The Masterplan

2009-04-11T18:29:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter everyone!

Lily Allen was a lot of fun on Wednesday night. Also really liked Natalie Portman's Shaved Head. I got their album Glistening Pleasure and although it is not quite the same at home as it was live, it is still really good. Perez Hilton reported on his blog that Lily had to be carried out by her bodyguard from a meet and greet after the show because she was so drunk. It might be true, but the picture of her being carried out was so obviously not from the night of the show, that it casts suspicion on the whole story. Lily did not have long pink hair when she was in Salt Lake City last week!

I updated my school schedule in my sidebar, because I have decided to take Physiology instead of Human Genetics this summer. There are two genetics classes I can take, either Human Genetics or Genetics. I was thinking that it would be good to take Human Genetics because I am taking the only prerequisite this semester and could take it in the summer. Now I am thinking that Genetics that has 3 prerequisites, General Biology, Evolution and Life, and Cell Biology, will probably be more rigorous and a better class to take. So i am going to take Physiology now and Genetics after I have taken the other classes. Also Physiology is offered in the evening, which will keep my employer happy.

I have been doing good on my diet and exercise regime. I have lost 7lbs since I started on 3/30 13 days ago. My weight loss has slowed down a bit the last few days, but that is to be expected really. I am not worried as I am 3lbs lighter than my projected weight loss for today. I have started doing the couch to 5k running program. I have tried it about 3 or 4 times before, but week 1 was always too hard for me. The other C25K programs I have tried in the past start out with 8 mins of running and I couldn't keep up with that. This one is from Beginner Triathlete and the first week is only 3 mins of running with is much easier to handle! Also the cardio I have been doing the last couple of weeks seems to be helping too.

2009-04-06T21:42:00.000-07:00

Other than going to school, my major focus is losing weight before I go to England in June. I did Weight Watchers for about nine months. From September to November I did pretty good at sticking to the plan. From November on it was hard for me to follow it. I think my problem was that I was losing at quite a slow pace. I would be so annoyed at myself each time I had only lost .2 lb in a whole week. I have nothing against Weight Watchers, if you follow it correctly you will lose weight. I was not following it closely enough, and it frustrated me, I would be really angry when I got in my car to go home after weight-in.

Other the last couple of months I had really given up on losing the weight I have gained. Then last weekend I went to Lava Hot Springs. It was a gorge fest. I had an Einsteins breakfast sandwich with bacon, followed by car trip Pringles, then a cheeseburger for lunch, then chicken fried steak for dinner. And the next day was no better. I came home so disgusted! I realized that this type of overindulgence is not a one time thing, it has become my eating habits.

So now with little under 2 months to go before our trip, it is time for some serious lifestyle changes! I have devised my own plan based on calories in and calories out. I am eating 4-5 smaller meals a day. I have been drinking lots of water too (I mean lots - 96 oz a day!) I have been going to the gym and doing 50 mins of cardio every other day. On the off days I am doing Jackie Warner's Workout DVD. I already worked out the food calories, my RMR and calories burned using www.caloriesperhour.com and track everything on a spreadsheet. It is pretty weird that I could not track my points with weight watchers, but I can do this just fine! I think being strict with myself is what I need. On WW you can eat a cheeseburger if you accomodate it into your points; there is no room for that on my new plan. We had a free day on Saturday, and I was actually relieved to get back to my routine on Sunday. I have been doing hill climbs on the recumbant bike and really enjoy that.
I really feel like something has clicked this past week, and that I can follow this plan until the end. I am notorious for planning and not really doing. It feels good to be actually doing what I planned to and seeing results!

Now for working towards another plan; I have to go study for Chemistry....

First Post Nerves

2009-04-05T11:54:00.000-07:00

I have never really talked to anyone about this, so I don't know if I am alone in this or not, but I am not happy just having a job. I need a profession. I have always felt this way, It seems like I always knew I would go to university after high school. I don't remember when I started knowing that exactly, but it was never an option in my mind not to go to college. This need to be a professional does not really seem like too big of a problem, except since the age of 18 it has always been an abstract aspiration with many different manifestations. What I mean by that is, I kept changing my mind about what kind of professional I wanted to be.

In high school, I took AP classes in history, political science, and biology. I also took drafting classes and was an officer in VICA. Upon graduation I decided I wanted to be an architect. After my freshman year at the U I changed my mind and switched to a business degree. Business lasted for one semester, then I switched to Sociology and Political Science, returning to my high school roots of political science. This major seemed to fit. It was easy, interesting, and after a semester or too I met DH who was also a Sociology major. Also once I graduated I could go to law school and be the professional I had always wanted.

I followed this path for several years, coasting along getting A's without too much effort. I took the LSAT and did reasonably well. I had started a part time job at the hospital by this point, carting people and other less pleasant things around. I loved talking to people and helping them. I also found that blood, gore, and hospital smells don't really bother me. Also the time I spent in the trauma bay on that job was so thrilling it will be with me for the rest of my life. When I graduated for the U and it was time to move on I started an office job with a company in the healthcare industry. I remember when I was interviewed for that position I was asked why I wanted to work there, I answered off the top of my head, that I wanted to stay within the medical field. My answer was not entirely truthful, this was supposed to be just a temporary job while I took a year off from studying and applied to law schools.

I became quite depressed during this time, and gained weight. I felt like my life was on hold until I was done with law school. The thought of law school and being a lawyer was causing me a lot of anxiety and stress. For a couple of months I lived under the pressure of my stress and worry about the future. I was aggitated. I had let go of the present, all I could think about was the future. It got to be too much. I started to entertain the thought of not going to law school. With the space to think about other possibilities in my mind, I began to cheer up. What could I do if I didn't have to go to law school? I began to think about the present again. My job had changed and I was working with patients. I really enjoyed it, explaining to patients about their diagnosis and treatment plan. What could I do that would unit the satisfaction I felt with my aspiration of professionalism? At that point it was obvious, a physician.

Now I have finally found my professional calling in life, I have to turn my ambition into reality. I feel a passion for medicine that I never really felt for law. It is helping people, academically challenging, and solving puzzles all wrapped up in to one. I am hellbent on proving to myself and others that this is something I am going to stick with, and see through to the end. I already have a bachelor's degree, so now I am going back to school to take they science classes required to get in to med school. i am also doing a few extra things as well, like volunteering. Kind of busy on top of my full time job, but it will be worth it. Of course I wish I had decided to go this path 7 years ago. I struggle with feeling like I have wasted time in my life, but push this from my mind as I think it is disrespectful to the people around me to say time with them has been wasted. I am focusing on what I can do right now to achieve this goal, not how I should or could have done it.

So this blog is going to be following me as I set my master plan into motion sort my life out and become LG, MD.