Hey Chicks,
So I posted on day 1 with all these great intentions of posting every day to keep you updated on our adventures at the Biggest Loser Ranch in Utah. Well, those all went out the window on Day 2 when 7pm hit and I could barely keep my eyes open! So this post is my attempt to give you the highlights of the last 5 days as best I can (and that is going to be hard as I think I am still processing it all and there are so many awesome things I want to include!). This has been one CRAZY, AMAZING, INSPIRATIONAL week so far!
A Head Chick’s Highlights to Date (and there are more coming!)
1. Hiking, Hiking, Hiking! You know how I love getting my sweat on outside and hiking in the red rocks of Utah was not only a kick butt calorie burn but so beautiful! We were out everyday at 8am (after already doing a 6am workout!) through trails, rock climbing and even went up so high it snowed. All I can say is thank goodness for squats and lunges in bootcamp cuz this chick’s booty would have been toast!
2. Yummy Grub. We were super nervous about coming here as they serve you a menu that is approx 1200 calories / day to help educate peeps on the fabulousness of portion control and high quality and volume foods. I was freaking out cuz I eat waaay more than 1200 cal / day especially when I am sweating up a storm to this extent. What if it wasn’t enough?! or even worse, what if it was gross rabbit food?! I couldn’t have been more wrong! I couldn’t believe how much food we got and it was yummy! Plus if you were still hungrey they had unlimited salad bar, fruit, hardboiled eggs and almonds to add My fave hands down was the Shepherd’s Pie and the dark chocolate dipped strawberries.
3. Caffeine Withdrawal. Why, you ask? Because I didn’t have any – yay!! Day 3 and 4 I had a little bit of a headache but mint tea has become my new friend. Not gonna lie, I am stoked for a coffee but it is gonna be decaf 🙂
4. Kick Butt Classes. My faves were Treading (a high intensity interval training class that went from 5 min at your max, then recovery, down to 1 min), kickboxing (apparently I have anger issues since I busted my knuckles during!), ball class (who knew stability balls could burn out your shoulders so bad!) and zumba (love to shake my tail feather:). We had some pool classes but it was too cold for this chick, so I doubled up on cardio classes instead (something tells me I should have braved out the pool!)
5. Pushing myself to my limits. I love a physical challenge like Oxfam and this was hands down one of the hardest weeks for me – mentally and physically. Working out at this level 7 hours / day is extremely hard and there were times when I wanted to just give up. But with the contstant chick luv from my bestie, encouragement from amazing trainers (I keep hearing Sharon in my head saying “Try it, you’ll like it!” with that look on her face which oddly reminded me of myself right before I start making my chicks do burpees:) and being surrounded by fab peeps who were all pushing and challenging themselves to do things they have never done, I did it and reached a new goal of speed sprinting at level 10 on the treadmill – even though I though my legs were about to fly right off! It is such an amzing feeling to do something you never thought you could.
6. A Little Texas Spitfire named Jen. One of my fave things about this experience was Jen, our amazing Life Coach. A little Texan spitfire who had lost and gained almost 100lbs twice and wanted to help people get out of the icky cycle she was in. Jen covered a ton of topics from emotional eating to planning for healthy life and one topic I love most, accountability. She was no BS, cut and dry, funny as hell, loving and so passionate. You just felt empowered leaving and looking around you knew everyone also felt that same way (insert goosebumps!)
7. FABULOUS PEEPS! Tonight was our “graduation” where all the peeps leaving had a chance to celebrate and talk about their experience at the Ranch (which of course turned me into a blubbering mess in 2.2 seconds!). From a chick who suffers from diabetes just today was her first time she got her blood sugar levels into a safe zone, a women who was lost after her hubbie passed away and finally found herself again, and just peeps who want to be stronger, healthier and more educated on health and nutrition so they can teach their kids. It was so awesome to hear their stories and so inspiring to be around people who are taking control of their health and their lives – luv it!
Tomorrow is our last day and this chick needs some zzz’s. We get our last workout in (Amanda and I are going interval running) and final fitness testing, and then we are off to celebrate my 31 Bday on Monday in Las Vegas…ok, that may sound bad but this chick is all about balance 🙂 But not to worry, we will def have a final recap to share with you about the end of this crazy week.
Have a fab day,
Laura, your Head Chick xox
