Hey there! I posted in general intros, but I wanted to post here, too. So, I am 33, married for 10 years, have a 13 year old step daughter, and a 12 year old son. I am a registered nurse. Right now I work in the emergency department - so, it's stressful work. In fact, my dentist informed me at my last visit that I am grinding my teeth. Fantastic. My husband is in the military, so that involves a certain j In the last six months I have moved to a new state, bought a house, started a new job in a new specialty, had my house burglarized, lost my dog of eight and a half years suddenly, and I have reached a new highest weight, ugh.... this sounds like a bad country song!!
So, I have restarted doing what has always worked in the past - counting calories and plenty of regular exercise. I have been tracking my calories on Fitday. I am lucky enough to have a great elliptical machine in my house and I have been purchasing some weight lifting equipment here and there. My husband and I are both counting calories this time, so that is different. I even served a salad for dinner tonight and all he said about it was how good it tasted! It could have been the entire grilled chicken breast on top of the lettuce, but I'll take it!
My biggest challenges are going to be that I am a stress eater, and when I am at work I don't always get lunch. I work 12 hour shifts, and I would really love to be able to do the whole "four to five 300 to 400 calorie meals throughout the day" thing, but there are days where I am lucky to get one meal , let alone two.
My motivation is rooted in several things, but the primary is my health. I see sick &/or dying people every day. Many of these people are suffering from preventable illness. I was a nurse on the floor before we moved and there were a few patients and families that I cared for over the course of a few weeks. One in particular I bonded with - this patient came in for something that was a illness management issue, but over the course of the stay conditions deteriorated and they passed away. This patient's illness was preventable and this patient was too young to pass away like that. I don't want to leave my family like that. I have worked with people who are constantly doped up because of the chronic pain they are in, many times exacerbated by excess weight. Excess weight can lead to so many health issues - and I just want to be healthy again. There there are the more superficial vain reasons like wanting to look good in clothes and feel sexy again.
So.... now that you know my whole life story...
I look forward to getting to know the rest of you!