It’s days like today that really make me feel like I’m exactly where I wanna be in my life.. like I’m going in the right direction. I am a nursing major, which a lot of you probably know, and I work at a hospital right off my college campus. Basically I do a lot of CNA work, tech work, “dirty work” like draining wounds, cleaning up incontinent people, vital signs, emptying ostomy bags, but I also help patients with their activities of daily living (baths, linen changes, walks, etc..). And I work under the care of an RN, kind of her “helper.” Not saying most of my work is really fun, but I absolutely LOVE the patient care. I love working with all the patients, meeting new people every day, and generally just helping everyone be the most comfortable they can be during their stay at my hospital. And it’s so cute.. 2 days ago, one patient told me,” You better come see me before you leave tonight!” a half hour before my shift was over. So of course, I went into his room to say ‘bye’. He got up out of his chair and came over and gave me a HUGE hug and said “I’m really glad I met you today. Thank you so much for taking care of me… Y’know? It’s not every day you meet an angel. I hope I see you again. If not here, then in heaven. You’ll be a great nurse someday.” My heart melted. And I get this all the time, but today, two of my patients at about 5:45 were like, “So when is your shift over?” I told them 7:30. “Well, are you working tomorrow?” I’d tell them, no, not tomorrow, but Sunday. “Oh.. I might be gone by then..” Or, I’ll get a “Maybe I’ll see you Sunday! I should still be here!” An hour later, “Oh..are you leaving now?” I’d tell them, not quite yet, that I get off work at 7:30, so I still have another hour and 45 min.. It happens almost every day, I get comments like that. So sweet. And today, I had a patient that was being discharged to go home.. this little old lady, being moved to an assisted living facility in her home town. They came up to get her and I was busy with another patient.. I almost missed her, but JUST as they were pulling her outta her room, she was like, “THERE you are!! I was just telling Ruth I wanted to see you before you left! I just wanted to say thank you for everything you did for me today. I hope I see you around at home (we’re from the same town and I had just met her that day.)” 

I want to be a nurse practitioner eventually.. yes, after working a month at this hospital in my position, I know with all my heart that this is what I am meant to be doing. I am moving in the right direction. 

Hey guys! Today I had a day off from work. I haven’t gotten to exercise today, but I might go walk the canal later (it’s 3 miles). I got up, went and visited my friend from work and stole her for lunch. We walked to taco bell (eek! notsogood, but I think I worked it into my day nicely, plus I probably walked over an hour today..). Then I walked her back to work, walked back to her apartment, got in my car and went to the mall…

I needed summer clothes, like.. bad. I am the WORST at shopping. I either can’t find anything or I hate how I look in everything. I also needed a new swimsuit, because my old one, the bottoms were huge on me (YES!). Well… I ended up with 3-4 pairs of shorts, 3-4 tops and… A SWIMSUIT! I got a really cute one from victoria’s secret and I actually liked how it looked on me, for the first time in a loooong time. And best part? I was in and outta the stores in the mall, like, I didn’t mess around. Anyways, I am at a little over 1200 calories for the day; to check, look at myfitnesspal.com, my screen name is HealthyMe3. I have been getting hungrier though later in the day, so I might add about 200 and eat an uncrustable for a snack before bed.. we’ll see. Otherwise, I’m doing good! I’m gonna go finish enjoying my beautiful day off, because it’s back to work for me tomorrow.. then a hella good weekend is in the works! I’ll tell you about that soon. Lataz! :)

Ok, so. Basically, it has to do with staying healthy while working..

I work this nursing job as a student nurse with a position similar to a nurse tech, or CNA.. I’ll mostly work 12.5 hour shifts and I have to be there at 7 am. So that means, I usually eat breakfast anywhere from 5:30-6:30 (depending on if I’m at home or staying with a friend closer to my job). I eat lunch close to 2 or 2:30, then dinner when I get off work at 7:30.. Sometimes I eat dinner closer to 8:30-9 if I have to drive the hour home. Then I’m too exhausted to work out or exercise, even on my days off! Like, I need at least a full day to recoup before I can even function, and the most I get off is 2-4 days in a row, usually I get 1-2 off though before I have to work again.

I guess my question is this: what can I do to keep myself fit and active while working this job? It sucks the life outta me. And also, what are some good, filling meals to keep me satisfied during the day without going too much over 1200 calories? Are any of you in a similar situation? How do you deal?

Thanks so much for all the help! In advance. Haha. :)

But I have all my meals planned out (I even bought my own food!), so it’s gonna be a healthy day! Might even go for a run after work! We’ll see though, usually I’m too exhausted. :P

Haha, I KNEW the last time I weighed myself, I weighed so much because of water. But I didn’t think that water weight would be as much as 4.5 pounds! But, my brother is trying to talk me into getting lunch with him (over making something healthy at home.) I didn’t think I’d have lost that much weight (I was 139.something on Monday). So I told him, ‘If I’m over 136, I’m not going.’ I weighed myself expecting at LEAST 136.. Well? 134.4 lbs!! How? I have no idea. I haven’t worked out since like, Saturday because of my job and church related things. All I can think of is that I’ve been eating pretty good while I’m at work.

I work at a hospital, doing 12.5 hour long shifts. Basically, they give us a lunch break. But I eat breakfast at like, 5 (usually something with a decent amt of protein and around 200 cals), then lunch is anywhere from 12-2 pm. I’ll pack a sandwich with fruit and carrots or something, making it about 300 cals or less. I do this because by the end of the day, I’m STARVING, so I like to eat my 700 or more calories after work, so I can eat more! Haha. So that COULD have helped, plus, I’m always busy, walking, lifting, moving, etc. Patient care is hard work! But yeah, just thought I’d fill you guys in

I’m waking up at 5:15 am tomorrow because I have to get to my orientation by 8 am and it’s an hour away. I figured if I can leave by 6, I should be ok for rush hour… right? hmm.. I hope so. I’m nervous! And excited. I’m going to be broadening my skills as a student nurse, but driving back and forth is gonna be soooo awful. Ohh well..

I did bad with eating out a lot this weekend, but this week.. none of that until cheat day. I’m packing my lunch for tomorrow, I’ve decided. I’m gonna do a 60 calorie pita with pb and jelly, which will be about 250 cals I think.. then for breakfast, yogurt and go lean crunch! Dunno about dinner yet, I’ll keep ya posted. :) When I get back from work, I definitely plan on doing a hard workout with my dad at the gym, then hopefully a nice run with my friend. We’ll see.

Wish me luck for my first day tomorrow! 

So I went to Cincinnati over the weekend, because my sister was playing in a volleyball tourney at UC. Friday night, I didn’t do TOO bad with my diet, we went to this German restaurant and other than that, not too bad. My meal was pretty healthy:rice, grilled chicken and steamed veggies with no oil/butter. Then mom and I split a dessert.. coulda been worse. Yesterday, I had a decently healthy breakfast, but we ate lunch at PF Changs with my grandparents. Of COURSE I ate too much. Didn’t really have dinner, but got an ice cream from cold stone.. disaster! But the only topping I put on it was graham cracker. Then we went to Skyline, and if you know me.. I LOVE Skyline/Gold Star Chili. I only got a tortilla wrapped with chili and cheese. I coulda been way worse. But I was so bloated by the end of the day, it was awful! Today I ate a somewhat larger breakfast because I was so hungry before lunch yesterday that I wanted to be able to be ok until lunch. Then for lunch, my sister and I went to Gold Star (gotta get that Cinci chili fix before going home!!). It was delish. I came home and had a handful of cheese-itz, then a little popcorn. So basically my cheat day of the week turned into a cheat weekend. I’ll probably end up eating dinner tonight too, but oh well. And to make matters worse? It’s about to be Shark Week. Good thing I weighed in on Friday? So I might hold off on weighing myself this week and wait til next Monday. I’m planning on doing better if I can this week. Last day of diet coke! I’m enjoying one right now :) haha.

Tomorrow I have orientation for my intern job at the hospital.. gotta get up and be on the road by 6am, to be SURE I make it there at 8am. I’m thinking of eating a pb sandwich for breakfast, making it then taking it with me.. long days get me so hungry and I don’t want my blood sugar to drop before lunch! I don’t know if i’ll pack a lunch or not. Haven’t decided, but I’m gonna try to eat healthier if I don’t pack one. Anyway, wish me luck on this intern job! I’m hoping I can get 12 hour shifts and work weekends sometimes.. that’d be FANTASTIC haha. Enjoy the rest of the weekend! :)

I wrote this a few days ago, but somehow it didn’t go through. I woke up Monday, in a daze from being so ill. I got up and ate some oatmeal and then pulled out my notes, got back in bed and started trying to study. The room was spinning and my voice cracked every time I talked, it was brutal (and I’m still fighting to get over it!).

Around noon, I got a phone call… it was from a hospital that I had recently interviewed at for a position as a Student Nurse Extern (SNE). They told me I got the job!! Its crazy exciting and still unbelievable, I was trying to collect my thoughts as they informed me of the pay, uniform, physical I needed to get, start date, etc.. I start May 16th. What makes this job so amazing is, basically I work when I want/can and at least 8 hours every 2 weeks (obviously I’ll work more though). I’m basically helping a nurse, doing what I would do in clinicals and learning stuff, but getting paid good money to do it! So I’m gonna be learning a lot of new things and the best part is, they told me if I liked the floor I was on and they liked my hard work, I would have a job there as an RN upon graduation!! 

Amazing, right? Well, what makes it so unreal that I got the job was, this job is SO competitive… I applied the first semester I could because a lot of people don’t even get interviews their first time applying and of those people chosen for interviews, most don’t get picked. I was informed on Wednesday that my interview was Friday and I needed 3 references by the next day. So I had to unprofessionally gather my references. I also was getting sick, low on sleep, needed to pack for the weekend (I was visiting friends from college), and I had 2 exams and a quiz to prep for. So I had NO time to prepare for this interview. The only thing I had going for me was my outfit I chose, which was of course business casual. I would say I either really lucked out, or I was definitely meant to have this job! Either way, I’m excited :)