Moving the Mountain...

Oh goodness… I’m EXHAUSTED… but in all the best ways! I’m on Day 3 of 28 here at the Biggest Loser Resort in Malibu, California and let me just say that it is absolutely the hardest thing I’ve ever done. For those that always ask what my secret to weight loss is, the answer is this: HARD WORK! There is no magical pill you can take that will make it come off with no effort. You get out what you put in and if what you’re putting in is nothing? That’s exactly what you get. You have to be willing to do the work to get the results. It’s not easy. It’s not supposed to be! It hurts, it’s a struggle, it sucks, it makes me feel like crying… and it’s completely worth it.

So let me back up and tell you a bit about the first day. The first hike of my time here was INSANE. I started out feeling really confident… a little too confident. I had lots of energy, was pumped, and ready to rock it out. For the first little bit, that’s exactly what I did. I was at the head of the pack, putting everything I had into it. We didn’t have much incline so I was feeling fairly certain that I’d keep a pretty great pace. Then we rounded a corner and BAM… the steepest hill I’ve seen in recent memory. This didn’t shake my determination though. I pushed myself as hard as I could and kept up with the hiking guide. Step for step and breath for breath, I was right there with her. We hit the top and I felt like I just conquered the world! The view was incredible! I had a minute to stop and take it in and take pride in being the first to the top.

We headed back down and I was still feeling pretty pumped, knowing that the hardest part was over. Then our guide stopped, waited for the rest of the group to catch up, looked at me and asked “You feeling good?”… I smiled and said “Yeah, I’m great!” completely ready to head off back to the Resort. She just smirked and said “Okay, lets go back up”…. and my face looked like this (:-O)

My cockiness came back to bite me. I’d used up all my steam trying to prove that I was the best and could endure the most. So I got a little ego check and after 4.5 more miles with other inclines, I found myself at the back of the pack. Blisters started creeping up on me. There was intense pain in my hip. My body was not having it. At several moments I actually considered stopping and taking breaks… but that’s not why I’m here. I’m not here to take it easy, I’m here to work and work harder than I ever have. So I reminded myself that it’s not about being first and it’s not about being the strongest. It’s about never stopping.

For the last quarter mile of the hike we were all pretty much wiped out. Everyone had been giving their all and we were just ready for the 2 hours to be done so we could sit down. Our other guide had us stop and do tricep dips before we got back and once those were done she said, “Now run. If you want to run… if you can take more... run”. My initial reaction involved a slew of curse words being said in my head which I shall not repeat… I’m a lady. But after a second, without thinking, I took off. As I was running I kept thinking ‘Stop. Ouch. This hurts. Why are you doing this? Ouch. Stop’… but I kept pushing. And because I did that, I ended towards the front of the group. Now, I was certainly not the best or the strongest. We had a girl in our group who is in the Air Force and barely even broke a sweat during the whole thing. But I held my own and proved to myself just what I’m capable of. If I can get through THAT being completely out of shape and in painful shoes on my first day… I’m fairly certain I can do anything. That’s not to say this will be easy. None of this will be easy. I will want to collapse so many times while I’m here, I can already tell. But I’m not going to. When your brain and body say that you can’t take anymore that’s when you have to push the hardest. That's when change happens. That's when you find yourself.

I feel like a warrior already.

More to come later!