An Observation

Last year around this time I joined Slimgenics and over the course of four months lost about 35 pounds.  Even losing that little bit (well it is a little bit given how much I have to go and that's not really a number I want to reveal just yet to the blogosphere no matter how supportive they are) made me feel a bit better, more comfortable in my body, breathing and sleeping a bit better.

Then I gained it all back.

Pretty quickly, I might add.

It started out as a plateau that lasted about four months THEN whoosh....

One of the things, I think I should do before imparting with vast amounts of our savings and subjecting myself to surgery is to figure out why.

The things that changed:
Started back with my master's program
Got a new job

Those are kind of whoppers.
The job thing is actually less stressful and I have more time.  BUT, I don't move around as much.  When I was a dialysis nurse, I was on my feet all.the.time!  I'd be up assessing 12 patients, checking on 12 machines, then getting the meds for 12 patients, answering questions and if there wasn't a crisis like someone's blood pressure dropping I'd have like 30 minutes to sit and chart before the next wave of patients came in.

Now, I follow one little sick boy around the school.  Even when I'm in the school clinic (when the little boy is too sick to come to school) I don't move like I did in my last job.  Next year when I get my own clinic and I'm off this one-on-one detail, I'm so going to have to put something in place to make sure I am moving more!

School....now that's stressful.  And to make it more so, I've been doubling up on classes so that I can get finished sooner (Next April, knock on wood...do it NOW, this is important!).  I'm doing well in it.  But it is a lot of work.  Because it's towards the end, I'm also working on my thesis/project/presentation.  Technically, it's not really a thesis but I'm not sure what else to call it, 'exit project' maybe, 'thing that looms over my head every waking second of the day because I can't graduate without it and I'm second-guessing my subject thing'  is probably more accurate.  Anyhow, the classes are all online, so basically, I'm sitting on my ass, uh rear-end for hours, reading, commenting on posts, writing papers, and putting together PowerPoints.

I've also discovered something about myself.....something that kind of sucks too.

I was looking at my son doing his homework and he was sucking on his shirt.  When I was younger, I chewed on my pencils and pens, or my hair when it was long enough.  That was in school.

When school is at home you have lots of stuff available to you that taste and crunch so much better then pencils, hair, pens or shirts.  But they all have calories.  I've read that some people focus better when their mouth is chewing, or their legs are bouncing (you know those people who sat behind you in class and vibrated your chair with their bouncing legs).  Anyhow, some people need that extra something to help them focus.  These people, of whom I suspect I am one of, probably have some form of ADHD (the last part is my own unscientific observation).  Anyhow, I've noticed that I'll stare blankly at the computer screen, get up and get a bowl of cereal, some chips, or whatever, come back and stare at the screen and be able to focus because I was chewing.

When class starts back up next Tuesday, I'm going to get some gum.

What's my project about? Well how to teach school nurses how to teach children about health promotion, in the area of eating healthy and exercising.  Because wouldn't it be nice to not get to the point where I am now.