RunbikeSki

I'm usually lurking here - actually gaining inspiration. But just trying to keep up with everyone... whew... full time job!

BTW, I am a PhD plant biologist (finished quite a few years ago). I work as a research scientist with the Forest Service and I can tell you that there is an intermediate between the craziness of academia and giving up entirely. If teaching appeals, as it does to Terri, by all means go that way. But if you are still interested in working in research there are Federal, State, and sometimes tribal and local positions that are great, but are not quite in the publish-or-perish environment of the "Major Research Universities".

01gt4.6

Muna, I've been lacking motivation myself. Monday starts a new week!

cjohnson728

"I can tell you that there is an intermediate between the craziness of academia and giving up entirely."
I agree with Pam. Follow your heart with your careers; you will have the flexibility to make it all work, and happily. It's just such a major shift in getting out of the student mindset that it's hard to see when you're in the midst of pursuing your degree and launching your career. It will happen and you will be glad you made all the decisions you did.

Muna, I'm so glad to see you post. I've been wondering how you were doing.

Mike, hang in there. I'll be looking for you bright and early on Monday .

cjohnson728

Check in:

1. Maintain at least a 250 cal. deficit to get the last 1 1/2 pounds off. Again. 258, but it wasn't easy! 247 (on average, I'm still ok!), 157, gave in to late night snack when hubby had the pretzels out, 562 (thank you, tennis opponent who took me 3 sets & over 2 hours), 281
2. Weights three times this week instead of two. One down, Two down
3. Sleep 7 hours (at least). I keep trying to go 7/7 on this one. Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Missed by 1/2 hr
4. Balance the pie chart. Yes (fair), Yes, Yes, Yes, Fair
5. Drink 2-3 sports bottles of water daily. Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes
6. Pay attention to posture (I'm a slacker on this). A bit, No-forgot, Forgot again! Erm, forgot AGAIN, and again

7. Put annuals in front flower beds by end of weekend. Not yet
8. Re-do Spring Break at-home pedicure...bright turquoise is not tremendously professional at my age. Done
9. Plan Easter basket with a balance between healthy and treats. Yes
10. Try two new recipes this week. Yes- Stir-fry shrimp and walnuts; it was really good, new applesauce recipe, but not counting it since it was just a side dish, Yes-chicken and cashew stir-fry (what is it with me and stir-fry this week?
11. Plan mini-trip. I'm ready to stay home and avoid this logistical nightmare

Well, this is one of those weeks that is falling under the heading of "when you do everything right and it still doesn't work." I've gained 2 1/2 pounds in 3 days and there's no mathematical way that could've happened. I've actually had a very much in-control week. Something out of the usual is going on, but I'll ride it out for a while. Hopefully that will be good motivation to limit the goodies this weekend.

JJ, I second...being short does suck. But nothing will change it, so we've got to move on, right? Your red dress will look awesome. Hope you post pics.

Kim and Quinn (and everyone), enjoy your Easters; I too am looking forward to coming back afterward and coming clean!

almeeker

Yesterday was fantastic, we drove down to my grandmother's house to visit my cousin and his family. I haven't seen him in 4 1/2 years, and we were really close as children. Anyway it was fantastic, I really wish we would schedule longer visits with everyone, but it was just for the day. I ate the whole day, grans is good for 2-2.5 pounds/day minimum. She made potato soup and subs for lunch, pulled every little thing out of her cupboard for snacks and then gave herself the night off and ordered PIZZA for dinner. When we got into the car to drive home I was in agony, which stuck tight with me until this morning. I should know better, but I don't. OY! I ended the day with a higher intake than burn (not as bad as I thought it was going to be though), but that happens when you spend 5-6 hours in the car and eat whatever your chubby little heart desires.

One really funny thing that happened is that my Aunt on the sly said to my mother, "So Amy looks like she's recovered from her surgery really well". And my mom was like "what surgery?" So then my Aunt goes into the whole "hello, her loss surgery" bit. My mother totally cracked up and set her straight. The really funny part is that my Aunt wasn't judging me, she wanted the name of my surgeon, what she left with was a web address and the brand of elliptical to avoid. I dare say she was more than a little disappointed with that.

Happy Easter everyone, I have a feeling come Monday morning we'll all be on track again. Out of guilt if nothing else.

JJ yes, you must post some pics of your red dress. I will if you do... Admittedly I have to go shopping if I have to post a pic of myself wearing a red dress, so take your time - please.

Cassie, Terri and Julia, at one time I gave serious consideration to the whole PhD. thing. I had about 3 offers to do research on construction materials, concrete, asphalt and FRCA (fiber reinforced cementitious asphalt, sometimes pronounced "freaka"). I have to say if the offer had been just a little more money I might have done it. But there was a nasty political scene in that building and I wanted no part of any of it.

taubele

Muna and Mike: My post today isn't too inspiring, but can't wait to see you both back in! Happy Easter weekend!

Pam: That's a great point about working for the forest service and other government jobs. To tell you the truth, I have a secret desire to somehow meld my current goals in neuroscience with my old (but still strong) love for whales and dolphins. Maybe I should invent underwater brain scanners

Cassie: After the day I had yesterday, advice to remember to follow my heart was really needed. I do love teaching, a lot. Sometimes I think I'll let my family down if I'm not SUPERSTAR RESEARCHER AT HARVARD or something, but I have to remember that in the end, they want me to be happy. I should want me to be happy too. Thanks

almeeker: Politics and science go together too well, unfortunately. There's political crap in my building that gives me a terrible headache. But materials science is AWESOME and it scares me, I usually feel that I'm not nearly as smart as those working in it, so kudos for the job offers! I'm sure you're happy where you ended up and with your decision. I think any career like that, you have to be SURE you want it, and jumping in eyes closed is not a good thing to do. Good for you for knowing exactly what you wanted and didn't want.

Friday Report Card

Food, Exercise and Lifestyle Goals:
1) Achieve a 7,000 calorie deficit by the end of the week M: -924 T: -654 W: -1,752 Th: -734 F: -650 (Week Total: -4,714)
2) Do not take off two days in a row from exercising. M: Roughly 30 minutes weights, 15 minutes non-HIIT cardio (stationary bike) T: Day off W: One hour HIIT cardio (elliptical) Th: Day off F: I got home from work at 10:00 and stuffed my face with Chinese food
3) Achieve a 30% protein average for the week M: 20% T: 32% W: 29% Th: 31% F: 18% (Weekly average: 26%)
4) Carbs at or below 50% average for the week M: 53% T: 37% W: 43% Th: 44% F: 43% (Weekly average: 44%)
5) Protein powder after every workout in a smoothie M: No T: N/A W: out of fruit! Had powder + milk (ew) Th: N/A F: N/A
6) At least 96 oz. water daily M-F: yes
7) Report here each and every day - that includes weekends! M: Yes (following morning) T: yes W: yes (following morning) Th: yes (following morning) F: Following morning

Other Life Stuff:
1) Easter cards out by Wednesday!!!!! M: No T: No W: Crap, I forgot! I'll have to get them out tonight and pray... Th: Yep F-Sun: N/A
2) Make an effort on my appearance every day M: Minimal... T: Yes, but no makeup W: Yes Th: Yes F: No
3) Work on my embroidery for at least five hours M-W: No Th: 1 hour F: No (Week total: 1 hour)
4) Don't worry, be happy! M: Yes T: Yes W: Totally Th: Meh...I wasn't happy, but I wasn't sad either F: Stress stress stress

Ugh, I want to pretend yesterday never happened.

My day started off okay, I had a whole-wheat bagel with peanut butter for breakfast. And then at about 10:00, my graduate advisor let me know that she wanted the paper I was working on done BY THE END OF THE DAY GOSH DARN IT (in so many words - this paper is the culmination of my dissertation work, and even though I got hooded last year, still working on it with old advisor...) and I went on a mad stress-fueled panic attack with e-mails flying back and forth and a sudden craving for anything carby and fatty. My current lab was also being inspected, and oh, it was graduate research day, so I was expected to attend lectures between noon and 4:00 in the afternoon.

Lunch was McDonald's. Dinner was Chinese food dumplings with soy sauce. At least I got steamed dumplings? Amazingly, it was only 1,330 calories according to fitday (I kept feeling like I was adding it up wrong...) but it was like 45% fat or something ridiculous like that, and NOT good fat, and I don't even want to know how much salt I consumed...and the scale was 189.8 this morning, bloated up from 188.7 yesterday.

Ugh. I don't even know why I weighed myself. I must be a masochist. I guess this weekend is going to be a DAMAGE CONTROL! weekend. I keep feeling like I should tell myself it's not a big deal, but I'm really disappointed in how quickly I succumbed to the comfort eating.

Good news is... I got the paper done? It's a beast, and I'm giving myself until Monday to submit it because I want to triple-check for errors, and at 9:30 last night I'm pretty sure I was starting to hallucinate, lol.

I think I need the weekend emergency button. I'm just glad I'm not attending any Easter celebrations, for the first time in my life...

~Terri

quinnesec

Had a lovely day with my husband yesterday while the daughter was working. It was kind of cool and rainy, so we took a long drive to a favorite little diner and shopping. Then it was out for a late night dinner. (I think I'm going to like this working thing! )

Cassie,

If you've done everything right, don't sweat the scale. Just when we think we've figured out our body chemistry, we find that we haven't. My advice is to enjoy the weekend, within reason of course, and figure it out on Monday. Wait... maybe that wasn't very motivational.... lol

Muna,

Nice to see you again! Hope everything is going smoothly for you now.

Mike,

Where are you? Wait a minute... is that you I see over in the corner in your green Easter bonnet, pimp cane and chocolate bunny smeared on your cheeks??? Just kidding. Hope you're enjoying the weekend!

almeeker,

What a great feeling to have people not only notice your accomplishment, but want to know your secret! My husband works with several women who are trying to lose weight and when they ask what we did, and he tells them strict, healthy diet and exercise, they nearly decapitate him. There are no magic pills or easy ways out. If you want to do it long term, and keep the weight off for life, we all know that it is a complete life style change... no doubt about it. So glad you enjoyed some time off with family... you deserved it!

blackrhino2

Terri, first off, congrats on pulling that paper together by the end of yesterday!! amazing!! hopefully on monday it will still look good to you, and you won't have much to fiddle with.

Regarding food, honestly, you only ate 1300 or so and that was bad? I feel like you should congratulate yourself. That is no big deal, and the minor weight gain is no big deal either. Don't beat yourself up, as it will make you not want to stick to this for the long term...go easy on yourself and be proud of the good decisions you made!

I was delighted to read your advice regarding my phd...thank you so much! I really liked reading it and felt better afterward that you had some of the same dilemmas with writing and what not. I feel like you would be such a great teacher because you seem really caring and genuinely interested in helping people! Don't worry about researching at XYZ university as you might get there and then still feel regrets about not being able to interact as much with the students or something. You are right, parents really just want their kids to be happy. I know you have already made them immensely proud, hopefully the pressure will subside regarding whatever future endeavors you choose. Or you can just choose to explain to them why what might be deemed to be the most prestigious job has some major drawbacks for what you know would make you happiest.

Pam, I would love to work for the Forest Service, EPA, USDA, NOAA, etc. I feel like that allow me to have some freedom with my research while also having the ability to tackle problems that govt or society is facing. I hope to apply for govt post docs when the time comes. Do you like working with the forest service? I was going to get my phd in plant bio from NC state, but then the students warned me about a specific professor that I really wanted to work with and I decided it was too risky to take a phd there. Thanks for chiming in though and reminding me of options!

Cassie, thank you for your perspective that my current student mindset is likely to change once I get out of grad school. I will try to follow my heart and hopefully have the flexibility to make decisions that I feel good about.

Almeeker, so you're name is Amy!! I never knew that! Congrats on the huge compliment this weekend regarding how committed you are to eating well and how much it shows! You seemed to not totaly blow it w/ the food so--more power to you! I have heard of FRCA and that is awesome that you were offered those positions. Being a female engineer is hard enough, add on the political stuff too! ugh. I'm glad you are happy with your decision and still ended up having a job you enjoyed in engineering. Are you interested in returning to work when the girls get older?

Who knew this weight loss blog would also be so great for life advice! thank you all!!

Mike, not only is Monday a new week, but 2PM is a new hour, and tomorrow is a new day! You can reboot anytime. Happy new minute!

Muna, glad you are back, I was wondering about you! If Lou told me I was getting soft I'm pretty sure he would be slapped. Or he would just get a very moody, bitchy girlfriend who then went into the kitchen and ate all of his cookies. *Although I'm trying to work on not being like that!

Ok, I'm off for a dance class with Lou! haha. this will be funny.

Mern

Oh, wow! I feel like a stranger here! Didn't log in Thursday; Friday for an unknown reason my attempts to post didn't go through. Looking forward to catching up on Monday. Daughter and family coming for Easter dinner tomorrow and I'm pledging to be good all day on food EXCEPT I plan to have a small dessert.


Only things good in my report Thursday is that I know I for sure had a calorie deficit, and hit my protein and water targets. But I bounced back yesterday quite well, except for exercise. Thursday I didn't exercise due to laziness; Friday I didn't exercise because of a bad sinus allergy headache.


Thursday and Friday reports:

Calorie limit 1600 1544, 1476, 1599 (that was close ) guessing 1900-2000, 1289
Calorie deficit (including exercise) 1037 per day 1109, 1220, 1097, guessing 479-579 deficit, 1190
Carbs less fiber limit 25g 26.3, 20.3, 23.8, possibly as many as 35g, 20.3
Protein goal 120g 130.2, 120.3, 117.7, pretty sure reached 120g., 123

Artificial sweetener limit one packet per day 0, 0, 0, 2, 0
Sugar free candy limit one piece per day 0, 0. 1, 3, 0
More healthful evening snack to satisfy sweet tooth ricotta cheese with cinnamon; a square of unsweetened baking chocolate (I already knew I like that); swiss cheese; some healthful & some not; protein shake

Water goal 64 oz. YES YES, YES YES YES

Work up to 30 minutes of Richard Simmons' Sweatin' to the Oldies workout video. 24 minutes, 30 minutes. 30 minutes NO NO

Mern

Wishing everyone who celebrates a very happy and blessed Easter.

Big hugs to all!