Best Life Challenge: Tracy

This past week was really tough. I worked a lot of hours this past week, and although that makes my commute home easy because I arrive before rush hour and return very late in the evening, it makes life a little more difficult.

I ended up going to the gym after 10 p.m. several evenings, and even though I worked out, I came home and still did more work. I managed to get in my a.m. run and my p.m. strength training despite all the time I was at the office. Even though this was a tough week I made it, and I didn't just survive—I really triumphed. The people on my team were amazed that I had so much dedication, but I found that actually during a stressful week the exercise really energized me and helped me be a better contributor.

I even managed to eat pretty healthily considering the stressors of the week. I did have one sad realization—I think I have to give up Thai food. I had been sick several weeks ago and had a lot of red curry. Red curry has a coconut milk-based soup that is spicy and has chicken and bamboo shoots. It tasted really comforting, and I thought that it was the salt that caused the scale to go up and didn't think much more about it. On Saturday Matt and I went out for Thai food and, sadly, the scale hasn't gone back down. So for now Thai food is going to have to be a treat, and I think it is going to have to go out of the normal rotation. I was a little sad about that but maybe I'll just enjoy it a bit more when I have my Thai treat.

All in all things are going well. I'm here to announce my pact with Vanessa—we've decided that together we're going to lose 20 pounds each by the next show. Vanessa is a great friend and we're doing a good job holding one another accountable and cheering one another on. I think that it's helpful to buddy up every once in a while and shoot for a goal. I really love having a workout buddy and realize that it is due to amazing people like Vanessa that I've been successful. Losing weight is tough. I've been successful in this journey, but it's the people who tell me I look great or that they admire my dedication that keep me going when I hop on the treadmill and after two minutes I feel like crap. It's those same words of support that get me out of bed in the morning to run at 4:45 a.m. and pass on banana cream pie even though it's my favorite. Thanks again to everyone who is supportive in this journey.

Skipping the Thai to make my goal,

Tracy