Plateaus and deep fried Oreos

It's been a rough couple of weeks.

Work is absolutely crazy.  We've started taking triage calls for different clinics all over the state over the past few months which has increased our workload exponentially, while staffing remains the same.  It's awesome for our organization, and I love my job, but this shit is bananas and it's exhausting.

Pictured above: me, every day.

School is sucking my free time up.  Not surprised...nursing school was hard enough the first time and this is building on that foundation.  Plus, last time I went to nursing school I was working two 12-hour shifts a week, and now I am working full-time.  I also have a dog now that I didn't have before, and that sweet little face needs cuddles and walks every day.

Pictured above: me, every day.

I feel like my progress has stagnated a little, which is annoying.  I am still hitting the gym at least 5 times a week (6 times during a good week) but I need to be honest...

I have eaten like crap for the past 10 days.  

When I say "like crap," I should specify.

I'm still making better choices than I did before I started this.  Like, WAY better choices.  So I am pretty proud of that.  But I didn't eat anywhere NEAR as healthily as I have been, or as my nutritionist, my trainer, and myself expect me to.  

Example:  I went to Oktoberfest on Saturday.  I have a love-hate relationship with these kinds of festivals.  It's always nice to get downtown and see the music, the crafty stuff, and the unbelievably entertaining people watching that come with street festivals.  Plus, my college besties Ali, Dan, and Katie came downtown with me which was amazing!  It's so rare that I get to see them all together.  Even more embarrassing...Katie lives like 3 miles away and I haven't seen her since January.  I'm not great at making plans.  Love you KT!

But anyway, we were at Oktoberfest, which involved a lot of walking.  Score!  But...

Oh Lawd, confession time...

I ate a deep fried Oreo.

It was fucking amazing.  I may have had a tiny foodgasm, it was so good.  I almost cried right in the middle of College Ave, I'm not even kidding.  I made weird noises.  It was unbelievable.  

But it was fried and greasy and everything I should be avoiding.

*insert Homer Simpson drooling noise here*

Guess what though!  I ate ONE deep fried Oreo.  In the past, I would have bought the 3-pack, snarfed through those mofos, and probably followed it up with brats and beer.  Instead we went out for breakfast for dinner later and I had a side salad with my eggs.  And a pitcher of water.  Reasonable choice for an IHOP meal.

Also, after we ate, and swam, and hung out and talked with my lovely friends and their manfriends/husbands for a few hours, Jeffer and I went to the gym.  

Not going to lie, I kind of half-assed it.  But the point is: we went to the gym at 11pm.  On a Saturday.  Voluntarily.  And I did squats and deadlifts and burpees without my trainer telling me to.

Here's the point: Everyone might stagnate from time to time in their fitness journey.  Maybe you're not making the gains you want to.  Maybe you gained 3 lbs.  Maybe, like me, you've been stuck at the exact same weight for 2 weeks, when previously you were losing about 2 lb a week.

Think back on your choices and, again, like me, you might realize why.  If not, maybe it's time to crank it up a notch.  If not, maybe you need to keep doing what you're doing and push through it.  I don't know, I'm not a trainer or nutritionist (obvi) and I have no idea what I'm doing...I just listen to my "bosses" and do what they say.

Except for the deep fried Oreo.  They didn't say to eat that.  But it was worth the running I'm going to try to force myself to do tonight.

This is basically what happens when my trainer makes me run...

It's funny because it's true.  It's painful because it's true.

Finances

I haven't been able to post much recently because school, while amazing, is sucking up all my free time and brain cells.  I have a love-hate relationship with school, just like I have with working out.  At the time, It can be terrible...it's exhausting and hard and frustrating at times when I can't do something or can't figure something out.  But I know it's making me better and I love how I feel when I accomplish something, so I keep doing it.

So here's the scoop.  I've been working out with my trainer for almost 5 months now.  Which is amazing...sometimes I feel like I just started out (which I know in the grand scheme of things, I did) and at times I feel like I've been doing this forever.  It's become a habit...if I go more than one day between workouts, I feel icky and weird and sluggish and kind of gross.  I've learned some valuable lessons, such as (TMI alert, if you're squeamish about lady problems, move on to the next paragraph) you shouldn't avoid it when you have the worst fucking menstrual cramps of your life, because it will actually make them better.  Maybe days when you feel dizzy aren't the best days to try to do a bunch of burpees.  And for the love of God, EAT SOMETHING BEFORE YOU GO TO THE GYM.

But I'm super scared right now.  I only have one more month with my trainer.  Well, I should say one more sponsored month before I have to figure out how to pay for his services, because I want to keep him.  And when I say I want to keep him, I should be saying I need to...let's be honest, I need the push and the accountability.

As many of you know or may someday find out, getting healthier can be hella expensive.  Don't get me wrong, it's the best money I've ever spent (aside from my nursing degree and my travels).  But nutritionist visits, constant new clothes/alteration of current clothes, future gym membership payments (my gym is free for me for another 6 months, thank GOD for Jen Mott) and training sessions are expensive.  Plus, I'm paying tuition at a private university for the next 3 years.  Also: bills.  You get the picture, and I'm sure you can relate.

I guess what I'm trying to say is...if you want to get healthy, MAKE THE INVESTMENT.  I'm freaking out right now about how my husband and I are going to financially make this work (P.S. he joined the gym and got a trainer this month, too!  So excited!!!  And so freaked!) but it's such a high priority for us right now that we'll find a way to make this work.  Some of you may remember my blog post from this summer about simplification...well, ditching cable and phones and other things was all part of getting us ready for this crazy expensive fall we're having.

Also...not looking for sympathy, just putting it out there.  A lot of people have commented to me "I wish I could afford the gym/nutrtionist/trainer/etc but I can't."  The point is: we can't either, but this is worth the other sacrifices we're making.  Make yourself a priority.  And maybe, you don't even need a gym or a trainer!  You can youtube lots of fitness stuff and workouts for free, which is great if that's your bag!  I, unfortunately, need people to keep me in check and push my lazy ass past what I want to be doing (which is sitting on my duff watching Parenthood reruns).

Happy

I am feeling extraordinarily happy today.

Just wanted to put that out there.

No rhyme or reason to it, I just feel really happy and really good, and I hope you guys do, too!