Conference

Just wanted to post to say that I'll be out of pocket for the next couple of days. Just drove 6.5 hours today/tonight for a med school conference. But I will not take a vacation! Normally I would have used a conference or weekend away as an excuse for falling off the wagon or "forgetting" to eat right and make healthy choices. But nope, not this time. This time I packed all my workout gear and made sure the hotel I'm staying in has a free 24-hour fitness center. That's right, Dr Tejas is taking control! Tomorrow morning I'm getting up early so I can fit in a nice cardio workout before my meetings begin.

I hope you're making healthy choices too! Make yourself proud!

Signing off till Monday,
Kelli

It does a body good

Thanks for all your support the other day through my funk. I'm better now! =) I didn't walk the other day like I had planned, but did yoga/stretching/deep breathing instead. It helped me to refocus. I think the problem is not getting enough activity through out the day. By the end of the night, I'm tired, but only mentally. It's been frustrating. But now that I know what's causing by funk, I can plan and prepare myself.

Like today: Sat in the basement of the hospital all day (until 9pm!) going through patient charts trying to find stupid numbers and figures. But...unlike before, I knew that sitting down all day in the tiny cubicle surrounded by other tiny cubicles and horrible florescent lighting would make me antsy. So I took myself to the gym for that walk I promised myself. I ended up walking for an hour and went a little over 3 miles. Bonus: I earned 4 AP! It felt great to exercise again. I forgot what a rush it is. At the beginning I felt like I want to try jogging, but I'm glad I didn't. The hour long walk was plenty for my non-exercising body. I plan to walk for an hour for the next 4 days until my C25K plan starts on Monday. =)

The down side to today was that I did not eat like I was supposed to. I accidentally skipped breakfast because I was running around trying to get out the door and forgetting half my stuff in the process. Then, I got wrapped up in getting all the research stuff squared away and talking with my research partner that I didn't eat anything until 4pm. Luckily, I brought healthy snacks (yay, go me), but it would have been better to eat every 3-4 hours. Oh well, live and learn. Tomorrow (/today since it's after 2am) will be better. I'm planning on bring my lunch and snacks tomorrow to eat throughout my glorious, research-filled day and then come home and go walking again.

I hope everyone had a fabulous day and will have a fantastic tomorrow! Thanks for your comments. I'm glad to know I'm not only talking to myself ;-)

Oh, and tomorrow I will post about the amazing award Pam gave me, so stay tuned!

Peace out,

In a funk

I think I'm in a funk. I don't know why. I should be excited about the 5 pounds I have recently lost, but for some reason I don't really feel it. Maybe it's because I'm sitting on my butt all day not really doing anything besides "research" and browsing the internet, blogs, and WW. I think I might go for a walk and see if that will help get me out of this blah mood. Plus, walking will not only ease my way into working out again, but it will also give me something to do that does not consist of sitting and staring at the computer screen.

When y'all are in a funk what do you do? Any special tricks or tips? I'm hoping this walk will do the trick!

Till later, peace out~

6.21.10 Weigh-In

I lost 2 pounds! Woohoo! That puts me at 185, the goal I wanted to hit today. Yay! As a celebration, I'm going to bed early (like right now) and screw research. It kept me up until 5am last night and I only got 3 hours of sleep.

Yay, -5 total!! So happy! Hopefully you'll be seeing less of me later ;-)

Peace out

Thunderstorms

I love thunderstorms! They're magically delicious. And sexy! We didn't get thunderstorms in SoCal and I missed them. My favorite is to sit on my patio and watch them roll in. I love to watch the display of power and electricity in the air. I love the smell and palpable excitement. And I love the way they make me feel like I'm home. I'm right where I'm supposed to me. When I look into my future, I see myself on a huge wrap-around porch in my favorite rocking chair watching thunderstorms roll in--and that scene always makes me smile.

But enough about the sexy rain, let's talk about me! Today for brunch I made a fabulous concoction of egg substitute, mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, jalapenos, and Morning Star fake-meat breakfast sausage. Served with fruit and toast and *bam*, there's  brunch! It was fabulous!

I'm still trying to get all my water in. It's harder than I thought it was going to be, but hopefully it will soon get better.

My C25K (Couch to 5K) training starts a week from tomorrow and I'm really excited for it. I think I might start walking tomorrow (not too intense) just to get my body used to moving again. Isn't that sad? I have to oil all my rusty joints and slowly get my body used to being used again. I hope to never be in this position again. From now on, I hope to always maintain some sort of exercise/activity daily so my body never has another chance of becoming dysfunctional from non-use.

I'm super behind in my research =/ so I gotta run off and finish some more before the network kicks me out at 2am. Then I have to tidy up because my friends that are moving tomorrow are coming over for one last breakfast together. *Tear* I'm going to miss them.

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend and a Happy Father's Day! I have the best fathers in the world, I hope you do too!

Peace out,

Helpful Friends

I would like to introduce you to some of my friends that will help me with my journey and keep me accountable, honest, and motivated. Starting from the left we have my most trusted computer with the WW website and eTools pulled up. Then we have a WW pocket points calculator on top of a food scale. These three items paired with my iPhone to the right (with the WW application open) will help me keep track of what I'm eating, how much I'm eating, and if I'm eating all of the right things. Behind the scale is my beloved water bottle. It's large, has a huge straw, and has fluid increments on the side so I can measure how much water I'm drinking per day. Then there is a hefty stack of low-fat, low-carb, and quick & healthy cookbooks that I've just purchased and am super excited to start using. I really like to cook, but with my busy schedule and tiny kitchen I never really made it a priority. Now I am. Now I'm going to learn how to cook all the fantastic healthy dishes in the cookbooks and be cognizant of my nutritional needs. The last three are all best friends: iPod nano with Nike+, Nike+ running shoes, and Polar RS100 Heart Rate Monitor. These three are going to help me achieve and record my activity points.

I went to the grocery store yesterday and came home with all sorts of goodies. Below is a picture of some of the greatness I'm filling my fridge with. Lots of fruits (and frozen fruit to make smoothies) and veggies, chicken breasts, salad, yogurt, whole-wheat pasta, high fiber oatmeal and cereal. I love having so many healthy snack options! =D

Below is my workout schedule starting Monday, June 28th. This is on the front of my fridge so I see it everyday. I'm starting with the Couch to 5K program which is a 3x/week walking/jogging regimen that takes 9 weeks to complete. "The idea is to transform you from couch potato to runner, getting you running three miles (or 5K) on a regular basis in just two months". If anyone is interested in starting the program with me, just leave a comment. It would be cool to get a group together =)

I also made a calendar to visually track my journey and keep myself accountable. Everyday I have the opportunity the earn 3 different stars. Blue for staying on plan, silver for blogging, and red for activity. It's kind of a reward system because at the end of the week or month I'll be able to look back and see how many stars I have and if the whole week/month is filled with all three.

This is a sheet with a progress thermometer and achievement checklist. For every 1.25 lbs I lose, I get to color up to the next hash mark. 100% is 40 lbs gone which means I will have hit 150 lbs. Can't wait for that to happen! For every 10 lbs milestone I will be rewarding myself in a non-food manner. Like going for a manicure, getting my hair cut, going to a concert, maybe even buying the digital camera I want when I reach -40, etc. I haven't decided the order of everything, but I'll be posting them to the right side of my blog when I finally do.

I hope everyone finds their own helpful friends and has a fabulous day!

Peace out

I'm back and ready to kick it

Today is off to a great start! I already feel so much better. However, I'm going to start with the not so good part first so I can leave you with a sweet taste in your mouth at the end of the post. I'm nice like that ;-) *Start long tirade* I talked to my doctor and she said if the bleeding continues to head to the ER....uh...okay, I'll keep that in mind. =/ It's times like this that I don't enjoy being the patient. I'm a horrible patient. I don't like taking medication and sometimes I plainly ignore my doctor's advice. Wow, way to go soon-to-be-doctor. Yeah, yeah, everyone does it, I'm not perfect. But this time I was especially irked because I got my doctor on the phone and I asked if this issue was really something to be concerned about (because of course I spent all last night/the early hours of this morning scouring the internet for information). Her reply, "Well....you're bleeding, right?..." Don't patronize me. Don't treat me like I'm stupid, because I'm not, I assure you (like that'll do any good). It's a good learning opportunity, however, to be reminded what it feels like to be on the other side of the exam table. I wanted her to say, "I understand how you could be concerned. But, remember how we talked about how you might experience some bleeding after you had surgery? However, if the bleeding is excessive and doesn't stop, I would feel best if you went to the ER" (I'm not in the same city as my doctor). Instead she treated me like a worthless, ignorant person. Instead I got something more like, "Uh...yeah, head to the ER if you're bleeding like you're dying...*Duh*" Gee, thanks! I kinda figured that out by myself. Excessive bleeding = bad. That's pretty basic. On the other hand, I really like her as my Ob-Gyn because she's a no-shit-taking, abrupt almost to the point of rude, badass. She comes in, gets to her job and leaves. That's the way I like it. Don't try to chat with me like we're buddies, because we're not and I'm already uncomfortable being here so one foot's already out the door. She always answers all of my questions, gives me a chance to ask anything or bring up any topics, and always calls me back ASAP. -- Wow, sorry for that long tirade. This whole conversation only took about 5 minutes and I was back to my fabulous day. So overall, I think everything's okay and normal. And I promise, if I start bleeding excessively or feel like I'm about to die, I will head to the ER stat. =) But that won't happen. *End long tirade, sorry* Ok, back to more exciting things...like my fabulous new morning coffee drink It's the 1 point Caramel Latte Smoothie made with water and one packet of Starbucks VIA Ready Brew Colombian Coffee. I get a jolt of caffeine added to the great taste of my caramel latte all for the price of 1 point! I add only 3 ice cubes so it's not terribly icy but it gives it a nice cold consistency. I also had a Jimmy Dean D-lights Turkey Sausage Muffin. I really want to eat more non-frozen food, but I haven't made it to the grocery store yet so luckily I had these in the freezer. It's not bad if you like those breakfast sandwich things, and they're only 5 points =) So I was exploring the plethora of information WW has available online and came across an interesting article titled 5 Reasons You're Always Starving. I only list two below.

2. You eat breakfast, just not the right kind.

Although any breakfast is better than none, the foods you choose can have a major impact on how satisfied you feel for the rest of the day. Take that convenient cereal bar: It might appear to be a healthy choice when you don’t have time for a sit-down meal, but its mega-dose of simple sugars may have you rummaging through the fridge well before lunch.
The Fix: Build a better mix of nutrients.
The key to making your breakfast hold your appetite at bay until lunch is building a morning meal that contains both protein and carbs. “It’s important to combine some protein along with some complex carbohydrates to provide sustained energy throughout the morning,” says Bonnie Taub-Dix, MA, RD, a Long Island–based dietitian in private practice. Opt for no-fuss choices like a slice of cheese on whole-wheat bread, egg whites on toast, whole-grain cereal with low-fat milk, even half a turkey sandwich .

4. You stockpile your calories.
Do you often eat so sparingly during the day that by the time dinner rolls around you’re famished? That strategy can backfire, leading to uncontrollable overeating in the evening. “When you skip meals it’s harder to think straight, so you’re less concerned with the implications of what you eat,” says Taub-Dix.
The Fix: Frontload those calories.
Eating earlier in the day is a must to head off disaster later on. Limit the size of your evening meal so that you wake up eager for breakfast. Even if you’re not hungry, be sure to eat something—even a small bite. “Treat yourself the way you’d treat your kids—you wouldn’t let them skip meals,” says Taub-Dix.

Also from the same article, it suggests to "write out a schedule that focuses on eating within 2 hours of waking up and every 3 to 5 hours after that for the rest of the day. If you tend to lose track of time, set your watch or digital organizer to beep when you should eat."

I found it to be quite interesting especially because I'm definitely one to stockpile my calories. I will go through my day and  have 7-8 points left over even after dinner. So I'm going to make and effort to distribute my points more evenly. So I made this not-so-fancy menu planner to help me. I will plan my meals and snacks for the week and include any special events or plans so I can adjust my points accordingly.

I am going to plan for larger, more protein filled breakfasts and taper my points down through the day. I'm also going to try to eat every 3-5 like the article suggests. I might need to set little reminders though. My goal is to eat healthy, well-balanced meals like look like the ones Prior Fat Girl makes. She inspires me with her fabulous lunches.

Well, I'm off to the grocery store to fill my cart with sandwich thins, Flatout bread, tons of veggies and fruit, salad, chicken, etc. Hope everyone's having a fabulous day! My next post is going to be about all the great things that are helping me to stay on my path to healthiness.

Peace out!

P.S. If y'all aren't reading Jack Sh*t, Gettin' Fit, y'all are missing out! His posts are always so amusing and always put a smile on my face (and sometimes I'm laughing hysterically all myself in my apartment...).