Gotta have a plan.....

Well it has been one month since our BLFR journey began. I have lost about 20 pounds and I feel great! My weight loss has slowed though (a lot in the last 2 weeks). Do I know why? Yes because my exercise has slowed a lot and my calorie counting has become calorie estimating.

So time for a new plan.... OK not really a new plan same old plan just put into practice.



If I do the math My income + exercise is 2261 calories minus my 1200 calories (expense for eating)= 1061 Calories per day x 7 days a week= 7427 calories per week/ 3500 (calories per pound) With minimal exercise I should be losing 2 pounds per week.



For the past week I have not lost any. So the scale is going away today. It will be brought back out after 2 weeks of intense effort to follow the plan. Here are the plan details:

1. I will drink at least 120 ounces of water per day!

2. I will eat 1200 calories per day and eat healthy nutritious food.

3. I will have healthy snacks available so I do not starve and then eat everything in sight!

4. I will exercise a minimum of 1 hour per day for 5 days each week.

5. I will use my journal to track all calories and all exercise.

6. I will find a gym I am happy with this week. (This had been hard for me- I am shopping though)

7. I will be accountable to several friends- sharing my successes and issues (no more failures).





5K



Several of the girls that went to Fitness Ridge at the same time I did are going to get together to do a 5K in the spring. This is a big goal for me. I will be honest I did not run at FR until Friday night in the gym (by myself-well with Valerie). I am not a runner. I can recall only one time before attending FR that I ran and that was because my son turned his go-cart over and I thought he had killed himself (he was fine). I WANT TO RUN! I can walk for 7 miles no problem, but I keep thinking to myself... If I could run I would be able to go twice as far or finish in half the time! So I am starting a program to build myself up to be able to run a 5 K this spring. I am already running for my last 2 segments of treading. I am going to start with interval running and walking. 2 minutes running then 2 minutes walking for 30 minutes. I will gradually add more time to the run while reducing the time I walk. I also will increase the total time.



Now does anyone have any advice on a good 5k? We had been looking at the Louisville/ Lexington area. But I saw the Pump and Run in Cincinnati and that looks fun!

I am thankful that Thanksgiving is over.

So I think we both survived the 1st of the holidays, sort-of. I will say that I still have a food addiction. I know lots of people advice you to not skip what you love. It is the rest of the year that matters, etc. For me, I am just not there yet. I need to avoid my "BAD" food entirely. At the in-laws I ate only good food... steamed broccoli, turkey, fruit, etc. At my mom's we had healthy choices and some very not so healthy choices and I crossed the line. One small piece of chocolate turtle cheesecake threw me over the edge into a deep downward spiralling out-of control splurging frenzy. OK, it wasn't really that bad, but it was certainly over what I had been eating and for the first time in 3 weeks I felt sick after eating. Compared to last year I did do better, however I am not who I was last year and I do not want to be! Looking at what I weighed at the start of the year I am down about 25 pounds. I hope to be over 30 by the end of this year. I know I must not be that out of control person again.

On Thanksgiving Day, we had no place to be so Josh, Logan and I went to Garden of the Gods, in southern Illinois and hiked a good part of the day. I must say... I felt like a new person. I could keep up with Logan, even on the up hills! We even ran in some places. The boys said it was the best Thanksgiving ever. I would have never left the couch a month ago!

Now for Valerie.... Stress fracture in her foot! She has been told to hit the pool for exercise. It was bothering her in Utah some, then after treading last week really started to hurt. And Black Friday she couldn't shop! And Valerie can always shop! So she headed to the doctor and found out that she had a stress fracture!

One week out!

Well the real world has definitely hampered our exercise plans. We have both stuck to the diet very well, making several of the BLFR recipes.
In the week I have been home I have lost as much weight as I did at the resort. However I know I am not building the muscle that I did there! I did find a kickboxing class that is only 20 minutes away. I will be trying it this week. I am sure it will not compare to Sharon's class! It was kicking! I am also debating on joining a gym. I really hate to pay the money to join a gym that is 30 minutes away. I am so short on time now! The kickboxing class is actually in the opposite direction of the gym. Small town living stinks! The good thing about the kickboxing is that it is at 6 am. SO it really only interferes with sleep. It is on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I hope I like it!
I got a treadmill (thanks Brenda). I will be able to do my treading once a week at my house. I am looking forward to that.
The boys and I hiked/scooted/bikes 7.4 miles yesterday! I walked it, Logan rode his bike and Josh rode his scooter (push not motorized). We thought it was 6.5 until I checked it today! I am so proud of my boys. They loved it. We learned a few things though. 2 L of water is not enough for all 3 of us. And Josh can make it just under that distance. LOL I had to ride the 4 wheeler to pick up him and his scooter. He made it one hill away from our house! Logan and I want to go to Albion, which is the next town over from ours. It is about 10 miles away. I think we may try that on Thanksgiving day! No big dinners planned until Friday after Thanksgiving. So it would be ideal!
And BTW.... you do not have to gain through the Holidays, spend a little extra time figuring out healthy alternatives to the old favorites and you will do great and even lose. I survived Thanksgiving with the In-Laws. They had the cheesy, bready stuff. But I chose to stay away from it. I ate steamed broccoli (no cheese) and turkey. With a small bit (like real small- tablespoon size) of dressing and cranberries. I bulked up on the good for you things and still tasted some of the flavors of Thanksgiving. And I will say, I didn't feel the Thanksgiving CRASH afterwards. I was not moaning and groaning or napping. I felt good!

Being Home

For me this is the time that matters. Anyone can do everything right when you have no other choice. But when you are home and the real world hits you that is the challenge. Yesterday was my first whole day home. My plan is 1 hour a day of exercise 6 days a week. Hopefully more on many days. Well the real world hit! My plan was to walk for 1 1/2 hours before work. It was raining and I was tired and that didn't happen. I worked until 4:30 then went to the store with the intention of making Enchilada Casserole form Fitness Ridge. Well I am from a small town without the best grocery. The 1 package of corn tortillas was expired. The enchilada sauce the recipe called for had MSG (my son can't have and nobody should). There also was no squash available. So I opted for the stuffed chicken breast instead. Of course, not everything I needed for that either. By then I was frustrated and had to get my son to his ball game. I sat in the stands next to a dear friend, who was eating popcorn drinking soda and had big chewy sweet tarts. Total temptation. I did good, drank water. Then I had to take my other son to cub scouts (before the game was over). So by 8 the game was over, scouts was over and I still had nothing for supper. SUBWAY HERE WE COME!!!! We do at least have a Subway so I know exactly how many calories I am getting. The goal now is to make it to a real store and stock up on good foods.

Now in contrast to my last minute Subway run, Valerie spent the day shopping for healthy foods. She made 2 veggie lasagnas and 2 enchilada casseroles. Enough for supper and to freeze for the future! Go Val! She said the kids didn't care for supper though.

Going home :( Sunday

For breakfast we had a yogurt parfait. And breakfast was served until 9 so we could come when we wanted. We weighed in first (of course).

I had hoped for losing at least 7 pounds. I wanted more but I would be happy with 7. I didn't make it. :( I lost 6.2 and Val lost 4.2. But keep in mind we were building muscles that we didn't even know existed. Of course the rest of the numbers were good. In one week I lost 7.25 inches (they do 6 measurements). I also lost 6% body fat. That one was the one that made me ok with my 6.2 pounds! Also my BMI went down 1. So over all were we happy? Yes!

Since our plane didn't leave out til 1:40 AM we had all day to kill. Our shuttle to Vegas wasn't supposed to be there until 4 pm and there was nothing to do. It was our day of rest so we didn't really want to hit the gym, plus we had to be out of our room by 10 so everything was packed up. When another guest Amy's shuttle came at 11:00 we hopped on it and went on to Vegas. We checked our bags at the airport and took a taxi back to the strip. We ended up getting quite a workout carrying our carry ons with us. We made some good eating choices for lunch and supper in Vegas. The good thing about a lot of the restaurants in the Casinos is that they post their menus outside the door. So we could look and see what was available. Most of the fancier restaurants had things that were in creamy sauces and olive oil mashed potatoes, etc. We opted to go back to the Cheesecake Factory. Although it sounds like a unwise choice we knew it had healthy options. Valerie had the roasted pear and endive salad. I had the Asian salad. YUMMY!! I even did good and chose water with lemon to drink!
I made up for the water with supper though. We chose Jimmy B's Margaritaville. Maybe not the best of our choices but it was fun! We split a strawberry frozen margarita. I think it is illegal to visit Margaritaville with out having a margarita and we didn't want to go to jail in Vegas. We ate wise though! It was a fun way to finish our time in Las Vegas and the whole trip.

We caught a shuttle to the airport at one of the hotels on the strip. After our taxi ride over Valerie thought the shuttle might be a better choice and a lot less stinky! While we were waiting for more people to get on the shuttle our driver told us about the 60 mile an hour ticket he got in a 30 zone. He also let us know that his drink of choice was Crown. He can't drink on there though because of the cameras but we could do anything we wanted! We could even rent it out for the night put in couches and have a party bus. Now keep in mind this was people all going to the airport to catch flights. There was discussion as he got off the bus whether or not he was loaded on the crown then. lol

We made it safely to the airport. And after a long travel time and a layover in Memphis we made it home safely!

Saturday- Fun Day

Well we chose not to do the stop sign hike today and instead to rent a car and go to ZION! 6 of us went together to get a mini-van. Do not think we were skipping out of class, we had permission. Honestly there was only the hike and one class today anyway. In fact many were weighing out this morning. Sort of scary, the end is near!

Anyway, we got to Zion about lunch time and Valerie, Justine (a rocking 19 year old) and I decided to stick together and take a few of the easier trails and eat lunch! We ate at the Zion lodge and it was sort-of like the trips out on Biggest Loser. We just needed Jillian to come in and say "good choices" or "what were you thinking!" It was really a learning experience and I am glad we did it together. We special ordered everything once we made the best choices. I chose the roasted red pepper and tomato soup and a half turkey sandwich. Valerie and Justine chose a grilled chicken sandwich. I asked what the soup was made with. The girls asked to have bacon left off and salads instead of fries. I asked for them to not put the chips that came with my sandwich on my plate. And they had to ask the waitress to find a different salad dressing for their salad. The only choices on the salad bar were blue cheese, ranch and honey mustard. I am sure they were glad to see us leave. But it is something that we have to get used to doing from now on. You can choose an excellent nutritious salad and throw the wrong salad dressing on it and you might as well had a burger!

We took the shuttle up to the Weeping Rock trail. It was a short trail but very steep. And from the end there was a beautiful view of the whole valley and the weeping rocks! Of course we took time to take pictures! Then we headed back down to the shuttle and rode up to the River Walk Trail. It was a nice flat trail along the river. Also very good views. Our leisurely walk along the river became a brisk cardio workout when the rain/snow began. We thought it was going to really rain on us but it was snow balls. Not normal snow flakes, big clumps of snow. Of course we had to stop and take pictures of the snow covering us. By the time the shuttle came and we started back down to the visitor center the ground was covered. After some shopping in the gift shop it was time to head to the Ridge for graduation. I would say probably only half of the guests were left at that time. We had a nice video presentation of pictures from the week.
And they recognized everyone who had attended all of the classes. It was nice to be able to say that we hadn't missed any! Dinner was a yummy barbecue chicken sandwich.

We didn't have a lecture or anything else going on tonight and many people went out to the movies or shopping. We pretty well had the resort to ourselves. We hit the gym for an hour of circuit training. I chose to do cardio/weight circuit, while Valerie chose to work on just strength training. For me it was fun to see how far I had come in one week. Circuit Training you are on a cardio machine for 2 minutes then on strength machine for 2 minutes with a 30 second break in the middle of the strength portion. I was able to go so much harder and faster in my 2 minute cardios than when I first started. I just closed my eyes and said I can do anything for 2 minutes.

We followed that up by a nice long soak in the hot tub and some time in the saunas.
It was a good day!

IT'S FRIDAY

Well we totally did not get up for the kickboxing class at 6:00 like we planned. Today was Valeries totally drained day. Like you just don't want to move. Yesterday was mine. We had a egg frittata for breakfast. It was ok. We left for our hike. We walked 7 miles of up and down paved trailed today.
After our hike we had a stretch class. That actually felt pretty good after the hike. Lunch was a greek pita. They used to call it mushroom pita but no one liked it so they changed the name. It was good.

You know we had a full day on Friday... but somehow I didn't get it blogged and I will never remember it acurately at this point!

Thursday

Breakfast today was peach french toast and fruit
Lunch was yummy Hawaiian pizza and potato/vegetable soup
Supper was stuffed chicken breast with wild rice and steamed broccoli and brussel sprouts.

This mornings hike was the most challenging (except the stop sign) this week. We went to Camelback. It had alot of high sandstone climbs. It was really beautiful though. In fact, it was a more advanced hike than we had been taking but several of the 101 hikers decided to hi-jack an intermediate hike. I must say I regretted the decision at first, but I am soo glad we went!
We came back and went straight to yoga, followed by lunch. After lunch we went to the dreaded treading. Which is a cardio class that in highly recommended to inprove your fitness, your heart health, and a good calorie burner. You get on the cardio machine of your choice ( we chose the treadmill). After warming up you have to give it all you got for 5 minutes straight. Either speed or elevation or both as hard as you can go. Then after 5 minutes go back to a slow pace. Then go full speed for 4 minutes and take a 4 minute break ( slow speed). Keep repeating this with 3 minutes, 2minutes and 1 minute. Knowing you can up it with only one minute to go. Give it all you got. Crazy! But good for the heart.

After treading we had a stretch class then pool. Keep in mind the pool is not floating around, it is work. Today we used the noodle and the foam weights.
We had a cooking demo by the chef after lunch and a lecture after supper about increasing your exercise at home.

It was a great day, the muscle soreness is going away and we are definitely getting stronger. The week is almost over and it is sad and good at the same time.

Massages are a good thing!

Tonight will be short. We just had massages and will not make it long!

OK Food... Breakfast Steel cut Oatmeal with fruit and a melon bowl.
Lunch ......Yummy gyro, tomato soup and some sort of salad
Supper......Salmon with Israeli couscous and roasted pineapple.

I will say, I have not been hungry yet!

Today was rough on the exercise. The hike was a pretty flat one today. We needed that to recover. But for tomorrows hike all of the slower hikers that usually take the 101 level hiking are hi-jacking the more advanced class. We figure if we are all there together it will be ok. It is to the vortex at camel back. It should be great.

We had a 2 pool classes today one that killed. A kickboxing class that kicked our butts, burned about 1000 calories in it though! We both liked it enough to plan to get up at 5:30 on Friday to take it again. Then the next class was Mountain. Keep in mind this is right after the kickboxing. You start on a cardio machine (treadmill, elliptical or bike). And every 3 minutes you increase the speed or elevation by 1. For 36 minutes. It was rough. We ended up not taking full increases by the end. 6 miles per hour at a 6 degree incline is not practical for us yet! Cameron, the trainer that pushed us so hard on day one, was back to torture us on this one. I saw him there and almost skipped, I new it would be bad! He loves to push and I am grateful for it.

OK anyone who has the money to go should come here! I can get you a 100 dollar discount. It is amazing.

Anyway, we had massages tonight so its bedtime!

Is it Just Tuesday?

So breakfast this morning was a bowl of fruit and a muffin. You might think a muffin? But amazingly it totally help us over to lunch.
For our hike today we did the Anastazi Trail. It took us past some great petroglyphs. It was better than the stop sign but still challenging.
When we got back today we had a choice of pool or strength circuit. The funny thing is we couldn't decide which class to take. So we laid down on the bed for the 10 minutes and didnt get changed so we had to go to strength. It was ok. Just strength circuit on the machines. It is funny in the past that was hard- now this was easy?
Lunch was sunchoke and potato soup and turkey sandwich and a salad with strawberry dressing. The sandwich was really good. The salad was sort of spicy at first but had a great flavor. We had a calorie challenge and cooking demo by the executive chef that has worked for Wolfgang Puck.
Next was a total toning class. It required weights yoga mats and weight bars and getting into positions that just dont come natural.
After the 15 minute quick change we were off to pool class. It was a nice good workout, but not as deadly as some of the gym classes.
Then the dreaded cardio intervals. Not nearly as bad as the Circuit Training yesterday but a good work out. We used a ladder method. Warm up, then increase your intensity through 8 steps on any of the cardio machines- bike, treadmill, or elliptical. Then decrease, then sprint and repeat.
Dinner was Enchiladas, which we learned how to make in the cooking demo earlier. Also we had steamed vegies and 2 chocolate dipped strawberries... Yummy!

After dinner was a lecture on spending your calories wisely. Lots of info, but what stuck with me the most was a fiber one bar-Good choice right, like if you dont have time to eat breakfast? NO it has ethanol and ...get this shellac!

Biggest Loser was on the big screen TV in the yoga room tonight.
Day 2 down and I feel good!

Day 1 Down!

Well, what a day!
6 am intro to circuit. Not a problem, they just showed us how the machines work. Breakfast was at 7. It was an English muffin with turkey bacon and scrambled eggs on top of it, and a bowl of melon. Not bad. Then off to the hike. Stop sign hike, wow! It was something. We rode in vans to the Snow Canyon State Park. Then we all did the same hike, 4.5 miles uphill. In reality, the first 2.5 miles were only up and down hill, not too bad. Then the last couple of miles were UPHILL, a 1000 foot increase total. Not everyone made it to the top. I didn't ask exactly how many didn't make it but I would guess nearly 1/2. Everyone had the option to turn around at about the 3 mile mark and walk back down hill. Valerie and I both made it all the way. Valerie beat my time by 5 minutes (Yes there is someone at the top timing us) We walked back down part of the way. It was a beautiful location -on the way down, ugly on the way up :)
When we got back we had the option of pool or mountain class. We had just climbed this mountain, so we chose pool class. Silly us, it was tough. Interval training in the pool is still interval training... Yuck!
We had fish tacos and soup for lunch (ok). Then a lecture and back to the pool for an interesting class, using foam weighs, it was definitely better than the 1st class, but still not an easy class. Then the day got worse, Circuit class. This was the worst so far. This is not your typical circuit, or at least not ours. Curves circuits are like a walk in the park compared with this. I actually looked forward to the weight part of the circuit for a time of rest. For the cardio portion, the trainer pushed us hard, beyond what we thought we could do. He would see what levels we were comfortable at and then triple them. We lived, somehow.
Next was step and pump. I had heard this called step and puke and I know why. It is just an intense stepping class but we both felt the urge to puke on this one.
Supper was Chicken and Vegetables with a Sorbet for desert.
Then we had a lecture on Using our calories wisely.

So here's a day summary...1200 calories in food and about 6000 calories burned. 3500 calories = a pound...We both have heart monitors that tells the calories we are burning. Those number
make the pain more bearable!

Arriving at the Resort

Well it is Sunday night. We arrived at the BLR (Biggest Loser Resort) about 2:30 today after a 2 hour shuttle ride from Las Vegas. We took the Executive Shuttle from the airport because it was supposed to be real nice, have refreshments, touch ipods for use on the way...etc. Anyone not in the front seat couldn't see because the windows were poorly tinted. The refreshments were the bottled water stuck in the pouch of the seat in front of us. And NO IPODS!!! Anyway...
It is a nice place. The rooms are nice and roomy. Actually better than the pictures on the web site! (Which is a step up from last nights stay at the Imperial, which had peeling wall paper and mold around the tub.) Everyone here is nice, I think genuinely nice. It is located at the edge of a small town (Ivins). But not close enough to go exploring even if there was time. We went to the room and unpacked and walked around until weigh-in at 3:40. It is private, no one else sees what you weigh. They weigh you in, do your Body fat and BMI, then take measurements. We got a free BL water bottle!! ( OK we paid dearly for it).
Dinner was at 5:30 and very good. A salad bar was available and dinner was served to us. It was a marinated vegetable pasta. It was amazingly good and filling. We even had desert (95 calorie) It was sort of like chocalate pudding on grape nuts. Hmmm. Not bad, not great. Then we had orientation, letting us know that there should be no contraband, turn it in!!! Contraband includes any food not provided by them. There is no caffeine allowed either. One of the women even told a story about someone sticking a Reese's cup wrapper between the weighs on a weigh bench. She said they locked down campus and did thorough searches. She was kidding, but she said the housekeeping will tell on us if it is in the room. Funny!
Well 6 AM Circuit in the morning and 8AM Hike. Time for bed. GOODNIGHT

3 Days til lift off!

Ok, I am new at the whole blogging thing and really I am just trying this out. It really is only 3 days until we meet in Louisville and take this awesome Journey together. Some of you probably know either Valerie or Darcy but not both. So be sure to check and see who is posting. I don't want you to think, when I (Darcy) say "I puked on day one," that it was Valerie! We will keep you informed as much as we can. I have heard there will be some time of an evening to update.

Also so that everyone knows and understands.... We will not be working out with Bob or Jillian. We will not be in the same gym that the contestants are in. The ranch on the TV show is in California, we will be in Utah. The Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge is outside St. George Utah. Besides, the contestants are at home now. Now if we are lucky, there could be a contestant there. In fact I can name several who have been there... Tara (after the show), Sione and Filipe, and Mike's brother Max from last season. If you watch the show on November 17th I think they are going to show the resort and give one of the contestants a trip there. Of course they have already filmed that episode :(

If you want to check out where we are going the web page is www.biggestloserresort.com

God Bless!
Darcy