Labor Day Musings

Happy Labor Day, everyone!

I just hit up my neighborhood swimming pool for a final lap swim.  I decided at about 30 laps to keep pushing through, and go for the full mile (65 laps).  I kept pushing, and I did it. It wasn't the most strenuous swim, as I stuck to breaststroke, but I got there.  And I feel great!  Fitday tells me I burned something like 900 calories, but I'm always skeptical of numbers like that. Regardless, I'm feeling good!

Now, back to Labor Day. I'm going to use today as an opportunity to talk about my job and its impact on my life and my weight loss goals.

Basically, I think my job is the biggest contributor to me gaining weight and having such a difficult time losing it.

I work in a very high stress, fast-paced job for the federal government, going on close to 8 years now.  When I started in 2004, I had low-carbed and exercised my way to a healthy 125 pounds and I started my job feeling great, looking great, just generally at the top of my game.

I won't go into all the details but the stressful assignments, long hours, weekends in the office, etc all contributed to a slow and steady gain over the years.

Add to that a thyroid disorder and at some point I just threw in the towel, and for the last 6 months I've barely exercised and haven't really made much of an effort anymore. I think I just got so tired of it all.

And here we are.

I know it's time for a new job, and I'm looking, without much success. I love being busy, but I also tend to take on too much work until I become so overwhelmed it takes a toll on my health and personal life.  I struggle to find balance. But for a lot of other reasons I realize I don't have a future at my current job, and I need to move on.

Obviously the job market is hell right now, and it could be a while before I find something new. So while I look my challenge is to balance a busy job that takes well over 60 hours of my week with my own need to be healthy.

My biggest challenges are going to be:

• Not snacking on the donuts and chips everyone brings in, especially when really stressed
• Finding time to exercise
• Remembering to take my thyroid medicine (I've slipped in the last few weeks)
• Getting enough sleep