Catching Up & a Weekend Recap!

Hi. My name is Traci. And I'm a blog-slacker.

Last week was cray. Seriously. I hardly had time to come up for air all week last week at work. Today started out that way too, but I'm breathing now. Eating, though, has been going great believe it or not. That's a success all on it's own because normally, stress=eating crap. I haven't exercised as much as I'd like, but I haven't done too badly.

A goal I've set for myself this week is cutting some of my "crap calories" - who needs the junk, really? So "clean" is the trendy term, and I can't say that's my real goal here. But I do want to clean up the act a little. Partially because I found myself in the car after a quick Kroger stop on Friday with a little pint of Starbucks Java Chip ice cream. How did that get in my bag? <blush> I didn't eat any until Saturday night, and I only had a SERVING. Not the pint. :)

So get this. I know last week I was whining about how unorganized I am. So I made this great custom planner. I took some time to search some blogs and the amazing time-suck world of Pinterest (seriously, where does time go once you start pinning?), and found some great printables, and wandered around Hobby Lobby for paper and creativeness. About $10 later, I have something really comparable to those expensive Erin Condren life planners! Printables were courtesy of iheartorganizing and the nest effect. It was fun :)

My weekend was amazeballs.We missed Hubs all weekend because he was working, but Sweet P and I had a blast doing some super fun stuff. Her t-ball season started Saturday, and I'm assistant coaching. All I can say is those kids have energy for days. After that, we did some things around the house then went 4-wheeling with some friends. Yes, we are country. Don't hate. Look at this cutie!

She had a friend spend the night with her Saturday night, then we got up in the morning for a SURPRISE. I had planned with another mom to surprise our girls by meeting at the movies to go see Oz the Great and Powerful. Now, I know I haven't said this before, but my girl is a HUGE Wizard of Oz fan. It started when she was 2, and continues to this day (she'll be 6 in August *tear*). She flipped her lid! The movie was amazing though, and I highly recommend it. The special effects alone are worth the trip!

After she found out what the surprise was - so happy!

Anyway, enough rambling. That's my weekend recap y'all! Happy Monday...

Oh and BTW, if you didn't catch Justin Timberlake on SNL this weekend, find a way to see it. PERFECTION.

Quityerbitchin' ... For reals.

Wow. Can I just say it has been SO hectic the past 2 weeks. I really believe I'm creating the hectic-ness (is that a word?) myself, but geez. I'm slacking on the blog front - but more importantly, on the healthy lifestyle front. Time to snap back into it.

I'm searching now for organization tips. I feel like I'm running around crazy every morning trying to get everything done and get Sweet P out the door, and I look around my house before I leave for work and it looks like a tornado hit it. How is that possible when I've only been up for an hour and a half?

Hubby started a new job last week, and it's hard getting used to him not being there in the mornings (he leaves before 6am). It will be nice though, once we get settled into this routine, because he gets home between 3:30 and 4:00, and I can start enlisting his help with dinner prep! Therein lies my issue...I can't get MYSELF organized enough to even try to get that going. I swear, a few weeks ago I was on a roll with being organized, meal planning, etc. etc. Now I'm struggling to even roll out of bed on time.

Anyway - enough whining. I know things could be worse. I've been hearing a lot of friends on Facebook talking about losses of friends and relatives. It's getting too close to home - and I really need to be more thankful for what we do have, instead of griping about these so-called problems.

SO - This is my moment I'm going to proclaim I'm CHANGING my attitude!

I'm going to take some time today and tonight, and get my head wrapped around what it is I need to do to change my path. I've lost 13 pounds, people! No need to backslide now... I don't want to end up back where I was or worse. And I do realize that if I don't change now, I'll do just that.

Thanks for listening to me bitch and moan today - look for a new focus tomorrow :)



Oh How Pinteresting!

I bigfluffyheart Pinterest. And love this linkup for that reason!



Let's get pinning, shall we??

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We are in the process of selling our home in order to build our "forever home" and stone is my OBSESSION.

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Happy Pinning, y'all!

Where's My Mojo?

I've apparently come off my runner's high from last week. I actually fell off of it with a thud, and haven't run since that fateful Thursday. Eek! It's been hard the past few days though. Life got in the way.

I haven't really done that badly in the food department. However, since Saturday afternoon, I've had a sick little Sweet P, and we're finally all recovered from what we found out to be her first sinus infection. JOY! I just didn't think sinus infections could take it out of a child the way it did.

Doesn't she look pitiful? :(

But anyway. I'm trying to get back on a positive note with my quest for health here. Scheduling has been rather difficult because hubby started his new job on Monday, and we're trying to figure out what his schedule is going to be going forward. No matter what though, I'm just thankful he got the job and doesn't hate it :)

Anyway, all that said... I have a confession. I cancelled my Weight Watchers subscription. Not because I don't believe in the program, but for financial reasons. I still have a membership through the end of March, and can choose to restart it if I can afford it. However, I have friends who have told me to really commit to the (FREE) My Fitness Pal app, and you can have the same benefits - just no meetings. I'm frustrated, mainly with myself, because I give up on myself before really giving myself to chance to succeed. However, this isn't me quitting by any means. I'm just in need of doing something without having to pay the monthly membership fee right now while we're trying to balance this whole new budget we're dealing with.

Does anyone else use MFP? What are your experiences? Does anyone have any comparisons between that and Weight Watchers? Thanks all! Happy Hump Day!

Runner's High? Maybe...

Yesterday's funk must have fueled me. I'm not kidding. I got home yesterday and decided I was going to go run because I had plenty of daylight left for a change. I had been slacking off and hadn't even attempted a run since last Wednesday. Seriously. I got so nervous seeing that my next day of C25K was 20 minutes straight and it wigged me out.

Anyway, yesterday afternoon I set out for a little run. I decided I was going to pace myself, and not use the app to tell me when to run and when to walk. I was just going to go, and see what I could do. Not going to lie...those first 10ish minutes were brutal. I was mad at myself for being such a slack. But I pushed through. Slow. I don't really know what my pace was because my RunKeeper app was messing up. But I didn't care about the pace - I just wanted to push through. 10 minutes came and went. Kept going. 15? Well I'm this far, lets keep going. 20. 25. See ya.

30 minutes! I ran 30 minutes straight!! And I think I could have kept going but my neighbor called and left a voicemail and it freaked me out. She NEVER calls. So I got worried and stopped to return the call (it was totally unimportant). BUT - 30 mins?! Come on! And in the last 5, I had to push through a hill I've never run on before. Since my GPS on RunKeeper was sucking it up, I'm not sure the exact distance, but it was at least 2 and a quarter miles that I ran (my total said 2.77, and I had a 5 min warm up walk and 3 min cool down - but my phone rang twice during and it got it out of whack). Maybe a hair more. Who was that machine yesterday?!

Not going to lie, my legs were a little jello-ish when I got home. I stretched it out - and felt pretty good for the rest of the night. I took some aspirin before bed in case of soreness this morning. Woke up with NONE! I was shocked. The most I had run in a row before this was 8 minutes. I'm just so inspired by myself for a change. It feels good. Hopefully this is the start of something good...

NSV Linkup...Reality Check Time.

Time for another link up! Do I know how to even write a blog on my own anymore? Maybe. But I'm uninspired today. My NSV linkup story will explain. Hooking up with the awesome Lex & KTJ for the weekly NSV link up!

I'm bummed. But I'm not quitting. Nope. Not even after I busted my tail probably didn't do everything I could all week and didn't get the results I wanted. I lie to myself from time to time, saying that I do better than I actually do. It makes me feel better. I had my weekly weigh in at Weight Watchers last night, and lost a measley .2. Yes I know, I know. A loss is a loss. But after a 1 pound gain the week before, and actually working out several times and not going over my points except for one day last week...I expected more. But the truth is, while I probably didn't go over my points...I also probably wasn't taking into account some of the "extra tastes" that went on throughout the week. You know, those little "BLT's" (bites, licks & tastes) we are all guilty of? And my choices weren't the best either. So my goal this week is to focus on better food choices...and CONSCIOUSLY use my activity points (not all of them either). And monitor the BLT factor.

SO...all that to say...My NSV for this week is NOT GIVING UP. So many times in the past, I'd have back to back rotten weeks, and throw in the towel. Not this time. I'm determined to lose this weight this time. It might be slow, but it's going to happen. So anyway, that's my story about feeling less-than-inspired lately. But it's time to hop back up, brush the dirt off and keep going.

Happy Thursday people! One more day til the weekend :)

Oh How Pinteresting! Linkup!

My first time on this link up! I can totes get on board with this...I love me some Pinterest!

Ready...GO

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Follow me on Pinterest :) Happy Hump Day!

House Sale Frustration, Weekend Recap & Confession Time

I'm going to start by saying this. How the hell do people make it through selling a house without completely losing their shit? My house has been on the market for almost 7 months now, and I am beyond over it. I am becoming a helicopter mom, constantly behind Sweet P "clean that up" "don't mess that up" "no, that's too messy to play with". Ugh. And don't get me started on getting animals moved out for showings. I'm to the point of putting them all up for adoption (animals, not Sweet P lol) to avoid the hassle (don't judge - it's hard!). Anyway - if anyone out there in blogland knows someone in VA looking for a quaint little home in the outskirts of the Richmond area, send them my way! Isn't it CUTE?! My master suite is amazeballs - my awesome hubby built the addition himself, and is over 300 sq ft!

My PRESH house. BUY ME!

Moving on. Weekend recap? House showings. Birthday dinner for my hubs on Friday night. Saturday workout (SCORE). LAZY day Sunday. I probably should have taken some time to get in a workout, but I was exhausted. Plus Sweet P asked if we could have a girls day coloring and watching movies on the sofa together in our jammies. How do I say no? I don't. I did get one thing accomplished. I gave my shih-tzu a way overdue haircut. OMG.

I estimate at least a pound of hair. I exaggerate not.

I have a confession. I am scared. I have been doing the C25K app from my iPhone. Well, I am due to run week 5, day 3 next. I've been avoiding it. I'm a chicken-shit. It's a 5 minute warmup walk, then run 20 minutes straight. 20 minutes. I don't know if I can do it! I'm trying to build myself up to getting it done this evening. How do I get out of this negative self-talk nonsense? This fear is holding me back...

I hope everyone out there had a great weekend. Let's grab this week by the horns and really accomplish big things! (i.e. a 20 minute straight run. YIKES)

Non Scale Victory Link Up

Today is a PERFECT day to focus on some NSV's. Last night I had a crummy 1 pound gain weigh in. I know it's due to water retention from the weights I started incorporating over the past week. It's just a bummer :( SO glad I discovered this link up to bring me back to reality!

I had a great one today. My daughter's school had a "Pastries for Parents" event for Valentine's Day, where moms and dads could go have breakfast with their Kindergartners. There were plenty of yummies there, but I ate a veggie egg white omelette at home before we left, so I just drank a cup of OJ while Sweet P ate a muffin. *PROUD*

I worked from home yesterday, meaning I was able to watch tv in my sweats get a lot done while working ;) I actually did get a ton of things done yesterday I had been procrastinating. But my favorite part of working at home (which I do about once a week now) is being able to use my "lunch break" to take an exercise break! I went for a run (week 5, day 2 of C25K), and felt great afterwards.

Thanks Lex & KTJ for the link-up! And Happy Valentine's Day to all you love birds out there :)

Weigh In & a Great Read

Weight Watchers weigh in was tonight. I was nervous. I haven't been nervous in a while. I was sick last week, and didn't make it there. I had a few "off plan" meals. Not going to lie. However, I've worked out A LOT over the past week. I looked on my tracker online and realized I earned 49 activity points from last Wednesday through yesterday. Impressive! Well I was up a pound. I'm giving myself a little reprieve. I've been lifting weights and I'm sore as hell. I know my body is retaining fluid. Ugh. It doesn't make it suck any less :/

On another note, I just read a GREAT blog post from one of the beauties that inspired me to start a blog, Mama Laughlin. She posted an AWESOME one today. This girl has lost an incredible amount of weight, and did it all without a gym (she's a gym-goer now, and working hard to tone and build muscle). However, her post today Dear Big Girl, brought tears to my eyes. It's so nice to think that the "skinny minnies" in the gym really aren't looking at us bigger girls with disdain. With the "I can't believe you let yourself get that large" (which is the negative self-talk I issue to myself on the regular). They're inspired by us. They're so happy for us to be taking this step in our lives. A lot of them have been here before. They've been in our shoes. Her post is related back to a Facebook post she made a few days ago about whether or not she should approach the big girl she sees regularly at the gym and tell her how impressed she is with her. I can see both sides of it - I feel like I would at first be put off, but eventually be thankful for getting that little boost.

Aaanywho. I'm so grateful for finding some of the ladies online that share their lives on their blogs. Their struggles. Their celebrations. It's so inspiring, and helps newbies like me along the way. If any of you are reading... thank you from the bottom of my skinny-girl-in-training heart.

Boot Camp and Scale Relationships

OK - so Hubs didn't get home until late last night, so it squashed my workout plan to go to my friend's house. BUT lucky for me, I got home a little earlier than normal. Instead of being a lazy ass, I got up and went for a run (week 5, day 1 - C25K). Its hard to get that motivation, but I forget how good it feels when I'm done.

I found this Free 6-Week Online Bootcamp Class from Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans yesterday. I decided after my run, I was going to just try it out. I'll tell you what, it was tough. First of all - me+sprinting=hilarious. I'm not a small girl, and seeing me "trying" to run all out sprints. It really had to be a sight. It was a tough realization though, when I discovered I truly have no core strength. Gotta do something about that. So I'm sticking with the boot camp. We'll see what happens!

Been really counting my points lately - I really need to break away from the scale though. I have a terrible relationship with it, and it ruins my mood. Maybe it's time to just take time away from it, and only weigh in at my meetings. I have a meeting tomorrow, and to be honest, I'm not really looking forward to it. Rephrase - I love the meeting. Just not sure I want to face the scale. But it's time I guess. Maybe it's what I need to get back in the swing of things.

Next challenge - earlier to bed-->earlier to rise. I'm on a mission to become a morning person. UGH.

Happy Tuesday!

Slippery Slopes...

Need motivation! It's so dreary and yucky here this morning. I couldn't get out of bed. Which sucks, because I wanted to get up and run. But the rain lulled me right back to sleep. Plus I had a 4-year old's feet in my butt crack/back/thighs for the last few hours of my sleep sesh. I'm doing my best today to get back into a good routine. I don't know what has been up with me lately, but I have been so uninspired.

The truth is, it's a slippery slope. I always thought "Oh one bad meal/day won't hurt me" - On the contrary. I let myself slip for the Super Bowl, and after that, I was out of control. I get back on a few good days, then SLIP again on Saturday at dinner! I did contain myself to one and a half beers at the bar we went to with friends. It's just so hard, and I get into this "it's not fair" rut. Why wasn't I born with genes to be able to combat obesity? I wasn't at all - I have had to fight most of my life - as far back as 10 years old from what I can remember. I know now I have to fight hard for any weight loss. So it's time to just buckle down and get serious.

So last Thursday, I went for a workout at my friend's house, and was sore for 2 days! It was awesome. Saturday morning, I got up and ran day 3/week 4 of C25K. Then ALL FREAKIN' DAY was spent cleaning out my parents' basement. I'm telling you, I relived a huge portion of my childhood on Saturday. Even down to finding my old stash of Barbie dolls from the 80's! Hello, neon clothes and crimped hair! Sweet P was stoked! But my soreness level was up to a 12 by yesterday morning. But it's a good pain :)

Anyway, I'm back to truly tracking my points today, and going back to workout in the garage gym tonight! No excuses, it's time to get serious.

Getting Into a Workout Routine

So. Here we are... Day 2 of blog land. How exciting to get all of 7 page views... I need ideas on driving people to my blog. If someone out there in the blogosphere is reading this, and has ideas...PLEASE share!

Anyway - I said I was going to wake up and run this morning. Did I, you ask? Negative. I way overslept. I even had to call my mom in to the rescue to take my Sweet P (my little) to school! (PS - how stinkin' cute is she <<< - Today was "Dress for Success Day" and she is totally rockin' that zebra print!) I have positives and negatives about owning a memory foam mattress. Positive - It is the most comfortable mattress I've ever slept on. Negative - It is the most comfortable mattress I've ever slept on, and that makes it 100 billionty times harder to get my ass out bed in the mornings. *sad face*

On a positive note though - a girlfriend of mine has a humongous garage (I'm talking the size of my house people). Her hubby agreed to giving up a corner of it for a "home gym"!!

Rockin' - Right??


While I have a gym membership, I can't always get there. Her having this helps b/c I can come home, fix dinner, get Sweet P ready for bed and school the next day, and my Hubs can get her in bed and I can head to her house. Tonight is the first night! She used to be a HUGE gym rat before getting married and having kids. So I'm a little intimidated but not so much. She is in the same boat as me now...so we're even. And motivating each other is going to rock.

I'm off to do a little work, and maybe look into how to get more traffic to this lil' weight loss journey blog!

Let the games begin!

I think it's time I try my hand at this blog thing... Not really sure where I'm going to end up going with all of this, but it seems fun ;) So I guess my biggest "life event" going on now is losing weight. Hm, maybe getting rid of it is a better statement. I don't want to ever find this shit again. I'm sick of being fat. I've been that way most of my life. A brief overview...I'm a 30-year-old working wife and mom of one (adorable) five year old girl. Most of my life was spent overweight. In high school, I was an athlete, albeit a bigger girl than most on my teams, but still. I played volleyball for something to do in the winter, but softball was my life. After HS, I went to college (didn't play there, but played co-rec ball for the next 8 years), got engaged, graduated, got a job, got married...the whole nine. In 2005, I joined Weight Watchers b/c I wanted to "lose weight before having kids" - lost about 35 pounds and made Lifetime Membership status by November of '06 - and found out in Dec of 06 I was pregnant! JOY! My grandma says to me "Aw man, you just lost all that weight, too bad you're gonna gain it all back now". I know I could have ignored that, but it stayed with me...and I believed it. I didn't gain 35 pounds back. I gained more. 66 pounds I gained in my pregnancy. I ate like every meal was my last meal. SOB.

Fast forward 5 years - I've lost weight here and there - always gained it right back. I haven't stuck to any "plan" for more than about 3 months over the course of the years. So on December 26th, 2012, I walked back into a Weight Watchers meeting and took a deep breath before stepping on that scale again. It sucked. I mean it sucked ASS. 229.2 pounds. Barf. My lifetime weight goal was 146 pounds. I cannot believe I let it get to this point. But that's something I'm learning to do - let go of the past.

Old me *le sigh*


OH and as for the title of my blog..."Who ate my tiara?" I've always had a princess buried down deep under the jock and the fat... And my goal is to, by 2015, run the Disney Princess Half Marathon in Disney World! I'm on week 4 of the C25K training program... here goes nothing!

ANYWAY - fast forward again to today. As of my last weigh in, I've lost 11 pounds (down to 218.2) and 5% of my starting body weight! Yeah! The past few days have been BAD though...I feel myself slipping into old habits, and I'm ready for some accountability. Hopefully I'll find some folks out there ready to join me on this journey to lose more than 80 pounds!

Here I am - all 218 pounds of me! BAH. Here's to making this girl feel pretty again!