A Day Late, But Not a Dollar Short

I was SUPPOSED to write by last night, but I missed my deadline.  I do have some good excuses, but my reasons aren't great.  I say that because technically, I had plenty of time to do it, but it was a pretty crazy week in many ways, and my heart just wasn't in it until tonight.

Excuse #1: The entire family caught a nasty cold last week.  It started with Jacob, a little over a week ago now.  He was just completely miserable, and he broke my heart.  He is such a happy baby, and to see him so beside himself with exhaustion and discomfort made me want to cry.  Actually, I did cry.  At least once each day.  I haven't learned how to deal with seeing my child sick, even if it is just a common cold.  He did make me laugh though, because he wiped his little runny nose with his fist, and then stuck it in my mouth, as if to say "I am NOT the only one in this family that is going to suffer.  You WILL feel my misery."  And soon enough, I did feel his misery.  I felt it through my birthday, and all the way till about Wednesday night.  Brad also caught the cold and overlapped with me.  He was the last one to start feeling better.

Excuse #2: It was my birthday week, and I had two celebrations to partake in, as well as an additional evening out with some of my girls.  Thursday night, I was stoked to go out with some of my MOPS ladies, Michelle, Mechelle, and Tina.  We had a fantastic time laughing, talking, and eating.  I was proud of myself because I ate till I was satisfied, and that was IT!  We then headed over to our friend "other" Marisa's house for a jewelry party.  Yes, I ordered jewelry.  :-)  The following night (Friday), Brad and I finally got to go out for my birthday, so we headed out to a wine tasting night at Wine Depot in Brea (fantastic little place...do go there if you get a chance!).  After a couple hours of wine tasting and talking, we went to Don Jose for dinner, where I gorged myself on Diet Tostada Salad (it's diet cuz all it contains is shredded lettuce, red sauce, and chicken, but for some reason it tastes amazing!).  We made a couple more stops, and finished the night at Yorgurtland before picking Jacob up from my parents' house.  And finally, Saturday night, we had the family bday celebration for February.  Packed week, yes?  But could I have written last night?  Absolutely.

The reason I think I just didn't have it in me was lack of words and inspiration.  I felt so BLAHH about this week.  I wasn't very physically active like I have been the last few weeks.  To my credit, I did take Jacob out for a nice afternoon walk on Tuesday, and it DID make me feel a bit alive again.  But overall, I felt like I had just been lazy.  Yes, I suppose you could say I had reason, but I tend to beat myself up over things like this.  Why didn't I just tough it out and do a quick gym trip on Thursday, once I started feeling better?  Why didn't I get out for one more walk on Friday, prior to our night out?  Well, today, I decided I am done beating myself up.  We all have "off" days and weeks.  Hell, we have "off" months and years sometimes.  But the sooner you can get back up and brush yourself off again, the better.  So today, I finally took the advice of one of my Weight Watchers leaders.  A few weeks back, our meeting stressed the helpfulness of having an "anchor;" an object to remind you of your ultimate goals, to inspire you, and to help you make the right choices in moments of weakness.  I went and got myself an anchor today.  I am wearing two silver bracelets on my right wrist (which happens to be the wrist I eat with...That way I will always see them there when I go to eat something).  One bracelet has the words "Embrace the Journey" engraved upon it.  The other says "Believe in Yourself."  I truly need these affirmations every single day to remind me that the journey is more important than the result.  The person I become, the changes I make, and the growth I experience during this "journey" of weight loss, and this journey called life, are far more significant than looking good in a hot outfit.  Yes, I want the little benefits of feeling better about myself physically.  I also want to be healthy and live a long, long life.  But most of all, I know that these struggles and challenges I overcome will make me stronger.  As for the "believing in myself" part of it all...I just need to have faith in God and myself that I won't let little mistakes take away from my ultimate goals.  I am human.  I am bound to screw up now and again.  But I need to believe in myself, that I can and will do what I set out to do.  It may take some time.  It may take a long-ass time.  But by God, I will not be weak anymore.  I will not ask myself questions like "What was the point of that?" or tell myself "It's too late."  It's never too late, and there is ALWAYS a point to everything. 

You may be asking yourself...Did Marisa ever actually get to weigh in last week?  As a matter of fact, I did.  I went into Weight Watchers on Friday morning, instead of Saturday.  I put up a 4.4 pound weight loss over the last two weeks.  Not bad for being "lazy" all week.  And now, the word "lazy" is not part of my vocabulary  Instead, I will use words like "somewhat inactive."  Being a mommy never allows for laziness.  I have my baby boy to thank for that. :-)

Muscles I never knew I had

No exercise in this world makes you as aware of every muscle in your body (and how much it has the ability to ache) as swimming.  I swam laps for about an hour yesterday, and wow...I felt as though I should have instantly shed 20 pounds.  No freakin' wonder Michael Phelps eats three fried egg sandwiches, a 5 egg omelette, a bowl of grits, 3 slices of french toast, 3 chocolate chip pancakes, a kilogram of pasta, 2 large ham and cheese sandwiches, 2000 calories worth of energy drinks, and a whole pizza every day.  And he swims ALL DAY!  I have made up my mind that, if I can swim just 2-3 hours every week, in addition to my regular workouts, I might just push myself over the edge from losing weight to "Holy Bats!  Marisa be lookin' Gooo-ood!"

With the wonderful soreness of muscles today, I decided against any weight-lifting and just hit the cardio.  After a nice 600-calorie burn on the elliptical and a few chest presses, I headed home for a bit of a rest before hitting my Biggest Loser workout, which I now upped to 30 minutes each day instead of 20.  Nothing says "I Love You" on Valentine's Day like busting your butt so you can live longer for your family.  Right? 

Tomorrow marks Gym Training Session Number Three.  With only two more to go before I, more than likely, will not be able to afford any more, I need to soak up as much info as I can, and really take advantage of it. 

On the menu for tonight's Valentine's dinner:  Weight Watchers homemade pizza, with homemade pizza crust...and I don't even have to make it!  The hubby is busting out his culinary skills and making dinner.  At only 4 points per slice, I seriously just might eat half the pizza.  I am sooo hungry right now!  I have been trying to save most of my points for tonight, but I did let myself have two pieces of chocolate...TOTALLY worth the 2 points a piece.  YUM!  I definitely don't deprive myself...if what I eat fits into my daily points allowance, I am good to go.  :-)  And oh how nice it is when I can eat fruits and veggies for zero points!

Hope everyone out there is having a Happy Valentine's Day. 
"I love you."
"Aww...and I love spending time with you!"
Ross/Mona from "Friends"

I got bitten by the exercise bug...

So this week was crazy...
As you know, I have been struggling with motivation to work out.  Well, this week kicked my butt into gear!  I began with my Biggest Loser workouts on Xbox Kinect.  I do those 5 times a week, for 20-25 minutes each.  In addition to that, I have gone to the gym 4 times this week.  I took a Zumba class and a Turbo Kickboxing class (which was insane...the instructor was this little asian girl I wanted to pick up, put in my pocket, and take her home to Neverland with the other pixies, but she was SPUNKY!).  I started working out with a personal trainer (I have a feeling my time with the trainer is limited, due to affordability issues, but I will take what I can get).  I also spent some time playing "Dance Central."  Overall, I kept active this week, and I had a two pound weight loss on the scale this morning!  Holla!

So my reward is bottomless champagne at brunch tomorrow.  And ohhhh am I looking forward to that!  The next challenge I must face is Valentine's Day, followed closely by my birthday.  I guess I can make one of those cakes using a can of cold diet coke instead of oil and eggs (yes!  that is a new trick I learned about today!).  I am working hard to find ways to celebrate events and achievements in a non-food-way.  For example, Brad and I sat down and determined my rewards for all the small goals I set for weight loss between now and my final goal weight.  I have some SERIOUS stuff to look forward to.  Spa day, wine tasting in Temecula, Vegas, Karaoke Night at home, new pair of hot shoes...and at the end of the road...a whole...wait for it...NEW...wait for it... WARDROBE!  Time to start saving money I guess :-P

Tonight, I am spending my Saturday at home with Brad, Jacob, and my BFF Cindy.  We are going to get our groove on to Dance Central, while chowing on Subway.  Hey, I partied last weekend, and I earned myself a nice chill Saturday night (with still a little partying...dancing is like partying to me). 

I should share with you all what my greatest achievement this week was.  It wasn't the weight loss.  It wasn't the hours in the gym, or even the extra working out with Biggest Loser.  Nope.  My most proud achievement this week was...wait for it...I actually completed and got five stars on "Soulja Boy, Crank That" on Dance Central.  Sure, it was the "Easy" setting.  Next time, maybe I will go for "Medium."  But for real, I could barely make it through any of those moves two weeks ago.  This time, I was nearly flawless in my execution of the "robocop." 

Special thanks to the hubby this week for making me a couple dinners from the Weight Watchers cookbook (yum...fish and chips, the healthy baked way, and steak sandwiches mmmmmmmmm), and also a little shout out about how HAPPY I am that he can walk again.  :-)  Love you baby.

And a little quote about this coming week:
"It's going to be legen...wait for it...hope you're not lactose intolerant...DARY!"

Success in Week 3!

There fo' sho' ain't no hatin' on Weight Watchers.  I weighed in yesterday to find that I lost 5.2 pounds last week.  Not too shabby for Marisa.  Yes, I spent a heckuva lot of time cleaning last week, so I am convinced that extra calories were burned at the stake during that process.  That brings my total to 11.4 pounds lost since I started Weight Watchers on January 15th (in addition to the other 12 pounds I lost before the holidays).  I am putting myself through Marisa-style bootcamp in the weeks to come, so be ready for some mad-blog-posting-sessions. 

My Weekend-of-Fun was definitely that...Fun!  I had two of my M.O.P.S. ladies over for dinner and chit chat on Friday evening.  Good times and laughs were had.  Must do that more often!  Next time, we will try to incorporate games, like originally planned...but if not, no big deal, cuz we have fun no matter what.  :-)  Saturday night, I had a good little crowd of about 10 people for Game Night.  My best friend Cindy and my female spouse (of the heterosexual nature) Jennifer were there, my lovely friend Jamie and her other half Matt (aka Moustache...he doesn't actually have a moustache, but that's the name he wrote on his answer sheet for one of the games).  There was also Chad (C-had...the boob cookie artist), Pat (my attempted-Dance-Central partner), Grant (aka Captain Scrot), my nephew Justin (whom, though he didn't expect it, I beat down in Dance Central), The Brad (my hubby of course), and Jacob and Sascha (the two "life of the party" candidates).  It was a very eventful night...and I kind of wish we could replay it, but with a little less vodka splashed into Cindy's diet coke.  :-)  Love you! 

Thus begins a new week...It didn't start off well.  I mean come on...the Super Bowl is on.  Blahh!  Other than that, I guess it started off fairly normally.  I look forward to the beginning of the new M.O.P.S. semester this week.  Jacob is looking forward to playing with his MOPPET friends.  For now, I think I shall sign off with an "I'm your Huckleberry."

I Better Have Lost 10 Pounds in the Last 3 Days...

I have been lifting, scrubbing, hauling, dragging, etc. for the past 3 days.  I have shed sweat, blood, and tears, and I am maybe 2/3 of the way done getting this house in the shape it should be in.  One thing I will say: At least being proactive in getting my house organized is burning some serious calories. 

Jacob watches me as I haul things up and down the stairs.  He cries when I disappear for two seconds, and rejoices when I reappear.  He is definitely going through mommy-separation-anxiety right now, but the funny part is, he mostly gets that way when I am home and I need to leave the room for a minute.  It's hard not to chuckle a little when I am trying to find 30 seconds to use the restroom and I hear the pathetic cry of "Maaaa Maaa...." in the other room.  I admit, though, that I have to fight the urge to scoop him up into my arms when I come back (and sometimes I just give in, because I can't resist that little face, and the excitement he expresses when I return to him).  Plus, lifting that kid up is like lifting free weights.  He is definitely a good tool for muscle building.  At nearly 10 months old, he weighs 23 pounds.  I am just grateful his weight gain slowed after he turned 6.5 months (he was 22 pounds then!).  Not sure if my little muscles could handle that continued pace of weight gain.

Brad and I have a date night scheduled for Thursday night.  Jacob is going to stay with Uncle Larry and Aunt Kelly while we go have a wine tasting night at Wine Styles, followed by dinner.  Sooo looking forward to that!  I probably won't eat all day so I can save points for wine...which will be fantastic when I realize how quickly an empty stomach will cause me to buzz.  Ok fine...I will eat a piece of bread 10 minutes before we go in ;-)

Busy and fabulous weekend ahead of me!  I have some of my M.O.P.S. girls coming over for Game Night/pajamas/and fun on Friday...can't wait to have them over! On Saturday, my besties (yes, I said besties...normally I would shoot someone with a rubber band for using that word) are coming for Game Night #2!  I get my Cindy, my Fultzy (or Jennifer, as some of you know her), and hopefully Marcy...along with the added bonuses of Jamie, Matt, Chad, Pat, hopefully Rich, and my good ol' reliable nephew, Justin.  I can always count on him to add fun to any gathering.  He throws twists and turns into Game Night that no one else could  possibly come up with.  Talk like a pirate?  Heck yes! 

These gatherings pose many weight loss challenges for me, but as my good friend and mentor Barney Stinson would say..."Challenge Accepted!"  Game Night #1 shouldn't be too tough, since most of the girls are as dedicated in their weight loss plights as I am.  Game Night #2, on the other hand, will definitely require more distraction from snacking.  Or perhaps, I should just go buy lots and lots of carrots....