Scale discrepancies (read: a weigh-in) and today's selfie

So today I woke up and did my weigh-in as promised - I almost forgot because I was distracted by some major low back pain. For those of you who are faithful and read all my posts, you'll know that I've been seeing a chiropractor as well as DO to help with my back. For those of you who are not faithful readers, shame on you welcome! I have an appointment on Friday with the DO and decided today that I had to see the chiropractor. I couldn't even bend over after my shower this morning to dry off my legs after my shower. And I didn't want to spiral down into something awful. So, I bit the bullet and saw the chiropractor. He adjusted me quickly, said my sacrum was out of alignment (per usual) and then sent me on my merry way. Since getting home, I've been using my heating pad and trying to move around more. I even tried bending to touch my toes (something that isn't usually that difficult for me) and it was a definite no-go. My back must be super tense. I've been taking ibuprofen to decrease the inflammation, so now I've just gotta be patient.

After work, I hit up the elliptical. I was going to do an hour and then my stomach wouldn't allow it. It was all, "Bitch. I'm hungrrrrry." And I was all like, "Just wait." And my stomach was like, "Eff waiting. I'm going to be super loud the entire time you're on this elliptical." And so, I decreased my time to 45 minutes, which worked out perfectly because I finished my recent kindle read with 32 seconds to go. It was like the powers that be wanted me to just do 45 minutes of ellipticaling.

I've been studying a lot today, working on some fiancé visa paperwork, and trying to be more active because I think my back is angry that I've been so immobile lately. I've also been checking The Fitnessista's blog incessantly to see if she's delivered her baby yet. She hasn't blogged since Friday. What's going on!? The OB/GYN in me MUST KNOW.

Anywho, that's it for me. Here's what you guys all really want: my weigh-in.

Upon first stepping on the scale

Second try - I like this number better ;-)

Today's selfie

Lunch

Apples = fiber! Pooping for everyone!

Noms

Dinner

Tomorrow I have personal training after work. I also get to do two surgeries tomorrow because they need help with coverage for the gynecology surgeries. Baller. I've missed the OR. It'll be a good day, I hope!

Study day and multi-tasking

So today is the first day in a looooong time where I've had a day off and haven't had to do something on that day off. Like technically last week I had Thursday-Sunday off, but I had a wedding of a close friend, so that doesn't count. But today, I got to have a whole day to study, go to the gym, do laundry, eat when I wanted, and so on. It was luxurious. I can't even tell you how much I needed a day like today.

Anywho, one of the things I've noticed today is my compulsion to do more than one thing at a time. For example, when I'm eating, I'm always watching something or reading something. Or when I'm at the gym and I'm on the elliptical, I'm always reading a book for fun (that's mostly to help pass the time). Or when I'm on the toilet, I've always got my phone with me. 

Source

Anywho, I think my absence of really paying attention to eating makes me eat faster and eat more without really noticing it. I'm sure I also don't get to enjoy eating as much - like observing the taste, texture, and smells of my food. I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do to be more thoughtful about this. I thought about nixing eating while doing other things, but it saves me so much time in the morning if I'm looking over my patients' charts while I'm eating breakfast. So, I'll have to think about it.

In other news, I got to have a whole day of eats at home today and that almost never happens!

Lunch

Afternoon snack

Indian food dinner, thanks to Trader Joe's

TJ's naan

TJ's butter chicken

Evening snack, courtesy of Lisa's kindness last weekend

Not pictured is the apple I had for breakfast and the Luna bar I had mid-afternoon as a pre-gym snack. I also tracked my calories all day, which I never get to do and that was good too.

In other news, I hit up the gym for an hour's worth of elliptical today because my hips and low back were being assholes. I thought really getting them going in a low-impact way would be helpful, but I'm still sore. I took some ibuprofen twice today. I might really switch things up tomorrow and swim at the gym to be a little more low-impact. We'll see. I shaved during my post-gym shower just in case ;-)

Cheers!

First day doing it all

So, let's start out with the number that you've all been waiting for - my latest weigh-in (you can see all of my weigh-ins here)!

So, next week, my goal is to hit 240.2 and if I do, new tennis shoes for meeeee!

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, but at the same time eventful because it was my first day trying to juggle life as it will be for the next two weeks with no time off - not even a weekend!

After my weigh-in, I showered and made some breakfast. My breakfasts always tend to be the same, so eventually you'll get bored of seeing it. That being said, if you have any suggestions for yummy, low-cal breakfasts, I'm all ears!

2 egg whites + 1 whole egg, sourdough toast, watermelon

On my way out the door, I grab a yogurt protein shake - it's my way of trying to avoid snacking too much before lunch. But, when breakfast is about 7 hours before lunch, that's hard to do ;-)

This is an old photo I have so you can see the protein shake

At work, I made it until like 8/8:30 before my stomach started audibly growling. I had some new belVita breakfast bars in my bag and I had 2/4 of them, but gobbled down the other 2 like an hour later. I also ate an apple that I had from last week.

I got lunch around 12:45, which was pretty decent - I managed to take a picture of it today as I walked down the hall. About half my plate is bagged salad (beggars can't be choosers), there's some curry chicken which was pretty moist, and then some fish casserole thing...? I don't always know what I'm eating, but I appreciate not having to cook. There's a pretty decent selection and I try to fill at least half my plate with salad. That being said, they only have two options for salad dressing: ranch and italian. So, tomorrow I'm taking my own salad dressing - it's healthier and yummier :-)

After lunch, I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off. I think about 10 women delivered this afternoon. But it was so great! I hate sitting around idle, so, to me, being busy is awesome. I learned a lot today and got in a lot of steps! My fitbit (like most fitbits, I think) is set to 10,000 steps a day and I definitely made it today.

Once I headed out around 5:45, I ate a fiber bar, rehydrated, and headed straight to the gym - not the one near work, the one near where I live. I like the feel of that L.A. Fitness better. Plus, I kinda like the anonymity. I majorly sweated it out during an elliptical session and then headed home where I ate some watermelon and drank insta-urine raspberry green tea crystal light.

It looks like urine, but it's not

ALL THE MELON IN MY MOUTH

I had to wait a half hour to cook my quesadilla dinner and I needed a little something to munch on until it was done given that it was already past 7. 

Trader Joe's got my back

Half an hour to bake this thing

Dinner + fat-free sour cream

I did some reading for work, restocked my gym bag and am getting ready to hit the hay. One of the things I'm trying to think about is how to pack healthy snacks. At work, I usually need something super portable, but I don't love the idea of eating packaged food all day - I'd like to get some fresh fruit in there. Any ideas? What's your go-to healthy snack?

A day of many errands

Well, I almost forgot to blog before starting the bedtime process. So, you can thank my hippocampus for reminding me. Today was mediocre. I didn't get to the fitness parts of my life the way I wanted, buuut, I do have some starting points. Let us begin.

Today was supposed to be Mom and Danika day as in my mom was going to come down to see my new place, we were going to go to IKEA, and then hit up Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. However, the mom's digestive tract thwarted our plans and she was stuck in Midland. I decided to go ahead and run the errands as planned given that I will be out of town for the next two days. 

My first stop was actually meijer to return a TV stand I bought earlier in a semi-panic. I got harassed on my way to the customer service area and smoothly roped into buying a subscription to the Detroit Free Press in return for a $25 meijer gift card (without being told that I was being signed up for a subscription when given the gift card). But when I read the fine print and I called to cancel my subscription, I got the run around. Needless to say, the gift card will not be spent because they will make me pay for it if I do spend it. And I'm not technically allowed to cancel the subscription until my first paper arrives. Great. Add it to my to-do list.

Then I went to JoAnn Fabrics since they were having a 60% +15% off custom framing special and I have two paintings from like three Uganda trips ago that I've been meaning to frame. I'm pretty pumped to see the finished product as they're pretty beautiful paintings. I'm also pretty glad I wasn't swindled at that store.

The next stop was IKEA, which is a terrifying store. But, I left with the drawer set I wanted and the bookshelf I needed. I've put the shelf together already and it matches my desk very nicely. But, I'm a little stuck with the bookshelf and it may need to be on hold until the mom makes her trip with the brother so I can use him enjoy his company.

After IKEA, I hit up Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. I didn't buy anything from either bakery which is a win all around for me and I checked all the labels of the food I was buying to make sure it fit into the type of diet I'm planning to get started on. I also got pumped because of all the different delicious things they have in the freezer section at TJ's. Seriously, folks. Meals that simply need to be heated? Sign me up! This intern-to-be will not have time for lots of cooking.

I came home to drop off some of the goods and then headed back to meijer to do finish up the shopping - getting the rest of the little things I wasn't able to find at other stores. I haven't had much success finding a tape measurer - I want to do body measuring, you know, like hips, thighs, etc. to track my progress.

By the time I got home (7:00 p.m.), I decided it was time to build some furniture. So, my grand plans to go to L.A. Fitness were rescheduled to Thursday. I even signed up for an "exploration" appointment online so I wouldn't back out.

And I also did a weigh-in today. I'm not thrilled with my weight, but I expected worse, so that's good.

Today's weight

And today's other photos:

Breakfast

I like my egg cartons to have even weight distribution...

A terrifying place

Dinner from Whole Foods (Salmon Avocado Roll)

Had to show my mom that this exists since she loves TJ cookie butter

I built this. Call me Rosie the Riveter!

Tomorrow I'm heading to Grand Rapids for a whirlwind of meeting up with people and such, but I'll try to blog on my phone since I'm definitely not taking my computer. And then Thursday, I expect I'll do some goal setting and some real talk. Cheers!

Life without Zumba is sad

You guys. Ankles are dumb. Especially my right ankle. Dumbest ankle ever. 

Today I really needed to do laundry because I was out of workout gear. So, I started the day with some laundrizzle. This was not fun as the laundry is located in the basement and I'm on the second floor. This meant lots of stairs. You know what doesn't like stairs? My ankle. It's the thing that aggravates it most. So, that was awesome. Thankfully, I only had two loads because I'm going home next weekend and my mom loves it when I bring home lots of laundry lets me launder for free. Anywho, it wasn't an excellent start to the day.

And then midday, I started getting a bit restless. I was attributing this to my lack of gym time and abundance of sitonmybuttstudying time. So, I decided, "Fuck it. I need a break and I need to go to the gym." I didn't go yesterday, so I really wanted to do some weights since cardio didn't seem appealing. It didn't really bother my ankle, but there was baseline ankle botheredness today. I don't know if I'm pushing myself too much, but it seems so stupid to not exercise just because of a tiny ankle injury. Plus, I like working out and I miss Zumba. A lot. Like probably more than I should. But I know jumping on it would be stupid. So, I shall live a sad, Zumba-less life.

The rest of the day was spent studying and photographing my ankle for you guys. And taking food photos. I had a lot of calories for dinner, so I heated up a Trader Joe's Chicken Lasagna. It was pretty calorie and fat heavy, but I went for it. It was a teeny tiny tray that had "four servings." Right. I had one serving (which is pictured below) and went back for a second since I could/had the calories for it. It was okay. The reason I got it was because it was way healthier than standard lasagna, but you definitely sacrifice some flavor. I wouldn't get it again, but I'm not a huge lasagna fan to begin with. I just liked the idea of throwing it in the oven and being done with it.

That's it. The exam is on Thursday, which makes me panic a bit when I think about it. I mean, I've been studying for a while now and am getting pretty sick of study days, but I also would rather not take the exam...

Anywho, here are your photos.

Breakfast (there was more watermelon, but I ate it pre-photo)

Morning snack

Lunch (chicken sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and avocado), and my favorite beverage treat (they were on sale)

Afternoon snack/pre-gym fuel

Protein smoothie post-gym

Serving #1 

Dessert

It's hard to photograph the extent of the bruising

The top of my foot has a slight blue tinge to it (you can kinda see it in the below photo)

Still swollen - I can't even set it on the ground properly...yikes

Something else I wanted to blog real quick: my smoothies for post-workout. My friend Lisa asked how I make them.  

• 1 cup of skim milk - you can use water to save on calories, but it gets kinda weirdly frothy
• Half a scoop of vanilla protein (the powder I have is like 28g of protein per scoop and you really only need 12ish grams after a strength training workout)
• Half a cup (70ish grams) of some kind of frozen fruit - I tend to go with blueberries or pineapple lately. I've done strawberries, raspberries, bananas, etc. You can use fresh fruit too if you add a tad bit more ice
• 1 packet crystal light to kill the protein flavor - I've been using the mango energy one lately
• 4 ice cubes if you're using frozen fruit; 6 or more if you're using fresh fruit

Throw it all in a blender and blend to the consistency you like. If you want it thinner, use less ice or more milk.

Today's positive: Um, not chopping off my foot out of frustration? Does that count?

And so it begins

Tomorrow is my first day of orientation. I'm mostly nervous because I'm expecting a lot from this experience. After all, I quit a perfectly good job, moved across the state, and am accumulating more debt than I've ever accumulated. So, if this sucks, I'm kind of screwed.


Anyway, let's do an update before I completely freak myself out. Sound good? Great!


Today I didn't get out of bed until about 9:45 a.m. and then I decided not to go running like I'd planned last night because it was already gross hot. Instead, I gobbled up some oats and made plans to go to Dick's Sporting Goods and meijer with Matt. 

At Dick's, I got some goodies (like spandex shorts to be worn underneath other shorts), lifting gloves (so my hands don't get torn up), and a reflective vest for evening runs. Then we headed to meijer so I could get some extension cords and such since the few outlets in this apartment are randomly placed. Next, we headed to the YMCA where I officially joined as a member. This gym is waaaay better than the gym I joined on Tuesday. Look how pretty it is!

Somehow Matt and I managed to spend two hours working out (how in the world did that happen?) before heading back to my apartment for food and furniture assembly! The food part worked out just fine. We had an awesome BBQ chicken pizza from Trader Joe's.

It had gouda (gouda!!!) on it. Seriously awesome. It's a shame I only bought one. Definitely should have stocked up on that. Then I made some oats since we needed some more protein after our intense workout. If you don't remember what they look like, don't worry! I'm going to be a doctor and will help you with your memory problem (they're pictured above...)!


While I was cooking up dinner, Matt tried to put my IKEA table together but couldn't as I didn't buy the frame that I needed to go with it. Why didn't I buy the frame? Because the guy I sought out to ask if I needed a frame told me I didn't need one. Um, yeah. Not true. Not happy. But I called IKEA and complained and they will be shipping me one free of charge sometime within the next few days when the manager from the store calls me to apologize for his stupid employee (and ya know, to get a credit card number).


After dinner, Matt headed home, and I decided to do some very important things like watching Project Runway. Also, showering. Since I still hadn't done that by 6:00 p.m. Then I decided to bite the bullet and continue unpacking. After about 1.5 hours of that, I gave up. I hate unpacking. But I also hate having an apartment that's not completely unpacked. Vicious cycle, I know. Then I told myself I'd just take a break. But after looking at all that needed to be done, I got completely overwhelmed and frustrated and decided to just go through all the med school e-mails I'd gotten over the past few days. That was a poor choice as it only stressed me out further. So, now I'm stressed, overwhelmed, and frustrated. This, my friends, is not a trifecta of goodness. Trust me. And my living room still looks like this:

And I look like this:

That's my attempt at being frustrated, overwhelmed, and slightly frightened all at once. Mostly, I think I look as though I'm in pain

So, my friends, I hope my orientation tomorrow is amazing. And I also hope that my nerves/body calms the eff down so I can sleep and be somewhat recharged for my 7:00 a.m. gym rendezvous with Matt. I'm already thinking this was a bad idea...

Long time, no post!

Well, hello there. I'm glad you're still following and haven't completely given up on me. I have a lot to update you on!


Friday
Friday I woke up nice and early to get the last of my packing done and then head to the gym for training with Emily at 10:00 a.m. It was my last training session with her and she kicked my butt, per usual. I didn't do much cardio beforehand or afterwards, but that was okay with me because I had Chi Running training with Ken Andrews, We spent a little over two hours together, during which I learned the very basics of chi running. We spent a lot of time going through the proper form and then we did a tiny bit of running. I learned a lot and I'm really excited to actually go out and do some running.


After running, I got some lunch for Alicia and myself and then headed home to take a look at the packing situation.

After we finished up packing, Alicia took me to the UHaul place where I spent a half hour hassling with the reservation people and then came home to shower before running over to Jenna's house to see her, her husband/my husband Tyler, and her parents.

And they fed me! Mrs. Brown made some awesome chicken, a great pork roast, and a bunch of delicious veggies! Here's a photo that doesn't allow you to see pretty much anything...

After enjoying an awesome meal and great company, I headed back to my apartment to pack all of my belongings in the UHaul with the help of Alicia, Mark, and my mom. It took us about two hours, but I'm glad we didn't have to pack and unpack all in the same day. After packing, I headed to my mom's house for the night.


Saturday
I woke up nice and early to get on the road at 9:00 a.m. with Mark, Alicia, and my mom. Mark drove the UHaul with me and my mom drove Alicia in her van. We got to Grand Rapids around 11:30 a.m. where Matt was waiting for us. We got everything unloaded in about an hour and then had some Jimmy John's for lunch. Yum! And while we were relaxing, I snapped some photos of everyone who helped me move!

My mom and Alicia (who is constructing my bookcase) 

Matt who got to help Mark move all the big stuff

Me and Mark looking oh so enthused

After my internet was set up by the Comcast guy, we headed back to Midland and both Mark and Alicia headed home while I returned the UHaul. Then I did more packing up of my apartment and headed to my mom's house for one last night of no unpacking. 


Sunday
Once again, I headed back to my apartment in Midland to grab more stuff and then I drove to Grand Rapids. Once there, I made my bed and napped. I woke up and headed to Matt's house so he could feed me.

We had chicken salad with beans and potatoes. Yum! We also made a trip to Wayland for ice cream and to visit with Matt's friend Kylee. Then we headed back to his house so I could bully him into finally signing up for his GRE. I'm pretty sure he hated me for that. Whoops! But I left before he could do me any real harm and went straight to bed.


Monday
This was the first day I started truly unpacking. My friend Curt came over and lined my kitchen shelves (which was freaking awesome because I hate doing that) and helped me move some of my big stuff. We also went to lunch at Marie Catrib's and then it was back to unpacking. Curt headed back to work (he worked a split) and then I went to my orthodontist appointment. 


I saw two orthodontists who were both impressed by my completely open bite. But the good news is that they recommended Invisalign rather than conventional braces. They asked if I was okay with that. Uh, making my braces less obvious? Sure!


After my appointment, I headed to the mall where Matt's sister Heather gave me an awesome haircut. I did a tiny bit of shopping for my white coat ceremony and then finally headed home to finish up unpacking my kitchen and bathroom. Then it was time for bed!


Tuesday
I decided to get up early and head to a new gym. I met with Scott at MVP Metro Club in downtown Grand Rapids. He was a great help in setting up my membership and took me on a quick tour of the facilities. The gym was really nice and decently-equipped. However, I was the only person there. Anyway, let me tell you a bit more about it. On the first floor they had their group fitness rooms. On the second floor was all their cardio equipment including treadmills, ellipticals, and bikes. On the third floor was their weight room.


I decided I would stick with some cardio and headed to the second floor. All of the machines were touch screen with extended cable, and, though I thought this would be awesome, it was actually kind of crappy because you couldn't do any preset programs and it didn't track your stats - the screens just went back to television show you were watching. I tried programming the treadmill, elliptical, and stationary bike and they all only let you do quick start programming. There was no staff around to ask so I gave up and headed up to the third floor and did about 45 minutes of weights. I was a tad disappointed by their lack of machines and left upset that I signed up for a membership.


I came home to shower and then headed to Ann Arbor for lunch with Stephen and Noel before heading to IKEA where I met up with Anthony and bought a desk. I don't have any pictures from the day because I left my camera. Womp, womp.


On my way back to Grand Rapids, I did a major grocery shopping trip at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods in Ann Arbor. I spent quite a bit of money, but hopefully I'll have lots of really good quality food for a while. Then I finally headed home. However, I realized that I could stop and see my sister's apartment in East Lansing so I didn't home until a little after 11:00 p.m.


Once home, I unpacked the cooler and headed to bed.


Wednesday
Today I woke up around 9:00 a.m., showered, and signed up for some med school stuff. Then I talked to the people at the skydiving company who told me that the weather may not hold until 6:00 p.m. when Allyson and I were scheduled to jump. So, we pulled some strings and met in Mount Pleasant at 2:15 so we could jump out of a perfectly good airplane for fun. Allyson brought my mom and both her parents with her. So, here are some pics from my adventures today!

The baby plane we jumped from 

Getting suited up

I thought this picture was so funny 

Ready to jump! Well, maybe we should have a parachute...

Allyson and Jake (we did a tandem jump)

Me and Scott, the man I was attached to

Dancing because I was so excited

Making Allyson dance with me

Me and my mom before I risked my life

Allyson and I demonstrating how to arch properly when you jump out of the plane 

Me!

Coming in for the landing 

Woo! Allyson coming in for her landing

The first time we saw each other after falling 11,000 feet 

Hugging because we were still alive and able to!

Celebrating our jump

After our jump, we went out to dinner with our respective parents and had a drink to celebrate. So how was it? It was pretty awesome! The free falling part of it isn't anything like a roller coaster - your stomach never drops. But it's definitely fast (and loud)! You cover about 5,000 feet in 35 seconds. Then you pull the 'chute and it's super quiet. Scott did a few fun spins with me and he videotaped the whole thing. So, in about 5-7 days, you can look forward to a video of me jumping from an airplane.


After dinner, my mom and I went to meijer (the meijer here is so much less confusing than the ones in Grand Rapids!) and then shortly after getting home, Allyson and I decided to hit up the Midland County Fair. However, we were less than impressed and left after Allyson bought an elephant ear.

We headed back to her house and hung out for a bit before I headed home to do a huge update for you all! I'll be heading back to Grand Rapids tomorrow and doing yet more moving, so hopefully I won't be too tired to update you guys again!