Sunday, September 30, 2007

Surmising Sunday

Welcome to another edition of Surmising Sunday... to me a humorous edition.

Praise the Colo-Rectal Surgeons by Bowser & Blue (Canadian comedians)

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Update (on life in general and dieting!)

Well, school is in full-swing. I am surviving so far, but now assignments are starting to be due, and I’ve fallen a little behind on my reading, so panic is S-L-O-W-L-Y setting in.

My dad is doing well – thank you for your comments and emails! His surgery went well – they removed all the tumours, and a tissue growth in his bladder that was preventing the bladder from properly draining. This created an ideal breeding ground for bacteria, etc, and they believe it is why the cancer came back. So now that it has been removed, it is hopeful that it won’t come back – now it’s just the waiting.

The work/school balance is going better this year. Sounds like I have run out of chances to be accommodated at work to allow for school, so thankfully I only have day classes this year. Thursday’s and Friday’s are HELL, and I usually spend most of Saturday sleeping to make up for the lack of sleep on Thursday’s and Friday’s. (Shoot – which reminds me, I have to be at a party in 2 hours!!!) Anyways, I am adapting so far. Except for the fact that an old wrist injury has flared up making most tasks at work very painful. I’m actually supposed to be off work for 2 weeks, but can’t afford it, so am on “modified duties” for awhile. I have tried to adapt my tasks at work to prove that I am not useless to them – thankfully I have minimal computer work right now, so what I have to type, I type with my left hand and have gotten quite good at left-hand mouse handling ;-) I just have to watch not to overcompensate too much. I’m hoping to start physio soon and get myself back to normal ASAP. So my blogging will be very minimal over the next little while, as left handed typing on a laptop is not easy!

I am still sorta “dieting”, but more of my own creation than following anything specific…. More or less low-ish carbs, higher protein, high fiber, high calcium, and attempts at fruits and veggies. Plus I am still walking 45-60 mins a day (on my coffee breaks and lunch hours at work), swimming about once a week, and taking the stairs almost everywhere I go. For almost a month, despite all my efforts my weight was barely moving – I am always seem to be gaining and losing within the same 5 lb area, but all of a sudden the weight has started falling off. I have FINALLY gone down another dress size (took almost 20 lbs to reach another dress size! – so much for the 10 lbs loss = 1 dress size). As of yesterday, I have lost 37.2 lbs! I was pretty excited, as this is the lowest I have been since October 2003! Now to keep at it. I have really been making an effort, and am still motivated, so I think this time, it’s for real, and I believe this time I will be successful.

My biggest downfall was the amount of fast-food/take out/Chinese/pizza/convenience foods I was eating, and I was in total denial as to how bad the food was that I was eating! With such a crazy, hectic schedule, the thought of cooking for myself exhausts me. But, I stumbled across a website a few months ago that totally woke me up, and now the thought of fast food almost disgusts me! The craving is still there once in awhile, but it has now been months since I’ve had fast food. This website gives the nutritional analysis of the more common restaurants/fast food places in North America. I looked up my favourite foods, some of which I thought were HEALTHY choices, and got a rude awakening!

For example – my favourite fast food place is Arby’s, and any time I needed an ego boost, I would go there and flirt with the manager (my friend Lindsay says the two of us are embarrassingly pathetic to watch together!) I always ordered the same thing, a SANDWICH, (NOTE: not a burger, a SANDWICH) curly fries and diet pop (sometimes diet pop….). I thought it was a healthy choice. I’ve been eating it for years. When I looked it up: 1400 calories!!! In ONE MEAL! Never again! The sandwich alone has more calories than the advertised artery clogging Baconator Burger at Wendy’s!

Another example: Timbits from Tim Hortons. I used to work in a bakery, so now don’t even LIKE donuts. Yet anytime someone brings a box of timbits, I dig in. Well, I used to! 1 Timbit alone is 100 calories. And who eats just 1 Timbit!?

And fast-food burgers, salads, dessert – almost every item is loaded in fat, sodium, and calories. I LOVE poutine, but always knew it was bad so RARELY allowed myself the indulgence. Poutine actually had less fat and calories that many of the burgers, salads, and deserts! I still argue that at least when you are eating the salads and (some) of the burgers, at least you are getting some veggies, while things like greasy French fries and poutine is nutrient-less.

Anyways, thankfully I stumbled across that website, and it took the desire of fast food away. To solve the fast food problem, once a week I stock up on grapes, bananas, bags of lettuce, yogurt cups, cheese sticks, V8 juice and fruit-to-go bars. They are perfect for on-the-go at work and school. My at home eating still needs improvements, but thankfully I am not at home much ;-) I eat a lot of lean cuisines and packaged foods, but, that’s my next thing to work on. 15.8 lbs to reach my next goal.

Wish me luck!

Friday, September 21, 2007

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Change of Shift


Change of Shift is up at Emergiblog.

Check it out here.
One of these days I will submit a post ;-) The deadlines keep sneaking up on me!

Friday, September 14, 2007

Out of Town

I'm currently out of town right now. We just found out my dad is unexpectantly full of cancer and is undergoing emergency surgery, right now as a matter of fact. So I am on compassionate leave for a couple of days so I could be there for his surgery. It's frustrating as just a couple weeks ago he got a clean bill of health, and after all the cancer treatments he has gone through, it doesn't make sense to me. Just frustrating!

Please send warm and fuzzy thoughts our way during this crazy time!

Saturday, September 08, 2007

Change of Shift




It's back to nursing school at Change of Shift.

Sunday, September 02, 2007

Surmising Sunday

Welcome to another edition of Surmising Sunday.


Today I have found an animated clip of what happens in the brain during a stroke.




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