Short Week and Still Tired

Even though I have had two nights of pretty good sleep, I am still tired. I guess it could be from the go go go kinda schedule we've had lately, I think I need another long weekend to recover from this past long weekend. That's not gonna happen.
Our open house is this weekend and I have a lot to get ready for. I am excited to use some new recipes...I'm making a watermelon cake and lemonade both I got off Pinterest, and for the fourth I'm making a red White and Blue cake that I also found on Pinterest.
As far as my journey goes, I am feeling pretty good about it. I am loosing on average about a pound a week, and with the help of the phentermine I am eating less. I am working on the eating healthier part and the exercise part. Tonight we are going to the club house gym at our apartment complex for the first time. I plan on hopping on the elliptical, and Jon will be working out on the treadmill.
Having the first two days of this week off has helped in not being overwhelmingly tired at the end of the week, and I am hoping having Wednesday off next week will do something similar.
I have started a pin board called "Healthy Eating" on Pinterest, follow me as I search for healthy Pinterest recipes in a very long list of un-healthy favorites.
http://pinterest.com/aliserenee/healthy-eating/
Many recipes I find on Pinterest I try to lighten up as much as I can, using fat-free/ sugar-free whenever I can.

One week later...

Even though I woke up feeling pretty icky this morning, I still found myself with no excuses as to why I couldn't do my routine this morning. One week later I have noticed that my knee (I injured it last year) no longer hurts after walking or a day of sitting on my knees at work.
I am still at 12 reps, I think later this week I will be able to up the reps to 13. Today is Jon's birthday and we are going to a Mongolian BBQ for dinner tonight, super easy to eat healthy there, but lunch will be a little harder...food day at work.
We went swimming yesterday and I worked on my arms while in the pool. I am hoping that if I go to the pool in the evenings (even though its in the shade and chilly) that swimming with my arms will help tone them some.
Back to work today!

Cheesy Tuna Noodle Casserole

https://www.livehealthyamerica.org/aspx/private/recipes.aspx?id=486

Here's a link to a Tuna noodle casserole I'm going to try this week. Just in case it doesn't work, here's the recipe:

CHEESY TUNA NOODLE CASSEROLE

Description

prep time

10 min

total time

49 min

makes

5 servings, about 1-1/2 cups each

Ingredients

3
 1 pkg (16 oz.) - frozen vegetable blend (broccoli, carrots, cauliflower)  
 1 pkg (14 oz.) - KRAFT Deluxe Macaroni & Cheese Dinner Made With 2% Milk Cheese
 3/4 cup - fat-free milk  
 1/4 cup - KRAFT Light Zesty Italian Dressing
 1 can (12 oz.) - white tuna in water, drained  
 1 cup - KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese, divided 

Directions

HEAT oven to 375°F.

PLACE vegetables in colander in sink. Cook Macaroni as directed on package; pour over vegetables to drain macaroni and thaw vegetables. Return to saucepan.

STIR in Cheese Sauce, milk and dressing. Add tuna and 1/2 cup Cheddar; mix well. Spoon into 2-qt. casserole; cover.

BAKE 35 min. or until heated through. Top with remaining Cheddar; bake 3 to 4 min. or until melted.

Substitute

Substitute 1 lb. extra-lean ground beef, cooked and drained, for the tuna.

Make Ahead

Assemble casserole as directed. Refrigerate up to 24 hours. When ready to serve, bake, covered, at 375°F for 40 to 45 min. or until heated through. Top with remaining cheese; continue as directed.

Substitute

Prepare using 2 (5-oz.) cans tuna.

 

Nutritional Information - per serving

 

Calories

 420

Total fat

 10 g

Saturated fat

 5 g

Cholesterol

 50 mg

Sodium

 1310 mg

Carbohydrate

 49 g

Dietary fiber

 4 g

Sugars

 8 g

Protein

 31 g

Vitamin A

 45 %DV

Vitamin C

 60 %DV

Calcium

 60 %DV

Iron

 15 %DV

 

Recipe provided by Kraftrecipes.com

Recharging...

We are back from St. Louis and I am happy to report that while I didn't do any exercises on Sunday, I took just 15 minutes out of my Monday morning and did the routine. We did a lot of walking while we were gone, we did Grant's Farm, the Arch, the Zoo, St. Charles and a winery tour. All required walking, and some stairs. I haven't weighed myself yet to see if there was a change with all the activity.
I did some stretching and some leg lifts today to try and get rid of some of the achy-ness from the walking and sitting in the car for 4 hours. Both Jon and I are VERY tired, and this morning i had us both get out of bed at 7 so that hopefully we would wake up and not sleep too much. Sadly, Jon is in bed and I just got up from a 30 minute nap.
I posted lots of pictures on Facebook from our trip (I still have to post the ones from my iPhone) so take a look, we had a great time!

Saturday Morning Stretch

I hate my body clock. I always wake up at 6:30am and end up getting out of bed around 6:45...everyday. It would be nice to be able to sleep in, but alas, no such luck for me. 

This Saturday is full of laundry, dish washing and cooking. we are leaving tomorrow on our little trip to St. Louis (we'll be back Monday evening) and this evening is a family cook-out at my Aunt's house in Smithville.

Normally after my routine I feel more awake and ready for the day. This morning I feel groggy, like I need to go take a nap. Not sure why that is.

I did my 12 reps of each exercise, the hardest was the bicycle. my legs just don't want to do 12 reps forwards and 12 reps backwards right after each other. Maybe tomorrow I will try splitting them up, although having that burn is good. Maybe I can get Jon to do them with me...

Oh, and I am proud to report that after weighing in this morning, I have lost another pound. I am now at 271 and my total weight loss is at 38lbs. That's my woo-hoo moment for the day.

Feeling the burn day three...

Third day of ab routine. I really felt my muscles screaming at me this morning, my legs more than anything else. I did 5 reps of butt lifts and I found them easier than I thought. I think I may be able to up those to the number of reps as the rest of the exercises. I did 12 reps of each today, I am going to keep it at 12 for the weekend. Tomorrow is my weigh-in day for the program through Jon's work, so I'll let you know how I did this week.
Looking forward to the weekend in St. Louis with Jon to celebrate our 2 year anniversary. lots of walking, we're staying downtown and going to Grant's Farm, the zoo and the Arch. We will probably visit the landing and the city gardens too. 
Thanks everyone for the encouragement when I first posted on Wednesday, knowing I have so many people cheering for me helps keep me going. *hugs*

Day Two...

I just finished and I was able to increase the my reps by one more. I think tomorrow I may try five of one of the sets of leg climbers that is similar to a sit up or scissors, where I lift my butt off the floor. I'll limit myself to 5 of those. It took 15 minutes out of my morning routine, but that's not much considering I get up at 7:30 and I don't have to be at work until 9:30. I'm not sure about this weekend, Jon and I are going to St. Louis and we'll be doing a lot of walking. I think I'll keep it up.

BTW, if you are doing the ab routine too, don't forget to stretch before and after you workout!

First things First...

Starting weight: 309lbs...I felt disgusting. I didn't fit into any of my clothes anymore, I didn't like how I looked and I was on a path to diabetes and death. There was no way I'd ever be a Mom at that weight. 

I started Weight Watchers and my doctor prescribed Phentermine to help me loose weight. 8 months later, I am no longer using Weight Watchers (costs too much) and I am still on Phentermine, and I have lost about 37lbs. 

I feel so much better, and my clothes fit again and some of my pants are getting too big. I am at a point now where I need to start exercising regularly in order to keep loosing weight. I found something to help loose my tummy, and I am going to use my dance game for cardio. 

Starting out small, and working my way up to what the blog says to do...http://kayciesantics.blogspot.com/2012/03/300-ultimate-ab-and-core-challenge_22.html 

she says to do 30 of each, but I am going to start out with 10 and work my way up. I found it at Pinterest. If anyone has something for arms, let me know, I'd like to get rid of the flab leftover from when I started.

I am starting today, and will repeat everyday even after I reach my goal. my short-term goal is 250, and I am at 272 as of this morning. Long term is 200. My ideal is way far off, but I know its achievable. I'll get to that goal once I'm under 200lbs. 

Dedication.

Ok, so I just finished my first ab routine as a beginner...some of the sets I'm not able to do right now without help because of my size. I am hoping that will change soon as I work my muscles. I can see how this works...there were a few times that my body was screaming at me to stop...even though I had two or three more reps to do. This is going to take dedication, I can see that. its in my calendar on my alarm to blog and exercise every morning. I am going to do it.