The Sun is Shining

Finally, the sun is shining here in NW NJ.  It seems like its been weeks since there has been any blue sky in the horizon.  Maybe mother nature was waiting for me to clear the skies by getting back on track.

No matter, as today I am feeling invigorated and know I am finally ready to move forward with my journey to better health and fitness.

If you've ever read my blog(s), you know I have been living in denial this past year, completely ignoring everything I had trained myself to believe in. So I have taken a good long look at myself and this is what I have come up with:  

1) Comfort food mentality - Definitely it crept back on me in 2012 there is comfort in food, and when I am stressed, its my number one go to.  Although my subconscious nags me to not give in, I DO! 

2) Definitely another cause of my problem is not having the right food around me so I reach for the wrong thing, because its convenient.  I need to frequent the grocery store so I have what I need.

3) Timing is everything, I can not wait till I am so hungry I grab for the wrong food, I must make a conscious effort to eat prior to being super hungry.

4) My husband, who I love so dearly is definitely another reason I make the wrong choices as he loves his evening snacking, and makes me feel like snacking too.  

5)  And lastly, not having my daughter Michelle in NJ didn't help, as she has always been a reminder of good health.  I use to feel accountable for my actions when she was around.  Good news, I have her back in NJ!!  She was in San Diego working at the Golden Door Spa (if you think BLR is expensive its NOT...this is!) as well as selling an awesome line of cookware called Saladmaster and doing extensive cooking classes.  I am so happy to have her back, I missed her not only for my healths sake, but just having her nearby is so comforting.

So I have figured it out as I type today where it all comes from, yet now I need to get moving forward and not fall back again.  I think to move forward with your health,  you must find and examine your triggers, and learn to work with them so they don't jeopardize your progress.

My daughter Meika and her husband, Warren seem to have their eating so controlled.  They count their vegetables daily, as if they can't skip one in their day.  Now that I find myself baby/Biba-sitting they cook for me off and on.  Meika will hand me my food and say, okay so we had 2 vegetables in our eggs this morning, now here is 2 more with the lunch, leaving only one more at dinner.  They are impressive, and what I really take from them, is try and get more whole foods in my diet and make sure I have them at hand.

So as I set out to have a great 2013, I have my house full of whole foods, and I will embark on eating more fruits and veggies, and less carbs and sugars.  

I have concluded that the best diet, is NO diet.  This is not a race, there is no finish line, this is a way of life.  One thing I taught myself in my old blog without even planning, the easiest way to good health is making sure my calories stay within my limit, and that I get a move on.  So I am back to keeping my meals around 300 per meal, allowing for 5 meals, which means I can snack!  I don't have any set meals this way, but I do know what meals have worked in the past, from either just experimenting, the Biggest Loser Resort, or my month on Cinch.  I also understand why breakfast is the most important meal of the day and for me, its starting my day without starving.  There is no need to starve just start eating, and plan on 300 calorie meals.  It is such an easy way to stay on track, it worked before and will work again.  My one perspective that has changed somewhat this time, is I intend on making a point of adding more vegetables to my meals.  

So 300 calorie meals + more vegetables (I don't count calories of green vegetables) + whole foods + water = 1/2 my body weight in ounces.  

As with last time, if I know I am going out and will be eating, I will cut back on the snacks and save them for going out so I can add 600 calories to my dinner.  Its going to work again, it was actually the easiest way I have found to drop pounds and not feel deprived.  I truly believe a person has to find what works for them, I have been on everything, and for me this is the way to go.

Today my breakfast was french toast = sandwich rounds (100c) 1 egg (70c) 1 cup frozen berries heated(70c) 1 tablespoon of sliced almonds (40c) laying on top of cinnamon (spices speed up your metabolism) (cooked with Pam because the equivalent of butter is 100 extra calories)  Total calories = 280 calories.  (no veggies yet so I will be making an awesome acorn squash soup to add to my veggies and my fullness today).

I am so ready for this...as when I woke up to the sun, I am reminded of how everyday I get up after having a good food day, is a sunny day.  When I eat horribly, I wake up regretting it, not today, not tomorrow...I am back on track.

Weight today...yes I did get on that damn scale 186.8.  Weight gain since Cinch, 31 pounds!

First goal...Valentine's Day...weight loss under 180. 

As in the past, tiny steps....small goals...realistic time frames...I am so there!

The Year of the Cat

I am returning back to the world of blogging, along with returning to my journey to good health.  2012 was a silent hidden year for the most part leaving those that have followed me to wonder where I disappeared to.  I think 2012 was just full of too much of everything, leaving me to be second and struggling with my journey to self improvement.  Reflecting back on my year, I would say, my self preservation was a wash!  I  pushed away the things that  I was proud to talk about within my pages.  And here I sit in 2013, thanking God for where I am today, and for letting me survive my neglect.  I'll be honest, I haven't weighed myself this year at all, I do know I am fitting in a size 14 stretch jean, and that I go nowhere without my Kimora tummy tucker.  I have taken note to the clothes that I bought after my great success with The Biggest Loser Resort, and how they sit dorment in my closet. I look at myself in the mirror and think I am not that much bigger than when I left BLR, but much bigger than my success with Cinch.  I note that my body is something I avoid in the mirror after a shower, it is a reminder of my lag.  2012 is finally over, and a new year is here.

The struggles of 2012 are behind me, and have left some great remnants to rejoice in.  My daughter Marie found true love in February, and moved away in July to be with her one true love.  This is a joyous absolutely wonderful thing, and I couldn't be happier for her although I wish she found her love in NJ.  The greatest joy came on August 9, 2012 with the birth of my grand daughter Biba Harlow May.  I can not express what this has meant to me this year and the joy she continues to bring.  You grand parents understand.

2012 brought a lot of change, as my husband stepped down from his TV stage to pursue his own band, as well as focusing on giving back to the Arts through teaching aspiring future musicians around the globe.  This is a scary transition that has been terrifying to our bank account.  Stress is a scary destructive anomaly.

We lost our golden retriever in 2012, and with all the changes accuring it was not only stressful on me, but my family.  My youngest daughter, Morgan took Alan's job change terribly, and worse was losing her best friend, our golden, Rembrandt, her companion, and confident for 14 years.  At 23, in 2012, Morgan also had her gall bladder removed, then followed it up with emergency surgery for a cyst.  And then received an overdose of medication from the hospital, which was swept under the rug.  She has pushed through and is doing well now.

My brother was admitted in the hospital with an aneurism as well, which I flew to his side to be with him. It is impossible to operate on my brother so he must control his stress as well as take blood thinners forever.  He is uninsured and never married, so his family is all he has and here I am across the country feeling helpless most of the time.

I have always been in the habit of self indulgence when I am stressed. And I found myself not caring about putting the wrong things in my mouth, and exercise was rarely achieved.  In August, I took a wonderful hike with Alan & Morgan in PA at Bushkill Falls.  It should've been the start of my recovery, but instead I hurt my knee and had to climb 1200 steps with it hurting.  Unfortunately, this time it caused sciatica damage.  I did very little exercise anyway so I didn't even really notice I had a problem till November.

November was a month of reckless endangerment to myself.  I had decided to take HCG and melt the pounds away.  So I took drops, and surely 10 pounds came off rather quickly.  I started noticing major tingling in my right leg and foot which seemed to come from my sciatica pain.  I would stretch the leg to try and eleviate the pain, and the more I did it, the more my leg and foot seemed to tingle.  I finally googled  and discovered a side effect of HCG was blod clots and everything that goes with it.  I was in the ER that night having CT work done and insuring that I didn't have a clot in my leg or brain.  I was sent home with anti-inflammatories and pain killers.  At that point I realized what an idiot I was to take the HCG in the first place and got off of it.  I followed the weaning process as necessary to reset your body clock, but it didn't work.  Even after 3 weeks of no carbs at all I seemed to continue to gain weight.  I had added insult to injury by even beginning the HCG.  Now I had to try and get back to some normalcy.

December I went to babysit my grand daughter, or as I like to call it Biba-sit.  I came home with a nasty flu that Biba and her daddy brought home from a trip to England.  I went from the flu, to a cold, to laryngitis for the next few weeks.  From there I had to shop for 15 people coming for Christmas and try and get my house in order for 8 extra people sleeping at the house for 10 days.  I had decided to avoid carbs during this hectic time and although I didn't weigh myself, I at least didn't feel that sluggish holiday feeling I usually have.  Family arrived on December 23, Christmas day was awesome, 15 family members together, including the brand new grand baby!  At 5AM following Christmas, my husband woke up sick, and was vomiting.  Shortly after that I found myself doing the same thing.  I spent the next 36 hours with a bucket on my toilet.  We managed to get food poisoning on Christmas Eve from clams, which I noticed tasted funny.  Everyone else was fine as we were the only ones to have a clam at dinner.  The following day, my brother in law came down with a flu and 104 fever.  Not long after that I was sick again with another strain of the flu, along with my parents.  I spent New Years Eve in bed, sick!

So all I can say about 2012 is good riddance to most of it!  Thank God the 2 blessings we did have in 2012.  By the way....I am extremely grateful for all I have and have received, and am very blessed,  this is just simply my explanation to where I was in 2012 and nothing more.

So WELCOME 2013, I am super to the duper excited about you being here, and getting back on track is my main priority.  I realized, that being honest with myself, was also being honest on my blog.  Putting it out there, what was going on, how I was doing, and what I was doing.  So I am back, and I am ready to tackle all of my weaknesses and strengths and get where I want to be in 2013.  When I started my original blog http://countdowntobiggestloserresort.blogspot.com/ back this month in 2010 I had no idea where it would take me.  Since then I have become a strong empowered woman who understands she can do whatever she sets her mind to, so here's to me in 2013, as I have my sights set on good health!

Thanks to all of you out there that have come to know me over the years, for reading my confessions, and as always I appreciate your comments and your support.

Zion with Alan...awesome day!!

No visit to St George would be complete without a trip to Zion National Park.  Last time I was here I was lucky enough to go to Zion National Park with a few of the Fitness Ridge campers on a Sunday.  We took our rent a car up through the tunnel and hiked to the overlook.  We followed it up with a bus ride through the river walk hike.

This year, I knew I wanted to take Alan to the overlook, so we headed up the mountain through the 1 mile tunnel and parked on the other side.  This is a fairly easy walk to the viewpoint, but can be rather intimidating for those afraid of heights.  Unlike last year, we continued our way to the other end of the park and found a few spots that couldn't be missed.

At every turn there is something to see, and this side is tamer for hiking.  The sandstone mountains called out to us and we stopped at some interesting looking rock formations.  What a difference a year can make, I never would have thought I could be pulling over and climbing mountains, but that is what Fitness Ridge did for me last year.







Following up this hike, we headed back towards the main entrance but quickly were lured into another beautiful spot, full of slots with silty water flowing through it.  It was so beautiful, I may have taken a few more pictures than usual.  As we hiked as far as we could, we heard voices from within the slots when suddenly 2 heads appeared from beneath us.  Turns out there is water hiking also up there and you can wear wet suits and climb through the water filled slots.  Another time, this could be amazing adventure.

This was the first opportunity I had to eat Mexican in Utah and we found a quaint little Mexican restaurant just outside the park.  The food was excellent and the scenery was breath taking, with views of the Zion mountains at every angle.

Hiking in Zion has made me want to go hike my wedding location, The Grand Canyon.  My one trip to the Grand Canyon was walking the grounds of Shoshone Point to an arch were I professed my love for Alan.  We are now excited at a future trip to the Grand Canyon, for hiking.

Well, although I have yet to blog about my last day in Utah, my flight is ready to board so I will sign off.  Have a wonderful day and make it great because this is the only "today" you have.

Back to the Camels Back

This is one of the harder hikes to find again when you are not with the wonderful hiking staff at Fitness Ridge.  I had googled and found someone who gave directions to where to go and it did get us to the general area of where to start our hike.

Alumni, Teresa and her husband Tom joined us on this hike, and it was interesting trying to find the beginning.  Its easy enough to find the vicinity, which is Bluff towards Veyo, and turning on the dirt road just before Veyo volcano, then following the road 4.8 miles, just passed the electric station to the trail mark.  We missed the directions beyond the electric station, but after about 30 minutes we found the trail mark.  It was disturbing when we tried a road that was a graveyard for cattle.  They must dispose of their sick cattle down this one road and there were many carcasses and shot gun shells.
So you want to be sure you hit the right road for parking.

The trail is pretty steep from where you park to the creek, but as soon as I got to the creek I remembered the trail.  I was grateful that the creek was low it made crossing much easier than my last hike there with Fitness Ridge.  We followed the trail markers, but as we went up the mountain it seemed that the markers were gone.  Tom is an excellent hiker and he found our way to the vortex even though he had never been there before.  Unfortunately the knees were not great so I knew the vortex was out of the question. Alan was very excited about going in and followed Teresa down inside.  It was too late in the day for the shadow pictures (sob) but at least the vortex was dry.
That vortex was once again intimidating for me, and once again I stayed above.  It was around 1PM when we were up there and the winds were fierce making me wish I brought a jacket....burrr.....



The camels back was something I didn't do when I was at Fitness Ridge, but I was determined, bad knees or not I was going to the top.  It was great getting to the top of that hump and having my husband with me made it only the better.








With focus on health, the 4 of us went to Carl's Jr for lunch where we all had turkey burgers.  We followed it up with wheat grass shots at the local juice establishment.  It was awesome seeing Teresa, who was only in town for 2 days, and awesome meeting her husband, Tom.  Fitness Ridge makes new friends, old friends as we plan to stay in touch and get together again.

Before my trip to Fitness Ridge, I never would have thought I would be climbing mountains, and pushing myself harder and higher, but you gain confidence and want to keep moving.  I am so grateful for my time there, and look forward to going back and also want to try Malibu's BL Resort.

Never underestimate the power of YOU!

I am really enjoying being able to go on a hike, and follow it up with another hike.  Tuesday was far from teary starting our day at the parking lot at Piano Rock.  The cost to park inside Snow Canyon is $6.00 for the day which was great allowing us to move the car from here to there.

With going on Piano Rock straight from the parking lot, we were able to "mountain hop"...Piano Rock is named for its protruding black rock that looks similar to a piano from down on the ground.  Last year I took a picture with 3 Fitness Ridger's as we held our hands in the air looking as though we were about to bob sled down the mountain on that same rock.  This year I took a solo pose.

Alan was in awe of the sandstone mountains and we challenged ourselves to go on many of them.  We bumped into Fitness Ridge campers and guides along the way, but always managed to be on each mountain just the two of us.  One of my most intense climbs has been what they call stairmaster, which is a very steep climb.  The climb up is not the thing I find intense though, its the climb down which offers a narrow steep climb if you choose that path.  Scary and exhilarating.




We went to Butterfly rock and pretended to be the body between the wings, then headed to the tallest of the red mountains surrounding the area.  I have no idea what the name of the mountain is, but I will say it was high and steep.  It is just amazing heading here and there and wherever we wanted all day long

We moved the car down lower in the canyon and hiked hidden pinyon and the 3 pools, all the way I hoped to find what was called the fern gully by many ridge campers.  Unfortunately, the walk which requires a good 25 minutes of walking in thick red sand did not lead us to the gully or the slot I was hoping to show Alan.  It was an exhausting walk and so like the few others we saw along the trail we found lil spots of shade to rest before the treacherous return walk.

When hiking in the desert, the rule is to NOT hike between 1-4PM, and once again we found ourselves hiking in prime heat time, which this week has been mid 80's each day.  The sand is similar to beach sand when it comes to its thickness and wearing hiking shoes protects them from the heat, but it wears on your feet and ankles quickly.







Last night after a good soaking in the tub we met up with one of my best buds from Fitness Ridge, Teresa and her husband.  Getting together it felt like we were together last month, not an entire year ago.  We went to a yogurt place for dessert offering 10 calories an ounce, now that rocked.  Dinner lead to us planning a trip to hike camelback the following day together.  Camelback is the one hike that I was really happy to not do alone as it is challenging and has less trail markers.  Tomorrow's post will be all about that adventure.

As I end my evening relaxed and accomplished today I am so grateful I have found passion in hiking, and am thrilled that Alan shares my love for it as well.  Life is a journey don't ever neglect it by watching it pass you by.

Day 2 - Freelancing with the hubby!

Day 2 was questionable for storms, and I want to work Alan's way up to harder hike.  I chose Anasazi for hiking which is the mountains just behind Biggest Loser Resort.  Unfortunately I headed up the mountain early and was greeted by barbed wire.  Being adventurous we decided to slide under the fence and found ourselves doing it 3 times.  When we reached the top Alan was an awe of the view, offering rigid rocks off the sides of the cliffs at elevations of 3000 feet. 

Along our hike I spotted the bright green hiking wear that the guides at Fitness Ridge sport.  I told Alan the number one person I wanted to see was Marjorie, both trainer n hiking guide and my personal favorite.  First person I came into contact with was Marjorie.  I gave her a HUGE hug and told her I missed her.  Watching the new people on their first hike, being Monday...brought back memories for me, especially since that was my first hike as well. 

I took Alan to the rocks along the edge to show him the petroglyphs which are drawings carved into the mountains by prehistoric people.  I then took him by the dig sight where they found a 1,000 year old house, or its remains.

After our hike we went to Fitness Ridge where I gave him the grand tour and he saw people in a outdoor swim class being ran by Tiffany.  Then Nicole was doing stretch (my fav) and one of my favorite hiking guides moved up to trainer and was teaching mountain class.  We saw the massive building being constructed which will be completed in June.  We went to the pro shop for some good hiking socks and electrolytes for our camelbacks.  Cody was there, it was great to see him.  I bumped into the owners who were probably not happy to see me, since I was staying at another spa but oh well, variety is good and I do plan on going back to Fitness Ridge.

After a lil grocery shopping for lunch n breakfast food we came back to the room had lunch then headed out for hike #2 - Chuckwalla.  Chuckwalla is very different then Anasazi, red mountains with views of St George, including the "high school musical" school.  I was extremely disappointed to find a geo cash was missing from atop of the high peak.

I must note the wild life this trip is amazing, much more so than last year.   I am thinking the animals come out later in the day and I was never out late when I was here last year.  I have seen multiple road runners, bunnies and lizards.  On Chuckwalla there were a lot of rock climbers, and I don't think that is really my cup of tea, but it was cool to watch them.

It was a long day of hiking yesterday and we had our dinner at a local restaurant were we ate sensibly, its hard to think of pigging out when you see your calorie burn.  We burned 3500 calories yesterday, we rocked it! 

Alan says I am kicking his butt, then I remind him how we could be hiking followed by multiple fitness classes, like at the Biggest Loser resort...then he says we are all crazy to do all that.  Haha...
how do I explain the pleasure of it all?  I guess that is for us alumni to know.

Tomorrow I will tell you about our crazy Tuesday and the many hikes we went on.  Alan Rocked it all~

A New Adventure with the Hubby!

My decision to postpone my trip to the biggest loser resort was made since Alan is on reruns and would be sitting at home while I was away for the 2 weeks.  We have found that we share a passion for hiking, and while I was in Utah the year before all I could think of is sharing the hikes with him.  I will go back to Fitness Ridge and hope to even experience the new one in Malibu.  But this time it was going to be a shared adventure with Alan.  We booked the Red Mountain Resort just down from Snow Canyon, home of many a great hikes.  Our original plan was to pay for the meal plan, hiking, and fitness program.  Our plans changed when we checked in as we decided to have me be our personal guide.  Meals can be purchased ala carte and we rented a villa with a kitchen so we bought healthy breakfast and lunch foods. 

We had made the decision that Sunday we would conquer the legendary stop sign hike.  After checking in we were so antsy about doing stop sign we headed out in the high heat of the day.  "NEVER a good idea".  We filled our camelback's with icy water and drove down the road to the parking lot just below entering the canyon.  When we arrived at the guards gate they hit us up for $4.00 but then immediately refunded us when they saw our Red Mtn room key.  As we started out on our path to the top of Snow Canyon I warned Alan that it doesn't get really hard till you hit the main road some 3 miles from where we started.  The scenery is absolutely breath taking and this is a hike you can  look around and not worry about tripping.  Alan was my model along the way on some of my favorite spots on the path.   Sure enough Alan was whipped by the second half of the stop sign hike.  We hug that damn sign for a reason!  I warned him that the road feels as though it will never end.   To try and comprehend this treacherous hike, understand you walk from the bottom of Snow Canyon, to the top.  Of course our car was 5 miles back from stop sign making it about a 10 mile hike in 85 degree heat.  That hike kicked my butt, I was wiped out and couldn't begin to conceive blogging yesterday.  We burned 1200 calories on the hike, and I absolutely LOVED having Alan do it with me.  We rocked the rocks!...well truthfully we never climbed a rock yesterday.

It was very different having to make our own food choices and Sunday there is very few places that stay open late and many more that don't open on Sunday.  We did great on our food choices, its hard to want to add a bunch of calories to your diet when you do that kind of work out. 

No blogging, no computer of any kind, I slipped in to my bed rather quickly on our return from dinner knowing morning comes early in the desert if you want to be hiking in cooler weather.

Tomorrow I will blog about today since I am feeling pretty pooped after doing not 1 but 2 hikes today...so until tomorrow...life is an adventure don't just read about it, live it.