Weigh In: 7.5 down, 115.9 to go

Woohoo!  My first weigh-in at home in two weeks and down 7.5 pounds!  Thank you Biggest Loser Fitness Ridge.  I did more than I ever imagined I could during my week there.  And I'm noticing a big difference in my workouts at home now.  Basically it's now kind of hard whining to my trainer during a 45 minute workout when both he and I know I worked out 6 hours a day for a week.  That was my overall lesson learned at Fitness Ridge.  I can do more than I think I can.

With this week's loss, I break out into the 280's and from a BMI perspective I break out of morbid obesity.  Now I am officially categorized as "severely obese".  Still doesn't have a very nice ring to it but I am certainly headed in the right direction.  I am so happy with what I have accomplished so far. 

My birthday is about 7 weeks away.  November 24.  I'm at 86 pounds lost.  I realized that if I can manage to lose 2 pounds/week from now until my birthday I will have lost 100 pounds!  That is going to be my birthday gift to myself.  (And possibly a new car.  My current one is 10 years old and I sort of put the carrot out there for myself that I would get a new car when I lost 100.)

In order to accomplish that goal, I am getting back to daily calorie tracking on MyFitnessPal and upping my exercise.  I am already doing 3 days per week with my trainer at Fitness Together and plan to add 2-3 additional days of cardio on my own in between.  I want to hit that century mark so bad.  And I deserve it!!!!!!!!!!!

Changes I noticed this week:

1. Had to buy new bras.  Am officially a C cup now, down from a D. 
2. I think I saw a guy checking me out at Target yesterday.
3. Feeling strong in the gym.
4. My pants are starting to be loose again.  Not quite ready for a smaller size, but will be soon.
5. Went clothes shopping and actually enjoyed it a little. 

Day 5 at Biggest Loser Resort

I'm a couple days behind on my posting. But we've got this afternoon off so I'm hoping to catch up.


On Day 5 I got up early to do Sione's yogalates class. It's hard work but it makes hiking for 2.5 hours easier if I've already been up awhile and gotten moving. I don't know if I'll ever be able to do the chaturanga like he does.


Today was the stop sign hike. I was glad to have it because it is on pavement. It's still a massive challenge though. It's 4.3 miles and rises in elevation 1,000 feet from beginning to end. The last 1.5 miles is at a 15% grade. If you want to know what it is like, go put your treadmill at 15 incline and walk for 1.5 miles. We had 2 hours to get this hike done in and my only goal was to make it to the stop sign so I could say I did it. Another gal in my group, Rosie, had a similar pace as me so we walked it up together. It would have been much harder without someone else there encouraging you. We made it through the less steep incline pretty well and then the 15% grade started. Holy crap. We just kept setting short goals for ourselves the whole way through. We would shoot for a certain tree or rock ahead of us and not think about any distance we had to cover but that. We stopped for a breather when we needed to but kept pushing. We knew we were getting close when we started meeting some of the faster poeople on their way back down. Those coming down would cheer on the ones still going up. Eventually we made and and of course I memorialized it with a picture. It took us 1 hour 50 minutes to get there. Here is Rosie and me at the stop sign. We dubbed ourselves Team Purple on the way up.

Here's some of the views on our way back down:

After lunch and lectures, I had Treading class. This is a killer aerobic workout I was really scared to do after hiking. The way is works is you get on a piece of cardio equipment (I did treadmill) and go as hard as you can for 5 minutes followed by 5 minutes active recovery. Then 4 minutes hard, 4 minutes recovery and continuing these intervals down...3, 2, 1. These classes are hard and every time I am sure I won't be able to do it but every time I do. I have learned your body can do much more than you think it can and it's mostly your mind and self-talk that limit you. It's hard, yes, but you can do it. When I get back home I don't think I'll ever be able to say "I can't" again to a workout. Because if I can do this, I can do anything.


After treading was the pool which is always a nice change of pace a break that my knees and back appreciate.


After that was a class called Ball Works where we worked out using the big stability ball. The only thing I've ever used it for is to do crunches on but we learned alot of other ways to use it too. Even just dribbling it like a basketball works out your triceps. This wasn't my favorite class but I was also exhausted by this point so I'd be willing to try it again before I decided I didn't like it.


Going to bed this night I couldn't believe I only had one full day left. (Saturdays are half days.) The way I would sum it up is that each individual day was the longest one of my life but the week flew by.


I'm still hanging in there!!!

Day 4 at Biggest Loser Resort

Day 4 started out with another hike. This one was the Camelback hike where you hike up to a spot that looks like a camel's back. You know...two humps. This hiker did not make it to the two humps. I was trailing behind with another lady and the tail guide once again. This hike wasn't quite as scary as the first one but I wasn't loving it. I'm more of a "take a walk" girl, not a "scale a mountain" girl. It's not that I mind the hard work, it's mostly I just don't trust myself out there. I feel really clumsy since gaining all this weight and on these hikes I am terrified I am going to fall and break my ankle or leg or fall off a cliff and die. Maybe I'm being overly dramatic (who me?), but in the moment it doens't feel like it.


The hike started with us going down a fairly steep stretch that was covered with lava rock. I ain't gonna lie, I nearly started crying from the very beginning when I saw how treacherous the descent was. The guide assured me that the whole hike wasn't like that. And it wasn't. The rest was mostly sandstone and pretty much doable with only a small amount of terror involved. Coming down was actually the scariest part. I really hate coming down. It scares me. Like when we got back to the lava rock part to get back to the van, it was hard freaking work getting back up that incline but going up it wasn't nearly so scary as going down it.


The lady I hiked with was nice and she was telling us her backstory about something tragic that had happened to her. She had overcome a lot to even be there on that hike. Next time I think I've had it hard, I need to try to remember her story and quit bellyaching.


Only got a couple of pictures from this hike cuz I was too busy trying not to die.

Once we were back at the resort, it was the usual lectures and lunch. This one was done by the "life coach". I know, sounds corny. I thought so. WTF is a life coach anyway? But I liked this girl. She was very no-nonsense and funny. Two things I really like in a person. So while I probably won't be hiring my own "life coach" any time soon, I did think this chick has some good things to say.


After all that, I had a pool class. This one was taught by Sione who was on Biggest Loser a couple of years ago. He was alot better than the person we had for pool the day before because he actually made us work. And he is funny. And good-looking. Ridiculously so, in my opinion. This is him. Tell me I am wrong. YOu can't, can you?


After pool was kickboxing. The instructor was this tall chick named Sharon and I like her too. She's like a badass Barbie. Super tall, like my height, athletic build, kind of a tough chick thing going on during class but you can tell she's not really mean or anything. I've done kickboxing once or twice a long time ago and I've never really liked it. But I liked this one because we actually had something to punch and kick in this class. The only other ones I took we punched air. Not nearly so satisfying as actually punching something.


Last class of the day was called "Mountain" and I had pretty much had my fill of mountains for the day so I was apprehensive of this one. Sione taught this one again. I really like him as a trainer. Not just cuz he's a handsome devil, although that doesn't hurt. It was another class where you pick the cardio equipment you want to work on and then start at a moderate level, increasing speed or incline every three minutes 10 times. I did not plan ahead very well or I would have started lower. But Sione is motivating and every time I wanted to quit or not bump my treadmill up another notch, I just envisioned what it was like for him when he was on Biggest Loser with Bob and Jillian screaming in his face. He kept telling us our bodies can do more than we think it can and that it's our minds that limit us. I was really proud of getting through that class without cheating even after all the other exercise I had done all day.


The last thing I did for the day after dinner was get a much needed massage. My legs are so worn out from everything we are doing. My calves are stiff, I have shin splints, my hamstrings are tight, and my lower back is starting to hurt. My upper body seems fine so far.


Tomorrow I am happy that I get to do the famed "Stop Sign" hike because it is on pavement. No rock climbing. But it's no wimpy hike either. It's 4.3 miles during which you climb in elevation 1,000 feet. We have 2 hours to get the hike done and my goal is to make it to the top come hell or high water.

Day 3

I'm a day late getting this post out. I was too tired to even think about it yesterday. I'll probably stay a day behind because I'm too tired to finish my Day 4 post tonight.


I would say the best way to sum up my hike from Tuesday would be "sweet mother of all that is holy". I was in totally over my head. They climbed a freaking mountain. Seriously. A mountain. They segregate hiking groups according to ability and clearly they missed the boat with this one. I could not keep up with the group I was in and ended up doing most of it with the tail guide, who was very nice and if it weren't for him I'd still be sitting on that mountain.


People, I was so scared I almost started crying more than once. There was one point we were going nearly straight up. At that point the guide had me grab his wrist and I grabbed mine and he basically pulled me along behind him. Once we got past that he took a shortcut and we started heading back down the mountain. When we got done he said,"I think I'll bump you down one level for tomorrow's hike." Ya think?


While I at no time in the near future want to do a hike like that again, I will say that I did more than I ever thought I could do, which I guess is pretty much the point of this place. Still, I think I can learn this lesson without risking life and limb, thank you very much.


Driving back from the hike to resort I was still fighting back tears and all I wanted to do was get here and get to my room so I could bawl and get it out of my system and move on with the rest of the day.


I did feel better when one of the guys on my team (who has been here for 6 weeks) told me the first time he did that same hike he had to turn around the same place I did. So I felt less like a weenie after that. But I was still kinda pissed they put me in that situation to start with.


Thankfully once we were back the next 3 hours were lectures and lunch. The dietician chick here does really good lectures. I kinda didn't want to go to the nutrition stuff because I've been on about eleventy-billion diets in my life and feel pretty educated about nutrition already. But she did have alot of good information so I was glad I went.


After the lectures and lunch, I had 3 differenct classes. One was Cardio Intervals, where we got on a piece of cardio equipment (I did treadmill) and then spend 45 minutes starting out at a level and then upping that level every 2 minutes. I think we did that 8 times. Then we decreased our level every 2 minutes to get back to our starting level. We went through those intervals twice, maybe 3 times, I can't remember.

After that was a Total Toning class, which was strength training with free weights. Because we'd just climbed a freaking mountain that morning, I naively assuming the class would focus exclusively on upper body. Nope. We did lower body too. I had to do squats and lunges!!!!! I thought my legs were going to fall off.

The last class of the day was a pool class in the deep end which wasn't very challenging. But I was glad to be in the water and give my legs a break. Since pool class was last, some of us went straight to the hottub afterwards and soaked our worn out bodies until dinner time.

I brought makeup and a curling iron here. How stupid. There is no time for primping here. We just all go to dinner sweaty or in a robe straight from the hottub. I even saw one lady in her PJ's. I could have saved that space in my bag for a mega-tube of BenGay!

Since Tuesday night is the night Biggest Loser is on, they had a watching party in the lounge which I had intended to go to. But I just didn't feel like sitting upright for 2 hours so I came back to my room, showered, and watched it from my oh-so-comfy bed. I still don't know who got kicked off last night because I fell asleep before it was over. I was tuckered!


Here's a few pictures from the hike. These were all before the true terror began which is why I am still smiling at this point.

Day 2

I am badass. I worked out 6 hours today and lived to tell about it.
 Started the day at 6 AM with a “yogalates” class, which was really more of a stretch class. Tomorrow Sione teaches that class and they said he does more of a true yoga class and I’m assuming it will be more challenging than today’s.


After stretching, we had breakfast which was like an egg McMuffin kind of thing with eggs and turkey sausage and some fruit. Pretty good.


The big thing for the day, for me at least because I was worried about it, was the first hike. The first hike is an assessment hike where they figure out if you need to be with the beginners, intermediate, or advanced hikers. I did not think the hike today was super hard. The most challenging part was that it was 2.5 hours long and this fat girl has not exercised for that long at one time in I don’t know when.


We basically walked on a trail for the majority of the hike. There was a lot of incline and decline so it wasn’t exactly a walk in the park, but for the most part the surface itself was flat, meaning not very rocky, or rugged. There was only about 20 minutes where we were walking on anything that was even slightly rugged. That was a lot more challenging primarily because I am an enormous clutz. But for the entire hike I was able to keep up with the lead guide, which, as it turns out, I may end up regretting because I think I’m going to get a hard hike tomorrow. I should have sandbagged more today. I can handle the cardio part of a hard hike, I think. I’m just worried about having to do more rugged terrain because I don’t want to hurt my clumsy ass. We’ll just have to see how it goes.


So we finished the hike and they had cold towels for us waiting in the van. Nice touch! We head back to the resort and the next three hours were spent in nutrition lectures and lunch (which was a turkey sandwich and salad). I was glad to get to rest a little before starting an afternoon full of exercise classes, but was also concerned that once I stopped moving I wouldn’t be able to start again.


But I start moving again I did. I had a core training class which I did pretty good at thanks to my trainer Orlando! I’ll have to tell him I think he’s a meaner core trainer than they were here. It was actually kind of easy compared to what he makes me do. One of the girls I have buddied up with commented I did really well and that seeing what I could do motivated her to try harder. Who woulda thunk it? My fat butt motivating someone. Wow.


After that I had a class in the pool which was an enormous relief. Not that it wasn’t work, but it felt good to be in the water.


Last workout of the day was a circuit training class where we did 2 minutes on the treadmill and elliptical alternating with 2 minutes of strength training on machines. I was really scared to do this one at the end of the day after doing everything else. But I did way better than I thought I would and the time passed pretty quickly. I even lifted heavier than I have been doing at home for some stuff. And lifted as heavy in some instances as the guy I was following on the machines. I like being strong. Makes me feel like a badass mofo.
 So I made it through one day of a ridiculous working out in much better shape than I anticipated. No blisters or anything (knock on wood). Went back to my room for a quick shower and then we went to dinner which was chicken and polenta with chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. They were crazy good!


We had one last lecture after dinner about nutrition again. It wasn’t bad but I was ready to get back to my room and relax. I ended up going to the hot tub for a few minutes with a couple gals. I am hoping that combined with the” Vitamin I” (ibuprofen) that I popped will keep me from being miserable tomorrow.



Wish me luck on the hike tomorrow. I am truly concerned. I guess I shouldn’t be. They have awesome guides and there is always lead guide, a middle guide, and a sweeper who hangs back with the ones trailing behind. That might be me tomorrow.

Day 1 at Biggest Loser Resort

 I'm here at the Biggest Loser Resort.  No earth-shattering post to write yet.  One, because we haven't worked out yet.  Just got weighed, measured, and body fat %. Sione is the one who did my weigh in for me.  How cool is that?  I might also add, that is one handsome Tongan!  Cutey patootie for sure!

Also had our first meal here.  It was good.  Small, but good.  And then an orientation session.  Tomorrow will be our first hike which is the thing I am most nervous about. 

Anyway, I've got to hit the hay so I'll just post some quick pics and hopefully have more for you tomorrow.

Chicken tamale for dinner along with a salad.  It was tasty. 

Some sort of chocolate pie thingy for dessert.

Weigh-in: 2.3 down, 123.4 to go

Woohoo!  Good loss this week and into a new "decade" on the scale.  I ended up not doing the 5 Day Pouch Test as I had planned.  I couldn't get it together this week for some reason.  First day I went to work with my protein powder, but no shaker or milk.  My head just wasn't in the game, clearly.

We upped the intensity of my workouts at Fitness Together so that may have had something to do with the little jumpstart I had on the scale this week.  The two trainers I work with there seem pretty excited about my trip to the BL Resort.  Not as excited as I am though! 

I cannot believe I am leaving for Utah tomorrow morning.  I will be at the BL Resort by mid afternoon.  I don't think they make you workout the first day.  The program starts with dinner that night and I think they just do a class or some sort of orientation type thing.  Then Monday morning will be my first hike plus several more hours of exercise classes.  Can I do it???  I can't wait to find out.

I am so paranoid about getting blisters on my feet.  I've read that's the most common injury.  And it can really sideline you.  I've bought some really good, double layer, sweat-wicking socks and am bringing duct tape and Body Glide with me.  I've read you can tape hot spots with the duct tape and it can prevent a blister.  I don't want anything happening that will keep me from fully participating in anything. 

I plan to be blogging daily while I am there unless I have technical issues.  Or can't move a single bone in my body to type.  :)

4 Days

Just 4 more days and I will be at Biggest Loser Fitness Ridge.

Holy shit.

This is gonna be AWESOME!

Old Habits

I've been really struggling for the past week or so.  Some of my old habits have started to creep back into my life.  Food habits.  This surgery does NOT fix everything.  If I choose the wrong foods, I can continue to overeat.  Up until recently I haven't done that.  But I've been getting stressed out at work and I've found alot of junky stuff finding it's way down my gullet.  Candy, chips, ice cream, peanut butter.  Not good.

It's scary how these old habits are surfacing again.  And the more junky stuff I eat, the more I crave it and feel munchy all the time.

I have come too far to backslide now so tomorrow I am getting back to sleeve basics by doing the "5 day pouch test."  It's a 5 day plan that takes you back to the habits that got you started on your WLS journey.  So it's two days of liquid protein, one day of soft proteins (eggs, tuna, etc), one day "firm" protein, and one day "solid" protein.  I need a little reboot to get me back on track.

The 5 days will be up on Saturday and then Sunday I am on my way to Biggest Loser Resort so that will give me 7 more days in a controlled situation to get my head back on straight.

I'm finding out firsthand that this surgery is only a tool.  It's not a magic bullet and it's certainly not foolproof.  And that's the truth. 

Weigh-in: 0.7 down, 125.7 to go

Down 0.7 this week.  I have to admit I wasn't a very conscientious sleever this week.  It's actually a little scary how much you can still eat when you are sleeved when you are eating junk.  That's why it's so important to eat PROTEIN first.  It fills you up and there's less room for junky stuff that slides right on through.  This week I need to focus on that and also on the "no drinking while eating" rule.  When I find myself straying from the sleeve rules I end up feeling hungrier, eating more, and while I haven't actually had a weight gain since my surgery, my goal is certainly not to lose fractions of a pound each week.  So I gotta get back to following the rules and remembering that this surgery is a tool, not a magic bullet.  I have to do my part.

On the exercise front, I am working out with a trainer at Fitness Together 3 times a week and I'm finally starting to feel the difference.  I can make it through my workouts easier now without having to stop and rest so much.  They've also started to up some of the weights I am lifting.  Very cool.  I am supposed to be adding cardio at home during my non-FT days which I have not done yet. 

More on the exercise front, just one week til I am at the Biggest Loser Resort in Utah.  Seriously, next week at this time I will be there.  I can't believe it!!!  I am simultaneouslly thrilled and terrified.  I bought a new digital camera to take plenty of photos and plan to blog daily about my experiences there.  I am super excited because Sione Fa from whatever season he was on is a trainer there now.  He is so freaking cute!  Pretty sure he's married though.  But still, a gal can look, can't she? 

Weigh In: As God is My Witness, I Will Never Weigh 300 Again

Finally. Two-ville.   Twodertown.  Whatever you want to call it.  I am out of the 300's.  Never to return.

I have lost 68 pounds so far.  That's a crazy amount of weight.  I had another person at work comment that I they can tell I am losing weight.  I feel really good. 

Changes I noticed this week:

1. I upped my treadmill time to 40 minutes (from 30) and it was super easy. Will bump it up to 45 starting today and see how that goes.  My goal is to get to a full hour before I go to the Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge the week of September 25.  Once I get to an hour I will work on increasing my speed.
2. My home treadmill is upstairs and the climb up is not a deterrent anymore to me going up to exercise.  And when I am finished, I can easily walk back down the stairs without any problems.
3. While typing this blog post, I am sitting Indian style on the couch.  Haven't been able to do that in quite some time!

This week my goal is to re-focus on the "sleeve rules" for eating.  I am still finding myself eating too many junky carbs because they taste good, because I am stressed, and because they fit real easy into my sleeve.  This is the behavior that got me up to 367 pounds to begin with so I need to keep working on changing those behaviors.  The sleeve is just a tool.  I need to do my part in order to be PERMANENTLY successful!

I'm Going

More than a year ago I wrote that "I Wanna Go!"

Guess what?  I finally decided to make it happen.  I am going.  The week of September 25.  To the BIGGEST LOSER RESORT in Utah!!!!!!  It's in the books.  Deposit is paid.

Hellz YEAH! 

(ps I scheduled this post for 1/11/11 11:11...just cuz I'm goofy like that.)