Make it a FREE DAY!

I was up at 4:45 am this morning with The Husband since he had to be work at 5 AM.  So, I took complete advantage of that and fit in my HIIT workout.  My brain was so there to push myself but my legs were tired.  I think maybe they were tired from 5 days or workouts with all but 1 including legs.  I STILL pushed myself and whipped out a fantastic workout on the treadmill.

** Happy Faces are level 8 – that’s fun that 8 ) equals a LOL

minutes 1 & 2: 3.5 mph (level 5)
minute 3: 4.0 mph (level 6)
minute 4: 5.0 mph (level 7)
minute 5: 5.5 mph (level
minute 6: 6.0 mph (level 9)
minute 7: 4.0 mph (level 6)
minute 8: 5.5 mph (level 7)
minute 9: 6.0 mph (level
minute 10: 6.5 mph (level 9)
minute 11: 4.0 mph (level 6)
minute 12: 5.5 mph (level 7)
minute 13: 6.0 mph (level
minute 14: 6.5 mph (level 9)
minute 15: 4.0 mph (level 6)
minute 16: 5.2 mph (level 7)
minute 17: 5.5 mph (level
minute 18: 6.0 mph (level 9)
minute 19: 30 seconds @7.5 & 30 seconds @ 8.0 mph (level 10)  -woohooo!
minute 20: 3.5 mph (cool down & panting)

I spent about 5 minutes walking slow to cool down and watch the news.

I think I as honestly ready to crawl back into bed at this point, but, I decided on some good stretching.  The cool part I realized during my workout is that I am now thinking that 5.5 and 6.0 do not seem super fast to me like they used to – LOVE THAT!

Meal #1 @ 6:45 am I started off with my FAVORITE protein pancake of all times topped with a little creamy Organic Raw Cashew Butter and an Agave Syrup drizzle.

Work flew by since I knew they were letting us go early to get ahead of the traffic.  I LOVE holiday weekends for THAT reason alone 😀  Meal #2 @ 10:00 am was 1/2 a cup of low-fat cottage cheese and an orange.  I saw these oranges last week on sale and picked up a couple on a whim.  They were surprisingly good.

 

Two of my co-workers have been talking about these cool Nutella like spreads they found at World Market (Cost Plus) for only $2.  So, they picked up 3 flavors – Banana Chocolate, Dark Chocolate and Cappuccino Chocolate.  I LOVE how they look in the jars!  It was at this point that I decided I just needed to try a little bit of each.  So I grabbed 3 spoons and had little tastes.

Banana Chocolate was by far my FAVORITE!  The banana tastes just like the banana Laffy Taffies and has just the right balance of chocolate.

I really thought I’d LOVE the dark chocolate – seriously if Nutella came in DARK chocolate I’d be all over it. (Just saying….)

Chocolate cappuccino was not good at all to me.  It tasted more like crisco than a smooth creamy chocolate coffee.

As we were sampling away everyone came in the break room to have leftover pizza ~ ahhhhh!  Pizza temptation TWO days in a row – booo!  But, I stuck with my planned meal #3 @ 12.35 pm ~ A BBQ Chicken Wrap

I started off with a La Tortilla Whole Grain wrap topped with 2 Tbsp Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, 3.5 oz leftover BBQ chicken and 2 Tbsp low-fat shredded cheddar cheese.

 

Then, I added a layer of crunch (red peppers & cucumber plus some creamy AVOCADO and crushed red pepper flakes for spice.

It was SO GOOD!  To add in some veggies, I had some extra slices of cucumber and red pepper.

 

We got out of work at 1 PM – yahoo!  I LOVE that I totally beat traffic – usually holiday weekend traffic takes a good hour + to travel my 11 miles home – sad, huh?!  On my drive home I was pondering if I should just call today my FREE DAY since I tried the chocolates and I knew The Husband wanted to go to Texas Road House for dinner. 

I decided it was a good day to call a FREE DAY so I could enjoy dinner and will most likely be cooking all weekend.  So, I grabbed the baggie of candies my sweet co-workers had been giving me all week.  I had 1 Dove Almond Dark Chocolate and 3 Salt Water Taffies for snack ~ MMMMMM!  I think these are two of my favorite things.

We drove everywhere all afternoon ~ 1st stop to pick up our Jet Skis.  They are all “purdy” and ready to go – yeah!

 

Then, we drove to The Husband’s friends to pick up some things they need to help another friend out installing a fence on Saturday.  So excited for a me day on Saturday but I know I’ll be busy. 

Meal #4 started @ 5:34 pm at The Texas Road House.  I snacked on a few peanuts from their barrel of peanuts while we waited.

 

We had fun throwing our shells on the floor.  Although I really did want to sweep them up for them 😀

 

We sat at our table and they put that AMAZING bread and CINNAMON BUTTER on the table.  This is the ONE reason I knew I had to have a FREE DAY today.  I LOVE their bread and cannot resist it.  It is the BEST bread I’ve ever had in my life – really!  I had 2 or maybe 3 rolls 😀

I did attempt to make my dinner somewhat healthy.  I ordered grilled shrimp to be cooked WITHOUT butter and with cocktail sauce on the side.  Um….I think he told them EXTRA butter.  I had 4 shrimp and The Husband had 1.

 

Since you have to pick two items, I picked a grilled sirloin steak.  I ate about 1/3 of the steak and gave the rest to The Husband (he was happy!)

I ordered a plain baked sweet potato for side #1 and resisted the AMAZING sounding toppings of (cinnamon butter or caramel sauce).  I ate 1/2 of my tater insides but did not eat the funky looking skin.

 

Side #2 was steamed fresh veggies – perfectly crispy & crunchy.  I ate all of them.

I did steel 3 of The Husband’s fries – so good!  This is another one of my favorite foods and the spice they use is so good – a little sweet, a little salty and a little spicy.  It reminded me of the seasoning we had on the tortilla chips in Lake Tahoe.

All together with my veggies being camera shy 🙂

  

I was cracking up watching The Husband drink his tea.  He didn’t want to clean the BBQ sauce off his hands until he was all done with his ribs.

 

Check out The Hands ~ So Funny!

   

Oh and a fun Texas Road House fact we learned ~ when it’s your birthday they bring a saddle up on a wooden horse for you to sit on and have your picture taken on while they sing.  I am SO BUMMED I let The Husband slide by on his birthday 😀 Next time…….

I had been planning my sweet treat all week for my FREE DAY.  Meal #5@ 8:08 pm was a French Vanilla Ice Cream Cone that I made at home using my favorite TJ’s French Vanilla Ice cream and a sugar cone.  YUM!  The perfect ending…….

So, there you have it ~ My FREE DAY came and went.  I am a little sad that I don’t have Saturday Free for food, just from exercise.  But, honestly, what would I eat (other than maybe PIZZA LOL).

STAT RECAP:

Calories Burned: 2,891

Steps taken: 11,678

No ratios/calories consumed for FREE DAYS 🙂

We were both exhausted when we got home and zonked out during the previews of our Net Flix LOL ~ we are so OLD! 😀

I hope your long weekend is off to a great start.  See you all tomorrow night!