Transformation Challenge - Week One

Saturday morning, bright and early (well early for Saturday anyway); we all met to find out just what we had in store for us in these next twelve weeks. Honestly, my first reaction to some of this information was…I don’t think I can do this. We were separated into teams, and got to meet the other women who would stand by our side, our support systems. Then off to the grocery store we went to learn about food. Kristen, a Cal Poly nutrition student, was so friendly and informative. She patiently walked through the grocery store with us, talking about the good and the not so good, and answering all our questions about how you can turn bad food into good food by modification. Choose a whole bun for your hamburger, eat lots of fruits and vegetables, and limit your sugar. I always thought that losing weight meant eating like a little bird, but really it’s half what you eat, and the other half is portion control. I guess it sunk in, and so far it stuck.


6:30am (yes, there is one of those in the morning too) was our first bootcamp on Monday morning. Yes, that’s right…I said the words “bootcamp” and “6:30am”. I don’t think I would have made it through all the squats, push-ups, and crunches without my team. I wanted to give up a couple times, okay, let’s be honest…I wanted to give up most of the time. I pushed myself as much as I could. I woke up sore every day this week. This is not an easy program; I guess that’s why they call it a “challenge”. Every trainer at the gym has been so phenomenal in help keeping us motivated, helping push ourselves.

In addition to working out (3 mornings of bootcamp, and 5 days of cardio) we are charting our calories as well. I felt like I was starving most of the time. There were some of my weak moments where I felt like I wanted to eat an entire bag of Oreos. I can’t stress enough, that if you want to lose weight, it takes a LOT of work. I’m sure that anyone in this program can tell you that they are working their butt off. You’re hungry sometimes, but you just have to make good food choices. You are sore from working out, but you have to get back on the horse and keep doing it. You’re sleepy at 6:30am, but you push yourself to get the results that you want.

I’m so proud of myself and EVERYONE doing this Transformation Challenge. We had a tough week, but it will get easier! We are not just kicking butt for 12 weeks; we are changing to a happier healthier life. One week down, only eleven more to go!