I am not going to lie; trying to lose weight during the nursing program has been the toughest challenge ever. During the beginning of the year I was a whopping 189 lbs; for a woman my height, 5 feet 3 inches, that is way too much. I had managed to get down to 159 lbs by the time the semester started and that is where it stayed until now. My strategy to losing that weight was to exercise 3-5 times a week and to maintain a 1200 calorie diet by using a free calorie counter; I used myfitnesspal.

 

I completely recommend using the myfitnesspal website and app for weight loss; it is great and totally free.

 

Unfortunately, the program is so challenging that I ended up using my time solely for working and studying, which slowed my weight loss significantly. It is difficult to track calories and exercise when you have no time to actually do it.

 

I had been 159 lbs until two days ago because I am trying a new diet that I heard about on Dr. Oz called The 17 Day Diet. This diet goes in 17 day cycles. It is a high lean protein, low fat and low carbohydrate diet. I ended up binge eating chocolate chip cookies the night before to signify my last high sugar, carbo-loaded to no avail meal. I went all-out with the cookies, ate pasta with meatballs and munched on my favorite candy, pretzel M&M’s.

 

I am barely on day 2 and it is difficult, but I keep a calendar to keep me motivated, I weigh myself daily, and I have a boyfriend that reinforces my commitment to weight loss. Today I weighed in at 156.6 lbs.

 

The diet is definitely working.

 

Before                                                        After, but not done.