Day 9

I feel like a different person from one week ago...and I love it. Last Tuesday night I was just dead tired. I really didn't feel like I would make it through one week, let alone two. Today I actually had fun.
Breakfast this morning was a Berry Banana Smoothie. You could have that or eggs and two pieces of toast with butter and ketchup for pretty much the same calories. So I had the eggs and toast because I knew I'd feel more full.

This week I got moved up to the next hiking group. The bad thing about that is that I'd be in a new van with new hiking guides. I really like Lauren, my favorite guide, so I was sad I wouldn't hike with her anymore. As they went through and told each of us which hike we were doing and with which guides, I listened for Lauren's name but she wasn't called. When they finally got to my van they told us the guides and we have Lauren! So, she moved groups with me. Our hike today was Fern Gully. It was a lot of walking in deep sand, which was really hard but also a little bit of climbing rocks, which I love.

Last week I was in the very slowest group and one of the girls said "Our spirit guide is the turtle". I decided this week that my spirit guide is a mountain goat. :)

Here's me climbing rocks.


My new hiking group.
Lauren trying to push me off a cliff.

We saw raccoon prints in the sand.


After the hike was a pool class. After pool we had lunch. Squash soup was good. It tasted like pumpkin to me. Then we had a little salad and sloppy joes. Allie was laughing at me and said I'm the cleanest eater ever. That's definitely not something I've ever been told before. I think she changed her mind when I got chocolate all over my face from chocolate covered strawberries for dessert tonight.

After lunch we had a calorie challenge. They showed us pictures of food from two different Chinese restaurants: Panda Express and P.F. Chang's. Those of you who know me well know that P.F. Chang's is my favorite restaurant. This is Trevor who ran the Calorie Challenge.


We wrote down our answers for all of the dishes and turned them in. They said they'd announce the top 3 winners at dinner.
In the afternoon we had Cardio Intervals first. I ran at 6.5 mph for a minute, took a one minute break, and then did it again. I never thought I'd run that fast. After I finished I got a shooting pain through my thigh and in my knee. I felt like my knee was going to give out. I finished the class and then limped to the trainer. She told me I should elevate my knee and ice it. I decided to go to my next class instead. It was Total Toning. There were a lot of lunges in the class and I only made it through about 20 minutes before my knee was just killing me. I went to my room, took advil and iced it. Then I got into my swimsuit for my pool class. I made it through the pool class because being in the water is easier on your joints. By now at 9 pm my knee is feeling quite a bit better and I think I'll be okay for tomorrow.
Dinner tonight was chicken with spaghetti squash, marinara sauce and brussel sprouts. I hate brussel sprouts but they were actually pretty good. Dessert was chocolate covered strawberries, which are AMAZING.
After dinner the people who are on their 2nd week or longer went to a meeting with the life coach, Jen. We talked about our emotional timelines and identified the first time in our lives that we thought or were told that we were gaining weight. It was emotional for everyone and helped us identify our triggers for over-eating. Just since I've been here I've started to think about why I've gained all of this weight: the emotional reasons for this unhealthy lifestyle. I think that knowing why is very important to fix the problem.
While I was in the talk, they announced the winners to the calorie challenge. First prize is a facial. Second prize is Chef Cameron's two cookbooks. Third prize is a Biggest Loser food journal. Someone who walked by the meeting told me that I won third prize and my roommate took my prize for me. Very cool that I won but I'd been really hoping to get second place because I wanted the cookbooks. When the newcomer's lecture ended, my awesome roomie, Jessica, came over and told me she had traded my prize with the second place winner and got me the two cookbooks! I'm really excited about that because I was going to buy them anyway. She saved me $57.
Now we're back in our room and just finished watching the Biggest Loser. I was very tired today and it's time for bed. But first...responses for those who wrote back yesterday:

Mama - I am so happy to hear you say how proud of me you are. I'm proud of myself too! Thank you so much and I love you!
B - I'm glad you are looking forward to hiking because we're going to be doing a lot of it. I'm really proud of you too for the changes you're making at home!
Moo - Sophia lives in DC. I told her today that I have a friend who lives there. I think I will keep blogging once I get home. It's kind of therapeutic. I will check out that website. xoxo
Gram - You're so cute and I love you! I think it's awesome that you are still reading my blog!

Oh yeah! I talked to my roomie from last week, Karen today and she's kicking ass at home. I'm so proud of you!