Day 273 (day 7 / week 38)

Today was another busy day at work. I say that and think, "it's always a busy day at work" lol. I guess some days are busier than others to the point to where I have to stay late to finish. I had to stay late today. I am exhausted. They even asked me if I would come in tomorrow! I seriously considered it because I want to help out and it would be over time (cha ching), but I am drained. I can't do 4 days in a row. Besides I would probably leave UBER late tomorrow, seeing that I couldn't finish everything today.

Anyway I did my usual work thing. Transferring patients, beds, stairs, yadda yadda yadda. I look forward to a day off.

I did learn something today that confused the heck out of me. I don't think it was "learning" something, but it was a random puzzle piece that was thrown into my mix that doesn't belong there. A coworker came back to work today after having gastric bypass surgery, and I asked her how many calories they had her eating. I asked because I had a gastric bypass surgery patient last week and they only gave her like 3 jello shots a meal to eat. JELLO. She said 200-300 calories. A day. A DAY! What the hizzy??? I thought and had learned in school that our bodies require a certain amount of calories a day (basal metabolic rate) and if we didn't get that, bad things could happen to our health. I'm thinking, this woman is a lot heavier than I am, and so her body needs more calories just to lug the extra weight around. She also works a 12-1/2 hour day. How is eating 200-300 calories a day healthy, even if she had gastric bypass?

What is your take on this? Does anyone understand this or know anyone that has been through this that could shed some light on this for me?

Off to bed. I'm exhausted and my brain hurts now. lol.

Take care and I'll see you tomorrow! I am thinking to make a few waves in my monthly biz (tomorrow is the 1st, ya know). I'm still thinking about it though ;). No hints until tomorrow.

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 272 (day 6 / week 38)

I was so tired when I got home yesterday that I went to sleep. The monkey boy woke up at 3am and didn't go back to sleep until around 4:30. I was tired.

Anyway I did my usual work thing, stairs and all the good stuff.

I can't believe that tomorrow is the 1st. I feel like I am going to have bad results, but it's ok because this isn't a rat race. It's real life and these kinds of things happen. It's not going to stop me from exercising though!

I will post about today when I get home from work tonight.

Have a good day! Make it count!

I can do this. I am a star.

PS I totally thought that I posted this early this morning. I just got home from work to see this still sitting open on my computer... lol

Day 271 (day 5 / week 38)

I'm exhausted.

Today I did my work thing, walked the stairs, yadda yadda yadda.

In the past few days I have been realizing that I think I need to cut sugar out of my diet again. I just think about it waay too much, and am getting to the "bad place" with it again. It's for the better, but this is not to say that I am giving it up easily. I had 2 or 3 tantrums today. They brought cookies to work. And ice cream. And chocolate covered, chocolate chip biscotti's. *cry*

Off to bed. I'm uber-tired.

Make tomorrow count!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 270 (day 4 / week 38)

Today I walked on the treadmill.

I think a week or two ago my hubby's grandmother, "Gram," told me that I could take her treadmill home and use it, because she knows that I will actually use it :). I love this thing. It hasn't ever been calibrated so the numbers are very wrong, but it works, and I have a HRM so that's all that I need for what I'm trying to accomplish :). It has an incline and these handles that a lot of the elliptical machines do, to do the cross country ski type movement (really long brain fart...I can't remember what they are called to save my life!). I put it on the highest incline and almost 3 mph (this number can't be right) and just go for the same amount of time that I do when I am walking the streets.

Today I did 33 minutes. When I walk 33 minutes on the streets, I walk a little over 2 miles. The treadmill said I walked 1.08 miles and burned 58 calories. My HRM said I burned 429 calories, which I believe, because my average HR per min was 135 (58 calories in 33 minutes? Pssht!). Anyway I am just so grateful to have the treadmill to use at home. Such a blessing. Now I just have to have my hubby mount the TV on the wall or something so that I don't have to stare at a corner in the room lol. I can probably go for a lot longer if I had something to look at or do. Maybe I will read the book that Gram let me borrow, Be Anxious For Nothing, by Joyce Meyer, the art of casting your cares and resting in God. I love Joyce Meyer. She's awesome. This book is right up my alley because it's basically all about my favorite scripture Phil 4:4-7(;13) and applying it better to my life.

Hope you all have a great Sunday. What kinds of things are you doing to make it count? We all can help give eachother ideas :).

I work tomorrow, so it will be another late post.

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 269 (day 3 / week 38)

Today was a fun day. I went to the Walk From Obesity and saw two of my coworkers there and the director of our unit. It was nice to see someone there that I knew who didn't mind walking around--I love my hubby but he doesn't care for walking the way I do. . I also got to meet Dr Teng, whom I hear a lot about, but have never met before. We walked 2 laps, which I think was about 1.5 miles and then we walked around the activities part of it. We were there for 3 hours, but I only had my HRM running for 2 (the physical part until we slowed down to browse) burning 907 minutes.


The mayor of our city, Oscar Goodman, was there too. He is the one in the suit. I got a great picture of his back lol.


There was another event going on at the same time, and I think it was a Shred-It party. You could take your documents that needed to be shredded here and have it shredded for free. There was also a farmers market and I bought 6 herb plants: mother of thyme, oregano, italian parsley, golden lemon parsley, purple basil and italian basil and a planter and soil for 4 of them all for $20. We bought some homemade olive and oregano hummus and a sampler of 4 different olive oils and barrel-aged heirloom balsamic vinegar (SO delicious!). We also bought some fresh baked bread by a local baker (Bon Bakery) here as well, fetta batard and multigrain batard. They go very well with the oils and balsamic vinegar that we got.

There was a big jump house dinosaur there that The Monkey Boy and my MIL went in. He wasn't too sure about it at first, but when it was time to get out because he seemed so frightened, he didn't want to leave and had a meltdown when we did (Typical).


See? Exercise can be fun! You can easily trick yourself into exercising by hitting a farmers market and just walking all over the place with family and friends. You wont even know you're exercising because you are distracting yourself with conversation and a good time.

Be back tomorrow after I finished making it count. Hope you are having a great weekend!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 268 (day 2 / week 38)

I guess today is a (non) rest day. I had to keep myself from getting on the treadmill because of the amount of calories I am burning at work. I really wanted to do something, but I just don't want to eat anymore than I already have to (and haven't been btw...tisk tisk on me).

So today I did some quickfires. I did an overhead arm reach thing (brain fart), and did 50 on each side. My chest and back felt sore today when I woke up, so it felt good to be able to stretch them out.

I'll post some pictures tomorrow at the Walk From Obesity. We will be arriving around 8-8:30 so we shouldn't be back too late in the day. We might stop by my hubby's grandparents house though (we always do on the weekends), so it might be another late post.

Do whatever you can to make it count! Even if it is just some random quickfire challenges throughout your day. Those do count, and they are super easy to invent and add into the mix!

See you tomorrow. Have a good day!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 267 (day 1 / week 38)

Today was supposed to be the start of my days off. It wasn't. I got called into work.

It was another really busy day. I'm surprised I got everything done, and got out of work physically and mentally unscathed. I didn't sleep well and have a headache, but at least I don't have to work tomorrow. I do have to go in though. I am doing the Walk From Obesity this weekend, so I need to go pick up the shirt tomorrow for it. I hate the thought of going into work on a day off. Such a waste of a day-off. I still don't have many details. I just know that it's at 8am at a park here in Vegas near the hospital.

I did my stairs today, even quickfired them coming down them to go home. I love the quickfire concept. I heart sparkpeople.

Yesterday I found out that I probably wouldn't be able to do the biggest loser thing at work, because I couldn't pay them that exact day. I was mad. What difference does it make if I pay it now, or when I can in a few weeks? It's not like the money is going anywhere, or that I am going to win and not pay at all or something. A lovely coworker said she was going to talk to the lady and tell her that it's ok that I participate and pay later. If I can't participate, it's not the end of the world as I am already doing my own thing. It's not about a diet for me :). We all know this though.

Hubby is frustrated w/ the dog and boy. Should probably go relieve him. He's not a happy camper w/ the dog. He's not very patient though....

See you tomorrow! It IS TOTALLY my day off this time... I am SO looking forward to it too :).

Have a good night!

I can do this. I am a star

Day 266 (day 7 / week 37)

Wednesday September 23, 2009

I went to work and had a very crazy day. It was non-stop from the moment I walked in, until the moment I left (an hour after I should have clocked out!). It was a physical day. I was exhausted.

I did my normal thing, transferred patients and did the stairs. Gotta love the stairs.

Hope you all had a great Wednesday!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 265 (day 6 / week 37)

I am exhausted.

Today I did my work thing. No surprise there.

Back tomorrow and it's my last day of 3. Yaay. I can't wait to get back on the treadmill and play, which I have to tell you all about (Thanks Gram!).

This weekend our work (HCA as a whole) is participating in a thing called Walk For (or From) Obesity, and if my hubby lets me, I am going to participate. We are trying to dig ourselves out of debt and have the next 2 paychecks already pending in payment arrangements, so he might say no to the registeration fee, although it's not very expensive. It's a good cause and I get to participate in something that I am passionate about and already very involved in. Who'dda thought that I would have found myself being passionate about this. I guess 265 days later it makes sense (yaay 100 days left!!). I just feel so strongly that if I, a lazy, newish mommy/wifey/big-fat-hairy-newly working-nerd can do this, so can anyone. I really want to share what I have learned (baby steps) so that people don't get frustrated and quit. Especially when they really NEED this. It's not about the "after" picture (so much easier said than done). It's about the "now" picture, and I believe that if people really embrace that, they will see success that sticks and not a The Biggest Loser illusion (obsessively exercising and eating next to nothing to lose 10+ lbs a week only to gain it back later) that isn't reality at all.

I hope he lets me participate.

Have a great night! See you tomorrow. Yaay! Last day on for the week :) :) :) :)

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 264 (day 5 / week 37)

Today was a long day at work. I got a lot of exercise though.

I started off quickfiring the stairs in the morning and then did a lot of walking. A LOT of walking...more so than usual. I even had to take a patient out to her car, pushing a wheel chair up an incline (my heart was pounding!) to the farthest corner of the hospital (valet). I had 4 discharges so that meant lots of transferring.

I'm exhausted. We also had the weigh in for the PCU Biggest Loser challenge. Fully clothed with my shoes and stuff on, I weighed 193.4. I think we weigh in again on November 21st, so I'll let you know what I weigh in. I hope I win!

Off to bed. Hope you all had a great day and were able to make it count. It's a great feeling, isn't it?

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 263 (day 4 / week 37)

Almost 100 days left... can you believe how fast this year has gone by?

Today I did 2 things. I walked to CVS this morning, which I think is 2.5 miles in 40 minutes, 647 calories burned. I met my hubby there, bought a dog bed for Pebbles, and then we drove home as it was too hot to walk back.

Then I walked on the treadmill for 12 minutes at the highest incline (still trying to figure out the treadmill--haven't read the directions yet) using the arm thingies...i don't know what they are called but it's almost like you are cross country skiing with them, and you can control the resistance, and it's pretty tough right now (when I find that out, I'll update here too). I cooled down for 10 minutes and burned a total of 261 calories.

Sorry for the haircut teaser. I forgot I mentioned it! lol. I have to hit the sac now, but when I get a picture of it, I will update it. I cut 5" off, so it's kind of a long bob now. I like it :).

Have a good night!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 262 (day 3 / week 37)

This morning I got out early, walked 3 miles and then did some stretching and a cool down afterward (65 minutes, 603 calories).

I had planned on only doing this, because I am over my calories burned for the week (9948/8500) but ended up cleaning up little puppy messes in our Nevada room. I was surprised with the calorie burn involved with that--45 minutes, 431 calories--great workout. I am excited about all this extra calorie burnage, but am kicking myself at the same time because I am not eating enough. I am trying, but it's just really hard to get up to 2K calories for the day. *shrugs* I guess it's just like eating healthy. It's not going to happen over night, but it's got to be something that I strive for everyday. It will happen eventually, I just need to lay off of the extra exercises, which is so hard to do, becuase I love knowing that I am burning calories (but hate eating the food to back it--im not starving myself, im getting in 1600-1800 calories, i just have to try harder). I was talking with my brother-in-law and I think I need to start drinking protein shakes or something, to get those calories in, because that's ridiculous. Where else am I going to get those calories if I am full all the time?

I'm tired and am going to go to sleep now. I hope you all are having a great weekend. I'm gonna say it again, if you want to eat a lot of food or "eat whatever you want," all you gotta do is exercise to back it. Seriously. Burning 10K calories a week lets you (me) eat 2300-2600 calories a day! A DAY! I'm struggling to do this, because it is A LOT of food, if you didn't know. A lot of healthy food :).

Good night!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 261 (day 2 / week 37)

I've been procrastinating all day. Not with exercise, but entering it on sparkpeople and here.

I finished exercising, got all showered up and ready for the day (to do nothing lol) all before 8am. I did my 2.08 mile route and jogged maybe 1/2 of that. I can feel that I am getting faster :). Including my cool down it took me 50 minutes total and I burned 621 calories.

Not bad.

Off to spend some more time w/ my family. Hope you all had a great day!

Have an awesome weekend. Make it count! The earlier the better... (for me anyway).

I can do this. I am a star.

PS Did I mention that I got my hair cut?

Day 260 (day 1 / week 37)

Today was a much better day :). I got a good night's sleep and got my sanity back. Whew!

Walking a puppy is a lot harder than it looks... I read some leash training tricks, and they worked, but it took too much brain power to walk Pebbles and push the stroller at the same time (lol). I read to put the leash on and let the dog run around w/ it for a while to get used to it. Once she didn't realize it was there anymore, I just picked it up. The site also said that if she pulls or wont walk, to just stop and not pull, that the dog will see they are not going forward and will fall through. She is young so this will take a little time w/ other dogs around, but it worked for the most part. I had a handful of training treats and dropped one by my side, while walking, every 4-5 steps or so, to show her that it's a reward to walk next to me..and that was it! She walked next to me for about a 1/2 mile before I put her in the bottom of the stroller. It was hot out and I didn't want to burn her little baby pads.



We walked only 2 miles. It took me over an hour to do this with all the stopping and such, but it's probably a good thing. I don't want to exercise too much, because I don't want have to eat anymore than I am already supposed to.

			Calories	Carbs	Fat	protein
			2,090 - 2,440	263 - 380	52 - 91	60 - 205

I forced myself to pick up my hand weights and do some bicep curls. I haven't used those things in a long time. I need to do more strength training, like I mentioned last week.

Ooh! I think we have Pebbles potty trained for the most part. It's been much easier than potty training the Monkey Boy lol. We got her Saturday and the first night potty training was hard, but the day after was a breeze, and has been since. We just use the treat system again, and don't make a big deal about the accidents because I don't want to accidentally reinforce a bad habit with attention (I read this and it seems to work with bitting and with jumping also).

When my son calls the dog, it sounds like he calls her "bubbles" so that's what I have been accidentally calling her. I keep forgetting her name :).

Anyway gonna try the walking thing again tomorrow. I would have gone earlier by myself today, but my hubby had to be at work early so I couldn't get out. I will try to get out tomorrow before he leaves by myself, but we will see how that goes. I liked being able to sleep in till 6 today :).

Exercising with a job, toddler and puppy is possible! Anything is better than nothing. I hear these excuses a lot at work, with family and friends, and I guess my point is that if I can do it, anyone else can too. There isn't anything different about me. It is hard, but SO rewarding, and when it's done for the day, it's done! Don't have to worry about it or feel bad that nothing was done or attempted. I think it has a lot to do with comfort zones and it being so much easier to put off until tomorrow. The problem with that is that tomorrow turns into yesterday and the cycle passes by pretty quickly, especially with so much going on (kids, work, dog, family, school, etc). It's possible, you just gotta do it! Five minutes here and there counts! It really, really does!

Have a good day. See you tomorrow! Get it over with early and make it count :).

I can do this. I am a star. SO ARE YOU!

Day 259 (day 7 / week 37)

I am delirious.

I didn't sleep well last night--the Monkey Boy woke up at 3:30am and stayed awake for about an hour and I couldn't sleep b/c he kept bugging me.

I worked again today and had another busy day. Not as busy as yesterday (LOTS of physical action) but nonetheless, I am pooped.

I did my usual work routine.

I am going to sleep now, before I fall asleep in this chair lol. I hope to get up before my hubby leaves for work and get my 2 miles on. It'll be interesting to spend an entire day with The Monkey Boy and Pebbles by myself. Pray for me! If I don't get much sleep tonight, I'll definitely need it!

Hope ya'll had a great day! Make it count tomorrow!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 258 (day 6 / week 37)

Yesterday (tuesday 9/15) was very busy. I didn't get home until after 9pm and went straight to sleep. I got off work over an hour late. We had some excitement at the end of the shift and I stuck around to help. I got a great workout at work, although I can't really remember the juicy details (brain fart + lack of sleep = zero memory of the past 2 days).

I was exhausted.

If I remember more I'll post it (doubtful). Other than that I did my usual work day exercises.

OOh! I do remember that I entered a contest at work. The biggest loser PCU version I guess (the unit I work on). They put up a list and everyone that signs up, is weighed on Sept 25th, and again on Nov 25th and the person that loses the largest % (I think) wins the pot (everyone that enters pays $25).

I don't know if I will win, but I am going to enter, just because I am losing weight anyway :). It'll be fun. Everyone else loses weight faster than I do, so I doubt I will win. I don't care becuase I am in this for the long haul. It will be fun though :).

Hope everyone had a great Tuesday!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 257 (day 5 / week 37)

Today was a busy day, and I have a huge headache from being so tired.

Last night was rough because the Monkey Boy played so hard with Pebbles, that he didn't sleep too well. Because the Monkey Boy didn't sleep well, I didn't sleep at all. He was up almost hourly until 3 am, so I got a few hours of solid sleep. I'm tired. Regardless, it was a lovely day because I knew I was going to come home to a super happy son and new puppy.

I got a flu shot early this morning and my arm is sore now. I speed transferred a patient to a unit on the same floor as ours and practically ran backwards. It was like a fluid motion which felt really cool, but was kind of scary all at the same time--I would have been run down by that bed if I fell lol. That is a pretty neat workout and I always look forward to transferring patients in their bed. How often do you get to run backwards? (like never, for me). I also lifted the same heavy patient several times, transferring from chair to bed, and then to dangle bedside being mindful to stay in a squat position the entire time.

I'm gonna hit the sack now. So glad you guys like Pebbles. She is such a little blessing :). When I get a moment to myself, I will respond to all of your comments and emails. It's overwhelming at first (having a new puppy and a toddler), but it's only going to get easier. She is almost potty trained! We left her in the house all day, for hours on end (hubby came home for lunch and a friend came to check on her too) and she didn't pee or poop in the house. What a good girl :).

Have a great night. See you tomorrow. Make it count!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 256 (day 4 / week 37)

Today was a busy day. We had a lot of fun though.

I did a few different things for exercise, and lost track of time after 50 minutes.

We walked a lot today and then we did something that surprised the socks off of me.



Meet Pebbles. The newest addition to our family :). Isn't she the cutest thing ever??

We already love her so much, and the Monkey Boy is beyond happy. She is a member of our household, and stuck with us. The poor thing (we are a bunch of nerds).

Here's another picture:


She makes me exercise and I don't even realize it. She's 5 1/2 months old and a Corgi/Terrier mix (we think). We rescued her from a local shelter and she has completely stolen our hearts. She is going to make it easier for me to get up early to walk. I just need to train her to walk, cause she doesn't like her leash at this point :).

The Monkey Boy, Pebbles and I have been playing hard all day. That's great exercise, just in case you didn't know :).

The other thing that I did for exercise was my hubby's BFF came over with his spiff-o-matic Dyson ball vacuum thing, and I got to clean. Twice. That thing is different. I can feel my arms are a little tired/sore and that is awesome. We want one. It's expensive though. But it's worth it. Words can't describe the work it does. You have to see it for yourself. I swear that I could hear angels singing in a perfect octave when I was vacuuming. It is awesome.

Anyway gotta get to sleep for work in the AM. Have a great night! Make tomorrow count!

I can do this. I am a star.

The other thing that I did for

Day 255 (day 3 / week 37)

It's late. Today was another (non)rest day, and that is partly because of the numbers.

Wearing my HRM to work was a curse and a blessing all at the same time. I realized that I was burning A LOT more calories than I thought, and so I have to eat enough food for that. I am almost at 9K calories burned for the week (8763 to be exact), and I really don't want to eat over 2000 calories for the day, like SP suggests (2090-2440). I am only at around 1400 for today and I don't plan on eating anymore for the night. It's just too much, ya know?

It's hard to eat healthy food and not resort to the easy way out (fast food) just to get the calories in...plus we need to hit the grocery store, so we don't have the food to load up on. I'm still learning, and I do know that fast food can be a weakness, so I am not going to resort to it. I have come too far to take that many steps backward. So that's why I made today a non rest day. I did some quickfire stuff--4 sets of 25 windmill arms instead.

I think with the new work thing, I am going to try to incorporate more strength training into the mix, than I have been doing. It will help me keep the calories burned down (I think/hope) so that I won't have to eat as much as I was supposed to this week (but didn't--man it's hard!). I am going to wear my HRM to see how much it says I burn while strength training.

Hope you all have a great night!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 254 (day 2 / week 37)

Today I guess is sort of a (non)rest day. I used cleaning again as a form of exercise. I zoomed around the house, speed cleaning, to make sure that my HR stayed elevated. I did this for 50 minutes, and burned around 300 calories.

Every Friday my bloggy friend Erin does a Friday Flashback photo thing with her bloggy friend, and I thought this week I would join in, because I found something appropriate.

I am almost ashamed to post this, but I am not, because this is not me anymore. I remember how it felt in this picture. I remember taking this picture and trying to stand up tall so I looked thinner (didn't help pssht lol).


This picture also cleared up a bit of confusion for me. I have been saying that I lost about 50 lbs since Jan 2007, but that's only because that's one of the last times I remember getting on the scale (had to--was at the dr's office after I had The Monkey Boy). In this picture, I am no smaller than I was in 2007. In fact, I think I look larger than I did after I had my son. I think this is pretty awesome because I can put an image/weight to a date that wasn't too long ago--September 28, 2008, the day my son got his first hair cut (they gave him a cute certificate and a snipit of hair). I guess it doesn't matter how long ago it was, but it makes me happy that that me is in the past. For good.

This next picture is the most comparable picture I have I think, to the pose, and of something somewhat recent (July 2009)



Anyway, that's my Friday Photo Flashback :).

Be back tomorrow, bright and early (I hope).

Make today count! It's not over yet. Start over now if you must! Why wait until tomorrow? Now is a perfect time!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 253 (day 1 / week 37)

Yesterday (9/10) was very busy. I was trying to research doctors for our PCP and then I found some paperwork that I realized was due today (9/11) so I spent the end of my day reading and taking "tests."

Luckily, I was able to exercise before any of this happened. I did my very first route, 2.08 miles, and including the cool down, I was out for about 46 minutes. My HRM is really frustrating me now. I think that wearing it to work the other day killed the battery...again. That being said I hope my hubby will let me buy the Polar F11 that I decided to buy. Polar was my first HRM. It lasted for quite a few years without ever having to change the battery (like 4-5) in fact, I still haven't changed the battery in it...but I can't find the strap, so I can't tell if it's working or accurate. The watch part still works though lol.

Ok the Monkey Boy woke me up this morning, so I am dragging his little butt out with me whether he likes it or not. Hopefully he doesn't scream bloody murder when we are out. I could only imagine what the neighbors would think.

I have to go to work today to drop off this paperwork, so I will blog during the Monkey Boy's nap. Pray with me that he takes a nap lol.

Make today count!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 252 (day 7 / week 36)

Today was a long day at work (13.5 hours!). I stayed an hour late and completed an ICare class that was required. I'm glad I got that over and done with.

It was extremely busy on the floor today. I got to transfer/discharge at least 4 patients, and admit a few (which isn't so physical, but just time consuming), so I got a good leg workout. I also took the stairs again, like always. I am noticing that I am able to make them up to the top, just a little faster each time.

I am noticing so many opportunities throughout my day to do things, like squats and lunges. When the day is almost done, I have to collect I/O (input/output) sheets, and sometimes I have to be close to the ground to gather some of the information for those sheets, so I can do squats then. It works dually, because it saves my back, and works my legs at the same time.

Sweet.

Well, back to my "regular" routine tomorrow. Hopefully it won't be hot, and the Monkey Boy will let me take him for a long walk.

Hope you made it count! There are so many ways in which to do so!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 251 (day 6 / week 36)

Gotta make this quick because I have to leave for work now.

Yesterday I wore my HRM to work. I don't know if I mentioned this earlier, but I changed the batteries, and so it's giving me better numbers. It doesnt drop to the 70's or 120 from the 140s anymore.

The first time I wore my HRM to work, this is what I got:
13 hours, 1773 calories

This time:
12:40 hours, 2426 calories.

Big difference, and I wasn't even as busy yesterday as I was the first time I did it (kind of a cushy day until the end). I am glad I did it again (wore my HRM to work), so that I can adjust how much I am eating on sparkpeople. I'm sure I wasn't eating enough.

I also took the stairs again yesterday, which I don't think would affect the calorie burn 700 calories (wouldn't that be nice, to walk stairs for less than 5 minutes and burn 700+ calories? lol).
I decided to do my own Quickfire Challenges again, and make the stairs, going down, count by doing knee lifts on each step. My quads were burning by the time I got to teh bottom.

Ok gotta go! Off tomorrow.

Have a good day! Make it count.

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 250 (day 5 / week 36)

Today was another long day. I think we got our AC fixed, so that's good.

I started my day off cleaning: 45 mins, 116 calories.

Then I tried to start the lawnmower with no success: 15 mins, 62 calories.

Then I waited around for Citywide to show up to fix our AC, but they never showed up. The homeowner did, and he brought his friend who fixed the AC at his other house, and while they were doing that, I went for a 2 mile walk/jog: 34 minutes, 522 calories.

Grand total: 94 minutes and 700 calories burned.

I find it funny that it evened out to 700 calories total. *shrugs*

Have to work in the morning, but I am going to wear my HRM and see what it says I burn during the day, with the stairs included. I am going to add those calories burned to my sparkpeople fitness page, because I want to make sure that I am eating enough with my work. I might not technically consider it exercise, but it was more than what I was doing before, so I need to make sure that I don't mess things up by under eating. I'm sure there wont be much of a difference, but we'll see :).

Hope you had a great day! Have a great Tuesday and make it count, even it means the stairs instead of the elevator. It's better than nothing at all!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 249 (day 4 / week 36)

I'm tired and can't stop yawning. I worked today, and took the stairs again. Man, my leg muscles were burning, let me tell you!

I also started the Spark Stages over again. I just finished stage 3, and was onto stage 4, but decided to start all over again, just to make sure that I pound it in my head, that this is a lifestyle change and not a diet. I know I am doing fine, but better to be safe than sorry, I guess. The other part is that Stage 4 is the last stage. I still want Sparkpeople to hold my hand, so I started over.

I want to share this info with whoever is willing to read it, because it is so helpful in taking baby steps to a lifestyle change. Basically it says to take baby steps, and to just start tracking your food--write it down. Don't obsess so much as to what you are eating, it's more about getting into the habit of writing it down. Eating within calorie limits come at a different stage, I personally feel this is good, because trying to change too much at one time, for me, usually ends with failure. Good solid information:

Can you count? Good. Because if you know that 300 calories are more than 250, and that 4 grams of fat are less than 6, you'll do just fine with the SparkDiet. You may have guessed by now that tracking calories and other nutritional info is a large part of the SparkDiet. Why? Because weight loss in any form comes down to simply burning more calories than you take in. Even fad diets wouldn't have some short-term success if this weren't true. Do you know how many calories you had for lunch? For dinner last night? The SparkPeople menu planner and nutrition tracker tool is an easy way to find out if you're reaching the calorie goals that will open up the doors to weight loss. If you're not used to keeping track of your calories or food, now is the right time to practice. You could guess or estimate. But dieting-by-guessing is like buying a car over the phone -- you never know if you're making decisions on good information. By tracking at least during Stage 1 and Stage 2, you'll have more ammo for choices down the road. This is especially important in the age of exploding portion sizes. (Did you know that the average fast food hamburger grew 23% from 1977 to 1997?) It's so easy to fool ourselves, and tracking doesn't lie. Begin practicing with the food tracker right now, starting with today's menu. Start to build the habit of tracking your food after every meal or at the end of every day. Look up some of your favorites and see how they stack up. You can also input your own foods and save them for easy access later on. Don't worry about meeting your actual calorie goals every day yet. Save that for Stage 2. Think of this as practice, as a learning opportunity. Education is the foundation of a healthy lifestyle, and having a good understanding of what you're putting in your body is one of the smartest things you can do.

Take care! See you tomorrow. I have stuff to complain about, but sometimes I think complaining about somethings (or people *ahem* homeowners) just aren't worth the extra energy.

Make it count!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 248 (day 3 / week 36)

I scrubbed the kitchen carpet today for exercise. One hour and 40 minutes and 650-odd calories (I don't remember the exact number and I am too lazy to go get my HRM watch to see what it said).

That went well and my carpet looks good...although it's still wet and I scrubbed it 12 hours ago. Hopefully it dries, and we don't have mildew. The fans are on high, and it's still wet, not soaked, but just wet.

On a different subject, yesterday we had Citywide, a company contracted by Nevada Power to make people's air conditioning run more efficiently, come out to the house. Our air conditioning works fine, but the bill is ridiculous. It's a free service, so we figured, what the heck, and made an appointment. They came out and put 2lbs 4oz of freon in! For free! We thought that would be the end of it, that it would run cooler, like they said, but it's not. In fact, it's not working at all now. We have it set to 84F, and it's 90 in here! It just runs and runs, and never shuts off. We eventually turned it off and opened the door, because it was the same temp outside! I have called this company 4 times in the last 5 hours, and all I keep getting is, "I called the tech out there and he didn't call you? He should have called you. I will call him again," and we never get a call.

This bites. I have to go to sleep in an hour for work, and it's dark outside now. They are not going to call or come and it totally frustrates me. You would think that it would get cooler in here, now that it's cooling down outside, but it's getting warmer. It started off at 88F and will probably be 91F sometime in the next hour or so. Oye. I have no idea what we can do, but call this place...although they obviously don't care because they aren't calling back. *shrugs.* Hopefully (doubtfully) my hubby will do something about it tomorrow. The in-laws decided to have their Labor Day party tomorrow instead of on Monday, so he will be there all day instead. I am willing to bet $ that he will forget to call, or do anything about it, and then when I get home from work, he is just going to complain. lol. Gotta love men. What would they do without us? (lol j/k--he's a good guy, I'm just totally teasing).

Anyway, I work tomorrow (Sunday) and have Monday off, and work again Tuesday and Wednesday. I will probably do my stairs at work and such. Maybe I will get to do a few bed transfers.

Hope you guys have a good night! We are hot, but in good spirits, nonetheless. I hope the heat doesn't keep us (me) up. Hubby doesn't have to work in the morning, but I have to.

Viva Las Vegas. pssht. lol.

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 247 (day 2 / week 36)

4.25 miles (w/ the monkey boy).
92-94F (praise God for the mini breezes He gave).
1132 calories (according to my HRM w/ new batteries. yaay!).
92 minutes--including a 10 min cool down.

I can complain about the heat, or quip about the much needed breezes, but today I decided to share a major source of my motivation and inspiration. This lives in me and drives me.

Today I was surfing Sparkpeople and came across the Motivator of the Day's profile, and found the scripture that started it all. I have talked about it, but couldn't find the exact scripture. The one that makes me feel guilty for being overweight, but the one that gives me strength through it all (combined with my favorite Phil 4:13), and the one that feeds the hunger to be healthy and teach my family to be healthy. Sure, I have a desire to be healthy, but I NEED to be healthy, because it's what He wants me to do:

1 Chronicles 28:10
Consider now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a temple as a sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.

God has given me the strength to do this. I end everyday with "I can do this. I am a star," because he told me I can do this, if I do the work. He also tells us that we can do all things in Him because He gives us the strength to do it (Philippians 4:13)! God is just so awesome because He promised me (you, all of us) that he would be our strength, if we do it! I can totally do this. I am doing this. You can totally do this, and a lot of you are! THAT is SOOOOO inspirational and motivating to me.

My measurements:

Measurements: (day 247 / day 213 / day 10) (- "/# lost in current month)

Wt: 187.8 / 192.0 / 215 (-4.20) (total lost 27.2#)
Chest: 37.25" / 37.5" / 43.75"(-0.25") (total lost -6.25")
Waist: 32.25" / 32.5" / 41.5" (-0.25") (total lost -9")
Hips: 42" / 42" / 47.75" (-0") (total lost -5.75")
Neck: 12.5" / 12.75" / 14.25" (-0.25") (total lost -1.55")
Under bust: 31" / 32" / 36.75" (-1") (total lost -4.75")
1" below belly button: 38" / 38" / 47.5" (-0") (total lost -9")
Above my thigh: 37" / 37.75" / 44" (-0.75") (total lost -6.25")
R Thigh: 19" / 18.75" / 27" (+0.25") (total lost -8.25")
L Thigh: 19" / 19" / 27.5" (-0") (total lost -8.50")
R Calf: 14" / 14" / 14.5" (-0") (total lost -0.50")
L Calf: 14.25" / 14.25" / 14" (-0") (total lost -.25")
R upper Arm: 10.5" / 10.5" / 14" (-0") (total lost -3.5")
L upper Arm: 10.75" / 10.75" / 13.5" (-0") (total lost -2.75")
R wrist: 5.50" / 5.75" / 6.25" (-0.25") (total lost -0.5")
L wrist: 5.75" / 5.75" / 6.25" (-0") (total lost -0.5")

Jan 2009

Feb 2009

March 2009

April 1, 2009

May 1, 2009

June 1, 2009

July 1, 2009August 1, 2009

September 1, 2009

In August 2009 I lost 4.2 lbs and 2.75 inches (gaining .25" on my right thigh lol).

I don't really feel anything either way about the inches lost (or gained) or the pounds lost. I'm just glad that I am still losing. I feel blessed and a huge sense of accomplishment looking at my beginning measurements, and my now measurements. I think at this point in the game, I can see the results better in the picture as well, and I am pleased for the most part :) (disappointed with the camera--we used my iphone, instead of the camera, because the batteries for it are perma-dead). I am not surprised about the gain in the legs...err leg because I can see baby hamstring hills sprouting! lol. It makes me smile :).

I will probably do some cleaning after posting this. Don't know if I'll count it or not, but I just might on SP, just to add the calories into the mix, so that I can be sure that I am eating enough.

Will be back tomorrow after I make it count! Hope you are doing the same. He wants us to AND He promised to be our strength...we just have to do the work! So awesome! Sweet!!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 246 (day 1 / week 36)

I am so tired I can hardly stay awake. I did my stairs, and worked today. I am off tomorrow, so more in the morning. I hope the Monkey Boy lets me take him for a long walk. I am due for one and am looking forward to it. I need to mow the lawn too, so maybe I'll do it tomorrow, or save it for this weekend.

At some point tomorrow I am going to have my hubby help me with my measurements and picture (this is what I need his help for) so I will have it posted sometime in the evening probably.

Thank you to everyone for reading this!!

Take care and have a great Friday!

I can do this. I am a star.

Day 245 (day 7 / week 35)

Today I did the same thing that I did yesterday (stairs). I also had 2 transfers, so I was able to do my backwards lunge walking things.

When I got to work this morning and started up the stairs, I tried to get up them as fast as I could. Man I was winded by the time I got up. I wish I had my HRM on, cause I'm curious as to how high it got--I'm thinking 160's at least.

I'm exhausted so I'm gonna hit the sack. Last day in this stretch, until Sunday. Yaay!

If I can make it through work and still be in good spirits, then this (exercise) is a piece of cake!

I can totally do this. I am a star.

Day 244 (day 6 / week 35)

I am so proud of myself. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but my brain did an awesome job today lol. I TOTALLY figured out how to incorporate exercise at work and not be stressed about it, and actually do it, without it being extra work! woo hoo!

The stairs!

I forgot that I worked on the top floor of the hospital. I didn't forget, but I forgot what that meant. That I can take the stairs!

So although I had my workday today, which was a busy busy day, I got my (non)rest day exercise in. Ten flights of stairs. I also moved around some beds today, so I consciously did some backwards lunges again. Felt great to accomplish something in 2 completely different areas of my life :).

*high fives brain*

I also realized that I would make my life a whole lot easier, if I would just take a shower when I get home from work and not worry about it in the morning. *high fives brain again*

sweet.

Hope you had a good day! Pop in on Friday to see my measurements :).

Take care!

I can do this. I am a star.