December 17 - Day 27

Saturday - December 17, 2011

Schedule

  7:00 AM      Breakfast
  8:00 AM      Hike - Middle Gila
11:15 AM      Last Chance Workout
  1:00 PM      Lunch
  4:00 PM      Graduation
  6:00 PM      Dinner

Menu

Breakfast                Peanut Butter, Banana, & Toast               320 Calories
Lunch                     Chicken Tacos                                          359 Calories
Dinner                    Salsbury Steak                                          349 Calories
                               Pineapple Sorbet                                        31 Calories
                                                                                                -------------------
                                                                                                1,059 Calories

I woke up today with a burst of energy.... Today is my last day of working out here at Fitness Ridge!!  Woooo hooooo!  It won't be long now until I see Chris and my kiddos!  :)  This morning, Rebecca, Kim, Sarahkate, and I decided we would all do the same hike and stick together.  We wanted to have our last hike be a lot of fun!  All worked out as planned..... we had a BLAST!  We even got to scale down into a slot (which isn't normally included in the hike).  It was great!

After our hike, we had our last Last Chance Workout with Sione, Robin, and Kelli.  As usual, it was very tough but rewarding!  The stations today were:
1.  Medicine ball squats
2.  Jump Rope
3.  Kettlebell squats
4.  Tricept Dips
5.  Wall Sits
6.  Jumping Jacks
7.  Walking Lunges
8.  Boxing
9.  Mountain Climbers
10.  Ladders

The feeling after the Last Chance Workout was amazing!  I felt so relieved, happy, and proud of myself. 


After the Last Chance Workout, I ate lunch, did my laundry and started packing.  I quickly began to realize that all of the Christmas shopping that I had done here was not going to fit into my luggage (even though I already bought another suitcase!!)!  UGH!  One of the other guests graciously ended up stopping at WalMart for me at midnight and getting me a packing box so I could ship home some of my clothes. It is actually costing me less to ship it via UPS than it would to have tried to taken it on the plane with me.


Graduation was an extremely emotional experience for many of us.  There were quite a few of us who arrived at the same time and stayed for an entire 4 weeks together.  It is amazing how quickly you are able to bond with people here.  So many people come here with no or very little self confidence, feeling depleted, depressed, ashamed, alone, etc.  To hear everyone talk about how their experiences here have truly changed their lives and allowed them to love themselves once again was awesome.  The friendships that are made here are truly remarkable! 


Twenty-one of us are leaving, and only 9 are staying over (but 23 "newbies" will be arriving today).  This week I have had so much fun with Katy, Rebecca, Kim, and Sarahkate (to name a few)!


I know I sound like a broken record, but my entire experience here at Fitness Ridge has been wonderful. I truly feel as if a part of me has been revitalized and renewed!   I would like to come back in the future if possible, although most likely for a much shorter time period.  (Maybe even Chris could come with me....)  There are quite a few of us who have already talked about planning a "Reunion" here.  :)

December 16 - Day 26

Friday - December 16, 2011

Schedule

  7:00 AM           Breakfast
  8:00 AM           Hike - Stop Sign
11:15 AM           Cardiovascular Lecture
12:15 PM           Meeting with Life Coach (Jen)
  1:05 PM           Lunch
  1:15 PM           Planning Strategies
  2:30 PM           Zumba
  3:30 PM           Zumba
  5:30 PM           Dinner
  7:00 PM           European Facial

Menu

Breakfast                 Peanut Butter, Banana, & Toast                      320 Calories
Lunch                      Mushroom Soup (ate less than 1/2)                   31 Calories
                                Tostada (ate 1/2)                                              235 Calories
Dinner                      Lasagna                                                           322 Calories
                                Fruit Skewer w/ Chocolate                                 97 Calories
                                                                                                         -------------------
                                Total                                                                 1,005 Calories 

Today was another good day.  The hike today was Stop Sign.  Typically I would say UGH and that I really do not like this hike.  For two-thirds of the hike, it is a hilly blacktop/concrete path that runs beside the road that goes through Snow Canyon.  The last third of the hike is actually on the road (still on blacktop/concrete) and is an intense incline.  In total, there is 1,000' in elevation change on this 4.3 mile hike.  The last two times I have walked this hike it took me an hour and 2 minutes to get to the top of the hill (at the Stop Sign).  This time I ran more than half of the first 2/3 and jogged a couple of times for short distances on the top 1/3.  I made it to the Stop Sign in 54 minutes today.  I was proud of myself!  It felt torturous to me for more than half of the hike but I made it!

After reaching the top, I waited for a little bit at the top until some friends made it up.  Rebecca, Kim, Sean, and I then walked out to the Scenic Overlook which is another mile+ each way.  By the end of the hike I had burnt 1400 calories. 

After I got back to the resort and went to the Cardiovascular lecture, I had a one-on-one with the Life Coach, Jen.  She is absolutely AMAZING!!!!  While I am able to call and talk to her over the phone, I really really really wish that I lived closer so I could see her on a regular basis.  She has so much knowledge and insight.  For the first half of the session, she did the math for me with regard to my RMR, VO2 test, how much weight I want to lose, etc.  She was so excited for me as it really shouldn't be that hard for me to continue my weight loss.  My biggest challenge will be to track and count every calorie that I take in.  Her optimism was really contagious and she gave me a lot of confidence that I can achieve everything that I am hoping for in the near future if I just stay strong and "Do the Math"! 

The second part of the session was more personal.  She asked me what my 3 top negative beliefs were about myself.  I really had no idea.  She asked me a few:  "I am not worth it", "I am not strong", "I am a failure","I am not good enough", etc.  None of those really seemed to apply to me.  So she kept asking me questions.  What we discovered was that my negative beliefs (which were developed in early childhood) about myself center around me being alone and not needing anything or anyone.  I have built up walls over the years to protect myself from these beliefs.  So while these beliefs may have protected me in some situations through the years, they have also left me broken on the inside which can often lead to self-destructive, self-sabatoging behaviors.  As soon as we found these beliefs I could tie them into so many aspects of my life.  It was very sad to hear all of this, but I was also very relieved at the same time.  Once I have identified things that are holding me back from being complete, I can work through them so that I once again can be happy, healthy, and whole not only for myself, but also for all of my loved ones around me. 

The Planning Strategies Lecture was valuable.  Jen emphasized the importance of not only meal planning, but also exercise scheduling.  While it is important to be flexible with your schedule, it is important to treat exercise like a meeting.... if you have to skip it for some reason, you have to reschedule it. Another important aspect to being successful when going home involves Motivation.  Motivation requires 3 things:
1) An Emotional Connection to the Task
2) A Predictable Process
3) A Time Limit
If any of these three items are missing, motivation might start to wane. 

The "magic bullet" of weight loss is "Calories In and Calories Out".  It is very important to track what we are putting into our body.  The math is straightforward.  You need to put in less than you are putting out. 

Another HUGE part of weight loss is your attitude toward it.  You cannot look at it as "Weight Loss is Hard" or it will become a self-fulfilling prophesy.  Your negative attitude will result in negative behaviors and resentment.  In reality, "Weight Loss is Easy!"  It is all Math! 

And after all of that..... I was able to end the night with a facial!  Ahhhhhh!!  It feels so awesome to take good care of yourself!  :)