Fat Marissa comes out to play, but Skinny Marissa is here to stay!

So I let fat Marissa come out to play Saturday at a drunken wedding and I didn't lock her back up until Monday afternoon. haha. Seriously though taking 3 days in a row off working out and letting myself eat whatever I wanted resulted in gaining like 4 pounds! So, small step back but it's good to know how quickly I can undo so much of my hard work. Also, I don't think I've mentioned that I have gallstones.

So, for roughly the last year I've been having bouts of nausea and back pain after eating super fatty foods, especially dairy fat. I found out it was gallstones last summer but the attacks are so infrequent I don't want to do surgery. Anyway, I've pretty much cut dairy fat out of my diet as much as possible. I'm lactose-intolerant anyway so it wasn't THAT hard. Especially when I know that eating queso might result in hours of agony. So  every 3 weeks we have a patient that comes in and brings donuts. Fat Marissa was ALMOST back in her cage but she slipped back out for a 2nd donut, which resulted in me getting sick halfway through choir practice and laying in bed for hours. So, yeah. Don't get gallstones. It sucks.

Even with the residual soreness, I got back on it hard last night with Zumba and then gave myself a mini spin class. I haven't been able to make it to spin in a couple weeks and the gyms have gotten new bikes so I went and played on one for a while. It was great! The new bikes count your calories burned and how fast you're peddling and how far you've gone, so cool! The sauna at the gym has been messed up lately so the heat I've come to savor after a hard workout was about 60 degrees less[a mere 120, lol] than it usually is and I was sad. Something about that intense heat relaxing all those muscles you just punished is really relaxing once you get used to it. If you're doing hard work outs and your gym has a sauna, I definitely recommend trying it. Though as accounted by my post roughly a year ago, saunas can get awkward fairly quickly. Now I walk in empty-handed in my socks and If i'm by myself I take off my shirt and lay on top of it, which is also apparently socially acceptable. I also like to use my exercise towel to cover my face. Serves dual purpose of  being able to ignore everyone else, and protecting my lungs from the super-hot air.

Anywho, I promised y'all pictures and pictures you shall have. Again, this is what I've pretty much established as my "before" picture:

April 2010

And this is my April 2013 picture:

April 2013

Sorority pose in full effect, y'all. It's pretty much permanent and I can't really help it. haha Fairly certain 2 of those grapefruits came from my chin. =) I was back on campus and tried taking a picture in that exact spot from 3 years ago, but everything has grown so much and it was muddy and I didn't want to make Will get his dress shoes dirty sooo yeah that was a fail. haha. Maybe I'll try again later, I'm sure I'll be back on campus for another wedding eventually.

This is a really random post but I guess that's what I get for skipping a week and getting sick and having lots to say. I apologize! I might actually do another post Friday because I want to talk about how I'm going to make changes to my current workout routine. Not Zumba or Yoga though, because I'm still loving those. Did Yoga again today and was shocked to be in the top performing half of the class. We had a lot of beginners[like i'm not?] and this one girl was totally unaware of her body and what "straight line" meant. The instructor was trying to help her so she didn't hurt herself but then she gave up when she realized that it was a lost short-term cause. It was gonna take a personal training session in a mirrored box to get her aware of what she was doing.

There was also a fairly obese woman that came in late and only participated in about half the class. I was impressed with the instructor and how she gave her personal attention[without disrupting class] and had her just do some ab work when we were doing stuff that she wasn't flexible enough to do. She just watched a good bit of what we were doing and I talked to her after class and she said she'd be back next week and I assured her I would as well. My Zumba friend that I've been missing was back last night, too! She'd been gone for like a month and she said she was in a car accident! I'm glad she's back and feeling better. We were both moving slowly last night because she was still recovering from that and I was still recovering from my gallbladder attack. I like making friends at the gym, even though Will thinks I talk too much. =) I think if you're gonna be doing the same class with people every week for the foreseeable future you should at least get on a smile-and-wave basis with them. haha

Thanks for reading, guys! Sorry about slacking last week, I will definitely post Friday about my upcoming slim-down regimen change. haha

Baby You Can Be My Motivation

After a few months and 15 pounds, I was feeling pretty good. The pilates took my curves(read:rolls) and turned it into a true hour glass that I could be proud of and was noticeable. My 24th birthday(a year ago today) rolled around and I was happy that all of my friends commented on my new and improved figure. My work in college on learning how to accept a compliment was tested on a physical level and passed. [mostly unrelated to my weight, I think, it has always been hard for me to accept compliments gracefully.] this positive experience only boosted my drive, and generally prepared me for the next destination in this adventure.

Now I guess I should take a second and explain a bit for those who don't know. At this point I had also been on an online dating site for close to a year. I joined because I didnt know how else to meet single, attractive, successful, straight men. Now if you haven't tried it you can laugh all you want, but working in a women's clothing store wasnt exactly a good place to meet bachelors. Anyway, I had gone on several dates, talked to LOTS of guys, and nothing had really worked out. I wasn't exactly giving up, but I was starting to think maybe all these computer engineers and grad students weren't what I needed. I was messaging a couple different guys, when one of them really started to interest me. So, I gave him my phone number after a week, which was completely out of my pattern and decided "what the hell, I'll invite him out with me and my friends". He seemed normal even if he wasn't quite my norm, he was super hot, and what did I have to lose? Well, as you may have already guessed, absolutely nothing. He is now my boyfriend of 11 months and the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Think I'm being a mushy girl? Let me explain. After we started dating I found out that he used to be 60ish lbs heavier and 4 sizes bigger. He was a living embodiment of my ultimate goal: From cute and cuddly to stone cold sexy. It was as if God said "ok, I see you have done what you can for yourself, let me give you your reward in the form of everything you ever needed in a partner". Will was EXACTLY what I needed at exactly the right time. Instead of becoming complacent with where I was, I had living proof that eating right and hard work could transform you into whatever you were willing to work toward.

The best part was that apart from being completely supportive, he was completely apathetic. For any male readers let me explain: the worst thing a guy could do is comment on your health or eating habits in any way that could be construed as "you need to lose weight". Will already liked me for who I was, so I was free to push myself to be better without any sort of pressure from him. This was amazing to me. How easy would it have been for him to push me like he was still pushing himself? Apparently it never crossed his mind.

It was actually close to 3 months before we actually started working out together. This may sound strange but he never offered and I never asked. Probably something to do with how disgusting I always felt after I worked out and I didn't want my boyfriend to see me like that. Finally one day we finally worked out together, and it was another beautiful beginning. We motivated eachother and pushed each other to do more. I actually started to look forward to working out, instead of being another chore on my to-do list. It brought us closer and propelled us each through another plateau. I discovered that one of the best motivators can be a work out buddy to keep you accountable.