Weight Loss - Part 2

It's been a month, I think it's time for an update to my weight loss goal.  And as a quick reminder as what this has to do with pharmacy.  Preparing for pharmacy isn't just about making myself look good on paper.  It's also about being ready.  Getting back in shape will help my confidence, give me more energy, and simply make me feel better about myself.  With that comes better performance in all aspects of life, which likely includes better performance as I fix my grades, better impression as I interact with people who I end up asking for letters of recommendation, and doing better on interviews I go to.  Increased confidence, energy, and higher self-esteem is not something to be ignored.

Now for the numbers:

Starting Weight: 216.8
Week 1 Weight: 215.8
Week 2 Weight: 214.8
Week 3 Weight: 215.0
Week 4 Weight: 211.6
Total Weight Loss: 5.2
Pounds Still to Go: 26.8
Trendline Estimate: 202.7

- Week 1: Went to the gym every day of the week, only did cardio on an elliptical machine.

- Week 2: Went to the gym every day of the week, did cardio and began using the weight machines.

- Week 3: Only went to the gym 4 days this week, pushed myself hard with the weights.
- Week 4: Went to the gym 5 days during the week, took it easy with the cardio.

I've been drinking a lot of water to keep myself hydrated, and am vaguely keeping aware of my calorie intake.  During the third week, even though I gained 0.2 pounds, it most likely wasn't 0.2 pounds of fat.  I was sore like I hadn't been in years, in my chest, upper back, and hamstrings.  The increase in muscle weight definitely affected what result my scale was showing.

From the results this week, it looks like I may have started getting past that hurdle where muscle gain drastically affects the results of the graph.  It's very possible for me to make my target weight of 185 by the end of the year, but even if I don't, I'm pretty confident that I'll make it to 195 if not 190.  The end of the year is just an arbitrary date, and I can finish off the rest afterwards.  The most important thing is that I am losing weight, and that I'm not killing myself while doing it.  I'm not pushing myself to any extreme so I will make my goal at some point.

Weight Loss - Part 1

For most of my life, I can remember feeling overweight. It wasn't always physically true, but even after I lost my weight during my growth spurt, I still thought I was fat. It is something I've had to live with for a long time, and cannot simply be ignored in this blog, but I will relate it to pharmacy in what ways that I can.

After I came back from the UoP preview day, I was talking with my friend, and I joked that I thought it was a requirement to be hot to get into the school. The three presenters during the student panel were all very pretty, to the point that I stupidly became a little bit anxious when I went to go up to talk to them when my friend that went with me thought up a question that she wanted answered. And on the flip side, all the guys giving us the tour of the campus were all very fit.

Obviously, what I said was just a joke, but I think there may be some vague sense of truth to it.

First of all, I understand that everyone has a different metabolism, set point, etc, and when it comes to weight loss, there is a lot of variation. I will be talking in some generalities, but a lot of it may turn out to just specifically apply to myself.

But when it comes to being a pharmacy student, there is a certain level of discipline required. A common phrase when UoP students spoke was "time-management skills". While there is a whole different level of psychology when it comes to weight loss, as opposed to being studious, there is a level of discipline required when it comes to losing weight. And accomplishing my goal, which is very attainable and not at all unreasonable, is just another sign that I'm mentally prepared for pharmacy school.

I am one of those people that tend to eat more when I'm stressed out. The more hectic my life is, the more weight I gain. At my fittest, I weighed 185 in 2005. I now weight 220. I weighed even more during the summer. I didn't weight myself because I did not want to see the results until I lost some weight, which I did. I know because my clothes are looser.

I plan on taking control of my weight once again (I did so once before. I lost 30 pounds in a little over three months, and maintained that weight until I tore my ACL), and will be joining 24-Hour Fitness, while they have their "$0 Initiation Fee and $29.99 Monthly Dues on a Keep Fit All-Club Sport Membership" special. It lasts until 9/30/09.

While there is no way that looks are a requirement for the interview, losing weight will help me get accepted into whatever school I get into because I will feel better about myself. All the benefits of weight loss will help me get in, including more confidence in myself, more energy, and strengthened mental capabilities. All of those benefits will aid me as a student as well.

And while I can't give out any numbers, a fact of reality is that people respond better to better looking people. If that subconsciously aids me in the interview, then so be it. It is not the main reason why I will be working to lose weight, and probably won't affect the interview much at all, but if that benefit is there, I will take it. And once I become a pharmacist, and being physically fit helps when I have to interact with patients, then it's better for me and it is better for them.

There is no losing when it comes to becoming fit. I just have to keep in mind that losing weight and being fit are not equal. I have to have reasonable goals.

At this point, my goals are to reach 185 by the end of the year, to be able to do 50 push-ups, and 10 pull-ups and chin-ups. Those are numbers that I had been able to reach before. Although I will be happy if I still reach 190.

While I was down in LA for Macy's Passport, I took advantage of the hotel gym, and it felt good. It's time to keep up that momentum, and I'm off to the gym now.

Who am I? Part 3

So I'm looking at pharmacy schools, and studying to be a pharmacy technician, but who am I?  At what point am I at in getting into pharmacy school, and why am I at this point?

So I took a look at reality and saw that pharmacy might not be possible.  I didn't know what was going to happen anymore, but just knew that I needed to graduate, and so switched to Psychologyas within reach as I had wanted it to be at this point in my life.

As soon as I made the switch, I knew it was a good idea.  Part of that was simply because while my plan was derailed, I was taking control of what was happening.

For the next two semesters I loaded my schedule with as many psychology classes as I could take.  And while all the classes were interesting, a full load of psychology classes was most definitely much easier to handle than biology and chemistry classes.

Some of the classes that I took, I took simply because they were easy, and I wanted to fix my GPA.  But it turned out that the classes I loved the most were the ones that were the most challenging.  Psycholinguistics and Cognitive Psychology were my favorites by far.

If I couldn't do Pharmacy, I was considering applying for the masters program in psychology research at San Francisco State University as an alternative.  In my head, that as actually my new path, and not just an alternative.  Pharmacy was too just far away, and I needed my career now.

There were two major things that I took away from this.

First,  I need a challenge, and I need to keep things fresh.  I did the best in the classes that were hardest.  I shot to the top of those classes because they were new and interesting, and they captivated me.  I had to force myself to pay attention to those easy classes.  A similar result to this was when I tried to immediately retake a couple of my bio and chem classes.  It was just hard to focus when I was relearning the material.  I didn't do bad in those classes the first time because I didn't understand what was going on.  I did bad because I was a bad student and missed a lot of classes and didn't put in any effort.  If I was to redo it, and if I had to retake classes, I would not do it immediately.  I would have given myself a break so the classes wouldn't feel like such a chore.

Second, by taking this year away from biochemistry and pharmacy, I found that I really missed it.  It's something that I wanted to go back to.

I can't tell you just yet what it is about pharmacy that attracts me, I just know it's there.  I'm a very analytical person, but it takes me a while to understand my own feelings, and then be able to verbalize them.  That's something that I hope to be able to accomplish through writing about my experience through this blog.  It's something I'll need to be able to do to write my personal statement.

I took time away from biochemistry and rediscovered my passion for learning.  I took time away from the pharmacy path, and found the drive still within me.  The beginning's of this blog has shown you the first steps, and by the end I will be in pharmacy school and on my way to my career.

Who am I? Part 2

So I'm looking at pharmacy schools, and studying to be a pharmacy technician, but who am I?  At what point am I at in getting into pharmacy school, and why am I at this point?

So I finally had a goal in life, more than go to school because it's expected of me.  So what happened?

Well, first things first.  I came back to school with pharmacy in mind, yet I said I'll be graduating with a degree in Psychology?  Why did I choose that?  The answer is: I didn't.

I came back to school pursuing a degree in biochemistry.  The much more obvious choice.  It's a very logical choice when it comes to relating my major with my career goal, and chemistry was the flip side of the coin when I originally chose my major.

But I wasn't happy just coming back to school with a new major.  Taking physics without a career goal isn't the only reason that I lost interest in what I was doing.  I lived in the East Bay for the San Francisco Bay Area, and I was commuting to San Francisco State University.  The commute was enough of a hassle that all I did was commute to school, take my physics classes, commute home.  All the other physics students (who were all much older than me), all would stay on campus for all kinds of hours.

I just couldn't do it.

And so I had no connection to the present.  I was solely working for my future, a future that was as vague as can be.  Life was pretty dull and lifeless at this point, and if I was going to go back to school, that also had to change.

So I joined a school organization.  I liked it.  I joined another.  I took on more and more leadership roles, and took on more tasks, never saying no whenever anyone asked for help.  I was doing community service and helping to develop the campus, and it felt good.  I was doing something that had immediate results.

Not only did it feel good helping out others, but I saw changes in myself.  I was becoming a lot less shy, and seeing how easy it was to do one task or another.

Almost all of that is a good thing.  Developing myself is a good thing.  Getting enjoyment for helping others and developing the community around me is a good thing.  Never saying no is not.

I took on too many tasks, all at the same time, and during my later semesters this was on top of taking 100% biology and chemistry classes.  That wasn't a smart thing.  Even worse, the organizations that I was in were taking a higher priority over my school work.  I felt worse letting other people down, rather than letting myself down, so my schooling was the first to give in under all that weight.

And so when people would ask me when I was going to graduate, my answer would be "Maybe in a year."  And it would be that answer semester after semester.

Eventually, I finally took a real look at what my transcripts looked like, and I knew there was no chance that I would get into pharmacy with that record.  I saw that I had taken a few psychology classes just for fun, and saw that I could graduate within a year if I switched majors.

Pharmacy was something I couldn't trick myself with anymore.  I needed to give it up, and just find a way to graduate.  At 27 I should have been in graduate school by now, or at the very least close to it.  At this point I knew I just needed to get some kind of degree after all this time, and I'd figure things out during the switch.

At the time, my pursuit of pharmacy was over.

Who am I? Part 1

So I'm looking at pharmacy schools, and studying to be a pharmacy technician, but who am I?  At what point am I at in getting into pharmacy school, and why am I at this point?

First, let's go into what sparked my interest in pharmacy.

My name is Gerry, and I live in the San Francisco Bay Area.  I'm 28 years old, and am only just about to get my bachelor's degree.  It'll be a degree in Psychology.  Although I wasn't always a Psychology major.

I was one of the top 5 students in my high school, and did excellent in most of my classes.  I could have gotten all A's if I wanted to, but I didn't particularly worry if I got an occasional B.  When it came time to choosing my major, I knew my parents wanted me to go into science, and I wasn't against that, so I took a look at my grades, and I got an A in Physics, and A in Chemistry, and a B in Biology.  I scratched Biology off the list, and flipped a coin.  It came up Physics.

That's a big problem with pressuring kids to choose their majors early, and being constantly told "You can be whatever you want to be."  Supposedly I could be anything, but with so many options, I had no idea how to decide.  I was good at physics, and I found the subject interesting, but did I know what I was going to do with it?  No.

As the semesters past, I really lost interest in what I was doing.  School was simply a chore, and eventually I realized that physics wasn't for me.

I took a semester off, and simply worked construction for my dad.  Getting away from the academic world and just using my body was a very nice change of pace.

During this time I went and stopped by the Air Force recruiter at the nearby mall.  He gave me his spiel and a pamphlet that contained all the jobs they could train me in.  It was a pretty long list, but I scanned through it quickly, because nothing seemed at all interesting to me.  Then near the end of the list was the word "Pharmacist".  I finished looked through the rest of the vocations simply to be thorough, but I knew that was the one.  It just clicked.

I ended up not joining the Air Force, but for the first time in my life I found a possible career that I could actually work towards.  I actually had a goal in mind, rather than simply going through the motions of high education.