Headed in the Right Direction

Today I had a great weigh-in at weight watchers. I mean seriously, the best one since I rejoined the program back in May 2014. 

I was 2.2 pounds down. 

This is after nearly six months of hovering and slowly gaining. 

I cannot tell you the sweet feeling of success that overcame me when I heard her say that. 

What's changed since the New Year? 

1. Kaia Fit OC - Let's get real, I haven't been on a really regimented training program since I was meeting with Amanda regularly (in person). The girls at Kaia are AWESOME. They motivate me, accept my current fitness level and support my goals and efforts to improve. I think this has been better because I can't seem to be accountable in online training sessions. That accountability is something I struggle with when I'm not attending weight watchers meetings too. 
2. Weight Watchers - Tracking points works! I know that, and yet I have trouble putting it into action at times. Re-committing to logging everything that goes into my mouth has been a learning process, an adjustment period and now a tool for success.
3. Holistic Nutrition Center - One thing I've done completely differently this time around in my weight loss journey is get a nutritionist. Kaia had one come in and speak, so I went with her. In the spirit of full-disclosure, it's a little bit too voodoo for Sam, but I think we're both at the point where whatever works is great. I'm changing my eating habits, the way I think about food and the way I tackle this process.
4. Fat Chance - I think I mentioned that I've been reading a great book that Sam read and then recommended to me. Right now, the author is thoroughly explaining the biochemistry behind obesity and it's been really enlightening. Not that I'm taking anything as an excuse for what's happened to me, but I do think knowledge is empowering and can help me to get this weight off and then KEEP IT OFF. I am less than a quarter of the way in, but as of now I'd recommend this to anyone trying to make a change and be more healthy/fit. 

Long Day

Yesterday I was at the office just after 8 a.m. and didn't leave until just after 7 p.m.

It was a long day. I cannot even begin to describe how nice it was to walk in the door and have Hunter greet me with his warm tongue and sparkling eyes. Even better, Sam had BBQ'ed pork loin and made us a spinach salad.

Sam then gave me 45 minutes to continue to wrap up a few projects from work and then tucked me into bed to start reading Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity and Disease. He read it on the plane during his trip out to Philadelphia and thought it was right up my ally being that I'm so focused on health. While I was reading calmly in bed, he took Hunter down for a short walk and then joined me. It was just what I needed to calm down and unwind after a stressful day at the office.

I am such a lucky wife.

Lazy Saturday

I'm typing this at 11:08, on the couch in my PJs with Hunter passed out in my lap and Sam next to me reading the NY Times.  We are having our first lazy Saturday in a long time and enjoying Sam's Golden Weekend.  Yes, we were on vacation for a week, but Saturday morning Sam got up and went sailing with his parents and I was up early doing my laundry and packing for our drive back to Southern California.

So, this really is our first lazy Saturday at home in a few weeks.  How did we spend it?  We slept it until 8:45- a huge luxury for Sam!  He pulled up HBO-go on the iPad and we watched 50 First Dates until Hunter needed to bet let out, at which point I made us pancakes and coffee to enjoy during the second half of the movie.

When the movie was over, we just didn't get up from the couch... Sam started reading the paper, I thought it would be a good idea to keep working on my LinkedIn research, but decided I would blog instead.  We have definitely earned this lazy Saturday, we were out late last night with Ryan (and kind of Jenna too).  Ryan picked me up around 5 and we headed over to Morton's for Happy Hour.  Jenna was cocktailing the bar and patio so we sat outside and watched basketball until Sam joined us from work.

Man, there were some really douchey guys at the table next to us.  The kind of guys that took every opportunity to make Jenna feel like she was screwing up their service when in fact she was doing a great job.  Then they started going off on politics.  Let's put it this way, our table and theirs did not vote for the same candidate in the last election.  And they sounded so entitled to their money.  Don't get me wrong, I think that hard working Americans deserve to live comfortably, but you don't have to be a jerk about it.  I mean frankly, we are all eating at Morton's so life can't be too difficult for us.  They had this mentality about work too.  At one point one of them said, "Look, I run a successful construction company and these kids come in and try to tell me what to do.  I don't think so.  Sit down, shut up, and hold the f*ck on."  Excuse me?  Are you so self-agrandizing that you actually believe there is only one 'right' way to do things?  Maybe you're missing out on a great new technique because you're too busy putting everyone down to hear anyone out.  I mean they give Republicans such a bad name it's pathetic!

You know, entitled people exist everywhere.  But it really does seem like there is a higher concentration of them here in Orange County.  Perhaps that's just because we were recently home for a week and surrounded by people who have money and don't drive Bentleys and Rolls Royces or enroll their children in private schools.  Here it just seems so opulent it's ridiculous!  Anyway, I'm going to get off my soapbox now.

NorCal Trip

Sunday Sam and I are road tripping to Northern California with Hunter for a week-long vacation.  It will be his second trip to our hometown and our first big trip home of 2012.  We'll be up North for the longest time since residency started.  It will be good to getaway from Orange County and get some perspective on what's important- loved ones!

I am really looking forward to seeing my family, especially my Mom's side.  I haven't seen my Auntie Annie, Aunt Kathy, or cousin Alicia since we had my grandfather's memorial in July 2010.  Wednesday I'm meeting up with the three of them for lunch and I'm looking forward to catching up!  I'm also really looking forward to them meeting Hunter since I named him after my grandparents on that side of the family. 

I'm also looking forward to having some free time to catch up on reading.  I am deep into the Game of Thrones books and I need to get motivated to ready book 4, which I've started twice and keep getting distracted from.  I also have a Facebook marketing book that Raleigh lent me months ago which I need to finish or give back to her, and about 20 marketing podcasts I would like to listen to while I'm driving around visitng friends or walking the dog.  

I will also get to see some girlfriends I haven't seen in ages.  Reunion time!  I haven't seen Lindsay in so long I forget when we were last together- she's never met Hunter so it's been at least a year.  In addition to that I'm going to see the Seto family and Jackie on Wednesday... depending on how the evening goes I may even be crashing at Jackie & Joe's place.  Exciting news: Jackie and Heidi were in San Francisco last weekend and picked out my bridesmaid dress.  I will get to try it on for the first time when I see her on Wednesday afternoon!

I plan on doing some work while we're vacationing- mostly just maintaining our social media sites and drafting future blogs, but I will also be on-call in case something happens.  Thank goodness I am very mobile as long as I have my cell phone, laptop and internet service.

Sunday can't come soon enough...