Whole Life Challenge - Getting Back in the Groove

Today is the first day of the Whole Life Challenge, a new experience I am embarking on for 2014.  It is a combination of exercise, nutrition, and positive lifestyle habits to help maintain an overall healthier me. I am already excited about this program because we have a team of 17 people that we are competing with and it is already motivating me to work hard, plan my meals, and be accountable.

Today I had a great food day.  On this diet we are not allowed to eat any artificial ingredients.  So by sticking to Trader Joe's and Farmer's Market, I have been able to find lots of fresh items and even packaged goods with all natural ingredients.  I went to the farmer's market this morning to pick up onions, portobello mushrooms, free-range eggs, and apples.  My morning meal was a Kefir smoothie with frozen mango, pineapple and blueberries.  For lunch I had a Mexican inspired meal that was something like a tostada, but without the nachos.  Ground turkey with black beans, topped with tomato salsa and two tablespoons of guacamole.

For dinner I pan seared some thin sliced boneless pork with apples I got from the farmer's market and ate it on a bed of cauliflower rice with a side of steamed broccoli.  I cooked enough to eat throughout the week, and with the two dishes it should provide some variety.

I had a short workout this morning that included the WLC challenge pre-game workout with lots of squats, push-ups and sit-ups, along with some running.  I am ready for day two, and excited about being consistent and making it through the next 55 days.

I have to keep shocking my body and trying new things to keep this weight off.  It is a never-ending journey, one day at a time, one step at a time. 

It's been a long time, but I haven't forgotten the journey, it continues...

This morning I referred someone to look at my blog, then I went back and realized I haven't posted since January, SMH.  I realize that while the beginning Dec. 2011 story might be inspiring, it's like an unfinished story.  So I don't know how much I can back track today but I can at least tell you where I am and share some pictures :).

Today I got on the scale and finally! after a loooooong time, got under my last weight.  I lost 1.6 pounds and landed exactly on 202.0!  I still haven't broken 200, but I am 2 pounds away, and for some reason while at 203.6 and 203.4 going back and forth I didn't think I would ever break it, this one little pound has made all the difference.  Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not a scale obsessive as it may sound, but when you get so close to a round number like 200, and when you've never been under 200 in your adult live, then it gets a bit exciting.

I have a confession... I left MyFitnessPal for awhile, got tired of MediFast and decided that I just wanted to eat like a "normal person."  Now the question is, what the hell does that mean?  Normal eating is not the same for everyone.  My definition became, eat whatever the hell I want to eat.  No good.  I gained 6 pounds, was nearing 210, and I said to myself, "Natalie, you need to chill out, you can't live in your definition of "normal person" because obviously it's bringing you down that downward spiral path again, and you said you'd never go back."  So I started reaching out to my fitness enthusiasts like Natalie Maddox http://www.reebok.com/nataliemaddox Crossfit extraordinaire and body competitors (whom I went to Undergrad with).  We had an inspiring phone call, and she reminded me who I was, how far I'd come and that it takes a village to reach your fitness and health goals.  I said I'm going to going to get back into Take Shape for Life (TSFL)/Medifast and try to get back down to where I was, and pass the 200 mark, then I was going to try something else.  I love TSFL but it's a bit pricy and is a tool to get you to your goals, but cannot be used for the rest of your life.

I'm happy to say I feel like I'm back on the road to glory.  I shopped in my BFF's closet through her 14s and dare I say 12s!  I gave up my LaneBryant card, except for the occasional bra (but even those are about to not fit either).  I still haven't Unsubscribed from the AshleyStewart email listserve, but I no longer open them because there are no options for me there.  I go in the department stores to shop for clothes, and often pause at the plus size section then remind myself that it no longer represents my home base.  It's weird, and great all at the same time.

Here are a few pics I've taken, starting with the beginning...

 December 2011 and April 2013

 October 2011 and January 2013

 Somewhere between February and May 2013

 

July 2013

Ok that's all for now.

Woke up after sleeplessness

And still got in my morning workout. Me demonstrating to myself that I can power through excuses says that this week will be a successful week for weight loss. I might just get over this slump I'm in. I'm aiming for three days of double whammy workouts with insanity in the morning and bikram in the afternoon. After this week work is going to pick up so I will no longer have this midday workout luxury, so I must make the most out of it while I can.

Sleepless Nights

Since I can't sleep given I made the wise decision to have expresso after 5pm yesterday, I decided to post a thought.

Sleep, is a great weight loss tool.  Not only do you burn calories in your sleep, it allows your body to rejuvenate and prepare  for your workout the following day.  I may have said this before, but the earlier you sleep. , the less you eat.  The less you eat, the more weight you lose.

Ok, it's 3:42am and I'm going to go try to lose more weight by gaining some zzz's!

It ain't easy... but I gotta do it for me

73 pounds down

That was the hardest 7 pounds I ever lost.  I'll tell you, weight loss does not get easier as you lose, it gets harder.  You have to outsmart your body, keep changing and most of all... stay motivated!

The Medifast program, some days I feel, is starting to wear off in terms of its effect on my body, and/or my ability to stay perfectly stuck to the diet plan.  It still works, I am just failing to work it how I did for the first 20-30 pounds down.  Therefore its time to switch, supplement, and overcome this slow pace of progress. 

I've tried to maintain my Medifast plan as close as possible, while not denying myself of the types of foods I want to eat, and upped my exercise in supplement.  I also have returned to www.myfitnesspal.com to get a true calculation of my calories in, calories out.  Additionally, I've started wearing my heart rate monitor daily again, and most times all day, so I can measure my actual calorie burn throughout while exercising and resting. 

In terms of exercise, I've started Insanity again.  Yes, I know I always tell people beware of injury since its such a banging on the joints, but I am being very careful, listening to my body, and modifying the moves wherever necessary. 

Today, since I still have some work flexibility, I added a Bikram Yoga class midday.  It helped me recover from the Insanity banging I did early in the morning.  And it totalled more than 1300 calorie burn combined with the two workouts.  I created such a calorie deficit, that I can eat almost anything and still stay under my allotted daily number.  But the goal is, NOT to do that.  I am trying to eat how I normally eat everyday, around 1200 calories so it will be like, I ate nothing at all for the entire day since I already burned more than 1200.  It's just a numbers game really.  If I am able to do this even two or three days this week, I will definitely drop 2-3 pounds this week alone.  Maybe more if I'm extra diligent about my diet. 

Some days I have cravings for things that once were a regular part of my life, greasy foods, high sugar substances.  Some days I give in to those cravings, however I have found a way to modify my "cheating."  For my chocolate addiction, I no longer feed it with milk chocolate, or ice cream.  I stick to trader joe's dark chocolate, my favorite is the one with Toffee in it, and I keep it to half a serving or one serving in a day, a couple times per week.  That doesn't stop my weight loss, and it isn't as bad as having chocolate cake.  But it fills my urge.  When I walked by the pizza shop on the way back from yoga, I smelled it, and had a brief urge to go get something greasy, but I had just sweated so much, that the thought quickly slipped away, because I wasn't going to ruin a perfectly good burn day to indulge in a short lived greasy sensation.  Sometimes when I have a craving during the day, I look at the clock and make myself wait 30 minutes, then busy myself with something else.  If the craving is still there, I'll find some way to indulge with modifications, if it isn't I give myself a pat on the back and say I never needed it in the first place.

It's all about trade-offs, sacrifice, and balance.  Sometimes we can give in, sometimes we don't really need to.  All the time we should continue to strive for the goal, forward is the motion!

Weightloss...

In two days it will be the one year anniversary that I started on this journey of weight loss.  And guess what I found out, it doesn't get easier, it gets harder to keep losing.  After losing continuously for the last couple of months I had my first gain week and I freaked out!  I know what I did to gain, and knew what I was doing while I was doing it, but I did it anyway.  It was all in the line of my thoughts... I wish I could just eat like a normal person.

Truth is, I am not "normal," I am extraordinary in both good and bad ways.  I have never had a "normal person" metabolism, nor been a "normal person" weight at any point in my life.  Even child birth I was over 10 pounds coming out of my momma's C-section (yep I was too big to come out the "normal" way).

Fortunately I figured out a way that even I could lose weight despite my abnormalities (LOL). I'm happy to report, that although the last two weeks have been rocky and not as productive as the last two months, I am

66 pounds 

less than I was this time a year ago. 

66 pounds down = 4 dress sizes smaller = quite a few bra sizes down (none-ya as to how many) = rings falling off my fingers = longer looks in the mirror while winking at myself

I am still quite a distance from the goal.  I haven't quite decided what the goal is, but I feel like I'll know when I get there.  I have already hit the original goal and surpassed it back in October.


Natalie, how did you do it?

Well it's a long story, but to put it short first I feared for my life when the obesity was getting so morbid it was destroying other areas of my health, then I got passionate about my health, then I went to the fitness camp for two weeks and learned how to eat right, how to find healthy food in a super market, ideas to cook healthy, and that my body could take a lot more exercise in a day then I originally thought so 3-5 days a week should be a piece of cake.  I took all white carbohydrates out of my diet, and most sources of sugar as well and replaced it with Truvia (the natural stevia sweetener). I started playing flag football, dancing Zumba, tried Tennis (that failed), but just tried to mix it up so I stayed moving. That worked for about the first 45 pounds then I plateaued when I started working a very sedentary job. 

When the exercise is minimized, the diet has to be adjusted to continue weight loss.  I talked to a friend on facebook about how they lost 60-70 pounds in a quick time and they introduced me to Medifast, take shape for life www.tsfl.com.  I got a free coach and invested in their meal replacement products which I ate 5 times a day every 2.5-3 hours along with a 6th "lean and green" meal of my choice and I dropped another 20 pounds in a month or month and a half. 

I could continue to lose weight on Medifast if I would stick to it, but I've recently come to a slow.  So now I'm looking at which way I will turn now, all the while knowing that whichever way it is, it will continue to be a forward motion, because I'm never going back to where I used to be.  That's the plan.

The New Intervention

September 2012 post (can't remember when I wrote this one)

Situation:

So, I have managed to lose over 40 pounds and keep it off since I started this journey back in December.  I recently started a new, very sedantary, job with a crazy travel schedule and lots of money for expensing food.  I got a little too excited for not having to pay for my meals for half of the week anymore, and started buying more than  I could chew.  I stayed conscious of they types of food  I was eating, so no crazy fast food binges.  I frequent trader joe's and whole foods with the corp. credit card. I've come to realize, that even though I'm still eating a majority of healthy food, I'm eating more healthy food than I was before.  In short, too much of anything does not produce the desired results (even if its healthy).  I also came off of a high of working out 2-3 hours per day for 4-5 days a week when I finished school in May and didn't have to work until August.  I dropped a lot of my pounds in those few months while I was cooking for myself and burning fat because I had lots of free time.  All of a sudden, I have no free time, or very limited free time as a full time employee of someones company.  My workouts have moved to more like 2-3 times per week if I'm lucky.  And some of those are only 20 mins, while some are 60 mins.  So what do you get when you increase food and reduce exercise....drum roll....weight gain!  I gained back 3 pounds since I started working.  I also hurt my shoulder lifting weights so my muscle mass in my upper body is dwindling given the reduction in weights and pushups. 

Action:

The intervention...
When the time reduces and the exercise does too, there is only one way to continue weight loss, the diet.  In order to allow me to not have to think to hard about food prep, or reduce my need to cook but still be able to be healthy, I'm trying a new program.  It is called Take Shape for Life.  It is comprised of 5 meal replacements and 1 lean and green meal.  It was referred to me by a brother who lost 60 pounds on the program.  Today is my first day.  I thought that I could use the blog to write about what I'm feeling with this foreign food.  It's apparently piled with a lot of nutrition, but the portions are tiny.  The good thing is only 2-3 hours can go by before you eat again, so albeit small amounts, the eating is frequent which may curve hunger eventually.

It is lunch hour at my job now.  A lot of people eat at their desk.  I can smell soup and possibly Indian food.  It's a little painful, but I will reach about 2.75 hours shortly and I will be able to pull out my lunch as well.  Medifast Chili.  I hope it tastes good.  I'm starting to get hungry, but I'm trying to stretch it out since I spend so many hours awake. 

Ok, this was an unfinished post, but I decided to publish anyway...

Back Home Maintaining

As of last Monday, I have reached the 20 pounds down mark since I left 12/18/2011.  I am eating better, cooking more and exercising 4-5 times per week.  I feel better, people are starting to notice.  This is exciting, and continuing to succeed is keeping me moving forward and working hard.

I've learned from my fitness camp experience that this race is not for the swift, but for those who can endureth to the end.  And in the case of health and fitness, enduring is a lifestyle change, and the end is till the end of life.

Day Nine through Eleven

Day Nine


I had originally signed up for one week, but I extended into week two because results have been great, and I am getting so much stronger.

I had been dreading the hike up Elfin Forest, which had been really difficult last week for me.  It is only 1.6 miles up or so, however it is very rocky and almost entirely steep uphill.

I made much better time this week, got up there with fewer breaks and respits, and even went an additional steep hill to get to the overlook.  It was an even greater view than before!  I was quite proud of myself.

Then we came back and did another boot camp, and I survived that as well.

There were only 3.5 workouts today.  I don't consider yoga a full workout because its not the biggest calorie burner out there, but it helps to increase the flexibility for all the workouts to come later in the week.

This experience is still challenging, no doubt... but I find it a lot easier to get through each exercise in week two.  I guess my body is changing.  And that is what I signed up for right?

Day Ten


Wednesday of course is one of the days with five workouts.  Wednesday's toughest feat is the stairs on the beach.  The plus of the activity was that we saw wails while we were doing chest presses with the resistance band.  The challenge of the activity was the quadricep burn of running up and down the stairs.

Just as last week we had stations at each level of the stair case and we would run them in between.  I was doing one leg triceps dips















One of my trainers, Johnny, was cheering me on through oblique twists

But the greatest part was just taking in the fresh ocean air and the waves while working out
















At the end of the day we jammed to the sweet sounds and moves of Zumba.  This time, the class ended with Soca music.  And as tired as I was (really about to fall over) the fresh swift rhythms of the socalypso music gave me a second wind and recharged me.   Johnny played an old school jam, the one that goes "Moving to the left, moving to the left everybody..." (I know my soca fanatics will remember that one).  And when the song said jump and wave, I was jumping the highest, somehow.  What a fun time!

Day Eleven


Today we had a different hike along the beach;  Torrey Pines beach.











                                                                            Last week I did not make it to the top because of a lack of time, but this week I did.  And I took lots of pictures along the way of the climb.

I saw another whale while I was high up there.

And this trip would be incomplete without a dip in the ocean water.

Johnny and I kicked off our shoes and made the 2 mile trek back to the vans on the beach.  The water was so freezing, I really could only let my feet touch.

The group soon returned to home base for another workout for building muscle and boxing cardio.

Another fulfilling day.  The days are going by extremely fast now, I can't believe tomorrow is my second to last full day here.  I will miss this place.

Days Six through Eight

Day Six

On Christmas Eve and we got to sleep in for 30 minutes.  Our first workout started at 6:45 AM instead of 6:15!  Isn't that wonderful!?

Our first workout was Zumba again, back by special request (from me).  A great kickstart to the morning.

After that we had breakfast, an egg & mushroom fritata with guacamole and salsa.  Delicious!

After breakfast we had a super circuit session, where we mixed cardio and weight training.  I did a bit of elliptical, and a bit of treadmill mixed with upper and lower body strengthening.

After our snack we had an aquaerobics workout to soothe muscles and keep the heart rate pumping.  

That was our last workout for the day and after lunch I went to visit Ms. Miriam and her family and stayed with them for Christmas eve and Christmas.  

We partied hard the whole night into the next day, and somehow I managed to stick to my plan.  I drank no alcohol, and didn't eat after 7pm.  That's how I managed to lose the 7 pounds.  Before I left on Saturday I was weighed a little early, just so I could see how I would do on my own.  On Saturday morning, I had lost 5 pounds.  On Monday it was up to 7 pounds.  So exciting!

It amazed me a little bit since I didn't do as much Cardio over the weekend.  I walked to the supermarket from Miriam's house, and broke out in a sweat from dancing at the club on Christmas eve, but nothing like I've been doing for the last eight days.  And I still lost two pounds!  It makes me hopeful for the future when I leave here at the beginning of next week.

Given that I was the only person at the party not drinking, I was also the designated driver.  So I had the lovely treat of speeding a Benz down the highway in San Diego, such an adrenalin rush... I bet that burned some calories too.  ;) 

Day Seven

We got back on Christmas day in time for dinner.  We had a special Christmas dinner of Surf and Turf with a lobster tail, small steak, mixed veggies and mashed sweet potatoes.  It was delicious.  And we had our first dessert of the week, Buche de Noel (Christmas Log), it had no sugar and was fat free.  Imagine a dessert like that, it tasted exactly like it sounded, less, but it was still a treat given that my tongue has not tasted dessert this whole week.  

Day Eight

It's Monday today, and we are officially in week 2!  7 new people arrived, and we are now officially veterans at the camp.  Today was still challenging, but it wasn't so bad because we new what to expect.  I'm still recovering from the weekend sleep schedule (or lack thereof), but I've managed to stay up on everything.  I had such great weight loss results that I'm really going to have to push myself even harder to match the same results next week.  The body really gets used to the level of exertion, so if you don't keep pushing a little past the limit, the calorie burn won't turn into weight loss as effectively. 

This morning we went on a Lagoon walk, about 3.2 miles long.  It took me 55 minutes to complete at a slight speed walk.  The second workout was a band burn, using resistance bands to strengthen the muscles, with a focus on the arms.  I graduated from the pink bands to the blue bands this week with more resistance.

The third workout was beach boot camp, similar to day one (part two).  And we ended with a 50 minute walk along the beach for extra cardio.  

My body is still sore, but it is getting stronger day after day.  I will have to work to maintain my new muscles.

Today was another good day and I am looking forward to pushing again tomorrow.

7 pounds this week, GONE!

More updates later but that's the most exciting thing of today, my weigh in after 7 days.

Day Five

Today I felt stronger than yesterday.  I was a bit fatigued, but I just kept it slow and steady and I reached another mountain top.  This is my second mountain top this week!

We started out today with cardio as usual.  This morning's cardio was Cardio Kick Boxing.  Another circuit cardio training and strengthening workout.  It was fun, I can really punch hard!  We had a shadow boxing, abs and the works.

Then we had breakfast, yogurt and granola parfait.

Immediately following we had an exercise design class and talked about how to maintain our fitness level after this experience.  I learned the importance of continuing to shock your body.  Exercise design should include a mixture of aerobic, anaerobic, circuit/cross-training, and flexibility.  What do each of those mean?

• Aerobic means cardio or anything that is heart rate intensive.  For example: boxing, hiking, biking, Zumba, walking (3.5mph or faster or uphill), running etc.
• Anaerobic means resistance training and strengthening.  For example: resistance band training, weight lifting
• Circuit/Cross training is a combination of aerobic and anaerobic.  For example: bootcamps, interval training, etc. 
• Flexibility is yoga and other forms of stretching that increase your range of movement

It is important to incorporate 2-3 of each type of exercise into your plan every week.  For weight loss, we should be exercising 5 times per week, at least 60 minutes per day.  For more optimal results 80 minutes per day is better.  

Oftentimes men lift too many weights and don't do enough cardio, and women do the opposite and don't include enough strength training.  Both are needed for results.  More muscle burns more fat when you're in the cardio zone.

Okay that's it for my free lesson.

After the class we had another extreme boot camp on the lawn.  There were different stations such as chest pull, punching bag drag, rope lifting, stability ball knee crunches, and pulling your partner across the field with resistance bands.  The last one I mention was a challenging one.  The more your partner pulled back on the resistance, the more you had to push to get across the field.  During my second go round, I asked the trainer to run with me so I could try to push a little harder.  And I ran instead of walked across with him trying to pull me back.  It was really tough, but I felt really good to complete it.  I feel like I'm getting much stronger.

After boot camp we had lunch then went to Whole Foods for healthy grocery shopping tips.  Jessica, the nutritionist, brought us through each isle and talked about the harms of preservatives, what to look for on the label, and many other tips.  For example:

• all natural peanut butter is more healthy than skippy or peter pan.  
• Not all protein bars are created equal, they are often high in sugar.  I.e. Zone bars have 15g of sugar, which is equal to a bowl of frosted flakes.  Think Thin and Jay Bar are some of the healthier protein bars in whole foods.  
• You should not consume more than 7 grams of sugar in one serving of anything, therefore we have to beware of sugar levels in cereals, salad dressing, and lots of other things.  You should have a good protein to carbohydrate ratio in all foods you eat, at the very least 4 carbs to every 1 protein.  We should always add protein to carbs to make us feel full faster.
• In cereal, Kashi is a good choice, but beware of Go Lean brand that is high in sugar, most are over 7g
• Uncured bacon is the most healthy if you can't go for turkey bacon
• Look for food/meat without nitrate, ask for nitrate free deli meat
• The serving size for deli meat is 2 oz. so ask for a precut 2 ounces so you know how many slices per serving before they slab them all on there
• The more orange a cheese is the more processed it is, that is why mozzarella string cheese is one of the healthiest
• Whole grain is best in pastas, breads, pitas, crackers, etc.
• Canned foods are high in sodium, look for low sodium canned foods and soups
• Soda expands the stomach and makes you eat more, if you must have soda have Zevia made with a non-sugar sweetener
• Agave nectar is a nice replacement for maple syrup
• Arrowhead Mills Buckwheat, or other whole wheat pancakes are a good substitute for regular pancakes, and you can add protein powder in the pancake mix to get closer to your carb protein ratio
• Look for yogurt that has less than 12-15 grams of sugar, if you don't like Greek yogurt that has protein, add protein powder to your yogurt.  Avoid flavored yogurt and add Truvia and your own fruit to flavor.  Same with oatmeal, and steel-cut is the best
• Udos Oil and Flaxseed oil are good for arthritis 

Ok that's the end of the second free lesson.

After the supermarket run we went on our final workout of the day, the double peak challenge.  It wasn't  a hike exactly because the road was paved, but it was uphill the entire way.  A steep steep hill!

This is a bad picture of the hill I came up, of what was behind me.

 This is a photo of what was in front of me:

 And this is a picture of the view from up there

It was amazing, I'm starting to see why people love California so much.

And then I reached the mountaintop!  Or the top of the double peak.  And saw this: 

And it was worth the climb.

After this climb, we returned back for dinner of an appetizer salad and turkey, sweet potatoes and mixed vegetables. 

Day Four

This is our schedule for today's workout.  Our cardio circuit was one on the treadmill in an interval training style with high level exertion and recovery.  I did a mixture of hill incline and jogging for my high level.  I'm not much of a runner so I only jogged on the one minute intervals and climbed very steep hills on the three minute intervals.

After the cardio circuit we had a lovely Mexican style breakfast.  It was like a breakfast burrito without the bread.  It was delicious and filling.  The cheese covered item was beans.  And the item on the right of the tomatoes was a picante freshly made salsa.  All things are cooked with herbs and vegetables grown at the resort.                                                                 

The workout after breakfast was another hike, but this time it was on the beach.  Terry Pines to be exact.

It was gorgeous!  The ocean was full of life, the view was lovely.









Then we arrived at a sort of mini mountain that you could climb up from the beach.
From this climb you could get an even better view of the ocean.

This is my new friend Lindsay and I.  She is my roommate at the resort. 

After the climb we came back for a time management session, on how to fit workouts and food preparation into your day.

Then finally the last two sessions.  Muscle strengthening with a lower body and core focus.  10 round boxing (60 mins) with boxing and core cardio stations.  Then a yoga session to wind down for the day.

Today was challenging, but much more manageable than yesterday.  I'm sore but not as exhausted.  One and a half more days before rest!

Day Three

Today was a peak performance day.  We had 5 (yes 5!) workouts today.  Right now, at 9:39pm (PST) I have burned 4900 calories since I woke up this morning, that is approximately 1.28 pounds.  Then, if you subtract the 1200 calories of food I am eating each day, that leaves me having burned 3700 calories today.  Therefore I lost about 1.05 pounds.  Weight loss is simply a mathematical equation (even though it's really not that simple).  By the end of this blog posting, I will probably be at 5000 calories burned.

The great thing about exercise is after you are finished, the body continues to burn calories at an accelerated rate.

Today, I really saw how much my body can handle, and how much I can endure if I just push myself past my limit.  Today was a day of breaking limits.  I have never worked out 5 times in one day in my life, and now I have!  I feel like a superstar.

Here's the quick rundown of what happened on day three:

This morning started out at 6am (as all mornings do) with a protein shake.  We had our morning workout at 6:15am, Spinning and Sculpting ( a mix of cardio and upper weight training) for about 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Then we had breakfast of Farro Porridge (still don't know what that was, but it reminded me of oatmeal.  I'll have to google it later), flaxseeds, toasted almonds and coconut.   We also had a bowl of strawberries and raspberries that I didn't eat because I still do not like any berries except blueberries.

After breakfast we had another Beach Bootcamp (50 minute workout), but this time we were up off the stand and running stairs.


It was a gorgeous view, but probably the most challenging workout yet.

We ran up and down stairs for cardio and between each set of stairs there were two strengthening and conditioning stations.

Conditioning included resistance band exercises, throwing a 10 pound ball, push-ups and chair dips for triceps.  We did our chair dips and push-ups on the benches at the bottom of the first set of stairs.  And the 10 ball throw, at the top of the second set of stairs.  Then we did the resistance band sets in the middle of the two stair cases, as shown below.













After the Beach stairs workout, I waddled back to the van and we returned to the resort for our energy snack ( fruit and string cheese).

Next, we had a nutrition education session on smart choices when eating out.  Did you know In and Out burger has a meal that is 1700 calories by itself?
(It's a west coast fast food restaurant, like an upgraded McDonald's with fresh meat instead of frozen)

The highlight of lunch was a carrot and ginger soup that tasted better than butternut squash soup.  Amazing!

Our third workout was a weight training (1 hour) workout that focused on upper body strength.  They have this  technology called TRX suspension for core workout.  I did a plan with my legs in looped bands strapped to a wall that caused me to elevate my legs in the air.  It was quite tough but I kept pushing.  Hold for five, down for five, hold for five, down for five.  At some point I will get to the entire 30 second set in one take.

Our fourth workout 15 minutes later was Zumba.  They have one brother on the fitness training team named Johnny.  He is from London, but has a background from Guyana and Dominica, so he has some great moves.  He taught Zumba, very high energy.  By that point I was so beat that I couldn't shake my hips like I usually do, but I got through the entire hour class.  It was still fun despite my fatigue.

Our fifth and final workout was a much needed aqua aerobics class that helped to sooth the muscles while we continued to keep moving.  During the class I realized that I forgot how to swim for the most part, but I was still able to make very slow laps across the pool.  At the end we stretched in the hot tub, which was amazing and so appreciated after the long day.

Our dinner (at 5pm) was and appetizer salad and Mediterranean Seafood Cioppino, I had a modified shrimp only version, but the rest of the group had a mixture of Sea Bass, Muscles and Shrimp with a side of brown rice.  It was delicious.  And now, like I mentioned above, I have reached my 5000 calorie burn before bed.

Today was great, it really tested my endurance.  I look forward to tomorrow.  Seriously, I do.

Day Two

Today was a little more designed for a little recovery, although it was still quite challenging.  We started at 6am and had a nasty nutrition shake.  Then we went to the fitness center for circuit training (a.k.a. "Full Body Attack) for an hour.  It was focused on the upper body, with a punching bag segment, push-ups, plank, rowing machine, etc.

We had breakfast at 8am: scrambled eggs, sauteed mushrooms, spinach, steel cut oatmeal and tomato soup.  Big breakfast, I know right?

They were stuffing us with healthy food to prepare us for our four mile hike, up this steep mountain like forest and back down again.  I have pictures for this activity!

After three quarters of the way up, I thought I couldn't make it anymore, but I kept pushing, and I survived it.  And when I got to the top, I played Martin Luther King's speech "I've been to the mountaintop,"  I thought it was fitting.  It was inspiring too, I never get tired of hearing his messages, they ring true even today.

We were very sore in the legs when we returned, mountain climbing really works out the quadriceps.

We returned to have lunch three hours later.  We ate soup and salad with green chicken, two table spoons of chick peas, and two table spoons of cous cous.  It was very filling.  I have not been hungry at all yet.  As long as I don't stay up to late, which I don't usually do because I am so exhausted after its over.

After lunch we had a chef from the resort come to demonstrate how to cook seafood in a healthy way.  Her name is Teri:

She showed us how to prepare Ahi:

and Garlic Shrimp:

I will share some tips in another post on cooking tricks, for flavor without fat.

Then we had extreme bootcamp, another circuit training but total body.  And finally a lovely stretch session.

It was a hardcore day, but still easier than yesterday.

Kind of amazing that I'm still standing.  I burned almost 5000 calories today.

That's all for now!