Day 17 post is up on the new site http://screamingbeltloop.com

Click here to be directed to the new site, all of the posts here have been moved too.

At home day 16, Treading again, and figuring out that we eat out a ton!

Please check out my blog at it's new location as well and let me know what you think, click on this link. 


Comments/Thoughts:

It is weird how you can see yourself and your life one way and then notice you were pretty far off.  I have noticed that since I have been home and blogging that we eat out a ton.  I mean I knew we ate out a decent bit, but I always felt that I cooked quite a bit at home and that was the bulk of it, but today we ate out for two meals.  I think a large part of it is being social.  For example the second time I went out today was to do kids night at Fazolis where they have someone to color with the kids and you can hang out with your friends with kids.  I was there with my friends Zack, Laura and Kevin and we had about 5 kids with us.  It was nice to have adult time and kid time and a good dinner.

I have made mostly good choices when I went out to eat, but for me it is like taking an alcoholic to a bar 3 to 8 times a week.  I am in recovery and a great way to relapse is to constantly surround myself with temptations.  Tonight I ate my dinner which was already a big plate of spaghetti, but within my calories for the day, but the next thing I knew I was helping the kids finish off their pasta dishes.  I did not even know I was doing it and stopped it once I did, but then I took all of their food to go.  Big mistake...  I knew they were not going to eat it rewarmed, and guess who ate it?  Me!  Argh!  I know better than that, and I still messed up.  I really need to work on modifying my behavior if I am going to be in these situations so much.  It is one thing to go out for a cheat meal, but another to choose to surround myself with the temptations.

Today was also the first day I did treading again.  A quick treading recap is 5 minutes as hard as you can go, 5 cool down, 4 hard, 4 cooldown, 3, 3, 2, 2, 1, 1.  It felt good to push myself again.  Hopefully it balanced out my mistake.  I do not want this to be a lost week.  My body needs to understand mistakes vs. normal.  Normal is healthy eating and I expect my body to get to a healthier weight.

Statistics:

I walked 8,948 steps and 4.4 miles and burned 3,639 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6

Watch calories burned: I did not have it for my workout, but good news I found my heart rate strap!  Watch will be back tomorrow.

Exercise:

Today I did a treading workout and it felt great to push myself again.  I am going to try to do kettlebells on Friday, and get back into them.  I feel like I am losing muscle as I type this!  It needs to warm up so I can start hiking around here.  Silly 20 degree weather!  We looked at bikes today too, anyone have a recommendation for a bike for a 265 pound guy?  Needs to be sturdy I imagine.  That is what I get when I reach that goal weight.  We are going to get some pull behinds for the kids.  We will see how that goes, sounds like quite a workout.

Food:
Breakfast was eggs and toast with bacon once again.  For lunch we went to the cafe that is attached to our gym called the Greenway cafe.  I had the Mediteranian wrap which had some great chicken in it.  No idea on calories, but I would say 400-600 and within my range for a meal.  Dinner I went to Fazoli's with friends like I mentioned above and had a spaghetti with meat sauce and then went on to eat half a kids spaghetti and fettuccine.   I just looked the Spaghetti I had up and it was 680 calories, not a deal breaker until you add in that I ate extra!  Here is the Fazoli's nutrition (or lack there of) web page.   ACK ACK ACK!  This is a teachable moment is what I would say if I was a politician...  Let us all remember to not take food home for the kids we know they will not eat.

Slideshow/Pictures:

By the way if you do not see the slideshow below or in other posts, they are flash applications so complain to Steve Jobs about your Ipad and Iphone not loading them.  Sorry!

At home day 15, The beginning of week 3, and a new start.

Comments/Thoughts:
Well after my problems on Sunday, today was a chance to make up for it and I did fairly well.  We did eat out today, but I was pretty diligent in making healthy choices.  In the past one bad day has spilled into a week and then a month and so on and so on.  I think one of the most important changes for me is going to be ensuring that one mistake does not snowball into a huge setback.  If I can control and manage these small slip ups then getting to my goal weight should not be a problem at all.

I used my time after the kids went to bed tonight to work on a project for the blog.  I had purchased the web address http://screamingbeltloop.com awhile back and want to transition my blog to a web space that I have control over.  I really like blogger, but I think I can have more flexibility with wordpress on my own web host.  Last night I imported all the blog posts and comments from here over to The Screaming Belt Loop site and have already made a decent amount of progress on the transition.  Any input either here, or there would be appreciated on the look and things that need to be worked on.  I chose the name just because my poor belts seem to be victims of denial when I have gained weight back and just did not want to move back up a loop.  So some of the loops look like they have been put on the rack and tortured.  Anyway it seemed like a good idea at the time.  Check it out and let me know what you think.

Statistics:
I walked 11,487 steps and 5.6 miles and burned 3,816 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6

My heart monitor stat is missing! =/

Exercise:
Again today I did go to the gym and workout, but it was a brisk walk at an incline.  I am looking forward to going back to kettlebells and double treading, but my body is just not there yet.  The fitbit and treadmill claim I burned 700 calories.  I miss my heart monitor.

Food:
Breakfast was eggs, toast and center cut bacon.  For lunch my wife really wanted to take Katie to Cracker Barrel since she eats so well there.  I had grilled chicken tenders with green beans and turnip greens, and also a small salad with less then a tablespoon of blue cheese.  For dinner I had a flatout wrap with leftover chinese turkey stirfry and lettuce in it, as well as squash soup and two kashi cookies.  I went a little heavy on the dessert section but still had less than 1600 calories today.

Pictures/Slideshow:

Starting a transition to a different web address and blogging type

I have setup a copy of my blog at the web address http://screamingbeltloop.com and encourage anyone that reads the site to go check it out.  I eventually will fully transition to that site.  I need some suggestions and input on the site design and flow.  I have setup a discussion area over there, or you can comment here.  Sorry for the initial confusion, right now posts will mirror on both sites. (except this one....)

Dwayne

At home Day 14, Challenges and being a binge eater...

Comments/Thoughts:
You did not think I was just going to drop another 100 pounds without a speed bump or two did you?  I know I was pretty sure there would be some bumps in the road and today was definitely one.  I ended up having a mini binge today after I got a bit stressed out over a random argument with my wife.  It was your typical little disagreement that did not get resolved because she had to go to work and so as I sat and stewed over it I started getting this crazy urge to eat.  I had eaten about 300 calories of pop chips and two large scoops of peanut butter with two glasses of milk before I even really knew what hit me.  At that point I knew I was in some serious trouble as I was already self-rationalizing about how it would be ok to take the kids on a drive to some nice drive through windows I have not seen in awhile.  Luckily as I was getting them ready I decided I was going to get a coke zero and go to a subway drive through and get a turkey sub.  I cemented this in my mind that I was going to do that by calling my wife at work and telling her about my eating at home and that I was going to get a sub and askeds if she wanted one.  She did and I brought her one to work and we had a nice chat about our argument and misunderstanding and I felt better overall.  It was not a crisis averted moment because I did end up emotionally eating, however getting control before I went out and had another three to four thousand calories is an accomplishment.

I am not sure how many people that read this blog can actually relate to what it is have a binge eating issue, but it really does put your body on autopilot, or that is what it feels like.  It is something I am going to be dealing with for life and I was lucky to meet my counselor at the resort (Essara.)  She gave me some techniques to distract myself and I believe that those helped today.

Anyway, tomorrow is a new day, and I am hoping to get back into more challenging workouts.

Statistics:
Well I forgot to wear the fitbit today, DOH!

Worst yet... I can't find my watch heart rate strap!  Did I leave it at the gym!?!  Grrr

Food:
Breakfast was 50 calories of bacon on two pieces of whole wheat toast and some egg beaters.  Lunch was a turkey club with creamy tomato soup.  I loved the soup, it was Pacific brand creamy tomato organic soup.  At about three I had my mini bing episode.  I at a bag of pop chips and about 4-5 tablespoons of peanut butter.  Worse yet I had two glass of skim milk.  For dinner I had a 6 inch subway turkey sub on whole wheat with lite mayo and no cheese.  Overall a bad food day, but not as bad as it could have been.  Tomorrow is a new day right?

Exercise:
This morning my wife and I went to the gym.  I am still taking it light on strain so I did a one hour walk at 3mph and a 4.0 incline.  Since I forgot the fitbit and the watch I have to go by what the treadmill read which was 700 calories.  I bet it was more like 400 to 500.

No new pictures or slideshow entires.

At home Day 13, Childrens' Museum plus cheat day aka unhealthy choices day...

Comments/Thoughts:
I was really happy on the ranch that in their diet plan and at home plan workshops they talked about the need to allow yourself room for unhealthy food choices in your life.  They operate on the 90/10 rule where you are health 90% of the time and unhealthy on 10%.  I have incorporated cheat days in several diet plans I have done over time, and really do believe if you can control yourself for it they are great.  I really enjoyed my cheat meal this week and even allowed myself an extra treat at the movies the day before.  Last week I had a nice off meal day and still lost 4 pounds this week.  Not sure that I mentioned it yesterday but I had lost another 3 pounds which brought my total to 4 for the week.  Only 4.8 pounds to go and I am in the 200s!  That is very exciting for me since at 280 my suit will fit for the derby!  Good stuff!

We went to the childrens' museum today and there were some drama on the way there with our convoy.  We were going with another family and their two children, and as we pulled in to a random rest stop they were pulled over with their hood up.  Their car was overheating and no long starting.  Needless to say this threw a wrench in things, but luckily we have a big Honda Odyssey swagger wagon and took my friend's wife and two kids into our van and I dropped them off 30 miles away at the museum in Indy, and came back and picked him up as AAA was towing his car the 40 miles back to Richmond.  Needless to say the guys showed up to the museum after getting stuck in traffic and we only got the end of the museum time.  All and all it was a great experience and afterwards we with to the Spaghetti Factory and had a great meal and pleasant time with  our families.

Statistics:
**Will update this in the morning when the fitbit pushes it's stats to twitter and facebook.**

Watch calories burned: N/A walked around the museum only a little

Exercise:
Minimal walking around the children's museum in Indianapolis.  Tomorrow it is back to the gym!

Food:
Breakfast was the old standard eggs and toast.  Lunch was me grabbing a chicken taragon sandwich at Starbucks (420 calories) and getting to the museum as quickly as possible.  Dinner was my unhealthy meal allowance and it was amazing.  Baked Lasagna, side of meatballs, spumone ice cream and followed by a peanut butter mountain when we got back to Richmond at Ritters.  I was s t u f f e d.  The ironic thing is I probably only ate 1000 calories above my maintenance levels.  The theory is it also stokes the metabolism by changing up the calorie intake levels.  Yeah that is the ticket right?!  It makes it much easier to get my 90% and the gym I tell you that much.  Doing a full day of meals like that still seems excessive, but doing it for one meal seems to be all I need.  Of course that one meal should have been 2 at least!

Slideshow/Pictures:
Added in some pics of kids and the museum along with foods eaten.  Beware the lasagna pictures!

At home Day 12, Gym, mexican food, and the movies...

Comments/Thoughts:
Well again it was a movie night for me, and we went to see the new Liam Neeson, Unknown and I really did not expect too much and it delivered slightly more that I hoped for.  That being said it was only a semi decent movie.  It was definitely not Taken, which I was very suprised by.  Anyway, since the movie was at 10pm and we were out past midnight I started my "unhealthy" eating day a little early and had some M&Ms.  I did not really feel bad about it and enjoyed them at my second movie night of the week.

My wife called me about one hour before she was getting of work and said she needed an emergency date night because work had been terrible and luckily enough I got a sitter for the kids.  We went out the El Rodeo and I had chicken fajitas with 3 corn tortillas.  I actually love that meal, and to know I can eat it with out all the extra fixings and still be on my meal plan really helps.

Statistics:
I walked 11,035 steps and 5.4 miles and burned 3,971 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6
Watch calories burned: 347 calories burned


Exercise:
I went to the gym but still have an injury that keeps me from straining too much so I did the treadmill at 3mph, 2.5 incline for an hour.  The treadmill told me I burned 600 calories, however the heart rate monitor I wear says it was more like 347.  I think my cardio endurance is better than the strict calculation that is used by the treadmill now.  Or at least I am going to tell myself that.  I sweated a decent bit and felt good to make it to the gym.  Monday it is going to be on like Donkey Kong again.


Food:
Standard egg and muffin breakfast.  For lunch I had leftover chinese turkey lettuce wraps and creamy butternut squash soup.  The soup was from a box and it was great and only 100 calories for a full cup.  Good stuff, and very little prep work for a good meal.  Dinner was the "emergency" date night out at El Rodeo.  I had fajitas with corn tortillas and no chips, sour cream or cheese.  Good work if I do say so myself.  We went home after dinner and I met a few friends for a movie and ate a big bag of peanut M&Ms.  Bad Dwayne?  I felt like it was part of my unhealthy 10% I am allowed.  I usually only do one cheat "meal" on my cheat day so I am not too worried.

Pictures/Slideshow:
Added some pictures of the soup and El Rodeo meal to the slideshow.

At home Day 11, At least I got a workout in today.

Comments/Thoughts:
Well as mentioned earlier planning my next trip is on my mind quite a bit this week and today especially.  I have some time to decide so no worries.  Today was a pretty good day all in all, I still am not able to push myself too hard.  I did a fast walk today on the treadmill which burned a decent bit of calories.  I weighed in this morning and lost another pound.  It keeps on going down so that is a good thing.

Statistics:
I walked 12,163 steps and 5.8 miles and burned 4,140 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6


Watch Calories Burned: N/A

The treadmill claims I burned over 600 calories in 55 minutes walking at 3mph at a 2.5 incline.


Exercise:
Today I took it easy and still burned my minimum 500 calories.  I walked on the treadmill, but forgot to wear the heart monitor strap.  I had to take the "word" of the treadmill and it read 600 calories.  I was told that the minimum I wanted to shoot for was 500.  I am looking forward either tomorrow or the next day of taking the intensity up again.  I want to be back on kettlebells by Monday.


Food:

Breakfast was egg beaters, turkey sausage on an english muffin yet again.  Lunch was leftover turkey chinese lettuce wraps, and the soup I was was Muir Glen Organic Chicken Tortilla.  The soup was amazing and it was two 1cup servings for 130 calories, which was perfect for Jen and I.  I put some avocado in it and did not add any other seasoning and loved it.  For dinner Jen had a cornbread request and since my son loved it so much I went ahead and made it.  I did some pictures of ingredients and what it takes to cook it.  It is very easy and if I get permission I will post the recipe.  We had leftover chili with it and I made the kids some fruit, cheese, and veggies with organic fish sticks.  They ate very well.  I need to get them used to some new foods.  I feel a little guilty because after dinner I had a huge urge to binge on peanut butter and I ended up having a bag of pop chips and about 4 or 5 chocolate covered strawberries.  Much better than a jar of peanut butter or running out for fast food, but still a slight let down.  All told it cost me 350 calories or so, but even with that I am still at around 1600 for the day.


This is the fat free krusteaz corn bread mix that is the base.  Just get it and add in the fixings you want in your cornbread.  Add those calories up though!  It is great and only takes about 20 minutes.  The bread is sweet and kids love it too.



Slideshow/Pictures:

A question for readers and an update to yesterday...

   Well I have a question I am going to put out there for my readers/friends.  I am faced with a tough decision coming up in April, and I need a little help deciding what to do.  My son is going to be gone for a week at his fathers, and my mother has offered to watch my daughter for the week.  This gives myself and my wife the opportunity to have a week without the kids and it is a fairly rare thing to happen with no vacation planned.  So, I could go out to the Biggest Loser Resort in Malibu for that week and work my tail off which I would love, or I can stay at home and attempt to bust my hump part of the day, and blog/work on my web site/iphone apps.  The cost involved in going is quite significant considering we want to pay off our minivan, and if I choose to go I will be using savings to do it which I do not like to do.  Is it worth the cost for just one week when I know my family has agreed to let me go either this coming late fall or winter?  Time to do some cost/benefit analysis I guess.

Pros for going to the resort:
- Amazing trainers
- No thinking about food
- Beautiful weather and hikes
- At least 2 weeks worth of results crammed into one week
- Gives my blog readers so more interesting things to read =)
- Total focus on my training and weightloss

Cons for going to the resort:
- Cost at a bad time
- Already know the program very well, both exercise and diet
- A two week stay is really preferable to adjust
- Little to no time to work on other web related projects

I think the pros and cons for staying home are obvious.  Any votes either way?  I still have a little time to think on it so I am going to not rush it.



Onto some more updates from yesterday:
I ended up going to a movie at night with my friends Zack and Kevin.  We went to see The Eagle, and it was much better than I thought it would be.  However, it still left quite a bit to be desired and had some fairly large plot loop holes in it.  I had a nice Coke Zero at the movie but no snacks so I am moving in the right direction.  Considering how many movies I see the no snack thing is a big deal.


The picture above is of the meal I had after the movie when we all went to BW3s to catch up and hang out.  I used my Livestrong.com app to look up the grilled chicken tenders and I had my wild sauce on the side.  Each tender is 43 calories, and thanks to Zack I ordered the sauce on the side and hardly used any since it was so hot.  The meal came with fries, but I let the guys have them.  They had some fried chicken tenders, but I feel like I did well.  An extra 160 calories was not really that bad for the day I had.  Oh and this morning with I woke up I had lost another pound.  Getting close to those numbers that begin with a 2...

Also, my fitbit stats for yesterday were:
I walked 9,814 steps and 4.6 miles and burned 3,968 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6


I have found some great twitter feeds and blog sites I plan to add here in a little bit, more on that later.  Hope everyone is doing well today,

Dwayne

At home day 10, Another day of rest that I do not want...

Comments/Thoughts:
Well today was great in the sense that the kids were occupied until 12:30 and 3pm respectively, so I was able to go and do some research at Starbucks.  I spent a decent bit of time reading blogs and looking for health resources online, as well as pricing plane tickets for my possible April trip back to the resort.  I really want to go back, but paying for it out of savings is not sitting right with me right now.  I still think I am going to do it, I may get some birthday money to throw in on it.  It is tough to pass up an opportunity where both kids can be watched and it is easier on my wife when I go.

The downside of my day is that I did not go to the gym today to rest myself.  I have had a mild reoccurring injury and my wife tells me the only way to get rid of it is to relax and not do anything too strenuous.  I think I am just going to try to get to the gym and just walk on the treadmill.  I am really upset about my lack of kettlebell training.  I went and bought some mats for the floor to protect them if I drop my new weight, and I still am unable to use them.  Very frustrating!  I did go on a walk around the neighborhood with the wife, dog and kids today so that is something at least.  I am going to see a movie tonight, so it will be a Coke Zero night, yay!

Statistics:
*Will add fitbit tomorrow, 8793 steps premovie*


Watch Calories Burned: N/A

Exercise:
Just a simple walk around the neighborhood. =/

Food:
For breakfast I had some oatmeal at Starbucks with some Truvia to sweeten it.  Good, and I avoided the nuts, berries and brown sugar toppings.  Lunch was a Turkey club sandwich and a bowl of roasted red pepper soup.  Dinner was turkey chinese stir fry lettuce wraps and Miso soup.  I just threw together turkey, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, peppers, water chestnuts, and some chinese flavorings + liquid aminos.  It turned out great and my wife liked it as well.

Slideshow/Pictures:
Added pictures of my meals:

At home day 9, Jen goes skiing, and the kids and I play

Comments/Thoughts:
It was a fairly average day.  I woke up with the kids and Jen and she got ready and went off to go ski at Perfect North.  Looks like she had a great time, and the kids and I got dressed and went to the gym.  We are so lucky to have a gym that has child care in our town.  The gym I go to is Family Fitness Works and it is a new local gym.  They have converted an old warehouse into a great gym and are building a pool on site as well inside.  I am wondering what kind of water classes they will have.  I really enjoyed my water classes at the resort, and would love to find some similar workouts.

Statistics:
I walked 12,152 steps and 6.4 miles and burned 4,270 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6


Watch Calories Burned: 970 calories burned!


Exercise:
I did another double treading workout and burned a ton of calories.  It really seems to be an effective way for me to workout.  I want to be doing my kettlebells, but I have an injury that may stop me from both kettlebells and other strenuous exercise for a week.  It sucks to want to workout and your body stop working the right way.  


Food:
I was fairly unimaginitive today with my food choices.  With Jen being gone for the day I was able to just have the same thing for lunch and dinner.  My breakfast was eggs, turkey sausage on an english muffin.   My lunch and dinner were turkey chili and cornbread.  I did have leftover hot and sour soup for lunch and roasted red pepper soup for dinner.  After dinner I was still pretty hungry and had about 3 chocolate covered strawberries and a bag of pop chips.  


Slideshow/Pictures:
No new pictures unless you just want random pictures I took of the kids all day. =)

At home day 8, New week, valentines day, eating out and life in general...

Comments/Thoughts:
It was once again special event kind of day, a "Hallmark" holiday of sorts... valentines day!  So we went to my son's school with my daughter and ran some events and played with all the kids.  At the end of the day I had a babysitter scheduled and so we went out for a nice dinner at O'Charley's.  I did not really stray, but I did have red meat which was a first in a long time.  It was really a great day, and we ended it by shopping for a new coat for me which I needed since I have lost so much weight.  I love clothes shopping now.

So good news for my blog today, I was told that my name and a link to my blog I would be added to the front page at http://blog.biggestloserresort.com and I am hoping I get some new readers.  I find that this blog and knowing that people are reading it helps me feel accountable.  I plan to do a post soon about things to know before you go to the resort.  There are many little things that can help out there.

Statistics:
I walked 14,438 steps and 7.2 miles and burned 4,516 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6

Watch calories burned: 900 calories burned

Exercise:
Today was a good workout day, I did a double treading class on the treadmill at the gym.  My shirt was a big wet mass, which is a good thing after a hard workout.  My definition of double treading is 5 minutes at an uncomfortable pace (this week it is incline 15 and speed 2.7, 3.2 for the last minute) then a 5 minute rest, then I add on another 5 at the uncomfortable pace, and 5 at a slow past to recover, then I do the 4, 3, 2 and 1 intervals all twice.  I burn through about 750 calories on the machine and by the time I am at home I am over 900 calories from carry over.

Food:

I had a 200 calorie lara bar for breakfast and a small glass of skim milk.  For lunch I had the great meal you see to the right of your screen.  I made fat free cornbread and turkey chili from the great recipe book I purchased at the Biggest Loser Resort.  I love the cornbread, and I found out that the kids do as well.  Jen loved this meal, and I think it is a definite go to.  For dinner I had an 8oz filet, asparagus without butter and chicken tortilla soup.  My calories for the day did not exceed 1600 so it was still counted a good day.  I also had a chocolate covered strawberry with my wife for valentines day.

Slideshow/Pictures:

At home day 7, Lazy Sunday, Valentine day prep..

Comments/Thoughts:

It was a pretty good food day, I did go a little above and beyond on making chocolate covered strawberries.  We had to do something for the teachers at my son's school so I made some milk and dark chocolate covered strawberries, some with pecans, some peanut, and some macadamia nut covered.  Also, I did do a little white chocolate drizzle on some of them.  When my wife got home from work we did some sampling...  Not too much, but more than I should have had by a couple of strawberries.  I hope the teachers like them because
I know we did!

I drove to Cincinnati today and was happy I avoided the temptation of drive through food.  It is a big step for me because I usually use the excuse of meeting at McDonalds to grab a burger, and that did not happen today.  I guess I should explain why I drive to McyDs, my son (step son) goes to visit his father who lives in Kentucky every other weekend and I am usually the one who drives and does the exchange.

Statistics:
I walked 4,363 steps and 2 miles and burned 3,440 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6

Watch calories burned: N/A

Exercise:
I took the day off again, not because I wanted to but because of a small injury.  I will start back up again tomorrow.

Food:
Breakfast was great, I had almond butter and organic honey on an english muffin and put bananas and blueberries on it.  I also drank a small glass of skim milk with it, and thoroughly enjoyed the meal.  Lunch was leftover meatloaf sandwich as well as hot and sour soup.  I also had a 100 calorie bag of popchips and they are fast becoming my goto snack for crunchy needs.  Dinner was all natural turkey, 50 calories of bacon, olive oil based mayo, mustard on a arnold slim bun with veggies and brown rice.  It was good and very filling.  That being said I ended up eating a few of the chocolate covered strawberries I was making so I was a little naughty.

Pictures/Slideshow:
Once again they are added on to the end of the week album.  That does it for this album, one week down!

At home Day 6, Unhealthy/Cheat day and going to a private moving screening with friends!

Comments/Thoughts:

Well it was a great day!  Getting ready to go to Indianapolis to see one of my good friend's movie was so much fun for a change.  When you gain a ton of weight you end up having to get new clothes, but you leave behind some of your favorites.  Well I was lucky enough to do a fashion show for me wife before I left and happily fit into some clothes we both really love.  They are actually looser on me then when I originally bought them which just feels so great.  I have dreaded having to wear anything except my usual jeans and polo when we go out for so long that I just felt amazing free being able to get into a nice button up shirt and smaller pants and be comfortable.  Also, to know my wife loves my outfit just makes things better too, I hate how my weight impacts her sometimes, and last night we were both just amazingly happy.

The movie was great!  I am so happy for Zack (and for us since we were investors) and even though I know there were some technical things he wanted to turn out better the movie was just fantastic.  My wife was so nervous because she played a doctor in the movie for a scene and it was great seeing her up on the IMAX screen at the Indiana State Museum.

A ton of our friends went and we were able to have dinner with some before the movie.  We went to an upscale American cuisine type place called Palominos in downtown Indianapolis.  The food and company were great even though we were a little stressed about making the movie on time.  None of us knew it could take over 15 minutes to get out of a parking garage in Indy.  What made us even more nervous was that we had Laura Parker with us who not only was the wife of the director, but also had his pre-

movie speech with her.  We had given her a ride so that Zack could spend time working his magic on the IMAX projector and getting things perfect.

.
Luckily I was able to get there just in time and let these beautiful ladies out and they got in just in the nick of time.  I made it in and got myself some naughty little M&Ms and a diet coke.  I mean it was cheat day!

Though this was one of my worst meal and exercise days, overall it was an amazing me day, and great date/friends day.  We did get a call during the movie that our babysitter had locked herself out of the house with our little girl in there, but with some quick calling of a person with the key in town the crisis was averted.

Statistics:
I walked 5,012 steps and 2.3 miles and burned 3,513 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6 #fitstats

Watch calories burned: N/A since I did not go to the gym.

Exercise:
Walking around Indianapolis, and vigorous fashion show movements?

Food:
Woo boy!  So breakfast was turkey sausage, one whole egg with 2 egg beaters on a whole wheat english muffin.  Lunch was a bowl of leftover hot and sour soup, veggies with 1/2 cup brown rice, and an orowheat bun and meatloaf sandwich.  Dinner is where things went "unhealthy."  My counselor at camp Essara always said that it wasn't a "cheat" that we just choose to eat unhealthy sometimes and that is just part of your life.  I think it is actually a great way to look at it.  I do not feel guilty about the food I ate as now I am going back to eating well the rest of the time.  One unhealthy choice does not have ot mean a series of them.  Bad foods are a part of life and to be enjoyed in moderation.  Cutting them out completely would be to give them too much control over me.  Anyway, onto the food I ate...  First I had an amazingly creamy portabello mushroom soup!  It was crazy thick and amazing!  Next came a Sicilian meatball appetizer which had marinara and pistachios in it and was surprisingly good.  Last but not least was the chicken parmesan!  It was great, not the best I have ever had, but still really good.  I actually did only eat half of the chicken and pasta because I was stuffed, but when we got home at 2am I finished it (oh how naughty!) and now there is nothing in the fridge to cheat with, that is good right?  I had one bourbon and diet coke with dinner as well and enjoyed it quite a bit.  Last but not least at all for my cheating was a medium sized bag of peanut M&Ms at the movies.  I think Jen had 6 and I ate the rest.  Bad bad bad, but so good good good.  There are some pictures of this stuff at the end of the weekly album if you are interested.

Pictures/Slideshow:

At home Day 5, eating out and not cheating!

Thoughts/Comments:
Today was a great day for food considering two of my meals were eaten at two of my favorite restaurants and with great company.  To cap the day off I took my wife shopping for her birthday/anniversary/valentines day present at the Kenwood Mall in Cincinnati and she got a purse she absolutely loves.  The cherry on top was that we came to an upgrade agreement on on Iphones that allowed me to get an Iphone 4 at the Apple store!  I am pretty excited, and played with the silly new device all the way home.  We also went Whole Foods and I got some great stuff to take home and cook.  We have no Whole Foods or Fresh Market in Richmond so it is always great to get some quality groceries when we can.

I got to catch up with some friends I have not seen since before I left for camp and that is always great.  Today was an amazing day, and tomorrow is "Unhealthy meal day" which means I get to actually indulge in some nice things in Indianapolis.  We are going there with a fairly big group to see the private premiere of my friend Zack's new movie Scalene (which was filmed here in Richmond.)  Full disclosure my wife and I are investors in it, and she actually got to do a little on screen work as a doctor in it.  Fun stuff!

Statistics:
I have lost my fitbit and worry for it's safety...  Come home little guy!  We miss you!

Watch Calories Burned: 690 calories for a treading class and dynamic stretch class

Exercise:
Today I was lucky enough to do a little training for my wife.  We did a treading class today, and she did incline instead of speed for difficulty.  She can job 5ks now, but the incline really helped challenge her today I think.  Also, I took her through a stretch class I would go to on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays at the resort that Sam taught.  I burned 690 calories and she seemed to be pretty close to that as well.

Food:
We were running very late today getting the kids ready for school so breakfast for both of us was a Lara Bar.    I also had about 8oz of skim milk, so it was all good.  Lunch was at El Rodeo mexican, and I was proud to not eat the chips and salsa!  I had 3 corn tortilla shells and chicken and veggie fajitas with some salsa on them.  It was great and I got to catch up with my friends Zack and Kevin.  Dinner was amazing at PF Changs, I was suprised to find so many good options calorie wise.  The sodium content is too high, but the taste to calorie ratio is off the charts.  I had 3 small cups of the soup (120 calories total,) and 1 serving of shrimp with lobster sauce on brown rice (315 calories.)  Splitting the dinner with Jen turned out great for both of us.

Pictures/Slideshow:
Added some more pictures to the weekly album!

At home Day 4, Thursday and my aching foot!

Comments/Thoughts:
Well today I went to the doctor's office for a weigh in and to check my blood pressure.  I have been weighing in every month since around September to qualify for a lap band procedure.  Surgery has never been what I wanted to do, but I am quickly approaching my 35th birthday and if I am unable to do this through will power I will fix it the other way (or attempt to.)  The good news right now is I am not going to consider the surgery.  The resort has put me in a great mindset and has set me up to succeed without the added risk.  My blood pressure was actually very good compared to the past and in another 10-20 pounds I may be off my medication for it.  My weight change since weighing in on the 4th of January is 30 pounds down.  I thought they would be more excited about it at the office, but I guess people hit 30 pounds a month in there all the time... sheesh!  It was a great feeling, and I wish we could afford both mentally and financially for me to do it all again.  I think Jen would shoot me if I tried to sneak away. =)

It was good timing to be at the doctor so I had her look at more cut/sore on my foot and fortunateness she said it was athlete's foot (yuck!) and that with treatment the pain would go away and it would heal.  Very annoying, and slightly gross!

Statistics:
I forgot to wear my fitbit!  ARGH!

Watch stats: Burned 315 calories during my 30 minutes of kettlebell

Exercise:
I did do my 30 minutes of kettlebells today sweat like a maniac.  It was good to get it done and my new 36 pound bell really kicks my a$$.  I did not feel up for treadmill action today because just walking around is killing my foot.  I have to get this healed up.  I went and got a ton of medication and bandages, I won't stay off this foot for more than a day or two.  I can't get out of the habit of my cardio.

Food:
Breakfast once again was a turkey sausage, egg english muffin.  I enjoyed meatloaf I made last night (from the resort cookbook) for lunch and had veggies with 1 cup of brown rice and some braggs aminos.  It was a pretty big lunch, and unfortunately Jen did not like the meatloaf so it is all me!  Dinner was a meatloaf sandwich on bread thins, and more veggies with 1/2 cup of rice and braggs.  I also had a bowl of Pacific brand low sodium roasted red pepper and tomato soup (low sodium) and it was great for only 100 calories!  Dessert will once again be.... chocolate covered strawberries, and I made a new batch of them tonight!  I had a 150 calorie snack today of Pop chips!  They are great and you get a decent amount for the calories and they really taste like a puffy potato chip.  Our dietitian at the resort, Jessica Hummel,  showed them to me on our grocery trip and I am very grateful!  Jen and the kids loved them too so they are going to be a good go to snack.  I ordered some through amazon, but I found them at Kroger today in the healthy chip area.  Why do they have to keep the healthy stuff separate?

Slideshow/Pictures:
There are a few new pictures in this album, but you probably have seen most!

At home Day 3, hump day and still going...

Thoughts/Comments:
It was a decent day except for the fact that my foot is a bit hurt.  There is a crack in the bottom of my foot that is quite painful, and amusing that I am home and not walking 6-12 miles a day and now my foot gets hurt.  Very annoying, but I am sure I can get past it.  I still managed a good workout today.

It was nice to have the kids in school and at parents morning out.  I was able to go to Starbucks and catch up on some reading after the gym and that is always nice.  I love going there and people watching and missed it quite a bit while I was at the resort.  I have switched drinks from coffee with cream and splenda to green tea and less splenda.  I think less calories and less caffeine will help me out.  It worked at the resort so no reason to rock the boat too much.  I also have not been drink diet cokes/coke zero except on my less healthy day of the week, and perhaps when I go to the movies.  I have been drinking plain water and crystal lite pure fit in my water as well.

Statistics:
I walked 7,045 steps and 3.3 miles and burned 3,443 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6


Watch calories burned: 615 during workout session


Exercise:
At the gym today I did a treading class, and then afterwards a did a Sam style dynamic stretch session.  For those of you that have no idea what I am talking about it is a session that first starts out warming muscles by using them (think lunges, squats, kicks etc etc) and then goes back through and stretches the warm muscles with typical stretch poses.  It is both a good stretch and workout.  I can get it mostly done in 30 minutes and it is 45 minutes at the resort.  My total calories burned was 615, and I did not get to my kettlebells since I woke up late and was beat after the kids went to bed.  Perhaps less Starbucks and more swinging is in order?

My foot is bothering me pretty bad and I may have to take it easy on the treadmill for a day or so to heal.  It is an open cut/sore on the foot and it hurts bad.

Food:
For breakfast I had a egg and turkey sausage english muffin, lunch was a turkey burger and veggies with leftover mushroom soup, and dinner was chicken bbq pizzas from the resort cookbook with chocolate covered strawberries as a dessert.  Have you noticed a theme for desserts?  I still think the resort should offer them as an option every night.

Slideshow/Pictures:

At Home on the new living plan.. Days one and two combined!

Monday-

Thoughts/Comments:
Today was a bit tough to get back in to the swing of things.  I noticed I was out of it trying to get the kids off to school.  Normally I am a fine oiled machine of efficiency, but a month off has really changed that.  Thank goodness Jen was home in the morning to help get us all moving.

I did work out today, but it is weird working out only 2 hours...  I know that sounds odd but I felt like I was slacking.  Does anyone else feel like that now that you are home?   I mean I really gave it my all for those 2 hours, but compared to a hike or my 3 afternoon classes it just was so far from what I am used to now.  My legs are burned out still from last week.  I guess I really pushed it to have them still fatigued.

Statistics:
None really applicable since I forgot my fitbit and forgot to wear my heart monitor during workouts!

Exercise:
I woke up before the kids were awake and got 25 minutes of kettlebells in.  I did 4 sets of 25 two handed swings, 4 sets of 25 on each single hand between the leg swings, 4 sets of 25 switching from handed to hand between the legs, and 3 sets of 20 single handed outside swings.  That was definitely a good start to the morning.  About 30 minutes later my wife and I were at the gym and I did a treading class (our treadmills go up to 15 incline here too..  Great huh?) and after I did the treading class I did a dynamic stretching session (like Sam teaches at the resort) and then just went out and watched my wife finish her arm workout.

I am really having a difficult time with thinking I am taking it easy.  I did have a completely wet shirt from my workout, but I am used to going through 3 shirts a day at the resort.  Spacing it out is kind of difficult mentally.

Food:
For breakfast I had a piece of turkey sausage, not the best breakfast, but it was all I could get in considering how slow I was with the kids.  Lunch was at Chilli's so I had a decent challenge in finding something I could eat.  After some quick intelligence gathering on my phone I learned a bowl of their Green Chile soup was 200 calories, and that just the skillet portion of their chicken fajitas was 330 calories.  I added one flour tortilla since they do not carry corn tortillas and that was another 130 calories.  It was an expensive caloric lunch, but well within my limit.  Dinner was simply a turkey burger, with veggies and 3 small chocolate covered strawberries for dessert.  I also had an apple and an 80 calorie Luna bar for snacks during the day.

Slideshow/Pictures:
*Note I am going to be adding pictures to the weekly album and describing them in the captions of the pictures, I will mention it in updates on twitter and facebook when I add the pictures. Also, Tuesday's blog post will be under this picture section.


Tuesday-
Comments/Thoughts:
Well I felt really weak yesterday in my legs so today I am taking a rest day.  I had thought I would just wait for the weekend, but I think I need it.  Wednesday I plan to hit the kettlebells and gym again while the kids are in school so that will be good.

Getting back in the swing of things here is difficult, especially with Jen on two night shifts in a row.  I am trying to get readjusted and adding in the new cooking routine.  It is a bit bumpy, but I think I will get it all together by the end of the week.  Just ordered a new blender for the soups I make, and ordered some stuff from amazon.com to help finish out the grocery pantry.  We can't get everything at the stores in this small town, but I can fill the gaps with online shopping fairly well.

Statistics:
Only about 4500 steps for the day today.  Taking it easy, doing some laundry and cooking a good lunch were the priorities.

Exercise:
Carrying laundry baskets up 4 flights of stairs and chasing children was all I got in today.  about 15k fewer steps today then a typical resort day.

Food:
Had a good tomato, egg, egg beater omelet this morning.  Followed it up with some mushroom soup from the resort cookbook I bought, with a turkey burger and veggies.  Dinner was left over Sushi, around 8 pieces and I would estimate it at 400-450 calories.  All in all a great food day.  Tomorrow I plan on making turkey meatloaf and also working on turkey meatballs for the rest of the week.

Slideshow/Pictures: See above...

Day 28, Homeward bound...

Well the formatting does not really fit a day like this, so I will just go freestyle.  I ate breakfast on the resort while I waited for my shuttle and ate eggs and toast once again.  I said some more sad goodbyes, and road in with 3 other guests.  The drive was easy going considering it was a Sunday.  I made it to the airport and through security with plenty of time and watch some TV shows on my Ipad.

I was very happy to be able to wear my goal outfit home.  I wore a shirt two sizes smaller, and jeans one size smaller (it could have been two,) and a brand new belt I haven't been able to wear for a couple of years.  It is amazing fitting into old clothes.  It is one of the most motivational things.  I would recommend bringing some near fits to the resort to go home in for motivation.  It worked out of me and I didn't think it was really possible to get into my shirt.  Needless to say my wife was pretty excited to see me in it when she picked me up at the airport.

As far as the flight went I did have a roast beef sandwich and I am sure it was at least 550-600 calories considering the bread and cheese.  I didn't have any peanuts or other snack foods.  I enjoyed a nice coke zero and I did not need a seatbelt extender on the flight and was finally comfortable flying home.  I watched three one hour TV shows and next thing I knew it I was landing.

It was so amazing to see my wife and she was surprised by how much I had changed.  I have missed my family so much and seeing her made my day.  We tried to go to a Thai restaurant but it was closed and found a nearby Sushi place.  I had some edamame, pot stickers, miso soup and some great sushi rolls.  It was very not diet, but great to have a treat with my wife.  Monday it is back on the plan 100%, and there is always my 10% of non-healthy food choices I am going to allow myself.

Anyway, the rest of the night was great, and I went ahead and gave my wife all the presents I bought even though I was supposed to save them for anniversary, valentines day and her birthday!  I was so glad to see her it was tough to hold out.

Hope everyone is doing well, and I miss all of my friends I have made back on the ranch and those people that are already back home.  Hope your Sunday went well.

Day 27, Last day before my flight home...

Comments/Thoughts:
Well I went ahead and weighed in on Saturday since I am not sure I can make my shuttle and weigh in on Sunday morning.  I will try to sneak an additional weigh in on Sunday, but not new measurements.  I lost 27.2 pounds, 5.5 inches around my chest, 5 inches around my belly and 3.25 inches around my waist.  I am not going to lie and say I wasn't hoping for more numbers wise, but it is an amazing jump start into going home.  I am much more fit and able to workout than before I got here.  I moved up from the slower vans to the fastest one here and kept up with my groups on the hikes.  Losing weight is a mentally challenging game because we are all caught up in the numbers.  One thing I will say is I got in my goal clothing while here.  The inches lost mean I have gained muscle while losing fat as well so that is great!

Once again, it was both a happy and sad event at graduation.  I am going to miss people here so much, and I am glad I get to keep in touch with so many.  Like I said last night at graduation it is hard to leave a place where you find a whole new amazing family every week.  That being said I want to again thank my beautiful wife and children for allowing me to come out here.  I know it was difficult on them and I will always appreciate that they helped me start this journey, and are supportive and loving in every way I could dream.

Statistics:
Fitbit stats were: 5424 calories burned, 21,450 steps taken, and 10.79 miles traveled

Watch calories burned: 2500 calories

Hike/Exercise:
We did the Paramount Ranch hike this Saturday and it actually was fairly strenuous this time.  It was great hiking with my hiking group from this week as well as some new friends I had made during the week.  I got a great calories burn for a Saturday.

As far as other classes, I did not make the stretch class post hike (I did do a 30 minute one by myself earlier) but I had a final kettlebell session with Michael and burned close to 600 calories.  I am excited to get back home and on with my kettlebell training.  Someone came out and video'd me throwing them around, and once I do a little editing I will post them.  It is kind of embarrassing because my shirt is way too big and I had to tuck my shorts bottoms into my underwear so I could move them between my legs.  So you have been warned!  I will post them though regardless of the embarrassment.

An additional bit of exercise occurred when I went to the mall with some of my new friends and walked around Thousand Oaks mall for probably 2 hours.  That was an additional mile or three.

Food:
Breakfast was eggs and toast, lunch was asian chicken wraps and roasted red pepper soup, and dinner was a cobb salad which I ditched in favor of a boca burger.

Pictures/Slideshow:

Day 26, Last full day of workouts, and thank goodness I am beat!

Comments/Thoughts:
Today was a tough day since it is both the end of a hard week, and the end of my trip here.  After my hike on Thursday through Zuma and my training session on kettlebells my muscles are just fried.  I am once again running out of muscle before I run out of breath, and that is frustrating.  A good thing I found out after doing my RMR (resting metabolic rate) rest is that I burn 2866 calories just resting throughout the day.  That means I can eat 1800 calories a day and still lose 3 pounds a week.

One great thing today was finding out that I helped motivate someone to get another week here. Sam was telling us at lunch that when we push it hard in the classes and on the hike we inspire both the trainers and other guests to push harder.  I think that energy in fact pushed me, and it all kind of builds on itself here.  I really can't express how positive this experience has been.  I would come back no matter how fit I get just to get my head and body in the right place.

I did the grocery trip with one of our dietitians and even though I missed a class because of it I really got a ton out of it.  I am beating myself up now for not taking pictures of everything she showed us, but I will take pictures at my grocery at home and try to share it with you all.

After dinner/lecture tonight I got to hang out with some great people and share photos of home and just hang out.  Usually I have been so tired that just doesn't happen.  I am going to miss all the people I met this week as well.  It seemed to go by so fast.

I also had another great counseling session with Essara, and I feel more and more confident about going home and succeeding.  Setting some near and long term goals and making them part of my life is a  big part of my journey.  Essara has really helped me flesh out things I want, has helped me think through some strategies to help when things are hard.  I highly recommend no matter how long or short your stay you get some counseling.  Essara is great at digging in really fast and providing tools to help you along.

Statistics:
My fitbit was not with me all day!  Argh!

Watch calories burned: 3456 calories!

Hike/Exercise:
Today's hike was Oceanview and it is a difficult hike.  Some think it is the most difficult because of how steep it is, but I still vote on Reverse and Straight through Zuma.  It was a tough hike because my legs were just blown out from all the work this week.  I would push and nothing would happen because they were just exhausted.  The only good part of that is everyone else had the same issue (minus all those fit guides!) and so we all stayed together on the hike more or less.  It was a great calorie burn and a good way to end the week. My Saturday hike will be paramount ranch and I know that will be fairly easy.

As far as exercise went it was not the best day for me.  I missed my first afternoon class because I was late getting back from the grocery, and then I did two pool classes.  I was crazy sore and it is frustrating to not be able to give it your all in classes.  I still burned some decent calories though.

Food:
For breakfast I had eggs and toast instead of the parfait.  Lunch was parsnip soup and a chicken caesar salad.  The soup needed some hot sauce and some liquid amino (soy sauce substitute) and it was good, the salad was amazing.  Dinner was a turkey burger and veggies with chocolate coconut sorbet for dessert.  The burger was great, I love the ketchup here.

Pictures/Slideshow:

USA Today article being shot while I was here is out!

Just thought I would drop this link here on the blog.  This USA Today article was shot while I was here on the ranch.  The photographer was a great guy, and I ended up in the background of some of the videos.  It does a good job going through a stay here.  I highly recommend it for people that are reading my blog before they head out.  Here is the link:

Enjoy!

Dwayne

Day 25, Zumthru (Zuma straight through) accomplished, rest of the week is gonna be cake!

Thoughts/Comments:
Today was a tough but rewarding day.  My big goal for the week was to do the full Zuma hike straight through.  We finished it at 10:30 which was plenty of time to spare!  It has been great setting and making goals while here.  I feel like I have accomplished everything I set out to do so far while here.  I am so ready to go home right now to see my wife and kids though.  I thought at the beginning that I would wish I had another 4 to 8 weeks so I could get much more of my weight goal out of the way, but at this point I think I would go crazy without my family.  I really want to come back, but I will need to prove I can be successful at home to get green lit on that.

I really can't thank the staff here enough.  Everyone from the front desk staff, kitchen staff, housecleaning, to the trainers, hiking guides, dietitians, and life coaches are just the most supportive people I have ever run into.  I think no matter what your fitness level there is something to be gained from being in such a positive atmosphere.  No matter how fit you are you can challenge yourself here and get your mind in the right place for your goals.

Statistics:
I walked 23,164 steps and 11.4 miles and burned 5,258 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B
6S6


Watch calories stats: 4050 calories burned!


Hike/Exercise:
The hike today, as I mentioned above, was Zuma straight through.  Zuma is usually split up into Zuma Ridge and Zuma reverse.  They are out and back hikes and are two of the toughest here in my opinion (and others.) Starting last week they have been doing a straight through hike where you start at Zuma ridge and go all the way to the end of Zuma reverse.  They actually have to leave a van at a different place to get us back.  It was so awesome to conquer that hike and to keep up with so many quick hikers today.  I last did Zuma reverse my first week and it nearly killed me.  


I had a personal training session with Michael and 3 other people today.  I am getting very comfortable throwing the kettlebell around and I think that the other people there were impressed by it, and hopefully motivated.  Michael has taught me so much so quickly, and I am very appreciative for it.  Again I recommend a personal training session to challenge yourself here.  It really does take you to your limits.

The rest of the day was pretty normal.  I did a stretch class after the hike, then treading class after lunch.  For my last two classes I did two water sessions, one with Sam and the other with Megan and they really kicked our collective butts in the water.  Good stuff, and some great calorie burns.

Food:
Breakfast was an egg and bacon sandwich which was good as usual.  Lunch was a greek pita with a side salad and french onion soup.  That lunch is awesome! Dinner was stuffed chicken with marinara, rice and broccoli.  Very tasty, and once again I added a little ketchup and pretended my broccoli were fries.

Pictures/Slideshow:

Day 24, Last hump day at the resort and I survived.

Comments/Thoughts:
Today was a pretty good day all things considered.  I was kind of out of it after I got back from the hike and one of my trainers suggested that I try eating fruit after my afternoon classes.  They explained that I might just be out of it from lack of calories because of my relative size and how hard I am working out.  I have to say I think they were right after my first class and extra fruit I felt more into the classes.

One of the great lessons you learn here is how to actually interpret what your body wants.  I think I had things so out of whack I never knew whether I was really hungry, bored, stressed, or thirsty.  After getting away from the fat and salt and eating what I need I am really becoming confident about choosing when I eat more, and what I eat.  They tell you here to try to make the best choices 90% of the time, and you have 10% to make less healthy choices.  They don't call it cheating, they call it making less healthy choices.  It is a different mindset and one I am trying very hard to adopt.

Statistics:
I walked 22,838 steps and 11.6 miles and burned 5,300 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6

Watch calories burned: 3600 calories (I did a stretch class extra today, and my watch stopped working for a bit)

Hike/Exercise:
The hike today was at the beach and it was freezing and the winds were about 20-30 mph gusts.  I decided not to walk in the sand today just because it really messes my toes up.  I did walk in the sand on the second beach because that is the only option.  It was a decent hike, but the people of Miller Lite were there filming a bootcamp commercial (probably for the superbowl) and there were some really cool tents and things set up.  Also, there were about 50 models there freezing in their swimsuits doing exercises all over the place.  Not necessarily a bad day at the beach if you are a guy.

As far as exercise went I woke up and did Sam's stretch class, then after the hike I did Micaela's stretch class.  The two different stretch classes are completely different.  Sam stretches you after his has given your muscles a slight workout so they are warm.  Micaela's stretch is a calm down stretch class which is amazing after a rough hike.  It almost puts you to sleep you get so relaxed.  My post lunch classes were H2O intervals, kickboxing with Ursula and finally Mountain with John.  Once again, mountain is a cardio class with 12 increases that you decide on.  You increase speed and/or resistance 12 times for 3 minutes each and then cool down.  John tried to make us do the 10th increase 2 times, and we argued and whined and he said his watch was at 27 minutes and he thought we were messing with him....  Well two minutes later he just says, "Ok, my watch is stuck at 27!"  So we all shared a laugh and ended up not doing the extra increase. Guess you had to be there, but believe me it was funny.

Food:
 Today for breakfast they were serving a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with berries.  I decided to go the eggs and toast route instead because the PB&J is not worth the calories to me.  For lunch we had pumpkin soup, which is fantastic, and greek pizzas.  The pizzas are good, and I like to put hot sauce on mine believe it or not.  For dinner we had a salmon filet with asparagus and orzo pasta.  That is a truly great meal here if you like fish.  Dessert was a simple fruit skewer with some raspberry sauce on it.  Once again, no chocolate covered strawberries, but still good.

Pictures/Slideshow:

Day 23, fast van and all...

Comments/Thoughts:
Today was a rough day for some reason.  The hike through Chessboro really took a ton out of me today, and I am wondering if I am getting enough sleep.  I am usually in bed by 8 or 9 but I get up around 4:30. You know it is a rough day when several people ask you if you feel okay and if you are getting enough sleep.  Leslie told me that usually I am chipper in the afternoon and that I looked ready to go to bed.  After my training session with Michael and Sam I was just going through the motions for the rest of the day.  I made it to all of my classes so that is a plus.  No double pool for me on Tuesday.  I have a fear Wednesday may not be the same considering all the aches I have right now.

I spent a big portion of my hike worrying that I was not going to be able to keep up with the group, and I did end up at the back of the group but stayed with them for the most part.  I think I just let myself get mentally taxed as well as physically.

Statistics:
Fitbit stats were, 23860 steps, 13.36 miles traveled, and 5520 calories burned.

Watch calories burned: 4100 calories (estimated since my monitor was off during my training session)

Hike/Exercise:
The hike kicked my butt today.  It was Chessboro (sp?) canyon and we did a few optional hills.  It ended up being a 6 mile hike but at the pace we went it just wrung out my strength for the day.  After the hike I did a training session with Michael with kettlebells which was amazing as usual.  This time Sam joined so he could get some training in with them and that was actually more fun.  Sam had not done them in a long time so Michael let me teach him the two handed swing to show that I had learned it properly.  Sam picked it all up pretty fast and he was passing two kettlebells at the same time by the end of the class.  I think partner passing is such a great way to burn calories and not notice how hard you are working.

My classes for the day were, pool, cardio circuit, total toning (Abby and Carol kicked our butts) and finally a pool with Ursula.  I got through them all just barely.

Food:
Breakfast was eggs and toast since I didn't want the muffin.  Lunch was quinoa lettuce wraps which are amazing here.  You just need to add either some hot sauce or ask for the liquid aminos with them.  That is a soy sauce substitute which is great.  Also we had some tomato soup which I had to put hot sauce in again.  Dinner was Sheppards pie, mixed veggies, and a chocolate parfait for dessert.  The  sheppards pie was good, but I did put a little ketchup on it.  The chocolate parfait was amazing, and Willie at our table found all sorts of new ways to get every last drop of it out of the champagne flutes.

Pictures/Slideshow:

Day 22, Last Monday and last assessment hike of my stay

Thoughts/Comments:
It is weird starting out the last week for a few reasons.  The first being that 44 people left last week and only 53 (of 80 possible) people are here at the resort this week.  So many new faces and small classes.  Though I have lost many of my friends here through attrition my bonds with others are growing stronger so all of that works out.

For people that are reading this and are planning to come out here a few things I recommend you try before you leave.  A personal training session with someone that will push you past your comfort zone.  Try a difficult hike so that you go home knowing you can do it.  Also, I recommend at least one 2 minute cardio session on the Jacobs ladder in the gym.  It is this crazy 45 degree infinite ladder that moves at your speed.  It is intimidating, but as with all things here you will discover that you can do more than you imagine.  It is amazing what the body gets used to.

Statistics:
I walked 20,986 steps and 12.6 miles and burned 5,395 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6


Watch Calories burned: 4300 calories!


Hike/Exercise:
The LAST assessment hike today was Newton Canyon.  Sorry I didn't take many pictures but I have taken them there before and I was really hoofing it today.  I kept up with the front guide and was rewarded by backtracking up hills to make the hike last longer. Also, I was informed I was in the "fast" van this week.  I am pretty nervous about that since I know how fast some of the hikers here are.  This week there will only be 6 of us in that van.  I know we are doing the FULL zuma hike this week which I actually am sort of excited about.  It is one of the few things I have not done here that is still intimidating.  I will feel complete leaving here with that crossed off.  It is also cool to think that someone will have to drive a van around a few mountains to pick us up.  Who would have thought I would be doing this week 1?


As far as classes went I had stretch with Sam in the morning and ended up burning 400 calories (that is more than my pool and some cardio classes.)  After the hike I went to stretch, then the afternoon classes were,  core with Megan where I had a great core workout and will be sore today I bet, then the last two were water classes, and finally circuit training.  In circuit training I did my last two - two minute intervals on the Jacobs ladder.  It was crazy hard and my heart rate was 170 most of the time but I did it.  I plan on doing more this week since it is really challenging and yet still less intimidating now.


Food:
Well breakfast was turkey sausage, eggs and soy cheese on an english muffin.  It is so much better than it sounds!  Lunch was tortilla soup, which is thick, rich and full of flavor and a turkey sandwich with a dressed salad.  Finally, dinner was chicken, polenta and asparagus which was decent and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert.  


Pictures/Slideshow:




Here are three from yesterday I did not post: