Rising Numbers for the US, Dropping for Me

Watching NBC tonight, they reported that there are not more obese people than just plain overweight people. Wow.

But better news for me, I was down to 236 today. Not exactly impressive, but yesterday I hit 239 so I'll take a loss as a loss. lol

I gave myself a few days break from the treadmill with the changing of shifts, and I'm glad I did since I still feel like crap. I did 30 minutes today of incline work today, which felt good. I was inspired by Carlos shoveling the white stuff yesterday, so after the treadmill I went outside with my husband and shoveled snow for another 30 minutes!

Now its time to sit down for dinner. My husband prevailed and is picking up Outback. I ordered a small prime rib, with steamed veggies for one side. The other side is the garlic mashed potatoes, but my plan is to take two bites and put the rest into a container to go to work with me tomorrow. Wish me luck on carrying through!

Quick question. Someone on one of the blogs I've read does something with Apple Cider Vinegar. I vaguely remember someone else (from a weight loss past) who used that too. Curious what the benefits are, how much, etc?

Hope you all are having a phenomenal Monday, Go Team Lynn! :-)

Habits

Yes, it is 5am and I am still up. I'm using this prepping for night shift to my advantage and I'm seriously proud of myself. I have just hauled my sweaty and (no doubt) fragrant self off the treadmill after an awesome workout tonight, twice as long in time but I upped the interval aspect of it. I slowed the speed down (2.0 instead of 2.5) but I did several times the incline.

Normally I do:
5 minutes at 10.0
5 minutes at 7.5
5 minutes at 5.0
5 minutes at 2.5

But today I did:
5 minutes 10.0 x3
5 minutes at 7.5 x2
5 minutes at 5.0 x2
5 minutes at 2.5 x2

Why the sudden burst of workout frenzy? Couple things.

One- I am seriously inspired by watching Season 6 of Biggest Loser. I've got the episodes on my iPhone, and even watched one while on the treadmill (phenomenal way to not even realize the minutes are flying by!) and these people are amazing. Each person has something that reminds me of myself, and there are little phrases that come to mind at certain points- especially from the trainers. How badly do I want this?? Oh I want this.

Two- I wrote a rant about a family member today. It was cathartic, to get it all off my chest and out there. I've pulled that post now because I believe its served its purpose. I'm on my journey. This is about me. Moving on.

Three- I totally ate too much at dinner. Dinner roll the size of a grapefruit (with butter), half a bowl of caesar salad, pasta and seafood in a white wine sauce, and a glass of wine. *sigh* My only saving grace is that my eating schedule is soo screwed up that the only other thing I ate today was a Slim-Fast shake for lunch. Haven't run that through the WW Points Tracker yet, but I'm cringing at the thought.

But I'm still proud of my workout, I was actually looking forward to my husband going to bed and having some Me Time on the treadmill. That is so not normal, I do Me Time on the couch, but I wanted to do it on the treadmill. Who am I, and what have they done with the real Rebecca??

This journey is starting out really well, but I do worry about momentum. I'm usually good for about two weeks and it starts to peeter out. But I also know that it usually takes about 21 days to create a habit. I can carry on through the 21 days to make these new changes my lifestyle- my habits.

And oh yeah- Go Team Lynn!! :-)

My Plan of Care

As I'm doing a mental inventory of what I have on my side, the field of nursing keeps coming to mind. I'm a nurse, I graduated from nursing school in 2003. Something that always stuck with me from nursing school was about nursing interventions and outcomes, plans of care, and how we interact with patients. Professional nursing (that of an RN) is focused on getting the patient to their optimal state of health and being- that encompasses alot of states of being, not just perfect health. We use interventions to assist the patient as best we can, and we use outcomes to measure how well our interventions are doing- this is the plan of care. Another role of the nurse is as head cheerleader- many patients, specifically those with a long road to recovery, need extra boosts of encouragement to keep them going. The following is my Plan of Care- this is what I have going for me, my current list of interventions and positive circumstances:

- a treadmill that I'm renting ($25 a month) from my younger sister, just to try it out and see if I can handle it before I spend the money to buy one of mine own. We've had it for 7 days, and I have been on the treadmill 5 times in those 7 days. Not bad. I've been doing 30 minutes of something, either just playing with the speed and incline myself, or doing a pre-set workout. I've given myself the minimum timeframe of 30 minutes once a day on the treadmill.

- a(nother) membership to Weight Watchers. I'm awful at following the points, but I LOVE their tallies for water, multivitamin, fruits and veggies, dairy, healthy oils and activity. That alone is worth the $16.95 membership. I love checklists, and I get a kick out of being able to check those off every day. Their materials are really good- I highly recommend the Weight Watchers Shot in the Arm, by Sharon Lee Riguzzi. Its a cute little book with daily thoughts and motivational ideas that stick with you- its available on Amazon for about $5.

- my husband Marmot, who is on this journey with me. This is an awesome thing for me, because it encompasses alot of aspects of life. He's interested in eating better, therefore he's less inclined to say sure when I suggest eating out, and seeing him on the treadmill (and thinking he might lose weight faster!) is big-time motivation for me.

- my job is changing on 1/21 to a Monday through Friday, 8-5 job. Now this is unusual for an RN, and I'm really looking forward to being able to establish a routine- not something I was able to do when I was working 12 hour days in no particular order, nights, weekends, whatever.

Will these things help me? I hope so. I anticipate that this list will change over the next year, but its nice to make a list of the things that you have going for you!