gilliansings's Journal

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08 March 2014

To keep busy and make a little extra money, I volunteered to take a weekend assignment since I was called off for my normal Monday shift. The only thing they had was an overnight 12 hour shift. I haven't done an overnight shift since I was a new nurse. The time went quickly because there was still so much to do.

Since this is an in-home assignment, you never know how it is going to go. You are allowed to sleep, but have to be able to awaken easily to assist the clients as needed. If I'm up much throughout the night, I know I'll end up feeling like my day/night is reversed, so I'm planning to bring healthy snacks and probably food for breakfast (since I'll be there from 8 pm to 8 am).

Yesterday was beautiful. Bummer that it wasn't my normal day for walking. I got my work out in after I got home from work, with a nice view out the window, anyway. I ate a reasonable dinner and then headed out to a concert (my old chorus). They always have refreshments at intermission. I could have just stayed in the concert hall to avoid temptation, but I did want to visit with my fellow choristers. I was so proud of myself for not touching a single item, food OR beverage. I planned ahead and documented in my food journal that I would be partaking of frozen unsweetened strawberries (that I picked last summer) and a 1/2 cup serving of ice cream.

This morning I met my youngest son's girlfriend's mom for coffee. Again, I planned ahead. I ate chicken breakfast sausage and yogurt about an hour before I needed to leave. I researched calories on a medium lowfat latte and butter braid, knowing the cafe sold the pastries.

I got sugar-free white chocolate and raspberry syrup in my coffee drink and only ate 3/4 of the modest serving of butter braid. I planned on going for a brisk walk afterwards and was pleased when my friend decided to join me, although yesterday's sunshine is gone. I have had NO company on any of my previous walks or workouts over the last 5 weeks. It made the walk go SO much faster! I wish I could find a walking and/or workout buddy on a regular basis!

Did my healthy-foods shopping and then returned to eat a yummy, healthy lunch. Yay for coming up with a plan for two "social" events and following through.

Looking forward to tomorrow's weigh-in.

(5 comments)

07 March 2014

My husband was teasing me about "over doing it" when I told him about my 8 day straight workout record. Then, the next day I ended up doing errands with my daughter and spending most of the evening with her, so I missed my workout. I was panicking a little bit, because I know how easy it can become to start skipping for all kinds of reasons. I need to give myself permission to enjoy family time, while still putting myself first.

One of the errands I did before meeting up with her was to go to a Mexican Market to buy marinated beef and chicken to make our own Carne Asada and Pollo Asado. OMG, it turned out SOOOO good! I gave myself permission to have one small flour tortilla the first night, but for lunch I had just the beef, lime, salsa verde, and cilantro. Last night I grilled all of the chicken (yay me, I figured out how to use my husband's grill, lol) and packed up my lunch for Friday. I'll let you all know how that turned out (think "Pollo Loco" for those that live in areas with that fast food restaurant). I was getting kind of tired of eating the same old, same old for protein sources.

Yesterday I graduated to official middle age. I picked up my first pair of Progressive lense glasses. They suggested I wait until this morning to put them on and attempt to wear them all day. It really takes getting used to. I opened my spice cabinet and had to look down in order to read the labels on the lowest shelf. Now I know why older people are always looking either way down or way up! I hope I get used to it soon :-)

Yesterday I took a nice walk and only got rained on a little bit. I took care of lots of simple household tasks and by the evening, I found that for a change I actually had too much time on my hands (hubbie working until 10 pm, only remaining child off at his girlfriend's house). So, I popped in my Yoga dvd and did a core workout. It felt good to do two so totally different types of exercise IN THE SAME DAY!! I could get used to this! For those of you that regularly do multiple types of exercise, please don't laugh too hard at me. I too used to go to the gym and do both cardio and weight training/stretching. It's just been quite a while and my ongoing back problems have often had me paying for ANY unusual activity. Now that I've been at this for 5 weeks, however, I only have mild symptoms a day after working out and I have just stuck it out.

The sun is shining today and I just got called by my work. My client will be gone to an appt. Monday morning, so I get a 3-day weekend! Maybe I'll drive to the beach :-) Happy Friday, everyone!

(4 comments)

04 March 2014

This sun was shining on and off today and it reached maybe 60 degrees. I was so excited to finally do my walking in something other than snow, rain or wind. I need new cross-trainers, but I started keeping my really old, paint-flecked shoes in the car. When I was trying to walk right after my work shift, I found that my work Rockports and fairly thin socks were causing me some discomfort as my foot slid around a bit.

Today was to be my first day with virtually everything in my favor for a great walk. Appropriate shoes and socks - check. Smart phone with new music loaded and full battery - check. Weather cooperating - check. New part of town to break up the monotony of my walks - check.

The walk went fairly well, except for two things. TMI alert for if you're squeamish! My first issues was GI discomfort. I have always had Irritable Bowel Syndrome and I keep it in check through diet and fiber intake. Unfortunately, today, instead of my body's normal routine of "taking care of business" over 2-3 bathroom visits from 7 am - 11 am, my body held out. I used the restroom right before leaving work. I used it again at a restaurant after doing some errands. Nope, it waited until 5-10 minutes into my lovely walk! It was rather distracting, to say the least.

The second issue didn't develop until I was home. My right foot was on fire as if I had a HUGE blister on the bottom of my foot. Not in any of the areas I would have expected a blister, either. On examination, I saw a little redness but no blister. I never had that kind of discomfort in my previous walks wearing unsuitable shoes. I'm perplexed. The only thing different about today was that I walked for 40 minutes instead of my normal 30.

Ah well. Today was the 8th straight day of exercising, which is some kind of record for me. Even before my back injury, I rarely exercised more than three, four days tops per week. I've been at this latest weight loss journey for 4-1/2 weeks. With each week I have added another day of exercise. My weight loss has gone from -0- the first week, 1.5 lbs. the second and third weeks, and 2 lbs. this last week. My diet was roughly the same in that four weeks, so I attribute the better numbers to my increasing exercise. I am thrilled, but worry that my back problems will lead me to want to skip work-outs.

Keep your fingers crossed for me! My husband said something neat last night. I was asking him how long he thought it took for some muscle definition to show, since you have to lose a bit of weight for those bigger muscles to show. He thought around 8 weeks and I'm at almost 5 weeks. I'm excited! Then he said that he was allowing me to get a head start and then he was going to join me in healthier eating and exercise. I'm glad we'll both be encouraging each other.

(6 comments)

02 March 2014

Had a nice relaxing morning, followed by a nice afternoon with my daughter and grandsons. For the first time ever, the boys took turns having their naps, so I got to spend quality time with each of them.

I purchased some new workout wear and a yoga dvd. After having a snack, I did two of the three parts (energizing and core workouts). 40 minutes altogether. I was pleasantly surprised that my 3 weeks of doing a hybrid strength training dvd (that was a cross between ballet, yoga and weights/bands) had somewhat prepared me to do this.

I was able to do 50 percent of it fairly easily, but the other half...let's just say that I found myself thinking, "How can I do that?" a number of times. I know that it takes repetition, with endurance and flexibility allowing one to do the poses and transitions more smoothly.

I did feel very calm as I ended each segment in the same position, saying "Namaste" along with the lovely instructor. She had such a soothing voice and I so admired her sleek, strong body. The scenery was also very calming and beautiful.

I still plan to alternate this with my strength training dvd, but I could see how yoga works out every single part of you! No doubt I will be feeling it tomorrow!

Oscar night with the family on the books for tomorrow. We get together every year. Thankfully, my daughter is trying 10-days gluten free, so she was very supportive of keeping the meal simple and healthy.

Dessert will be sundaes and I will keep the portion small, but do plan to have 2 Tbls. of homemade hot fudge, along with a Tbl. of pecans. Have a great Sunday everyone! Cross your fingers for me that my walk does not get rained out tomorrow!

(4 comments)

02 March 2014

I am so glad to see my efforts rewarded. I know that it doesn't always show on the scale. I did all my measurements last Sunday, so it's a bit early to do that again. But, if over the next few weeks I hit a wall or have a bad week, I plan to re-do my measurements. Knowing that one can lose inches but not pounds can help re-motivate a person and keep up their morale for the long-term goal.

I am going to have such a great day! Our Oscar party is tonight. I now look forward to gatherings that have food because I am getting good at choosing ahead of time what my "cheat" item will be and then being perfectly satisfied with the other modest portions and good choices. That way, I choose something I will get a lot of pleasure from, instead of just generally making bad choices and afterwards having nothing but regret and guilt.

Happy Sunday everyone!

Gillian

Weight:	Lost so far:	Still to go:	Diet followed:
83.9 kg	2.3 kg	11.3 kg	100%

(7 comments) Losing 0.9 kg a Week

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