Busy, busy, busy but not so healthy

The last few days have been a swift reminder that I went into one hectic field. Recently there have been a lot of new babies born, which is great, but also a lot of work. It's my first time back on OB since July and man oh man, the learning curve is steep. But I'll make it through. It has, however, led me into some poor eating habits and I am excited to start with a fresh slate tomorrow!

Since finishing my exam on Tuesday, I've been pretty busy (read: haven't exactly been to the gym). Wednesday I hung out with a friend that I haven't seen in a bit because I was trying to study a lot. Thursday, I sat around and watched some TV (Thursdays are typically my chillax night as it's an early start day). Friday, I grabbed dinner with a co-intern and then ran home to watch the Project Runway Finale. Yesterday, I had some friends come over with dinner to catch up and hang out. And today, I did technically go to the gym, but it was to soak in the hot tub/de-stress my knee. Last night, it got super achy and locked up on me to the point where doing the stairs was really difficult and painful. And then this morning, I couldn't bear weight on it and limped around a lot of the day. I'm not sure what I did to it, but whatever's happening with my body, I'm over it. It's time to get healthy again and feel good again!

Tomorrow is Monday and I usually like to fast on Mondays because it's a good way to reset a week. And tomorrow I'll be doing a few C-sections and then spending my afternoon doing ultrasounds, so it'll be good that I'll be distracted enough to keep my mind off eating. I'm also planning on putting in some time on the elliptical tomorrow to get my knee moving and healing (I hope).

Tuesday will be back to healthy eating and I'll have a training session with my personal trainer.

Wednesday, I will likely fast and then do a cardio night.

Thursday will be my off night. 

Friday, I will hit up the gym before my interview dinner for the incoming interns. 

Saturday and Sunday I'm not working (which is awesome) and I'll be doing some strength training and probably some hot tub soaking.

It'll be a good week!

FitBit emails

So today I didn't end up fasting because I didn't have any surgeries this morning and not eating was really hard cuz I was super hungry and had nothing to take my mind off it. Fortunately tomorrow I'll be a bit busier. So, it'll be a good fasting day. I think I'll also fast on Friday so I can get my two days in.

In other news, I've been taking the stairs a lot at work lately. And I've been wearing my fitbit while doing it, so it records all my steps and the number of flights of stories I've climbed. Today I've climbed 21 flights of stairs. And, I got this email:

I kinda like that FitBit emails when you accomplish something. They also give you a weekly breakdown of your steps, your laziest day, the day with the most steps, etc. So, that's kind of a nice way to keep yourself motivated on top of buying yourself new shoes [next week hopefully].

Today I also had a personal training session. My knee has been bothering me, but I kept at it. I did about 50 minutes of elliptical before my training session. Then we started with squats with weights. I didn't love that, but when he offered to take off the weight, I felt like it wasn't a great idea because it wouldn't be enough of a challenge. Anywho, I'll definitely be taking some ibuprofen tonight.

That's about it for me today. I was terrible about taking food photos today. Oops? Catch you later with some food photos...I promise!

Return to blogging + weight loss

So it's been a while since I blogged for a few reasons. First and foremost is that the ER is ruining my life. I. Hate. It. I can't really go more into it without turning into a majorly Negative Nancy, but second, the hours are also stupid and I get home around 8:30/9:00 every night, so the last thing I really feel like doing is cracking open the laptop to blog. Buuuut, I promised a friend of mine I'd blog and I'll try to start up again, even if it is a bit late by the time I get home.

In other news, I had personal training yesterday and we finally did a weigh-in and some measurements (just BMI and body fat percentage). I'm glad we did that because it majorly adds some motivation. He likes to check every 2 weeks and I feel as though that's nice in case I have a bad week. However, we never really set a weight goal for my next weigh-in. So, I guess I'll just try to lose reasonably? Also, we weighed in after a workout, which is silly, in my opinion, cuz I'm typically covered in sweat. So, here were my measurements:

• Weight: 239
• BMI: 35.3
• Body fat: 38.6%

Also, my weight was way different than my scale on Friday, so let's go with the lower number ;-)

I'm also still fasting twice a week. I've been doing Mondays and Wednesdays rather than Mondays and Thursdays. It's pretty easy to do in the ER because the patients just keep on coming, no matter what the time.

I'm also still going to the chiropractor. Last Friday I threw my back out about a half hour before I saw my chiropractor. It was majorly painful and it felt slightly better after he adjusted me (he said I threw out my sacroiliac joint), but it took another 3-4 hours for the pain to go away. I also had a surgery scheduled with one of my clinic patients and standing throughout that was terrrrrrible. I cried right before we started and cried right after. The pain was overwhelming. So, I learned one thing: labor is going to be the worrrrrst (I'm not pregnant). Fortunately, the pain didn't return. Usually when I throw out my back, the pain lasts for a week. I'm going to go ahead and assume that it's because of going to the chiropractor that things got better so quickly.

That's all I've got right about now. I'm pretty boring since I work all the time. Anything exciting in any of your lives?

Such a happy weekend

Friday finally rolled around and for someone who worked both days last weekend, it couldn't have come soon enough. But, I didn't really have any plans for Friday night. So, after work, I ran to Trader Joe's and then came home, hydrated, ate some protein bars, and then hit the gym for about an hour and 45 minutes. Normally, I usually max out at an hour at the gym, but I kinda figured that I wasn't going to be doing anything else if I were at home. So, I started out with a half hour of cardio and then did an hour of weights. Then I decided I still had some energy, so why not run a mile? However, while running my mile, I decided I didn't actually have that much energy. And about 0.10 miles in, I decided running was not my thing. But, I wanted to get a little bit of high intensity cardio in because even if it's only 10 minutes, it's high intensity which makes it last a bit longer.

So, I pulled from my memory something my old trainer liked to do with me - sideways treadmilling. Basically, you walk at about 2.6 to 2.8 miles per hour at an incline - I think I started out at a 6% incline and then after 30 seconds to a minute, you turn sideways and basically have to shuffle or else you'll fall off. And then that meager 2.6 to 2.8 mph is suddenly VERY FAST. I worked up a sweat very quickly and walked away after about 10 minutes of intervals of walking and shuffling and felt very accomplished.

Saturday, some friends and I hit up Eastern Market, which is like a farmer's market on steroids - there's so much produce! It was awesome! They also have some legit food trucks and I tried beignets for the first time ever. One of my friends explained to me that beignets are essentially fried doughnuts with powdered sugar. They were just the right amount of sweetness

Beignets 

Cool roses at the market 

Chips and guac from the taco truck

After hanging out with them, I headed home and tidied up a bit, did some laundry, called in some things I needed and had my landlord over to fix my towel rack which I ripped out of the wall when leaning on it. Whoops.

My bad

Then, one of my friends that I met on my rotation in Malawi (she lives here) came over and we got mani/pedis and then went and hung out by the beach, but didn't get in the water because apparently there's E. coli in the lake, thanks to the Canadian geese (they poop in the water and E. coli can be spread by feces) and excessive rain.

Sparkly green nails for me please!

Pretty lake

After catching up with that friend, I met up with another resident for dinner and a movie. However, we got to chatting and decided just to head back to my place (rather than see a movie) where she looked on as I made brownies to send to Nasur in Uganda.

Brownies in mason jars (to keep them fresh)

Today, I woke up at 7 despite not setting an alarm, got out of bed at 7:15 and started puttering around until I could hit the gym at 8 for some cardio. Then I hit up meijer for a few necessities and went home and was starving, so I grabbed a banana and a protein smoothie.

Spotted bananas = my favorite

Really digging these right now

I ended up making some eggs and toast as breakfast after my shower, but I needed something quick when I got home. Soon after my shower and breakfast, my mom and brother arrived and we got ready to go to see a Tigers' game. I've never been before, so it was an experience.

Downtown Detroit

Outside the stadium

Our view

Usually, I think baseball is pretty boring, especially on TV. However, in person, it wasn't as bad. I can't say I was into it as much as my brother and my mom, but I didn't hate it. I think if it weren't 90°F, I might've enjoyed myself a bit more. But basically, I was just dripping in sweat watching the Tigers lose.

Sweating with my family :-)

After the game, we came back to my place, cooled down, and went to grab dinner at a nearby restaurant that was decent. Now that they're gone, I'm blogging.

Tomorrow will be a fasting day for me. We're going out to dinner tomorrow night, so I was thinking about delaying it to Tuesday, but Monday is such a busy day for me, it's usually a great day to fast. I'll just be picky with dinner options so I stay in my 300ish calorie budget.

Tomorrow is also a weigh-in for me. I'm going to be honest, I weighed in on Saturday just to see and I was right at my goal of losing 6 pounds. However, Saturday and Sunday, I ate out a lot. I tried not to eat everything on my plate and was somewhat picky, but I'm a tad concerned that I won't be getting new shoes. We'll see!

How was your weekend? Have you ever been to a baseball game? Who do you root for?

Long time, no post!

Hi friends. Sorry for the lack of posting. I have plenty of excuses as to why I've left you hanging, but instead of wasting your time, I shall just say this: I'm back! I'm going to be doing lots of traveling and interviewing over the next few weeks, but I'd love to take you along for the journey...until I leave for Africa. Then all bets are off :-)

I'm also going to be doing lots of exercising. Despite all the traveling, I've checked and most of my hotels have some type of workout facility. Soo, I'll be posting lots of workout summaries and photos.

I have a feeling I'll also be doing a lot of eating, so I'll document that to the best of my ability as well. 

Catch you tomorrow for a great first day of December!