Quiet Morning to Reflect

Sep 20, 2014

I woke up at 4:55 am today and after getting my faculties together, I got to thinking of when things started to go south on my weight gain.  I think it began when I worked night shift at a hospital as a Nurse Assistant.  The first year I worked there I lost 15 lbs because of the physical demands yet I ate like a horse.  However, the next year I switched units and for Christmas, the Doctors gave us gifts in the form of food.  I gained 5lbs back and began to build an immunity to sugar.  One cookie here, a bite of candy there and compound that with less stress and physical activity, the weight slowly crept up again.  Then we switched from 8 hour shifts to 12 hour shifts, so when I wasn't working I was sleeping and if the night was quiet, I would eat to stay awake.  And what did I eat? Carbohydrates and sugar to give me energy.  Not only did I gain all the weight I had lost back, but added a few pounds, in total, 22 lbs.  Psychologically, that's a drop in the bucket as I've lost over 100 lbs but if I can gain 22 lbs, I can gain 50lbs and if I can gain 50lbs, I can gain another 50lbs.  You see where this could go and it just can't!  

Happily, I gave up the hospital job and got a job that not only pays more but the hours are during the day which means I am getting more sleep at night.  Not only that, the hours are flexible which allows me to exercise.  I joined the YMCA about a month ago and have been developing a habit of going there, even if it's for 20 minutes.  I want to run a 5K in November that my company is sponsoring, so I have a goal.  When it was light enough for me to get outside, I did.  I ran/walked 2.5 miles.  Yesterday I tracked my food intake and counted how many grams of protein (80 for the day).  I need to track carbs and calories, but for now, one step at a time.  In all of that we do to make changes, it comes down to one step at a time.

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