Biggest Loser Resort - Day 6!

Today was amazing in so many ways.  I think maybe because it was our last full day of workouts and our last workout with our head trainer, the amazing Betty :)  We've all gotten so close as a group and we're getting sad that it's coming to an end.  It just made us appreciate everything a little bit more today, I think.

We started today with "Smackdown"!  We were so excited to get to do a boxing/kickboxing class.  Unfortunately since this is still a brand new resort, they didn't have the boxing gloves yet for us, so we didn't get to go all out, but it was a lot of fun and a great stress reliever.  Not to mention HARD.  Imagine doing two jabs, a squat, a sidekick and then a burpee.....over and over and over.  The sweat (which is both stylish and free Betty says) flowed freely.  But it was a fun workout for sure.  Lisa, the trainer, does this stuff all the time and used to be a hardcore power lifter as well.  She's TOUGH.  I wouldn't want to run into her in a back alley haha.

After an hour of that, we had breakfast and I had to chuckle a little bit.  Something that all of us have noticed this week after detoxing from our usual diets...is that fruit tastes MUCH sweeter.  It's almost like a dessert.  And this morning they served cantaloupe with breakfast.  I hate cantaloupe.  I always have.  Like....seriously hated it.  But I was really hungry and that's what there was, so I decided to take a bite....and then a bunch more until it was gone.  It tasted so much better than I remember it EVER tasting.  Now if only grapefruit could make this same change on my tastebuds!

After breakfast, we went for our morning outdoor workout.  We all knew what it was because they'd told us when we ran on Monday that we'd have to do it again on Friday to see how we compared.  I was really nervous because this time we weren't running it on fresh legs.  I was already sore and exhausted as hell before we even started.  I decided to just make sure that I at least did the same distance that I had on Monday, even if I couldn't jog as much of it.  I barely managed, and holy crap was it hard....but it felt so great to know that even after all I've put my body through this week...I could still crank out almost 6 miles in 90 minutes.  My body can apparently do lots of things that I didn't know it could.  Who knew!  I was the most proud of Amy though.  She was determined to crush her Monday distance and she did...by more than a mile.  That girl LAPPED ME hahaha.  I tried to outrun her when I saw her coming up behind me but she blew past me pretty quick. I want to be like her when I grow up!

Before a delicious lunch of baked chicken and risotto..and some AMAZING potato artichoke soup that I'm trying to get the recipe for...we had a lecture with Lisa.  We got to talk a lot about fitness and workout gear and what to look for in a personal trainer and it was a lot of fun.  She said that when looking for a trainer, you should make sure they can do 3 basic things.  A PROPER squat...a lunge (both knees at 90 degrees) and a full pushup.  Because if a trainer can't lift their own body weight how can they help you lift yours?  Of course we all asked her to demonstrate and got to watch her do 4-5 guy pushups haha.  Man she's impressive.  I also want to be like HER when I grow up haha.

We were supposed to get a zumba workout today, which I had been looking forward to for quite a while.  I was really bummed to hear that the zumba instructor is out of town at a zumba convention of all things.  Betty promised us a fun workout in its place.  This is what it looked like BEFORE we started...

But very quickly, this playground turned into Betty's torture chamber.  We were using the equipment to do pushups and planks and abdominal crunches and dips and running around going up and down the slides.  Holy hell it was HARD!  And there was some poor little girl there with her dad trying not to get run over lol.  I will never look at a playground the same.  But Betty showed us that no matter where you are, you can ALWAYS find a way to get in a workout!  There's no excuse!

Our last workout of the day was our last one with Betty, and while she kicked our butts with some cardio and resistance band intervals, she let us end on the most awesome note....dragging her down the hall by resistance bands.  If you've ever seen Biggest Loser you can probably picture Jillian holding onto some bands that are wrapped around a person's waist and using all her weight and strength to hold them back as they try to run.  Yup...we did that.  Down a really long hall and back.  I think I did a decent job of giving her a run for her money but man was it a muscle burner.  It was SO FUN though!  We got her sweating pretty good by the time we'd all done it.  I'm going to miss her most of all I think.  (Ignore the fact that my tank top was pulled down under my sports bra by the resistance bands lol.  It was definitely a wardrobe malfunction kind of day for me.  I also found out that I'd had my capris on inside out for our playground workout hahaha)

After a nice long stretch, we got to dinner.  This was the one I'd been nervous about all week.  When the dietician called me before my trip, they asked if there's any food I don't like.  I told her seafood, BUT I also told her that I was willing to try anything while I'm here.  I wanted to try  new recipes and new tastes and just open myself to new experiences food wise.  Tonight was salmon night.  Going into the dining hall I was already feeling nauseated from our workouts and knowing I was going to eat fish wasn't helping.  But I made myself take a bite.  And WOW was I surprised.  I wolfed that thing down.  It was so unbelievably good.  So many other people had switched out the salmon for other things tonight, but I'm so glad I just sucked it up and tried it.  I'll have to learn to make it at home.  I'm sure my hubby will love that.  He loves seafood, but I refuse to make it.  Here's to some new dinners when I get home!

After dinner, we were supposed to have a movie night, but no one was really in the mood, so we just sat around for a good hour or so chatting with Mark.  I'm so glad we did that instead.  He is so funny and just easy to talk to.  He has some great stories and I really could just sit and talk with him for hours lol.  You know, if he didn't have a life outside of work that is haha.  Poor guy was so nice to stick around and chat with us for so long.  Just another person I've met this week that I have learned so much from and that I hope to stay in touch with after we've all gone our separate ways.

Tomorrow morning is our weigh-out, followed by our last chance workout.  Kind of in the wrong order, but we all wanted to weigh BEFORE we eat haha.  I'm excited to see the results.  But for now...bedtime!!!

Biggest Loser Resort...Day 5!

Today was unbelievably hard, but I'm ending it feeling absolutely amazing..both physically and mentally. Well..more mentally than physically (if you're not sore when you're here, you're not doing it right)...but you know what I mean.

The massages last night were wonderful, but we still woke up really sore and extremely tired.  Even with 8 hours of sleep, our bodies still feel like they're running on empty.  We're working out 4-5 hours a day and they're HARD workouts.  Every single one leaves you feeling like you're going to die.  You feel extremely accomplished when you survive them but man...I've never wanted a nap at 7:30 in the morning more than I did today.

We went in for our usual 6am workout with Betty.  We knew that today would suck because we were redoing our crossfit workout from Tuesday and were supposed to try and do better than we had then.  Can I just say that burpees are not any more fun now than they were two days ago.  I was sure I was going to fail miserably, but by some miracle, both Amy and I did more than we did two days ago.  I couldn't believe it. After breakfast we were scheduled to head out to the stadium to do bleachers, which I was dreading due to horrible knees, but luckily there was a lightening storm and we stayed in.  I say luckily, but it really wasn't lucky at all.  They kicked our butts even harder than I think they would have haha.

We were split into two groups.  One group went with Betty to the cardio room (with the treadmills, stairclimbers, etc) and the other group went with Mark (season 10) into the bigger room where he had set up 10 different stations that we had to do for 45 seconds each with 15 second breaks between.  These stations included things such as jump rope, rope pulls (not sure that's their technical name but if you watch the show, they hold two ends of a HUGE rope in their hands and wave them while in a squat.  Worst exercise ever behind a burpee) smash balls, wall balls, squats and lots of other fun stuff.  Including this lovely thing that Amy managed to do!!  She was basically going sideways down the ladder in a plank.  I had to do mine against the wall.

We would spend 10 minutes in one room and then switch until we'd switched 5 times.  It was TOUGH.  My first time in the cardio room I decided to be brave and chose the rowing machine.  Betty, being the lovely person that she is, gave me a goal for distance and made me STAY IN THE ROOM until I had reached it...even after everyone was done with their 10 minutes.  She's a brute but she makes me want to work hard!  Each room was hard as hell and each time I wanted to break down and cry, but we survived.  Mark's room also included some lower level box jumps, but at the end of the class, Amy and I decided to try a higher box and we both did it.  Our first box jumps ever.  We were so proud of yourselves!!!

Needless to say, we were very sweaty after all of that.  Notice the sweat line halfway down my shirt hahaha.  But as Betty likes to say... "Sweat is in style...and it's free!"

After all the hard work, Betty let us have some fun.  We split into teams and had to build a house using only 20 pieces of equipment.  My group's house won.  Helen was our exercise "Budda" sitting inside with our exercise bike in the garage on the side haha.

We were all starving at this point and got to have this amazing, but very unique lunch.  It was steak and feta pizza on gluten free pizza crust tortilla kind of things I believe.  It had a bit too much feta for MY liking but it was incredible.

We had some great lectures today surrounding our meals.  Mostly on reading labels and planning meals, but we had a really great one about planning our futures and setting some realistic goals for ourselves once we go home.  My goal(s) are to restrict myself to 1-2 treat meals a week (instead of letting it turn into 3-4 days of bad eating) and keeping my calories UNDER 1500 a day.  I had lowered my calories to 1300-1400 a few months ago and have found that by the end of the day I'm so hungry I binge and end up over 2000 easy.  So I decided to raise my number a bit and see if that helps.  Amy's going to help keep me in check!  It will really help that BLR is sending us home with a lot of awesome new recipes.  And even some for desserts! (such as the amazing chocolate creme pie we had today.

Our afternoon workouts were really tough.  At 2pm we had "Cinco Speed".  Everyone picks a cardio machine to use for the entire class which consisted of this...  warmup...2 minutes hard as you can...3 mins recovery speed...3 fast, 2 recovery, 4 fast, 1 recovery, 5 fast....and then the same thing backwards.  Holy crap.  It was so hard.  And just when I thought I was dying, she singled ME OUT.  Just me.  And made me raise my arms over my head and just use my legs as hard and fast as I possibly could for a whole minute.  (I was on the elliptical).  It was hard, but I managed it...and even did it again on my own for the very last 30 seconds.

Our last workout of the day was in the pool with the same trainer who'd done the 2pm. Her name was Anne-Marie.  She was super tough, but made sure to let us have fun in the water too.  We did some laps and some core work and then we got to play water football.  It was a blast.  Everyone was tackling each other and we got to forget that we were in pain for a while.  This group is so much fun and I'm going to miss them all when we leave!

The best part of the night was after dinner when we got the resort's bowling alley all to ourselves!!!  Most everyone said they were too sore to go and didn't want to go, but Amy and I convinced about half of them to come.  It turned out to be a lot of fun.  The guy running the alley said that most of the time no one from BLR ever shows up and he was surprised to see us haha.  I'm glad we went though.  It was a nice break.

Just to wrap things up I need to say a bit more about/to Amy.  I know I spent an hour or so saying most of this stuff to her today but I need to say it again.  This girl is such a perfectionist that when she works out on one of the hardest machines in the gym for 10 minutes she thinks she's not done well enough.  No one else challenges themselves like that.  Everyone else tends to pick the easier machines (myself included some of the time) when we know that we're going to be on it for a while.  But not Amy.  She goes balls to the wall.  EVERY TIME.  When I think I'm going to collapse, she tells me "JUST ONE MORE!"  When I feel like I can't keep up with everyone else she gets me refocused on  my OWN efforts and gets me to just push harder.  She's the first one to try something new and won't stop until she does it.  She sweats more and goes longer than anyone else here.  Anyone.  This girl is a role model to me and these things are the reason I brought her with me this week.  I could not have gotten through half these workouts without her in front of me motivating me to take a breath and just keep moving.  I am beyond proud of her accomplishments this week and am grateful for the things that she has helped ME to accomplish.  I don't know what I'd do without her and I'm so glad to know that I'll always have a friend like her to push me in the future.  Love you girl.  Be proud of yourself.  Own your accomplishments and celebrate them.  YOU...ARE...TEAM...AWESOME!!!

Biggest Loser Resort - Day 4

Wednesday was like an oreo cookie with UGHHHHH in the middle of two delicious cookies.

I did NOT get enough sleep Tuesday night, though I did sleep a bit more soundly.  But since Wednesday morning's activities are designed to give us a bit of a break from Tuesdays torture, we got an extra 15 minutes in bed.  YES!  At 6:15 we met Betty for some meditative stretching.  I was thinking yoga (which is nice but still hard).  But nope.  She had us lie down on mats...in the pitch black dark...and stretch for AN HOUR.  It was amazing and much needed.

After a filling, but kinda meh (in  my opinion) breakfast of oatmeal with chia seeds and turkey sausage...we headed for the vans for our daily outdoor activity.  Today, I was actually really excited about that.  We went to a diffferent reserve and did a 3/4 mile walk around this gorgeous pond, just talking with one another.

Then we got to play KICKBALL. How awesome is that?  We joined for the morning by Jerry and Estella from season 7 and they were so awesome!  They still look absolutely incredible.  Poor Jerry had even been hit by a car on his bike this past Monday and still played kickball with  us.  I haven't played since I was a kid.  It was competitive! hahaha.  Our good friend Melissa kept catching the damn ball to get us out though. That girl is a serious athlete.  She pushes me to go harder every day.  Love her.

After kickball we walked another loop around the pond and called it a morning.  It really was a nice break from all the hardcore ass kicking stuff we'd been doing the day before.

We headed back to the resort for more lectures.  Emotional Eating and Intuitive eating were both covered today and I needed them both.  Emotional eating is my biggest obstacle on my journey at the moment.  I struggle with it every day.  I can workout 6 days a week, but my emotional eating easily undoes everything in a meal or two of I'm not careful.  The dieticians and life coach here are SO great and have really helped me to feel like I can go home and work on this with some success.

We also had a great motivational lecture by Olivia and Hannah this morning.  It's amazing to me to see tears in their eyes as they speak about things they've said a million times.  It's always just so sincere and heart felt and I love every minute that I get to spend learning from them. (I got video clips but they don't seem to want to upload on my blog.  I'll have to find a way to share them later I guess.)

We had a delicious lunch off asian chicken wraps and I got to sit with Hannah for what was really the first time and just talk to her.  She's so fun and so real and open.  I love that they're REAL people.  Not just some camera character that they put on.

After lunch and lecture were over, I had the amazing opportunity to be interviewed on camera by Olivia for their website.  www.myfitspiration.com.   It's a company they run together and kind of how I started following them online in the first place. They put up a lot of inspirational or just fun silly videos and talk about all sorts of things.  I don't know when my clip will be put up, but it was a really neat experience to get to talk about my journey and my Jilly's Losers group on camera....where thousands of people are going to see it.  Scary too!!  But I can't wait to see it.

Hannah, Olivia and Ben headed to the airport and the rest of us headed off to workouts.  It was sad to see them go, but I'm so eternally grateful for the opportunity they gave me this week.  I will never forget it.

Our afternoon workouts were really tough.  We did a 35 minute class of various exercises.

...and then a 50 minute class of dumbells.  Can I just tell you how UNBELIEVABLY SORE we're going to be for the next two days?  We were burning out one muscle at a time, 45 reps each time and it was HARD!!!!

But then came dinner and the best part of the day (usually)....dessert.  It's amazing what you can  make with greek yogurt. This was like cheesecake heaven!

But even better than dessert was when Amy and I headed to the spa for our girls night.  Amy was sweet enough to treat me to a "Head to Toe" body treatment.  Massages, facials and pedicures.  The massages were the most heavenly, orgasmic thing ever.  We needed them so badly.  Stanley  is my new best friend.  Now if only I could do that every day!  I'd never had a facial before but it was really nice...and my feet definitely look and feel better now!  It will help me survive the rest of the week for sure and I'm so thankful that Amy gave us both that gift.

Because Thursday....it's back to hell.

Biggest Loser Resort - Day 3! (less exclamation points today for a reason)

Today I hit my wall.  Or at least I hope that's what it was because if this gets harder than today, I'm in trouble.

We were in the gym at 6am once again today.  Before we even got started, Hannah and Olivia were using foam rollers because they were so sore. (Amy has mad sneaky phone camera skills hahaha) It made me wish I knew how to use one cause man was I hurting.  I put on a pretty face for a pic with Amy though!

On the schedule it said "Dynamic stretching"...which apparently means, "10 minutes of stretching and then a really really hard crossfit workout."  I've never done crossfit before but from what I've seen from friends on FB, it's really hardcore and it has ALWAYS intimidated me.  When Betty mentioned we were doing it today I wanted to run for the door.  She had us warm up with some kettlebell swings (basically squats while swinging a weight), smash ball throws (giant weighted ball that we had to throw over our heads against the wall and squat when we caught it), burpees (just google it...they suck) and V-ups (lying on your back outstretched then bringing both arms and both legs up in a V.  The warmup wasn't too bad, but then she informed us that our crossfit workout was going to be AMRAP.  This means "As many reps as possible".  She put a timer clock at 20 minutes and told us that we were to do rotations of15 of each of our warmup exercises...and do as many circuits of that as possible in the 20 minutes.  HOLY CRAP.  And "crap" is not what I want to type.  It doesn't cover it.  After 20 minutes of that we were all on the floor dying.  But the point of only doing 20 mins was to show us that if that's all the time you have back in the real world....you can still get in a good hard workout.

After the crossfit, I didn't think the day could get much harder.  I was so unbelievably wrong.  We ate breakfast and then hopped in the vans for a 20 minute ride to our "outdoor workout".  We had an awesome talk with Olivia the whole way there.  I can't get enough of that.  She really is just so amazing to talk to.  We learned all sorts of things...from her diet and her likes and dislikes to secrets of the Biggest Loser show and things that happened off camera and so many other amazing stories.  

After a 20 minute drive, we arrived at an outdoor sports arena.  Artificial football turf.  It didn't look too intimidating.

I had no idea the pure hell that awaited us there.  Betty had us grab a bunch of those weighted smashballs and bring them out to the field.  We were put into partnerships and I was with Amy.  Our first "exercise" consisted of one partner squatting to pick up the ball...throwing it as far as they could (ours was 10 lbs) and then running after it, repeating that all the way down the 100 yd field and back.  While they were doing that, the other person had to do sprints to the 50 yard line back and forth until their partner finished.  Then we switched.  We each had to go TWICE.  We were the second to last ones done so we got the least amount of recovery time and we were already dying by this point.  

And then she told us the second exercise.  I wanted to cry before we even started.  One partner had to hold this heavy ass ball in their hands and do lunges down the field while twisting the ball from side to side.  And then on the way back, they had to hold this heavy ass ball over their heads (high...or we got yelled at) and RUN all the way back.  While doing this, the other partner had to do side shuffles to the 50 yard line and back over and over until their partner finished.  This is where things got ugly.  Amy and I both got through our first round without completely losing it, but as we started our second rounds our bodies hit their walls and they both revolted.  Amy ran off the field to throw up and I had the first mild asthma attack that I've had in probably a year.  And of course because I'm awesome and I workout 6 days a week and I don't need it...I didn't bring my inhaler.  Betty walked me off the field and helped me regain my breath, get some water and then Amy and I got right back out there.  But we still had one more exercise to go.

For the last one, we were put into two groups of 9.  Each person was given an exercise to do and we were to do them like a relay.  While one person was going, everyone else had to stand on the endline and do jumping jacks and mountain climbers.  Wanting to make up for my embarasing asthma issue, I volunteered for one of the hardest of the exercises...the army crawl.  I was supposed to be on my elbows and toes in a plank...and crawl like that to the 50 yard line and then get up and run the rest of the way there and back.  Sure no problem.  Yeah....I made it 10 yds and had to get Olivia to take my place.  Army crawls are hard enough, but add in the artificial turf stabbing your arms as you go and it's infinitely harder.  I still have turf burns and probably will for a day or two.  

Betty informed us once we were all done that we had made it through the hardest workout of the week. Hard is not the word.  I have never worked out that hard in my whole life and probably never will again.  But it was an amazing experience nonetheless.  I forgot to add that Betty was jumping on peoples backs while they ran.  Amy carried her an entire 50 yds.  It was amazing.  She avoided mine today but I made her promise to do it at least once this week!!  

This is a picture of what was going on on the field during our relay exercise.  Olivia's face says it all.

We finally headed back to the resort and went to our first lecture.  We have 3 a day, so I won't go into all the things I learned, but there was one very memorable moment during that first lecture.  Stephanie (the life coach) had us all write down a goal for the week and talk about those.  It was great to hear what everyone is striving for.  And then she had us all write down something we had already accomplished this week.  So I told them something that Betty told me while she was helping to calm my asthma.  I had told her that I was so unbelievably embarrassed because I workout 6 days a week.  I shouldn't have to stop something because of something like this!  I was in tears and hyperventilating and I was just humiliated.  And then she said to me, "Jill, think about the reason your body is doing this right now.  It's because you pushed it so hard!  You made yourself work harder than your body is used to and that isn't embarassing.  That is an accomplishment.  Be proud of that."  I cried as I told everyone this story.  It was just so true.  I felt so proud of myself for what I had accomplished and especially for going back out there.  I didn't quit.  I took a breath and went right back out there with everyone else.  

At 2pm we headed back to the gym for a 35 minute cardio circuit class.  Normally...that would be a cakewalk for me.  I do at least an hour of cardio every single day back home.  But when you're doing it after the morning we'd already had...it's HARD!  We had to do 5 minutes on 7 different cardio machines with only 45 seconds in between to switch machines.  And of course our trainer for this class, Symphony, would make us increase our speed and resistance as those 5 minutes went on.  We were all panting and dripping and it was just....hard.  As if that weren't enough, we had 20 minutes to go change into our swimsuits and then it was time for pool circuits.  Symphony taught this class as well and this girl is BRUTAL.  After 50 minutes of that, I was feeling extremely nauseous and barely made it back to my room for a 5 minute shower before our last lecture.

As we waited for the lecture to start, Amy was kind enough to take the following picture.

When the dietician came in, she even came over to ask if I was okay and snuck me some saltines to help calm my stomach.  I've never seen people so jealous of crackers haha.  But between that, some advil from my friend Helen and a bit of dinner (that I had to force myself to eat)...I felt much better.

Dinner tonight was amazing.  Once again I forgot to take a picture of the food (steak with this incredible pablano sauce) and some sauteed veggies.  I did, however, remember to get pictures of my new friends!

These aren't all of them, but most.  They are some off the most amazing people I've ever met.  Helen works on a cruise ship where her schedule is 4 months on the boat and 2 months of time off.  She's hiked Mount Kilamanjaro and is running a half marathon THIS SUNDAY...after all this!  She's one tough lady.  Melissa has 7 kids, two of whom are adopted twins that she had fostered from a drug addict mother.  Her husband took over for the week so she could have some time for herself.  She is AWESOME.  Dana is staying until mid-December!!!  She dropped everything in her life and decided it was time to make a change.  She's 24 and probably has a good 150 lbs to lose and my god is she determined to do it.  I can't imagine doing this for 3 months straight.  Everyone has their incredible stories and I really hope to keep in touch with them after this week is over.

After dinner, we got dessert...which we do every night, but this time it was seriously orgasmic.  No joke.  I'm not even 100% sure what each of the layers were, but it was like a chocolate mousse kind of thing on the bottom with sweetened greek yogurt in the middle and strawberries and pineapple on top.  It was only about 130 calories and I took 20 minutes to eat it because I was going to savor EVERY BITE.  It's amazing how much you can eat and still be under 1500 calories in a day!

After dinner was all over with, Hannah and Olivia did a Q&A session with us.  They said that normally they just do a motivational speech, but with such a small intimate group they just wanted to chat.  So we got to ask anything and everything and it was a very enlightening experience.  I did get some of it on video, but it came out upside down when I put it in my computer so I'll have to fix it when I get back to Utah and share it then.  Even Ben answered some questions.  It was so great and I'm so grateful they took the time to do that for us.

And now it's time to crash and pass out (I hope).  I had a really hard time falling asleep last night even though I was completely exhausted.  Luckily we get an extra 15 minutes of sleep tomorrow before yoga at 6:15am. I'm going to need it.  Tomorrow is supposed to be fun though.  We'll see if their definition of fun matches mine.  Goodnight!!

Biggest Loser Resort - Day Two!!

I don't think I have the energy to describe my whole day, but I will try!

My alarm went off at 5:30 am this morning.  Our first workout begins at 6 and if we're late to a workout, the WHOLE group has to do 10 burpees for every minute you're late.  So yeah...you don't want to be late.  If you don't know what a burpee is, google it.  They suck.  I noticed once I got up that someone was outside mowing the golf course here at the resort.  IN THE DARK!  Good thing I had to be up anyway.  Here's the view from my room by the way.  So nice!

We met the head trainer, Betty, this morning at 6 and she is just pure awesome.  She's this tiny little 5 foot 1 (and a quarter...she said that was important to remember) jumping bean.  So perky, but so tough.  I love her to death and I'm so excited to be training with her all week.  I'll try to post a picture sometime this week when I can get one.  Since it was our first day, we did some dynamic stretching and then she showed us how to use every piece of cardio equipment.  There's a lot.  Most of it I will never see in my own gym, so it was great to try out some new things...like the jacob's ladder.  Again, if you don't know what it is, look it up.  It's HARD!

After an hour of trying out different machines we headed off to breakfast.  The food here is seriously amazing.  I keep forgetting to take all the pics because I'm too hungry and eat it before I remember!  After breakfast we got into the Biggest Loser vans to head off for our first outdoor workout.  We have one every morning, rain or shine.  Luckily the weather held up today, though it was COLD!  

We went to a forest reserve that had a trail loop around it.  It was beautiful.  One full loop is 1.2 miles.  Our goal was simply to go around it for 80 mins.  I was thinking hey, this will be cake.  Nope.  I turned on my C25K workouts and just kept going.  I ran as much as I could but about halfway in, I started to drag a bit.  By the end though, I had gone 6 miles and I was extremely proud of myself.  Only about 4 of us went that far and it was quite the accomplishment.  On Friday we'll do it again and see if we improve.  It was such a great inspiration, seeing people of all ages and sizes going around and around this thing.  I'm proud of our little group.  That reminds me...our group is only about 18 people, which is apparently the smallest they've ever had.  Can I just tell you how awesome that is???

After that workout, we came back to the resort and headed to our first lecture.  We had two of them today and learned a ton about nutrition, which is my biggest struggle.  The nutritionists are great.  Most of the things they talked about were things I already know, but they answered a lot of questions and really made me feel like this is something I can handle once I get home.  Hopefully they'll give us the recipes to all this amazing food!  LUNCH!  We had an amazing lunch after the lecture.  It was like a ground turkey meditteranean pita that I can't really even describe the taste of.  But it was SO GOOD.  We get about 1500 calories a day, plus small snacks..and I always feel really full.  It's great.  I was worried I'd starve.

After lunch and another class, we headed back to the gym for our 2pm workout.  It was called C3.  Everyone picked a cardio machine (I went with the elliptical because my knees needed the break) and then we did 3 mins of cardio and then 3 minutes of core/strength training.  Sounds easy right?  HAHAHAHA.  The class was only 30 mins long and I was dripping sweat all over my machine.  She had us increasing our resistance and speed constantly and then doing these insanely hard core moves in between.  It was SO great and Betty is so good at pushing us.  The most amazing thing was that Amy picked the hardest machine in the room..the Jacob's ladder.  Everyone looked at her like she was nuts.  But that woman sucked it up and lasted the WHOLE CLASS on that thing.  When I saw her after, I thought she was going to pass out cold at my feet.  Betty announced to the class that Amy was the first person to EVER use that machine in a C3 class.  I'm so so so proud of her.  I wanted a picture of her on it so we went back later after dinner to get a shot.  Isn't she a stud??

After the C3 workout, we had about 20 mins to go back to our rooms (quarter mile walk from the fitness center to our rooms I'd guess) and change into our swimsuits for a water aerobics class.  This is what we looked like in between classes.

Getting in the pool felt so good, but as expected...water aerobics is a LOT harder than most people think before they've tried it.  We were doing 7 minutes cardio stretches with some strength training in between.  It was tough!!!  Amy and I both got wicked cramps that had us screaming lol.  My feet and shins...and her calves.  Stupid cramps!!!  We did awesome though and Erin (the trainer) was great.  I'll definitely have to try out more water workouts once I get home.

We FINALLY got to shower after the pool workout, though it was the fastest one I've ever taken.  But 3 workouts and 3 workout outfits later, I HAD to have one lol.  Then we headed to dinner.  The dinner wasn't my favorite, but we got chocolate covered strawberries for dessert and that was worth everything by itself lol.  

It was so nice to get to sit and talk with Hannah and Olivia so much today and to get to workout alongside them.  They are as motivating as you'd imagine and they are as incredible in real life as they are on tv and in their videos.  They definitely push me to work even harder through my workouts.  I love love love this whole amazing experience.  But hey, it's only been one day right?  Apparently they call Wednesday "Weepy Wednesday".  Talk to me again after that.

I got back to my room and plugged in my armband.  As expected, I had some amazing stats today.  I'm really proud of it.  I get the feeling tomorrow will be even more intense.  Our morning outdoor workout....is in a stadium.  Enough said.  Goodnight!

Biggest Loser Resort - Day One!!!!!

I cannot stop smiling.  I'm sure that once I've had my first workout, that will change but today...I cannot stop smiling.

I had an early flight out of Salt Lake this morning, and being so excited about my trip, I was up at 3am. Needless to say it's been a long day.  I took the opportunity to spend an hour snuggling my babies who cried about me leaving them.  I feel so loved!  I landed in Chicago to quite the downpour of rain, but it wasn't going to dampen my spirits.  I got off the plane and saw Amy, finally getting to meet her for the first time. That sweet, crazy lady had stayed long after her own flight arrived to wait for me so that we could meet and travel to the resort together.  I can't believe today was the first time I've ever met her in person.  It feels like we've known one another for years.  I'm so grateful for her friendship.

We caught our shuttle to the resort and were lucky to make it there alive, the way this guy drove.  He took up two lanes and drove like a maniac.  But we managed to get there eventually.

As we walked into the reception area, we were greeted by a very familiar face!!

Mark from Season 10 of the Biggest Loser!  He runs the program here and he is just pure AWESOME.  He gave us the tour and got us hooked up with Symphony (one of the trainers here) for our initial health assessment.  Here's where I stand as we get started (keep in mind this was fully clothed and after a day of traveling and having eaten out the night before lol.  My actual weight is probably a good 7 lbs lower than this, but this is the official numbers:

Weight: 237.7
Lean Body Mass - 140lbs
Body fat mass - 97.7lbs
Body Mass Index - 34.1
Percentage of body fat - 41.1%

It will be interesting to see where things stand come Sunday morning!

We finally got settled into our rooms (mine seems to have had a window left open during the rain and has a bit of a musty smell to it now but I'll live).  And then we headed to dinner.  I was curious how the food here would taste seeing as how it is being tailored to our diet and is all super healthy.  WOW it was amazing.  We had a salad bar first, which was of course delicious, but the best part was when they brought out the main course.  Chicken masala.  For UNDER 400 calories we had this delicious chicken and peas drenched in the same basic sauce you get in any Indian restaurant.  I've never loved peas more.  The curry flavored sauce was absolutely amazing.  And then we got a cookie for dessert!  It was only 138 cals and it was pretty big.  It took me a while to eat and was so good.  When they told us we get dessert every night, I couldn't believe it haha.  I'm sure we'll burn it off in the first few minutes tomorrow.

At the end of dinner came the part I've been waiting 3 months for.  Olivia, Hannah and Ben (Olivia's hubby) walked in.  I managed to resist the urge to scream and fan my face while crying.  That alone earned me a cookie.  Once they'd eaten, Hannah came over to introduce herself to me and we just sat and talked for a while.  It was like talking to someone I've known forever.  Obviously I feel that way because I watched them both on Biggest Loser and have followed their blogs/vlogs and twitter, etc.  But still haha.  And then as we all headed to the conference room for orientation, I got to meet Olivia.  She gave me the biggest hug and I just felt so unbelievably happy.  And holy cow is she tall!  Well both of them are, but for some reason I was sure she was shorter haha. I am truly blessed to have this opportunity and am so grateful to the both of them for getting me here.

In orientation, Mark ran us through the schedule and what goes on while we're here.  It's going to be hard work.  They call Wednesday "Weepy Wednesday" if that's any clue haha.  But I cannot wait to get started.  We went around the room and everyone introduced themselves (there's only 18 people here...can you believe that???)  Olivia introduced me as their "special guest" and told everyone that I'd won the trip here and that them being here was part of the prize.  I'm sure I blushed 10 shades of red, but who cares.  I was sitting next to Olivia Ward!!! *fans self*  I took my turn to introduce myself and told everyone a bit about my journey...how watching the sisters on BL11 had inspired and motivated me to finally start my own journey and how this week will get me on  my way towards losing the last 60-70lbs.  There are some amazing people here with some really great stories and I look forward to getting to know them all over the course of the week.  I know I'm going to go home with so many new and amazing friends.

After orientation we just hung out and chatted a bit before heading back to our rooms.  We have MANDATORY workouts at 6am every day so I definitely need some sleep.  This is going to be an amazing week.  I am so grateful to my husband, Nathan, for taking the time off work to take care of the kids so that I could come and experience this.  It truly is the most amazing thing I could ever ask for and I intend to soak up every single second.  Until tomorrow!

In preparation...

CHICAGO BABY!!  I can't believe it's almost here.  It feels like forever ago that I won that trip to the Biggest Loser resort.  I never thought the trip would actually come!  I leave this Sunday and come back the following Sunday.  I'm feeling quite the mix of emotions about it.  Of course I'm excited beyond words. I get to spend a week working on myself at a wonderful resort...for FREE.  I also get to meet one of my best friends for the first time!  I'm so excited to finally meet Amy after all the support she's given me during my weight loss journey.  It's so weird to think we've never met in person.  We talk every day!  I also get to meet two of my idols...Olivia Ward and Hannah Curlee from season 11 of Biggest Loser.  I'm terrified that I will go all fan girl on them and cry and act like I'm seeing Elvis, but whatever lol.  I'm allowed to be excited! They helped to jump start my weight loss as much as anything and I want to thank them in person.

The other most dominant feeling that I'm experiencing is fear.  A lot of fear.  I've received calls from the resort to talk about my trip and have been reminded that I will be working out 5-7 hours a day.  A DAY!!!  And that I should bring enough workout clothes to plan for such.  I'm used to working out almost every day but nothing even close to what I know I will be doing there. And it terrifies me.  It really does.

To prepare for this trip, I started changing up my routine a couple weeks ago.  I added some strength classes to my weekly workouts and I went to my very first spin class. Olivia teaches spin for a living and I get the feeling she'll be teaching in Chicago.  I don't want to miss that.  Spin has always scared me for some reason, but after one class I was in love with it.  It was a great change from my regular routine and I look forward to doing more of it in the future.

I also started doing double workouts a few days a week.  I'd go to my regular zumba class in the morning then another class at night, whether it were spin or bosu bootcamp (bosu balls are those half balls that you balance on.  VERY hard work!) or just another zumba class. That's been really tough.  The more I do it, the easier it's gotten, but I still find myself feeling tired all day when I do doubles.  Imagine doing triples or quadruples!

One thing that's kind of thrown a wrench in my preparation is that my gym decided to close from Sept. 3-12 for maintenance.  They've never closed for that long a period before and it freaked me out.  I'm really missing my classes, but it's also helped me to realize that I really am in a good place right now.  I've still worked out almost every single day and I'm still on track.  Being without my fitness classes has not been the end of the world and I haven't gained 20 lbs in the process.  I restarted the Couch 2 5K program for the third time and it's been great to get out running again.  My foot has gotten a bit sore again from the plantar fasciitis, but not so bad that I've quit running yet.  It's felt great to do 4-5 mile workouts and not feel like I'm dying.  I don't think I'll ever be a marathon runner or anything, but this is still progress :)

The thing that has really saved me the most is my awesome zumba instructor, Dee.  She is also a personal trainer.  Normally she doesn't have room for extra clients, but with the aquatic center not holding classes for 2 weeks, she has had room to work with me a few times and it's been a huge wake up call for me!  She's had me doing pilates, which I've never done before.  And man is that stuff hard.  I told her I really want to work on my core and boy have we worked on it.  We've both had a bit of a laugh at how weak my abs are during some of the insane exercises she's had me doing, but she's really pushed me and I love it.  After our first workout together I was sore for 3 days.  It sucked, but I needed that.  I needed that "I worked so hard I'll feel it for days" feeling.  After our second workout yesterday, the soreness is much less...but she pushed me so hard yesterday I actually felt nauseous (nauseated?).  I have never in my life vomited after a workout. I think if it's ever going to happen, it will happen in Chicago.

So yeah, I'm terrified and nervous and excited and I cannot wait to go.  I know it will be the hardest thing I've ever done, but I can't wait to see how it changes me.  I've been on a plateau for 3 months now and I'm ready to get off.  This will be just the kick in the butt that I need and I'm ready for it.  I'm as prepared as I will ever be.