So, a few weeks ago I was surfing around on Groupon and found this great deal for Ultimate Body Boot Camp – something I would probably never actually sign up for except that it was a really, really good deal and I can’t pass up a sale. Doesn’t the word boot camp just sound scary? It makes me think of like all of the movies where I’ve seen the drill Sargent screaming at the people and basically torturing them. Also, the first group was full, so I had to wait a month to start – more time to be nervous. Oh, you may be wondering what this has to do with food, after all , this is a food site. Well, the reason I’m writing this is because it is going to affect the way I cook for the next 4 weeks. There is no way I’m going to get up at 4:30 a.m. to go and get my bootie kicked and then come home and eat cupcakes. This will be awesome though because it is going to challenge me to expand my recipes into a healthier direction, namely I’m going to attempt some sort of dessert using agave and olive oil and stuff like that – you know the non-processed good for your body stuff. I’m also going to give you a day by day report (at least on boot camp days, so there will be 12 of them) of what I’m eating and the results if any. Boot camp will be over the next 4 weeks on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for an hour each morning. So with that -
Day 1 – 147 lbs (I’m 5’8), 33 inches around the fattest part of my waist (just under my bellybutton) and 28 inches around the thinnest part of my waist – Today was my first day and I showed up with my husband, Xavier not knowing what to expect. Xavier on the other hand served in the military so he knew what we were in for. Our instructor, Richelle, took role and gave us a few rules like don’t be late or everyone will run laps and only bring water to drink. She also got an inventory of all of our injuries and stuff like that. Oh , and she explained that she has a potty mouth but that if you didn’t like it to let her know instead of going on Yelp and whining about it – I agree and respect that she said to just let her know. I personally being a Christian am anti-cussing, however, I’m not there to change her, but to have her change me so moving on. She got us started with – I don’t know 1,000 or so squats. OK, it wasn’t really 1,000, but me being a non-exerciser (except my once a week ballet) and all, well, I was sweating in the first five minutes. We moved on to lunges and lots of other exercises. The pace was very difficult for me and I couldn’t really keep up but, I tried. Also, I had sweat pouring off of me which is a little disgusting but exactly what I signed up for. She gave very good instruction on proper positioning and she kept me motivated. I have to say that right now, I think the motivation is key. I work out here and there at home, but I definitely have never pushed myself the way I did under Richelle’s instruction today. At the end of the workout she gave us instruction to eat as soon as possible. I loved the advice she gave on what to eat – “if it has a nutrition label, it is not a good choice”. “For example, a chicken doesn’t have a nutrition label, a cupcake does – there are no cupcake trees” (sad but true). So when I got home, I ate a banana, no nutrition labels there. I also started some eggs boiling to eat later. So that’s it for day one. I’ll let you know what I eat the rest of the day, but right now it’s only 7:30 a.m. Oh, I had a fried egg (I used canola Pam) before boot camp. – Lunch – huge yummy salad – 5 or 6 cups of organic spring mix, 1/4 c blueberries, 1/4 c strawberries, 1 boiled egg, 1/4 oz feta, 1 Tbsp citrus dressing (3 grams of fat), snack – 1/2 c cottage cheese (low fat), 1/4 c strawberry yogurt (fat free), 1/2 banana Dinner – 4 oz grilled Sirloin, 3/4 c of very fattening and yummy mashed potatoes, 1/2 coleslaw (homemade with very little dressing) and an hour or so later, 3 bites of strawberry pie (homemade with a whole wheat crust) I have to point out that I know that this is not good for a diet, but I made it a few days ago and I wanted some but that will be it for straight up sweets – except the tiny brownie square I ate (not homemade, out of a box (my daughter made them) and very, very bad for you) and now, that is seriously it!
Day 2 Wednesday – No weight and inch measurements today, you won’t see those until the end. I have to start by letting you know that I am incredibly sore. Yesterday, it hurt to sit which is saying a lot. I really thought that I would get there today and Richelle would have us start and I would like tear or sprain something or something else like that. So suffice it to say, I didn’t have a real “go to” attitude going in today, but, I showed up. We started to warm-up – jumping jacks. Four minutes in, one of the people in the group showed up late. Awesome, laps :) my favorite – not. We did a few more stretches and the group started the run. Richelle kindly let everyone off with only 1 lap as a kind of warning I guess. I was glad because the one thing I can’t do (not won’t do, but can’t do) is run. I have an old gymnastics injury, so I walked half a lap. Then we got started on the workout. Richelle had brought the stretchy bungee cord things for everyone and we used those for a good part of the workout. It made it kind of fun because it wasn’t just the same exercises again, actually, I think most of the exercises we did were different from Monday. As for the pace, I expected to not be able to do anything (remember, I’m sore, sore, sore). But after the warm-up, most of my soreness was gone and I did better with the pace. She had said on Monday that most people feel improvement after the first week, but I felt better with my pace already. I didn’t keep up entirely, but I wasn’t in a heap sweating and watching today. Yay me!:D
Today’s food – before boot camp – 1 boiled egg, about a 2 inch square of blueberry waffle – no syrup or butter or anything added (the waffles were homemade from yesterday, and also whole wheat), after boot camp – 3/4 cup cottage cheese (low fat), 1 Tbsp strawberry yogurt, 1/2 banana – So far, so good :D, Lunch – big fat salad again (same as before) Dinner – 4 oz Roasted Chicken, Puerto Rican Rice and Beans, 2 slices of French Bread with Butter (fattening, I know, but very good)
Puerto Rican Rice and Beans (Brown Rice)
Day 3, Friday – I was so far beyond tired going in today. I was up packing for our weekend trip all night and had a family emergency on top of it. So, I went into boot camp today on maybe 4 1/2 hours of sleep. I could barely keep my eyes open. The really amazing news is that once we started exercising, I started feeling energized. Go figure, the Doctors are all right about exercise giving you energy :). So, anyway, lots of exercise.
Food – one boiled egg before boot camp, after boot camp – breakfast burrito (2 eggs, 3 slices of potato (baked), 1/2 oz cheese. Snack – 1 serving of Sun Chips (6 g of fat), Lunch – Nasty fast food cheeseburger, something I never eat, but we’re on our way up North and I didn’t pack anything healthy last night because of everything going on. Dinner – spaghetti (whole wheat noodles, 93/7 ground beef, and a piece of garlic bread) By the way, do you guys all know what the numbers stand for on meat packages? It’s the fat to meat ratio. So if you have 93/7, you have 93% meat and 7% fat. Now you know if you didn’t before!
Day 4, Monday – This morning I learned about a torturous exercise called a bur-pee. Not fun. Good exercise though.
Food today – bowl of puffed brown rice cereal and skim milk before boot camp, no food after (I crashed hard, I was so exhausted), lunch – salad, dinner - awesome Grilled Burgers with Swiss Cheese and Mushroom Sauce
The Best Lean Hamburgers Ever with Swiss Cheese and Sauted Mushroom Sauce
Day 5, Wednesday – Today we used the playground at the park and did a bunch of circuit training. I don’t think I’ll be able to move my arms tomorrow :D! Also, I’m very sad to report that although I used to be able to do pull ups like they were nothing (back in my gymnastics days), I can’t do any now. That’s right, zero pull-ups, that’s how many I can do. Boooooooooooo! This shall change – done da done, da da da da done (that’s my trumpet sounding)!
Food Today – egg fried in Pam before boot camp, after boot camp – 3/4 c low fat cottage cheese with 1 Tbsp of strawberry yogurt, lunch – 2 eggs on a whole wheat English muffin with a really sad and thin slice of cheddar cheese and a tiny piece of fattening sausage :) that wasn’t big enough for my muffin, still yummy though Dinner – 3 or 4 oz of grilled chicken, 3/4 c couscous (not only fun to say, but yummy to eat), and 1/2 c peas – I know, I know, peas were not the best choice (2 starchy carbs in 1 meal), but my girls wanted peas, so I made peas. Dessert – I made a concoction that consisted of fresh cherries, whole wheat flour, wheat germ, oats, bran, olive oil, a tiny bit of butter, cinnamon, brown sugar and Splenda and it was super yummy. I’ll post a recipe when I get it perfected.
Grilled Chicken – Also, a Little Extra About Brines
Day 6, Friday – Yep, we didn’t go. My beautiful husband is sick and I stayed home to take care of him and the kids.
***Food – As for my diet, well, I’ve decided to eat how I normally eat. If I’m honest here then I have to tell you that the reason I’m dumping the strict diet is that I love food and I don’t want to diet. It’s not a will power thing. I could diet. I just don’t want to. I have justified this to myself because if I diet then how will I know if my end results are from the diet or the exercise. Obviously if I diet I’ll lose weight, what we want to know is – Does this boot camp program produce results in and of itself? I definitely want to point out though that I’m a pretty healthy eater anyway. I don’t eat fast food (yes I know I ate that silly cheeseburger, but that was a very big exception) or very much junk food for that matter. I do eat sweets, but not everyday by a long shot. Also, I make almost everything from scratch – which is obvious if you’ve looked at the rest of the site. I am going to put a few links to some of the recipes that I’m going to be eating during boot camp at the end of the article and I invite you to check them out.
Day 7, Monday – Guess what happens when you take care of someone who is sick (and sleep by them and hug on them)? You get sick too. No, no, no boot camp today.
Day 8, Wednesday – Am I letting you guys down. We both still feel all tired. Plus, today is the first day of school and there’s lots to take care of. I am going Friday, sick or not. On the good side, Xavier and I both lost a pound or so from being sick – that is a good thing, right?
Day 9, Friday – Back to boot camp. I just like saying it now, boot camp. There I said it again. Plus, when you tell people you’re sore from boot camp they all get the same look of being both horrified and impressed at the same time – it’s pretty awesome! I have got to tell you everyone that even with missing those three days, I feel great! I have also noticed that on boot camp days I’m full of energy. The fact that I get up at 4:30 a.m. to go seems to have no affect what so ever on me being tired the rest of the day. Who knew, less sleep plus more exercise equals more energy – how does that work out? So yeah, that’s pretty amazing.
Day 10, Monday – Sick with some throat thing. It’s crazy, I never get sick. Seriously, I don’t think I’ve been sick, sick in a year. Now I’ve been sick twice in a month :( sad face, very, very sad face.
Day 11, Wednesday- Still sick with a coughing, chest throat thing – determined to be there on my last day, Friday, no matter what.
Day 12, Friday – Yes, I went to boot camp today. And guess what, it was raining. Finally, I get to fulfill my image of the mean drill instructor making us work out in a storm. Sorta. Actually, Richelle was sick today (not that she’s mean, LOL, that’s funny, I made her sound mean) so we had a replacement – Forest. He was so super nice when we got there. He introduced himself and was joking around with us and laughing. He seemed super cool and I thought (judging by his personality) that – “wow, this is going to be an easy day”. Wrongo Miss Ma’am. Guess what Forest’s favorite exercise is. Squat jumps. That ‘s right squat jumps. Or at least it seemed like his favorite because we did a bazillion of them. Do you know what this horrible exercise is. Yeah, it’s what it sounds like. You squat down and touch the ground and then you jump into the air with your arms up. And, it hurts. A lot. And you run out of breath after like four of them, at least if you’re me you do. I’m not complaining, well, maybe a little. But I’m not complaining about Forest. He was great and he actually did have quite a large variety of exercises. That ‘s just the one that stood out to me. So, my last day of boot camp turned out to be awesome. I got a great workout, of course and was full of energy all day once again.
So, what’s the final result? Even after dumping my diet half way through (still very justified in my head). Well, here are the results. I now weigh 140 pounds – that’s 7 pounds less then when I started and I lost an inch and a half off of my waist. Also, my clothes fit looser, not just around my waist, but around my bootie and legs too. I can look at myself in the mirror and see an over all result. No, I won’t be posting the bikini picture that you always see – that’s only for my Xavier :). What’s really great though is that not only did I get these physical changes out of this, but I got a few others. I have more energy, I’m continuing to work out on my own at home – 3 times a week. I definitely feel way more disciplined in my workouts though I probably still don’t push quite as hard as I did there. All in all, it was a great experience and I highly recommend doing it to anyone who can. I’m really super glad that I did! Yay Ultimate Body Boot Camp! And also yay Groupon! One more time – BOOT CAMP!
Here are a few more of the yummy recipes I used!
Frittata with Mushroom, Spinach and Gruyere
The Best Eggplant Caponata Ever
Grandma’s Apple Pie (Plus My Healthier Version)
Awesome video of my husband on our last day of boot camp!
Hi :), my name's Alicia!
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