Killin' it Hilton Head Style

I've got no pictures, nothing new is popping up to show you these days. I guess I'll have to just take random pics tomorrow so I have something to post!

I stepped it up today in the exercise department. I'm not even that tired. It's weird, the more you exercise the more energy you get. Who'd-a-thunk-it?? But I did impress all the newbies today on the treadmill. At break they were saying how impressive I looked on the treadmill. It was good to hear and it made me realize how far I've come in 2 weeks. Tonight I told Suzette (my new room mate) everything I did today and she said she had heard that I was doing awesome on the treadmill. It was cool they were talking about me. Good things too!

So here is what I did today:

Sunrise Beach Walk

Water Fitness

Nautical Noodle

Instead of taking my 1 hour break, I did another 5k on the treadmill (what the new people were talking about)

Drums Alive

Fitball Strength

I burned 2706 calories (will be over 3000 by midnight)

I drank all my water

I gave the new people tips, suggestions, encouragement, and what to look forward to

I took 2 nutrition classes

So a little about the 5k real quick: I beat my time by a little. My average pace per mile was 16.??, I can't remember exactly. I ran a lot of it and my shirt and hair was soaking wet by the time I was done. Brenda... you tell Dino that if I can go from not being able to walk 3 miles to running this St. Pattys Day race, he better not even THINK of puss'n out because of rain. He's going rain, shine or snow!! Tell him I said so!

Did you know that 2% milk is reduced fat (reduced from whole milk) but NOT low fat? There is the same amount of fat in 3 glasses of 2% as there are in 8 slices of bacon. Skim is the way to go. Also, if you don't like skim milk (or whole grain, or brown rice or other healthy foods) you can retrain your brain to like them. Transition to the healthier selections for 2 or 3 months and you will train your palate to prefer them better. Worth a try...

Karen Goes Shopping

Today I decided that I've worked so hard that I deserve to get myself a little something special. :) I went to the outlet mall and got myself a coach bag! Hehehehehe. Never had one before. It was a really great deal and I'm super excited about it! The lovely flowers are from my mummy and daddy! So beautiful! Thanks mom and dad!

I decided to keep my rental car so I can get out when I need a break. It's been nice having that option. It was a gorgeous (but chilly) day here and I had a blast going on a drive and shopping. It was a good day. I also did 2 exercise classes before I went so I didn't feel guilty about going. Nothing was going on here anyway on Sundays.

My room mate Kelleen left today along with all but 8 of us who stayed. 23 new people came in and I got a new room mate. She is energetic and bubbly so it will be fun to get to know her.

I'm back at it tomorrow and my plan is to bump it up a notch! Up at 6 am for that beach walk in the cold!

Happy Valentines Day everyone! I love you all!

My hunny sent me flowers for valentines day!

My wonderful supportive loving husband sent me the prettiest flowers for valentines day! He also called and set me up with a message. It was a Thai Yoga message. I laid on a mat completely limp and the yoga teacher (also maned Karen) moved my body in various yoga positions, stretching and messaging me. It was delightful! Thank you Justin. You are so thoughtful and I really appreciate your support! I know this is hard for you too, in fact probably harder. I love you for allowing me to do this and taking up all the slack at home.

So today was the day for the departing people to get their results. Weigh, measure, and blood work. Everyone was thrilled and excited. I'm happy for everyone and it was fun to share in their excitement.

My schedule today:

Breakfast

Hip Hop Dancing

Sat in the hot tub

Snack

Lecture-Developing your week one plan (mostly for departing guests, but there wasn't anything else going on so I sat in. Basically it was how to make a meal plan and shopping list.

Lunch

Thai Yoga

Lecture-Staying motivated. Among other things, we discussed the benefits of exercise, where I discovered I was already discovering many of them. I realized that I have been sleeping so well while here. I fall asleep fast, sleeping through the night and pop up when the alarm goes off. That is saying a lot from the 'snooze queen'. I used to set my alarm 30 mins early knowing I'd snooze for at least that long and usually longer. So, that's good and exciting. It has to be because of the exercise!!

Snack

Walked another 5k on the treadmill. Same amount of time as the other day but it was a little easier this time. I was able to run in longer stretches. My lungs didn't hurt so much afterwards either!

Yoga

Gourmet Dinner- it was a little disappointing but nice to spend time with my friends.

Walked 1/2 mile on the treadmill

Now I'm showered, on the couch watching a movie with Kelleen with 1 glass of wine and a piece of dark chocolate. Yum!

Goodnight all! Sweet dreams!

Rest day

I don't have much to talk about today, it was a quiet day with nothing new or exciting happening. my legs were pretty sore from running yesterday so I just decided to do minimal jumping on them so they heal quickly.

I'm getting to know more people now so it's been really fun, always running into people around the main building, sitting at the back of class whispering like high schoolers, giving each other looks and giggles when something funny happens in a class. It's like summer camp, but cold. They are predicting 2" of snow tomorrow which is unheard of around here. Ummm, I thought it was going to be warn down south. I bought a pair of gloves and threw a rain jacket in last min, but I'm not prepared for snow!!!

Exercises today:

Beach walk (Deb, I found a star fish for you)

1 mile on treadmill

Hydro fitness with the instructor that yells at you and makes you do more if you whine. There was a new girl and she started complaining but I quickly told her to keep her mouth shut if she knew what was good for her! HAHA

1 mile on treadmill

Yoga : I love love love yoga! The instructor is awesome too. Love it. Definitely going to join some classes when I get home. My flexibility has improved so much.

Lectures:

Social Pressures (don't have to worry about that with all my super supportive friends)

Building a better body: I set up a work out plan for home and learned about how important muscles are. They:

Help prevent obesity - Increase lean body mass - Decrease body fat - Increase metabolism

Help Fight Osteoporosis - Increase bone density - Prevent physical fatigue - Reverse Physical fatigue

Improve Quality of Life - Increase quality of sleep - Improve emotions - Relieve stress

Help Prevent and control Type II Diabetes - Increase insulin sensitivity

Did you read the part about increasing bone density? Amazing that building muscles can build your bones.

The main point he wanted us to leave the class with: Weight training will not count unless you fatigue the muscle fibers. So make it burn, do the exercise until you can't do it any more, or else it's not really helping. I guess it really IS a 'good hurt'!

Survivor is starting in 2 minutes... gotta run! Lift some weights tonight and think of me!

My first 5k

So I look like crap in this picture, but I deserve to :) I just crossed the 5k finish line, I could barely breath, I was sweating like a pig (even though it was 34 deg and 30 mile p/hr winds), my nose was running onto my upper lip, my legs hurt like hell, any my lungs were screaming. But I finished and I wasn't last and I was so proud of myself for pushing through. My time was 53:08 minutes which is 17:09 miles per hour. I consider this as my time to beat next time. Not to shabby for a fat girl who has never run before! I jogged between 1/3 to 1/2 of it. The first half I would jog till I didn't think I could any more (about 30 sec) then walk till I felt ready to go again. But on the second half I learned that if jogged for 20 breaths, then walked for 30 breaths I could keep on a better schedule. Plus counting my breathing took my mind off the pain. And my main goal was to try my hardest and not be last. There was about 7 of us that did it. Running against the wind, with sand blowing in my face was the hardest. I HURT tonight. Especially my back. I just got back from an amazing mesage and he said after I get up tomorrow I should feel better.

Other exercise I did today:

1 mile thermo walk

Ultra circuit

step machine for about 10 mins.

Thats it.

I can home took a little nap and bath before dinner, I was wiped out.

Lectures:

Healthy Traveling - how to get exercise in while traveling

Goal setting - took this lecture last week but it was worth repeating.

1 thing I learned - there is no excuses for not exercising while on vacation, there are tons of ways to fit it in. (The motivation part is what I struggle with)... need more help in this area!!

After dinner we played a "eat this not that" game and I won a cookbook! Also I received a certificate for my 5k.

Time for bed, the rising sun will not wait for me. :)

PS... mom, Dad was able to send a comment, maybe he can help you with that, but I did get your emails... thank you!

Dinner out of the 'Compound'

Tonight about 11 of us went out to dinner and practiced our new lifestyle plan in action. I guess the ravioli dinner served tonight was dreaded and everyone wanted to get away from it. We all made healthy choices and it was fun! Notice I had 1 (yes only ONE) glass of wine. Yay me!

Getting home late so I'll just jump straight into my day, but first a few quick responses to the comments made. Jeff, there are guys here. Out of 36 people here, there are about 8 guys. One celebrity (Rob Riggle, comedian... google him) but he kinda keeps to himself. Probably afraid people will treat him different. There are like 4 or 5 married couples and people ages 26 to mid 70's. Most of the guests are middle aged women.

Justin, Carey and Tamy... Thank you SO much for sending me cards. It always brightens my day to see letters from home. I really appreciate you taking the time out to do that. Thank you!

OK...

Exercise:

Sunrise Beach walk

Ultra Circuit (2 min stations between cardio room and weight room)

Super Circuit (2 min stations of calesentics)

Step areobics

All the classes made me drip in sweat.

Lectures/Discussions:

Alcohol and weight control. I did NOT want to go to this, I wanted to live in oblivion, but I did go and I have shocking things to share (below)

Cooking demonstration - 4 low cal healthy desserts

Ok, alcohol... the good news, it is actually healthy for us to drink a small amount of alcohol a week. for women that would be about 3 glasses a week. Recommended guidelines say women can drink 1 glass per day and men 2 glasses per day. Now each drink is equal to 5 oz wine, 12 oz beer, or 1 shot (1 1/2oz) liquor. And you can't save them up and drink them all at the end of the week.

Figure this out...

1) take the number of drinks you consume in a week (5 oz wine is 100 cals, 12 oz beer is 150 cals, and a shot is about 100 cals, 6 oz marg is 280, and a martini is about 240)

2) take that number X 52 for the calories you consume in alcohol in a year.

yes that number is shocking, but there is more.

3) divide the yearly caloric total by 3500 to get get your potential yearly weight loss with no alcohol consumption. So basically the amount you could lose by not drinking. My number was sure a wake up call... figure out what yours is just for fun.

Example:

1 beer each night for a week = 1050 calories

On the weekend you have 3 glasses of wine a day = 600 calories

total=1650

X 52= 85,800 calories. Scary

divide by 3500= 24 1/2 pounds in a year. Crazy scary.

But wait there is more:

Not only does alcohol contain all these calories, but it also impacts your diet commitment so you eat more calories than you were originally planning on. "Resolve dissolves in alcohol". But also, 5 glasses or more alcohol a day lowers your metabolism making weight loss even harder. Good news is that it's reversible. As soon as you cut back your metabolism returns to normal. Maybe you don't drink 5 glasses of wine or 5 mixed drinks per day, but are your wine glasses only 5 oz? Are your mixed drinks only 1 1/2 oz shots? Food for thought.

Nobody is telling us not to drink, but be aware of your consumption and try to make better choices. Bob (the other Bob) says to order your drink after you order the meal so you stick to your healthy food decisions. Also savor your drink and enjoy 1 or 2 glasses instead of mindlessly drinking 3 or 4 (or more). Order by the glass so there is not a bottle to refill your glass with. Save it for Dessert. Drink water first if your thirsty so you don't chug. Mix your drinks with low calorie mixers.

Ok, I'm done preaching. It was a real eye opener for me so I wanted to share.

Calories in: Don't know but I made great choices at the restaurant. Broiled seafood and steamed veggies.

Calories burned: 2847

Small goal achieved: I can reach my ankles for quad stretches now without using props!

Pretty Sunrise This Morning!

Yeah, so I have seen the sunrise more times this past week than total combined in my life. I like the sunrise walks even though it is early and everyone knows how much I hate mornings. It is a nice way to start the day. I don't power walk on these, just take my time, enjoy the view and get my blood moving and socialize.

Not much to report today, except that I kicked it hard! I did 4 hard-core classes today and my body is aching already. Tomorrow might be hard to get moving.

A bunch of people left Sunday morning (30) and some new ones came in Sunday Eve. (16). The classes and dining room is feeling empty these days. It was nice to see some new faces, nice to see some of the old faces gone :) and sad to see others gone. It was also fun to see the new people starting out in the classes today, it gave me a sense of how I was the first day and how far I've come, I'm amazed at how much better I am this week. Next Sunday a bunch of my other friends leave and will be down to all new people, with the exception of one older (awesome) couple and myself. So sad...

Exercises today:

Sunrise beach walk

Water Fitness (included a bunch of water sprinting... yowzaa)

Nautical Noodle (More water exercises done with a noodle, you be surprised how hard it is! I sweated in the water!)

1 mile Thermo walk

Treading class (2.5 miles in 50 mins, up hills and bouts of running)

Fit Ball strength (exactly what it sounds like) HAHA

1/2 mile Thermo walk

Lectures/Discussions:

Self Esteem (getting better at this while I'm here)

Setting your values (very enlightening)

1 thing I learned today:

I'm a great person and my body makes me different than others, but people can still love and appreciate me for me. Wow, that was hard for me to 'say' out loud.

Calories in: 1200+/-

Calories burned: 2685 (but I'm posting 1.5 hours earlier tonight, so I'll burn about 300 more before bedtime)

steps taken: 23014

I'm so happy to hear that I'm inspiring people to get out and exercise! I hope I can be an encouragement to everyone to move more and get healthy and live longer! Thanks for doing this with me! Get out there and move! Four 15 min walks equals an hour of walking! You don't have to do it consecutively! You'll burn fat, raise your metabolism and feel good about yourself! Now I sound like Bob!