Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Got up at 5:15 am this morning and got ready and headed down to the gym and worked out for 45 minutes before breakfast. Having a very emotional morning this morning. Came back to my room after working out and started crying. I am feeling so alone right now and so far from God. Intellectually I know that he is there just waiting for me to call out to Him. To confide in Him. But I don't hear him or feel His presence right now. Lord I need you to comfort me and show me that you care about me. I need your strength to make it through this journey. Bind Satan from my life and help me to block his negative talk and not to believe in his lies. Do you hear me Lord? Give me some kind of sign that you are listening.

I am tired and weary and don't know if I can continue with this journey. I don't know that I am capable of continuing on. I have pushed myself to my limits and at times beyond my limits. This has been probably the most difficult journey that I have gone on. Why does this journey have to be so difficult? Why does God have me going on this journey? I am having a hard time picturing the big picture. What my life is going to be like once I get to my goal. Is it going to be better? Am I going to be happy and content? Lord hear my cries and comfort me.

I talked to my mom and my sister-n-law for a few minutes. They are always so supportive and encouraging. It is always good to talk to them but it is always hard to talk to them too because it makes me miss them so much more. After doing that I headed down to the gym and did some strength training for a little bit. After that I headed back up to my room where I cried some more and then I laid my head on my pillow and took a little nap. I was so exhausted from crying. I had my personal training session with Teri today. It was hard to be there and to focus on what I was suppose to do. It gave me a chance to express what was going on for me to Teri. I know she is trying to be supportive and she wants the best for me, but it's hard to hear some of the stuff she says to me.

Had a chance to also talk to Craig, who is our Property Manager. He always has a unique perspective on how to look at things. He said some things to me that got me really thinking. Hopefully tomorrow is a better day.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Woke up at 5:30 this morning and headed down to the gym and rode the treadmill for 30 minutes. It was a great workout. After that I headed down to breakfast and then back to the gym where I rode the treadmill for 15 minutes and then the recumbent bike for 36 minutes. I worked on some strength machines for about 15 minutes. My knee has been hurting today quite a bit. Been icing it a lot lately. I started getting a migraine after the gym so I went back to my room and rested for a while. Got up and went down to lunch a little bit later than normal. I went to my two afternoon classes and pushed myself to my limits today. At 4:30 I went back to my room and iced my knee and then I jumped into the shower because I had a massage at 5:00. Met with Dr. Ray, our Chiropractor after that and then I had a facial after seeing Dr. Ray.

Going through my day today, I have been thinking a lot about my stay here and going home. I have so many emotions going through me. I don't know which way to turn sometimes. I have enjoyed myself so much being here. Don't get me wrong, it's been hard and there have been days where I have wanted to pack up my bags and run, but for the most part it's been wonderful. The staff here is exceptional. They all care about each and everyone of us so much. When they see you in the morning or through out the day, they are truly excited to see you. I can't believe it's been 5 1/2 weeks since I arrived. This experience has exceeded my expectations far more than I ever thought it could. I feel so blessed. I know that my body is changing and I am losing weight or inches at least, but it's hard for me to grasp how much I have gained and accomplished since arriving here. I have people telling me all the time how different I look now from when I arrived. My clothes are starting to fit looser and I have more energy that I have had in a long time, but in my head, I still don't see it. I am so petrified of going home. Will I be able to do this and make it a permanent part of my life? Do I have the confidence in myself to know that I can continue to do this on my own? I know that I have God and he is always with me, but it's so hard to always try to remember to trust him and know that he is with me. I have my family and their support, but I also need to do this on my own. It's just so overwhelming.

Even with all the emotions going through me and me not feeling the greatest today, it's been a great day. I have so much to be thankful for. I will eternally be grateful to God for granting me this opportunity and will forever be grateful to my family for allowing me to do this. This will be a memory that will last a lifetime.

Monday, August 29, 2011

I am on the Orange team this week. So the schedule is pretty much the same as the last time I was on the Orange team. Because we are really small capacity this week I am able to change it up a little and do my own thing. Today was an interesting day. My friend Cindy left this morning at 4:00 am this morning so last night I stayed up trying to catch up on my blog until about 2:15 am this morning. Then I slept for about an hour and got up at 3:15 am and went down to the resort to sit with Cindy until she left. Then one of the maintenance men and I chatted for about an hour or so after Cindy left so I didn't get back to my room until about 5:00 am. I slept in this morning until about 8:30 and got up and went down and had some breakfast. I missed working out in the gym this morning so at 11:15 I did my first class which was Mountain. I hit it hard today. Didn't burn as many calories as I would have like to but I did the best I could. I did 1 1/2 circuit classes today and ran on the treadmill for 2 minutes twice. I miss Cindy already. She was a great friend and will remain a great friend. So overall, today was a very successful day.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Since Cindy and I didn't get to bed until about 1 or 1:30 this morning we didn't do anything after breakfast. We laid out by the pool and talked and relaxed. I talked to my best friend Shelia for a while on the phone and then another friend from here that had left a few weeks ago. Cindy went back to her room and slept for a little while. It was a lazy day. Then another group of us decided to go to a Sushi place for dinner. It was really good. I had Teriyaki Chicken. Overall today was a really great day. Missing my family, friends, and animals. Starting to freak out a little bit about going home. I am so scared to go home. I am not at all ready to go home. I am so confused.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Today was a good day. Worked out for about an hour in a half in the gym this morning. During my afternoon Cardio Circuit Class I rode Jacobs Ladder twice. The first time I did it for about 2 minutes. I had to stop for a few seconds but I got right back on and finished it. The 2nd time I did it for about a minute. That was a great accomplishment. You control the ladder so if you don't watch it, you can get going too fast and then you get tired really fast. You have to pace it. At 12:45 I had my V02 test done. V02 stand for Volume of Oxygen. What the test measures is the volume of oxygen your body consumes at the various intensity levels during the test. It also calculates how many calories you burn and the most efficient level it burns it at. So the higher the intensity of your workout the more calories you burn. So for me to burn the most calories I need to have my Heart Rate between 143-152 bpm. So if I maintain my heart rate at 130 bpm during my workout I will burn 416 calories, if I maintain my heart rate at 140 bpm I will burn 479 calories, and finally if I maintain my heart rate at 150 bpm I will burn 541 calories. Pretty cool huh? Here is the schedule for today.

6:00 a.m. Stretch (Optional)
6:00 a.m. Open Gym (Optional)
7:00 a.m. Breakfast
7:45 a.m. Hike Descriptions (Announcements)
8:00 a.m. Leave for Hike
8:30 a.m. Gym (For those that didn't go on the hike)
11:15 a.m. H20 Intervals
12:25 p.m. Lunch
1:15 p.m. Planning Strategies (Leaving Guests)
1:15 p.m. Prep Next Week (Stay over Guests)
1:45 p.m. Open Gym
2:30 p.m. Cardio Disco Jam
3:30 p.m. Liquid Moves
4:30 p.m. Circuit Training
5:30 p.m. Dinner
6:00 p.m. Graduation Festivities

A group of my friends and I decided to go out to eat and to bowling to say goodbye to my friend Cindy who was suppose to leave on Sunday. She called to confirm her flight and found out that her original flight had been canceled do to the Hurricane in New York so she had to book a new flight for Saturday morning. We were going to go to Sushi but we tried to go to two Sushi places and both were packed. So we ended up going to this restaurant called Islands. It was very good, but there weren't very many choices that weren't under 1000 calories. I ended up having a Chicken Caesar Salad. Then we went bowling. We had a blast. When we got home Cindy found out that her flight for Saturday had also been cancelled. So we started looking for new flights for her. We finally found one for Monday morning.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Woke up this morning and could hardly put any pressure on my right leg. It hurt really bad. Went down to breakfast and after breakfast I had the Hiking Mgr, TJ take me to the Urgent Care Clinic. The doctor looked at it and then took an x-ray of my knee. He said no breaks or anything like that which is good, but I have arthritis in my knee really bad. I also have a contusion due to the fall on Sunday. He said to just ice it as much as possible and to take Alieve when needed and to wear a brace to help support it. Today was a really weird day. There was an organization that was trying to promote a new spinning bike that wanted to film a infomercial here at the Resort. So they included all the guests that wanted to be included and filmed the infomercial. All our afternoon classes were changed and the guests that didn't want to participate in the infomercial went to a different area of the resort and had either Zoomba or Glide blade classes. I was in the infomercial. It was a lot of fun. For agreeing to allow them to film the infomercial, the resort received like 15 or more brand new spinning bikes. After the infomercial filming they wanted a few of us that were in the infomercial to do a testimonial interview with them. I also did that. Here is the schedule for today.

6:00 a.m. Stretch (Optional)
6:00 a.m. Open Gym (Optional)
7:00 a.m. Breakfast
7:45 a.m. Hike Descriptions (Announcement)
8:00 a.m. Leave for Hike
8:30 a.m. Gym (For those that didn't go on the hike)
11:15 a.m. Stretch
12:15 p.m. Lunch
1:15 p.m. Budget Review (Last Week Guests)
1:15 p.m. Discussion: Cooking Demo
1:45 p.m. Open Gym
2:30 p.m. Mountain
3:30 p.m. Filming for the Infomercial or Zoomba or Glide Blade for those that didn't want to do the Infomercial.
4:30 p.m. Zoomba or Glide Blade and Open Gym
5:45 p.m. Dinner
6:15 p.m. Menu Planning (Last Week Guests)

Overall today was a really fun day. It was crazy but fun. The resort put all the guests names in a bucket for every class you went to in the afternoon for drawing for prizes. They really tried to make it fun for all of us.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Got up at 5:30 this morning and went to the gym and worked out for 30 minutes before heading to breakfast. Felt so good to do that. I met with my trainer Teri again today. We did some work outside and then went in the gym and did some strength training and rode the treadmill for about 7 minutes. Very good session. Worked hard the rest of the afternoon in the rest of my classes. Here is the schedule for today.

6:00 a.m. Strength (Optional)
6:00 a.m. Open Gym (Optional)
7:00 a.m. Breakfast
7:45 a.m. Hike Descriptions (Announcements)
8:00 a.m. Leave for Hike
8:30 a.m. Gym (For those that didn't go on the hike)
11:15 a.m. Liquid Moves or Circuit
12:25 p.m. Lunch
1:15 p.m. Discussion: Emotional Eating (1st Week Guests)
1:15 p.m. Discussion: Grocery Shopping (Last Week Guests)
1:45 p.m. Open Gym
2:30 p.m. H20 Circuit
3:30 p.m. Kickboxing
4:30 p.m. Mountain
5:45 p.m. Dinner
6:15 p.m. Discussion: Intuitive Eating (1st Week Guests)

Today was a good day. I am starting to feel better and stronger. My ankle and knee started hurting pretty bad by the end of today. Have been just icing them several times a day.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

I went on the hike today. It was brutal. We have been having a heatwave the last couple of weeks and today was no exception. The first half of the hike was pretty o.k. There were some inclines but nothing too major. The second half was what was brutal. The inclines were very steep and long and no shade. It was extremely hot. We made it though. By the time we got back to the resort, my ankle was hurting pretty bad. I iced it and was good to go. Here is the schedule for today.

6:00 a.m. Stretch (Optional)
6:00 a.m. Open Gym (Optional)
7:00 a.m. Breakfast
7:45 a.m. Hike Descriptions (Announcements)
8:00 a.m. Leave for Hike
8:30 a.m. Gym (For those guest that didn't go on the hike)
11:15 a.m. H20 Circuit or Free Weight Wkshp
12:35 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. Calorie Challenge
1:30 p.m. Discussion: Cooking Demo (1st Week Guests)
1:45 p.m. Open Gym
2:30 p.m. Cardio Intervals
3:30 p.m. Total Toning
4:30 p.m. H20 Intervals
5:30 p.m. Dinner
6:15 p.m. Discussion: Spending Your Calories Wisely II (1st Week Guests)

Really starting to get into my groove so to speak. Finding which classes I enjoy and which ones I don't so much. Been doubling up on the cardio classes as much as I can. I can't believe it's been 4 weeks since I came here. It's going way too fast. I am not ready to go home yet.

Monday, August 22, 2011

I am on the Yellow team this week. Today I still am not feeling the greatest but I do have to say a lot better than I did Thursday and Friday. I was determined to hit the gym and my workouts hard today. My ankle and knee were still sore. I was determined to get on the treadmill. I have been running on the treadmill longer and longer and faster and faster each time I ride it. Overall good day. Here is today's schedule.

6:00 a.m. Stretch (Optional)
6:00 a.m. Open Gym (Optional)
6:30 a.m. Know your Gym (1st Week Guests)
7:00 a.m. Breakfast
7:45 a.m. Hike Descriptions (Announcements)
8:00 a.m. Leave for Hike
8:30 a.m. Gym (For those that didn't go on hike)
11:15 a.m. Stretch
12:15 p.m. Lunch
1:15 p.m. Discussion: Eating out (Leaving Guests)
1:15 p.m. Discussion: Budget (1st Week Guests)
1:45 p.m. Open Gym
2:15 p.m. Circuit Prep Class (1st Week Guests)
2:30 p.m. Core Training
3:30 p.m. H20 Intervals
4:30 p.m. Circuit Training
5:30 p.m. Dinner
6:15 p.m. Discussion: Spending Your Calories Wisely 1 (1st Week Guests)

Overall today was a great day. I worked hard and no injuries today.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Sundays are always a day to sleep in. It's a complete day of rest. So that is what I did. I got up about 7:00 and got ready and headed down to breakfast. On Sundays, we have Omelet Buffet where we tell the chef what we want on our Omelet and then he makes it. Then the staff goes home for the afternoon so we have a sack lunch that is prepared for us ahead of time. After breakfast I headed up to the pool with my friend Cindy and we laid out by the pool and rested. Later on that day I was heading back down to the office and was walking down the ramp and my left foot slipped off the edge of the ramp and I twisted my left ankle and fell on my right knee. It hurt like you know what. I was o.k though. I went and put ice on it. About 12:30 or so and group of my friends and I headed to Simi Valley to go to the Reagan Library. It was so cool. Very interesting. I was so glad I decided to go even though my ankle and knee were bothering me. We headed back to the resort about 4:00 or so. We then went to dinner and to orientation to welcome the new guests. Here is the schedule for today.

7:00 - 9:00 a.m. Fitness Summary (For those guests that are leaving)
7:00 - 9:00 a.m. Breakfast
10:00 - 5:30 p.m. Free time

I had a blast today.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

I really don't like the weekends here. If you stay at the resort and not go anywhere, there really isn't a lot to do on the weekends except lay out by the pool or take a nap. Don't get me wrong, we need the weekends to recover from the week, but it gives my mind time to think and I start thinking about all the negative stuff that has or is going on. How I miss my family and friends, did I really work out to my fullest potential this week, etc. So I just laid around today and then I went and had my hair done in the afternoon. Oh did I need a hair cut. I also got my hair highlighted. I feel human again. I really like it. Here is the schedule for today.

6:30 - 8:30 a.m. Fitness Summary (For those guest that are leaving)
7:00 a.m. Breakfast
8:00 a.m. Leave for Hike
8:30 - 10:45 a.m. Cardio Blast Class (For those guest that didn't go on the hike)
11:15 a.m. Stretch
12:30 p.m. Lunch
1:00 - 5:00 p.m. Special Activities
Spa Appointments
Salon Appointments
5:30 p.m. Dinner

Good day today. Relaxing and refreshing.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Woke up still not feeling well. I was so exhausted and still had a migraine and was still nauseous. My stomach was really hurting and I had other things going on. Went down to breakfast and ate some Oatmeal with Almond Milk again. After breakfast I went to the gym and worked out for about 30 minutes. I then went and called my Nurse Practitioner, Amy and talked to her about how I was feeling. She felt that I was exhausted and wanted me to take the day off and rest. I talked to Teri and Micaela and let them know what Amy said and headed back to my room. Laid around and took it easy for the rest of the day. Here is the schedule for today.

6:00 a.m. Stretch (Optional)
6:00 a.m. Open Gym
7:00 a.m. Breakfast
7:45 a.m. Hike Descriptions (Announcements)
8:00 a.m. Leave for Hike
8:30 a.m. Gym (For those that didn't go on the hike)
11:15 a.m. H20 Intervals or Cardio Intervals
12:35 p.m. Lunch
1:15 p.m. Planning Strategies (Last Week Guests)
1:15 p.m. Prep Next Week (Stay over Guests)
2:30 p.m. Liquid Moves
3:30 p.m. Circuit Training
4:30 p.m. Cardio Disco Jam
5:45 p.m. Dinner
6:00 p.m. Graduation Festivities

Even though I took today off and rested, it was a pretty good day. It's always hard to say goodbye to your friends. You really start to bond with people. I miss everyone that I have met here so much. It doesn't get any easier either.

Thursday, August 18, 2011

I woke up today with a major migraine and feeling really nauseous. I went down to breakfast and really didn't feel like eating but knew I needed to so I could start my metabolism. So I ordered Oatmeal with Almond Milk. Barely got that down. I didn't go on the hike because I wasn't feeling well so I went and worked out in the gym for about 30 minutes and then I went back to my room and laid down. I also was feeling very emotional and out of control. When I got back to my room, I started crying and had a bawl fest for a little while. I was missing my family and my animals so much. I just wanted to pack up and go home. This is not just draining on you physically, it's draining on you emotionally too. I laid down and went back to bed for a little bit and slept for a while. I pretty much stayed in my room all day. I had the kitchen hold my lunch and I went and picked it up and then took it back to my room. In the afternoon Teri came to my room to check on me and we talked for a little bit. She is so AWESOME. She just tried to encourage me and support me, but also motivate me to continue on. She encouraged me to open up and tell her what I was feeling and going through. It is so hard for me to talk about my feelings or express them. I had so many emotions going on inside me. Where do I begin. I finally got up and went to the last class of the day and then went to dinner. Thankful that this day is almost over. Here is the schedule for today.

6:00 a.m. Stretching (Optional)
6:00 a.m. Open Gym (Optional)
7:00 a.m. Breakfast
7:45 a.m. Hike Descriptions
8:00 a.m. Leave for Hike
8:30 a.m. Gym (For the guest that didn't go on the hike)
11:15 a.m. Liquid Moves or Gym Class
12:35 p.m. Lunch
1:15 p.m. Budget Review (Leaving Guests)
1:15 p.m. Discussion: Cooking Demo (1st Week Guests)
1:45 p.m. Open Gym
2:30 p.m. Ball Works
3:30 p.m. Treading
4:30 p.m. Total Body H20
5:30 p.m. Dinner
6:15 p.m. Menu Planning (1st Week Guests)

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

I met with my trainer, Teri today for 50 minutes. She really worked me hard which was good. I thought I was going to die. She showed me the program that she wants me to do when I come home. We did a little strength training and some cardio work. She is so wonderful. She really does have a heart of gold. She cares so deeply. Anyway, the rest of the day I pushed myself hard and had a fantastic day. Here is the schedule for today.

6:00 a.m. Stretch (Optional)
6:00 a.m. Open Gym (Optional)
7:00 a.m. Breakfast
7:45 a.m. Hike Descriptions (Announcements)
8:00 a.m. Leave for Hike
8:30 a.m. Gym (For those that didn't go on the hike)
11:15 a.m. Stretch
12:15 p.m. Lunch
1:15 p.m. Discussion: Emotional Eating (1st Week Guests)
1:15 p.m. Discussion: Grocery Store (2nd Week Guests)
1:45 p.m. Open Gym
2:30 p.m. Mountain
3:30 p.m. H20 Circuit
4:30 p.m. Kickboxing
5:30 p.m. Dinner
6:15 p.m. Discussion: Intuitive Eating (1st Week Guests)

Starting to really miss my family and friends at home. I can't believe my time here has gone by so fast, but yet it seems so long also. I'm not ready to come home, but my heart is there wishing I was there to see everyone. I hope that makes sense.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Today was a great day. Didn't burn as many calories as yesterday, but it was still a fantastic day. I'm feeling really great and full of life. I'm having the time of my life here. Here is the schedule for today.

6:00 a.m. Stretch (Optional)
6:00 a.m. Open Gym (Optional)
7:00 a.m. Breakfast
7:45 a.m. Hike Descriptions (Announcements)
8:00 a.m. Leave for Hike
8:30 a.m. Gym (for those that didn't go on hike)
11:15 a.m. H20 Circuit or Free Weight Wkshp
12:25 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. Calorie Challenge
1:30 p.m. Discussion: Cooking Demo (Week 1 Guests)
1:45 p.m. Open Gym
2:30 p.m. H20 Intervals
3:30 p.m. Cardio Intervals
4:30 p.m. Total Toning
5:30 p.m. Dinner
6:15 p.m. Discussion: Spending Your Calories Wisely II (Week 1 Guests)

We have been pretty small in numbers the last month so when we are not to capacity with guest we can spice things up a little bit and not follow the schedule to a T. So I changed things up a little bit and did 2 or more cardio classes instead of the pool to burn more calories.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Today was an awesome day. I burned over 3100 calories today. I pushed myself really hard today. I felt AWESOME. It was a great day. I was Purple this week. Here is the schedule for the day.

6:00 a.m. Stretch (Optional)
6:30 a.m. Know Your Gym (For new quests)
7:00 a.m. Breakfast
7:45 a.m. Hike Descriptions (Announcements)
8:00 a.m. Leave for Hike
11:15 a.m. Total Body H20 or Mountain
12:35 p.m. Lunch
1:15 p.m. Discussion: Budget (New Guests)
1:15 p.m. Discussion: Eating Out (Last Week Guests)
1:45 p.m. Open Gym
2:15 p.m. Circuit Class Prep (New Guests)
2:40 p.m. Circuit Training
3:30 p.m. Core Training
4:30 p.m. H20 Intervals
5:45 p.m. Dinner
6:15 p.m. Discussion: Spending Your Calories Wisely 1 (New Guests)

So overall Monday was a fantastic day and I was really pumped to face Tuesday and the rest of the week.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

I didn't go on the hike today. I stayed back and did Cardio Blast with two of our Trainers Tonia and Ursula. Tonia is a tough trainer, but very good. She worked us hard. She had us do this one exercise where we had to go outside and walk down this path while holding our hands up with weights to show us what are knees went through when we were at our starting weights. It was hard. We then went and did Kickboxing with Ursula. After that I had swimming with Tonia again. Then after swimming was lunch and then we had the rest of the afternoon off. I went and laid down and took a nap. Got up after my nap and went to dinner. Overall a great Saturday.

Friday, August 12, 2011

I can't believe it is already Friday of my second week. Time has flown by. It's going by way to fast. Nothing really major happened today. I am completely exhausted and can't wait until tomorrow afternoon to be able to relax for a day in a half and do nothing. Over all it was a good Friday.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Today I am feeling stronger and have more energy and feel so good. Still the same schedule as last week, but I changed it up a little this week and did more cardio work in the gym. I have found that I really enjoy he recumbent bike and the treadmill. That is probably what I will concentrate on when I come home. Some time this week, I did the Jacobs ladder. It's a really hard machine and no one likes to do it because it is so tough. I did it for 30 seconds. I was so proud of myself. I am really enjoying myself.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Today was a pretty good day. Worked really hard & felt completely exhausted by the end of the day. I started running on the treadmill. Only for about 30 seconds, but for someone who has never ran on the treadmill, that's amazing.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Today is my beautiful niece Shayla's 18th birthday. I can't believe she's 18. It seems like yesterday I was holding her in my arms for the first time. Boy has time gone by so fast. I am so proud of how she has grown up. She is beautiful, smart, kind, generous, thoughtful & most of all loves the Lord with all her heart. I'm so proud of you Shay. Love you so much girl. She's leaving the beginning of next month to go to France for three or four month on a internship @ a church there in France. Will miss her so much.

Today was another awesome day. I'm getting stronger & feeling better more & more everyday. My workouts are getting better & better. I am loving it here. I'm having the time of my life. I can't even imagine coming home right now. I miss my family & friends so much but I know I need to be here. Over all it was a wonderful day.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Today is my beautiful niece Shayla's 18 th birthday. I can't believe she's 18. It seems like yesterday I was holding her in my arms for the first time. Boy has time gone by so fast. I am so proud of how she has grown up. She is beautiful, smart, kind, generous, thoughtful & most of all loves the Lord with all her heart. I'm so proud of you Shay. Love you so much girl. She's leaving the beginning of next month to go to France for three or four month on a internship @ a church there in France. Will miss her so much.

Today was another awesome day. I'm getting stronger & feeling better more & more everyday. My workouts are getting better & better. I am loving it here. I'm having the time of my life. I can't even imagine coming home right now. I miss my family & friends so much but I know I need to be here. Over all it was a wonderful day.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Today is my beautiful niece Shayla's 18 th birthday. I can't believe she's 18. It seems like yesterday I was holding her in my arms for the first time. Boy has time gone by so fast. I am so proud of how she has grown up. She is beautiful, smart, kind, generous, thoughtful & most of all loves the Lord with all her heart. I'm so proud of you Shay. Love you so much girl. She's leaving the beginning of next month to go to France for three or four month on a internship @ a church there in France. Will miss her so much.

Today was another awesome day. I'm getting stronger & feeling better more & more everyday.

Monday, August 8, 2011

This week I'm not going to post the schedule because like I stated in an earlier post, I was Orange again this week so the schedule is the same. So I will just try to remember the key points in each day of this week. Today was an awesome day compared to yesterday. Hit it hard in the gym this morning. Didn't go on the hike again today. I was still kind of struggling with my weigh in on Sunday, but tried to not think & focus on it. The trainers & staff were great about listening & encouraging me to hang in there. I decided while I was here I was going to take advantage of personal training sessions with one of the trainers. Her name is Teri. She is AWSOME. I met with her this afternoon & just talked about what my goals were & what I wanted to accomplish while I was here. She came up with a program that I can do when I come home. Overall good day.

Sunday,August 7,2011

Sunday is always a day of rest for all of us. They want us to rest & give our bodies a chance to recover from the hard workouts of the previous week. It is also weigh in & measure day for those guests that are leaving & for those that are staying & want to get weighed. They don't encourage those of us that are staying to weigh in every week because they don't want us to focus on the scale but they do allow us to if we really want to. I decided to go ahead & weigh in the first week, just to see how I did. I shouldn't have. I only lost .7#. I was really upset. It affected me for the rest of the day. I know that my body is going through a lot & I'm gaining muscle & all that, but only .7#'s? So I have decided I am not going to way in until I come home in Sept. & I'm not going to have them give me the results. I will be home for two weeks & then I come back here on October 9th for another 8 weeks. I will come home on December 4th hopefully a totally different person. I will weigh in again then & find out what my final weight loss will be. I laid out by the pool & listened to John MacArthur who is a pastor here in California on my phone. Read for a little bit & then went back to my room & took a little nap.

After waking up from my nap I went to the lodge & went up to the business room & started working on this blog. At 5:30 I went downstairs for dinner & orientation for the new people coming in. Over all, other than the morning upset & having it consume me, today ended up being a pretty good day.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Saturday is a half day workout schedule. So we only do activities until 12:30 p.m. or so & then we have the rest of the day off. So I woke up about 6:00 or 6:30 a.m. & got ready & headed down 2 breakfast. On Saturday we have a choice of three different hikes we can do or we can stay back at the ranch & do cardio blast with a couple of trainers. So today I decided to do the hike on the beach. It was beautiful. It was very foggy & cool so it was the perfect hike. It was tough but I made it through. Karen went on the hike with me so we hung out & walked at our own pace & had a blast. We stopped along the way & took pictures & stuff. There is this one part that gets pretty steep & terrainy & Karen was still having problems with her hips so she stayed back & I went on ahead with one of the trainers. We headed back to the resort & right into our next class. Here is the example of Saturdays activities.

6:30 - 8:00 a.m. Fitness Summary
7:00 a.m. Breakfast
8:00 a.m. Leave for Hike
8:30 - 10:45 a.m. Cardio Blast Class (For those that don't go on hike)
11:15 a.m. Circuit or Total Body H20
12:30 p.m. Lunch
1:00 - 5:00 p.m. Special Activities/Spa Appointments/Salon Appointments
5:30. p.m. Dinner

Saturday was a good day. I felt like I worked really hard & got a really good burn calorie wise. I just relaxed for the rest of the day until dinner. Hung out by the pool & I think I even went back to my room & took a little nap. Sat out by the pool after dinner & visited with some friends. Eventually I went back to my room & called home & talked to my family for a few minutes. Watched TV for a little bit & then went to sleep.

Friday, August 5, 2011

Woke up again at 5:00-5:15 a.m. and got ready and headed down to my stretch class. After class I headed down to breakfast. Again I stayed back from the hike so after breakfast I headed to the gym and worked out for about 2 hours. Did my usual stuff. Increasing time and speed on bike and on treadmill. Getting stronger and healthier each and every day. Here is the schedule of Friday.

6:00 a.m. Stretch (Optional)
6:00 a.m. Open Gym
7:00 a.m. Breakfast
7:45 a.m. Hike Descriptions
8:00 a.m. Leave for Hike
8:30 a.m. Gym (for those who didn't hike)
11:15 a.m. Stretch
12:15 p.m. Lunch
1:15 p.m. Planning Strategies
1:15 p.m. Prep for next week
2:30 p.m. Circuit Training
3:30 p.m. Cardio Disco Jam
4:30 p.m. Liquid Moves
5:30 p.m. Dinner
6:00 p.m. Graduation Festivities

On Fridays we always have a graduation ceremony for those that are leaving. We watch a video of the weeks activities that is put together by our videographer. We each get to take one home. Friday evenings are always a little emotional because we have to say goodbye to people that we have bonded with throughout the week. As you see at the above schedule we have a prep for next week time on Fridays. That is just where the Program Director gives us announcements for the weekend and hands us our new schedules for the following week. There are groups that we are put into. There are 4 different group colors. So she passes out the trifolds with our new color and schedule for the week. I was Orange this week and was suppose to be Purple next week but there was a group of us that wanted to be in the same group so we stayed Orange. It was a good day today. Worked hard and feel fantastic. Went to my room after the graduation ceremonies and watched tv for a little bit and called home to talk to family.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Woke up again at around 5:00 a.m. or 5:15 a.m. and got ready and headed down to my stretch class. After that I headed down to breakfast. I stayed back again from the hike and worked out in the gym. I worked out for about 2 hours doing the bike and treadmill and the nu step machine. It's like a bike but instead of peddling, you push the pedals. Here is the example of Thursdays schedule.

6:00 a.m. Stretch (Optional)
6:00 a.m. Open Gym
7:00 a.m. Breakfast
7:45 a.m. Hike Descriptions (Announcements)
8:00 a.m. Leave for Hike
8:30 a.m. Gym (for those that didn't hike)
11:15 a.m. Liquid Moves or Gym class
12:25 p.m. Lunch
1:15 p.m. Budget Review
1:15 p.m. Discussion: Cooking Demo
1:45 p.m. Open Gym
2:30 p.m. Total Body H20
3:30 p.m. Ball Works
4:30 p.m. Treading
5:30 p.m. Dinner
6:15 p.m. Menu Planning

I had a really great day today. I bounced back from yesterday and really worked hard today. Went to my room after visiting with some friends for a little bit. Watched TV for a little bit and called home and talked to my family.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

They call Wednesdays "Hump Day" around here because it is the top of the hump so to speak. Only 2 1/2 more days until rest. So I got up at 5:00 a.m. today and got ready and went to the stretch class. I love the stretch classes. They are so important to start your day with. After the stretch class I headed down to breakfast. Ate breakfast and again stayed back from the hike so I went up to the Gym and worked out for about 2 hours. Again I rode the bike and treadmill and then I did some strengthening machines. It was a great workout. Here is the example of Wednesday's schedule.

6:00 a.m. Stretch (optional)
6:00 a.m. Open Gym
7:00 a.m. Breakfast
7:45 a.m. Hike Descriptions (Announcements)
8:00 a.m. Leave for Hike
8:30 a.m. Gym (for those that didn't hike)
11:15 a.m. Liquid Moves or Circuit
12:35 p.m. Lunch
1:15 p.m. Discussion: Emotional Eating
1:15 p.m. Discussion: Grocery Store
1:45 p.m. Open Gym
2:30 p.m. Kickboxing
3:30 p.m. Mountain
4:30 p.m. H20 Circuit
5:30 p.m. Dinner
6:15 p.m. Discussion: Intuitive Eating

Today was an emotional day. I hit what we call a wall today. I was fine when I woke up this morning but had a little break between classes so I thought I would call my sister and talk to her and my brother-n-law for a few minutes. As soon as my sister got on the phone I started bawling. Don't really know why other than I was missing her and my family. But I picked myself up, brushed myself off and went on with my day. It turned out to be a AWESOME day. Finished out my day strong. At this point I am feeling fantastic. I am getting more stronger and more energy. The friends that I am making here are fantastic. It's hard to say goodbye to them each and every week. But we will keep in touch through facebook, email, phone calls, etc.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Was really tired from Monday so I slept in until about 6:00 a.m. So I missed my stretch class today. So I got up and got ready and headed down to breakfast. I decided not to go on the hike today because my feet were still really sore so instead I headed up to the gym about 8:30 a.m. and worked out for about 2 hours. I rode the recumbent bike for about 30 minutes and then I rode the treadmill for about 10 minutes and then did different strengthening machines. Here is the example of todays schedule.

6:00 a.m. Stretch (Optional)
6:00 a.m. Open Gym
7:00 a.m. Breakfast
7:45 a.m. Hike Descriptions (Announcements)
8:00 a.m. Leave for Hike
8:30 a.m. Gym (If you didn't go on hike)
11:15 a.m. Stretch
12:15 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. Calorie Challenge
1:30 p.m. Discussion: Cooking Demo
1:45 p.m. Open Gym
2:30 p.m. Total Toning
3:30 p.m. H20 Intervals
4:30 p.m. Cardio Intervals
5:45 p.m. Dinner
6:15 p.m. Discussion: Spending Your Calories Wisely 2

Today was another great day. I can already start to feel a difference. Even though I'm tired and exhauseted from the day and really sore, I feel energized and feel great. Again after dinner I went back to my room and called home to talk to the family and then watched tv for a little bit and then fell asleep. I didn't really sleep very good though. I kept on waking up and tossing and turning all night long.

What have I Gotten Myself Into?

My morning started bright and early. I got up at 5:00 a.m. Took a shower and got ready and went to my first class. It was a stretch class. Each class is about 45 minutes long. So at 7:00 I headed down to breakfast. I will post some pictures of the menu board of all the daily breakfasts, lunches and dinners. At 7:45 a.m. they do announcements and the Hiking Manager comes and tells us where we are going to hike that day. We go on a 2 hour hike every morning except Sundays. So today was considered an assessment hike so they could put us into different categories of fitness levels and then they put us into different vans depending on the level of fitness. I was in van 1, which is the easiest hikes. They are still tough and long, but they aren't that bad. There are like 15 different hikes that they rotate through depending on the weather. There are some guest that choose to stay back and work out in the gym because of injuries or whatnot. We have different classes that we have to go to through out the day and we rotate each day and each week. Here is an example of Mondays schedule. It changes each week depending on the color you are.
6:00 a.m. Stretch
6:30 a.m. Know your Gym
7:00 a.m. Breakfast
7:45 a.m. Hike Descriptions (Announcements)
8:00 a.m. Leave for Hike
11:15 a.m. Total Body H20/Mountain
12:25 p.m. Lunch
1:15 p.m. Discussion: Eating Out
1:15 p.m. Discussion: Budget
1:45 p.m. Open Gym
2:15 p.m. Circuit Class Prep
2:30 p.m. H20 Intervals
3:30 p.m. Circuit Training
4:30 p.m. Core Training
5:30 p.m. Dinner
6:15 p.m. Discussion: Spending Your Calories Wisely Today I did the hike around the Resort. I met a lady whose name happened to be Karen also and we became fast friends. We hung out and did the hike together while the rest of the group went on a head. It was tough. Karen and I ended up only making it about 3 miles because her hip was hurting really bad and my feet were really sore so one of the hiking guides took us back to the resort and we waited for the rest of the group to return. When I got back to the resort I iced my feet and relaxed. All in all today was a fantastic day. Felt really good and really tired so after dinner I went to my cabin and called home and talked to my family and then watched tv for a little bit and then went to sleep. I really slept good this night.

The Beginning Of My Journey

I am doing this blog mostly for my family and friends but also for myself to have a memory keepsake of my new journey. In this blog I will be pretty much describing my daily schedule and what goes on each and every day here at the Resort. I will also use this as kind of a journal to share my ups and downs with you all. Please feel free to comment or whatever you like. Thank you for being a part of this exciting journey with me. This is when my Biggest Loser Journey began. I woke up at 6:00 am this morning so I could shower and get ready and make sure I had all my belongings all packed and everything. At about 8:00 a.m Sandra Norton, my sister and my brother-n-law came over and we had a time of prayer. It was a very emotional time for me. I started crying. We prayed for about a 1/2 hour or so and then we loaded all my stuff into the car and headed to the Airport. We stopped by Wake Up Call on our way. We arrived a little later than we should have at the Airport so I hugged my sister, brother-n-law and Sandra goodbye and rushed into line to go through security. When I got through security and to my gate, they were just fininshing up the final boarding. My Plane took off from the Spokane Airport at 10:10 a.m. and headed to Las Vegas Nevada. I arrived in Las Vegas about 12:25 p.m. and had to change flights to Burbank, California. I left Las Vegas about 2:00 p.m. to head for Burbank. Arrived at Burbank Airport at about 3:30 p.m. or so. From there I took a shuttle to the Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge. Absolutely beautiful. I arrived there about 4:45 p.m. Checked myself in and took my stuff up to my room. Then I had what they call an Assessment where they take your picture, weigh you and take your body fat percentage and your measurements. I then went down and ate dinner and had an orientation kind of meeting where some of the staff introduced themselves and gave some announcements and then we all went around the tables and introduced ourselves and where we were from and how long we were going to be here. There were guests that had been there previous weeks also so they introduced themselves and said how many weeks they had been there and how many they had left. That is just a glimpse of what went on this day. Now I would like to share some thoughts and feelings that were going on with me throughout the day. When arriving at the Resort I was feeling excited, terrified and overwhelmed. I was missing my family, friends, and animals very much and started to question what I had gotten myself into. As you can see everything turned out just fine and I'm having the time of my life. I have met some pretty amazing people here. The staff and the guests are fantastic and wonderful. The trainers are tough but also very understanding and caring. They truly care about each and everyone of us. They devote their lives to us for as long as we are here and even after we leave. I can't explain the bonds that you create in such a short time with the trainers and even the guests. They will be forever lifetime friends.