Commencement

Can you tell how excited I was? My big chipmunk cheeks sticking out to their full extent due to my huge smile! Oh, and notice the honor cords? Score!

We didn't get any good pictures from the ceremony, but this is afterward once I had received my certificates.

I had to include one of the boy and I cheesing! Hey, if we can make it through grad school together we can make it through anything!

The Cathedral of Learning is where I have spent the past two years, both in class and at my field placement. Only a handful of people know this, but I had a very similar view of the Cathedral hanging in my high school locker - I was determined to go to Pitt. My undergrad led me elsewhere but look where I ended up!

I think that graduation always comes with mixed feelings of joy and sadness. I am absolutely thrilled to have made it through two grueling years of class, field, and work, but I am also sad to leave behind my classmates and mentors from the school. No more getting bored and walking down (then back up!) 20 flights of stairs for fun, iced coffees in the basement, or visiting Hemingway’s before class. But this also means no more of having basically three jobs, which is a really nice change.

Right now I am actually working full time at Lane Bryant. I got a promotion, and with few other job prospects on the horizon, I took it. I am still looking for a job on my career path, but I have been continuing to send out the resumes and have had several interviews. Eventually I’ll find the right fit, but at least now I don’t have to worry about finances before then. I am still figuring out what to do with my newly-found free time, and have spent the past few weeks simply relaxing, reading, catching up on sleep, and spending time with K and my roommate. Today I am going to see about a gym membership to get me moving again. Probably with my free time I’ll also be able to keep up with this a bit more than I have throughout finals and finishing my degree. I look forward to it!

Brief Update

I hope that everyone out there is doing better than I am, weight-wise. For the past few weeks I have been up and down without any real commitment to the program. I was 265 something at the beginning of the month, then up to 270, then down to 266, then up a few more pounds. I have been on track this week though, so I am hoping for a loss this week. All in all it looks like March will be a wash for me, but that is better than gaining…

Right now I am right in the midst of final projects and job applications. I have sent out my cover letters and resumes, but have so far had no calls for interviews. I am really hopeful that something turns up, because I cannot afford to live on my retail position alone, and I will lose my internship stipend in a month. I have about 6 months of living expenses saved up, but my car started making some weird noises today (by weird, I mean my 4 cylinder started sounding like a monster truck), and that will likely make a dent in my savings.

I am optimistic, however. Right now is a much better time to be looking for a job than two years ago, so I’m still looking at grad school as a good investment. Plus there will always be a demand for social workers even if it is in not-so-great jobs, so at the very least I am confident that I will find something to pay the bills while I wait for the dream job… And then I’ll get a gym membership.

Eating so much….

I have been eating nonstop since the last time I posted. I figure that I kinda had an excuse because it was spring break, and then K and I celebrated our 2 year datingversary, and then I was so far off the wagon that I got McDonald’s yesterday and a sushi buffet today.

I’m bad.

But all is not lost, I’m not giving up. I didn’t weigh in last week, which is the first weigh in that I’ve missed all year. I will be weighing in on Friday and recording it regardless of how horrible it may be. HOWEVER, I’m trying to increase my chances of success/decrease my chance at horrible horrible failure by eating primarily fruits and vegetables over the next few days. I have been ignoring that whole side of the food pyramid for awhile, and I have lots of bananas to eat before they go bad. Speaking of bad bananas, I came back to my office yesterday from being on break for a week and found a very bad black banana in my desk. My office did not smell great, to say the least, but there were no buggies which is what I had been really worried about.

In other news, though weather has interrupted my runs the past few weekends (remember how I said the weather would be great and I was going to hit the park? it snowed…), this weekend is calling for highs in the 60s so I am hitting the pavement either way. I’m getting antsy!

Weekly Weigh-In

WW Starting Weight: 282lbs
Current Weight: 265.2lbs
This Week’s Loss: 3lbs

I don’t even know how I lost this week, but I’ll take it. I think sometimes I just get so caught up in whatever I’m doing – be it work, internship, or even watching tv if I get a chance – that I just don’t it. I am also getting way better at not snacking throughout the day, particularly in the evenings right before I go to bed. One thing that I have been doing that I’m really proud of is eating more fruits and veggies. For the past few weeks I have been living off of cereal (it’s horrible, I know, but I really love Cap’n crunch and Frosted Mini Wheats!), but this past week I have gone back to snacking on apples and bananas, and adding a bag of microwave steam veggies to my meals. I love that these items are zero points, because adding that extra healthy fiber to my diet really keeps me from snacking. Oh—I just realized that I left a banana and apple in my desk drawer at my internship, and I’m not planning on being back there until a week from Monday! I guess I’m going to have to make a side trip to avoid a nasty situation later!

My spring break officially starts today, and I get to enjoy it starting Sunday evening after work. I have a ton of stuff planned, including sending out at least a bajillion cover letters and resumes, general spring cleaning at my apartment, going through my wardrobe and getting rid of clothes that are too big for me(!), and switching my winter stuff out for some spring clothes. I am also considering making a road trip back home, but I am not sure if that is going to happen. Gas just hit $3.50 here, almost doubling the cost of my 8-hour round trip drive. It would be a nice use of my tax return though, I would love to see my mom, and I’m pretty sure she misses me too.

I hope that everyone else is having a good week and can look forward to an enjoyable weekend!

It’s almost time!

I am finally healthy and back to my normal school/work/life balancing act. However, in just under two months I will only have to balance two of those things. I graduate on May 1 and I couldn’t be more excited. Well, I could be more excited if I had a job lined up already, but I’m still pretty excited just to have time off from 3 hour classes and working two jobs. I have just started my job search (I procrastinate…), and hopefully something will come from it. I am so pessimistic about the job market right now, but I have to hope that my experience, connections, and my MSW will put me ahead of the competition a little bit. Even if I don’t snag the best job, I can at least keep in mind that there are always plenty of entry level social work positions available. They don’t pay much but they pay more than not having a job at all, so I have a back-up plan.

In terms of eating healthy, I would give my efforts a 5/10. My overall eating habits have changed. Even if I do eat something unhealthy, I eat a lot less than I used to. I was doing really well with tracking other than Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week. I just got to busy to even type it in, and now I can’t really remember and I don’t want to see the results. I bough some Girl Scout cookies that I’ve been nibbling on, which hasn’t helped. The good thing (or bad, I guess), is that I have been eating cookies instead of meals, instead of in addition too. Good and bad both, I guess.

The (two) most important thing(s) I wanted to write about though is that next week is spring break and what that means is that it is FINALLY warm enough to run outside! I have seriously been going crazy waiting for this. It made it into the 40s today, so no matter what I am going to put on my sneakers and run. The ability to run outside is conversely related to my ability to make up excuses for not working out because I don’t want to catch a bus or the gym doesn’t fit into my schedule. Now I’m actually going to exercise and lose weight.

Quick Update: Sicky-pants

I have been sick since the day before Valentine’s Day, so I haven’t really been up to writing in the blog. I also have missed a couple of days of work and school, and after almost a week and a half I am still coughing, sneezing, and generally feeling crappy. :-/ So for the same amount of time I have been not exercising, and about half-way sticking to my ww plan. I have still managed to track everything though. The problem is that I wont eat anything all day, and then splurge on something that has a super high points value. The other day my roommate offered to pick up chinese, so I ordered chicken with broccoli, which is one of the healthier options. It still wasn’t healthy but after a day of just munching on some triscuits, it still fit into my plan. I am starting to run out of weekly points though. I think this is a big illustration of how important activity points actually are.

I hope everyone is having a great and healthy week. I will try to catch up on everyone’s blog later, but for now I am going to get some much needed sleep. G’night.

Weigh In: Absolutely Stunned

WW Starting Weight: 282lbs
Current Weight: 269.2lbs
This Week’s Loss: 0lbs

I am absolutely stunned that I didn’t gain weight this week. I am ecstatic also, and a little bit disappointed. I already admitted to eating everything in sight last weekend, so I thought I was up for a big gain. Then on Monday I did my best to stay on track but ended up splurging a little bit, using more of those weekly points that I didn’t have left. Tuesday and Wednesday were great, absolutely on target in spite of some temptations. Then yesterday happened.

Honestly, I don’t know what yesterday was about. I had talked to a girl at work on Wednesday night about how hard it is to get back on track after messing up, and feeling as though you’ve already messed up your week so why not just pig out – it isn’t going to make a difference anyway, right? Well Wednesday I left work still on plan, but Thursday I just gave up. I was short on energy, motivation, and spirit. I had Chick-fil-a for lunch and McDonald’s for dinner because “why not?” I almost even had a cookie from Barnes and Noble, but was way too bloated to really consider it.

Somehow the result of me having only two good days during the week was no change on the scale. I am really glad that I didn’t gain, but I could kick myself for messing up yesterday. Maybe I would have even lost after three days back on plan. And the worst part is that one day of poor choices makes it that much easier to make poor decisions again the next day. Worst of all, when you have a week like I did and then maintain your weight, you can easily trick yourself into thinking that overeating can be a regular part of your plan, just because you didn’t gain this one time.

Super big-eating weekend

Before I go into all of the horrible things I did this weekend, I wanted to let everyone know that I lost .8lbs as of last Friday, even though I didn’t report my weight loss officially.

Of course that .8lbs will likely come back to me this Friday, possibly with some friends. My roommate and I had some guests this weekend, which meant going out to eat constantly, and going out for drinks. I really did my best trying to stay in control while we were out at different restaurants, and I only had a few diet drinks at the bar. Saturday I was feeling so bloated and crappy that I skipped dinner and the bar with the group and stayed home. K and I had salad and watched tv instead.

On Sunday is when it got bad though. I live at the home of the “black and yellow” Steelers and went to an amazingly overdone Superbowl Party. We are talking 5 or 6 different entrees, a ton of casseroles, and a bajillion different desserts. I ate at least two of everything. I was such a pig. I even got to the point where my stomach hurt because I ate so much, but then I still had a little bit more later. I went back yesterday to try to figure out how much I ate, and it really isn’t pretty. Keep in mind that I ate like a normal person for breakfast and lunch, but overall for the day I ate and drank 101 points plus. I get 43 points a day! That is more than twice as much food as I should have ate for the entire day, and the majority of it was in the evening!

I am so ashamed of myself and how much I ate. As of this morning I had only gained 1lb, so that is a good thing. I have been doing my best to gain some APs to offset the extra points I have. I earned 26 activity points so far this week, and I owe 36 APs if I’m going to be flat. I am trying to figure out how I’m going to get those all in. Back to the gym I guess!

Hey Jealousy

Remember those amazing looking peanut butter cookies I wrote about a while ago? The ones that are worth 17 points? Well I had one for lunch. I ate a regular breakfast and then got called into work, so I indulged or gave in or whatever you want to call it. 17 points of a cookie. I didn’t even savor it, I just scarfed it down. It was really good, but… I don’t think it was worth it. I know that it wasn’t worth it. But it happens, I guess.

A girl at work has been dieting recently, and she showed up today after a week and a half long vacation to let me know that she’s lost 12lbs on her diet. That is the same amount that I’ve lost on WW, and I’ve been on it for a month. She is eating 1500 calories a day, and started two weeks ago, and isn’t paying anything for any special program or anything… I guess if I didn’t eat

Weekly Weigh In

WW Starting Weight: 282lbs
Current Weight: 270lbs
This Week’s Loss: -1lbs

Another loss! I was kinda upset that it was only 1lb, but that was on Friday morning. As of right now, I am super pumped that I have lost 4 weeks in a row. I don’t even know the last time I accomplished that.

I do have a confession though. Today at work, I ate two pieces of fried chicken. I know, I know, I really shouldn’t have, but I couldn’t resist. I was stressed and starving, and my boss had offered it to me so I gave in. I tracked it though, the wing and the thigh were 14 points plus total. Adding that to the beer and the fudge bar I had when I made it home from my crazy day at work, I came in at 43 dailies and 5 weeklies used.