That argument with yourself...

After a long clinical day (I am a nursing student), my plan was to go to the gym to do an ab workout class. I've been to the class before, and really felt it the next day. My gym clothes were in the car, all I had to do was drive there, change quickly, and jump in. But I talked myself out of it :-/

I got a lot of exercise at the hospital today. Almost the self-required 10,000 steps, and I knew I could get above it doing chores this evening in between studying.

I've got two tests this week, and felt like I needed to get home to study ASAP, but that is not an uncommon occurrence. I need to learn to prioritize exercise as well as academics.

I told myself I didn't want to be ultra-sore for my 1st day attempting total care of 3 patients tomorrow. But really, sore abs would not get in the way of a nursing shift. That was a made up excuse.

Next time (Wednesday) I will do better.

Sinking back into bed (2011 week 11 update)

This whole week, all I have wanted to do was sink back into bed. It has been chilly, and rainy. My mood is low. This afternoon when I got home from doing errands I was feeling a low energy and like I wanted to lie down for a minute, so I thought I'd listen to a podcast that I had fallen asleep during last night while lying on my floofy pillow chair in the living room. I fell asleep once again, about mid-podcast. And when I woke up, I was so cold, I decided I really needed to crawl back under the covers upstairs in my bedroom to warm up again. I thought I'd just read for a bit. Hah. I know better.

Now it's 8pm, my ridiculously long weekend is over, and I really do have to buckle down and get a few things done before tomorrow.

And I need to check in here, because it is going to help keep me on track, I hope. I'm down to 335.6, which is back about where I was two weeks ago. I don't know where that came from because I have been seriously overshooting my calorie budget all week, but it could just be water weight coming off I guess. I have been getting some exercise, mostly around the house, moving boxes, painting walls, cleaning, carrying things up and down the stairs. I'll put on a kitchen timer for 45 minutes or an hour and tell myself to keep moving until the timer goes off, to keep getting things done. I always work up a sweat that way, but I know I really should be going to the gym as well.

I got fitted for orthotics today (they took plaster casts of my feet), so I should have those in a couple weeks. Hopefully they will help with the exercise vs foot pain issue.

I have been watching a lot of movies, reading a lot of books. Sort of checking out of reality. I did make an appointment with a counselor for next week to talk about, among other things, stuffing my emotions down with food.

Bronchitis is kicking my a** (2011 Week 8 Update)

So, this week I am down another 2 pounds, going from 337.4 last week to 335.4 this week. Given the way things were going earlier on in the week (I was up to 338 again at one point) I didn't expect that kind of progress, but I think I can mostly credit it to being sick, especially yesterday. I ended up in the ER due to bronchitis/asthma combination and only ate around 1200 calories yesterday.

Today I'm planning on staying home all day, drinking lots of fluids, and hanging out with my kitties. No planned exercise for now! I'm worried because I read online that bronchitis symptoms can last 3-4 weeks. Hopefully I can nip it in the bud earlier than that. My doc prescribed antibiotics but also told me that most cases of bronchitis are viral, so they might not help. Also supposed to take some tylenol to reduce my fever and get lots of rest.

I've been keeping my sugar intake in mind all week and I managed to get my daily average of sugar intake down to around 112g, still higher than what my loseit friends are reporting (40-60g), but much improved over my past values (as high as 250). I am going to keep working at it.

I also did pretty well on protein this week, about 90g on average per day. I tried to have a protein shake with breakfast most days.

I did get myself back to the gym on Friday, for the first time in almost 2 months. Ugh. That's really bad. And because I wasn't feeling well I only walked for about 1/2 hour. But at least it was a step in the right direction.

I am still about a pound behind my gradual yearly goal (which wants me at 334.6 today) but that's fair enough. Life happens, and maybe it's not realistic to lose 2 pounds each and every week. But I will keep striving toward that goal.

A book I've been wanting to read came in at the library, Moose: a memoir of fat camp. It's a very candid look at some of the things that overweight children go through and I'm enjoying reading it.

I wish you all warmth and wellness!

Keeping up on a Hike (2011 Week 4 Update)

My weight took an upswing at the beginning of last week, up to 341.2 again, but by the end of the week I am back down again and another pound lighter. That's not keeping up with my weekly goal but I am still ahead of my year goal by about 4 pounds, which is doing well for the end of January.

So I'm at 337.8 now. I'll update my loss graph below.

I did a hike on Friday with a group of people. I did pretty well keeping up with the crowd, but had some GI crampiness part way through that made it really uncomfortable. A couple of days ago I adjusted my daily calorie goal up to 2800, which is about what the fat2fit BMR calculator says I should be eating, and is on average about where I was eating during the week I lost over 5 pounds.

I've been having some issues with my mood in the last couple days taking a dip. I am hoping it's just a matter of my sleep schedule being off (I slept in until noon yesterday and today)..which could be either a cause or a symptom I guess. Last night I started feeling energetic again around 9:30 but was pretty low when I got up again today.

Today I bought a new workout dvd to try. It's the biggest loser one with Bob and Jillian. My walking buddy has been talking about doing the Wii fit version... and I have a wii but I think buying additional games for it is pretty expensive. Plus, thought I am getting closer, I'm still over the weight limit to use the balance board. So I just got the workout dvd version. I will probably give it a try tomorrow.

I still haven't been back to the gym. I keep putting it on my calendar. With my financial situation right now it might make better sense to just cancel the membership and try to do more at home or outside. I really haven't been using the gym enough to justify the monthly payment.

Next week my tutoring job starts back up again. I am going to try to use the breaks when students don't show up to either study and really get schoolwork done (rather than goofing online) or go for walks if it is nice out.

Quiznos: A Disaster of a Meal (2011 Week 2 Update)

In the last week, I've lost another 3.8 pounds, which I am really excited about. My current weight is 344.6.

This week I again did not make it to the gym. I did a half hour walk on a work break one day and an hour walk today after my weigh in, but otherwise no work-outs. However, it was my second week working my new job that has me on my feet and running around all the time, so essentially I am getting 8+ hours of cardio and occasional weight lifting every day. I'm not logging that exercise to my loseit account, so I expected some additional weight loss surprises beyond what I was budgeting for, and 3.8 pounds down in one week is a pretty good surprise.

I was good on food; brought my lunch to work every day but one. I did by a couple of snacks at a convenience store but I stuck to things like juice and power bars, and didn't go over my calorie limit. My one lunch out was at Quiznos, and when I logged it at the end of the day I found out their regular tuna melt sub has over 1200 calories, plus I had a regular dr. pepper, so that was a disaster of a meal but didn't end up setting me back too much in the end.

I have been seriously stressed out this week, mostly due to stuff going on at work. My body doesn't respond well to stress, in very obvious ways; during my last year of grad school I had chronic unexplained vomiting issues (not intentional purging), and I often get migraines or other GI issues that come up when I am super stressed out. This month although I'm on b.c. pills which usually regulate my cycles pretty well, my period was 8 days late. I am hoping that the various sources of work stress will calm down over the next couple of weeks but in the mean time I need to be really conscious of taking care of myself and getting enough sleep to get through it.

I've updated my weight graph at the bottom of the screen. Feeling good, felt a little stronger when I went for a walk with my friend this morning (though I really need to remember to bring water!). I'm considering canceling my gym membership if I continue to feel like I'm getting all the cardio I need at work. I feel like the weight training aspect is something I'm more likely to do at home with just pushups, crunches, etc. I am going to give it a while before I make that decision though and see how it goes once I feel more in control of things with the new job, new semester starting, etc.

So I'm 37.6 total pounds down from my highest weight. I think when I hit 50 I'll take another comparison picture.