Day 143 through 145: Hello Sunshine

 

Time for a new mission statement. My goal for 2025 was to lose 100 pounds by 12-31-25 but I've failed miserably. At some point I need to pick myself up and try. A realistic goal at this point is 50 pounds by 12-31-25, so that is where I will start. When will I start ? I don't know .. do I need a "starting point" ? I don't. Every day that I don't "start" just adds to my misery. I plan to just take each day as it comes and do what I can to move closer to where I want to be. Life has changed and I haven't been able to adapt just yet.

Time to catch up, yet again ! It's Tuesday May 27th ! Sunday was mostly sitting on the couch watching YouTube, playing the slots or scrolling my phone but I did get outside for a little bit. I had gone out to sweep off the back stoop and I was checking out my rhododendron, which is starting to bloom. I noticed the dead remnants of last years blooms all over the place and I also had some dead branches on the lilacs, so I ended up picking off the dead stuff and then grabbed my clippers to get rid of all the dead branches. I'm not sure how long I was out there but I'd say it was more than 30 minutes, so I got my exercise for the day ! Everything looks so much nicer now. I must have inspired my neighbor as I saw her out there working in her yard not long after I came inside ! Yesterday I did nothing but a load of wash.

It's been unexpectedly sunny so I've been able to open the doors. The sun is warm but the air is cool, so I'm keeping the windows closed. I had the heat off most of the day yesterday and I turned it off this morning as well. We're still have cool nights so I haven't been able to turn it off for the summer yet ! I was up before 8:30 today, which is an accomplishment ! Once the cats were fed I had my breakfast and then played the slots while watching YouTube. It's 11:14 now and the 2nd load of wash is in progress ! As soon as I'm done with this portion of the blog I'm going to head upstairs and change the sheets on my bed. It's high time I start making my bed every day again ! I also need to shower, get dressed and hit the treadmill !

I spent the morning completing my daily slot challenges. Dancing Drums remains steady and I have about 70B coins. 88 Fortunes ate all my coins but I completed the challenge. I wasted all my coins on CluBillion, so I can't blame the game for the fact that I had over 325B coins and now have about 35B. I had fun, so that's all that matters ! Jackpot World continues to be stingy with coins and it's a daily struggle to complete the challenges. This app is on the short list to be deleted soon if things don't improve !

The leggings I want to wear are in the dryer so I'm going to head upstairs for a shower as soon the washer stops. Once I'm showered and dressed I'm heading to the treadmill. 

Well, it's 2:58 pm and I've showered, done my skin care, finished the 2 loads of laundry and had lunch. I made a protein shake, got dressed and put my socks & shoes on. All that is left is to get off this couch and get on the treadmill !

One thing that is preventing me from getting on a schedule is my social media activity. I spend hours scrolling my phone mindlessly. Yet again I've gone through my Instagram and Facebook "likes" and "follows" and removed most of the digital creators I've been following. I sit there and watch video's people make and half of them are so stupid and poorly done. One of the last video's I watched last night was some idiot sitting in her car pretending to be a restaurant server going back and forth with a "customer". Like really ? You can't even use one of the restaurant "green screens" that Insta offers ? There are so many of these lazy so-called creators and I've wasted so much time on this nonsense. I'm even over the ones who do use the green screens and props. Everybody wants to make money on social media but the sad thing is some people are making it their career and when the bust comes (and it will!) they will be ill prepared to earn a living at a real job. I spend very little time on Facebook but since FB and Insta are linked I had to unfollow on both platforms. I do this periodically as I tend to impulsively "like" things and before you know it your feed is flooded with similar content from other creators. The next challenge is going to be avoiding the reel selection on Facebook, as that is where I tend to get sucked in. I also need to avoid the threads section on Insta, as I get sucked in to those too. My last task was unsubscribing from a few YouTube channels that I don't really care about watching. It's long past time to get back to focusing on my diet and exercise goals and the fewer "excuses" I have, the better ! Social media serves a purpose but I believe it has ruined an entire generation. It's also ruined the lives of many so-called "influencers" who get so caught up in their fantasy world that they will do anything to continue to project their false image, with many committing crimes, falling into substance abuse or even losing their lives as their stunts get more and more dangerous. It's really quite sad, so I'm not going to feed those addictions anymore. On that note, it's 3:51 now and time for the treadmill !

It took me long enough .. but as of 5:20 pm my workout is done ! It was 13m01s with the usual 6 minutes of warm up and cool down. I didn't really get that breathless feeling but my left knee was paining me until about the 8 minute mark. My weight is a bit part of that, so the sooner I get some weight off the sooner I will experience less joint pain. Even though tomorrow is rock & roll bingo I am going to make more of an effort to get on the treadmill right after breakfast. I have zero excuses NOT to exercise since I don't go out until about 4:20 pm and it doesn't take me that long to get ready.

From a food perspective, I'm closer to being ready. I used the last pizza crust yesterday and I also had the last pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Reading about their political stance, I will not be buying their brand anymore anyways. My next Nutrisystem order will be delivered soon and I included 12 ice cream sandwiches, so that should satisfy my ice cream cravings ! I still have a few pretzels, including the chocolate covered ones I bought a few weeks back. I also still have fudge, which I will likely freeze since I haven't touched it. We'll call that my emergency sweets kit ! I think I have 6 hash browns left as well. Boy, they are SO good when you air fry them ! I have an unopened bag of Hershey's fun size chocolate bars with almonds and a few pieces left from the bag of fun size Twix. That's really all the "bad" stuff in the house. My plan is to ignore all of that and stick to the plan. I do have a large bag of frozen corn, which will add calories that I'm ok with. I can't eat green beans every day. Speaking of green beans, buying the large cans was a great idea IF you eat them up within a couple days. The last can I opened I had one serving and then they sat in the fridge. They may be "good" but I'm tossing them anyway. I reheated some last night and it seemed like some of them got really mushy. Lesson learned. When I open a can I need to be disciplined enough to eat them all, otherwise I might as well buy the small cans and have zero waste. I wish Nutrisystem had more entrees that would pair well over riced cauliflower. I can't eat it plain as it has zero flavor. Perhaps I will try sauteing it with onions & mushrooms and some seasonings. Having a third vegetable in rotation would be great !

Shortly before my workout mama cat was an the back door looking to eat. I suspect she is pregnant but she also had 3 males with her. The old orange male and 2 others that I typically only see when they're sniffing around the female. My neighbor had the other female trapped but for whatever reason they haven't taken this one too. I really wish they would so that she can end the cycle of litter after litter. I haven't seen any of her kittens in a while so I suspect they don't survive, which is a very sad but common outcome among feral cats. I do the best I can by feeding them. Considering she is the only female, once she is gone I will likely stop putting food out unless I continue to see the males.

On a lighter note, I'm excited to wear one of my new tops to bingo tomorrow ! I've been wearing the same shirts in rotation for months and I'm ready for something fresh and new. However, I also look forward to growing out of these tops and going back to shopping in the non-plus sizes and wearing my size 10 jeans !