout and that's an indication that I worked harder. I didn't have to run to the couch and sit down to rest, so that was a good sign too. Going forward I will do this workout every day until it feels easy. At that point I will move on to the Atlas Mountains workout. After the Atlas Mountains was the first workout in the Kilimanjaro series, the Safari Endurance Hike. I really enjoyed that one (and the series), so I look forward to getting there again. It's a good thing I made the workouts a favorite, as the series is no longer found in the iFit app. The series that included the Hauru Beach Walk is no longer in the app either, so I've learned to "favorite" any workouts or series that I want to be able to repeat. I managed to motivate myself back to the treadmill for workout #2. It was after 7:30 pm but the fact of the matter is, I did it ! I can add another 15m42s plus 3 minute warm up and 4 minute cool down to my stats for the day and this is great !

I feel like I'm starting to make some progress with my diet and exercise goals, so I hope to be able to shed the "Hot Mess Express" photo soon ! I found a new pic that starts off "progress means getting nearer to the place you want to be" and that is exactly where I am headed. I suppose I could say I'm making progress, but I still have a lot of work to do. I'm still finding excuses not to exercise and I'm still not doing enough self-care. 

Tomorrow will be grocery day as I have no more fresh produce and I'm getting low on cat food for the strays. I also need some frozen veggies.

Below is what I achieved today. I am focusing on what I did today and not looking back to what I did or didn't do yesterday.

Make the bed - x

feed cats - x

have breakfast - x

exercise - x x

clean litter boxes - 

take vitamins - 

get dressed - x

have morning snack - x

have lunch - x

have afternoon snack - x

have dinner - x

have evening snack - x

shower - x

skincare - x

brush teeth -