Second Day

I stuck mostly with the plan I put forth last night. Instead of gym at 6, I went at 9. I did bench, squats, ran around campus, then changed, went to lab, came home, did nothing for a little while, and now I finished assessing what I want to my studying to look like. Here is what I came up with so far:

Study Resources:

1.       Books

a.       Books I know are useful and should be read:

                                                               i.      Goljan Pathology

                                                             ii.      Dubbins EKG book

                                                            iii.      First Aid – Organ Systems

                                                           iv.      First Aid – General Principles

                                                             v.      Robbins Basic Pathology

b.      Books I have

                                                               i.      BRS Series

                                                             ii.      Kaplan Medessentials Review Book

                                                            iii.      First Aid High Yield

                                                           iv.      Pre-Test

                                                             v.      Thomson and Thomson Genetics

                                                           vi.      Rapid Interpretation of EKGs

                                                          vii.      High Yield Series

                                                        viii.      Made Ridiculously Simple Series

c.       Other books

                                                               i.      Step up to Medicine

                                                             ii.      TAUS Method Step 1 studying

2.       Audio & Video

a.       Dr. Najeeb Video Lectures

b.      Goljan Audio Lectures

c.       Kaplan Video Lectures

d.      Doctors in Training Video Lectures

3.       Online Services

a.       Kaplan High-Yield 18 month license

b.      Firecracker

4.       Question Banks

a.       USMLE WORLD Step 1 Qbank

b.      USMLE Flash Card Questions

c.       First Aid Q&A For Step 1

Vision:

What is it that I want to get accomplished in the next 4 months?

What can I do to help make the biggest impact in the coming year and on the Step 1 exam?

Using vision, try to plan out what you can do with the study materials that you have. Make an everyday goal for studying that also falls in line with research, working out, and fun!

Ok, I know I want to start reading some books. I want to make some headway into them… but I also need a way to make notes out of them so that I can revisit the information later and learn from them.

I think I can do 20 pages a day out of most books… I think the book I will start with is BRS Physio.

Then 20 questions per day on Firecracker…

I could also do a lesson on the High Yield Step 1 course too! Yeah!

I would also love it if I could get some headway into Dubbins… 20 pages too.

After Dubbins I can start on Goljan Pathology!

While reading from these sources and writing notes, I can use First Aid and Kaplan medessentials to fill in some further information gaps that will really complete my learning.

On the weekends, I can listen to three Goljan lectures a day and take notes on them while listening to them. I can review two of those lectures on Sunday and the other two on Monday.

When I am done with all of the Goljan lectures I can move on to Dr. Najeeb videos, and then later to Kaplan video lectures, and then finally Doctors in training.

The next step I need to conquer is to plan out my studying for the rest of the week. I would like to do this tomorrow. For now, I'd like to plan my day to include this new study plan.

Tuesday, August 27th 2013

1. Wake up around 6:30 am.
2. Take a shower, brush teeth, face routine.
3. Make breakfast, make food for the day, get out of the house by 7:30 am.
4. Temporarily park behind the med school. Drop off food and backpack in lab.
5. Park at Publix. Take bike and gym bag to gym by 8:00 am.
6. Gym from 8:00 am to 10:00 am.
7. Exercise Routine:
1. Arms
1. Barbell preacher curls
2. Hammer Curls
3. Wrist Curl
4. Reverse Wrist Curl
2. Shoulders
1. Military presses (ant delt)
2. Barbell Shoulder Press (ant delt)
3. Lever Seated Rear Delt Row (post delt)
4. Barbell upright row OR Cable lateral raises (lat delt)
3. Leg adductors & Abductors
1. That machine
4. Pull-ups
1. 4 sets of how ever many you can do.
5. Crunches
1. Crunch machine OR Marbell Push Sit-up
2. Hanging leg raises
3. Dumbbell 45 deg side bend OR Ab Twisting Machine
6. Boxing (20 min)
7. Shower! Change clothes
8. Lab from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm.
1. Go to EMIG meeting at 12:00 pm!
1. Listen to lecture & answer e-mails during presentation.
9. Lunch break: 1:30 pm to 2:00 pm.
10. Study at the Med Library from 2:00 pm to 10:00 pm
1. Finish up writing e-mails! Don't take longer than 30 minutes doing so.
2. Read 20 pages of BRS Physiology
3. Do 20 questions/day on Firecracker
4. Do 1 lesson from Kaplan High Yield Step 1 course
11. Leave for home at 10:00 pm.
12. Eat, clean your face, brush your teeth, change into PJs.
13. Read Dubbins until sleepy.
14. Go to bed by 12 am.

My meal plan got a little side tracked today. I was pretty hungry. I will try to fill those hungry gaps with protein shakes. I realize that might be the better thing to do. And so, meal planning for tomorrow:

- Egg whites with sofrito + oatmeal.

- After gym - Protein shake

- Salad

- Cereal with protein shake

- Cottage cheese w/ fruit and nuts

- Protein shake

and I think that's it until home...

Here's to tomorrow!

V

Success.

I have spent the past 3 hours working on what is the lean basis for a meal plan. Below is what I have written and researched.

Possible Daily Food Options:

This list is mostly geared toward eating leaner foods with a higher concentration of protein relative to carbohydrates and fat. The emphasis here is either for clean bulking or cutting down, depending on how much food you want to add or take away during a particular day of eating. Take calorie deficit/surplus into consideration for your goals.

·         Breakfast

o   Coffee

o   Oatmeal

§  Honey

§  Nuts

§  Fruit

o   Egg Whites

§  Sofrito

§  Vegan Cheese

o   Cereal w/ 1 scoop of protein powder and soy milk

·         Brunch

o   Protein shake

·         Lunch

o   Garden salad:

§  Greens w/ tomatoes, cucumbers, light cheese, light onions, any dressing.

o   Burrito:

§  Tofu crumbles, salsa, light cheese, greens, tomato, beans, hummus, guacamole, tortilla

§  Variation: burrito bowl!

o    

·         Linner

o   Protein shake

·         Dinner

o   Vegetable pot stickers w/ rice

§  Brown rice if possible

o   Burrito:

§  Tofu crumbles, salsa, light cheese, greens, tomato, beans, hummus, guacamole, tortilla

§  Variations:

·         burrito bowl (no tortilla)

·         Heat up tofu squares instead of tofu crumbles

o   Lentils w/ Brown rice

§  Variations:

·         Red Kidney beans

·         Lima Beans

o   Veggie Burger

§  Boca patty, vegan cheese, lettuce, tomato, guacamole

·         Night Snack

o   Cottage cheese w/ fresh fruits, nuts and some honey.

·         Day Snacks:

o   Tupperware with veggies:

§  Carrots

§  Broccoli

§  Cauliflower

§  Celery

§  Cucumber

o   Light yogurt w/ fruits and nuts

o   Protein shake

o   Strawberry/Banana smoothie

o   Fruit

·         Drinks:

o   Tea

o   Water

o   Coffee

o   Protein shake

o   Mass gainer shake

·         Foods to cut out:

o   Anything with dairy

§  Ice cream, milk etc

§  Makes you break out and bloated

I think, along with this, I should count my calories. I want to cut! I also want to maintain my strength consistent with the 9th week of my MAD COW work out. I will do this!

Below is what I ate today (so far) and what my plan is for tomorrow:

What I have eaten today:

• Egg whites with cheese and sofrito
• 2x Tofu Burger sliders
• Coffee
• Protein shake
• Cereal w/ protein shake
• Coffee

How I want to stay active:

-          Boxing

o   20 minutes

-          Swimming

o   1 hour

o   Use FIU pool and Key Biscayne! J

o   Improve your times

-          Running

o   10 minutes/mile and faster!

-          Sprinting

o   Not sure how this works, but do it for 30 minutes?

-          Cycling

o   14 miles,like shark valley!

-          Bodyweight fitness/Calisthenics

o   Not sure how I want to go about doing this. Research more.

-          Parkour

o   Use the $50 you have!

-          Flexibility

            o   Research more

-          Pylometrics

     o   Research more

Now, for Monday, what would I like to do? What is my plan?

-          The night before, get your food and things ready for the next day (do this every night).

-          Wake up at 6 am. Get ready for the day (take a shower, eat breakfast, morning face routine, put on gym clothes).

-          Leave the house by 7 am (get out of there!)

-          Gym by 7:30 am

o   Ask how and when to access the FIU pool

-          8:30 am – Cardio time

o   Run around campus! (1.7 miles)

o   Boxing (20 minutes)

o   Swim (if possible, for 30 minutes)

-          Shower at the gym then head for lab and do two areas

-          After lab, write in blog.

-          Study

-          After a couple of hours of study, Do about 30 patients for Broward.

-          Study some more

-          Plan out meals, exercise, and day for tomorrow and write in blog.

-          10 pm: Get ready for bed, do face routine, sleep.

We moved from Pasion del Cielo to the outside tables at Panera. It's about 7:30 pm at the moment and there is a nice breeze rolling in that is cooling the humid air. Jennifer seems to be concentrating more and is reading nicely. We'll go home soon around the time night starts rolling in. 

I have half a mind to go to lab after home and start working on some areas to capture so that tomorrow won't be so corwded with things I have to do. I might even sleep there. I guess I'll see.

I feel good that I spent this weekend  establishing the habits that will make my life more organized and planned out. I feel good.

V

First Day of Plan

I woke up today with Jenn screaming from a nightmare. It seems to becoming more and more routine. I woke up at that time pretty late, around 10 am. I felt bothered enough to push her away and sleep in until 11:30 am when I felt the most rested.

I can tell she was feeling guilty for most of the morning; it took a long time for us to come here to Pasion del Ceilo to study. She seems to be feeling a little better now but still feels down.

Anyway.

It's about 4:45 pm right now. I am sitting in the back of the cafe feeling kind of strange. I want to write in this blog about what my plan is for today, what I'm feeling, then get to work. So here goes nothing.

Seeing as it's already 5 pm, I suppose what I can do i make that meal plan. Yeah, I'll start with that. Meal plan... then exercise plan. Then after that, add that information to my S-note on my tablet. After that, I'll write that email to Dr. Perlyn and then develop my study plan using the resources I have.

I need to organize my study resources.

So, again, here is my plan for the next 5 hours while this place is open:
- Meal Plan
- Exercise Plan
- Dr. Perlyn email
- Resource organization
- Make study plan

I'll write more at night to see how this went.

V

August 24th, 2013

I have already gone to the mall like I had wanted. I had started working on the Pre-proposal, and now I think the next step I have to do is to move the car so that we do not have to pay. I will do that really quick. The next thing on my list of things to do is to write in my blog or try to get my blog thing sorted out.

After that, I would like to write down my thoughts. I was thinking that writing them in the morning and at night may be a good way to organize my thoughts for the day to come and the next day. Logically, it makes sense; even if the entry only takes about 15 minutes, it’s worth it.

MEAL PLAN. I need to do this tonight, as well as an exercise plan. I’m tired of having that on my to-do list! Saturday night is the best time to get this done. I like this café anyway. At any rate, I’ll be right back; I need to move the car.

I have returned. Now, why is the meal plan important?

-          I can plan out what I need to eat

-          Better improvements in weight and strength training

-          Less time required to cook

-          More likely to cook my own food and less likely to eat out

o   Therefore, save money on food

-          Less stress about deciding what to eat

-          Bigger investment in consuming healthy food

Now, how can I create the best meal plan?

-          Use the resources I already have from my downloaded fitness pictures

-          r/fitness

-          Write it all out on MS Word and organize it on an “S Note”

-          Depending on the goal for fitness, the food will be different

o   Keep this in mind! For now, I believe the goal is to lose weight but to continue to go to the gym lifting the weights I did in the 9^th week. In addition, I want to increase my cardio. I want to go to the gym for a while! Because of this, I want to go for a lower calorie diet (clean calorie diet!)

o   Next time I bulk, I want to eat clean. This will be in stark contrast with what I did last time where I just ate whatever to achieve that calorie goal for the day. Next time it will be a much cleaner bulk with SOME cheat days (not a lot at all!)

§  Meal planning will help make my goals come true!

The other thing I wanted to get out of the way was the exercise plan; I think I addressed that above though. I’ll do the same thing as above; I’ll write it in Word or something and plan it out on S-Note.

That’s all I would ike to do today. As for tomorrow… I think I’d like to go back to BBW and get more freebies. Do this in the morning. After that… go to the lab… definitely. Then the gym and start on the workout routine I want to do. After that… study…

That’s such an ambiguous word… study. Dismaris was right in making me question that. I think I’ll write mor about this after I manage the resources I have available to me to study. I think after that I can really make something happen with the “study” and make it happen day after day.

For now, every morning and night I need to post on here. Definitely. I think that’s a short term goal I need to carry on for the long term.