Making changes

What is this, you might ask? Well, it's one of the changes I've been working on over the past couple of weeks. About midway through clinicals, our instructor asked us what we were going to do to reward ourselves for graduating as RNs - what would we do for ourselves that school for the past number of years has made really difficult? It was a good question. My knee-jerk reaction was that I was going to play in all my fabric (we're all fabric junkies, aren't we?) but then I really started thinking about it.

Many of you know of my issues with depression over the years and I've been quite open about it here on my blog. I thought back to the time I felt my absolute best in life, identified it and then examined what made me feel that way. And that time I identified was a number of years ago, nearly six years in fact. I was preparing for a triathlon in May of that year - one that I would end up attending on crutches to cheer others on while recovering from a knee scope to repair a torn-up knee. While I've always been bummed I didn't get to participate, what I haven't realized until recently was that maybe the lesson I was supposed to take away from that experience was that working out, training, and consciously watching the quality and quantity of foods I put into my body benefited me in more ways than just physically.

I realize I need to be the change I want to see. And as with any change, it takes a beginning and some solid commitment. Towards the end of November, I joined LoseIt.com - a free site that allows users to track their caloric and nutritional intake as well as provide support to others on the same journey. I'll be honest here, I don't have weight to lose so much as I need to tone up. But, entering my foods each day forces me to be accountable for what I put into my body. I quickly realized things I hadn't even considered: I'm drinking more than 200 calories of coffee creamer each day. My sodium intake is beyond terrible. And there's a direct correlation to how I feel and what I've eaten in a day. The LoseIt program allows you to track weight, BMI, exercise, nutritional content of your foods, and support each other through a variety of forums. There are some amazingly inspirational people on there, who have - each through difficult choices of their own - made amazing changes in not only their weight and appearance, but in their attitudes and their life overall.

So, I have a goal now. I'd like to compete in that triathlon I wasn't able to do six years ago this May. And now that I have a good grip on what's going into my body, I can better focus on the optimum fat:carbs:protein ratio that will allow me to train my best. Here's an example of my breakdown over the last four weeks for those three items. It might look all over the board to you, but I can look at that graph and pinpoint the days I felt the best, physically and mentally, and they are all days my protein and fat ratios were higher than my carbs.

I'm still looking for better ways to incorporate protein into my diet, being that I'm not a huge meat-eater. I'm also trying to be conscious of eating less processed foods and more natural foods. I'm drinking MUCH more water. I'm feeling much better physically, and mentally as well. It helps to have the positive reinforcement of seeing the needle on the scale budge a little (since I've been doing this, I've dropped roughly 5 pounds - which I fully expect to gain back as muscle shortly). 

Being that it's Wisconsin, and winter, I'm not looking forward to getting out and running. I'm not looking forward to finding times to lap swim at local pools and leaving with frozen hair (I'm too stubborn to blow dry my hair). I'm not looking forward to biking on icy roads. But I am looking forward to feeling that ache - you know, the one that reminds you that you're doing something? I'm looking forward to liking what I see in the mirror more, to feeling stronger, to having more energy.

What are you looking forward to this coming year?