Monday, January 31, 2011

Day #29 Weigh In

I forgot to post my weight from last weigh day, Friday the 28th, it was 225.8!

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Day #31 Blog-a-Versary

Woohoo! Today is my one month blog-a-versary! I've been making (mostly) better choices for 31 days :-)

I worked today and am really tired. I love working on Sundays because there are very few orders and I get to spend more time with the patients doing actual nursing! Today I started 3 IV's and I was pumped. One lady had a non-functioning LFA AV graft, a non-functioning RFA AV graft, and a non-functioning RUA AV graft, and tiny veins on her hands. Her existing SL was a 22G to her R shoulder. Talk about a hard stick! I got a #20 in her RH by feel on my first try, and it made me feel awesome. It took a lot of restraint not to jump up and down from excitement, haha!

I've been doing really well eating wise. I've also been getting in a lot of activity because we've been moving/cleaning. I don't work tomorrow and am going to see if I can find all of my workout gear to get on the treadmill. I'm looking forward to weigh day on Friday!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Day #27 Almost a Milestone

Wow! I'm so excited that it's been almost a month since I committed to a healthier lifestyle. They say it takes 28 days to make a habit, so i'm definitely on my way to making this a habit :-)

On Sunday I had a little meltdown, I was stressed because i'm moving and I ate a light lunch, so when I got off of work at 730 I was beyond starving. I ended up eating a little over 400 calories more that day. We'll see how that affects my weigh day this Friday.

I'm REALLY close to 25 lbs lost or 10% which is a great first victory. If I don't get it this week then I will hopefully be there next week.

I'm really grateful to my friends and family that are either going through this with me (Jav!) or helping me stay focused. I love you!

Friday, January 21, 2011

Day #22 Weigh In

I literally jumped up and down after weighing myself this morning! I'm in the 220's, 227.8 to be exact! I haven't been in the 220's in years. My original goal was to lose 5 lbs by the end of January. After shattering that goal I changed it to 10 lbs by the end of January. After shattering that goal I changed it to "get into the 220's". I destroyed that goal too! I feel AWESOME right now!!!

My next goal is to get into the 210's by the end of February :-) That gives me a little over 5 weeks to lose more than 7.8 lbs. My "big" first goal is to be able to wear my college ring again. I can't believe I've been doing this for 22 days already! I can't wait to see what the next 22 days bring :-).

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Day #17 Confessions

On the 13th I weighed in at 231.4. I was SO happy! I immediately started celebrating and told my sister, my husband, my closest friends, my weight loss companions...I was on top of the world.

Then I woke up on the 14th to weigh myself before going to work and I weighed 231.8! What? How can that be? I weighed less yesterday! I didn't go over my calories, I walked 3.5 miles with two minutes of jogging! I was doing everything right. I was frustrated and pissed and went into work that day with this anger about my "failure" of 0.4 lbs! I'm an IDIOT. Hello! There could be so many culprits, water retention from eating too much salt for example. I realize this now, but in that moment I was upset. Throughout the day my coworkers were eating all this high fat, high cal, delicious looking food and I was eating fruit and a turkey sandwich and healthy snacks! This made me even more angry. I was seriously thinking about going downstairs and getting what they had. I don't know why I didn't, but I'm glad I made the right choice.

When I got home I was exhausted and frustrated and I wanted to turn to my favorite comfort...food. So I looked at my calories for the day, ate a healthy dinner, then figured out exactly how many calories I had left and "binged" on chips and candy. I didn't go over my calories, but I wasn't making good choices. I was doing exactly what got me up to 250 lbs in the first place.  I decided I wasn't going to post my higher weight on this blog, I was going to post my "lighter" weight, but in the end decided not to lie, both to myself and to you.

I drank a LOT of water that day, and when I woke up yesterday I weighed myself again. The numbers started going into the 232's and I jumped off before it finalized a weight. I wouldn't accept that. What was causing this? Was it my "binge" of low fat pringles, or do I retain more water on the days that I work because i'm standing up for such long periods of time? Is 1550 calories not enough for my body at this weight? I don't know, but I was determined to make better choices than the day before. I succeeded.

When I woke up today I weighed 231.8 again. I'm happy with that weight. It's only day 17! I have the REST OF MY LIFE to continue to make good choices. In 17 days I have come down to a weight I haven't been in over a year. That is progress i'm really proud of. I am addicted to food, food is my comfort when i'm stressed/sad, and my first battle (of many i'm sure) with this addiction was a victory!

I have decided not to weigh myself on work days and to try to weigh myself only once a week. I know that will be hard, because I am a scale junkie, but these are part of the good choices I need to make in order to be successful long-term.

Today's breakfast was awesome! One slice of whole wheat bread, one whole egg (scrambled), one half slice of cheese, one tbsp ketchup, and two slices of pre-cooked bacon for 229 calories. This breakfast will keep me full and satisfied from the time I ate it (930) until lunch time!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Day #14 Consistency & Food Scale

The last three days i've been consistent. I have walked at least 3 miles on the treadmill per day, I have eaten 1500 calories or less per day, and I have enjoyed all my food. I also did a "sneak peak" weigh in and will wait to post until tomorrow with the "official" weight.

I have a new motivator to add to my previous list. One of the MD's on my unit calls me a big big big beautiful (insert sweet nickname). When I called him out on the big big big part he said, you're just big! He put his arms out like a body builder pose and said, just big! Ugh! He said this in front of all my coworkers. I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole. I got him back though, which made me feel only slightly better. He was writing with a levitra pen and I told him that they're not passing out pens in md's offices anymore and asked him if he got a free pen when he picked up his prescription. He laughed and admitted I got him (he's in his 70's).

I made one of my hubby's favorite foods on a cold day: beef stew. It normally has onion, garlic, a lot of potato, a lot of carrots, and 2 lbs of stew meat. When I started out counting the calories I almost decided not to make it. Just the flour alone is almost a regular meal! At the suggestion of my husband I decided to cut the entire recipe in half and added celery and calabaza while minimizing the potatoes and carrots. I freaked out when I added up the total calories for the whole crock pot and figured I would only be able to eat 1/8th of it in order to be at a decent calorie count. I was worried it would be too little food, lol! 1/8th of the pot came in at 476 calories. I was FULL from 7pm until 11pm!

There is no way I would be able to be so successful with counting calories if I hadn't gotten a food scale for christmas from my secret santa! Thanks awesome BIL!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Day #12 Travel Success!

I'm on top of the world right now. My stomach feels flatter, I feel better, I have more energy and i'm excited because i'm a candidate for LASIK and already scheduled my surgery! I've been wearing contacts for 13 years and i'm really looking forward to waking up and instantly being able to see!

I was out of town yesterday and did really well with staying under my calories even though I ate really good food throughout the day. For breakfast I had an egg sandwich, for lunch chicken enchilada soup, and for dinner panda express fried rice and orange chicken. I'm getting the hang of the calorie budget! If I know i'm going to eat heavy at a certain meal, I need to eat light for my other meals.

Today as soon as I got home from driving 4.5 hrs I put on my walking shoes and got on the treadmill. I started walking on January 5th on non-work days last week and so far I've walked 10 miles!

I can't wait until my next weigh in!

Friday, January 7, 2011

Day #8 Weigh In

This week has been awesome. I'm excited about the food choices i've made, and the exercise choices i've made!! I can honestly say I haven't felt this good in a long time.

So anyway, here we go. My original weigh in from Day 1 was 242.2. Today my weight is 235! I've lost 7.2 lbs! I'm really, really excited about that because I have only been counting calories since Day 4.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Motivators

I started thinking last night about things that I've experienced that can help motivate me through the tough times, and I want to list them out here to be able to reference them when I need them:

-Patients asking me when i'm due
-Last year at Busch Gardens the ride guy had to jam the bar down because it almost wouldnt click and I felt like I couldn't breathe and was in pain the whole ride. This will never happen to me again.
-My grandmother who has alzheimers asking me when i'm due
-My coworkers asking me what NFL team I play for (because i'm big and I have broad shoulders)
-Walking around in public with my 6' 155lb husband and having people stare at us...I always feel like they're thinking...what does he see in her?
-My coworkers pointing out every fat lady in the hospital and calling my name out as if they were calling her
-Every time I start a "diet" my mother in law talks to me in this tone of voice that says "we'll see how long this lasts". She even one time said, well, let's see if you can stick with it. I will prove her wrong.
-Being the only fat bridesmaid...every time

Workout!

On the treadmill I walked:

Pace: 3.5
Calories: 285
Time: a little over an hour
Kilometers: 5.4

Yay! I walked a 5K today :-)

NSV!

Last night I had a major non-scale victory! We went to olive garden last night and I had a game plan going in and stuck to my plan. I was satisfied when we left and I didn't feel like barfing like I normally do. Did you know each breadstick is 150 calories, and I used to eat at least 5 of them during one sitting, disgusting! I also squeezed in 30 minutes of exercise before dinner last night which I'm also proud of because I could have easily just skipped it.


I recruited more people to help keep me accountable with my weight loss. I have one friend that's interested in just making better choices and doesn't care about the scale. I have another friend who is just as competitive as I am and is willing to compete with me on the scale. I have my sister who is starting a biggest loser competition in her town (she has already lost 50 lbs and is having a hard time losing the last 20). I also have one of my besties who I mentioned in my first post that is also doing it with me.

Today my plan is to stay within my calorie budget, do the treadmill for an hour after lunch and then 30 minutes with my personal trainer before bedtime.

I work again tomorrow, a major challenge food-wise, but I have confidence in myself that I can make good choices even when everyone around me isn't. When I first started working I was bringing my own meals from home and everyone laughed at me and said, everyone here gains weight, no one loses, you'll see. I'm going to prove them wrong!

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Day #5 236.8!

Yay! I'm so excited about today's weight, I need little rewards like this to help keep me motivated. Also, my scans showed nothing acute, so today I will exercise.

I've noticed that if I eat half the portion size I normally want, that it is a "normal" portion. I know that in time my stomach will get used to these smaller portions and I won't feel as hungry. In the mean time I'm trying to fill up the rest of the space on water or crystal light.

I made an awesome breakfast of one slice of bread, half a slice of cheese, a tbsp. of ketchup, and one egg cooked with spray butter (0 cal) for a total of 189 calories. I tend to eat the same foods over and over again, even when i'm not cutting back, and I think this will become one of my staples. I'm really looking forward to my weigh in on Friday!

Update: I cleaned house for two hours and then did 30 mins of cardio with my kinect personal trainer.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Day #4

Today was an awesome day! I still have 180 calories left for today. I missed breakfast because I woke up too late, had a 485 calorie lunch, and a 460 calorie dinner. I made sure to drink a lot of water and crystal light and pending the results of my ct's I can't wait to start exercising!

I almost had a breakdown earlier but I made smart choices and made it through. When I was at the hospital today waiting for my scans I saw one of the ICU nurses walking by with a bunch of bags of chickfila and I got such a strong craving for it that I HAD to have it. On my way home I decided to get a 4 ct nuggets (no sauce) for 135 calories and a yogurt parfait with granola for 290 calories for a total of 425 calories. I was so proud of myself! I would normally order 8 or 12 ct nuggets, a large fry, and a large half diet lemonade half unsweet tea for a grand total of 950 calories, so today I had less than half of what I would normally eat. Success!

My "official" weigh in day will be on Friday but if I have a decent loss i'll post an update before.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Soda!

Soda is one my biggest weaknesses. I had not had a single soda since "day 1", and today I had the last one from the refrigerator. It tasted horrible, it tasted like the Coke I had on our honeymoon in Mexico, really really sweet. I drank the whole thing though and don't have a good enough excuse as for why. Today was my husband's birthday and he started out the day by getting breakfast from McDonalds, a treat I would normally devour in minutes. He got me orange juice, a bacon egg and cheese biscuit, and a hashbrown. I ate half the hashbrown, the whole biscuit sandwich, and 1/3 of the juice, an improvement to previous eating habits but I felt horrible after eating it.

We invited one of our best couple friends over to watch a football game and celebrate his birthday and I made queso and chips, pigs in a blanket, doritos with bean dip, cucumbers, broccoli and baby pickles with ranch dip. The pigs in a blanket were half a hot dog with 1/4 of a cheese slice surrounded by an entire croissant. I ate a ridiculous amount of food: 4 pigs in a blanket, which equals a slice of cheese, four croissants and two hot dogs, a lot of doritos and bean dip, half a cucumber with ranch dip and a pickle. Then, I made an angel food cake and put regular white frosting on it (with a lime squeezed in it and lime shavings) and plenty of strawberries to top it off and had a big slice of that. This was at 4pm.

All day today my hip and low back have been very, very painful after falling about 4 ft directly onto my left hip a couple weeks ago. I finally broke down and took a pain pill, but it only cut the pain down about 50%. I really want to get on the treadmill and help make up for some of the damage I did earlier but I don't think that would help my hip. I think it's probably just a soft tissue injury, but i'm going to get some scans done tomorrow anyway. Right after I fell, my arm, neck, and leg were very sore in addition to my hip, but now those other areas don't bother me and my hip still does, leading me to think that maybe something else is going on...I guess I'll know either way tomorrow!

Since I ate such a large meal so late in the afternoon I haven't been hungry for dinner, and I think i'm just going to have a small soft serve cone from McDonalds for dinner and then go to bed.

On day one I was really excited about doing weight watchers because I had the weight watchers tool on my phone. I guess ww has a totally new program now and the app on my phone isn't calculating points right so i'm just going to stick to however many calories a day my current weight allows on ww. Right now I would be at 31 points a day, so i'm going to eat no more than 1550 calories a day.

I'm really proud of eating less at breakfast, but I am disapointed in myself with lunch. Every day is going to bring new challenges, and a birthday was a big challenge for me to face early on. Lesson learned and i'm starting over right now. I'm not going to let this setback derail me like I always do. Just because I "messed up" doesn't mean that I will never win this battle! I will make better choices tomorrow.

Happy New Year! 238.2!

Yesterday was another great shift! I was "closing" my notes at 5 and helped out the other nurses for the rest of my shift. I started out with 6 patients and ended with 5 (I normally have 7-8). Wow, what a difference one or two less patients makes! I was actually able to spend time in the rooms, listen to the patients ramble on about this or that, and make them feel better with my corny jokes :-)

You always hear about nurse-to-patient ratios, and all the factors that go into deciding what that ratio is...but from my perspective, on my floor, 6 patients would be perfect!

Yesterday I did not eat ultra healthy meals, and did not keep track of the nutrition facts. However, I did not drink a single soda (I normally have 2-3 a day), and I cut down on all portions. Today, after eating breakfast and drinking a lot of water (so deduct about a million pounds for that) I weighed 238.2 :-) Down 4 lbs (water weight)! My initial goal for January was 5 lbs but I think i'm going to up it to 10 lbs.

I hope you have a great year!