Days 7 & 8

Day 7: Day of Rest!  Woo-Hoo!  Sunday is our day to rest and recover.  We just need to do about 60 minutes of some type of exercise, even if it's just walking.  So I did swimming in the pool in the morning after our regular breakfast.  Then I sat out in the shade of the pool and did my nails: felt nice to do something normal!  Later on after more relaxing at the pool, it was time for lunch: peanut butter and banana with a whole wheat tortilla for a wrap, with carrotts, apples and sugar free chocolate pudding.  Not bad.  Loved the pb & banana wrap!  Sat out on the patio eating with the girls (our group that came in together and 3 others that were already here) for lunch.  It was a beautiful day and breezy.  Sat on that patio for hours just talking and relaxing: felt great!  Later on, dinner was a salad with all kinds of veggies, mozzarela cheese in a light italian dressing, a quinoa salad with cherries and fruit.  Very good.  We had a new person come in today, as 1 of the guys is leaving Tuesday.  Not one of the newbies anymore!  Ha!  Went on the shuttle with some of the girls to the Sports Authority and Target to pick up some things we needed.  It was raining: yuck!  Back to the room for my Pop Chips (love these things) and off the sleep!  Didn't wear hear monitor today, so not sure on the calories burned...

Day 8:  Monday is Assessment Day!  I had mine at 6:30 a.m.  Lost 3 pounds on the scale, 2 inches off my hips, and 1 inch each off my thighs and arms!  Yeah!  We are gaining a lot of lean muscle that will in the future start to burn more calories, but for now, inches are more important.  Next off to the usual breakfast and the gym for cardio, then a Power Flex Class.  Very similar to the Muscle Works one I like, but with heavier weights and less reps.  Then more cardio for the last hour.  Lunch was a whole wheat tortilla with chunks of chicken, tomatoes, lettuce, greek yogurt and mango/grapes.  We put habanera hot sauce on them too: whew wee!  Good though!  We had a lecture on the different types of exercise (Yin: eastern philosophy of more mind/body things like yoga, pilates, stretching, etc. and Yang: western philosophy of more weight training, cardio, etc.) & the fact that we need to be sure and continue to do both when we go home like we do here!  Torturesome "Advanced" workout at the gym after that.  VERY sore from that!  Icing knees and back before lunch right now.  After dinner we are heading to the park for those horrible "switch-backs" on that steep winding concrete thing I hate!  But now that my heart rate is lowering, it will be interesting to see the change.  I already see it in the gym: takes much more resistance, etc. to get it past my desired amount of 130!  Then we'll have some other workout in that park before we come home for bed!