Slowly but Surely

At the beginning of every week I come into work and cringe at the idea of getting on the scale. I like to weigh myself on Monday’s to see where I’m at. Every week I’m convinced that my horrible eating habits over the weekend are going to catch up with me and somehow I will have miraculously gained back 10lbs!! Today was no exception. I trudged down to the cafeteria, where the scale is so handily kept, on my way to get my morning fix of sausage and egg (protein) and to my amazement I have dropped another pound or two!!! I can’t believe it!!!


Thus far I have lost about 9lbs in about as many weeks. It’s a very SLOW process and the fact that I'm not counting my calories or pushing myself physically at the gym isn’t speeding things up any. But it’s still happening and I couldn’t be happier!! What’s even better is I’m losing the RIGHT way!! I’m not starving myself or doing some crazy fad diet, I don’t eat cabbage soup 3 times a day or 3 cookies with every meal. I simply try to eat better and more often. Instead of eating 3 big meals a day, I eat 5-6 times a day every 2-3 hours. I eat things like eggs and turkey sausage, and fruit for breakfast. For lunch I’ve been eating Progresso soup. Wal-Mart carries Progresso pretty cheap so I’m not only saving money by not buying expensive cafeteria food but eating healthy too, and if I’m still hungry ill pair it with a salad. Then for dinner it’s pretty much whatever I want although usually its chicken or fish with vegetables. And at least 3 times a week I try to go for a mile run around my neighborhood.
I still have a LONG way to go but today's weigh-in gave me hope that ill get there....slowly but surely. It's VERY encouraging seeing the scale tip in the RIGHT direction!!  ;-)

MUSC GETS RANKED

The Medical University of South Carolina ranks among the nation's best hospitals in its treatment of six specialities, according to the August edition of U.S. News & World Report.

The Medical University of South Carolina again has made U.S. News & World Report's list of Best Hospitals in six categories. The hospital has been ranked for the 14th year in a row for its treatment of gastrointestinal disorders.

The Best Hospitals list ranks MUSC for its treatment of gastrointestinal disorders (24), ear/nose/throat disorders (40), kidney disorders (41), gynecologic disorders (47), orthopedics (42) and rheumatology (17).

Out of 4,852 facilities, only 152, including MUSC, made the 2010-11 Best Hospitals rankings.

Founded in Charleston in 1824, the Medical University of South Carolina is the oldest medical school in the South

-Post and Courier

Friday, July 16, 2010

I can’t express how PROUD I am to work for MUSC. I have been with the hospital for 5 years now and I couldn’t be happier!! Not only do I work at MUSC but I myself also utilize their excellent care for my own healthcare needs!

I can also attest  first hand to their AWESOME gynecologic services!! I have had surgery there and although surgery is never a fun thing (the anesthesia makes me sick), they did their best to make me as comfortable as possible and I was EXTREMELY impressed with my care! If I have the choice I would never go anywhere else for my surgical needs!!!

I work next to the BEST orthopedic doctors that South Carolina has to offer!! One of them even came by yesterday to invite the OR/ER Radiology staff to a celebration party because of all the hard work we do for them.

I am currently working on my Bachelor’s degree from MUSC's University! I feel blessed to affiliated with such a good hospital!!

There are so many students that are trianed and graduate from MUSC before they continue their careers all over the world!!

-Kim Murdaugh RT(R)

Oh........

• MUSC was also named # 20 Pediatrics: Heart & Heart Surgery

Do Something

11 Facts about Recycling

1. The average American uses 650 pounds of paper each year – 100 million tons of wood could be saved each year if all that paper was recycled.

2. Americans use 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.

3. A typical family consumes 182 gallons of soda, 29 gallons of juice, 104 gallons of milk, and 26 gallons of bottled water a year. That's a lot of containers that can all be recycled!

4. About 80% of what Americans throw away is recyclable, yet our recycling rate is only 28%.

5. Every month Americans throw out enough glass bottles and jars to fill up a giant skyscraper (think: Empire State Building), but all of these jars are recyclable!

6. Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures a year! Ever heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? It's twice the size of Texas and is floating somewhere between San Francisco and Hawaii. It's also 80 percent plastic, and weighs in at 3.5 million tons.

7. Recycling one ton (about 2,000 pounds) of paper saves 17 trees, two barrels of oil (enough to run the average car for 1,260 miles), 4,100 kilowatts of energy (enough power for the average home for six months), 3.2 cubic yards of landfill space, and 60 pounds of pollution.

8. The 17 trees saved by recycling one ton of paper can absorb a total of 250 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the air each year.

9. If all of our newspapers were recycled, we could save about 250 million trees each year! If every American recycled just one-tenth of their newspapers, we could save about 25 million trees each year.

10. More than 20 million Hershey's Kisses are wrapped each day, using 133 square miles of aluminum foil. Believe it not, ALL that foil is recyclable, but not many people realize it so most it goes in the trash!

11. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours. In spite of this, Americans throw away enough aluminum to rebuild our entire commercial fleet of airplanes every three months!

Easy Ideas

• Find out how large (or small!) your carbon footprint is here! (I was surprised at mine)
• Play an online game that supports DoSomething.org
• Having an event? A dance, a party, a get together? Provide a container for recyclables and others for trash.
• Organize a clothes exchange - get friends and people in your community to bring anything they don't want so they can swap!
• Take your own cloth or canvas bag when you go shopping for groceries, clothes, whatever!
• Use eco-friendly dishes - like bowls made of recycled magazines or glassware instead of paper plates.
• Send an e-blast to family and friends with information and tips on recycling.
• Start reusing a reusable water bottle and just say no to plastic.
• Make sure your printer paper is 100% post-consumer recycled paper.
• Pick up the trash around your town- just because other people don't doesn't mean you shouldn't!
• Try a reusable water bottle- they're easy to wash, and can be used for both hot and cold liquids.
• Get your school to use washable trays if they use paper plates or wrappers
• Use biodegradable sunscreen- and protect yourself from harmful rays every day.
• Reuse boxes for gifts and wrap them with newspaper - use the Sunday comics for pizzazz.\
• Donate! Anything in good condition that you longer need!
• Use Evite or facebook for party and event invitations - it saves paper AND you can know who's coming in an instant!
• Revamp your old clothes! Spice up a shirt you never wear with sequins, or make an old pair of jeans into shorts.
• Use old stuff to make art- make a mobile from CDs, or collage from magazines.
• Use eco-friendly dishes- like bowls made of recycled magazines or glassware instead of paper plates.
• Recycle- DUH!
• When you donate to an organization, find out where the money goes and make sure the organization supports your values.
• Use cloth napkins and dish towels instead of paper ones.
• Reuse bags and containers.

From DoSomeThing.org

I am not big on recyling although I should be. In my house our vice is pizza and since the pizza boxes are too big to fit in the trash I put them off to the side. We try not to splurg too often but thanks to a husband with a good appitate and a 10yr old daughter it doesnt take long for them to stack up!!!
I thought I was doing good by setting the boxes to the side to put in the recycle bin at the dump but after I read this article (click here) I realized I was wrong!!
Guess I'll have to find other ways to make a difference and I hope you do too!!!!



P.S
oh! So I also decided to only use two or three little squares of toilet paper instead of my normal 5 or 6. I know that doesnt seem like a lot but im sure it adds up to me flushing a ton of paper down the drain!! (lol) This is a sacrafice i will just have to live with so that i may save the world one toilet tissue square at a time!!