Napping, selfies, and snacking

Oh man, guys. Yesterday I made the mistake of napping in the afternoon when I had 6 a.m. lecture today. My nap was awesome, but I could not fall asleep until like 2:30 a.m. and then had to wake up by 5:00 a.m. to get to work by 6. Not cool. I was very le tired this morning. Like couldn't even think about putting in my contacts tired because I would likely scratch the hell out of my cornea or miss my eye or poke my eye out - you know, real world problems ;-)

So, anywho, I had a lovely day at work and then came home and napped hard. My intention was two hours - turned into 4+. Oops. And then I hit up the gym and had a pretty legit workout. I easily beat the elliptical and then came home and studied a bit. Now I'm freezing my butt off in my apartment thanks to the ridiculous Michigan weather and even more ridiculous wind, pushing the cold in through all the cracks. My apartment was a chilly 61° when I got home. And even though I turned the heat on to 68°F, the heat is primarily working in the living room, so I'm camping out here while I blog and watch the Arrow. I'm hoping my office/bedroom while be warm enough once I go back to bed.

In other news, I hit up the grocery store yesterday while I was hungry, which was a rookie mistake. I bought some of my favorite pretzels as well as some chocolate, which I really didn't need. I basically turned the chocolate and pretzels into meals the last two days, which was a mistake. Buuuut, I've already turned it around. Go me! Hitting up the gym, hydrating, and not snacking just to snack. Tomorrow I'll log calories and take photos of all my food just for you/mostly for me. 

Some photos for you to hold you over until tomorrow:

Breakfast for my day of surgery

Scrub selfie (they really do nothing for your shape)

This upgrade took foreverrrrr

But look at the new colorful thinking thing!

I think that's about all I've got for now. Tomorrow I have clinic in the morning. I intend to hit up the gym after clinic, get some good studying in, and then head back to work (I have a 4:45 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift). I'll cut myself off from eating around 8 p.m. so that once I get home I am able to hit the hay and get some good sleep so I can study like a maniac all weekend. My test is on Monday (and Tuesday)!

Me vs. the elliptical - guess who was the winner?

Today was productive, but yesterday just seemed über productive, so perhaps today was just bound to pale in comparison. Nevertheless, I woke up early without an alarm (8:30 is still early to me, folks), and then did some studying before deciding to hit up yoga and swim after cuz my low back was hurting me like whoa. So, after less than an hour of studying, I took a break. 

Yoga was a bust. This instructor is just okay. There are times when she takes you through flows that just don't flow. I feel like your body should just be able to go with it and the few times I've been to her classes, there are a couple times when you just don't flow. She also shows you how to do a flow once or twice and then instructs you to go at your own pace for the next three flows. Now, if I were brand new to yoga, I'd be completely intimidated by this. It doesn't bother me so much, but because I'm so busy remembering the damn flow, I forget to breathe. And breathing well is like the most important part of yoga. And I thought that going to yoga would help with my low back. Nope. There were poses I couldn't even get into because my low back just wouldn't have it. So, yoga was a major bust.

After yoga, I suited up to go for a swim, but I left my goggles and nose plug thingy in my bag. I did a few little baby laps (without sticking my head underwater) for 10 minutes or so and then hopped out and into the hot tub. I gave myself a water massage...ish. Basically, I planted my ass in front of a jet and just let it pulsate on my low back for 10 minutes. It was awesome. Then I showered at the gym, which was horrifying (WHY WOULD YOU HAVE SEE-THROUGH PARTS OF THE SHOWER CURTAIN AT CHEST LEVEL?) and then promptly dropped my clean underwear in the wet shower as I was getting dressed. But I hurried home and put on a new pair. I think the pool and hot tub will be reserved for weekends as a post-workout treat so that if I do drop my underwear again, I can just go home after ;-)

The rest of the day, my back felt pretty great and I studied a lot. I got really antsy around 4:30 having sat around for the last 5 hours studying, so I opted to go back to the gym. It was that or go stir crazy. I did about 50 minutes on the elliptical. It was awesome. I don't know how or why I had so much energy, but for the first time in forever, I beat the elliptical's calorie counter. Usually when I do the elliptical, the machine's calorie counter is anywhere from 10-50 calories ahead of my heart rate monitor's calorie counter. Now, I was told once that all machine calorie counters are calibrated to a muscley, fit man. So, I usually try to come close with my personal calorie counter on my heart rate monitor. But, today, I was able to keep my heart rate up for most my elliptical experience and I beat the calorie counter by a good 30 calories. Beat that, muscley fit man!

I got home, studied some more, slacked off and watched some Jimmy Fallon and James Corden clips and then got back to studying. I imagine tomorrow will be lots of studying as well. What fun. I am thinking about waking up at 6 to get a tiny bit of studying in before work tomorrow, but sleep is a very important part of my life, so we'll see what time I get to bed before I make such a rash decision.

In other news, I'm going to do a weigh-in tomorrow. Boo. It's going to be bad. But, I've gotta own it so I can make some progress. Here's today's food photos.

Lunch (same as yesterday because it's a damn good sandwich)

Grapes in the afternoon

I was craving pickles today

Made a smoothie to go with dinner

Yum!

Dinner: TJ's mini pepperoni pizza

Evening snack

Not pictured: Luna bar + apple for breakfast, the handful of chocolate chips I munched before the gym, the second snack pickle I ate because yummm, the cheese stick I had post-popcorn because cheese is legit.

I also think I'm going to do a photo a day everyday for a while because I think it'll help motivate me to lose more weight. And because everybody loves selfies. Or at least Kim Kardashian does.

Songs I'm currently obsessed with:

Every time I hear "Shut up and Dance," or "Better When I'm Dancin'" I stop studying and have a little dance party. Any good dance party songs you're listening to lately? Also, Adele! YOU'RE BACK AND YOU'RE STILL AMAZING. 

In a Cardio Pickle

So things were good, but busy. Today, I shared my 6 pound goal with two co-workers and am hoping that that will help me stay on track. When other people are watching what you put in your mouth, it gives you a tad more accountability, which is exactly what I need. Anyway, let's start from the beginning!

I woke up nice and early, made myself a yummy breakfast, and grabbed the yogurt protein smoothie to go.

Eggs, toast, farmer's market strawberries, watermelon

I snacked in the morning on my belVita bars and tried to stay hydrated in between seeing patients. I grabbed lunch from the free resident food place and snapped a very discrete pic for you guys.

Free lunch tastes better than lunch you pay for ;-)

I had half a plate of bagged salad, some cod, and a spoonful of the veggie lasagna. Aaaand, today I brought my healthier, yummier salad dressing rather than take a packet of the fatty (but still delicious) ranch dressing.

Yum

I didn't really have an opportunity for an afternoon snack, but I tried my best to stay hydrated and ate a fiber one cookie on my way to the gym. Working out on an empty stomach is not my favorite, so though I know eating on the way to the gym isn't super smart, buuuuut it was 100% necessary.

My workout today was just okay. There are only 5 of the ellipticals that I really like (the ones that let you ramp up the resistance) and they were all taken. I was in a bit of a cardio pickle. I wanted to do some cardio, but I didn't want to run. And I feel super lame just walking on a treadmill. So, I tried doing an interval workout on a different type of elliptical, but it wasn't getting my heart rate up enough. I tried just moving as fast as possible, but I wasn't thrilled with that either. Sooo, about 10 minutes into that, one of those ellipticals opened up and I finished my workout on that. It was waaaay harder than the elliptical I was already on. That being said, I think I need to explore some new cardio options. Anyone have any suggestions?

After dinner, I ran to meijer to grab some ingredients I need to marinate some fish I want for tomorrow night and then I came home and quickly made a sandwich because I was pretty damn hungry. I got to use some of my farmer's market tomatoes and lettuce, so it was pretty much the bomb. I thought I snapped a pic, but I didn't. But, I did snap a pic of my Tropicana fruit/veggie juice. I measured it out to make sure I got my 8 oz.

1 serving of fruit + 1 serving of veggies in 8 oz!

Tomorrow I have a conference for most of the day, so I get to sleep in a bit tomorrow - until like 5:30 a.m. Yay! Buuut, while I'm learning about fetal heart tones, I'm hoping some of you fabulous readers can suggest a good idea of what I can do for cardio in case I'm in a cardio pickle again.

So, what do you do for cardio? I have a whole gym at my disposal...

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?

Exploding melons

Did you know that watermelons could explode? Me neither. You see, I typically buy two watermelons every week because it's summer and they're in season and they're almost out of season so I must have as much watermelon as possible before that happens (read: I really like watermelon). So when I woke up this morning and saw that my watermelon had a crack down it, I was confused. I thought maybe Bailey had attacked the watermelon, but there was juice coming from it, so maybe not. And then I touched it and it felt pretty hollow. So I guess it exploded and then juiced everywhere?

Exploded watermelon

So, yeah. Four garbage bags later (had to layer it to make sure it didn't leak), I had that cleaned up. The nice thing was it kinda smelled nice. But I'm bummed that I have less watermelon, but it could've been worse.

In other news, the big test is tomorrow. I tried to keep today as normal as possible because I don't need to stress myself out. First thing was a gym trip. I pushed myself a bit today in terms of getting my heart rate up which lead to a great workout. I felt awesome after. I came home and studied some more. I'm going to do a bit more review before bed and then I'll be up about the same time tomorrow so I can hit the gym before I go take the test. I want to get my blood pumping and endorphins going before sitting for 9 straight hours...

I went and checked out the testing site today (it's about 10 minutes away from my apartment) and took a look at the locker situation. The lockers are a bit small, so I'm not sure what food I'll end up packing. I picked up a Jimmy John's sandwich for tonight and I grabbed one for tomorrow too since my other option would have been making my own, which wouldn't have kept as well in a locker. I'm thinking I'll also take some zucchini bread, some pretzels, a fiber plus bar, some grapes and some blueberries. Watermelon doesn't keep so well without some refrigeration. I'm hoping that I'll be able to go the 9 hours without getting hungry. It's hard to take a test while you're hungry. 

Other than that, good luck to me! I'm off to review a bit more. Here are today's pictures (apparently I never took a picture of my lunch today - whoops):

Breakfast

Post-gym protein

Looking more like an ankle everyday

Swelling is going down!

My foot is still a bit strange color-wise though from all the bruising going away

It looks dirty, but it's just blood breaking down, I promise

Afternoon snack

Dinner for tonight

Dessert (there are 2 slices there, btw)

Today's positive: not freaking out about my exam and trusting myself.

Project Runway as Motivation

So, today in my mailbox was a note informing me that the roof had been fixed. Thanks, landlord. Pretty sure I figured that out yesterday after a day's worth of banging. A note a day before the fixing rather than a day after would have been more appreciated. Obnoxious.

In other news, today was mildly productive. I got up, did questions, and then realized it was waaaaay too humid and that I was already sweating. Thus, I really wanted to shower. But I didn't want to shower before the gym. What a waste. But my ankle was giving me some pain, so did I really want to go to the gym? But I wanted to watch Project Runway and it's so much more productive to do some cardio and watch Project Runway. So, in the end, my intense desire to watch Project Runway won out and I headed to the gym. I did the elliptical without any issue and really think the doctor who told me to stay off it was on something. If it's not bothering me, wouldn't increased circulation help it heal faster? I mean I'm not a doctor (yet - 266 days!), but it seems dumb to only allow upper body exercise if things like the elliptical don't cause pain. 

In other news, I took a nap today because around 4:00, I was struggling to stay awake. Ever since I sprained my ankle, my sleep has been crappier and of a shorter duration, so my nap is justified. After my nap, I did some questions and got ready to go to dinner with my friend Christine. In planning our dinner destination, we figured out it was restaurant in GR, which is essentially an excellent way to go to expensive restaurants, try a limited menu, and pay waaaaay less than you would ordinarily. We ended up choosing Charley's Crab, which is right on the river and was beautiful. We had a good time catching up and the food was pretty good (read: not that great, but I blame that on the limited menu). 

Other than that, I've done minimal studying today. I'm going to do a few more questions and read over some ethics pointers and then head to bed. Christine and I are going to hit the gym around 9, so I'm hoping to be up around 7:30 to do some questions, eat a little something and then be super productive!

Gym fuel

Looking good

Post-gym re-fuel

Still swollen

Can totally see my veins in my non-sprained left foot

So swollen

Dressy ankle

Dinner with Christine

Today's positive: going to the gym despite not really wanting to

Small victories

So I got home from a good day at the hospital (1 vaginal delivery and 2 C-sections) and started putting on my sports bra and was like nah, I'll just rest tonight since I have a 26-hour shift ahead of me tomorrow. And then I was like no, I need to go to the gym. So I went, which is awesome of me. Good for me. I just needed to celebrate my small victory before I head to bed. Gotta be up by like 4:30 a.m. again. Blech.

16 Miles - Who knew I had it in me?

Yesterday was a lovely day. I got up around 8:30 and hopped on the scale. I was up 0.4 pounds from Wednesday. What? I've been going to the gym twice a day... So, I decided I'd better hit the gym hard. I did a ton of cardio and was pretty exhausted by the end. I came home and made a huge protein smoothie with blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries.

Yes, I did drink all of that. I also had my favorite bagel sammich.

Then, my sister and I headed off to Birch Run for some serious shopping. We went to Lane Byrant, Old Navy, Fossil, Coach, and Hanes. At Lane Bryant, they were having a bra sale, Buy 2, Get 2 Free. So, I now have 4 new bras. Woot. I also got a swimsuit cover up. Aaaand, I've definitely gotten smaller - I'm in their smallest size! Partay!


Then I ran into Fossil to have them take a link out of my watch because that's a bit big now, too. And after that quick stop, we headed to Old Navy so I could use my Groupon. I got a pair of shorts and some size 14 (yay!) bermudas. And I only spent about $13. Win.


After Old Navy, we stopped in Coach to oogle at purses and then I stopped in the Hanes store quickly to see if they had any thinner bathrobes since the one I have is super thick and not really great for summer. They didn't. So, we ran to Saginaw to try their JCPenney. There, I got 3 new workout shirts, 2 new workout tank tops, (I'll probably just wear them when blading or biking), a thin bathrobe, and a new bathing suit top that is super cute.


We got home around 4. I found Bailey sleeping by the window like the little baby he is, and then I decided to suit up and hit the gym again. 

I did the elliptical interval session for 30 minutes with my high at 14 and my low at 12. The guy next to me was really pushing himself, which motivated me to keep pushing myself. When I was done, I told him I was really glad he was next to me because I'm pretty sure my speed would've been much slower if he hadn't been there. He told me he keeps his resistance low so he can go so fast (he was at 4) and that he goes for 45 minutes. That's pretty solid.


After the gym, I headed to my mom's house to see if I could find any more one-piece swimsuits that I can wear to my CardioMax class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I found three, but they're a tad worn in the bum, so I'm probably going to wear shorts over them. While there, she fed me! We had shish-ka-bobs, some veggies, and my sister made Cheddar Bay biscuits like the ones at Red Lobster. She found the recipe online. They were amazing, but I only let myself have one. I probably could easily have gobbled up a dozen.

Cheddar Bay Biscuits. DELICIOUS!

Shish-ka-bobs

My plate

After dinner, I headed to meijer and bought a bike rack for my car and I was going to test it out, but instead, I went to Allyson's house to visit with her a bit since she was home for Father's Day. We caught up for a bit and then I headed out because I was tired. It was 10:15 p.m. I'm pathetic.


This morning, I got up around 9:30 a.m. and decided to try out my bike rack and go biking on the rail trail rather than going to the gym. It took me a while to load up my bike and then I drove down to the tridge. It was a beautiful day for a bike ride!

Pretty, but very, very dirty river 

Rail trail 

My beautiful bike

I biked 16 miles, so 8 miles out and 8 miles back. Here's the mile marker for proof!

Mid 8 - 8 miles from Midland

Me sporting one of my new tank tops and the mile marker in the background

The ride out was awesome and I was loving it. The ride back was a tad more rough. I was going against the wind and my knee was really acting up. Also, I only brought one water bottle and didn't eat beforehand, so I was dehydrate and hungry - an awesome duo. Thus, it took me way longer to get back than it did to get out there, but I'm glad I did it. It was way more fun than going to the gym, that's for sure.


After my bike ride, I made a strawberry banana protein smoothie and it was huge again.

While I drank this down, I video chatted with Lisa and made lunch.

Chicken Pizza

I was starving after that bike ride as I hadn't eaten yet and so I gobbled these down in about 5 minutes. Yum! Then I gathered up my laundry to head to my mom's. And that's where I am right now. As soon as I'm able to switch my laundry, I'm going to head outside and splash around swim in the pool, but right now my mom and Malena are vacuuming it so I figured I'd take this opportunity to catch you up!


Also, check out my About Me page. I updated it a little bit. I also redid my banner (if you didn't already notice). I'll be making some more small changes soon, so keep your eyes peeled!