Thank you to our loved ones!

O.k., confession time. Yes, I admit it, I take my family for granted sometimes; especially my husband. He has afforded me the opportunity to stay home and raise my children, manage and organize the affairs of the house without a lot of interference, and provide a comfortable lifestyle. I, in return do what women find easy to do-whine and complain about our mishaps. That's because our girlfriends will listen to us, sympathize, then give us a hug. Well, yesterday, I came home very down after an intense, "Day One of Week 4" workout. I felt like I was starting over during the workout, and my fellow boot campers were cheering me on like never before. I let it all out to my husband and told him how out of shape I was and after 3 weeks nothing had changed - you know the routine, blah,blah,blah, please feel sorry for me. Well, he did something men don't usually do, he listened without telling me how to correct my shortcomings, then gave me a pep talk and told me how proud he was of me!
Just the perfect thing I needed to hear. Then I remembered how stressful his life has been the past two weeks. He's a portfolio manager with Merrill Lynch. If you follow the news, you know he now works for Bank of America, and that yesterday the market dropped around 700 points. I quickly got my attitude adjusted and gave him a big hug and kiss.
So this post goes out to thank and acknowledge all our family members who are supporting us, and giving us the encouragement we need as we make these positive lifestyle changes. If you are like me, this is the first time I've made exercise a priority in my life, and everything else now revolves around it.

No Surprise

Did any of the test results I've received so far surprise me? Absolutely not! That's why I'm here. Although I did think my metabolism would be next to slow. My VO2 test was ranked "fair" - not surprised here also. I can barely catch my breath as Carter does the cardio part of our workout. The body fat % -high. We can all see that. I've always told myself I have big muscles leftover from my swimming days as a youth. No, just layers of fat!
Can't wait to get the rest of the test results, and listen to Dr. Gupta and Carilu Robinson. Carter's daily talks are inspiring and usually come after I've just had a mental breakdown from not being able to complete another combination.
One problem I'm having is trying to eat 5-6 small meals a day. When you live in a car doing errands and chaffeuring kids around, it's hard to do. At least I'm hauling the water with me. Hopefully, Carilu will have some tips.
Got to go. It's a timely process getting ready to workout.

Body Aches Finally Gone!

Two weeks in and the daily aches and pains are for the most part gone. In it's place is a feeling of tightness. I even find myself trying to stand straighter. My initial goals of making exercise a top priority in my life and replacing horrible eating habits with wiser choices are still there; however, they have been kinda pushed aside and temporarily replaced my the following goals:

• Do a bear crawl all the way down the field (can someone show me how to do it correctly?)
• Do a lumber jack jump? (the one Carter pairs with the bear crawls) in full mode all the way down the field
• run up and down the stairs 3 times without holding on to the wall and my knees
• Hold the dreaded Plank without coming down to rest

In the two weeks I've done HealthQuest, it's the little improvements that have boosted my confidence; since I had none the first week I started. I can now jog (though barely) around the entire field. I've never been a jogger my entire life. Now I'm thinking what would happen if I started jogging on the nearby bike trail at home at the end of this 12 weeks? Another goal!

Anway, found out that Renee came up with the HealthQuest idea. Kudos to her and Debbie, and the rest of the crew. You all are great and keep us pumped up.

I'm also enjoying all my new girlfriends and finding out why we all look familiar to each other. Thanks to all who cheer me on when I'm the last to finish a routine or just can't go on.

And lastly, since I seem to be losing my memory these days, I told my family if they can't find me to just follow the little black pellets on the floor.

Sore wrists, swollen eyes and trouble!

Speaking of wrists, I now have a wrap on my left, because any movement is so painful. It's just a very sore muscle, so I applied the capazian crème to it and washed my hands like the directions said. Well, then my eye itched, and after rubbing it, it was on fire!!! After lots of water splashing, howling, and a red swollen eye, I can see again and the capazian is in the trash. The rest of the day can only getbetter. Right???

Day One at D-1

“Just hold back the tears!” – day 1 & day 3 reaction upon finishing the workout. (For some reason, I felt energized when leaving on day 2). I sure hope to have more of those feelings. Right now I’m feeling the pains of thrusting an intense boot camp on my body which has not participated in any consistent aerobics exercise in twenty years. As one of the slowest in my class, I’m wondering what I’m doing here as I try to catch my breath, and hope the next routine will be manageable. I keep expecting Carter to pull me aside and tell me to lose 100 lbs, and then come back. That’s surely what I’ve been thinking. To say that every single muscle in my body is aching, is a huge understatement. Even my wrists and fingers are sore most likely from pushing those huge tires. But…. even with the soreness, I’m feeling tightness in my entire body. I am looking forward to the day I can finish my jogging laps around the turf without stopping. Now I must go to bed and get much needed REST!