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. 

Never Miss Monday

People ask me why I am such a proponent of getting to the gym on Mondays.  Well, because my awesome personal trainer, Amanda, told me once that Monday is the easiest day to get the gym.  It's the beginning of the week, things don't USUALLY pop up, and you get it out of the way while you're still fresh from the weekend.

Obviously you need to go to the gym more than just on Mondays, but I have really made it a point to live by this advice when I am seriously in the swing on working out.  To that end, I had to share this great graphic that I found on Pinterest.

Back to Workouts

The bridal bootcamp has been underway for weeks now, but unfortunately I haven't been as on my game as I should have been... I'm going to blame the long hours at my new job.  

Well, two weeks ago I emailed my personal trainer, the wonderful Amanda, and let her know what my pain points are as far as not having a regular work schedule.  I told her that I'm going to make fitness a much bigger priority and focus on a manageable work life balance.  And she helped me out with some awesome workouts to help get me back into shape.  

First up on the list?  I started getting my act together for spin class on Mondays and Wednesdays at 6:45 p.m.  I cannot even begin to give Sam enough credit for how much he's enabled me to focus on myself.  Sam's on a really easy rotation (think reliably short hours) at Kaiser so he's been able to get home to let Hunter out on the nights I head to the gym directly from work.  

Additionally, Amanda has given me some really handy workouts that involve walking the dog - which is a win win for us because it gives us a chance to do something as a family (Sam joins us) and we also get to involve Hunter.  He has been sleeping through the night A LOT better with all this exercise.  

The best news of all is that I've gotten more than 10,000 steps and more than 30 minutes of intense activity for the last five days in a row counting today.  I know it's not going to happen over night, but this is the second week in a row that I've made it to two spin classes.  Let me tell you, my legs are BURNING, which is a good thing because in the simplest of explanations: the muscles in your legs are the largest, most powerful muscles in your body thus they are capable of burning the most energy aka fat.  

I'm also working my upper body so that my arms and shoulders are as sculpted as possible when I don my beautiful strapless wedding dress in less than five months!  I can't believe how quickly the months are ticking down...

I'm not sure if it's partly because of the Lexapro, but I don't have quite the same level of agitation and stress at work these days.  Not to say I'm not committed, but I don't feel the need to push and give my job all 110% of my energy.  And it's been making me really happy to spend some time on myself, improving my fitness and getting back into shape. 

St. Patrick's Day Priorities

St. Patrick's Day Priorities when you're on a wedding countdown...

No green beer, but at least I wore my green Lululemon shirt!

Past My Bedtime

My apologies if this post seems disjointed or disorganized- it is, as the title suggests, far past my bedtime and my brain is finally starting to slow down a bit.  I have consistently sold myself short in my dedication to hard work- which is funny because one does not become a First Team All-American water polo player without serious dedication and hard work.  But in my professional life, it was only in the last two years that I realized I was passionate about marketing and wanted to devote significant portions of my free time to learning and improving myself.  Lately, it seems that my hard work and dedication are paying off: I have interesting opportunities popping up all around me.

A girl I went through UCI's Marketing Certificate Extensions Program with reached out to me last week about doing Integrated Marketing Consulting for the company she works for.  Cue me writing my first-ever proposal for consulting services.  We'll see where that goes.  I have been more and more interested in consulting as I get to be more acquainted with self-employed professionals, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to take the leap and go to full-time consulting.  Sam and I are considering that when we start a family, but it's not something I want to explore just yet.

Another networking connection has a very interesting business opportunity that we discussed today.  I would love to be a part of his team and create content and integrated marketing plans for clients on a 12-24 month contract basis.

I am on fire today- completely reenergized and motivated to achieve all that I can.  It was one of those days where I logged nine and a half hours at the office and didn't take a single break.  Well, that's not entirely true.  I did use the restroom once and I had to get a class of water in the afternoon to ward off a dehydration/starvation headache.  I was so consumed by the projects I was working on that I completely blew off my lunch- postponing it to the point that it was ridiculous to even try to take a break to eat.  Ooops.  No biggie, I told myself, I will just leave early.  Next thing I knew, it was 4:15, and then 4:55.

I headed to the gym and met up with Sam for a short workout before we came home and walked Hunter.  By the time we had showered and eaten it was nearly 8:30 and I started work on my other projects.  I edited my consulting proposal with Dad, returned the favor and recommended a dear friend and mentor on LinkedIn and did some other work.

I literally looked up at the clock and realized it was 11:40.  Hunter was laying on the guest bed behind me, Sam had turned off the TV and gone to bed without telling me and my 10:30 bedtime had long since passed.  So I took Hunter out to go potty, piled all of Sam's dirty dishes in the sink for him to tackle tomorrow and sat down to write this post and finish my VERY productive day.  It's funny, at once point this afternoon the song that plays in the movie Rudy during his senior year when he is getting beat to shit during the practicing montage popped into my head.  It's really a very motivating soundtrack if you're looking for something to keep you going... I ended up listening to it all afternoon and evening.

Alas, it's now time to crawl into bed between my freshly washed sheets (yes I even did a load of laundry today!) next to my wonderfully supportive boyfriend and snuggle with our adorable dog.

Just Barely

Today was one of those days.

You know the kind.

My boss and I are at odds regarding the best use of some video footage we shot two weeks ago.  I just barely got a hold of myself and redirected our focus on the common goal we share before the debate devolved into some kind of fight.  Just barely.

I barely contained a bout of road rage while Sam was driving us to the gym.  I wasn't even driving.  I wanted to scream, but I held it in.  Just barely.

During spin class I almost cussed out the teacher and left early.  I just barely contained myself and redirected my frustration into the workout.  Just barely.  It's a good thing I stuck it out because I am now exhausted and completely devoid of frustration.

I also really liked the class- great music, good vibe coming from the instructor and overall a great workout.  Not too hard, but a steady, consistent hardcore workout the entire hour.  I went up to the instructor after the class to compliment her and see which other nights she teaches.  Unfortunately she said this is her only LA Fitness class, the rest of the week she teaches down at a studio in San Clemente.  She told me she does get to sub a lot and told me if I gave her my email she'd let me know when she's subbing.  I gave her my email and cell phone number so she can text me too.  She said she knows how it feels to be disappointed with group exercise instructors and that's what motivated her to become a spin teacher herself- I told her I'd had that thought myself.  Sam might get ahold of that idea and run with it.  Although I am not sure I have the time and energy to devote to teaching class- I almost feel like I need to focus all my attention on my own fitness and workouts so I can succeed in my weight loss goals.

And boy did I get a good work out tonight!  Holy Jesus I was having a tough time walking up the stairs tonight after class.  I literally turned to Sam and told him he was on Hunter's potty duty tonight because I don't think I can go up and down the stairs again.

Side Note: A sign of a great spin workout is definitely having trouble and feeling leg fatigue while going up stairs after a workout and the following day.

Now I'm trying to stay awake so I can fold yet another load of Sam's laundry and start on the guest room's sheets and towels.  I'm awake, but just barely.  I guess I'll have to hold off on the guest room for another night.  As for now, I think I'm going to roll out my legs on my foam roller and head to bed.

I think I can make it.

Just barely.

Training

Bubba stopped me on my way into the gym yesterday and wanted to train me for an hour but I told him that I was on my way into spin class.  He asked me to come back after class and talk to him.  So I did.  

Turns out it was a bit of a sales pitch and he wants me to buy into their personal training program.  Hmmm, I see.  So we talked a bit about my fitness goals and my history with training and exercise and then he asked me to come in tonight at 6pm for a workout.  

I knew going into this whole thing that he was going to try to pitch me on a $140 training program working out with their trainers once a week.  Oh wow.  For that much money I could do a lot of stuff, and frankly I am not that impressed with the trainers I see on the floor when I'm coming to and from spin classes.  

Yes, I want to get back to training... I need to begin weight lifting more.  I need to build up my muscle mass to help me burn calories and fat and get myself back into good shape.  I need to focus more on my core and my upper body instead of letting them get their entire workout at spin class.  Today, I go forward, but not with Bubba.

Side note: In Making the Cut is going pretty well and I'm getting to try LOTS of new recipes.  The book says I should be eating cottage cheese.  I have always been kind of iffy about the way cottage cheese looks, so I've shied away from it.  But today I found "small curd" cottage cheese.  I had it with strawberries for dessert and it was pretty good!  It's kind of like cream cheese only lumpy and more watery.  But still, I was impressed.  it's not sour like yogurt which was really, really nice.