My Deliciously Healthy Memorial Day

Today I made chicken, fruit, and dessert shish kabobs for memorial day!
They were delish! I was able to escape memorial day, without hamburgers and ice cream cones!For the fruit shish kabobs, I used srawberries, watermelon, and blackberries (I had a sudden craving for oranges, and wish I had bought some to add to the mix).

Then, for the dessert shish kabobs, I dipped strawberries, and marshmallows (cut into 1/3) in dark chocolate (I dipped the strawberries, and marshmallows half way into the chocolate)! It started out with strawberries, marshmallows, and bananas, but I wasn't feeling the bananas, so I left them out.
They were yummy! :
On a side note: I think it would be cute to put strawberries, marshmallows, and blueberries on a skewer for 4th of July!

Later on in the evening, the hubs took me shopping to get some workout gear!
Why do I need workout gear you ask?

Because I got me one of these! :A gym membership to Bally Total Fitness!

I've wanted to join a gym for forever but didn't because, A. with my RA I thought I wouldn't be able to really do much there, and so I was worried it would be a waste of money. And B. because I was/am horrified to go!

Now, after losing 35+ pounds, my knees have been feeling a lot better! I think I may actually be able to incorporate working out, into my weight loss plan! That's so exciting and rewarding for me! I've come so far (a tear;)! I'm proud of myself for facing my fears, and taking the first step: Getting the membership! Tomorrow I'm going to take the second step, and actually go workout!

My original plan was to get a gym membership, just so I could use the pool to do laps. That's still my main plan, as I think it'll be a great workout, and easy on my joints. Although while I was taking the tour of the gym, I saw some workout machines that I may be able to do with my arthritis. That would be a great bonus, if I'm able to take advantage of those spiffy little things! ;D

I'm still pretty darn nervous for tomorrow, but I'm working though it...
I feel like I'm in 1st grade, and tomorrow's my first day of school, lol!

I'm mostly nervous to swim. I can swim, but I don't know how to do the professional kind of swimming. I feel like a complete armature, and I totally don't know what I'm doing! You get a free session with a personal trainer, so I'm wondering if I can ask them to teach me how to use swimming as a workout. I feel stupid asking for that. I'm going to try talking to someone about it tomorrow. Hopefully I'll get it all figured out soon.

I also did my weigh in, on this Memorial Day.
171.
That's a 1 pound loss. I did pretty darn good this week, so I'm kinda confused. I know that the further you get in your weight loss, it tends to slow down a little bit. That's why it made me nervous that my weight loss started out at about 2 pounds a week. I thought, "Oh great! What's it going to slow down to?!" I feel that after losing 36 pounds, my weight loss has slowed to 1 pound a week. Although thus far, I've had little to no exercise. I'm hoping working out will give me the boost I need, to get back to a 2+ pound loss each week!

Well, that's it for me!

Wish me luck for tomorrow!

Hope you all had a great Memorial Day!(Flickr)

**Workout Update!**

I just got back from the gym! I survived!
It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Everyone didn't stop what they were doing to watch me enter the building, or pull up chairs to watch me workout, like I thought they would!
That's good ;D

I did 10 minutes on that thingy... what's it called? The elliptical?
And 10 minutes speed walking on the treadmill (well, at least speed walking for me)
I had planned to do more, but by the end of it, I seriously thought I was going to pass out! I have to take baby steps, to get to my goal... I'm not sure what that goal is, but I know it's more then 10 minutes on each machine, lol! I'd say for the first time working out in years, I did pretty good! It felt good to work up a sweat, and feel my heart racing!

I'm pretty darn proud of myself!