01012007’s BodyBlog

I know this may be TMI for a bodybuilding forum blog. The whole reason why I’m working out is to improve my health. I want to see how working out, especially lifting weights, helps menstrual cramps. They were awful this morning. I took two tylenol PMs and was able to sleep but I lost almost a whole day of studying. I went to the gym (crowded!) and did my chest,shoulders,triceps first. The exuberance wasn’t quite there and I felt tired and a little woozy. My symptoms seemed to be relieved by getting on the cardiostepper for twenty minutes and sitting in the sauna for almost an hour. That had to be the best, most relaxing sauna ever.

Note to self: avoid the gym on a monday evening!

My weight loss goal: 160 by the month of March.

I need a new mattress. I pray to God that the mattress a friend is offering is nice and soft. It is barely used and part of the RRR is recycle! High quality sleep is the goal. I really wanted to get up at 6 am but I don’t mind being up at five am because I am going to study a little for my boards. I don’t FEEL sleep deprived though so that’s good.

Yesterday, I worked my back and biceps and then went to the precor for 30 minutes. It was a good workout. Lots of women at the gym on saturday! Anyway, I worked last night too and had a good shift. A resident’s family gave me some samples of ganoderma coffee. Not bad. I wasn’t hungry after my workout so I didn’t eat but as soon as I started doing first rounds, the hunger hit in a wave. I ate one half of a fig newton to keep my sugar up. Luckily I had a jar of homemade that came in handy during my break! LOL

I had four graham crackers with a thin spread of peanut butter and a slice of cheese, a spoon of pineapple cake too. That time of the month. I think I’ll be getting some protein bars from Walmart or make something snack like will satisfy the PMS cravings. The real victory is not spending gobs of money at the cafeteria to buy a half assed salad (they charge more for a salad than a crappy hamburger!).

This morning I had a cup of coffee with my husband. Saturday mornings off are my treasure and I usually call my mom for our catch up chat. I ate a half cup of oatmeal/quinoa, mostly banana mashed down. Took my vitamins too. Yesterday the shift went really well and I felt great except for a little tiredness because of PMS. I’m having study fatigue so I put away my NCLEX book.
I am watching a movie called ‘Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in Thirty Days’ and prepping my food. I was pretty good at work. I started getting really hungry and had a half slice of white bread with cheese. My husband appeared with a half quart jar of soup. YUMMY. I gobbled it down and didn’t even have stomach trouble. Maybe it was the salads.

Today, I prepping the same meal with more rawfoods so I can be light on my feet. I am doing a back workout today with thirty minutes of cardio. I do so look forward to the gym because I usually 99% of the time feel great afterwards. Nothing feels better than a good refreshment after a hard workout but I read that if you want max fat burning, don’t eat right after working out.

Looking forward to another interesting day!

I measured my waistline this morning. Holding at 33 inches and I’ll  remeasure after Auntie Flo is over. I don’t consider the AF visit an inconvenience except for the one time in clinicals where I was wearing all white and there it is…you can only imagine. Anyway, I paid for my gym membership yesterday. It was very emotional. I was opening up the bills that piled up throughout the year and everything else. Part of the emotion is because of AF but really it is the end of a looooong journey. I managed to derail my negativity train by being happy and grateful my mother is still around.

If my mother was dying and I had to be her nurse and still had to pay all the credit card bills I racked up, that really would suck. I do believe that the more I control my stress levels the easier weight loss will be. I hold most of the weight in my belly which is not surprising as the whole time I’ve been married and especially last year, I’ve held in a lot of emotions.

Today will be the first day I’ve shopped for groceries in a while. My husband and I are actually having a date night too, first time since the trip with my mother. Maybe I had to go through all these experiences to appreciate what I have. Such is life.

The long and short of it is that my truck ran out of gas. I had to run up hill all the way home because I was halfway between home and work. It actually wasn’t that bad till I got inside and started coughing! I prayed my knee would hold up and prayed my husband wasn’t too drunk from the football game to help me.

Woke up this morning and the knee is feeling okay. I’m just a little hungry and going to take my morning vitamins. I estimate I ran about a mile and a half home but a mile and a half in freezing weather and a little deconditioned feels like a FREAKING MARATHON!

Well where to begin? I will say that I only gained two pounds from vacation. Not surprising because I didn’t get as much activity as I would have liked or expected. Anyway, I had to suspend my membership because of lack of funds to pay. I admit I am irritated and it’s hard to count on something then when people don’t come through you’re disappointed. Boy I had all these plans to renew my gym membership, buy a bunch of supplements and purchase the freshest food so I could get into the best shape ever. Plans are dust. Men plan and God laughs right? My life and marriage are being wrecked by the economy and the one bright spot was my mother calling me last night to tell me that she has no fluid in her abdomen (coming from the cancer) and that the piece that was on her liver is shrinking. So my mother remains cancer free and yet even in her cancer battle she worries about me!

For the last few days, I’ve been riding my exercise bike three times a day for at least fifteen minutes. Today I hooked a kettlebell on my foot and exercised my knees during a study break. I take my nursing board exam Feb 6th and the bursts of exercise help to keep the brain fresh and keep me from getting tired. If I don’t do some exercise then I ache after a shift at work. Anyway, I’m missing the gym and can’t wait to make some money to go back.

I’m not giving up on myself and my health. My husband makes wonderful soups, breads and I’ve been eating apples when I can get them. I just wonder how many people are in my position?! We want to take the very best care of ourselves and find ourselves choosing between food,gas and gym/supplements.

I recognize that spark of hope within though. My mother is a cancer survivor and I have the hop of a new career that is mostly recession proof (are there any recession proof jobs!). $28/mo for the gym will be an afterthough once I’m working. Perhaps this is a time to appreciate the things I do have and be grateful for life instead of fighting against/wishing for things and stuff that I don’t need and won’t facilitate my growth as a person.

Oh well enough blabbing back to studying and my last workout break! Thanks for reading and putting up with my whine

I’m ready to get going on my new nursing career and most of all GET BACK IN THE GYM. The highlight of my vacation was hiking in a Tobago rainforest for three hours. I don’t know how much I weigh but I know I didn’t gain any weight. I don’t think I lost either. Food is the highlight of Christmas in Trinidad. The amount of food being cooked was totally ridiculous. I tried to eat small portions of the sweet bread and other things that would put weight on me in a hot second. I got more exercise in Tobago because we were right by the ocean and I swam almost every day. I know what I would do different next time. I would pack my kettlebells and bring more money so I wouldn’t have to rely on relatives to feed me. Healthy food is not expensive in TT because the best shopping is done at the farmer markets which are huge and would make the Union Square green market look like small potatoes.

The high point was picking limes off my grandmother’s tree and drinking limeade a lot to put vitamins in my body. I’m totally off all my vitamins and supplements and as soon as I get tuition money back… CHA-CHING !!!! I’ll be investing a lot of money and time into building my beachbody.
I’m ready to get back to lifting weights and overhauling my body!