Pups are home!

Drove up north of Richmond to pick up the pups - saved a huge amount boarding them up there verses any place here in Raleigh. The trade off is that it is a little over three hour drive one way, but we all home now. Luke is the yellow lab and Lucy is the brown dog. I sure did miss them and happy to have them home!

I did back healthy snacks to take in the car and I did stop at Subway and got a turkey sub, no cheese, with mustard and veggies. NO DIET MT DEW nor any kind of diet soda - that alone was a huge accomplishment!! Just got to continue what I am doing - that is the trick!!

Home!!

Made it home late Monday night about 11 pm. It was GREAT to sleep in my bed again. Unfortunately I did not sleep well at all while I was CA. I think I literally got one decent night sleep the entire time I was gone - cant really tell you why but I can tell you that I did sleep last night.

Today I did do what I said I would do: workout twice - in the am and in the late afternoon. Did cardio intervals in the am - first time that I spent more than 20 minutes on a piece of cardio equipment ( in Raleigh) in the past year. In the afternoon I met with my trainer - warmed up on the arc trainer for 25 minutes and then we did a "viper" workout. You have probably seen them do a viper workout on the show Biggest Loser - if not," you tube" it. It is a killer workout! Spent another 15 min on the arc trainer after our session. I really do feel like I am back to my old self again and that is wonderful.

I did make it to Trader Joes where I purchased all healthy items. Today I have done well with what I have eaten and my calories intake - just hopes it continues!

Posted is a photo of me and Teri, one of the trainers at the BLR. Mt first week there, I watched and studied the trainers - they are all excellent, but Teri stood out to me -my first Monday in circuit training she corrected my posture - kept on me about my form - she reminded me of my trainer, Bobby Hall. I decided to do personal training with her. She trains like Bobby and I really enjoyed training with her - she was tough, but good and she kicked my butt as all trainers should do with their clients. Also posted me at the airport in Chicago.

And Oh, I had my hair colored and cut today, thank god!!!! It looks a ton better!!!

Tomorrow I go and pick up the pups in VA. Can't wait to see them!!!

BLR review

Right now I am at Chicago ORD airport killing time until my flt to Raleigh leaves - my flt out of LAX was delayed 2 hours bc of maintenance (had to change a tire) and I missed my connection. Hopefully, I will not lose this entry like I lost the one last night.

Already told you yesterday what I lost at the BLR, now for what I gained:

Knees - my knees are soooooo much better!! This past Saturday seemed to be a big turning point - kicked butt on the hike ( read saturday's post) and I noticed Saturday afternoon that I could go "bounding" down stairs again - did not feel the need to be careful or feel anything in the knees. I still have arthritis in the knees - no running for me, thank god, but I do feel like I have recovered from the knee surgery I had in August.

Flexibility - I am so much more flexible than I was 5 weeks ago. Have to give a special thanks to Jake Robinson for that (wrote a blog on him about 2 weeks ago). He was my favorite stretch/yoga leader at the BLR, also favorite hiking guide. He did a great job leading the stretch class and introducing us to basic yoga - might even do some yoga back in Raleigh.

Renewed interest in exercise - before I went to the BLR, had a very hard time exercising, hard time making myself workout - was only working out with my trainer 3 half hour sessions a week, if that and FYI, one and one-half hours of exercise a week is not enough! I knew I had to do something to get back into it again - i was on a very slippery slope and i needed to find some solid ground again and this trip did it. I am not worried about exercising when I get home.

Personal Trainer - I am now ready to go back to work again as a trainer. I had lost my desire to work as strainer this past year and was not sure what I was going to do. I know feel ready. Birth physically and mentally to go back to work in this field. Where I am going is still the question since my last gym has been sold, but I will figure hat out.

Feel better - I just feel better all he way around, both mentally and physically. I don't think I realized how hard this past year was because of the three surgeries and illness - it was gradual, but looking back on it, I see that it was a tough year. So, I am putting it behind me and moving on.

Continue reading because I have a few more entries to make about the BLR, but also because this blog is not just about the BLR (or I would have classed it "KRPT goes to fat camp" - its about this never ending journey of good health - besides still have a few lbs to lose, want to lose during holiday season - lets see if I can!

Biggest concern about coming home: eating! I hate to cook - hate everything about from going to the grocery store, figuring out what to cook, cooking it and of course cleaning up! I did meet with the nutritionist last week and she came up with a simple meal plans - meals that take less than 10 minutes to make. I was going to the grocery store tonight (that was when my flt got it in at 4:35 pm) but that will not be happening since I'm not getting in until 10 pm tonight.
Tomorrow: going to gym and then grocery store and then up to VA to get my pups!!

Last day...

I just spent 45 minutes writing this great post summing up my experience at the BLR and I lost it when I went to post some photos, DAMN IT!!!!! Got to get up early to catch my flt, like 4 am, so I am not rewriting - will do it tomorrow.

Final numbers:

Lost 18 pounds, 11.5 inches - 5 from stomach, 4 from hips, 2.5 from chest (where I didn't need to lose it!)

Photos:

Me and Lynn ( she was there for 8 weeks. Today was her last day too)
2 photos from yoga today - so much more flexible now!
Me and Elizabeth - been there for three weeks, has another two

Last workout day at BLR

Today was my final workout day at the BLR and it was a much better day than yesterday! I went on an extended hike, which means it was about an hour longer than normal - regular hikes you get back to the resort by 10:45, extended hikes by noon. The hike was to Sand Hills Peak which is the highest peak in the Santa Monica Mountains.

I kicked butt on this hike - best one of the past five weeks. My legs just worked great - knees felt great, legs did not feel heavy and was able to move half way fast. Great speed on the incline and managed to somewhat jog going downhill. On each hike, we have three guides, one is the lead, one in the middle and one as the sweeper. I have always been in the middle or close to the end, but not today - up with the leader the entire time! It was a great way to end the hikes here at BLR.

After a three hour break, we had a "Last Chance Workout" from 3:30 to 5 pm. Basically it was a boot camp class that we did outside. It was good and my knees still felt great.

Really feel like my last workout day went well and I am ending this on a good note! Do my fitness summary tomorrow morning. No matter what the results are, it has been worth it just because of my knees - so much better!

My flight out of LAX is not until early Monday morning. I will be heading to a hotel at LAX late tomorrow afternoon. I will be the day here tomorrow and heading to airport hotel at 5:30 pm.

Pictures from hike

2 days left!!

Today I hit my mental wall - I think I checked out mentally yesterday afternoon and today was just a hard day. Every thing just irritated the crap out of me. Went on the beach hike this am which is really a beach walk with a cliff we walk up and around. The tide was really high today so we could not really walk on the beach - had to walk through a neighborhood which might have been cool if we could have seen the houses. Instead just had views of gates and walls. My knees hate walking on pavement, too much pounding. They started hurting (really the first time all week); so, that just put me in an awful mood.

After lunch I did an individual kickboxing class which was really boxing - no kicking bc my knees were bothering me. So, it was really boxing which helped my mood - hitting someone for an hour!

I took the rest of the afternoon off bc I knew I would just get in that crappy mood again - should have done circuit training (description on Monday's blog) and then Zumba class and followed by either mountain cardio or pool. HATE both Zumba and mountain so I just took the afternoon off - helped with my frame of mind. I am sure I will be ready to attack my last day tomorrow.

Posted is a photo of me and TJ, the hiking manager. TJ is great at organizing the hikes, making sure there is plenty of different hikes to go on, and really working with all different hiking levels and injuries and/or issues. Also very good with advancing guests to different level hikes. She is very encouraging, nice and very funny - full of energy, non-stop energy! The hikes are one of my favorite experiences here and that is thanks to TJ and the great hiking guides!!!

Thanksgiving at the BLR

Today is Thursday and at the BLR, it is not a day about eating and football. It is just like any other Thursday - hike in the am followed by stretch or pool (I did stretch), i then did a personal training session followed by lunch. After lunch I had Treading Cardio and then Ball works followed by another cardio class.

Dinner was 6 oz grilled turkey steak, chipotle sweet potato purée with rosemary lemon gravy, broccoli and their version of pumpkin pie (some kind of tofu stuff with pumpkin) - all for 463 calories total. The meal was pretty good but next year I'm having a real thanksgiving dinner!!!

In case you want to know how to do Treading:

5 minute warm up at base line
5 minutes as hard and fast as you can go
5 minutes at base line
4 minutes as hard and fast as you can go
4 minutes at base line
3 minutes as hard and fast
3 minutes base line
2 minutes as hard and fast
2 minutes base line
1 minute sprint - hard and fast
1 minute base line
1 minute sprint again
Cool down

Treading is my favorite cardio class that I have done here - its hard, but u do have that break in between. For some reason we only do this class once at week here.

Ball works is a class with stability balls and each week I have had a different trainer leading the class and therefore the class itself has been different. It is probably my 2nd least favorite class.

2 days left - well, 2 workout days - not flying back to NC until Monday. I am ready to come home. Looking forward to seeing everyone!

Happy thanksgiving!!!