Friday!

Yoglates - how I started my Friday. Yes, my spot is all the way in the back!
My treat! It's even more awesome when it's delivered to your desk!

BTW, I succumbed to peer pressure & joined Instagram. Tracit1997 is how you can find me.

I saw this on someone's blog the other day but I don't remember whose it was. I thought it was interesting to see what other people do.

1. What did you eat for breakfast?
Multi grain English muffin with maple almond butter, a glass of unsweetened almond milk & a cup of French Vanilla coffee with honey, Truvia & sugar free vanilla non dairy creamer..

2. How much water do you drink a day?
A TON. I have a 64 oz. jug at work & I drink at least a full one while I'm at work everyday plus what I drink at home.

3. What is your current favorite workout?

Running. I feel like I'm really accomplishing something.

4. How many calories do you eat a day?
I'm not totally sure. Most days I think it's around 1500. That doesn't include weekends. My Caliente meal is probably that many calories by itself!

5. What are your favorite healthy snacks?
Kashi granola bars, Clif bars, grapes & cheese sticks

6. What do you usually eat for lunch?

During the week it's the same thing just about everyday. I make a wrap using an Ole tortilla (spinach & herb, whole wheat or tomato basil), a slice of low fat Sargento cheese & some sort of turkey. Sometimes I have lettuce & tomato on it, sometimes I throw in half an avocado. To go with it I have Special K Multi Grain Crackers & dill pill spears.

7. What is your favorite body part to
strength train?
I can't say I have a favorite. My thighs need the most work

8. What is your least favorite body part to strength train?
My Core. I know it's important but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

9. What are your “bad” food cravings?
MEXICAN & fried seafood without a doubt. Although, I do like Italian too.

10. Do you take vitamins or supplements?
Yes! I used to take GNC Active but they're HUGE & smell funny. I saw everyone talking about the VitaFusion gummy's so I tried them & love them. They don't smell funny, they taste good & they don't make me nauseous.

11. How often do you eat out?
Usually just on the weekends. Normal is twice a weekend I guess. Sometimes three times.

12. Do you eat fast food?
Sort of. I love Raising Canes but I don't eat it a lot. Love Chick fil A but I can't tell you the last time I ate there. I was very excited last week when it was announced Jimmy John's is opening next to Caliente! This is like 10 mins. from home & it's on my way home from work.

13. Who is your biggest supporter?

Without a doubt Dean. Poor thing always wakes me up to run or go to Yoglates. Which means he's waking up before he needs to.

14. Do you have a gym membership?
Not a gym but I do pay for Yoglates.

15. How many hours of sleep do you get a night?
Not enough. I get at least 7 hours but for me that isn't enough. Never has been. I go to bed early & get up early. In other words I have the sleep habits of an 80 year old. There are nights that I'm asleep for 8:45.

16. Do you have a “cheat”day?
I guess my cheat days are Friday & Saturdays because that's when we eat out.

17. Do you drink alcohol?
Yep

18. Do you have a workout buddy?

No & it's not for lack of trying. My friends are who convinced me to try Yoglates because they were going. I think they lasted 6 months. 2.5 years later I'm still going. Different friends convinced me to do C25K when I didn't want to. I think my SIL is the only one still running.

19. What is the best thing that has
changed about your life since committing to a healthy lifestyle?
I have more energy, I feel better & for the first time in my life I'm sticking with something. I think I look better too.

20. What was the last healthy thing you did?

Went to Yoglates this morning!

Toodles!

Good Friday

It would be a little better if I wasn't sitting at my desk at work & was running around Lowe's with Dean but that's not the way it is. Speaking of Lowe's, while he was there he was going to pick up some sealer for my granite & back splash. That's a project I'll be doing. What kind of sealers do y'all use? The back splash is tumbled travertine. I was told to use something for "natural stone". That was $85 a gallon. They were out of it & they also had something that said for marble, granite, travertine. It was $28 a gallon. What's the deal? Do I need to spend the $85?

I feel better today about the whole weight loss thing than I did yesterday. I'm wearing a smaller pair of pants I bought awhile back & they fit fine. I definitely need to measure myself. I went to Yoglates yesterday & to the guy that was next to me blowing his nose on his shirt....DON'T SIT BY ME & DO THAT!!!! Ugh, so gross! I have a week stomach when it comes to nose blowing & that just totally disgusted me. Hearing someone blow their nose first thing in the morning makes me nauseous. Always has.  There's a bathroom in the studio that people go to during class all the time. On a more pleasant note, yesterday was LSU's last day of school until the 16th. Spring break is a wonderful time of year for us. Yoglates won't be crowded with super skinny sorority girls that talk like the Kardashians & traffic will be soooo much better. See, we live about 3 miles from LSU & as long as school is in session traffic is bad. Really bad.

I was up at 4:45 this morning to go for my run. I'm sure Dean wasn't overly excited about the alarm going off at that time of the morning on his day off but I told him he could take a nap this afternoon if he needed. HA! Today I started Week 6 which was (2) 9 minute runs with a 3 minute walk in between. The temperature was great & I got through it. I've been thinking it's time for new running shoes & I definitely think that's the case after this morning. My lower back is bothering me. Nothing severe but I think new shoes will help. My next run is 20 mins. straight.

My tulips are still looking pretty but they've changed positions.

I love how tulips do this! Notice that black granite tile on the island. This time next week it won't be there. WOOO HOOO!!!!

Happy Good Friday!!

Toodles!

Weigh In Thursday

I've lost .4 lbs. this week. Not ideal but at least it's not a gain. Aside from the best shrimp poboy ever & that cup of crab & brie soup I had, I did well over the weekend. Then Monday when I got to work I realized I'd forgotten the tortillas I use to make my wrap so I had a wrap from the food truck. It was DELISH!! I don't know the calorie count but it was a whole wheat tortilla, grilled chicken & a sensation salad mixed in. So good. Well, then Tuesday they were filming a movie in our building. For those of you that don't know Louisiana is now a hot bed of movie making activity. Apparently, the state gives some kind of crazy tax breaks. Anywho, we got an email Monday that a movie would be filmed in our building. It ended up being filmed on my floor. I couldn't eat my lunch in the normal area because it was set up with laptops & other assorted movie making crap. One of our conference rooms was wardrobe. It was neat to see. The movie is called Knights of Glory. We couldn't find anything about it online & were assuming it wasn't a big budget thing & nobody important was in it. HOWEVER, my friend Wendy's boss was in the elevator with some of the crew & she asked if anyone famous was in the movie to which they told her a name. She didn't know the person & they said it was an actor from The Big Bang Theory. We LOVE that show! Apparently, by the time she got back to Wendy she had no clue of the name of the person. Well, I made about a million trips to the bathroom & the kitchen to get water. HAHA! I saw several actors (I knew they were actors because they were wearing business suits & we were told they wanted to use our big conference room to film some scenes about business men meeting). So Wendy saw a sign posted by the elevator that said something about dressing rooms for "Jim, Luther & Clare". Soooo, we're assuming that Jim Parsons who plays Sheldon on Big Bang was the one here. I was very bummed that I didn't see him. He's soooo funny!!!

Wow, I really got off track. The whole point about the movie being filmed was that they took over our lunch area & I don't eat at my desk because I'd get interrupted ten million times & I didn't really want to go anywhere else in the building. I needed to run by the nursery to pick up a pot so I decided to go to McAllisters for a club sandwich while I was out. I'm guessing that didn't help the weight this week.

I've kept on track with my workouts this week. The rain messed up my run schedule last week but Saturday evening after we worked in the yard I finished Week 3 of C25K. I wanted to do day 1 of week 4 Sunday evening but I was tired & thought I probably shouldn't push it by running 3 days in a row. I went to Yoglates Monday, got up at 4:45 & ran Tuesday, went to Yoglates yesterday & I'm going again today, tomorrow morning will be another 4:45 wake up call. Yikes!

Toodles!

Mortified

And tired. You may remember my post from one day this week when I talked about the annoying people at Yoglates. You know, the ones that annoy me?? Welllllll, Wednesday night I was on Facebook (it will get you in trouble) & Yoglates posted about how they were "going back to their roots with no cell phones & no talking". They've been doing this since the first of the year due to people thinking it's perfectly appropriate to text & have cell phones ringing during class. Several people commented on the greatness of it, blah, blah, blah. THEN I commented "it's a shame we can't stop people from leaving early". No biggie right? Just my opinion & the opinion of others because I've discussed it with several people. Not to mention the end is the best part because you're not working anymore, it's all good stretching & breathing, but anyway. Well, I'd forgotten all about it. When I got to Yoglates yesterday I thought maybe things were getting back to normal because there were only a couple other people there & I was able to get my back row spot. So the teacher , who I like very much, is walking across the room to turn on the heat (it was 70 degrees yesterday but you know this is hot Yoglates, ugh!) when she says to me "Traci, you don't like people leaving early huh?". I respond that I don't because it's distracting. She agrees & goes on to say how the end is an important part of the routine & how after working as hard as we do our bodies need a cool down, blah, blah, blah. That's when I notice that one of the girls in the studio is one of the ones that left early the day before. Oops. HOWEVER, she wasn't who I was talking about. I was talking about the 2 sorority girls that jammed themselves in between me & this other girl & then left in the middle of class. Back to yesterday & my big mouth, so I proceeded to get my hair all pinned up (you don't realize how much hair you have until you try to get it all off your face & neck) & I notice, much to my chagrin, that the girl that heard us had moved over by the door. OMG! I guess she heard us & knew she'd be leaving early. I was thinking at least she moved by the door because that wouldn't disturb anyone. End of story?? Of course not. I look up & she's about 2 feet away from me & she proceeds to start APOLOGIZING!! OMG OMG OMG!!! SOOOO FREAKIN' EMBARRASSED. She starts saying that she doesn't like when people leave early either but her little girl is at dance & she has to be there to pick her up. I assured her that I was talking about the 2 annoying sorority girls, even though it is annoying when people leave before & during the cool down. I did think enough to leave out the term "annoying sorority girls". The way my luck was going this girl was probably one. A Sorority girl not annoying. She was very nice. She agreed with me that they were rude & she couldn't believe how they just squeezed in & then left. So, what did I learn? Think before you post crap on Facebook & keep my trap shut. Ugh!

Toodles!

Weigh In Thursday

So I realized that I skipped a weigh in last week. Easy to get out of the habit. I'm still at the 3 lbs gained from the holidays. Last week was my first week back into my Yoglates 3 times a week routine. I didn't have a good eating weekend. There was The Chimes Friday night, gumbo Saturday & Burgersmith Sunday. Today will be my 3rd day this week at Yoglates & it will also be 3 days in a row. It's not as tough as I was expecting. Last week I was incredibly sore. I missed the entire week before that. This week so far no soreness. I've also been wearing my handy dandy heart rate monitor.

It's great. It has the strap that goes around your chest so it's more accurate. I thought that it would bother me but it hasn't. Tuesday I burned 373 calories & yesterday 500. I knew yesterday would be more. It was a tough workout. Let me just say, I'm not a fan of plank runners or push press runners. I can't decide which I despise more. We started doing a lot of them last week. 4 sets of each, as many as you can do in 20 seconds with a 10 second break in between sets. It may not sound like much but you try it & see how you like it. This week it's 5 sets of each. Apparently, we're working our way up to 8 sets. Shoot me now.

I'm annoyed. Imagine that. All of these people with New Years resolutions to start working out, I'm ready for them to give up. It's cramping my style. Literally, cramping. Class is crammed full of people & there's no space to breathe. Not to mention when there are 75 people in a class the temp rises even more & it's hotter & more humid than usual. Yesterday, I couldn't get my usual back row spot because of all the people. THEN, people come to class late & squeeze in where there really isn't a spot. OK, fine, whatever. BUT, if you do that DO NOT LEAVE EARLY. I was really annoyed. Yes, sorority girls I'm talking to you! I know that exercising was my resolution last year but I started in Feb. after the initial rush was over & I didn't quit!!! YAY ME! Something else that annoyed me was the chick in full on Kim Kardashian makeup. She looked exactly the same after class as she did before class. How is that even possible??? I know I sweat like a man & most people don't BUT come on! Makeup was perfect & not a hair out of place & she was doing all the exercises. Some people are just too lucky. Happy Thursday!

I'm linking up to Liz's party.



Toodles!

PSA

So today as I was perusing blogs I came across some very interesting info. Sarah at Life Sweet Life shared something that I knew nothing about. The correct way to use a bobby pin!

 I may be the last person in the world to know this but apparently the wavy side is the side that goes up against your scalp. Who knew? Maybe everyone but me? So when I went to Yoglates today I tried putting my bobby pins in the correct way & they really do work better. They stay in place better. So there's your public service announcement for the day.

Speaking of Yoglates. Due to sickness & holiday stuff, I haven't been to class in about a week and a half. I was a little leery of going today because I still don't feel great but I thought maybe I could sweat the sickness out. HA! My goal was to not pass out. My head is stopped up so all the bending over tends to make me lightheaded, combine that with the 90 degree heat & things can get a little out of hand.  I accomplished my goal! I only felt like I was going to pass out a couple of times so all was good. I plan to go back tomorrow. There will be lots of eating this weekend & I don't want to gain weight.

Toodles!

Back on track....

Somewhat. I gained a few pounds over the last few weeks since I wasn't able to exercise because of my hip. Last week I was seriously contemplating a visit to the Doctor. My neighbor/athletic trainer didn't think it was necessary unless I wanted a cortisone shot. Um, no. I don't take cortisone shots when I'm sick because they keep me awake for days & I don't do good without sleep. Not to mention, they HURT! Apparently, my hip heard this conversation because within days it was feeling MUCH better. I didn't go to Yoglates last week because I knew I'd be doing a lot of ladder climbing when I was decorating for Christmas & I thought the combination of it all may be too much. I climbed & climbed & all was well. I'm still icing it at night just to be safe but I'm about ready to stop because it's cold here & laying around with a frozen bottle on my leg isn't fun. To all my northern friends - YES, IT'S COLD!! The other day it didn't get out of the 40's all day! I went back to Yoglates Monday & was able to do everything without pain. I'm a little sore but I think that has more to do with no exercise for weeks than the hip. I'm going back today.

My house is all decorated for Christmas. I need to take pictures. I've done a ton of Christmas shopping online. More than I've ever done. I don't like to pay shipping but this year pretty much everything has been free shipping & if there was a charge it wasn't much. I still have a few things to pick up.  I plan to get started wrapping this week & get my Christmas cards taken care of.

Of course, as with every year, when I'm Christmas shopping I end up picking up some things for me. I mean who can pass up the sales??? Yesterday, Reebok extended their Cyber Monday sale. Tons of stuff was on sale plus there was a code for 40% off your total order & there was free shipping. My kind of sale.  I got a couple of pair of their running shorts that I love & some tanks. I think I'm about to order a yoga bag that I saw too but I can't find a coupon code for the shipping. We'll see. Do y'all shop for yourselves at Christmas?

One thing I've managed to refrain from this year is buying Christmas decor. I swore that this would be the year I didn't buy anything. I have so much stuff. I really don't need anything else. Over the weekend I made a wreath with supplies from previous years. The only thing I didn't have was a wreath hanger, I know it's not necessary but it's easy & a couple of little sticky up (don't y'all love my descriptions?) things for the top of the wreath. I also needed 2 new candles because for whatever reason candles on my dining room table melt without being lit & then the shape gets all wonky. I went to Hobby Lobby after work yesterday & got only the things I needed! That never happens! YAY ME!!

Toodles!

Random Thursday

I'm very excited to say that I screwed up. I actually lost 2 lbs. this week not 1. My scale stores the last weight you were & I weighed this morning (had lost a tad) & that's when I saw that yesterdays weight was a pound less. YAY! I guess I need to start writing it down so I don't screw up the post.

I had a few people ask about cooking an egg in the microwave. My friend Allison is the one that told me how to do this. I just take a regular bowl, like a cereal bowl & crack the egg in that & add hot sauce & seasoning & then beat it all together with a fork. Make sure you spray Pam or something in the bowl. Otherwise, you're going to have a big mess & half your egg will end up stuck to the bowl. Trust me when I tell you this. Then just put it in the microwave (I cover it with the little plate cover thingy for microwave use & cook it for a minute. I know all microwaves are different so you may need to cook a little longer or a little less. The egg taste like a scrambled egg but it kind of molds itself to the bowl so it's like a little egg patty & is perfect if you want to make a sandwich with it.  I had one this morning on an english muffin. I should've taken a picture but I didn't think about it.

Yoglates was TOUGH yesterday. Wednesday = a new routine. This week is very arm intense. Lots of push ups & we have to use those stupid balls. Well, we don't have too but I did. The ball weighs 6 lbs. so it's definitely making it harder. Today is my last class for the week. Tomorrow will be my day off & I'll run Saturday morning.

Is anyone watching Two and a Half Men? We loved it when Charlie Sheen was on. I know he's a horrible person, blah blah blah BUT it was funny. Now, not so much. At least we don't think so. I've never been much of an Ashton Kutcher fan. Not sure why but something about him bugs me & that hasn't changed with him on the show.

Toodles!

Weigh In Wednesday

Weight:
I'm down 1 pound from my last Weigh In Wed. which was Weigh In Thurs. on Sept. 29th. Woo hoo!! I didn't do an "official" weight post last week but I did weigh a couple of times & I was up from the 29th so I'm very excited to be down now. Still haven't made it to my goal but I know I'll get there eventually!

Food:
I've told of my cooking fiasco's before. Some major, some pretty minor. Well, in the last 2 weeks I've had breakfast issues. My breakfast varies depending on how much time I have in the morning. When there's extra time I usually scramble an egg in the microwave & put it on a whole grain english muffin. REALLY good!! Anyway, I put hot sauce & cajun seasoning in my egg before I cook it. Well, for some reason when I put the hot sauce in a bunch came flying out. I don't understand how that happened but whatever. Then I start sprinkling in the cajun seasoning & it came out pretty fast & I was like what's going on & that's when I realized. It wasn't cajun seasoning. It was CHILI POWDER. Lovely. I tried to scoop some out but that wasn't very effective. I just cooked it. Far be it from me to waste an egg & start over. As it turns out the extra hot sauce pretty much cancelled out the chili powder.

My next "incident" was this week. My sis-in-law Lydia has introduced me to the greatness that is oatmeal. I really like it! She told me about a brand, Better Oats, that she really liked. They are super easy. Open the little pack, pour the contents in a bowl, then fill the pouch to the line with water, add it & stir. Cook for whatever (I think a minute & a half). It comes out perfect every time. I was out of oatmeal so when we were grocery shopping Sunday morning I was going to get more. Well, the Walmart Neighborhood Market that we shop at doesn't have this particular brand. I wasn't in the mood to go to Winn Dixie so I bought Great Value instant oatmeal. Yeh, won't make that mistake again. I did just what the directions said. They say to cook 1 1/2 -2 minutes. I put it on 1:45. I open the microwave & half of my oatmeal is all over the microwave. I guess it exploded & NO I didn't cover it. It said not to.  That was the first question Dean asked. Then it wasn't even that good. Like I have any extra time in the morning for breakfast malfunctions. I'll be making a trip to Winn Dixie soon. 

I'm not a big fruit eater. I like oranges, grapefruits (every now & then), strawberries & grapes. Of all of these fruits the only ones I buy regularly are grapes. Don't ask me why. I guess because they're easy to eat. I forgot to get some at the grocery store Sunday. I stopped at the store on the way home from work to pick some up. I stopped at Matherne's which is a great family owned store. I LOVE this store but I don't do regular shopping there because it's more expensive. I see the grapes, I buy the grapes. Yesterday, at lunch I'm having grapes for dessert & there's something crunchy inside the grape. WTH?? Yeh those would be seeds. I swear I looked at the container & it said seedless. When I got home I checked out the container & it says "red seeded grapes". Lovely. I don't know about you but I don't like crunching down on something that isn't supposed to be crunchy. GROSS! This got me thinking. Why on earth do they even sell grapes with seeds when there are grapes without them? I don't understand that at all. So, now I have $6 worth of crunchy grapes.

Exercise:
I've only been to Yoglates once this week. That was yesterday. I didn't go Sunday because one of the "crazy" teachers was teaching. HA! There are 2 teachers that are just a little to gung ho for me. Let's just say the one & only time I went to this chick's class I went home & threw up. Soooo, I didn't go Sunday. Monday, I had a meeting a Church so I couldn't go. I'll be there today & tomorrow though to get my 3 classes in for the week.

Today I completed C25K!! I'm completely amazed with myself. No, I'm not running 3.1 miles in 30 mins. like it says I'll be doing at the end of 9 wks. but I can run 30 minutes at a time. My pace varies. Today I was slower than I've been at 12:02/mile. For some reason when I run on Saturday's I'm faster. I've been right around 11:00/mile. My plan is to continue to run 3 times a week & work my way up to 3.1. I'm planning my next run for Saturday morning & I'm going to go 32 minutes. Right now my goal is to run a 5K. The time will come later. My first race is November 5th.

Toodles!

It's October!

Hard to believe isn't it? I love the month of October. My anniversary is tomorrow & my birthday is at the end of the month. Lots to look forward to.

Friday night we went to the wine tasting. There were 4 couples & we had such a good time. We also drank entirely too much wine. There were 7 wines featured. The 7th was DELISH, my absolute fave. Sadly, it was like $150 a bottle. Needless to say we didn't bring any of that home. The meal was delicious too. We had blue cheese stuffed mushrooms. SOOOOO good. Turkish lamb stew, which I was leery about, but was also really good. The main course was prime rib & olive oil baked potatoes with chocolate butter cake for dessert. The wines are always discounted at these dinners so we usually buy some of our faves. There's also an additional discount if you buy 6 or more. This is some of what we bought.

We ended up with 7 bottles. I just realized something. Anytime, I buy more of something than I need due to a discount Dean says I'm "spaving", spending to save. He makes fun of me for this BUT he did the same thing Friday night!!! HA!

So after the dinner we went to Marcello's. It's a small restaurant & bar that's really good. We just stopped in for a drink. I had a wedding cake martini & it was delish!! Good thing I had the recipe in my phone because the bartender didn't know how to make it.

YUM!!!

Suzy, Korie & me. It was really dark so it was hard to get a decent picture.

Saturday morning I woke up bright & early at 6:15 & couldn't go back to sleep. It was awful. I also had a headache. Imagine that. I went for a walk & then came home & did Bethenny Frankel's  Body By Bethenny Yoga DVD. I borrowed it from my friend Wendy to see what it's like. I've never done just regular Yoga so I wasn't sure what to expect. It's very similar to the yoga portion of Yoglates. I liked it & it was more low key than what we do in class so that was nice on a off day but I probably wouldn't do this one again. I'd rather do something different from my regular routine.

I laid on the sofa the rest of the afternoon watching the LSU game. It was dullsville but they won. After the game we went next door for Amelia-Ann's 13th birthday party. I had my first "gourmet" cupcake. I never understood what the fuss was about but OMG I do now & I've been missing out. They were soooo good!!! I had wedding cake. DELISH!! Hopefully, it won't affect the scale too much this week. I just couldn't resist.

Yesterday, we went to 7:00 Mass & when we got home I ran. Week 8 Day 1 is 28 minutes straight. It was tough but I did it & I increased my time by over a minute. I don't know if that was a fluke or if I really am improving since the weather is cooler & less humid. I guess we'll see tomorrow when I do day 2. After my run I parked myself on the sofa again. I didn't sleep great again Saturday night & I was planning to go to Yoglates later so I took a little nap & read & watched the Saints. I brought Korie & Suzy to Yoglates with me. They'd never tried it & didn't know what to expect. Let's just say they have an all new respect for me & what I've been doing. I got a message from Korie this morning that just said "OWWWW". That pretty much sums it up!

Did y'all have a good weekend?

Toodles!

Weigh In Thursday

UGH! I hate to even type these words. I gained 2.6 pounds. I knew I shouldn't have had that second piece of shower cake. I guess the fried food didn't help either. Sigh. Oh well, I've done well this week. Of course I generally do well during the week. The weekends are the problem. I'm going to try & do better this weekend. Although, we're going to a wine tasting tomorrow night. The meal appears to be fairly diet friendly. With the exception of dessert, chocolate Cabernet butter cake. I also plan to have nachos while watching the game Saturday. I've been craving them for a couple of weeks. I have multi grain tostitos so that's something. Other than those 2 meals, I WILL eat good. 

Today will be my last Yoglates class for the week. 3 days in a row is tough but that's just the way it worked out this week. Tomorrow will be the last day of Week 7 for C25K. It's really hard to believe I only have 2 weeks left & I'll have made it through the entire program. I honestly didn't think I'd make it.  I also registered for my first 5K this week. It's November 5th. There's no turning back now!

I have another meal cooking in the crock pot today. I'll post about it tomorrow. This one involves chicken.

Toodles!