Kicking the butt of obesity!

Who says "fat people" aren't athletic! I am here to tell you they are and in fact, some may be in better shape than the thin people out there! I am a witness to this every day here at Biggest Loser Resort! Me and my new friends are not fooling around... we have a purpose, we have a reason, we are here to kick the butt of Obesity!

We are enduring many very difficult obstacles. We are climbing mountains, the same mountains, whether we are 130 lbs (yes there are some here that are quite small) or whether we are 400+ lbs. We all go on the hikes, we all make it to the top. We all high five and take pictures...that is what we do! If one of us doesn't succeed, we aren't happy! It's a group/team effort and we are cheering each other on!

Some days are a little more difficult than other days. Today was a difficult day for me (however I never gave up and I kept going). My calves are as tight as I have ever felt them. They feel like there is a permanent charlie horse in them. It was fate today that Josh, the Yoga and stretch instructor, was on my hike with me. He was with me the whole way. He stopped me and kept doing stretches with me and really made the big, uneven terrain, hilly hike seem like a breeze. I was huffing and puffing up those hills but my body rarely hurt. Josh helped me to stay right on the backs of the strongest hikers (even though my limitation today didn't make me feel as strong). He had me talking, was asking me questions and answering mine. It was what got me through today's hike and made me PROUD of all that I accomplished. And even through my horrendous tight calves, I wasn't even in the last few to finish, although if I finished last, I still would have been proud.

I love all the water workouts here at the resort. However after having such calves trouble I attended ANOTHER stretch class right after the hike and gave up my morning H2O class to hopefully help gain more fluidity in my calve muscle. Josh is an excellent instructor and I a can tell that he cares about us as people not clients...stretch was a help today.

For lunch it was one of my favorite soups. Beet soup and then we had Meatloaf with a wild rice and veggies. all around an AMAZING lunch.

I got to attend a Grocery class with our dietitian here Jessica. It was a small class for people who have been here before and she gave me some good suggestion on VOLUME food to help in those week moments. Things that you can get a lot of but have less guilt about. For example better choices for time where you feel "mindless eating coming on". She actually spotlighted some of my favorite things like Plum Tots (baby snacks) cereal and dried strawberries and Pop Chips. We talked about these things would be better to eat when you aren't really paying attention to what you are eating for example at the movie theatre in the dark. Also I found a couple new things I am going to add to my pantry. Wasa crackers. They actually taste pretty good and are low in calories. The other for all the people with Trader Joe's around is Egg White salad with chives (like a egg salad) it is only 110 calories for the WHOLE container and is packed with protein. I think one of the most important things to do when you are trying to change and keep up a healthy lifestyle (especially for a foodie like me) is have things that actually appeal to your appetite...not just that they are low in calories, high in protein!

Did you know:

• Your SALT intake for the entire day should not be over 1500mg?
• Your SUGAR intake for the entire day shouldn't be over 25g for females 37g for males (not fair!)?
• Your taste buds can change and adapt in less than 2 weeks. Things that you think are nasty you can change your taste buds to like by changing your habits?!
• Close to 80% of the American Population have an insufficient ability to digest the sugar in milk products?
• There is more protein in an 8oz Greek Yogurt than there is in 3oz of steak?

I thought I'd share those things with you that I learned today in the Grocery class. One more thing that I am pretty sure most of you know already. Never go grocery shopping hungry and always shop the perimeter of the store. The perimeter carries nearly EVERYTHING that you would need to live a healthy, less processed food lifestyle.

Wednesday around this part of woods is HUMP DAY! We are all so proud that we made it to the half way through mark. It is also PROVE YOURSELF day! Our classes are gruelling! We had LOTS of ways to show that we are here to change our lives, we are here to KICK THE BUTT OF OBESITY! Our afternoon schedule today was Kick Boxing with Carol and Mountain with John and then Water Aerobics with John then Dinner. Kick boxing and Mountain are the two hardest classes here, in my opinion! Having them back to back was quite the feat...in fact it almost had me, I nearly lost my lunch in mountain.
Here is Proof:

Kick boxing is self explanatory. It is hard core punch, punch, punch...kick, kick, kick! Our instructor Carol is amazing and she is in some serious shape! She teaches the moves and isn't breathing hard at all. This class it self is very challenging, but fun. When you add to a gym that is way too hot, you can sweat GALLONS of fat off right?! I hope so! This class was like hot yoga kick boxing style! Carol was very encouraging to me and came and helped me in the combination parts (I lack coordination) and was so encouraging to me throughout the whole class and that is just what I needed, THANK YOU CAROL, loved your class!

Now Mountain.. I don't even have words to explain this to it's full capacity but this class isn't for wimps.. it is for people on a mission. Basically this class is similar to Cardio Intervals but with a different twist. You are on the SAME machine for the full class. You start at a certain level and then every 3 minutes you but up the intensity and you do this 12 times! By the 12th change in intensity you push yourself harder than you have for the last 3 minutes. It hurts SOOO good and yes, sometimes you may puke! (but of course that isn't the intention!)

In H2O today I think they were having a little sympathy for us after those two hard classes cause it wasn't as challenging. One of the relays we did was a team relay and we did a set of three different things and the last part we were supposed to get back to our side and get our teams to all be at the other side with their hands raised to win...but there was a twist, they could choose to go to the opposing sides team and detain them from reaching their walls. So who does the "other" team go after? Season 7 Biggest Loser Contestant and 66 yr woman Estella Hayes. They honestly looked like they were ripping here arms off.. tugging back and forth. I couldn't believe that they would do that to her! I was right there yelling at them to stop pulling her like that (could be the granny nanny in me). I eventually told her to grab me around my neck and I would pull her to the other side.. it was a water game gone wrong, in my opinion. Most of the games they play are great..just ripping apart an older woman, not classy!

Dinner tonight was one of my favorites! Cafe Chicken Salad. For those of you that are familiar with Cafe Rio, it would be a good substitution for one of their salads on a healthy side! I will share the recipe with you, that is a promise!

Following dinner I took a couple people to target to get deodorant, laundry soap etc. We ended up going WAY FAR and ended up at a Simi Valley Target, my bad!

I came back in time for a session of reflexology hoping that it would help loosen the calves so I could have a full and productive day tomorrow. BIG SHOUT OUT to Rosa in the Spa Department of the Biggest Loser Resort! She used Essential oils and rubbed those calves, pressure pointed those calves and made me feel like a new woman tonight! 60 minutes with her, is like HEAVEN! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Thank you to all my readers and friends who have sent personal messages about how my journey is inspiring you to get up and move. That really helps me even more want to continue, get out of my bed at 5:30am every morning and kick the butt of obesity! THANK YOU!