2 down and a lifetime to go!

Week two started off with a bang! Monday morning I had all kinds of energy. I couldn't wait to push myself to the limits and see how much more I was able to do. I had told Chad and Jen that I wanted to start jogging, and Chad was happy to oblige. He took 3 of us to a place called "Foremaster Hill." I have a different name for it, but I don't want to offend anyone so I'll just leave it at that. He said we would jog to one light pole and walk to the next, etc. all the way up the hill, down the hill, and back up the hill and down the hill. Sounds easy enough, right? Yeah, that's what I thought, too. Let's just say that I DID 90% of the jogging, but not without Chad holding one hand and dragging me. By the time we got to the top (the first time) I was in serious need of oxygen. Oddly enough, this "hill" is right across the street from the hospital. Pretty good thinking on Chad's part. I wonder how many people he's had to cart across the street after a jog on the "hill." I counted it success that I was able to complete the exercise without a trip across the street. And this was just Monday morning!

Actually, my biggest challenge this week was sleep. I'm having some problem with my knees and hips. They hurt pretty much all the time, but it becomes ten times worse when I lie down. I have taken so much ibuprofen and aleve it's ridiculous. No matter what I try, I am awake within two hours in major pain. I toss and turn for the next few hours, getting cat naps here and there until finally it's just easier to get up and start my day rather than enduring the agony of TRYING to sleep. As you can imagine, rest is pretty important when you're working this hard. So, as the days were wearing on, my lack of sleep was causing me a lot of anxiety. If you're a girl, you'll totally understand this: what do we do more of when we're exhausted? CRY!!! I did more than my fair share of that this week. The problem was two-fold. First, I was exhausted and in pain, secondly, I was frustrated because I just want to be able to give everyday my best effort, and I felt unable to do that. For me, that's the worse! I finally saw a chiropractor, sport's medicine guy on Thursday. He did some therapy that might have helped a little. The jury is still out on that one. I bought a couple of knee braces and just decided to keep plugging along with those.

Fridays are a treat! Every Friday is a different long hike, and yesterday was in Bryce Canyon National Park. It was a two and a half hour drive, so we got started early - right after weigh-in! Let's talk about weigh-in for a minute. I really hate it! There is all this build-up from everything you've done all week and you can't help but feel a certain amount of pressure that you see it reflected in the numbers on the scale. So, this week I was only down 3.3 pounds. A total of 5.8 pounds since I arrived. This was initially discouraging to me because I know that there are diets I could be doing and seeing the weight come off faster. When I did the HCG diet, I lost 6 pounds the first week! Ahhh - that's the kicker. The whole reason I came here was to get OFF the diet merry-go-round and develop a healthy LIFESTYLE. AND - I believe I am experiencing success with that. 90% of weight-loss happens at the table. So, even though I will not be killing myself 5 hours/day in the gym when I get home, I'm gonna have this food thing down. I am basically losing weight while eating what will become "normal" for me. Therefore - it's not a diet, it's a - say it with me - LIFESTYLE! So, I choose to be encouraged by this. The weight-loss may happen slower than I initially hoped, but the good thing is, it WILL keep happening! So, don't expect to see a totally new Jennifer when I get home in two weeks. Well, what I'm saying is, I won't look new on the outside - YET, but I already feel new on the inside!

And now back to Friday - the hike in Bryce Canyon. You need to go to my facebook and look at pictures. It's simply beautiful! I just gained one piece of wisdom from the hike that I must share with you. Remember, whenever you hike DOWN into a canyon, unless you intend to live there the rest of your life, you WILL have to hike back UP at some point. So, don't go further down than you are willing to come back up!

That's it folks! I'm headed off to my Saturday massage. See you next week!!! :)