Breaking Up --- is Soo Hard to Do

Day 3 1 of 21  Sugar Free

Well this is embarrasing

Taking sugar off the equation is indeed CHALLENGING.

I'm not going to list the reasons why it happened or why I failed on my first attempt. I knew what I was doing and I ate it anyway. And in comes the guilt and remorse (on qeue)

It really is like a viscious cycle -- it starts with craving, obsession, giving in, and then guilt. It's tough, but just like any addiction, it's a process of recovery.

If breaking the sugar habit is that easy, we wouldn't have people writing books about how to get rid of it in the first place.

It's a new day, move on --- I hate sounding like a clique. Does knowing that I can always start over gives me the excuse not to stick on plan and give in to the temptations?

I should feel bad about this slip because I pretty much broken a promise to myself that I will change. If I had done this to another person, I would feel pretty sh***y about it.

When did treating myself less than how I treat others become okay?

Self-Care Theory and Picking Up the Pieces

"Health is a dynamic state of wholeness or integrity of the individual."

This is from my nursing theory reading material (Basic Assumptions Underlying Self-Care Theory) Health is all about the coherence and integrity of a person.

Without health, is a life of imbalance and chaos. It is the core gravitational force that keeps all that makes us who we are (mind, body, and spirit) -- together.

In the past week, I've been lagging on my weightloss efforts and it truly feels like I'm compromising the integrity of my health. I'm feeling far from peaceful and physiologically -- I feel like crap.

So I'm picking up the pieces and getting back on track... and on plan. This is the first day of many (21 days to be exact) sugar free lifestyle.

 I'm loading up on cruciferious vegetables (ie. broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage -- fart fest in my future ---yes!TMI) to help detox the liver and not forgetting my multi-vitamin.

Honestly, I wasn't a believer in vitamins because not much of it is absorbed by the body, so what's the point. But I gave it a shot anyway, and been taking Women's Ultra Mega Active for about 3 weeks now, and I feel somewhat better than before. Who know it could just be another placebo effect.

The goal today is to stay focused, mindful eating, moderate exercise (I'm not 100%, so I'm taking it easy for a week)

Day 1 of 21 Sugar Free

21 Days --- to make or break a habit

Some say this is a total myth. Breaking or making new habits will happen as long as it takes. But I'm a gal with a mission here.

I want to prepare mentally for nursing school and what better timing is it than now --- to tackle and wrestle my demonic sweet tooth.

I'm a sugar addict (there I said it) and I am in need of an intervention.

Today I ate like 1/2 a casserole pan of cheesecake. Damnit. There really isn't anything more shameful than that.  I feel gross, nasty, and dizzy (probably from the spike of sugar from it all)

As much as my friends would tell me --- it's just one day of binge, get over it and move on.

Oh I will move on from this, but I will not get over it. I will not rationalize bad food choices because I knew fully well that will happen the moment I decided to baked that darn thing.

If I have any chance of achieving my goal (to lose weight during nursing school) I need to establish rock solid rules that I need to live and breathe by.

I want my guidelines simple and no brainer because school will be my number one priority and weightloss secondary.

So, for the next 21 days (3 weeks), I'm going to concentrate putting in my dietary foundations which is no processed sugar, 1-2 servings of fruit each day, unlimited fresh veggies, multivitamins, monitor carbohydates and sodium intake.

Simple right?

Distractions and pre-school jitters

They are everywhere. From technical difficulties, hormonal imbalance, stubbing my foot, and having a mild case of plantar fasciitis (from exercising too much and too often).

Okay granted the pf is a self-diagnosis, but I think I can safely say that I know when my heel hurts and it's been bugging me for days.

I'm happy to report that I am almost done with my dimensional analysis (It should be called dimen-tial analysis if you ask me -- but I digress!) practice problems. I only have to do the 1 hour 40 minute review test and I am done! Next on the agenda is reading my Module III Nursing Theory

I got all my textbooks -- two I'm waiting on to arrive
I got all my nursing materials except for the patches for my uniform. I'm going to get them when I drive down on August 10 for the mandatory orientation

 I've been negligent and passive in the last 3-4 days. I have not weighed in, did not monitor my carb intake, oreo mint cookies. I mean enough said right?

Game plan for this week is strict food monitoring because I'm laying off any lower body exercises, so my foot can "heel" up lol..(Seriously, I can amuse myself for days.)

Message to my fellow 3FC-ers

Thanks for bearing with me ladies. As I mentioned on my mass message, my 3fc page got a little wacko after the system maintenance last night. So if you were trying to post your week 1 measurement status on my comment page,  I can't seem to receive them or post anything either.

The measurements aren't due till tomorrow so hopefully by then everything will get resolved and back to normal *fingers and toes crossed*

Worse case scenario it won't be resolved tomorrow, so back up plan would be posting Week 2 Fitness Challenges and Mind Make Over Challenges here.

The good news though is I can still post in all your individual blogs -- whew!

Anyway have a great weekend and best of luck in your weigh in! I'm excited to hear about your fantastic results!

Yours, Gertie :)

Broke --- /brōk/ Adjective: Having completely run out of money

That's the word of the day... week... month... the next two years? -- actually probably for a long time until I finish school, get a job, and finally make sssoommme moolah...

I have all but one of the 11 textbooks for this semester. Good lord, am I broke or what.

I may be broke, but I'm pretty rich in spirit. Very excited for school and I am READY to get work done!

My goals for the next two years of school are :

1. Study hard
2. Be humble
3. Be a sponge
4. Be forgiving of myself when I screw up
5. Stay positive
6. Stay diligent
7. Make friends and study buddies
8. Make time for myself at least one day out of the week
9. Accept criticism
10. Accept compliments

Ten so far, I'm sure I'll be adding some as I go along.

The Joys of Dimensional Analysis

Ah--- gives me gas. Okay maybe it's this low carb diet I'm doing for the last 6 weeks of summer. Is that too much information? Probably. lol

So who's out there loves conversion factors and dosage calculations?

 I sure don't, but heck we all have to deal with it, learn it and be good at it. Because you never know, there could be a power failure in the hospital and *gasp* no nifty little computers to figure out proper dosage for you.

And God know the last thing you want to happen is screw up on the meds and over dose your patients.

Hypothetically speaking of course

Going back to low carb,  I just have to say it does work, but you can't be on it for straight weeks. I do a modified carb cycling where I consume 55 g of carbs max for 2 weeks, increase it by 60-70g the following week by introducing high GI fruits and veggies and only eat whole wheat variety.

I stay away from white breads and pasta, but if I honestly have to have it, I have a little bit of it.

Lost like 4 lbs in one week, probably just water weight, but heck it's a boost in my weightloss morale!

Any other nursing students out there that's going through the same anxieties of the dreaded 15lbs gain from clinicals?

Image courtesy of Glasbergen.com

6 week Countdown

August 22 is the day my life (as I know) it will change.  No more slacking and no more of anything but studying.

I'm perfectly fine with that. I've been waiting for this for a long, LONG time.

I've been trying to shed some poundage before school starts, but so far I've been tethering around 158-157 lbs.

My goal is to maintain my weightloss program through my RN program.. hehe I'm laughing because it's gonna be one hell of a two-years and I hope I can maintain a good balance between school work and weightloss.

Heck, with stress and all, I know it's going to be difficult. But I'm sure as hell going to try.

Wish me luck!