Jennifer's Journey: Week 2

Written By admin • 5 min read

“Sunday, the day of rest! At Premier Fitness Camp there is one day a week that you can sleep past 6:00am and not do ONE fitness class. That is Sunday. I am still served three meals a day, but my activities for the day are wide open. Our trainers have given us some alternate suggestions like a light walk or interval training.

Wayne and Leah both expressed to me this week that you really have to take that time to fully recover so you can push yourself and work hard for the next week. If you don’t rest, you will burn out and not be able to finish your workouts for the week. I feel that is great advice in training and in life.

Work hard, then take a rest so you can accomplish more and NOT burn out. Every mom needs to practice this in all aspects of her life!

For me, Sunday also meant that I had a chance to go down to Salt Lake City and see my four beautiful daughters. My sweet parents are taking care of them while I am here and they live about 45 minutes down the mountain. I know most people here participating in camp do NOT have the luxury of visiting their family during their stay. I also know how much I miss my husband who had to stay at home and run our business. Many of my friends here use Skype or Facetime to video chat with their families at home and that seems to work a little better.

It is also fun when we go down to dinner and there are letters and packages from home awaiting us. Being homesick is a very expected and natural emotion while you are here. I feel lucky that we can support each other here too. It really helps me personally when someone offers a hug and encouragement that I am doing the right thing at the right time of my life.

Of course, on Saturday we still had workouts! We did circuit training in the fitness center where we did one minute intervals at each machine getting a pretty decent total body workout, but I didn’t like it as much as I liked boot camp. Who would have ever thought that I would MISS boot camp? After breakfast, we did Zumba class. It was so much fun even though I can’t dance! It is definitely a cardio workout. If I couldn’t figure out a step, I just kept moving (Curse you body roll! I WILL get you before I leave here!!).

My spirits were high when we finished and it is always a good day when you can laugh at yourself. We then went to Aqua Aerobics class at the indoor pool. The water was incredibly cold for a desert girl like myself. Our instructor, Katherine, told us that it needs to be a little bit cool so when we bring our heart rates up with cardio we don’t overheat! We did a lot of fun things with partners that made you work against the current of the water. I had never done this type of exercise before and it was more of a workout than I expected. It also brought out the inner 5 year old in most of us as we splashed each other whenever the opportunity arose!

Saturday afternoon we had a GREAT class with Chef Jason! It was a BBQ party! We made skewers with vegetables and different meats like steak, chicken, shrimp, tofu and Ahi tuna. Then took them to the grill and added one of three marinades. I used a ginger sesame that was delicious. Chef Jason steamed corn on the cob in the husk as well, then we added it straight to the grill to roast it! It turned out very good and I only missed the butter and salt I usually add a tiny bit. We had side dishes of yellow beet, bread salad and watermelon for “dessert”.

This all started me thinking how to tweak some of the other things I normally grill at home.

We also had a night out on Saturday. A group of us from Premier Fitness Camp went down to Salt Lake City to see a show, RENT. It was a nice get away and a good time to get to know some of the people staying here. I had a great time, but started feeling tired by 10:00pm. We really need our sleep here!!

Seeing my kids on Sunday was a little bittersweet. I loved walking in and seeing each of their smiles and wrapping my arms around them. I kissed them all over their sweet little faces! We spent some time snuggling on the couch, picking out Father’s Day gifts, preparing a healthy lunch and reading stories.

The time went so fast and when it was time to come back to camp everyone cried. Grandma helped them make a banner to celebrate making it through my first week here. All of my kids drew pictures and wrote messages like,” I love you, I miss you, you can do it!” and “Can’t isn’t a word!” and from my baby, “I wanted to write you something really cool, Mom”. That really opened up the flood gates! I will consider how I am feeling this week before I decide whether I will go down and see them.”~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!