My new healthy

I have always struggled with my weight. Growing up I was always the ‘big girl’.  I think all kids have thoughts about their weight whether it be too much or too little. We are notorious for comparing ourselves to others. When we are born, we’re placed on a curve to see where we fall compared to everyone else our age. Physical fitness tests line us up. I always felt humiliated after these by only getting a certain number, and sometimes not getting the ‘standard’. I could never do a pull up, I still can’t. But that doesn’t make me unfit. As a women in our society, this makes me scared for my children. If I have a girl, I hope she doesn’t feel like I did growing up.

When I got to college, I began to get a little more comfortable in my own skin. If you know me, you know I don’t wear make-up. To be quite honest, I don’t really know how when I do so I’m more comfortable not wearing any. For the most part, at home I’m in athletic shorts and a baggy tee shirt. I wear scrubs to work. however, after gaining an excessive amount during my pregnancy and using food as a reward or crutch, I knew something needed to change. Especially when my blood pressure was still elevated after delivery. I was obese according to my BMI, this was hard to hear. So something needed to change. I put it off for a while because I had a good thing going with nursing Henry and didn't want to hurt that. My gym membership worked for awhile, but then our schedules changed. A friend contacted me about beachbody and 21 day fix. I gave {eventually} in. The rest is history. :)

I have had many comments about how much weight I have lost. I’ve been told I needed to get smaller scrubs. I walked to get pizza the other night, and today someone messaged me that her husband saw me and noticed how much weight I had lost, I was in crappy shorts and an old shirt.

My clothes are loose. Numbers aren’t everything but I am down 20 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight. I have more confidence, I am happier and have more energy. How have I done this?

I do attribute much of my success to being able to breastfeed Henry. We are just beginning to finish our journey and I know how lucky and special this is. I find joy knowing I provided the majority of his nutrition for 16 months! I’m quite certain though, he doesn’t get credit for all of it!

The rest of the weight loss is from hard work and determination. There’s no easy fix for weight loss. By setting goals, having motivation, and doing something I enjoyed I was successful.

I’m eating better, I enjoy working out, I have more confidence. People have noticed my weight loss, this is just a perk to everything else.

I fell in love with a program that anyone can do! It’s not a magic pill, it’s not a meal replacement program, it’s hard work. A friend said to me, “who needs ‘it works’, when I work.” I’m not perfect, I didn’t follow 21 day fix to the max, I binged. I skipped workouts but my overall health is better. I feel better. I've recently developed a "catch phrase", if you will, of "Find your healthy."

To me, it's about what makes you happy and what makes you feel better. I never thought I would be a motivator for weight loss or exercise but here I am. I'm not sure what me being a "coach" will look like but right now, I just want to share my story and encourage you to find something you enjoy and makes you happy.

~H~

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"Did you cut your hair?"

As many know, I cut my hair recently. Now for most this isn't blog worthy news and I'm not writing this to draw attention to myself and put myself on a pedestal that I'm better than you. My hair simply grows pretty quickly and because I'm "low-maintenance" I choose to cut it once a year or once every other year. Thus, I am able to donate 10+ inches regularly. Which is what I did again this year.
After talking with many people and other information going around the interwebs, I decided to change my usual donation from Locks of Love to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. The reason for this was purely personal. I still love the mission of Locks of Love. However, recently, we have been affected by cancer in our adult friends. Cancer has, unfortunately, been a big part of my life. I remember when my mom was going through treatments and I didn't want her to go anywhere without her wig. This has stuck with me since 4th grade, so I have wanted to do what I can to help other women not have to worry about the expense of wigs. Growing my hair is a free way to help out others and I normally get a free haircut out of it. :)

Pantene partners with the American Cancer Society to provide wigs for women.  Pantene also accepts hair as short as 8 inches, so don't let the 10 inches you normally hear scare you! To find out more information you can check out there site here.

Not my picture: Source

The process is pretty simple. Most salons are familiar with how to cut the hair for donation. It just needs to be in a pony tail and at least 8 inches. You then mail it in, in a padded envelope. Simple!
I definitely encourage you to try to donate.

I wrote this a few years ago when I donated and was getting a lot of comments. It's not about me, it's about helping out someone else.  

I don’t do it for the attention.

I don’t do it for the comments.

The “Wow you cut your hair!” ‘s

Or the “Oh it looks so cute!” ‘s

I don’t do it because I have to.

No, I simply do it for her.

I do it for the little girl who

wants to run around with pig tails and ribbons.

I do it for the teenager who

wants a cute up-do for prom.

For the mother of two

Who once joked about pulling her hair out;

And now cries when she really can…

I do it because I can

For everyone who can’t.

With hopes that some day

If I need it, I’ll have choices.

Granted the comments are enjoyable

And the attention is too

But that’s not why I do it.

I do it because I can.

It’s simply what I do.

35 Life goals.

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Well I'm beginning my quarter of a century crisis... January 12 I will turn the big 2-5. It got me thinking, I've got 5 years till I turn 30. Some of the goals I started coming up with I didn't know if 5 years was enough time. So I put it to 35 to give me that extra kick to get things accomplished.  Just a few goals I've come up with. I know I have accomplished a lot of things in my 25 years on this earth and in the next 10 I hope to have many many more things done. I know some of these will be done this year too, which wasn't purposely done to get more checked off but to see that push towards excellence in all areas and to show that they really are big accomplishments.

In no particular order :)

1. Start a family- As a women gets older, having children gets more difficult and more risky. At this time, I'm thinking I want to have 2 biological children and adopt one. 
2. Graduate from nursing school- Registered Nurse- One of the givens, it will happen this year :) (April 25, 2014)  
3. Graduate from the BSN program- Again, will happen. I plan to start this summer and then I will graduate with my BSN next April (2015). 
4. Work as an RN in an Emergency Department- I have a passion for Emergency medicine and hope to eventually work in this department, or critical care but I haven't had as much exposure to those departments. 
5. Free read at least 4 books a year (hopefully more)- I enjoy reading but with school it is hard to make time for it. 4 books a year gives me 3 months to finish one, hopefully plenty of time! I'm assuming when I get school done I will be reading more so this may be able to be adjusted later!  
6. Finish remodeling our house! This is a big goal, and I know a home is never really finished because once we finish something we'll want to start on another project. Right now it just seems like we have so much to do yet! 
7. Finish Candy Crush. - Okay, maybe not a real important goal but still, are they really going to keep making levels so it's never finishable? I hope by 35 I'm not still playing it all the time but it's possible I guess. 
8. Go back to Europe! I LOVE Europe and love traveling. Currently, Randy and I were in Europe 5 years ago and then we went again this December so maybe it's a q 5 year thing. 
9. Ride Ragbrai- I have always kind of wanted to do this, with a real desire this past year after watching the riders go through Pella and Bussey. I think I would like to start doing one day and then go up from there but Randy wants to jump right in to do the whole week! I have a road bike and started some little training last year but it'll be basically starting from scratch when it warms enough to ride again! 
10. Run a 5k. Yes I know, one of my first rules of this blog was that it wasn't going to turn into a fitness blog and I wasn't going to be running to work out. Well, I have found some socks that greatly help the way my foot feels. They're called "Feetures" and they give a lot of support for my arches. Seriously, I put one on and my foot felt better instantly. I started doing a couch to 5k program, but developed a nasty cold so it's on hold till I feel a little better. 



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11. Become a flight nurse- I have recently developed this huge goal of becoming a flight nurse. I think it is something I'll really enjoy, but mostly I just want to wear the BA flight suit ;) Just kidding. I love EMS and all that comes with it.  
12.  Quilt - I already love sewing. I think it would be fun to learn to quilt and make many quilts in the future.
13. Finish my Civil war gown This is something I've started but nursing school got in the way again.  I actually hope I'll get it done sooner rather than later...
14. Each year, go to a place I've never been before. This is directly from a pin I've pinned but I think it's a good goal, especially since I love traveling. The destinations don't have to be far away either. There's a lot of places in Iowa I haven't been yet. 
15. Camp in the mountains- This could likely be done this summer when we visit Colorado but if not I still would like to. We have all the equipment for backwoods camping just have to get out there and do it
16. Kayak down the river- We didn't have enough water last summer to be able to do this but it's defiantly something we want to do. Camping along the banks if needed. 
17. Go on a medical missions trip. I love missions and have heard great things about certain medical mission trips. I have plenty of connections to do it, just need to get the time to go! 
18. Go for a hot air balloon ride. I love flying and heights so just one of those things I want to do! 
19. Add some more states to be checked off of the 50.  I eventually want to check off all 50 states but that likely won't happen in the next 10 years. I'd love to say we'll be at least half way though. 
20. Have a "Big Bang Theory" and "FRIENDS" marathon- Probably my absolute favorite shows, (besides 2 Broke Girls). I laugh at every episode no matter how many times I've seen it. 
21. Go to a drive in movie- We have a theater close, and I've been before but lately it just hasn't worked out or there hasn't been two movies that we wanted to see well enough. 
22. Keep going to musicals or plays- I love theater and love seeing plays and musicals. Luckily Randy doesn't mind going either. :) 
23. Keep my "new Year's resolution"- I put it in quotes because it's not a really a resolution but it's something that needs to be done.  I'd like to loose about 15 pounds. I'm hoping that my training for the runs will help but I'm also going to try to eat better. :) 
24. Work out at least 3 times a week, every week. This goes along with #23 and being healthier, plus it's just a good rule of thumb for everyone. 
25. Keep falling in love my my husband every single day. There isn't a day that he doesn't amaze me and make me love him. I hope this continues for the next 10 years at least! 
26. Have a celebration for our 10th year anniversary. 
27. Be able to speak adequately in another language. (I'll add besides Spanish, since I already  know that!) Not sure what yet, but it's always good to keep learning. 
28. Try to give homemade gifts to everyone instead of all store bought- I love to give homemade gifts and have been successful to an extent for this but would like to try to give everyone I have to gift at least one thing that's homemade. 
29. Read my Bible more. Ugh, I'm so bad at this and it's amazing how much God can speak through it. Something needs to change and I need to read more! 
30. Live each day as it's the last day, with no regrets and fully. 
31. Learn to drive a stick shift. This is especially important if we're on the Amazing Race. Plus, just good knowledge. 
32. Learn to play my guitar. Whoops, another thing that nursing school got in the way of...
33. Change someone's life. I think this can be an on going, daily goal. Especially in my professions, but I'd love for someone's life to be different because of me. 
34. Continue to learn. I hope I never loose the passion for learning new things. Educational or fun facts. 



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35. Really work towards becoming the person I want to be. 

By the way, I'll have a post coming on my Christmas gift crafts that I made for this year. :) I'm pretty excited about them. They'll be hard to top next year though! 

~Enjoy life! ~

~~H~~

Personal response: Iowa EMS

I don't normally get riled up about much but something that happened recently has come too close to home for me to not say anything. I've (again) been meaning to write a blog on a similar topic anyway and today presented a perfect lead-way into it.

 

If you live in Iowa and get the Des Moines register you'll know exactly what I am talking about. Today, the Register ran a special report with the headline "How a broken EMS system endangers Iowans". This was a special 8 page insert into the register compiling a research done on several topics of the Iowa EMS system. It discusses everything from violations of certain departments and personnel, budget cuts, response times, and several other stories involving EMS. If you want to see it, it's on the Register's website. 

Obviously this hits close to home for me being an EMT. Now, I've only been an EMT for about a year and half but still the time I've spent answering calls has changed who I am completely. Conversations with people about it usually go about like this... "I'm an EMT".  "Really? Do you like it?" "I LOVE it. My only regret is not doing it sooner." "really, so why nursing school and not paramedic school?"... 
The answer to this question is what I was originally going to write about. There are actually many reasons behind this and I thought about paramedic school frequently before going to nursing school but determined that the best choice where I need to be was nursing school. I'll try to remember to write about that decision later but today, the articles in the Des Moines Register are making my stomach turn and making me more disgusted as I think about it. Many of the points made in the article can be found an ANY business or organization. And many of the 'crimes' of volunteers who are called out have little or nothing to do with EMS but the article is tying them together. 

EMS is a business that is not suitable for everyone, there are a select few that are wired to handle emergency situations. When I say this, I'm not trying to brag but it's honesty.  Staying calm and doing the job of EMS is challenging, some calls can take several hours and during that time your emotions have to stay in check. When you get home, you can break down but it could be just minutes later when the beeeepbeeep beep of the pager goes off and another person needs you to be calm and collected.  It's tough. 

Our department is made up of 4 full-time medics and about 30 volunteer EMT's and Advanced EMT's.  Many respond from their jobs as first responders or for a secondary unit if needed.  Many do overnight shifts, with the possibility of not getting any sleep before going to their job the next day.  We are blessed to have full time members as many small towns cannot afford to. Some places cannot afford an ambulance but have volunteers willing to run firetrucks to the scene to get the patient stabilized before a unit from the next town comes.  I guarantee you these volunteers have saved a person's life, this may not have happened had the person had to wait until a neighboring ambulance got there.  

Yes, they are volunteers and it may take them longer to respond but they'll be there if possible. Regardless of them being mostly volunteer based, departments have regulations and rules regarding response time, alcohol use, and background checks, ect.  One part of an article said something along the lines of if your barn is on fire you'll have someone there but if you have a heart attack good luck.  This statement lacks any integrity.  On cardiac arrest calls, most often we have more people that are actually needed. On any call we have the amount we need and are always able to call for back up personnel and get a response.  

Yes, I can assure you that there are times I don't want to go on call or get out of bed, but I go because I know that someone needs something I can help with. We go because we have no idea who is on the other side of the address, we go because it could be our mom, dad, brother, sister, aunt, grandma, best friend. or it could be you, a complete stranger that is having the worst day of their life and needs help. And some day it could be me that needs help and I know someone will respond.

I hope that if you read the articles, you won't forget about the positive side of the story. An ambulance service is a crucial part of any community and I encourage you to support yours.
I have made life long friends, and a second family through EMS.  and I am so thankful for being able to work with them and call upon them when I need to. 
Remember the personnel in the community who are gone from the family to help someone else. Please include us in your prayers for safety. Thank you to to my fellow EMS providers.
 

More on this topic my arise but that's what I had to say for now. 

(These opinions are strictly my own personal opinions)     

Life Check: Being Healthier

Today I am restarting my diet and exercise for 2013. I went downhill with school and a new semester so now that I am well into it I have decided it's time for another go. I also went to the dr today for a physical and he told me loosing some weight will help my feet problems. Which I knew and have been working on, he also told me nursing school wasn't an excuse for putting on extra weight. For some reason hearing from him that I needed to start doing something hit hard and home. So I decided today that I will be using MapMyRide for my intake and exercise. I've talked about it before which you can read about Here.

I have wanted to start working out more mostly because we have developed a love for rock climbing. We've bought most of the supplies we need so we're itching for spring to come so we can go more hopefully. Right now we've been going to Climb Iowa a couple times to get the hang of it. With rock climbing, being out of shape makes it extremely hard, at least for me. I tire out easily so I need to build my stamina and strength. So for the few people reading, if you have any advice or workout ideas I'd love to hear them! I'm contemplating joining the gym but have a fear that I wouldn't go enough to make it worth it. My schedule is so all over the place it is hard to find a consistent time with going anywhere. So home workouts are favorable right now. We'll see how it goes this month though. :)

I went to the grocery store with the attitude of buying healthy. Being in school I snack. A lot. It is so easy for me to pick up a bag of chips and eat most of them while I'm working on homework or whatever. I have gotten into the habit of an after school snack too. So I looked for a healthy snack that is also something I would enjoy. I plan to throw together some raisins and m&m's with some regular almonds so I get the nutrition and satisfy my sweet tooth. If I'm motivated enough, I'll measure it out so I can just grab a bag or container of it before going to school without having to worry about eating the whole lot. While I was picking up the almonds, I was looking at all the other flavors and saw dark chocolate.  Blue Diamond makes an oven roasted dark chocolate flavored almond. They are delicious. I tried them as soon as I got home. 160 Calories for 1 oz (24 nuts). So a little more than I wanted calorie wise but they have a lot of good things in them (i.e. vitamins and minerals). Blue Diamond lists little tidbits of info on their site. Almonds should help curb hunger and give me that crunchy texture that I love about chips.

If for some strange reason you don't like chocolate, they make a ton of other flavors. Honey roasted is probably my favorite traditional flavor. And I just saw they make "nut chips". I may try them out next time!

What's your favorite "guilt -free" snack?

~Enjoy!~

One week closer to RN

I won't apologize for no post recently since I said when I started my postings would be irregular. I also haven't really done a whole lot that's blog worthy. 

I had my first week of Nursing school this week. I started at Mercy College of Health Science in Des Moines; being as how it was labor day we did not have class on Monday so it was only a 2 day week for me (I'll have clinical on Thursdays and we don't start those till October.) Overall it was a good couple of days. I have to say though after being out for a year and not doing any real studying it's a little hard to sit through 3 and 4 hour classes. We get breaks every hour but still. I'm really dreading 3 hours of English on Monday. I'm taking 15 credit hours; I'll be in the class room for English and my Nursing 101/102 classes, and taking 2 online classes. I've taken an online class before but this is really the first time I've signed up for multiple. I'm prepping myself for my BSN classes which will all be online. 

I thought I would use this post to write about my goals. I think it's fun to look back and see what we thought we would be doing and where we would be. Obviously 5 years ago I didn't think I would be in nursing school and I'm sure in one of my Central courses I wrote my goals but at this point I have no idea where to look for them. Now I'll have a semi concrete place that I can flip back to. 

I've never really liked writing out my goals either because for me it's always been a more personal thing but here's to me trying new things. :) 

[Random side note, the neighbor girl is riding her big wheel down the sidewalk and driveways. She's adorable and kinda distracting...good thing I don't have homework!]