47

I am really beginning to wonder, if it's possible for me to lose weight. I am 47 now and the weight seems like it holds on tighter every year, and has no desire to go anywhere. I know they claim it's consuming less calories than you burn but it seems much harder than that. Since I can't keep living like this then I know that I must try this journey again. I know it will be difficult but I must try.

surving the midnight shift

  So far so good with the midnight shift, I am packing a lunch and snacks and planning ahead of time what to eat and when.  I eat dinner before I leave, so from 6:00PM to 10:00PM there is no time to even think about eating.  About 10:00 I drink a V-8 juice with some Tabasco sauce in it to get some energy and vegetables, around midnight I eat my dinner.  The last 2 nights I have ate the roasted chicken from Sam's with a side of veggies, about 3 I eat a small snack, either rice cakes, baked chips, etc.  Around 6 am I eat a banana and it usually holds me over.  I have been drinking a lot of sugar free kool-aid and it has really been keeping me full.  I know that this is not truly every 2 hours but considering the environment it is working well so far.  My first weigh in for the contest is Feb 7 so we have a week to see how good we can do.

So far the 2 hours is working good, if anything I forget to eat in 2 hours.  The purpose in the 2 hours isn't all about calories but is to try to boost my metabolism and I feel like that may be working.  I have been up early and energetic throughout the day.  Tonight is a true test.  I work midnights tonight and will have to do some major planning to keep my energy up.  I am thinking subway sandwich, baked chips, v-8 juice, fiber one bar and banana for breakfast, a thermos of coffee and some veggie snacks.  Broken up every 2 hours we will see what this does for my energy level.  I really want to win this contest and so far am off to a great start.  Today I measured my cereal and milk ate soup for lunch and worked right through my morning snack (oops)  Will try to do better this afternoon.

12 Week Better Body Challenge

This week I entered the 12 week Better Body Challenge in Desoto.  I weighed in the evening, fully clothed at 268.  I have hit it hard already and have begun to shake the pounds.  I have worked out 2 days in a row but have had to be careful because I picked up a virus of some kind which caused me to miss work Thursday night.  I really want to win this contest, not just for the prize but this is the motivation I need to get back in shape.  I am using the every 2 hour eating plan. I have used this plan before but this time with a new mindset.  Before I used to be oh it's two hours before I get to eat again, now it's hey I only need to eat enough to hold me for two hours.  I have upped my intake of fruits and veggies and am carrying a water bottle around where ever I go.  Three days without soda have given me a boost but we will see how I hold out on that one once midnights roll around again.  Cheer me on and encourage me as I will do my best to make you proud.

So my journey begins, again!

I am finally ready to kick off the weight loss regimen for the year 2013.  I am very embarrassed to say that I begin at a unhealthy 266. What is really frustrating about this is I held very steady until the fall of 2012 but then my weight began to come on fast and furious.  What is really crazy is I am not completely sure why.  I have only ate out about 2-3 times over the last few months.  I didn't really change a lot in my eating habits that I am aware of but obviously I have done something completely different.  I did have some digestive issues going on that have now been corrected but still a little puzzled.  Well today we will begin to chart my food and exercise and see if I can determine what the problem is.  The one thing I know that I have right now that I am trying to part with is stress.  I am really trying to plan my future regarding my job and our finances and this has caused an extra amount of stress.  I am working on giving that over to the Lord so we will see if that may have been a major part of my problem.

I'm Back

                                                                                            


April 16, 2012

I'm back after way to long but I must come back full force.  Getting used to 12 hours days has taken some adjustment but I'm slowly getting there.  What makes it hard is I can drop 5 pounds over 2 twelve hour shift but then put in right back on.  My weight has stayed under control for the most part but I am finding my eating to get sloppy.  A lot of people can't believe I put this out for the world to see but the fact is it really worked and kept me on my toes.  Working at the hospital on the heart floor, I see that every single patient has one thing in common,  it is high blood pressure.  You would think it would be fat or obesity but that is not the case.  High blood pressure will kill you.


Weight 249

60 hours this week!

One of these days I  will have time to work out again.  I will really be ready to get my own hours.  Right now I am working under my  preceptor's schedule and it's running me ragged.  I put in a request today for weekend options so I am praying that is it's God's will it will happen.  My weight is staying the same and my body is taking a beating.  I can lose several pounds throughout the day while working but then gain it right back on the off day in between.  I need to get back to the gym but between working the hospital, the daycare and studying I can't imagine how I can make it work.  Sorry I am doing such a bad job with the blog and my weight loss but a few more weeks and I will be on my own schedule and then I can get back in swing of things.

Burning the cals on the floor

Who would have ever thought that I would get such a good workout working as a nurse.  For 12 hours straight I am on my feet racing from room to room with only 30 minutes for lunch.  This morning I weighed in at 248, the problem is on the off days I am to tired and find my body wanting to eat to make up for the days I don't get to.  Now I need to find a balance between the two.  Hopefully I can keep burning the calories and not let my body adjust to walking so far every work day.

Is my heart happy?

Ok I'm back on the road to making my heart happy.  The weight at this point in time is 253 but this will not be my main focus instead it is to make my heart happy.  This morning I started off with a subway breakfast sandwich using egg whites and then had a yogurt fruit parfait for snack.  Lunch was a turkey sandwich on low cal wheat bread with some popcorn.  Dinner was gumbo over a bed of whole grain rice.  Today I had to get my oil changed and usually sit in the waiting room but not today.  To make my heart happy I took a walk around the parking lot while I waited for them to finish.  Not the greatest day but for the most part I feel good about today.  Tomorrow I am back at the hospital and will be walking for 12 straight hours.  Lets see if I can eat right to keep my heart happy.

An early morning Epiphany

Yesterday after I posted I had an epiphany (even though I barely know what that means). I realized where I got off track in my weight loss battle.  It happened in July of last year.  When I first started this blog it was as the name implies for my heart.  I started the journey not so much worried about weight loss but worrying about whether what I was eating was good for my heart or not.  By making healthy choices the weight began to peel off and my blood pressure and cholesterol began to change.  By July I was losing weight and I knew that I was graduating nursing school so I set a weight loss goal to reach by graduation.  Looking back I know realize this was a big mistake because I began to focus on the scale much more than my heart.  What I have fought since July is discouragement and going back and forth on my weight loss battle which should have just been a get healthy and stay healthy battle.  I found myself satisfied during Christmas just to maintain my weight rather than making healthy choices.  So it begins again, eating for my heart and the healthiness will soon follow.  The truth is if I never lost another pound and ate healthy every day I would be better off than losing another 50 pounds and eating unhealthy. 

Who thought the new year could be so busy?

I can't believe I would ever be so busy that I couldn't take a few minutes to blog.  My schedule has been so off that it is really becoming crazy and I haven't even switched to midnights yet.  This week I worked 3, 14 hour days and one 11 hour and a nice short 7 hour day.  The problem with working like this is that I have no time to plan.  What I find myself doing, (which I know better) is eating when I get home.  With only a 30 minute lunch break you would think it would be easy to peel the weight right off but eating late at night is a step towards disaster.  I am going to try to sit down this weekend and make an eating plan that puts me back on the road to success.  Just to show how mixed up my schedule is I am typing this blog at 4:00 A.M. I was so looking forward to sleeping in when I went to bed at 11:00 last night.

Working makes me hungry

I started off the morning 250.4 pounds and headed to work for a 13 hour work day.  I ate a turkey sausage breakfast sandwich for lunch and leftover chicken and dumplings with some very good veggies for lunch.  My problem was I starved all day long.  I have no idea why but I could not get full I finally bought a candy bar (even though I really did not want it and it didn't even start to fill me up.  This was not a mental hunger I was genuinely hungry and have no idea why.  When I got off work I ran by McDonald's and ordered a double burger without cheese a small fry.  So much for eating healthy but tonight's weight upon arriving home was only 252.  Not sure what kicked my metabolism in but something did.  It maybe that I walk continuously for 12 hours straight at work. I am really curious how far we walk a day (one of the nurses heard it equaled about 5 miles a day)  back at it tomorrow and hopefully better snacks and a better plan.

Jan 1 2012

Here we are January 1 and ready to start fresh.  Now what is crazy is I have never started my resolutions on Jan 1, I have always waited until Jan 2.  Why, because I consider the 1st a holiday.  I know there are leftovers laying around and the day is for lounging so tomorrow morning begins my journey.  My goal for Dec was to stay below 250 and I did real good and just crossed over this morning.  The goal for this year is 40 more pounds off.  I would love to make a bigger goal but doing 40 a year has seemed to work real well without torturing myself.  40 pounds is just a little over 3 pounds a month and is very feasable.  My plan is to get involved in weight lifting as it seemed to be my biggest benifit. 

Biggest weakness last year was stress eating.  With ending school, taking my state boards and starting a new job.

Biggest challenge this year will be switching to midnights and learning how to eat while working 14 hour days. and squeezing in workouts.

Surviving December

My goal was to survive December and keep my weight below 250.  So far so good but it has not been easy.  The cold and early darkness are beginning to make me lazy.   The cookies laying around and all the Christmas snacks are torture but just a few days left.  I started a new job this month that is really is going to make it tough to follow a healthy diet. The days are 14 hours long and if lucky allow you to squeeze in a 30 minute lunch break and requires a lot of walking throughout the day.  My hope is that by relaxing the diet during December it will help shock my body in January when I begin to hit it full force again.

Day 23-25 and beyond

well it came and went and I ran the 5K Thanksgiving morning in 29:40 which beat my goal of 30 minutes.  It really felt good to run before stuffing the turkey and we had almost 20 family members show up to run with us.  Last year there were 28 runners and this year there were 288 runners.  I have not been doing real good since it has been cold, dark and gloomy and the winter makes me want to cook but my weight is holding steady.  I plan on trying to keep my weight around the 245 mark until the new year and then begin my weight loss progress again.  I have been working hard during the day trying to burn some cals to make up for the laziness at night.

Day17-22

Well I used to think that stress was my biggest weakness when it comes to eating right but now I have added another, being busy.  When we go to work and then stay late, 2 funerals, running the kids all over the place, etc, etc.   It's an absolute killer. I am discouraged because I have trained for this 5k more so than all of the others but I feel like I am in worse shape now and I am not sure why.  My diet may be the biggest factor but I am also going to try to squeeze in a visit to the chiropractor because sometime this affects my breathing. with 2 days left my goal is far from being met but all I can do is keep trying.

Day 16 challenge

Today I had my physical for my new job.  I was pretty excited about it but was disappointed when I received my cholesterol results back.  My total cholesterol was good and my glucose levels as well but my HDL and LDL were pretty bad.  I really do not feel like I consume that much fat and cholesterol in my foods.  The only bad thing was I just finished up our anniversary weekend and ate worse than I usually do but I am unsure if one weekend can really effect the results that much.  Me and my daughter ran 3.2 miles tonight in a disappointing 34 minutes.  I really want to run the Thanksgiving 5K in less than 30 minutes but I have a lot of work ahead of me to accomplish this goal.

Day 11-14

Finally feeling better and had a new challenge to overcome for the weekend but I feel I was pretty successful at the challenge.  I took my wife to Kansas City for the weekend and was unsure how to balance eating out with my wife on our anniversary weekend and still meeting the challenge.  We were very careful and ended up eating really good while on our trip.  I enjoyed not having that stuffed feeling after leaving a restaurant.  Saturday morning I awoke early and got in the best run I may have ever had.  I have no idea the time or the distance but I ran a steady pace for a solid 30 minutes and then walked another 15.  Then this morning I biked in the gym for 30 minutes and added to the walking we did throughout the day several miles at least I covered the exercise well.  I have no idea what it did to the scale but I gave it a great shot.

Day 9 and 10 challenge

Well these two days were a bust as sickness decided to run its course.  Started as a cold and turned into a stomach virus. Not only could I not exercise but I couldn't eat.  The scale will probably prove this later but I have learned any weight I ever lose while sick comes right back on immediately.  Hopefully day 11 I will feel much better and get a few miles in on the road.

Day 7 and 8

Yesterday wasn't a bad Sunday as we enjoyed a morning Bible study and a trip to Lone Elk Park.  Tried to keep the eating under control and didn't do to bad with it.  Had a biscuit for breakfast and smoked boston butt for lunch/dinner.  I woke up on Monday morning and have dropped 5 pounds so far on the challenge.  I had and egg sandwich for breakfast, smoked butt for lunch and dinner.  So far I have avoided the snacking today and then when I got home from work I raced my daughter in a 3 mile run.  Yes I got my butt kicked but it kept me moving towards my goal.  I know I am going to have to get really serious to lose 10 more pounds but I have 16 days before the race to see what I can do.