Laying out the plan

Well, it's really really early and all my patients are sleeping or feeding their babies. SO! Here we go. Quick update on life...working WAY too much. 45ish hours last week, 68 hours this week. Had to send the dogs to my mom's for a few days--felt too bad for them sleeping and then sleeping a ton more. Had several doctors appointments, good and bad news. Looks kind of grave but things will get worked out. Surgery definitely in the works! Onward to the healthy stuff.

I got my Insanity box in the mail. It looks pretty intense/insane. A nurse on my floor just started it this week and said she's pretty sore. I think I can handle the work outs (maybe not) but my biggest problem is going to be the food! The program comes with a giant nutrition book. You're supposed to eat (5) 300-500 calorie meals a day depending on your goals. They have 5 different food sections and you pick one meal per section for all 5 sections per day. It's really clean stuff the problem is preparing it and cooking it during the days I work. This week is going to be a trial run for sure. I smoothie/juice most of my fruits and vegetables as well as having a protein shake after work outs which takes up about (2) 300 calorie meals anyways. So it might not be that bad... just pick 3 from the book per day and make sure I'm getting my protein. It's really difficult on a night shift schedule to eat 1400-ish calories.

I'm going to track everything with LoseIt.com (the iPhone app). It has food, exercise, sleep, measurements, all sorts of fun things to track and goals to work towards. There's also MyFitnessPal.com but I think I like LoseIt better. Check it out! They're both neat websites/apps. I will also work on my sleeping habits and use the iPhone app "Sleep Cycle" it's $0.99. Kind of gives you an idea of the quality of sleep. I'm open to suggestions if anyone has better apps to use.

Laying out the plan:
Monday-Saturday is the Insanity work out
Sunday is a rest day (and my mandatory cleaning day/take the dogs out for a hike day)
I think Sunday will also be the grocery shopping day.
This week will be my absolute last week working over time and I'll be back to my 3 in a row. So whatever the day before my 3 in a row is, I will use that as a food preparation day so that my meals are semi-lined out for the work week to come.

Goals:
The goals I am focusing on for now are my fitness goals/measurements.
I would like to maintain my weight between 105-115 where ever my muscle mass/body fat will take me. I'm around 117ish right now. My pre-Army weight was 103ish but I would much rather be 110-115 with muscle. So just a few pounds weight loss. I'm more focused on leaning up and changing my body composition from less fat to more muscle. I'll track my weight same day, same time, same scale every week as well as measurements. Most likely it will be Sunday when I wake up.
I would like my body fat to be around the 15-17% mark (I'm in the lower 20's I think, will check tomorrow on Monday).
I would like my 2 mile Army run time to be in the 16 minute mark--anywhere in there! Push ups to remain in the 60s. Sit ups to hit the 80s-90s. For all my non Army friends, it's a fitness test where you do 2 minutes of push ups and 2 minutes of sit ups till muscle failure. Then do a 2 mile run. I've passed every PT test in the unit and the next one is in October so I want to kick some butt on it.

We'll see how it goes. I'm not going to stress myself on accomplishing these goals too quickly. I am realistic in the fact I know I will have interruptions in my exercise regime :(. I'm going to have surgery in August and there's the good 'ol Army Annual Training (AT) so those will postpone my progress to be physically fit and will delay the Insanity program but I'll do as much as I can until then and pick up when I'm healed/done with AT. But at least those times I can do my best with the nutrition side of things. I'll keep everyone updated on that, hopefully have more concrete plans this week.

That's it for now, time to round on my awesome patients and finish up the shift. Stay cool in this ridiculously hot weather and drink water! I will post pictures and measurements tomorrow. Have a good day.

-Nic

An introduction

Well, here is the introduction to what may be the hardest change I've made in my life. I am 25 years old. I am a night shift 7p-7a postpartum and nursery nurse. I am also finishing my contract as a medic in the military. My biggest challenges I face are stressful, so stressful in fact that I jump off the healthy bandwagon into the depths of junk food darkness. I hate most fruits and vegetables. I love fast food. I love junk food. I do enjoy exercising but not when I'm tired--which these days, is an every day occurrence. I am on a quest to change these unhealthy habits. Night nurses face the biggest challenge of being healthy, and for me, I am unhealthy to a degree and it is only worsening. So let's lay out my typical world of unhealthiness:

Favorite Foods:
Pizza
Cheeseburgers, french fries, and chocolate milkshakes (Yes, all at once!)
Cookies
Chocolate
Bacon
And more cookies and chocolate.

Exercise Routine:
On a good day I'll bike ride the dogs
On a better day I'll head to the gym
Reality? I'm more likely to bike ride with the dogs than go to the gym. The real reality, I'm more likely to sleep every day away that I can and not get in exercise. 

So what's the problem? I work nights, I have become accustomed to eating at terrible times for your body. I am also depriving my body of sleep of the normal sleep time. I do not sleep well during the day and am interrupted quite often. I may sleep 6-8 hours but end up still tired. I will lay in bed until the last possible minute that I have to get up. I prefer when I'm by myself (when my loving boyfriend is out of town) or super tired to go out and get food than to make a home cooked meal. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE cooking--but under the right conditions. When a stressful situation pops up (Aka my most recent: Army drama, busy busy work and lots of overtime, medical problems, family problems, financial woes) I stress eat. I say, "I'm over this. I need something comforting" and refer to my favorite foods listed above.

How do I fix all this? One step at a time. With all my life woes, which I thought would be over when I graduated college, this has to be in baby steps. It is 00:07 right now and I'm wide awake thanks to night shift and being a couch potato with my dogs all day. I've spent endless hours on the internet for no reason today after Colin left for 2 weeks. A lot of doing nothing. But, it has all brought me to self pity and an insane desire for change. This won't be easy. My days are full of restless sleep and my nights are full of busy work. Mind over matter? Maybe. My body has to agree with my mental state and vice versa. 

Here is my challenge:
I have purchased the Insanity 60 Day Total Body Conditioning Program. I think the last time I stuck to a fitness plan it was when I was studying for the NCLEX at the start of 2013 and I did 2 a days (1 hour each) at the gym. I was insane, but the NCLEX made me insane. It wasn't a desire to be healthier or more in shape, it was a stress outlet. Several years ago I had a fitness trainer at Idaho Athletic Club--that was off and on and off and on again. I worked nights then as well as a nurse's assistant and it was too easy for me to pass the gym up for extra zzzs. So with that, my commitment to something such as this has been for a lack of better word, shit. What has been even more shit, it my commitment to healthy eating. That's probably the worst of my worries. I can stick with the gym more than I can stick with a diet. Not a diet to lose weight, a diet in reference to healthy eating. A diet filled with protein, fruits, and vegetables. Healthy eating is my least favorite thing...ever.

I have put myself on the day shift waiting list at work. Who knows how long that will be other than a while. So for now, I can only control what is in my control--exercise, sleep, and eating. With the 60 Day Total Body Conditioning Program, I will incorporate as much sleep as I can (doing an at home work out program cuts out driving time to and from the gym) and incorporating a healthy diet within my craving limits. I will no matter what anyone tells me, give myself a guilt free eat what I want day on Sundays with the stipulation that I spend manual hours scrub cleaning my house and walking the dogs. 60 days of insanity and 60 days of healthy eating with 1 cheat day a week. Sounds reasonable but it's not going to be easy.


I want to take this opportunity to break my bad habbits and make good ones. I watched a movie called The Secret, then my mom gave me the book. While it has been on my to read list, I just came across a quote during some research. I googled how long does it take to make a habit. From what I remember it's 21 days. Surprise, HowStuffWorks quoted the book on my list. "In this statement made by the writers of the self-help book "The Secret," referring to a variation of the habit rule that says it takes 30 days:

[…] changing the habit will take 30 days, re-affirming it further for another 30 days will definitely fix it and you'll have no problem to continue from there on. [source: Secret]"

60 days for a full habit changing effect, 60 days for the insanity program, 60 days to get my tastebuds excited about healthy foods. It won't be easy, but it's a must. So the quest will begin on July 1st, 2013. I have purchased insanity and this week I will do a run through of some tasty foods and recipes. This week I have a series of doctor appointments as well and I'm hoping that will relieve some anxiety and stress than prompts me to stress eat. We'll see. 


I will use this blog to vent my challenges and boast my successes. I will use this outlet for others enlightenment and as a venue of information and personal experiences for those who wish to follow. There may be some extras in here other than my progress, maybe something awesome happened, or a much needed bitch fest, or some tips and tricks surviving the night shift madness... whatever goes here, but it's mostly for my quest to being healthier. 

I will put updated pictures periodically on the Picture Perfect page to the right under my pages to keep track of pics and measurements. I've also linked my motivations on my pinterest pages. That's it for now. My long winded (I can't help but to be long winded so expect that in all my posts unless I'm dead tired) introduction is complete. Bring on the questions or encouragement, I like both. I'll be posted my updates, pictures, and recipes I find. Here we go! Let the pre-week begin. Thanks for reading.

-Nic

PS: For my ps section, it will be an update from the kids, which I will refer to a lot. Sadie and Ted my dogs. And Cleo the old housecoat. Ted is asleep on a fleece blanket on the couch because he knows what's best. Sadie is as usual finding something to chew on because I'm not paying attention to her. Cleo is sleep in her kitchen window nook. Yes I love my pets.

I will always end my posts with a motivational picture. Good night.