Jennifer’s Journey: Week 1 – Continued

Written By admin • 4 min read

“My alarm is going off at 5:15am, but I am already awake. I have been awake for awhile. I haven’t been sleeping well for the last couple nights here at Premier Fitness Camp. I am physically exhausted by the time we finish dinner and I fall asleep about 9:00pm every night. Then I wake up because drinking a gallon of water every day makes my bladder balloon!

My problem is I can’t go back to sleep. I don’t know if it is anticipation and excitement for the coming day, anxiety and doubt (can I make it through tomorrow?), or if I am just missing my husband (and usually at least one child) sleeping next to me. One of my trainers, Leah, has suggested Sleepytime tea and valerian as natural sleep aids. I am walking to the pharmacy tonight!

Over these first few days, I quickly fell into the routine of the workouts. Every morning we meet at the Smoothie Bar to get a protein shake to fuel our first workout of the day at 6:00am. We then travel to a recreation center for boot camp! Boot camp consists of several stations or circuits that we rotate through. Everything from push-ups, lunges with weights, pulling boxing bags across the field, pushing football sleds, and lots of other exercises to torture and tone the body.

As hard as it is to do the workouts, you have an amazing energy when you are finished that lasts the rest of the day. I definitely prefer the morning boot camp. Next Monday we will have assessments (including weigh in) so it will be in the afternoon. It is a little harder to find that motivation.

After boot camp we have breakfast, followed by either a hike, power walk, aqua aerobics or sports activities depending on the day. We have lunch at noon and then meet for our afternoon workouts. For these we are split into two groups so the trainers get to work with smaller groups for more one on one attention.

My group has strength training first, followed by another class that varies by the day. Including kettle bells, medicine balls, boxing, kick boxing and more. I felt this was very helpful for me because I get proper form and motivation. By the time we finish in the afternoon I am exhausted!

My favorite class so far was boxing. We put on the gloves and learned two punches and then rotated between punching bags and punching trainers! With mitts on, of course. I am terribly uncoordinated, but it was so fun trying it didn’t matter. It was also a pretty intense workout. I was sweating buckets! Not to mention it relieves a lot of frustration. I will definitely be checking for boxing classes when I get home.

We also got to leave campus for dinner and nutrition training at the hospital where Chef Jason has a restaurant. This training was focused on the difference between a serving size and a portion size. A serving size is a specific measurement of a food and shows the information for that size, including the calories. A portion size is the amount of that food you actually eat. It was interesting to hear that a serving size for pasta or rice is 1/3 of a cup, for oatmeal a ½ cup and for vegetables it is 1 cup raw or ½ cup cooked.

Just thinking about how much food I put on a plate normally let me know that portion size is a big part of changing how I think about food, how I eat and how I feed my family.

I really enjoy that we all eat our meals together. It is a great chance to talk about our day and share our stories. There is usually at least one trainer or staff member at the meals so we have a chance to ask a question or get advice from them. Sometimes, just a chance to get to know them and tease them about the grueling workouts they are putting us through. I think the atmosphere created by spending meals, workouts and occasionally a little free time keeps me focused on my goals.”~Jennifer

I am 37 years old and a mom of 4 beautiful daughters. I am a stay-at-home mom who is never HOME! I do some work from home helping my husband run his business. My weight was not a problem until I got pregnant and began having children. I have never completely lost that weight. I have tried different diets and felt like a yo-yo for the past 8 years! (see me on far right of picture)

A combination of things happened in my life to make me decide to make some major lifestyle changes and putting myself first, making healthy choices for me and my family. Please join me on my journey on several blogs: on the Premier Fitness Blog, on the TimeOutMom Blog, on the Mom It Forward Blog, and on the Today’s Mama Blog, as I do five weeks at the live-in camp and get twelve weeks of coaching and support after I return home. This is going to be life-changing! It is already life-changing!