Last vacation day

Tomorrow I head back to real life/work. I'm on call, so 24 hours of fun. My goal is to eat mostly food that I've pack for myself and to try and get my steps in. I joined a FitBit challenge with some other women physicians and am hoping to stay in the front half of the leaderboard for that. 

Today, we hit up the grocery store to grab some things for dinner tonight and some stuff we needed in general. Since it was my last day off, I hauled both the kids with me and Nana came too. I wanted to get in as much family time as possible since I miss out on a lot of family time with my job.

After the grocery store, I made some pesto for tonight and some cake, also for tonight. We got the kiddos fed and down for a nap. Once Nasur was home from work, he and Reyah headed out to shovel the driveway and sidewalk and then we got ready and headed to the rec center to go swimming. I'm trying to do more active stuff with the kiddos when we're able. We were there about 1.5 hours and the kiddos had a great time. 

Once home, I made dinner and then it was the usual: bath time, bed time, and getting ready for work. I'm sad to be going back - there's still plenty of stuff I didn't get to around the house. Wompity womp.

The babies hanging out together

Commitment issues

Hello again, adoring fans! Sorry for the long break. My mom came to visit and I was trying to put in as much time with her as possible while juggling quite a bit of call and I lapsed on blogging. But, I'm going to recommit! 

In terms of new things, I don't have much to report. The ozempic continues to go okay. The reflux is pretty unfortunate, but other than that, I don't have any exciting side effects. I'll do a weigh-in tomorrow for following the actual numbers. I haven't weighed myself in a while because the battery was dead. Again. I've had to replace the scale battery 3 times in like 6 months, so it may be time to upgrade. I've had this one for 10+ years, so I've gotten my fair use out of it. But, let's hope it can keep up.

I also made a trip to Costco today to replenish our fresh fruit stores. My obesity med doc told me that she'd like me to up my veggies over upping my fruit, but fruit requires so much less work, so here is me ignoring her advice. Whoops?

I'll also be snapping photos of my eats to help with accountability, but I have mostly stopped calorie counting as it's just gotten to be too much work. I'll reevaluate in the coming weeks, but I think it may just be too much with how busy my life is.

Anywho, hoping everyone's start to the holiday season is going well! Here are some snow photos to hold you over until I do a legit post!

Prepping for success

Nasur's having a bit of a lie in and I'm over here prepping for success. I bought this book a while ago and have cracked it open a few times, but I chose 2 breakfasts + 3 meals to trial this week.

I've made my grocery list, so once I get to shower and get moving, I'll go grab all the things I need. The only bad thing is that because Meijer doesn't exist this far west, I will be forced to go to like 3 different stores. Boo. Hiss. That's one thing I miss about the midwest. I miss Meijer almost as much as I miss my Mom. So, a lot. 

We're seeing a house later today as well that we've seen twice before so I can further torture myself with whether or not we should buy it. Good times ahead!

Anywho, wanted to do a quick update because I'm unsure how busy the rest of the day will be.

Day 1/365: The Year I Rock Out

Today was the first day of 2017, a.k.a. the year I rock out, a.k.a. the year I pay off my credit card debt, a.k.a. the year I study consistently, a.k.a. the year I lose the fucking weight, a.k.a. the year that's gonna kick butt. 

I started the year watching the ball drop with the nurses, writing some progress notes and getting some interrupted sleep. My husband also came to work so we could ring in the new year together. He's the best. 

Labor and delivery

Husband and me

After I got home, I slept, weighed in, and then did my couponing online while eating a quick meal before hitting the gym.

Oof.

My BMI is 38.9 and fat % is 42.0

Quick breakfast

The gym oddly wasn't very crowded despite the new year

Then, two dear friends of ours came to hang out/grab a meal to celebrate the new year together. I showered and got ready as fast as I could and timed it to their arrival pretty well. We sat and chatted and then hit up Twisted Rooster, a local restaurant featuring locally-sourced foods. It was delicious and I completely forgot about snapping pictures. Grr. We came home and played some Phase 10 and then parted ways when Nasur had to work. While Nasur was at work, I went to the grocery store.

While at the grocery store, I tried to stock up on some really healthy stuff. I've been reading a lot about how to do this the right way without hating life and one of the articles I read was about quitting sugar. In short, the recommended amount of added sugar (like not from fresh fruits) is 25g. So, when I was looking at protein bars and yogurts, there were a lot of options that I just had to put back. A majority of yogurts have more than 25g of sugar in their one serving. Crazy pants. 

One of the other things I was also looking for was a healthy salad dressing. I'm a pretty big proponent of creamy dressings, which are pretty much super delicious the least healthy kind of dressing. I bought a yogurt-based Ranch dressing that I've had before that's pretty low on the calorie front. 

I also searched for a healthy-ish bread. I like my breads pretty crusty and am not so into soft breads. I picked up some flat bread sandwich things and anticipate making some paninis with them. 

When I got home, I cleaned out the fridge and cut up my produce and washed everything so it's easier to grab. There is definitely an inverse relationship between prep time and the likelihood that I'm going to eat whatever that thing is. I also tried to use the rule of seeing things - all the carbs are at the bottom of the fridge (I refrigerate my bread despite reading an article telling me that was a big no, no) and the fresh fruits and veggies are in the front and near the top. 

That's about it for me for today. I'm trying this thing where I set a 20 minute limit on blogging so that it seems like an easier thing to do - cuz really, I can spare 20 minutes a day, so I'm off! 

Today's selfie

I'll be weighing in on Monday next week (I just wanted to be able to start the year with a weigh-in) and I'm setting my goal as a lofty one - 3 pounds!

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!

Feeling a bit better

So, I was going to apologize for my semi-Debbie Downer/Negative Nancy post this morning, but then I was thinking to myself that I shouldn't have to apologize for feeling what I'm feeling. I deserve to feel how I want and not apologize for it. So, there you go. No apology for you.

The rest of the day was less tearful than the beginning. It included grocery shopping (for the few things I couldn't get at the farmer's market, i.e., cat food and cat litter), a phone call catching up with a friend, a video chat date, a nap, and a minimal amount of studying. So, I'm actually incredibly glad that tomorrow starts a new week. I need a fresh start. I need to get up, get studying, and get out of this funk. And given that tomorrow isn't supposed to be gross and rainy/cloudy, I'll be glad to see some sun and maybe get some studying done outdoors.

On the deck for tomorrow is a meeting with another one of my letter writers and a lunch date with a friend who's headed back to Ohio tomorrow for a while. So, I've gotta be super productive. My plan is to get up, do half a question set while I hydrate and eat a small snack, head to the gym, get home, shower, read, go to lunch, do some more reading, do some questions, head to see my letter writer, go to Zumba, and come back for more ready and questions. I'll let you know how my day goes.

I'm also going to do a weigh-in tomorrow despite not eating very awesome over the weekend. But, the scale doesn't lie and it's a good way for me to monitor my progress and set a new goal for next week. 

Today's positive: Going to the gym and eating well, despite feeling teary and sad for myself. It's hardest to do nice things for ourselves when we're not feeling great, so I'm glad I was able to do that for me.

And here are all the photos on my camera since my last post:

Friday's breakfast

My farmer's market outfit cuz it's cold as eff in Michigan lately

Best. Cinnamon. Roll. Of. My. Life.

Bagel for Saturday's breakfast

Mmm. Garlic. Mmm. Sourdough. Had to have it

Turned out to be only okay - this is a mini plate, btw - I didn't eat that much bread

Part 2 of lunch (part 1 was the bread)

Saturday's breakfast

Today's post-gym fuel

Today's breakfast/lunch

My farmer's market cauliflower, which I roasted tonight

Catch you tomorrow for a weigh-in!

Ice cream versus sherbet

Today was a busy day. I didn't get to go blading because it rained [again] in the morning. I was a tad bummed, but since my knees were still bothering me off and on, I figured it wasn't that big of a deal that I didn't get to blade.

My mom taught me how to make one of her Chinese dishes: cashew chicken. It's essentially stir fry, and I thought it'd be a bit healthier than some of the things I munch on for dinner. You see, I'm trying to think more ahead than I usually do in terms of making food beforehand. When I'm starving, I thought it'd be better to have delicious things that are healthy to heat up rather than just a PBJ, handful of this, handful of that, seven billion handfuls of something else, so on and so on.

We made the cashew chicken together (my mom had to teach me because I'm incompetent in the kitchen) and then I brought it home to have for later. I also did a major shopping trip today and prepped some foods for this week. To prep for my trip, I looked through all of my old photos to get an idea of what exactly it was that I ate when I was eating healthy. In summary, a lot of fruits, more vegetables than I'm currently eating, and a lot of meats. Then I wrote out my list:

It was long. I want to emphasize that I got some things that weren't on the list (some spices, some chicken) and there were things I didn't get (turkey sausage - couldn't find what I wanted, potatoes - had to buy a five pound bag). But mostly, I try to stick to my lists because otherwise anything could find its way into my cart.

I also tried to be realistic about the things I was buying. Like changing your eating habits is hard work and cutting out all sweets is just stupid. So, I looked at some labels. I know ice cream isn't all that good for you, so I gravitated toward the frozen yogurt, frozen greek yogurt, and sherbet. Turns out the frozen yogurt has the fewest calories and fat. The sherbet is chock full of sugar (about 30g per 1/2 cup serving) and has no protein whereas the frozen yogurts have way less sugar and obviously, the greek version has more protein. I opted for the vanilla frozen yogurt because it had the least calories and the tastiest flavor (just vanilla).

Anywho, I got home and started making these enchiladas from Krista's blog. They're made with greek yogurt and from a recipe her mom has tweaked. Her mom's are clearly more beautiful than mine.

Before adding the sauce

After they came out of the oven

My serving of two

Neither Krista nor I calculated the calories for these bad boys. I don't imagine they're too bad for you. I think next time I make them, I might add some spinach. The original recipe calls for olives, but since I don't like olives, I omitted that step. But I think they need some bulking. Maybe some spinach and chicken. But, they're pretty legit otherwise. Also, it made 10 enchiladas. Sooo, that's 4 more meals!

While those were cooking, I marinated some chicken and threw it in the freezer and then marinated some fish, which I intend to have for dinner tomorrow after zumba. It's my mom's recipe and it's the fish we had on Friday:

This is the only recipe I have on a legit recipe card - the rest I just type up so I can pull them up whenever

The fish in its marinade.

I hope I'll be able to pull off thinking ahead meal-wise for this rotation. It's a lot of work, though. Speaking of this rotation, our orientation is tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. Soo, I'm going to get up at 6:30, which should be enough time to get in a workout before heading to school. We're only there for half the day, so I'm going to pack snacks and not worry about a lunch just yet.

Tuesday, we're starting at 8:30 a.m., so I'll get up at 6:00 and head to the gym. I'm 100% certain that I won't love morning workouts, but I like the idea of one shower in a day and I like the idea of just getting it over with.

I kind of forgot that I'm supposed to be doing the one positive thing a day part, so today's positive note: I'm proud of myself for thinking ahead and being mindful of my goals while I meal plan.

And here are the rest of today's pictures:

Breakfast 1.1

Breakfast 2.1

Ingredients for cashew chicken

Mushrooms for cashew chicken

All de puppies

Not a puppy :-(

Easily entertained

Cooking

200 calories of frozen yogurt

Catch you guys tomorrow!

Grocery shopping while hungry = terrible idea.

I took pictures of some of my food today, but I'm too lazy to upload them. I'd say I'm sorry, but I'm not. 

Anywho, I delivered one baby via C-section (I did two sections yesterday and 1 vaginal delivery) and then did outpatient this afternoon. I got out right around 5, came home, changed, and hit the gym. Then I decided to do my weekly grocery shopping because I was running low on some staples and because I'm working an overnight shift Friday and I have to work all day Sunday so I knew I wouldn't want to do it over the weekend.

You should never go grocery shopping while hungry. 

Duh.

You'd think I would have learned by now. Buuuut, I only bought one cupcake rather than a whole cake...so, progress? I was really craving a cupcake. Like, had been since last week, so I figured it was legit. I also bought cadburry Christmas chocolates. Bad idea. I will eat them all. I'm taking them into work tomorrow to share cuz I realize now post-hunger craving that I shouldn't have bought them. At least they were on sale...?

And now I'm going to wash my face and head to bed because tomorrow promises to be a long day as well. I do really enjoy OB/GYN, but the hours are rough, folks.

Womp, womp

Since I have 8:00 a.m. class on Fridays, I typically drive to school in my gym gear and then head to the gym right after class finishes. I figure since I don't want to wake up any earlier than necessary and school is halfway between my place and the gym, it's a good idea. The only problem was that today I really didn't want to go to the gym. I have a solid 5 hours between my first class of the day and my last class of the day: the perfect amount of time for a nap. So, that's why I'm giving myself a nice big pat on the back for going to the gym rather than napping today. I also brought along school work and reviewed some of the bajillion bugs that I have to know by Monday. Seriously? 43 different microbes and everything there is to know about them? Never going to happen.

I also went to Tim Horton's. I finished everything I wanted to finish at 10:45 p.m. rather than 11, so I decided to head home early as a treat to myself and forego grocery shopping since I really, really wasn't in the mood for that either.

Now I'm home and I'm going to head to bed shortly so I can wake up early, hit the gym and get in a solid 15 hours of studying. I hate myself for this being my life.

Some Friday Night Ramblings

So, I guess last night my subconscious was not feeling a 5:30 a.m. 5k because for some reason, I turned my alarm off (which I never do because it's set for the same time everyday). And so, I didn't wake up until 6:50 a.m. That was plenty of time to get to my 8 a.m. class, but not enough time to run a 5k, shower, eat, and get to class. Sooo, no gym for me today. Womp, womp.

Anywho, after my day of classes, I headed home and took the night off from studying. I watched Project Runway, talked to my boyfriend on the phone for a teeny tiny bit, and decided to get my grocery shopping and food organization done for the week. It's pretty time consuming to make my list, accumulate coupons, shop, and put everything away. So, it's a nice thing to do on a night where I'm not doing school work but still need to be somewhat productive.

The other nice thing about not doing school work is that I have time to blog - you know, give you a substantial update. Why? Because I love you that much, internet bestie. So, tonight's topics are CrossFit and Nasur. We'll get to those topics right after today's photos.

Breakfast in front of the computer

Groceries!

Bailey got a new toy tonight because of a coupon provided by his loving grandmother

He loves things with feathers. Also, shoes. He's probably gay.

Tonight's first topic of rambling: CrossFit

So, in June, I wrote about how I won a free membership for a CrossFit gym. When I got back from Africa, I did my training sessions (you have to do 3 to learn proper lifting form, get an idea of the workouts, etc.), and then I was set to do any class I wanted. They e-mailed me the schedule and my sign-in pin number and then I went to my first class. It's hard to explain the workouts because they're monstrously hard, but I wanted to tell you my thoughts about CrossFit.

So, CrossFit is basically a workout that combines crazy shit that you would never normally do with a healthy dose of shame. For example, does anyone ever actually ever need to do handstand push-ups? Like, I get that it's cool to be able to say you can do that, but how often do you find yourself in a situation where that is necessary? I mean, if someone's holding a gun to your head and says that they'll kill you unless you do a handstand push-up, I guess you're in luck, but really, I find that that happens only in very rare circumstances. Plus, the point of the workout is to get you to work point the past of exhaustion so that you push yourself both mentally and physically. As I'm someone who tends to get down on myself in my own head, I really don't need the mental push. Physically, yes. But mentally, no. 

Now where does the healthy dose of shame come in, you ask? Well, it comes in the group fitness atmosphere. The people who do CF are pretty much badass when it comes to fitness. For example, people at the CF I went to wore shirts that said "Your PB is my warm-up," with PB standing for personal best. How...welcoming. Most of the workouts are timed and they record your times on the board. It's kind of embarrassing when you come in last by several minutes. Or you know, when you only do 14 reps of something and someone else literally does twice what you can do and with 40 pounds of more weight. Yes, perhaps they've been working at it longer, but I felt as though I was too out of shape to be doing CF. I mean, I literally hadn't worked out since I left for Africa and I think I was jumping into things a little too fast.

I also didn't care for having to come to class at a set time. My schedule can get pretty weird so it was hard to just pick up and go to a class at 9 or a class at 6:30. I like to get my workouts done right away in the morning so I don't have to worry about finding the time to get it in. If it's done right away, I don't have the opportunity to talk my way out of it.

The other thing I didn't care for so much was the olympic lifting. Yes, it's cool to say that I can do a clean and jerk. Yes, it's nice to know what a sumo dead lift high pull is (and kinda be able to do one), but I'm not really that in to lifting because it's easy for me to cheat to the side that's stronger. I really like dumbbells so that I have to work both sides with the same weight. And on that note, I didn't like dangling from the high rings and literally getting blisters on every pad of my palm. 

And lastly, holy shit there is a lot of squatting involved. Now, for those of you who are first-time readers (and who haven't read the entire archive for some unknown reason), you'll know that I've got some arthritis in my knees. The first day I had a training session, I was popping ibuprofen like it was nobody's business and I had to ice them so they wouldn't hurt to the point where I couldn't sleep. Yeah. And then we did more squats. And then my knees blew up again. It was not my favorite.

The things I did like about my brief experience with CF was the encouragement I got from some of the other members. I also liked trying some new things and knowing that I could push myself to try something new that was outside of my comfort zone. But, alas, my trial is over and it is way, way, way too expensive to pursue on my own (it's $110/month for just the ladies classes). Plus, I'm happy with my $32/month YMCA membership.

Anywho, I'm off to bed so I can run the 5k that I missed today!