Sunday Sick Day/Weekend Rant

So let me start out by saying this has been a rough week, I started coming down with a bad cold after seeing dozens upon dozens of patients who were sick. When I got home Thursday I knew it was coming on and by Friday I had full blown chills and a runny nose, Brian had to practically swaddle me on Saturday to try and warm me up (didn't work by the way) anyways Friday I got a call from my boss, she asked me how I was feeling and after I told her she said the sentence that would certainly change everything for some time to come.....I'm sorry but we are letting you go, So yes 15 days shy of my 90 day probationary period I am now unemployed, (and thats not the worst part) So you see i've been paying for my insurance out of pocket since 2012 I have a super high deductible but I only needed it for my prescriptions and just in case I got really sick or injured. Well since Obamacare came into effect I found out my plan would no longer exist after December 31st, no big deal right? I mean I had a job that was going to provide me full benefits with no out of pocket cost, so when my insurance sent me a letter notifying me that my plan was being terminated and if I wanted to get a new plan I would have to contact them or I could not respond at all and it would simply go away once January 1st hit. And of course I chose the not going to contact them option, so now here I am with no insurance and no known date of when not only will I get a new job but when I will have insurance, lets just figure it takes a month to find a job, then I have to wait 3 more months to get insurance, so thats 4 months with no coverage period, that means no birth control and no pain medication.....Oh wait it gets better, so in a quick haste I figured I could go back online to apply for a plan (simple right? Wrong) you can no longer print applications directly from insurance sites, you submit a feedback form and then someone will contact you to help, I even went on coveroregon.com (second big mistake) and first tried to submit it online but of course I was told I needed a PDF plug in to view the site on IE, which of course I have so why won't it work? Then I figure ahhh i'll just print out the application.....then I see that its 14 freaking pages long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! oh and the cherry on top of everything you ask??? I paid $88 a month for my insurance with a high deductable, and while there are no plans close to what I have the best one for me (I need one with moderately priced OV's and low Rx costs) is $145!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IF I qualify for unemployment thats more than I would make in a week on it. Now of course there are funding options available but what I don't get is why make obamacare, if insurance was affordable everyone would have it! But now it seems its even more expensive and when I do qualify for it how much are they going to pay for??? If I don't get it fast i'm going to get taxed on it and well thats a whole other rant. Okay end of rant, back to my cold. So Saturday I was planning to go to the gym and I made my January workout plan a couple days ago and was ready to put it into action but I tell you what by the time I got to Brians and we were supposed to leave I felt absolutely miserable, much like I do today, I stayed home from church, tried to sleep it off but couldn't and now here I am ranting in my blog about being sick and not having health insurance....On the plus side of being let go I have an opportunity to work out more and really get into the rhythm of going to the gym, I even made motivational goals, 20lb loss equals the Polar FT4 watch I want and so on and so on, once I hit 60lbs I am taking myself on a $250 VS shopping spree (who wouldnt want that????) Thanks to my bestie briggie for the idea!!! I'm also going to have time to finally go through the hundreds of healthy recipes on my pinterest boards so that I can starting making better meals and figure out more ideas for meals since I pretty much am in a food rut. I am also planning on starting to run in molalla since again I have a lot of time on my hands. and lastly my bff Briggie has decided that we will become gym buddies and work out on wednesdays when she is off work (she is also a morning workout person so that helps so much! Score!!) So while I have my down time i'll be working on my monthly workout routines so that way when I do get a new job i'll already have them done and I can just make a smooth transition from month to month, Hawaii is coming and I need to be bikini ready!!!!!!! Alright well stay tuned for yummy recipes and my results from my new workout routine!

I can always get healthier

So i'd like to think that i've been eating healthier lately but lets face it, I still have my days where I will eat subway with chips, cookies and a soda, i'm not perfect and I definitely don't claim to be but there is always room for improvement, the holidays are hard though. I won't lie about that, just the other day I watched my doctor hack the head off of a chocolate santa complete with chocolate coins in his butt. And well as much as I would like to pretend it didn't happen it did, I ate several large parts of it yesterday, today I was better and I didn't touch it but I did touch the box of gushers I got when I purchased despicable me 2 and Fast 6, ( I got pop crunch white and sharp chedder mix w/ fast 6 but haven't touched it) I ate 2 packages of the little juicy devils in a bag and I gave one bag away then put the rest away in my desk. I'm not sure why its so hard this time around, I have the hardest time giving up soda or chocolate and well I think its because i've just been so used to consuming it on either a daily basis or atleast several times a week and well that needs to stop, i've only lost 3lbs so far and i'm pretty sure my diet is a big factor to that, I am working out but not as hard as I used to be, it's been tough trying to work out in the morning before work because even though I go to bed at a decent hour its been so cold in the mornings I just don't want to get out of my warm and toasty bed at 4:15 in the morning, and by the time I get off work I want to rush home in case it decides to dump freezing rain or snow which would make it impossible for me to get home! (lowered car, can't put chains on because they would rip off my bumpers, needless to stay my car would have more of a bulldozing effect than just gliding on top of the snow, not to mention I take several windy backroads to get to work AND my work literally is in the worst place to be during any type of inclimite weather, either way you go you either have to go up a very steep hill or go down a moderately inclined one, there is literally no type of back route to get there, I don't even know how the ambulances do it unless they have chains and studded tires if you can even do that together.) so anyways its been tough and the last week was insane I didn't leave work before 6pm which means I didn't get home until almost 7. Those are the type of days where I wish I had meals planned ahead of time so that if I do get out late its like no big deal I can heat my healthy dinner up in the microwave. But again I never know what time i'll get off, for example today my doctor and I were finished with patients and tasks by 4:25pm and she left, but since we need 2 licenses I had to wait until approximately 5:20 to leave since there was a patient in the building with our other doctor. I mean i'm not complaining I did some organizing at my desk and just relaxed so to speak but there are some days where you just want to get home. I'm hoping that once I live closer to work it'll make it easy when it cuts my commute in half or less than half, not to mention Brian likes to work out in the evening and if i'm off by 6 at the latest I can get a 45min-60min workout in with him and then we can go cook dinner together but i'm talking in the future so I can't really wait for that to come around because the clock is ticking on my overall weightloss challenge. So on the plus side I found out that not only did Brian buy me the bathing suit I was drooling over in Hawaii via FaceTime (It's funny too because its LITERALLY a yellow polka dot bikini, anyone remember the old yogurt commercial with the song? Because I do) anyways its a reversable yellow/black polka dot/striped bikini from volcom, I got the chance to try it on and the sad thing is my butt/hip area is just wayyyy to big/wide for it right now, which I suspected because I told him to get a medium in the knowledge of knowing I will be down to the correct size before October, also I got my clearance bathing suits from Victoria Secret in the mail yesterday too and bottoms fit but of course they can always fit better and look better on me, I love the hot pink and mint green options I chose. So anyways back to my original meaning for this post, eating healthier. So i've decided to start a 30 day challenge not 21 like they normally say will help you break a habit, i'm going for 30. I've even gone as far to label post it notes 1-30 so I actually count down and keep track, I truly believe that this is one of my biggest problems, way back when I was losing weight I ate healthy breakfast and lunch and splurged on dinner but of course I splurged after I did a kwando class on Mondays or Wednesdays so a splurge was in order, i'm still looking for a gym buddy btw!! I get bored with water, I love chocolate chip cookies and reeces candy bars like nobodys business, I am ashamed to say it but my floor is littered with the after effects of them, (I also haven't cleaned my room in like a month so it looks like a bomb dropped on it so its not like I ate 10 peanut butter cups in a day.) Anyways so yeah tomorrow i'm going to go 30 days without any form of chocolate or soda. am I going to suffer? Yes, am I gonna survive
? Yes, i've switched from hot chocolate to apple cider for my mornings when I can't do a coffee. I have done better at distributing and freezing individual meat portions like my turkey, chicken and steak so that I can just grab it out of the freezer and stick it in the fridge to defrost while i'm at work. I just really need to get a new cookbook or something to help me figure out more meals that I can make in under 30 minutes. Because lets face it no one wants to wake up early just to cook an egg, now if I were to boil like 3-4 eggs and refrigerate them so in the morning I can just wake up and take an egg to go that could work. the point i'm getting at here is we can all take an extra step to do it the healthy way. So i've told you my step so the next question is what is yours?

What's your go to dinner?

So for days like these I like to have a go-to meal. I have considered pre-planning meals but I'm the type of person who doesn't like to eat the same thing everyday and I don't have a ton of time to sit and prepare 20 or even 10 meals not to mention I don't have the freezer space at my parents house, when I move out and I'm closer to work, I have my own kitchen and freezer and more time I probably will do that but for now it's not happening, I have started to seperate my chicken and turkey and other meat into individual sized portions that I can just defrost while I'm at work but that's as far as I've gotten so for days like today my go to meal is always taco salad, 2 ingredients and delicious, well ok 3 if you include the spices but it's simple and it's satisfying. Not to mention super healthy since I use ground turkey instead of ground beef. Now do I always do that? If I'm cooking yes if someone else like Brian's mom is then no I'll eat the ground beef but I really can't wait to move out because with Brian around all the time he likes to eat healthy and well he will be influencing my shopping habits :) speaking of habits I need to get back into the gym one and it looks like winter time equals morning gym time for me since the last few times at work I haven't gotten out before 5:45pm maybe I'll have Brian call and wake me up. Speaking of waking up I have to do that in the morning for work and I'm glad it's my Friday tomorrow because I for sure am ready for the weekend!

Healthy food in a mall????????????

So yesterday I started my new calendar workout, the diet is a work in progress, yesterday I traveled down to Eugene to visit Brian while he is down there for work. It actually worked out perfectly because yesterday was a wildcard day so I swam in the pool for about an hour and ended up finishing up my 120 squats in the pool which you might think its easier but its not its hard to keep your feet planted in there! We also walked around both malls for about an hour as well so that burned some calories, I totally scored there and walked away with Victoria Secrets new VSX Sports Bra in hot pink~!!! I also got another bra which its totally cute since it was buy one get one 50% off, I also got a new underarmour headband and nike sweat pants (lets face it, sometimes you just wanna work out in comfy sweats not skin tight leggings) so back to the diet, we were at the mall and if any of you live in eugene and have been to Valley River Center you know there isn't a lot of options well I choose to get a gyro and lets just say trying to eat healthy in a mall is trying to find a needle in a haystack, now I could have gone to subway but call me crazy for trying something newish, I love me some pita bread but this was just wrong, the chicken tasted old, everything tasted old, and I had to go get a slice of pizza otherwise I would have just gotten grumpy, for dinner I had some steak, veggies and mash, I didn't finish the mash of course but after spending almost an hour in the pool, doing squats and walking all over both malls down there definitely works up an appetite. so I splurged. I am excited to get into the gym, today was a home workout so I did my squats, abs and arms, although I didn't do my right arm, I got a TB test injection today and well...I think i'm allergic because my entire right forearm is swollen and really painful :( plus its also supposed to snow tomorrow and well with my car its better as a snow plow then a car driving over snow (yeah its lowered.) Well thats it for today i'm exhausted.

As promised

Hello my friends! As promised I have finished my workout calendar for December and I am rather proud of it! Now I do need to finish up my home/gym workout routines and my wildcard slips that I will put in my jar but other than that it's finished! In less than 2 days I will start the biggest journey of my life! 60lbs by October 1st! I am excited also because Brian and I will be deciding on when in October we will be traveling to Hawaii! I found out I actually get 2 weeks vacation that will accrue per year until I'm there 2 years then it goes up from there so we may be able to stay in Hawaii longer than last time! 10 days would be nice so maybe we will stay an extra day who knows! Either way here is my calendar check it out and tell me what you think :)

Lets get pumped!!!!!

Alright so when I originally started this blog I had 40lbs to lose to get to my goal weight of 125ish well since I gained most of my weight back (i'm still 10lbs less then I originally was when I started my weightloss journey but 20lbs heavier then when I started the blog) I am now at a goal of 60lbs in 10 months, its totally and completely doable, for those who cannot do math that is only 6lbs a month. Brian and I are going back to Hawaii in October next year and well I want to be back down to a size 4 and I wanna be healthy, fit, toned, skinny whatever you wanna call it. So in an attempt to motivate myself I bought a new pair of nike's (on clearance and I scored!!!!!!! Nike has 2 great deals that can be combined at checkout! 25% off of clearance AND free shipping!! just use codes movemore and justdoit for the clearance items and free shipping :) i'm so excited! I need a black pair also but those can wait) and I am buying myself an actual gym back as well that I can keep in my car so I have no excuses! So here is the details of my plan, I printed out blank calendar for the month december and i'm going to color code my workouts i.e.  cardio days, gym days, work out at home days, and throw in a couple twists and turns just to keep it interesting because lets face it, everyone likes routine until they don't then they want spontinaity and then they want routine. So I am giving myself the best of both and i'm taking it month by month. I'm actually really excited about my idea and maybe just maybe it'll motivate others, so here are some ideas I have for the wildcard days, i'm going to have a jar or a cup or something with a whole bunch of random exercise routines written on them and I will throw in a couple of suprises like motivational stuff like have a cookie after you do 150 sqauts or buy yourself a new sports bra, tshirt or something like that just to keep it exciting. But here is the kicker there will only be 1 of each of those in for a month so i'll only get one treat in a month and i'll only get to buy one goodie in a month. If you think about it it is a totally brilliant idea because I will want to obviously get to the treat or goodie, obviously there might be a chance that I get it on the first time or second time but if that happens I will put it back in and shake it up because lets face it thats not motivating at all! So thats the plan, will I make mistakes? Yes, will I feel crazy because lets face it I work 4 10's and i'm on my feet all day (I probably sit a max of 1 hour in my shift total) so I get good cardio at work but it's not enough, and its not consistant enough, every single day is different which is why I love my job (did I mention that i'm going to be able to go in on C-sections and deliveries???? of course its up to the parents but most of them like having another familier face in the room and most I have known or will know them through their entire pregnancy! Needless to say i'm getting off topic but lets face it as a medical assistant you are constantly on your feet trying to stay one step ahead of your doctor, rooming patients, vitals, minor surgery, the list goes on and on, for example on Monday we were completely booked and slammed, my doctor works on 15 min and 30 min time slots and well every single 15 minute slot was booked it seemed with only a couple 30 minute slots in between so I roomed approx 30 patients that day, and thats a lot when you only have 3 rooms to rotate between.....ANYWAYS lol the point I was making is that i'm constantly on my feet so that does count as cardio, the bending, stooping and basically bending over backwards also counts too, haha I love making my doctor happy and she really appreciates the little things which i'm totally not used too!!! Anyways off subject again. So yeah I will post an update once I finish the calendar that i'm working on and here are my new workout/work kicks!! Aren't they awesome????? $52 and some change!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I finally chose a simple workout bag too its a cute black and white chevron print :) well my friends Happy Thanksgiving!!! i'll update when I finish my calendar!

30 Day Squat Challenge

So I'm on day 3 of my 30 day squat challenge, i'm feeling good about the whole process, Since I can't get back into the gym until next month i've decided to just do a challenge at a time, this coupled with the fact that I am very active at my job, yes I mean active, i'm a medical assistant so i'm constantly moving. But of course this also poses a small problem, like for example right now my neck is so tight and I have a huge knot in it, this knot which I have not been able to get rid of actually caused me a migraine a couple weeks ago. That literally took me off my feet for 3 days and not even tramadol and flexeril would make it go away, Brian tried rubbing my back and my neck to get the knots out and well lets just say I ended up bawling in tears because the pain got so bad. Anyways back to my squat challenge, I like this one because it only goes up 5 squats a day which is completely doable, I did 60 today, tomorrow is a rest day. Once I finish this challenge up i'm going to start my ab challenge and finish up with an arm challenge! I will let you guys know how it goes!!