Well, I have de-railed in a major way--weight is still going up. I am still in a good exercise routine, but I got some new DVDs from the library so I could mix up the workouts. Got 1 Jillian Michaels, got hooked on it and am considering plunking down the $40 for the set as a Hanukkah present to myself. She's awesome and I like how she pushes people hard.

Anyway, I am tracking food and making healthy choices so I don't know what is going on with my weight. My guess is I need to weigh/measure to make sure I'm being honest with portion sizes.

Commitment for this week:
4 workouts
Track water
Weigh/measure for meals/snacks--assume nothing!


Good luck for everyone. Hope people will post this week--I need some buddies!

Elana

Hey Elana! I'm here!!!! I need an intervention or something lol. I am still struggling.

I commit to just staying within my points all week!!

Well off to put up the tree! Have a great day everyone!

I am so stressed! But I will stay on plan today I will stay on plan today....I'm gonna say that over and over and over!

happy Monday everyone!

Morning all. I'm not even stressing about my weight right now. I don't know why, it just isn't a concern. I'm concentrating on getting my head on straight about work, right now that is a big problem in my life and I've really just been ignoring it, hoping it would fix itself or someone else would fix it for me. I don't know what I thought but so far nothing has been happening. I'm trying to adjust my attitude and be more positive. Usually it is all in my head, I get upset about not knowing where I will be going or if I do know I always think it is going to be worse than what it is. Generally most of my shifts are okay, most of the other nurses I work with are great, I don't know why I get so depressed about it. I'm being hopeful that next month when my schedule changes that things will be better. When I get that all straightened around and I feel like my life is on an even keel then maybe I can put in a real effort to lose weight. All I am doing now is fooling myself that I am doing anything about it. I'm not giving myself permission to eat like there's no tomorrow but I'm not being a dragon about it either.

So hope everyone is having a great day, it is nice and sunny here but cold of course. I got my Xmas decorations up over the weekend, except for the tree, that will be later this week I think. Take care all.

Okay, talking about the job issue. I got an e-mail from the manager of this ward I would like to work on. She called me a few weeks ago about working there and then backed off a bit because of my sick time BUT I have the most seniority of everyone who has applied so basically she has to take me. So today the e-mail said that the job may or may not be the same rotation as what she had told me in the first phone call. It is a floater position, basically I work the rotation of whatever nurse goes into the unit leader's position which changes I think every 6 months or so. So I could work one schedule for 6 months then have to switch to another for 6 months. I know this sounds confusing...1 schedule involves working 2 dayshifts then 2 nightshift and then having 5 days off (this is the schedule she told me I would be working and the one I want to work) the other schedule is working 2 days, then 2 days off then working the weekend, then having 2 days off, working 2 days and then having the next weekend off (this is what I work now and really want to get off of it). I think it is suspicious that she is changing her tune on this, she wants to know if having to change schedules every now and again is acceptable. Yeah, would most people find that acceptable??? I was upset when I first read it and have been thinking it over since. I haven't e-mailed her back but basically I want to tell her to take this job and you know what. This is how I felt a few weeks ago and I think it was the correct response but I'll have to e-mail her back in a way that I am not burning any bridges but I think it is ratty that she is doing this. Anyway in my current job I will be changing my schedule regardless in January to that 4/5 schedule but I will still be floating to different wards. Any thoughts on this? Am I the only one that thinks this manager is not being up front??

Hmmm That is a tricky situation, Jen. Even though having the shift change would be annoying, would the position always be on the same ward? Would knowing you will be working within the same ward instead of hopping from ward to ward be easier? I agree it seems odd she changed her mind, perhaps it's just because circumstances changed or perhaps it's for other reasons, it's really hard to say. But I guess the big question is would you enjoy this position any better? WOuld it make going to work any easier?

What are you taking classes for? Will you be able to make a large career change after that?

I wish I had osme concrete advice, but I am not sure what would be the best option. You are right you don't want to burn any bridges, but if the new position won't make you any happier then you could politley decline the position by saying you appreciate the offer but you had hoped for a steady schedule. Since you have a family and you need to make arrangments for child care and such having a steady schedule would help. (Even if that doesn't really have an effect on you taking teh job or not it's a ready reason to excuse yourself from the job). It sounds to me that you and this superviser already don't see eye to eye and that may make the job difficult.

Well I had a good day yesterday. I am still super stressed but if I can just make it through til New Year's it should get bettter...I hope

As if this time of year weren't already difficult enough! Jen, I sympathize w/your job stress. Changing times/days is really hard on one's body, not to mention general life-planning. I hope you get to a resolution you feel comfortable with.

Hey all, thanks for you comments and support about my job probs. I e-mailed the one manager and told her I wasn't going to take the job because I wasn't prepared to put myself in the position of potentially having to change schedules. I think it is all BS anyway, I think she just doesn't want me working there. Which is fine by me, I don't want the aggravation of working somewhere that I'm not wanted.

Anyway my doctor's appt is later on this morning and I am going to talk to her about my weight. I don't know if she'll have any words of wisdom or suggestions but I'm open to anything right now.

Take care all, hope you have a great day!

Hi all. Just a quick post to update you on what happened at my dr's appt today. She is a very sympathetic dr, understands with me working nights that it is hard for me to exercise etc, always being tired and so on. I've gained about 5 lbs since last year's physical though I told her that I've been up to as much as 240. Anyway she asked if I would be interested in taking Meridia, it is technically an antidepressant but it is supposed to help with weight loss by suppressing appetite and she said that it would boost my metabolism a bit. I know that there can be side effects like developing high blood pressure and other heart problems but these usually happen when people take too much. So after I start taking it I have to go back and see the dr in 4-6 weeks just to check my bp and heart rate. I think I will try it just to see what it does. It will give me some motivation to pick up the pace a bit with my weight loss efforts. After all I'm not going to take meds to lose weight and then pig out! The dr said it is not a medication that is going to magically make me lose weight, I still need to work at changing my diet and exercising, the medication is just a tool. I don't want to take it forever either. I think once I am below 200 I would get the motivation to keep going. So I am having a bit of hope that this may be something good that will help. If anyone has taken this med before or knows anyone who has I would really like to hear about it.