About a month late

Some of you may have known that I was heading back to Uganda over my Christmas break. Others were probably certain that I had abandoned them for the holidays. Most of you were probably thinking I was never going to come back to this blog. Well, it's taken me a bit of time to get myself back here. So let's do a quick recap.

Uganda: Part 2

I didn't imagine that I'd be heading back to Uganda a short four months after leaving. I had an amazing time the first time I was there and wasn't sure when I'd be able to get back there. Being a second year medical student, we don't get a summer vacation and the last big break we have was this year's Christmas break, so I booked a flight and spent my first Christmas away from home. 

Christmas in Uganda was so not a big deal. People still go to work, no one gives each other gifts, and holiday decorations aren't anything like they are in the U.S. (probably because no one has the money to spend so frivolously). New Year's Eve also wasn't such a big deal and it was weird not spending it with all my friends that I spend it with almost every year.

But it was great being back and seeing some familiar faces and meeting new ones. It was great living with Michael and his family again. And, of course, it was great seeing Nasur again.

Here are a few pictures from this trip:

Me and Simon in the scrubs I left at the hospital in August

Nasur hard at work reviewing a patient

Nasur and I fooling around at the hospital

The doctor and boys who worked in maternity: Joel, Josh, Eliot, Nasur, and Dr. Waako

Nasur and me on my last day in Iganga

Kevin, my little man that I lived with

Some of the kiddos I saw everyday on my walk to the hospital

Walking into town.

Hospital corridor the day after Christmas

The maternity ward

Coming back home

It was a lot harder to leave Uganda this time around, mostly because I don't know when I'll get back there. It was also hard to leave the tropics where the temperature was a balmy 80°F to come back to a cold, cold Michigan. And of course, it was hard to leave Nasur. We spent a lot of time together and I really missed him when I got back. Like, it was bad. Things that would remind me of Nasur or Uganda would physically hurt. It would take me a while to catch my breath and I would cry a lot. I tried to keep smiling, but it was rough for the first week. I don't know how many times I called Nasur crying. But thank goodness for my friends. They kept me sane and kept me smiling.

School

Starting school again was rough. I wasn't in the mood. I needed more time to mentally prepare myself, but it was off to the races regardless of how ready I was. We have a little over 5 months until our first board exam and thinking of that makes my heart race a little. But I did okay on our first exam so I just have to keep on working hard for the next few months.

Exercising and eating right

I haven't exactly been doing either of these things. When I first got back, I was struggling to eat at all because I was so miserable. Then once I got over my misery more, I began overeating again. After all, there was so much tasty food I'd missed while I was in Africa! Now I just need to get back into the routine again. That's another reason why it's taken me so long to write another post - I haven't been ready to say, "I let myself get out of shape again." But I've said it and now it's time to do something about it.

I've got a few goals for myself. I have 95 days until I turn 26 and I'm tired of telling myself that I'm going to be under 200 pounds by X date and then never accomplishing it. So, I'm just going to be a bit more realistic and less restrictive. Right now, I have it in my head that I'm going to go to the gym every single day. I just want to get up, clean off my car (I live in Michigan, folks. There's snow on it every day...), and hit up the gym for an hour every morning. It just needs to be a part of the routine. It's been part of my routine before, so I just need to bring it back. Next up, I would like to weigh in at about 190 pounds by my 26th birthday. I have an idea of where I'm at right now, but I'd like to do a weekly weigh-in every Monday and post it on here. I'm also going to try to count calories. I did this pretty successfully before I left for Uganda, so I'm sure I can do it again if I want. I'm also going to lay off the desserts...kinda. I, personally, will not be buying myself any desserts or keeping any in my apartment. However, if people bring in a dessert, I'm not going to deny myself. I tend to overeat in other ways to compensate for not getting what I want. But, I will limit myself to one serving and I won't take any home with me. Sharing is caring. I'm also going to wear my heart rate monitor to the gym and log those calories as well. So, here we go. I'm not going to call this a challenge or anything like that. It's just me hopefully finally reaching onederland and staying there!

So, in summary, I will:

1. Weigh in every Monday (and post it on here)
2. Hit up the gym for an hour every morning
3. Not buy or bake any desserts
4. Watch the portion sizes when I do eat desserts
5. Log calories: both food and exercise

All of this is starting tomorrow, so I promise I'll do a post tomorrow! I'm not going to make promises about posting everyday, but it seems that google has decided to stop trying to make me pay money for posting photos, so I'll try to do a quick post everyday with food photos.

Thanks in advance for your support and following along. I really want to make some positive changes!