Fantastic Friends!

So while I've been here at FR I met 2 of the best people you could ever meet in your ENTIRE life. :o) Lisa Nielsen and Jim Trudeau - these two have cheered me on and encouraged me the whole time I've been here. They are awesome and each have their own weight loss journey they are on and are both completely inspirational to me. This morning they both completed the SHAC Triathlon in St. George - you guys are AWESOME!!! I hope to swim it/bike it/walk or run it with you next time! Plus these two are so much fun to be around! Thursday afternoon we played hookie from lecture and Jim took us out to Snow Canyon to take some awesome pictures from the overlook and a couple of other cool spots in the park. It was a great break to my schedule and so much fun and you can see. :o)

Thanks guys - you gave me great advice and made my stay at FR! Got much love for ya!!!

BL Resort - Thursday

I woke up Thursday morning sore - probably more sore than I've ever been in my whole life, but even though I was sore I had energy. I didn't go to 6 AM kickboxing, I took the opportunity to sleep in a bit and recover a bit. I went to breakfast then off to Hidden Pinyon Trail for another 2 1/2 hour amazing hike. This hike turned out to be my FAVORITE of all the hikes I did. Amazing-absolutely amazing! We hiked up to piano rock and to be honest there were moments when I didn't think I would make it to the top, but like with everything this week I found out that I am physically stronger than I ever thought I was. I made it to the top and it was amazing. Then we trekked across the petrified dunes - which by the way it absolutely amazes me that in the midst of this mountain made of hard sand rock there are places where little plants still manage to root and pop up. There are also these weird little rocks that come out of the mountain over time as the sand dune erodes away. Most of them are perfectly round?!?!? When we got to the top one of our guides pointed out these two circles that you could see between these two mountains - these circles were used by George Lucas in Star Wars as the place where x-wings would land and take off - I thought that was awesome and totally photo worthy :0) I love it! Honestly the guides were all fantastic! Thank you guys for all the site seeing and bits of history along the way. After the dunes we went to butterfly rock - I hope to go back someday when I'm at my goal weight and have my picture made on that rock again.

After the hike it was on to ball works (one of my favorite classes using weights and a stability ball), then treading (ugh - so tough, but so amazing!) In Treading you warm up then hit your max speed on a cardio machine for 5 minutes then recover for 5 minutes, then 4 minutes max and recover 4 minutes, then 3 - 2 - 1... I am terrified of falling off the treadmill so at first I just walked as quickly as I possibly could, but thanks to Lisa cheering me on I was able to run for the 2 minute tread, the 1 minute tread and our surprise 1 minute tread. And not only did I run, I was able to increase the speed to a 5. Faster and longer than I've ever run before....it felt amazing!

BL Resort - Wednesday

Wednesday started with 6 AM Yogalates :o) I love Yogalates!!! (Yoga and Pilates) I always feel so good afterwards. Then onto breakfast and another 2 1/2 hour hike. This time to "Stop Sign!" I was told it's a right of passage here at Fitness Ridge to complete it. Stop Sign is a little over 4 mile paved hike up a steady incline where at the end you have gone up a little over 1000 feet of altitude. Amazing! It was definitely a challenge. I loved it and hated it every step of the way, but when I reached the top I happily slapped the "Stop Sign" like so many before me. It was awesome and I felt so good.

After lunch we had an very enlightening lecture from the resort life coach, Jen, on emotional eating. I always felt like I was an emotional eater, but Jen's lecture really brought some very interesting things to light. Probably the best advice she shared was that emotional health and awareness of your emotions = healthy weight and/or weight loss. By confronting your fears and those things we avoid we break the cycle of addiction and put yourself in control. She also explained that restriction breads rebellion. If you love popcorn find a healthy way to incorporate that into your diet without making it your go to food that you reach for every time you are stressed or bored. Jen really shared a lot of GREAT information!

The rest of the day went great - in fact I not only tried something new, kickboxing, but I also overcame a fear...Mountain. Mountain was the last cardio class I did before I got sick on Monday so I was really dreading it. I'm so thankful that I bit the bullet (as I did contemplate skipping) because I was completely successful and increased my incline from 10 to 12! Awesome - I did it and was stronger than I was on Monday. Nicole, the trainer, also gave us an awesome quote that I have drawn from all week. "I do today what others think I won't so I can do tomorrow what others can't." Awesome!!!!

Completely exhausted at the end of the day I go back to the room and......zzzzzzzz

BL Resort - Tuesday

Tuesday I woke up feeling well, with a new attitude and ready to take on the day. Went to 6 AM class, Hardcore and boy was it! A combonation of stretch and toning all with your core. Awesome. Next was breakfast then off to 3rd Ravine for another 2 1/2 hour hike. Again the scene was amazing and totally beautiful!!! It was a very challenging hike but I made it and didn't puke - lol! Along our hike we saw the place George Lucas used in Star Wars where the x-wing fighter pilots fuled. It was pretty cool to see especially since I'm a fan of Star Wars. :o)

The rest of the day went rather well - challenging - but I succeeded. H2O Circuit, Deep Water Suspension, Cardio Intervals and Total Toning all before dinner. Whew! We also had a cooking demo that day with the resort Chef Cameron Payne. He is awesome and works with the nutritionists to keep all meals and snacks balanced and within the 1200 per day calorie budget. Naturally I LOVED it and bought both of the resort cookbooks. I can't wait to get home and get cracking on some of those recipes.

After dinner was lecture then back to the room where within an hour I was tucked in bad and fast asleep.....zzzzzzzz.

BL Resort - Monday

Monday was the first full day that I was here and started the exercise regimen. 6-7 hours of the toughest exercises that I've ever experienced in my life! I went to 6 AM Yoga then breakfast then a 2 1/2 hour hike on the Anasazi Trail. The Trail was amazing and very challenging for me since I've never hiked or even walked on anything more uneven than asphalt. 6 miles later I made it back to the resort. Thank you Dawson (one of the hiking guides) for walking with me and telling me all about your family, your job and how you got to the BL Resort to help keep my mind off of how bad my toes were burning and how tired I already was. I recovered for about 25 minutes from the hike and BOOM it's time for my next class - Mountain. Mountain is this challenging cardio interval class where you start at your base (incline/speed) that is effort, but not your max then over a series of 10 - 12 3 minute intervals you increase your speed and or incline till you push yourself to your max and hold it for 5 minutes = BRUTAL! Amazingly I got my incline up to 10 on the treadmill. It was so difficult and I was so blessed to have met Lisa and Jim who got on treadmills on either side of me and walked/ran the last little bit with me. They are both so encouraging and have become my buddies. After Mountain it was time for lunch, which by the way - the food here is AMAZING! We are allotted 1200 calories of food/meals then there are optional pieces of fruit or a serving of raw almonds for snacks. I'm probably staying somewhere around 1300 - 1350 calories per day. So lunch was great then it was time for our first lecture. I began getting a headache in lecture and after class went to the little shop here on the resort for some propel and extra electrolytes to add to my water, but it was too late. I got sick and barfed! Thankfully I had made it back to the ladies locker room before that happened. Page the awesome administrator helped me into one of the massage rooms to rest. They didn't want me to drive back to my room since I'm staying off property. So I laid down after I finally stopped being sick and was able to sleep for about and hour and a half. I woke up with a dull headache, but tried to get up and around to go to dinner and lecture, but the minute I got up and got sick again. I went to the shop again and bought some pepto and advil and no more got a dose of the pepto down, literally for like 10 seconds and got sick again. Nicole (one of the amazing trainers) came in and told me to go back to my room for the rest of the day and try it again tomorrow. :o) Cody (the shop retail manager) got me a light dinner (toast and some veggies) to take back to my room. Everyone was so great and I felt really defeated. Nicole and Page both scolded me and said that I was not allowed to be angry at myself or feel like a failure. I had brought myself to a completely different place and asked my body to do many different things that it had never done before in a totally different climate and altitude. Thank you ladies - you are wonderful. SO... back to the room and to bed early I went.

Will try again tomorrow...

BL Resort Day 1 - I'm here!

It's 3:30 am here and I should be asleep, but I can't. Anxiety about over sleeping and missing my class maybe??? The fact that it is soooo quiet here???? For whatever reason I'm awake and so I will take a minute to reflect and to blog.

You can not believe how beautiful it is here. The colors in the mountains and the sky are so vibrant and rich. I can not wait to go on our first hike today and take pictures. I took a couple from the plane...amazing view. The photos do not do it justice.

I've only been here a few hours and know already that I want to come back. Everyone go ahead and start saving, because you will want to come experience this.

I met several people last night, but no one from my team yet. I'm on the red team...fitting since our wedding color is red :)

On the way here I read Ali Vincent's "Believe it, Be it." The ENTIRE book! I don't know that I've ever read an entire book in one sitting, but her story was amazing and so inspiring and just what I needed to prep my mind for this amazing leg of my weight loss journey. I highly recommend it. She's just an average girl who like most of us found herself gaining weight and losing life. Awesome inspiration!

Ok...I'm off to bed again... more to come later. I'm overwhelmed by this amazing blessing. I am so thankful I am here. It's only been a few hours, but I can already tell that this place is going to mold me and shape me. Thank you God for this amazing opportunity and Thank you O'Neal for seeing the ability in me to change when I couldn't.

Episode – disappointment / Resort – Excitement!

I will not be included in The Biggest Loser “Where Are They Now?” Episode scheduled to air November 23rd. Somehow the diary camera that they had assigned to me made it back to the studio, but no one at the studio can find the tapes. Somewhere between 6 – 8 hours of video MIA. Possibly tossed in the garbage or just sitting on someone’s desk under a stack of papers...who knows??? It’s very disappointing, but it’s not the end of the world. I was very nervous about my heaviest weight being broadcast across the entire NBC viewing network, guess I don’t have to worry about that now – lol. Someday I will broadcast that number for myself, but I believe I’ll wait until I’m at my goal weight and I’m much further away from it. Still it’s disappointing because I had put so much time and effort into that footage. Sigh…it is what it is.

ANYWAY…

I’m getting VERY excited about my journey to the Biggest Loser Resort in UT next week. It’s only a few days away…4 days away in fact. My darling husband-to-be took me shopping last weekend and bought me several new outfits for my upcoming week of hard work. :D Thank you sweetie! I’ve got to spend the next few days getting organized and getting packed. I’m told my day will go something like this:

6:00 am - Open Gym or Class7:00 am - Breakfast8:00 am - Hike / Walk (yes…that’s a 2 ½ hour hike/walk each day) 11:30 am - Water Aerobics 12:45 pm - Lunch1:15 pm – Lecture 2:30 pm - Kickboxing3:30 pm - Circuit Training4:30 pm - Stretch5:30 pm - Dinner 6:15 pm – Lecture

Sounds like fun huh? Some of the gym classes and education series change daily/seasonally so my activities will vary, but for the most part this is what my days will look like next week. I’ve looked at the website everyday this week. http://www.biggestloserresort.com/home/ I can not wait to be there! I’m also told that my calorie intake will be roughly around 1200 calories per day. They have fresh fruit (apples, bananas and oranges) available at all times then my calories will be broken down as follows: 300 for breakfast, 400 for lunch and 500 for dinner. I’m going to be a little sponge and absorb every bit of information they share with me. I’m really excited to have this full 6 day week to devote to totally and completely to my health and my workouts. I have really struggled with making time for my workouts. I pray this week of non-stop workouts will trigger something within me to help me keep my butt in the gym because that is what it all truly comes down to…calories in, calories out. Quality food being consumed and hard core calories burned in the gym. 1000% focus and commitment will be required from me and I fully intend to give myself to it fully and completely.