I Survived!

Five weeks ago, I started a boot camp class. One day one, they weighed us, measured us and calculated our body fat percentages and then last night, I went back for our “after” measurements. Our last day of class is Saturday, at which time they will give us our results and someone will be crowned The Biggest Loser.

I started the class out with much excitement and faith in myself to stick it out. I have a wedding dress to get in shape for -- what better motivation could there be?! Our trainer told us on that first day that these workouts were only part of the plan, and that 75% of our results would be based on what we eat for the next month. She encouraged us to eat lots of protein each day, have small meals and snacks every few hours, and drink water, water and more water. I was ready to commit! Bring on the strapless dress and honeymoon swimsuits! I’ll do whatever it takes to kick-start my wedding workout.

For the first week, I was gung ho. No office chocolate bowl for me! Nothing but green beans, grilled chicken and bottled water. Week two, I was still eating my protein and veggies, but the occasional trip out to eat didn’t seem like such a bad idea (but I ordered a salad!). By week three I was back on my daily Diet Dr. Pepper, occasionally sneaking a mini snickers bar and grabbing lunch at Chick-fil-a. Week four rolls around, and oh hello, it’s Thanksgiving! Not only did I miss one of the classes that week (we were out of town - totally legit excuse!), but I also ate turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and pie not one, not two, not three but FOUR TIMES that week.

When Monday rolled around I knew I had to start over and get geared up for our weigh in on Wednesday. I ate the salad bar at work and skipped out on the ranch dressing. I drank plenty of water and pushed myself extra hard at boot camp class that night. By Tuesday I was still going strong, even going for a quick extra credit run that evening. Yesterday morning I considered going liquids only to help make up for the Thanksgiving Week of Doom, but knew I’d never make it. So I had another salad for lunch. Two hours before our class started, I might have eaten two mini chocolate bars - but would those really make a difference in 120 minutes time!?

So it was with a bit of fear that I stepped on the scale last night. We don't get our official results until our last class on Saturday, and I'm afraid of being a little disappointed. I think I fell off the bandwagon on the eating well side of the deal, but - I will say this. Last night we ran 6 laps around the track, or one and a half miles, without stopping. This was a feat for me - I have been a wimpy jogger for a long time now, never lasting very long consecutively. We also ran suicides across the football field, did lunges to the fifty yard line and back, did push-ups out the wazoo and ran the bleachers for ten minutes straight. I know I've improved my endurance and if I keep it up (which I plan to!), I will be wedding dress ready by this summer!

Boot camp results to come later this week!