Recipe - individual ham egg cups

I have my interviews today, I'm super nervous. Think good thoughts for me :D.

This is not my recipe, I didn't even really doctor them up or change them much. I did use 8 eggs for a dozen 'cups' and used low sodium ham. I substituted skim milk for cream. Other than that I followed this blogger's recipe. These are my pictures though....I highly recommend them, they were super yummy, super easy and a great 'grab and go' high protein breakfast.

1. Spray the muffin pans with some PAM.

2. 'Cup' the ham into the muffin tins.

3. Place about a tbsp of shredded cheese at the bottom

 4. Saute some veggies, I had some yellow onion and yellow pepper on hand.

 5. Add it to the ham cup

 6. Whip about 8 eggs and some milk together

7. pour into ham cups

 8. Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes

9. Enjoy -- or put into tupperware to enjoy during the week

 To reheat, place on microwave safe plate and nuke about 20-30 seconds.

To read the actual recipe, go here to Menu Musings She has some really nice variations of this recipe and a lot of others too.

Here is the nutritional info (not bad)

Calories: 116

Fat: 6.7

Saturated Fat: 2.3

Cholesterol 134

Sodium 335

Carbs 3.6

Fiber 0.2

Sugars 0.7

Protein 10.7

ENJOY

Wednesday Weigh In

Starting Weight: 320
Last Recorded Weight 230
Today's Weight 228


Back down to my lowest...yay.

So.....I chopped it all off.  I couldn't decide what to do so I just said, "No red, different, perky and happy" and let her perform her creative genius and interpret that the way she wanted.

And...I wasn't disappointed.  

My kiddos are home sick so I've been home too.  Poor little dudes.  The 10 year old was crying and whimpering about 2 this morning so I got up to give him some more Advil.  I crawled into his bed with him and cuddled him back asleep.  He was burning up and breathing quickly, and my random, oh so motherly thought was, "This is it, he is going to be patient zero in the zombie apocalypse"   

I don't do 2 in the morning very well...the 13 year old was up and down the night before, so I'm on two days without sleep.

So the NUT who facilitated the 6 month class talked to us about doing a Burpee Challenge.  A Burpee is a "pushup on crack" you can read about it here.  I tried one and just getting from the squatting position to the push up position nearly killed me. I think it might take me a couple of weeks to do just one. But I'm thinking of doing it.  I loved the C25K....but never finished it because it got cold and I'm a big baby. This I can do inside. So by the time I get this done it'll have warmed up enough to start the C25K again.

Have a happy Wednesday everyone.

and my cholesterol is up? WHAAT?

So it's really been over six months, but this is when I could get into the MD office for my check up....and guess what.... my cholesterol is high.

What?

Yup, I have never, ever had a cholesterol issue and given my weight and having PCOS this was a surprising but great thing (genetics actually working for me here).

Then I have this surgery, and yay I'm off my blood pressure meds...and I've lost weight - 90 pounds, double yay...but...and you are about to read this correctly...my cholesterol went up...up to the point that it's out of range...LDLs went from 73 to 112. It's not critical. It's not even an earth shattering thing.  The Med Assistant at my primary just called and gave me that arbitrary, exercise more and lose weight and it should come down.....and when I said, 'but doesn't it seem weird that I've just lost 90 pounds and it went UP" I got a "hmmm - well at this point just exercise more" -- thankfully we don't have video phones otherwise she'd have been privy to my eye rolling.

Have you ever heard such a thing --- I mean about the cholesterol, not the non-helpful conversation with the MA at the MD office...pretty sure you all have had that experience (sadly).

Neither did the nurse at the Bariatric Center.

I mean, she has never come across this. Never Ever.

At this point, it's a 'let's just see what happens at the year appointment blood work'

Which is fine. Who knows it could have just been a blip.

That's the thing about medicine. It's sometimes more of an art than it is a science.  Like art you need to have some rudimentary knowledge, but you also need to use a lot creativity and intuition.  The more I'm in the field, the less I know (that's a lot like parenting too) and the more I realize no one really knows KNOWS..you know?

But damn it, I want to know....

it's irritating.

So for now I wait....unless any of you have heard of this? Have you?....and if the person died, I don't want to hear about it.

The work front....so I got this recruiter call OUT.OF.THE.BLUE from my Linkedin profile.  And this is funny and a little depressing.  She asks me what my experience is (experience that is listed on said Linkedin profile) and then after I tell her, she says, "oh, we can't use you, you need your more recent experience to be in med-surge ---uh, you called ME, I did not solicit this position.  I don't even want to be a travel nurse in Texas...because I LIVE in Colorado. WTH.  And to add insult to injury, she also emailed me and then called again.  Because I love to hear I'm obsolete over and over for a job I don't want and didn't apply for.

Again, happy I don't have a video phone.  I'm very good at eye rolling during meaningless and stupid phone conversations.

I do actually have good news on the work front. I have two interviews set up for Thursday. One is a clinical coordinator position at....drum roll, and this is my FIRST choice....a Bariatric Center, minutes from my house (although a competitor of my own surgeon....a respected competitor). And the other interview is a clinical coordinator for a dialysis unit (which is my back ground before school nursing). Pros and Cons for both.

Think good thoughts for me on Thursday!

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

NSV

So I was doing push ups the other day -- no really -- and it's been a long time since I've done them.  And they were much easier than I remembered.

At first I thought, wow I've gotten stronger...without.even.trying.

Then I realized, well, of course push ups are going to be easier when you're lifting 90 pounds LESS off the floor.

Duh.

but kinda cool.

That's it, have a great Thursday everyone.

Wednesday Weigh In

Starting Weight: 320
Last Recorded Weight 232
Today's Weight 230
-2/+2 (but -90 total)

So I am down two from my unfortunate increase..It was scary because there was no movement until yesterday, which was so frustrating because I was really trying.  So whew!

And the job front...well I had an interview/chat with the nurse recruiter for a dialysis company here (a different one from the one where I used to work) I'm thinking I may be destined for dialysis.  It's good, I like it.  The job I'm looking at is just below the clinic manager, and sort of the job you take because you're interested in some day becoming a manager. I always thought my MSN would steer me towards teaching, but maybe I'm headed towards management.  I know that being a generally happy person who likes everything may seem like a good thing...but it's not...it makes it really hard to make decisions. Anyhow the chat went well...we were on the phone for an hour, she's awesome and she did a great job in selling the company. She said that the culture of this company is 'touchy-feely' and they give lots of hugs....I guess she got some negative feedback about that.  I told her not to worry, my mother's side is Cuban...it'll be like a family reunion -- I'll just have to stuff down the WASP side of me (trust me, half WASP, half Cuban -- it's an, um interesting combination -- my husband calls me a WASPina, he's a funny guy).

I digress.

The point is, I'm kind of excited!

The only thing that gives me pause is turning in my notice....I really love the people with whom I work. I love the kids. My current job is fun.  I just don't get paid enough and sometimes I get the impression teachers think of me as someone who ONLY doles out Band-Aids (FYI -- there's a LOT more to my job). Anyhow, I hate disappointing people (yeah, like that isn't an issue with MOST people who have weight issues -- am I right?).  But making double what I'm making now (even a bit more), room for advancement, saving lives (as opposed to enhancing lives), and more respect -- just sayin'.

It's been hard having Jason out of the country. Kudos to all you single moms out there, there is NO way I could keep up this pace by myself for the next 7 years without Jason. I am counting the days until he returns...he, is having a great time and is loving his experiences so far.  Although, the hotel he just checked into doesn't have toilet paper...just a "butt hose" as he texted me.  The hotel is 20$ a night, and one of the best in town. 

Hmmm, I'm not as jealous as I was yesterday.

Have a great Wednesday!

Wednesday Weigh In

Starting Weight: 320
Last Recorded Weight 228
Today's Weight 232
+4

It's not just math.....
So while I was going through my graze-carb-don't-think-about-my-food stage I still lost some weight, it wasn't great weight loss, but it was going down.  I had to admit that even though this type of eating didn't make me feel good and energetic since the scale was going down I really thought I had a 'handle' on it.  Like maybe, maybe I could get away with it.

Stop rolling your eyes....I know! I was totally deluding myself!

Last Wednesday I weighed in at 228...then like the very next day it went up and by Saturday I was at 233....5 pounds in three days...now did I have an excess of 17,500 calories in 3 days (3500 x5) ? Highly doubtful. And I'm not deluding myself here because even though I was grazing...I still couldn't put a lot away.  But there it is a weight gain of five pounds.

So now I'm on track.  Since I started this, I've lost 1 pound of the 5 I gained.

So not fair that I can gain weight so quickly but not lose that quickly.

Are any of you watching the Biggest Loser.  You see it on there. I forgot his name. One of the bigger guys on the blue team worked out like a fiend, he ate what he was supposed to and nothing, zero, zilch weight lost second week.  Jillian, who I can't decide to hug or slap, called it second week phenomenon. I call it metabolically efficient.  Whatever it is, it's not basic math.

Stubborn freakin' weight...it's worse than a pre-teen boy wanting to hang out with is friends after dark in the park (no, son, that isn't going to happen!).

I'm not discouraged.  I'm pissed.

So yesterday I stayed on my plan.  I did eat dinner, I just couldn't stomach another shake.  Today is soft proteins.  Thank goodness.

Here's what it looked like:

Tuesday, January 8, 2013 TARGET  2500 Calories Burned this day 2181 87% TARGET  1500 Calories Consumed this day 867 58% TARGET DEFICIT 1000 Calorie Balance  this day 1314 DEFICIT Calorie Deficit Calorie Surplus

My total protein was 51% of my day, 113g.

Here's what dinner looked like:

 These are teriyaki pineapple chicken meatballs you get at Costco (I'm all about convenience) For my family I served them on top of some stir fry veggies and some edamame (well except for my son who is allergic to soy, he just got the veggies and the meatballs and a pear -- a little soy okay, too much, not okay)

 Jason, rearranged my plate for me...He thought it was more appealing, I thought it was a little creepy but then creepy makes me laugh.

 Here's the information about the meatballs.  That combined with the edamame as my veggie choice gave me a nice protein punch.

Dinner EDIT Pro Carb Fat Cal

1.0 Serving AIDELL's Chicken Meatballs Teriyaki & Pineapple 9.0 g 5.0 g 8.0 g 130.0 Cal 0.5 Cup Edamame, Frozen, Prepared 8.4 g 7.7 g 4.0 g 94.6 Cal Total 17.4 g 12.7 g 12.0 g 224.6 Cal

I have a great plan for today!

Happy Wednesday blogland -- only three more days until the weekend...whoo hoo.

Resetting Myself

So this past week has been horrible. I'm not sure if it's because I didn't want to go back to work after two weeks off. That post Christmas exhaustion. Knowing my husband was leaving for two weeks....to India. Trying to organize my filing system/house/life.  Taking classes to up my marketability as a nurse.

Whatever it is, I have lots of excuses to revert to my old eating habits...grazing all day on foods that comfortably slide down and offer no nutritional value...each bite decreasing my self-worth and undoing all the good I've been doing.

How quickly, and how easily it is to fall back to those habits.

Yesterday, I decided to get out of it.....quickly, before it becomes who I am again rather than just a blip in becoming who I want to be....I'm not just talking about size....I'm talking about the person I am around food...the person who uses food to cover up feelings instead of the person who deals with the feelings and uses food for nutrition.  Am I going to feed my emotions or feed my body?

I want to be the person that feeds my body.

My friend told me about this website. It's the 5 day pouch test.  You do liquid protein for 2 days, soft protein for a day and back to the protein every three-four hours after that.

Yesterday I did pretty well....I did have an artichoke at dinner.  I'm not going to feel bad about that, because it's an artichoke and not the pasta I fed my family.

Here's what my day looked like yesterday:

Monday, January 7, 2013 TARGET  2500 Calories Burned this day 2301 92% TARGET  1500 Calories Consumed this day 928 62% TARGET DEFICIT 1000 Calorie Balance  this day 1373 DEFICIT Calorie Deficit Calorie Surplus

and 130g of protein (wow) -- I need to make sure I up my water!

I've also started organizing my life -- blogging about it here

Things to remember:
I am thankful for the job that I do have
My husband will only be gone for two weeks, this is not long compared to what a soldier's wife has to go through. His experience will enrich his life.
I enjoy learning new things and the classes I'm signed up for will be interesting and should not be stressful.
I do not have to be perfect overnight (or ever) and my organizing my life project does not have to be done in one day!

sounds so much better when I put it that way!

Have a great Tuesday Blogland!

Wednesday Weigh In

Starting Weight: 320
Last Recorded Weight 230
Today's Weight 228

So I'm not doing a great job at blogging....I can't even say I've been that busy (or that active).  I read two books in the last couple days...total page turners (what's the Nook equivalent of a page turner?) Defending Jacob and Gone Girl.  Oh my gosh, two chilling books with surprise twisted endings....Dishes in my sinks, Christmas still up and probably becoming a fire hazard and I haven't even started reading my ACLS (Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support) material for my class next weekend.

I also applied for five different Hospice positions.  My new plan of job change is: Apply for hospice jobs and take some classes to up my skill level (the reason I didn't get the pre-op job), which includes ACLS, PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support), an IV refresher course and a Telemetry certification course.  So I figure I'll do the prep work for both types of positions and then leave it to God where I am supposed to be.

But it makes me tired just thinking about it.

It's really too bad my current position as a school nurse doesn't pay more, because I could so stay there, I really do love it, but Jason's with a start up company, safely-precarious, but when he went there he took quite a cut in pay, and I took half my salary when I went to school-nursing. 

Such is life.

Okay...I've procrastinated enough, on to the elliptical.

No really.