Day 10

Another Wednesday, and this one was so much better than last week. I woke up this morning with my knee and thigh still hurting. I took some advil and decided I could make it through the hike as long as I took it a little slower. Breakfast was "french toast" with eggs and sausage. That was NOT french toast. I remain unimpressed by breakfast here but lunch and dinner more than makes up for it.


I had the stop sign hike again. It's 4.3 miles on pavement uphill the whole way. My knee hurt but I made it to the top.
Some rocks on the hike:


Me at the top.

When we got back from the hike I went to a pool class and then it was time for lunch. I LOVED the beet soup, but I really like beets anyway.


Everyone loved the pizza. It was pesto and sun-dried tomatoes and it was wonderful.


Sophia happy about her herbal tea.


After lunch we had a lecture on Emotional Eating from the life coach, Jen.


Her lectures are extremely helpful to me and she's funny. She actually was overweight and went through the program here so she knows exactly how we feel.
After lunch our classes were pool, kickboxing and Mountain. I was just exhausted by the time the day was over.
Lunch was a cafe salad. It had chicken, rice, black beans, lettuce, onion and cucumber all on a big tortilla. I ate a lot of the lettuce and then wrapped it up in the tortilla like a burrito. I put a little bit of siracha on it and it was delicious.


Dessert was mango-banana sorbet. I really liked it and plan on learning how to make it at home.
After dinner we had a lecture on dining out and how to make healthier decisions at restaurants.
Aside from my hurt knee and ankle, it was a pretty uneventful day. I'm loving all of the exercise and most of the food and I'm mentally preparing to go home and continue this new lifestyle with my husband in the real world.
For those of you who will see me right when I get home, remember this isn't the tv show. I'm not going to look much different right away (except I'm tan). This is a lifestyle change and it will take some time. I'm finally okay with that.

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!

Day 8 - Monday!

I can't even remember the last time I was excited for it to be Monday. In just one week I feel like almost a different person...but it's still familiar, still me. But better. I'm a million times stronger than I was a week ago.
Got up this morning at 5:30. It was weird. I was dreaming that I was at my parents' house and when I woke up I thought "I need to go home". Then I opened my eyes and didn't know where I was. My roommate said "Good morning, Sunshine" and I laughed and remembered where I was. I got dressed and went to Yogalates. It's kind of nice to wake up to that because it's slow stretching. I went to the dining room after and saw that breakfast was a breakfast sandwich. I'm not crazy about the breakfasts here for some reason so I'm glad that granola with almond milk or eggs and toast are always an option. I had eggs with toast and a tiny bit of ketchup.


Since it's Monday our hike was an assessment hike to put us in the hiking groups we should be in. I did much better than last week and am being moved up a hiking group. I'm quite proud of that.
The hike was Temple Quarry. I didn't like it. It wasn't that hard but there were all these sharp rocks all over the place that people kept tripping on. I slipped at one point and fell on my butt. The hike guides say I'm a good faller. Figure skating training at work. I knew that would help me some day! Another girl, Erin, fell in the exact same spot as me and sprained her ankle. They had to help her down the mountain and she's having a really hard time walking. She's an incredibly strong woman. This is her 8th week of 8 and she's had a lot of crazy injuries. Since she hurt her ankle, she spent the rest of the day working out in the pool. She tried to come here a while ago and slipped getting in the pool on her first day and broke her foot. Now she's back.
After the hike we had Stretch class, then lunch. Lunch was vegetable soup and a turkey rice bowl. The soup had brussel sprouts in it. Weird. The turkey rice bowl was good. It had a sauce with chilies and tomatillos.
Since it's my 2nd week I don't go to all of the lectures. While all the new people were in lecture the rest of us had open gym. One of the trainers, Tiffany, taught a dance class, which I loved.
We started with the Macarena and also learned dances to Apple Bottom Jeans and another song I can't remember the name to.
After Open Gym I got a whole 20 minute break. It was awesome. I laid down for a few minutes. Next we had Core Training which is pretty self explanatory. Next was a pool class and then Circuit. I asked a trainer, Nicole, which class I'd burn the most calories. She said Circuit so I decided to take it twice and skip the pool. I was just pouring sweat for 2 hours. I ran at 5.5 mph for a minute and a half, at 6.0 for a minute and I got up to 6.5 but only for about 15 seconds. I'm going to keep trying to extend those times.
After classes we had dinner, which was chili with cornbread. The chili was great. The cornbread was not that great, but I put it in the chili and that was awesome. We had a pineapple skewer for dessert.
We have two past Biggest Loser contestants here this week. Sophia Franklin and Allie Ishcomer, both from Season 10. We're on Season 11 now. Their finale was just in December so they are both still working on losing the rest of their weight. I sat and talked to them for a while and then they got up and talked to people about their experience on the Biggest Loser. It was pretty cool to hear their thoughts and feelings about their experiences. They both said they'd do it again in a heartbeat. Here is Allie with my roomie, Jessica.

Sophia didn't want her picture taken after 7 hours of working out. I totally understand. I wouldn't either.
We all came back to our rooms and I started typing my blog. Apparently Jessica is afraid of bugs because there was a big flying one in our room and she started squealing so I caught it and put it outside. Jessica is really funny and I'm relieved that I'm having two good roommate experiences.
It's almost 9 o'clock and that means it's bedtime so...good night!

Day 7

Sundays at Fitness Ridge are supposed to be a day of rest. I hung out this morning with my friends who were leaving and said goodbye to everyone. It was really sad to see some of the people go. Then I hung out around the resort waiting for my new roommate. A couple of days ago I got letters from a bunch of my friends from work. It was the sweetest thing ever and so so nice to get mail from home. Thank you guys!
My friend Hetty made two pages for me that I now have up in my room for inspiration. Here's the first:I love that she calls me stubborn. I've always been told that I'm stubborn but never thought of it as a good thing until now. I love that page. Hetty and I also watch the Biggest Loser together (and Taryn). We always laugh about how during the weigh-ins, right before commercial break, they will show Bob looking shocked. Then they cut to commercial and when they come back Bob is never really shocked. Hetty sent me this page too:


At the top it says "Bob is getting ready for Jamie's weigh in". The next picture says "Bob is shocked". The last one says "Bob is very happy with Jamie's progress".
Speaking of weigh-ins. I weighed myself this morning and have lost 6 pounds so far...in 6 1/2 days. I feel really good about that. We've learned so much about the science of weight loss. You have to burn 3500 calories to lose a pound. So it makes a lot of sense that it would be very difficult. I don't get my official weigh-in or measurements until next Sunday.

I spent some time in the pool today, swimming, doing some exercises with the pool weights, etc. Then I came back to my room and showered. My new roommate got here around 3. Her name is Jessica and she's from Denver.


She seems nice. She's funny. She's never been here before and wants to become a better athlete. I showed her around and we played on the Street Striders.
Dinner tonight was Turkey Stroganoff. Not a very pretty picture but it was good. I added Tabasco because you can never have too much spice.

After dinner we went around and told why were here and for those of us who have already been here for a week or more, we gave advice. I told everyone to make sure and ask for help if you are struggling with anything. And I said my second piece of advice is to go directly to the gift shop and buy Body Glide. Cover your body in it head to toe before you do anything else.
Body Glide is awesome for preventing blisters or chafing.
Now I'm back to my room and can't believe I'm really ready for it to be Monday again. Sunday is kind of boring and I'm ready to get back to working out for 7 hours.

Day 7 - Answering Questions and Resources

I have some free time today so I'm going to answer some questions and give resources to people who may want them (like Sera). First of all, the chef here is Chef Cameron Payne. You can become his friend on Facebook and he posts some recipes from the resort. He also will answer any question you ask within a few hours.
Emily, our nutritionist, adds a lot of posts to the resort's blog and has some really great information. I would definitely suggest looking through it. Here's the address. http://blog.biggestloserresort.com/

Okay...now to respond to some of your comments.

Mom and Dad - I am so thankful for this opportunity and there is no way I could ever thank you enough for everything, including the unconditional support. I'm going to do a pool workout today because my ankle is really hurting me. Of course I passed on In N Out! I didn't even get coffee at the art festival while I was in a coffee shop. Very proud of that. It's insanely beautiful here, especially on the hikes. Big hugs to you and Dad! I think it's so cute that you guys stop what you're doing to read my blog.

Sera - I definitely plan on trying Zumba again. Next week I'm going to remember to not wear my very least flattering outfit on Friday. Where do you take Zumba classes? Kickboxing here isn't punching and kicking the air. We get to actually hit bags. I love it. I had a lot more aggression than I thought.

Brigette - I'm so happy you're reading! How's your little boy? I miss you! I'm waiting for my new roomie to get here right now. I will fill you all in later about her.

Gram - Thanks so much for riding here with me! Are you coming back with me?
Sharon said...

Sarah - Your comments usually make me tear up! I love you so much. What is Pachangas? Keep in mind, I'm only running 5.5 mph for one minute at a time but hopefully I will extend that today. I would love to run with you!

Tera - I would love to go hiking with you! I'll be going a few times a week at home starting next week. Can't wait to get Guinness out there! The Hippo Mouth rock was awesome! I collect hippos so I wanted to bring it home. Too heavy though.

Julie - Congratulations on coming here to Fitness Ridge. It will be a life changing experience that you will never forget. I was very scared when I got here but it's amazing what just one week can do.

B - The peach cobbler was big! Sometimes I'm really surprised by how much food we get. I guess they know what they're doing because 1200 calories really CAN be enough if it's the right foods. It's just a big adjustment for the first couple of days. After that, the food part isn't that hard. It will be more work at home, of course. There I will have to cook. I love you so so much and miss you! Can't wait to help you whip yourself into shape too! Thank you for taking such good care of our babies.

Moo - You are such a sweet, wonderful woman. I love you so much. I think it's amazing that you're training for a marathon. You are so incredibly strong!

Malynda - Kiss Grayson for me! I can't wait to share what I've learned with you when I get back. I really think that a lot of it we can do together.

Jen - Thank you for reading. It's so sweet that you guys are rooting for me!

Russ - I'd be happy to teach everyone everything I've learned.

Nicole - How are you doing? I haven't talked to you in forever! You should definitely look up that Chef. His food is amazing!

Taryn - I love you too! I played water volleyball yesterday and thought of you. BTW, still am really horrible at it, but I played!

Paige - It IS beautiful! You're going to have to hike with me when I get back!

Dana - Sad you left me! How's it all going back home so far?

Karen - When you finally get home to Florida and read this. I miss you!

Day 6

Today there was no early morning Yoga class so we got to sleep in until 7. I can't believe that 7 was sleeping in to me! I went down to the dining room and had granola for breakfast.


After breakfast it was time for our hike. On Saturday you choose which hike you want to go on. I chose West Canyon because it was the only hike of the three choices that I hadn't done yet. It was flat the whole way and a really easy hike. I walked most of the way with a guy named John from California. He has four kids, the oldest is my age. As we were walking, he pointed in the distance and said "See that building? That's a hot dog stand." It wasn't. Here's John with the closed hot dog stand.
We saw this speed limit sign and had to slow down. We were getting a little crazy.


Beautiful scenery on the hike.

I like the rocks with the ridges in them.


After the hike we played water volleyball. Turns out I am still horrible at anything resembling a team sport.
Lunch today was roasted red pepper soup and an asian chicken wrap.


My roomie, Karen, and I on the couch in the lobby.


After lunch Karen, Iris, Lisa and I went to an art community close by. They had chalk drawings on the sidewalk that look nothing like the way I draw on the sidewalk.


In a pottery studio.


An artist still at work on her piece.


This one was done in honor of Fitness Ridge.


When we got back to the resort Dana was leaving. A few people left today to get home in time for work on Monday.


Dinner was a Cobb salad. The dressing was very light but I loved it.


Dessert was banana cream pie. I really liked it despite the fact that I'm not crazy about bananas.


After dinner was graduation. There's a videographer who videos throughout the week and we watched that video. We all get copies of it. Then everyone went around and talked about what they had learned during their time here. I spoke too, even though I'm not leaving yet.
After graduation a local performing arts school performed for us. It was really cute.
Lisa, me and Iris after the performance.

After that we all hung around the pool for a while and talked about what it was going to be like for the people leaving to be back in the real world. We're in a very safe bubble here with no temptations. We're all trying to plan meals in advance and figure out what we need to do to keep up the progress at home. One girl called her husband and asked him to clean the kitchen out and get rid of the foods she needs to not have around when she gets home.
Now I'm back up in my room. Karen is packing because she leaves tomorrow and I get a new roommate. I'm nervous again about a new roommate because I got so lucky the first time.
Today is probably the first day that I'm feeling homesick. I'm a little down tonight. Sad that some of the people I've met are leaving. Most of the people that are staying I haven't really talked to much, except John, Julie and Laurie. I'm sort of missing Chris and my babies and family and friends. Coincidentally, today is the first day that I haven't been working my ass off all day. I'm thinking that's probably related. Tomorrow we are supposed to rest all day and not work out but I think I'm going to spend some time in the gym and on the street strider because the exercise makes me happier.
This is something I'm going to have to remember at home when I start to feel down. If I'm too busy to think...I probably won't have time to be sad.

Day 5 - I'm getting good at this.

Wow! I can't believe it's already Friday. This week really has gone by quickly. I've been so busy that I almost didn't notice that the week was almost over. I'm feeling a million times stronger now than I did a week ago, both physically and mentally. Today felt like the easiest day so far. Still a lot of work, but there was no doubt I could make it through it.
I took this picture on the way to breakfast. The rooms that we stay in are behind me.
These are the doors to the non-pool classes. The left door is to the aerobics room which is where we do yoga, kickboxing, toning, etc. The right room is to the gym.


Menu for today:

Breakfast was a parfait of Greek yogurt and granola. At the top was blackberries, pineapple and cantaloupe. It was pretty good but I still wasn't really hungry.


This is Dana. I met her on the Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge Alumni page on Facebook. This is her second trip here.


Today's hike was Hidden Pinyon. I LOVED it! It was a lot of climbing over rocks. Lauren, my favorite guide, says there's a hidden hiker in me trying to get out. Turns out I love to climb rocks. This is my friend, Julie, and I at the beginning of the hike. Julie will be here next week too.

We got to the top of this mountain of sandstone and there were a stack of big black rocks on the top, so I climbed them.


This is what most of the terrain on the hike looked like.


According to our guide, this little pool was in the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.


Lauren, my favorite guide:


After the hike I went back to my room, washed my feet and rebandaged them. I have a really annoying blister on my right foot between my big toe and the one next to it and down onto the ball of my foot. I put on a band-aid and then this awesome duct tape over it. Mom got me a whole bag of things I might need and one thing was the leopard duct tape. Everyone loves it and I have to hide it from one of the trainers so she doesn't take it. Here's my foot during Stretch class.


There are several reasons that I'm feeling better now. Mostly, my body has adjusted to the exercise and food. Another big thing that helps me be less nauseous is Propel. Apparently it replenishes electrolytes lost through sweating. I just know that if I sip it slowly it helps my stomach. Also, no calories!


After Stretch class it was time for lunch. I was actually a little hungry. We had French Onion soup and chicken Caesar salad. I was hungry so I actually forgot to take pictures until I'd already started eating and then it didn't look like anything.
Today at lunch I sat with Laurie, who I also met on the Resort Facebook page. She will also be here next week.


After lunch we had Circuit class, which is in the gym. My ankle was bothering me a little but I pushed through and made it through the class. Next was Zumba. I was pretty excited to try Zumba, which is like a dance exercise class. It was fun but I didn't really like to watch myself in the mirror. Last class of the day was Liquid Moves in the pool. This guy is John who is a really sweet guy who has kids my age. He is always encouraging me. I really like him.


After the pool was dinner. We had a turkey burger. It was so so good. And for the first time since I've been here, I was starving! It was really good. I cut it in half and took a bite, then remembered I hadn't taken a picture yet. I will definitely make this at home.


Our table at dinner:

For dessert we had some orange slices with dark chocolate drizzled over them. It was amazing! Julie loved the chocolate so much that she licked it off the plate.


After dinner I showered and realized I wasn't tired yet. I needed some thank you cards so Julie and I went to Target. I'm really glad that I have my car here because it was nice to drive with the windows down and walk around in a store. It's such a safe bubble here that everything in the real world becomes foreign very quickly.
Julie couldn't find what she needed at Target so I took her to Best Buy. It shared a parking lot with In n Out.
I did NOT go to In n Out...or get any food or drinks at all. Yay me!
Well, I'm going to go to bed now. Thanks so much to everyone who is reading my blog. I will try to actually answer your questions on Sunday so if you have any others go ahead and write them in the comments.
B - Please cuddle kitten for me. I love you so much!