Wait, it's July?

Woah! So I made this blog in December during my 2 weeks off between jobs. As you can see from my last post, I was fed up with my hospital nursing job. I remember being worried when I wrote that blog post that I would look back and regret writing it and sharing it on the internet. I'm so glad I wrote down those thoughts and specifics (! so many details) -it's good to have them to remember and reflect. 

I can't believe how much time has passed since I've written last! And so much has happened! 

I started my new job in December right around the holidays. I won't go into excruciating detail, but it's been a good transition for me. I've finally achieved balance in my life for once and I feel like I can focus on more than just work. I'm also enjoying the speciality of psychiatric nursing and am almost positive this is the field I'd like to stay in....I'm even contemplating going back to school to become a psychiatric nurse practitioner! But that's another story. 

When I look back at these past 7 months I'd say the theme has been balance - something I am finally able to find! Since my job transition I've lost 13 pounds (I didn't even know I had 13 pounds to lose!), focused more on my exercise/fitness routine (Fitness Blender is the BEST) and really enjoyed my weekends off. 

Yeah, you heard that right. I lost 13 pounds! I had no idea what hospital nursing and bad habits had done to my body. I knew I felt stressed and could focus more on healthier eating, but I seriously thought I ate "healthy" 80% of the time so I should be OK, right? Wow, I was obviously wrong. 

So here's the thing. I tried for several months at the end of 2014 to get started with Fitness Blender's 8 week Fat Loss Program. I had been sporadically doing the videos 3-4 days a week and sometimes going on runs/walks in between. It was so hard with the 12 hour shifts to stay consistent with a work-out program. 3 days a week I would NOT work out (who wants to exercise after a 13 hour shift? Or beforehand?!) leaving the other 4 days of the week.... Anyway, it wasn't working out. Once I started at my new job with traditional office hours, I was able to fit in exercise much easier. 

I started in January 2014 with the Fitness Blender 8 Week Fat Loss Program. Jokingly, I took some 'before' pictures one day - I think this was after binge-viewing #progresspics on instagram (and lots of Kayla Itsines posts too!). I didn't think much of it - in fact I thought I looked pretty good! I had no idea I'd lose so much weight. I started tracking my calories in My Fitness Pal and was shocked about my portion sizes. I would pour a bowl of cereal that would be 400 calories! Dairy was also a HUGE part of my diet that I had never even realized. I quickly made some dietary changes....

- 1% Dairy to Unsweetened Almond Milk - (A huge calorie saver and I love the taste)

- No more shredded cheese on everything

- No more pretzels and tortilla chips 

- No more frozen yogurt/ice-cream

- Seriously increased intake of: fruits, vegetables

I also started measuring out my food (next step is to buy a food scale) for almost every meal and using MyFitness Pal to track the calories. I also have a FitBit which helps me keep up with my steps, and it links to MFP so I can track "extra" calories I get from exercise. 

So the first few months, from February-April the weight came off pretty easily. Here are my stats so far (and maybe if I'm brave enough at some point I'll post a picture!)

February 1 -158.6lb

March  30 - 151.6lb

April 30 - 149.2

June 30 - 147.4

And today I'm at 145 lb! :) 

I just finished the FB 4 week Ab program and I'm not sure what to do next. I'm considering doing the 4 week program again, OR redoing the second month of the 8-week fat loss program. I'm eating about 1900-2100 calories per day with an average daily expenditure of BMR (about 2,000 + exercise calories which is almost always 200 or 300/day). I've thought about decreasing my calories even more, but I find that I'm really hungry at anything less than 1,800 calories per day (I like my snacks!). 

All of this information just to say that I'm not sure what my next goals are. I never expected to lose 10+ pounds, my goal was just to increase my overall fitness level. I've thought about attempting to lose an additional 5 lb to get down to 140, but the idea of increasing my calories and lifting weights is way more exciting :D yay food! So I'm still on the fence of what to do next. I'll either purchase their FB booty program or the mass building program. Either way, I need to have a goal in mind to keep myself motivated! 

Maybe I'll post a picture on here at some point? Eh, probably not ;) here's a picture of my adorable cat and I snuggling instead!!