Met my goal!

I did it! I ran 4 miles in under 40 minutes! I am pretty beat now, but it feels great to have met that goal! I really didn't know when I wrote my last post if I would be able to do it. I had already told myself that it was OK if I didn't do it. Then I got on the treadmill today and just decided to do it and get it over with. So now onto my next goal. By the end of April I want to be running 6 miles at an average pace of 6mph. So 6 miles in 60 minutes. Wish me luck!!

Week 7

I guess we are now technically into week 8, but it was a busy weekend so I didn't do my week 7 post on Friday. We threw a baby shower for Misty on Saturday which we worked on Friday afternoon, Friday night we went to see the Hunger Games, then moved Bryan and Carrie into their new house Saturday afternoon. I guess I also have to admit that it wasn't a good weight loss week, which is another reason I wasn't super anxious to get on the computer and blog. I gained again, back up to 148. I didn't feel like last week was that bad either. My leg started to hurt Wednesday so I took it easy Thursday and just rode the bike. That just doesn't burn as many calories though. I didn't work out Friday or Saturday because we were busy getting ready for the baby shower. It is a little depressing, but all I can do is just try harder this week. I have been running 4 miles most of the time that I run but I am not up to a steady 6mph yet. I ran 2/4 miles at a 6 the other day, but it is tough! There is a huge difference between 5.5 and 6 miles per hour! Well, if I want to achieve that goal I have until Saturday to do it. Wish me luck!

Week 6

This past week was not great. I'm not sure what happened, but I guess I just took it easy. When I got on the scale Friday morning I had gained weight (not surprisingly, since we went to Salsa Leedos the night before). I was pretty bummed. Saturday I weighed again and was back to 146.8. This week it is back on again though. Starting right now I am going to say "no" to sweets (I will allow myself to have one piece of cake for my sister-in-law's birthday tonight) and I am going to try my hardest to not eat after 8. Those are my two goals for this week and hopefully on Friday I will be down a little more.

This week wasn't ALL bad. Wednesday I ran 4 miles at the gym at a 5.5 or higher the whole time! I was so excited! I did hurt my leg in the process, so Thursday I rested and Friday I stuck to the elliptical and bike.  But thanks to my amazing pre-physical therapist husband, by Friday it was feeling much better so I am excited to get back on the treadmill today!

Week 5

I was really worried going into this week. Parent Teacher conference week is always stressful and stressful=comfort foods. I knew that I had to do something big to avoid gaining weight this week. So I decided to cut back on sweets. When I got on the scale this morning I saw that it paid off... pretty big too, if you consider the first 4 weeks of this adventure. I am down to 146.8. That means I lost almost 1 1/2 pounds this week! All together I am down 3.8 pounds! I have to say, it was bitter-sweet when I got on the scale this morning. No, I am not secretly wishing I had that pound back. I just didn't change anything this week other than *almost* getting rid of sweets completely. That tells me that to continue getting these good results I need to continue skipping out on sweets. This week was hard enough and the only thing that got me through it was knowing that I only had to go one week. Well, I guess I will just have to be more careful in the future when it comes to sweets. On that note, here is my picture for the week.

I got up early so that Chris could take this picture before he went to work today. I know most people probably don't notice a difference. I saw something on Pinterest once that I loved and I didn't pin it, now I can't find it. But it said something about how I will see differences in 4 weeks, my husband and close family will see changes in 8 weeks, and everyone will see them in 12 weeks. I noticed changes in my endurance when working out after two weeks, but it has taken me 5 weeks to notice changes in my body. That means at this rate by the end of April my family and friends will be able to see changes. By the time I meet up with Chris in Casper in June, I am hoping to be down near my goal weight. Right now I am feeling good about it. Let's see what next week brings!

Bunless Burgers

Thursday night we had my mom over for dinner. We made bunless hamburgers and Sun Chips. I realize this picture is less-than-mouth-watering, but I was hungry, and didn't take time to stage my food before devouring it.

To make the hamburgers we got 1lb of hamburger, and mixed in the following spices:
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/2 tsp onion powder
a dash of cayenne pepper
a dash of garlic powder
a dash of onion salt

I mixed all of the spices in with the hamburgers and formed 7 or 8 small hamburger patties. Chris grilled them, then we put a tomato on them and wrapped them in lettuce. We each got two, which was good because they were small. The burgers are about 140 calories each. We had Jalepeno Jack Sun Chips with it (15 chips = 140 calories) for a total of 420 calories in the meal.

We loved these and will DEFINITELY be having them again!

Broiled Parmesan Tilapia

This is a recipe Chris and I have had several times and I love it! I got the recipe from AllRecipes.com. To go to this recipe on allrecipes.com click on this link:  Broiled Parmesan Tilapia

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/8 teaspoon celery salt
• 2 pounds tilapia fillets

Directions

1. Preheat your oven's broiler. Grease a broiling pan or line pan with aluminum foil.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the Parmesan cheese, butter, mayonnaise and lemon juice. Season with dried basil, pepper, onion powder and celery salt. Mix well and set aside.
3. Arrange fillets in a single layer on the prepared pan. Broil a few inches from the heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Flip the fillets over and broil for a couple more minutes. Remove the fillets from the oven and cover them with the Parmesan cheese mixture on the top side. Broil for 2 more minutes or until the topping is browned and fish flakes easily with a fork. Be careful not to over cook the fish.

This is only 225 calories. We also had grilled asparagus (50 calories) and a Lipton Rice Side, Butter and Herb (1/2 cup is 125 calories). The total calories from this meal was about 400 calories. Not too bad!

Week 4

It was a GREAT week! I achieved my goal of making two healthy meals this week, and I lost ... Drumroll Please... 1.2 pounds! So I am down to 148.2!! I just about killed myself doing it, but I did it and that is what matters. I have decided to weigh myself Friday morning instead of Saturday morning because Friday night we usually go out to dinner and, even if I eat healthy, I still have the food sitting in my stomach Saturday morning. This week we have been getting my parents moved into their house so we have been at their house every day. Other than Tuesday I managed to get a good work out in every day. Thursday I ran after school and then did Zumba Thursday night. I worked really hard! Fortunately on Friday I only had to work 4 hours because I had just enough energy to run at the gym, and get a little cleaning done at home. At 4:00 I laid my head on my pillow and do not remember anything after that. Each day I have run at least 3 miles at the gym and I the past few days I have been running at a 5.5-6.0 mph rate. My goal is that by the end of march I will be running 4 miles at a steady 6.0mph rate. I love seeing how easily I can run 3 or 3.5 miles now, when at the beginning of February I thought I was going to die before I reached a mile! I also secretly enjoy typing 148lbs into the treadmill instead of 150. I know it is not a huge difference, but it still makes me happy! :)
Like I said earlier, I did make my two healthy meals this week. I will put each of those as their own separate blog post. I didn't get a picture of myself this week because by the time I got up and weighed myself Friday morning Chris was gone. That is the only drawback of weighing myself on Fridays. I will have to wake up earlier. Oh well, hopefully it will be worth it and it will all keep paying off.
My goal for this week is to back off of sweets. I might have to ask Chris to hide our "treat bowl." Each day I will post what sweets I have had during the day. My hope is that this will make me want to eat little to no sweets. I am a little bit nervous about this week because it is parent-teacher conferences, which means it will be a high-stress week. It also means that Wednesday and Thursday will be tough days to get in a workout. I will have to try to be creative in class and find ways to move more.