Day 19, Oceanview and throwing kettlebells!

Comments/Thoughts:
I had a good counseling session with Essara today, which I think is definitely a big part of getting ready to go home.  Learning to deal with stress and anxiety outside of food is my big challenge.  This place does a great detox, and if you work at it you can really get the tools you are going to need at home.  I also had a 30 minute chiropractor appointment and the guy here is awesome.  He fixed my quad and really got my back and shoulders loose.  One of my best stress relievers yet.

One unexpected challenge I have found here is having people leave every week.  You really get used to the people here that support you.  This weekend Dan, Cody, Lisa, Tracy, Nancy and others are leaving and that is pretty much close to my whole lunch group.  They were all long term stay guests and it is always nice to have people around that have been with you throughout your time here.  Next week will be mostly new people it seems which is great, because I love to help the new people coming in, but it does feel like you lose some of your support.  One great thing is I can keep up with people on facebook/e-mail.  Next week is going to be me focusing more on me.  I think I am going to focus my time on preparing for home, and do a little less personal training, and a little more class/menu planning.  I definitely know how to push myself now.

Again, I would highly recommend to anyone coming here to challenge yourself with personal training.  Megan will push you through a crazy core workout that will push and challenge you, Sam has his indoor and outdoor warrior workouts that help you push yourself past your limits, and Michael can training you with kettlebells and show you how to get a TON done in 30 minutes swinging a weight around.  It really does help to know how far you can push it because it takes the rest of your class workouts up in intensity.

Statistics:
I walked 22,516 steps and 11.6 miles and burned 5,430 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6


Watch Calories Burned: 3846 Calories


Hike and Exercise:
I went to a counseling session over going to morning stretch.  It was a Sam day in stretch so I really wanted to go, but I had a good session with Essara and that is important.  The hike today was one I had not been on, called Oceanview.  The hike started off going down into a valley and then started going up up up...  There was one of the steepest inclines I have seen out here on that hike and it was very difficult getting to the top.  After we got up there we followed paths down another ridge for about one and a half miles which was hard on the legs.  It was very steep going down that long distance, and I was never happier that I had brought hiking poles to save me knees.  People had said it was one of the most challenging hikes, but so far Reverse Zuma is the most difficult one I have done.

As far as the rest of the day's exercise I did a pool class, then a circuit training class, and finished up with cardio disco jam.  Look through the pictures to see our instructor John's costume.  He dresses up all disco style to make the class more fun.  Dancing is embarrassing, but fun and a good workout.  I forgot to mention I did an awesome training session with Michael on kettlebells.  We did some partner throwing, and were even flipping the bells by the end of it.  Kettlebells work you out and you just don't even notice the time passing with a good partner.  He also showed me how to practice tosses on my own till I can find a good partner.

Food:
Breakfast was pancakes, eggs and some maple syrup.  I wanted more syrup, but such is life.  Lunch was meatloaf with wild rice, veggies and some mushroom soup.  The soup was great, and the meatloaf was ok with ketchup.  Dinner was a chicken tostada which was one of the largest seeming meals here.  It was really good with some mexican flair and I added a little more hot sauce and loved it.  Dessert was chocolate on banana, strawberries and pineapples, and as you might imagine it was great.

Pictures/Slideshow:

Day 18, I thought it was supposed to be easier at the end of the week?

Comments/Thoughts:
Ok, before I get into the negatives (and some positives) of my day I want to spend a little time thanking my family, and especially my wife for allowing me the time to be out here.  I am a stay at home father, and my wife provides well for our family.  She has gone out of her way to make it possible for me to be out here at a high cost to her emotionally and physically.  She constantly amazes me, and I hope that you know I both love and appreciate you for it Jennifer.

The other day I mentioned how people had given me a boost by saying that I inspired them.  Well there are many people that inspire me here, and one of the big ones yesterday and throughout my stay has been a younger guy named Cody.  Cody is here from Alberta, Canada for four weeks (this is his last) and he has been here for the first two weeks with his father, and the last two with his mother.  It seems like from day one I have been trying to catch Cody on the hikes.  He keeps getting faster and faster, and so do I, but he always seems to be able to kick it up to another level.  Today we did Sam's personal training class (Cody will have done 4 with Sam this week!) and many of our activities were together, like pulling a 40lb weight with weighted ropes across a field back and forth like plow horses.  Cody pretty much got me through that class by example.

Today was a rough day for me.  Yesterday I pulled my quad again and so today I thought it was fine.  That was until kickball class when it thoroughly tightened it up once again.  It happened right before my personal training class and I was extremely upset and disappointed.  I ended up being able to complete the training class, but I missed my scheduled class ever to ice afterwards.  It was upsetting since I at least wanted to attend a calorie burning class ever hour of the evening.  I did end up with two pool classes at the end of the day, and I worked out with my arms pulling me across the pool between them so I ended up with a significant calorie burn by the end of the day.  By dinner I was content with what I had accomplished, but one thing I would say to people coming here is to definitely do some personal training, but make sure you leave a day or two without them in your week.  You are already putting your body through the ringer, the personal training takes it up about 10 times as hard.  It helps you find your max, but just remember that your classes and maintaining your body throughout your stay should be your focus.

Statistics:
I walked 21,332 steps and 12 miles and burned 5,390 calories via my fitbithttp://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6

Watch Calories Burned: 4338 calories!

Hike and Exercise:
Today my hike was Castro's Crest and it was fairly challenging.  You walk down into a valley and then ascend quickly up to the crest.  As usual there were some great views and I enjoyed it.  On the way back Sam and Kimberly (two of our guides) decided that Cody and I were going to push hard from the top back down and out and we were shooting to do it in 25 minutes.  We power walked through the canyon and finished the very last leg to the van at a jog.  We finished in 24 minutes and to put that in perspective we were maybe 1 to 2 minutes ahead of the group at the top of the crest and when we got to the van we were maybe 8-12 minutes ahead.

Exercise today for me consisted of a kickball game after the hike where I re-torqued my quad muscle in my leg.  Very frustrating since 20 minutes after that I did a personal training session with Sam.  Sam had Cody and I throwing medicine balls across a field, doing squats in series for 1+ minutes at a time, and pulling weights on ropes together up and down the field.  Very intense, but actually not bad on my injured leg.  By the end of the class I did have crazy sore ankles and my leg still was bothering me a ton.  I missed my next class to ice and then did two swimming classes.  The classes I missed today were treading and ball works.  I was sad to miss treading since it is one of my favorite classes, but I just knew I would hurt myself more in that one.

Food:
Breakfast was an english muffin with eggs and bacon, definitely one of the better ones.  Lunch was a salad and turkey club pita.  The bacon in the club was great and the pita was better than I imagined.  The soup was vegetable and it was much better this week than last week.  Dinner was chicken and squash so I actually ended up eating a Boca Burger (always an optional meal) with vegetables.  The dessert was an apple cobbler made of oats and cinnamon cooked apples.  It was good once I sweetened it with some Truvia.

Slideshow/Pictures:

Day 17, hump day 3, not all downhill this week from here I fear.

Comments/Thoughts:
Well of the positive side I have been told throughout my three weeks that I am inspiring in classes and of late on the hikes.  Aside from the compliment and ego boost it feels good to know that my hard work is helping others here push through the pain.  It is definitely one of the toughest things I have done so far in my life.  The most difficult thing is going to be carrying on once I leave.  I will lose between 28 and 40 pounds here, but I still have another 100 pound journey at home.  I am actually eager to get started, both because I miss my amazing family and friends, and because I am eager for the challenge for some weird reason.

One the slight negative side I fear I have overbooked training this week and it is affecting my classes.  Today I trained with Megan and my core was already sore from kettlebell training, and my Monday core class.  I was unable to perform many exercises as well as I would have expected.  This did not mean I didn't get a ton out of the class.  I really burned a ton of calories and Megan is amazing at modifying her difficult routines.  I felt an amazing sense of accomplishment once completed.  I did end up pulling a muscle in my quad again and that has me a little worried about Thursday.  I have Sam at lunch on Thursday and I am truly scared of the workout he has planned considering how sore I am.

My advice if you come here is to get personal training two times a week with someone that is going to push your boundaries.  Once on Tuesday and once on Friday.  It will help you see how much further you can push yourself in your classes here, and it will not overdo it.  I know next week I am going to tone it down so I can go home uninjured. =)

Statistics:
I walked 18,689 steps and 9.9 miles and burned 5,388 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6


Watch Calories burned: 3868

Hike and Exercise:
Wednesday the hike was Solstice.  I did this on my first Wednesday here at camp and it was fairly tough.  The beginning of the hike is straight up for about 15 minutes.  The first week I was here I was in the back of my group and this time I was in the front.  It is a good feeling to be able to gauge your progress on the hikes and enjoy them rather than dread them.  I loved the hike today since it is one of the more scenic ones, and the only gripe I had was we didn't go up to the chimney at the end of the hike which is up another hill.  It ended sooner than usual for me and I wanted to burn some more calories.  Weird to feel that way, but I guess at the three week mark you are ready to push on through.  The guides were great and my group is fun this week.

As far as other classes, I had stretch in the morning with Sam which was a good calories burner.  After the hike I had stretch with Mikaela and she does a very low impact relaxing stretch class which is what I definitely needed.  Next I had a workout with Megan in a personal training session.  Dan and Rebecca were in my session and they actually got more punishment than I sense my core was not holding me up.  My last three classes I went to were two pool classes and a kickboxing class.  I did the second pool class because I had pulled my quad and pool does not hurt it as much as Mountain.

Food:
For breakfast I had my eggs and toast, which I really enjoy and could eat everyday.  The actual breakfast was Muesli which is oatmeal and granola mixed.  Lunch was Green Pizza which I really enjoyed.  They do a good job making their bread into crispy little pizza things.  Dinner was one of my favorites, they call it a cafe chicken salad, but I will could it a mexican chicken soft shell salad or something.  Having that tortilla, beans, chicken, lettuce and green salsa is great.  The dessert was mango sorbet which is decent enough.

Slideshow/Pictures:

Day 16, Kettlebells and Beaches...

Comments/Thoughts:
Today I was a bit sore because of the kettlebell training I did with Michael yesterday.  He is a pretty amazing trainer and all around nice person.  One thing about this place is that the people that work here are both positive and really well qualified.  Here are some of his YouTube videos doing kettlebell demonstrations:











And finally this one is not with a kettlebell but it is pretty amazing...





Statistics:
20909 steps taken, 11.22 miles traveled, and 5210 calories burned.

Watch calories burned: 3863 calories

Hike and Exercise:
I did the beach hike once again today, but the tide was low so it was a better hike.  I really do not like walking in the sand that much even though it is good exercise because of all the sand build up in my shoes.  Since I tape my feet I don't want to take them off to walk barefoot through the first part of the hike so by the time I reach the hills I have large amount of sand under my toes.  The sand makes my toes sore while walking and it get annoying.  I did great on the hike and burned about 1100 calories.  I went through it about as fast as I ever have and we made it back to campus in no time.

As far as exercise for the day went I did a personal training with Michael and then went to a lecture on eating out.  I did two pool classes and did not do total toning since I had already worked my muscles out so thoroughly in my personal training.  The last class of the day was cardio intervals with Sam and I beat myself down in that class.  I actually ran at 6.5 mph for a minute which is quite a bit of moving for my size.

Food:
For breakfast I had the standard eggs and toast I have grown to love.  The other option was a muffin which just does not fill me up enough for the hike.  Lunch was parsnip soup which I thought was great with some extra seasoning, and a turkey sandwich.  Dinner was veggie lasagna with chocolate strawberries for dessert.  Strawberry night is a big deal around here.

Pictures/Slideshow:

Sunday, a weigh in, a football game, and rest...

Well since Sundays are a day of rest the usual format is out the window.  I had eggs and toast for breakfast, and we got a sack lunch.  The sack lunch did not look that good, but that wasn't a problem because...  Dan took us off campus to go watch the Bears v. Packers game.  We had some problems getting in at the first sports bar, but soon found Yankee Doodles.  I give them an A+ for screen visibility, and a D- on service.  They had one waitress working our 20 table section it seemed.

Anyway, for our lunches Dan and Nancy had turkey burgers and I opted for basic chicken fajitas with corn tortillas (No rice, beans, cheese, sour cream.)  They had told us in a class to always opt for the corn tortillas since they are 50-65 calories a piece and that works great for me because I prefer them.  Basically I just filled them with chicken, onion, green pepper and some salsa.  It was great and I felt happy about being out and making the right choice.  There were no beers, but plenty of diet coke.

After watching the Bears' pitiful performance we went back to campus and I spent the rest of the day relaxing.  One last thing to mention was that I weighed in the morning and had lose 11 more pounds which brought me to 14.4 in two weeks.  Also, I have gone to my third belt loop (from barely being at the first) and that is amazing to me too.  I think I have readjusted what I thought I was going to lose, but my fitness level and measurements are doing great!

Anyway, back to class since I am writing this on Monday, I definitely miss have Kent around.  Seeing people you get to know leave when you have time left is never pleasant.  Hope everyone else is doing well!

Saturday, Day 13 is here, let there be some rest!

Comments/Thoughts:
Today was a very relaxed day all around.  There was some working out, but for the most part it was calm.  I went to see a movie after graduation with some friends here and that felt great.  I did have some diet pepsi, but no popcorn or candy.  We saw the Dilemma and another of our group who had seen it went and saw True Grit. I had already seen that one so it worked out that the movies were on at the same time and were the same length.  After that we got back to the rooms and one of the friends I went to the movie with graciously helped me get the splinter out of my hand.  As of today (monday) it is feeling great!

Statistics:
I walked 16,656 steps and 7.8 miles and burned 4,641 calories via my fitbit http://www.fitbit.com/user/22B6S6

Watch calorie measurement: N/A

Hike and Exercise:
The hike on Saturday was Paramount Ranch, owned by the similarly named studio.  It has a small western town built in it where some westerns (Josey Wales,City Slickers) have been filmed.  It was a pretty easy hike and there were 31 people.  The pace was relaxed and we stopped quite a few times for head counts.  I think I only burned like 700 calories on that hike.  It was good though because I got to chat with Dan and Ken, and Ken was leaving the very next day.  The class after the hike was a water class and then we were free!


Food:
For breakfast I once again opted for eggs and toast with a little organic ketchup.  For lunch Dan took me to a restaurant on the beach and it was tough, but we were as good as the restaurant allowed.  I had a salmon fillet and about 6 bites of mashed potatoes.  The view was amazing and it was nice to get out.  We also went down to Venice Beach and bought some things to take back for our families.  It was a good outing all in all and I was proud of how good I was off campus.  As I keep telling people you have to be able to live when you leave here.  People aren't going to hand you these meals forever.  Dinner was back on the ranch and was BBQ chicken and veggies.  It was good with hot sauce (as are most things.)


Slideshow/Pictures: