Me and the girls got to get out today to do some therapy shopping. We had a great time and feel refreshed and ready to hit it hard tomorrow!

Before we went we did a couple of classes. I did a treading class first. You get on a treadmill and go up and down in incline and speed. I sweat my butt off and even jogged a few short spurts. I walked over 2 miles in 45 mins. It was hard, I sweat about a gallon and my feet burned like a son of a gun, but I was proud of myself for finishing. I probably wont run the whole time in that race but I really want to make it over the finish line. After that I did a killer core class on a fit ball. It made us feel good about getting out for the rest of the day!

After dinner tonight we had a Superbowl party in the cardio room. They gave us healthy snacks and Perrier! It was fun but I missed my homies at home. Here are a few pictures of that party!


Sorry for the picture repeat, can't figure out how to delete it.

Calories in: 1200+/-

Calories burned: 2471

Steps taken: 11672

P.S. Got on the scale today and lost 2.6 lbs since I got here. Decent number...

A few days of "me time"

Hi guys, you may have noticed that there was no blog last night... here is why!

I woke up with a weird attitude and it kept getting worse thru the day. I couldn't decide on my first exercise class and finally ended up in pilates by default. All the others were full. The instructor just assumed everyone was an expert and did not give modifications for the exercises and I got really frustrated and angry. I've never done pilates before and was having a hard time. I got mad at myself for not being able to do it and not asking for help. I just let it stew inside me and rot my attitude more. By lunch time I was bored and tired of the program and I really wanted to quit. Same feelings I get after a week on any diet or exercise program. I saw there was a pattern at least. So after lunch I went home and sulked for a while. Then I mentally slapped myself in the face and said to my self "Karen, if your bored, change it and make it work". So I got up (skipped the remainder 2 exercise classes) took a shower, did my hair, put on real clothes for the first time in a week (no, didn't feel any change in how they feel yet) put on make up and made a plan to rent a car and go out. My room mate Kelleen was up for it, so after dinner I took a taxi to the small airport here on the island and rented a car. There was luckily only 1 left... (did I mention SMALL airport??) It was an SUV and more than I planned on paying but this was about me taking my power back and doing everything I could to get thru this funk. Anyway, I got the car picked up Kelleen and we went to see 'When In Rome'. Skipping the popcorn wasn't so bad, I had a small diet coke to keep my hands busy. Driving past all the restaurants and wine bars wasn't as hard as I thought it would be either. I wanted my night out to be about empowerment, not cheating and feeling guilty like all the other times I've ended up quitting.

So today is a slack day at H3I. We are going to breakfast, taking the 2 exercise classes offered, having our healthy lunch then going out shopping before I return the car.

Tonight is a superbowl party with healthy snack options, so I will be late getting home and will not have time to blog.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. I love and miss you all!

Karen

Gourmet Friday Night!

Dessert : Chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling and berry sauce
Tillapia with chard and mashed sweet potatoes. Don't know the sauce and "relish" that was on top but it was yummy.
Apple, pecan, blue salad with cranberry vinegarette
Trio of soups: Thai pumpkin and peanut, red pepper soup, and black bean soup. I don't know how they kept them separated but they each had a different taste, and together they were fabulous. Isn't it pretty? They all had fancy names, but I forgot them. HAHAHA

I uploaded them backwards, but obviously soup was first and dessert was last. I don't get recipes until I leave the program but there is a cook book here if anyone wants me to send one to you!

So this was our 4 course gourmet meal tonight. They do it every Friday night. All this was around 500 calories. Amazing! To get myself ready for this much anticipate meal with DESSERT, I went to the ladies room, went my hands, slicked my loose hairs back and remade my ponytail. Done and ready to go. No shower, no make up, no hair straightening. Sweats and sweat. The food is this amazing every lunch and dinner, but usually it is a make your own salad or soup and the entree. It always is presented so fabulous.

Today's exercise:

Hip Hop dance- very fun and hip! Also learned the electric slide, cupid shuffle, and something else I can't remember the name... another wedding reception dance. Taught by Beverly Perfect (cool name). She is also the one who taught belly dancing and cardio boxing. She is the Jillian here. She likes to make you hurt, yell at you and motivate you.

Tai-Chi - not my thing but I'm glad I tried it.

Ultra circuit - rotate stations between weight lifting and treadmill/elliptical. I ran for 1 min straight. Almost passed out. I got a lot of work to do before the St. Pattys Day Run.

Roll it out - with the foam rollers... I was an expert in this class thanks to Steve! HAHA

Yoga - the Friday night light special. Nice and relaxing for the end of the week.

Lectures:

The restaurant game - how to go out and still stick with your lifestyle plan. I'll get a lot of time to practice this one.

Staying on track - Ways to help you stay on track after you leave the program. I'll take this again when I'm about to leave, it was awesome information.

Calories in : 1200+/-

Calories burned: 2478

steps: 10883

Feeling better daily. Shin splints are almost gone and all the aches and pains are just letting me know I'm doing something right!

I'm a boxer now!

Hi Y'all!

This picture is me and my new friend Pam. We are sunrise beach walking buddies. Check out that amazing sunRISE! Not sunsets like we are used to. I think I've seen like 3 of these in my entire life. Not a morning lover!

Jeff was asking about food and the rooms, so I'll talk a little about those tonight.

The food is actually really good. They use a lot of healthy quality ingredients and if you didn't know the calories, you would think there is more than there actually is. Of course it's not buttery, creamy or salty, but after a few days you start enjoying fresh ingredients. I'll start taking pictures of some of the meals so you can see how fabulous they look. They have cooking demonstrations a few times a week, otherwise, after you leave you get a website address for 100's of recipes to cook at home. Just seeing the ideas they come up with is great.

I share a 2 bedroom condo with Kelleen. We each have our own bedroom and own bathroom. We spend most our free time in our own rooms just because after we get home, we only have a limited amount of time to shower, get ready for the next day, make phone calls, facebook and get to bed at a decent hour so we can get up early the next morning. We have spent 2 evenings in the living room watching tv together. The kitchen is never used. We get everything we need from the main building. It's a nice condo. Not a 4 star place but very livable. It's decorated with a beach theme. I believe it's condos that someone owns and rents out, like a vacation rental type of thing.

So... on with my activities for the day...

The body aching is getting better. I'm super tired at night but I'm getting used to the schedule. My shins were better today but I'm still icing and stretching. Most of the pain is now in my calves so I'm still trying to be careful. I didn't try my 1.5 mile run because I didn't want to push the shin splits (and I'm scared)! Maybe tomorrow...

Exercises done today:

Sunrise beach walk (actually saw a gorgeous sunrise this morning)

Cardio Boxing - hardest thing I've ever done. She kept yelling at us to quit whining. "Boxers don't whine" It was tough and I burned 350 calories in that 1 hour block. But I finished and went on to:

Treading class - get on a treadmill (I used elliptical) and the instructor has you go faster/slower, higher/ lower, ect. We went up to the highest level a few times, and had to run several times "from the alligators" Another hard class, especially directly after the cardio boxing.

Hydro Circuit _ basically water aerobics

Stretch and relaxation

We also walk/bike to and from "home" about .5 mile. Sometimes someone will give us a ride in their car. Everyone is really nice here.

Lectures:

Maximizing your metabolism - main theme and most importantly... get muscles!

Cooking Demo - I can cook you guys a great meal now which consists of:

Pear, dried cranberry and pecan salad with goat cheese vinegarette

Chicken cordon bleu with dijonaise sauce

Cauliflower-Potato mousse

"creme brulee" which is more like a fruit dessert with a brulee topping

All this would be about 450-500 calories and I swear you'd be full and satisfied after dinner.

1 great thing I learned:

You can't pick the weight you want to be and diet until you get there and expect to stay there. You pick the lifestyle you want to live and your weight will follow your choices. There is more to that, but that's the main idea.

Calories in: 1200 +/-

Calories burned: 2650

Steps taken: 16245

Belly Dancing

So, my goal on this venture has been to go out of my comfort zone. It's my mantra really... so, that being said... I Karen Flatt, took a belly dancing class today! HAHA. And guess what? I loved it! I might even buy a skirt and take more classes when I get home. What a great abs and hips work out. So fun! I would have NEVER tried that at home.

So so so sore today, and I am plagued with shin splints as well. I've been icing and stretching and they feel better this evening, so I'm hoping to be even better tomorrow morning.

I met with the trainer today to go over a plan he made up for me. Justin signed us up for a 5k run on March 13. After talking to the trainer, he got me on a schedule to work towards that goal. Tomorrow I have to run 1.5 miles on the treadmill. Yikes. I've never run before, but if my shins are up for it, I'm going to try my best.

My exercises for today:

1 mile beach walk (slowly because of the shins)

Belly Dancing - See pic above with Kelleen (still giggling that I did it)

Water Fitness

2 mile bike ride

20 mins on Arc Trainer

Drums Alive

Yoga in a chair

It was a full day. I got a little homesick today but I'm doing better now. I think the exhaustion just got to me (stayed up too late last night). Also, being so tired today and knowing I still have 23 days left got very daunting. This is going to be a long venture but I just have to take it one day at a time.

Notable food:

Salad bar for lunch with DESSERT! OMG the tiramisu was good!

5-Spice Park with Hoisin Sauce and Miso Soup

Lectures:

Supplements (kinda boring... can't even think about that yet, too much other stuff)

Staying Positive - was very helpful since I was having a sad day!

1 thing I learned... How to take a negative thought, change your feelings about it and come up with a positive behavior.

Calories in: 1200+/-

Calories burned: 3001

Steps taken: 13,882

Days without wine: 4

Not missing it: Priceless!

Beach Walk in the Rain

Ouch. OMG, I'm sore today and it's going to really hit me even harder tomorrow. Thanks to those of you for leaving me posts, I appreciate the feedback and well wishes. Still having a great time and learning tons.

We woke up to pouring rain this morning so I skipped the morning beach walk and slept an extra hour! It felt delightful!

Exercise classes and activities today:

Arch trainer - a gliding type of elliptical machine.

Ultra Circuit - one hour class of weight training and cardio in 2 min stations.

Pilates Posture - Pilates exercises focusing on the spine and posture

Arch trainer for 20 more mins.

Beach walk in the rain - turned out to be funner than I thought it would be.

Classes/Seminars:

Mindfulness Meditation - learned out to meditate and how to listen to our body. Sounds stupid but I liked it a lot.

Goal Setting - this will be useful here and when I get home. I learned not only how to set a goal, but how to stick to it.

Food:

Breakfast - Cottage cheese parfait with berries and granola

Snack - Yogurt and banana

Lunch - Salad and Veggie three bean chili garnished with cheddar cheese, mock sour cream and a mini cheese quesadilla

Snack - Cottage cheese and apple

Dinner - Arugula soup, Chicken Cordon Blue with Cauliflower-Potato Mousse and baby carrots

Calories in - 1200 +/-

Calories burned - 2566

Lesson learned - Kill the "Little Man" (the little guy on my shoulder giving me excuses and preventing me from achieving my goals.

My room mate, Kelleen and I are watching the Biggest Loser together so I'm going to get going. I miss everyone at home! Say hi to everyone who's not reading my blog.

Sending my love to everyone at home!

Drums Alive

Ok, guys, I'm exhausted tonight. Jet lag creeped up on me and I got a few good workouts done today. I'm loving it here, it's everything I hoped for and more. The classes are very informative and help full. And the aerobics class I took this evening was a blast!!! More about that later but it was called 'Drums Alive'. The staff is amazing and helpful and the other guest are so nice. The people who have been here before are so helpful to us newbies. It's great to get their tips and advice.

I felt like I ate more than I do at home, but because it's such healthy food, my calorie count was awesome!

Here was today's schedule:

7am- Blood work and vitals. Everything looked good except that my blood pressure was slightly high. I'll work on that. They also took my weight and measurements. FUN. Not. Although it's good to have a starting point.

7:30 - Breakfast (350 cals, 5 grams fat - a fiber, a calcium protein and a fruit) and a 1 mile walk called a Thermal Walk. To get things burning and digested. We do this after each meal. If we have a class right away we walk as much as we can until we have to get into the next class.

8:45 - Health Habit Review - Got results from blood test and a general plan of what I should be concentrating on while here.

9:30 - Planning your fitness experience. Helpful information on how to become fit by combining aerobic exercise with strength training and flexibility

10:30 - 100 cal fat free snack

11:00 - Lecture and discussion on: Redefining our Body Image. I took a lot from this class. Also fun, we laughed a lot.

12pm - Lunch - BBQ chicken Salad and a bowl of soup (squash, I think) and thermal walk

1:00 - Into to fitness - checked out how to work all the machines.

2:00 - Skills session - Body Image - again, a great class that teaches us to accept ourselves and move past our negative feelings.

3:30 - snack

4:00 - Drums Alive!!! So fun! You take a fit ball, put it on a stand in rows, and do aerobics while beating on the ball, and your neighbors balls. I sweated and laughed and smiled the whole time. Great fun workout! I felt like a member of Stomp!

6:00 - Dinner - Salad and Crab Cakes with cheesy grits. Yum! Short Thermal walk.

7:00 - Stretching and relaxation. A great way to unwind and get ready for bed.

8:00 - snack

The food is awesome so far. No complaints except it feels like we are constantly eating.

Calories in: 1112

Fat grams: 15

Calories burned: 2300

Side note... I'm leaving my phone at the condo during the day to take full advantage of the program without distractions. Also, I'm on extended network and service isn't great. I'll check and write in this blog nightly by 7pm your time, then I go straight to bed. If you need to call or text, please do so between 5 and 7pm. If it's important, leave a message and if it's SUPER important you can call to leave a message at the front desk. You can also leave notes on this blog as well.

Oh, and PS... I can get mail and packages (please don't temp me with goodies though:) at the address below. I got a card and note from Justin today and it was awesome. No pressure though! HAHA

Karen Flatt

c/o Hilton Head Health

14 Valencia Rd.

Hilton Head Island, SC 29928

Phone (843) 785-7292

Long post... hopefully you got through it!

Karen... OUT!