Inspirations

Topic of the week: Write about a person you feel is inspirational to you in achieving this change.

I find inspiration not in one person, but in all of my patients in the hospital.  I spend a lot of my time working with patients in the ICU... people who are very sick and battling some unimaginable things.  There are people attached to all kinds of IVs, lines, monitors... but still have the resolve to fight hard and be strong.  In fact, one of my patients right now is captive in the ICU, in need of and waiting for a heart transplant.  However, you would never guess that he was that ill... he is a big, strong man, who is adamant about staying mentally positive and keeping up his strength and endurance until such time that a heart arrives for him... (Research shows that people who have a more positive outlook and better physical condition fare much better with their new organ...)  To this end, this patient takes his large IV pole with around ten lines tethered between him and his various drips and medications, along with several machines, and walks laps upon laps around the ICU unit... one day doing 39 laps which required switching out nurses to keep up with him.  Seeing such amazing things reminds me that we humans are capable of so much more than we think.  And so, all this inspires me to live my life better... to take care of myself and live to my potential... to not squander the health that I have... to meet my goal of becoming a more healthy weight. 

My progress:  My current weigh in today was 1*0.0 lbs.  I have been trying to weigh myself more consistently around mid-late afternoon... so hopefully that is an accurate weight, as my weight can fluctuate between 3-5 lbs in one single day.  I am still making progress, which is a good thing.  It was Chinese New Year just a few days ago... so there have been familial eating engagements that have caused me to eat more than I intended... but I still tried to cut down from what I would usually have eaten.  I have been working out everyday, except my late work days on Monday... and Thursday which I have now devoted to taking a dance class at night which allows me to have fun and exercise at the same time.  I have not yet worked out today... and it's getting late.  Maybe I'll get a chance to work out later on tonight... for now, my family wants to go out for dinner... It really is difficult resisting all those high calorie items on the menu when eating out.  To combat falling off the wagon and failing miserably, I have chosen to not follow the strict P90X diet, and still keep carbs/starches in my diet.  I just have been cutting down the amount of food I eat, the amount of junk food I eat, and the calories I consume.  It's been do-able... and I occasionally let myself have a small treat... like yesterday I had  2 french fries... and shared a small ice cream cone.  But I'm glad I didn't eat more.  I've tried extremely strict dieting before... that didn't last me more than 2 months.  So hopefully by being less strict, I'll last at least until the end of this semester, if not for good.