Monday night
First day at the resort and I'm sore and tired and starting to get hungry - about 1/3 of what I would normally eat and doing exercise things all day - mostly women 20-40 and a couple of other blokes. I hope I can last out - some of the ladies have already been here for several weeks. Today was measure up, circuit (2hrs) food session, lunch (minestrone), boxing on lawn, pool games, stretching then for dinner open lamb sandwich ( I should be losing weight from this). Some of the other starters today were not doing too well – over did it I expect.
I have a lovely room (twin room with 2 double beds) but rarely am in it as we are out all day - gym, pool, boxing on the lawn and tomorrow walking. I just hope its all for the best in the end. The talk was that the second week is the hardest but I think that this meant that it was harder to lose weight on the second week. You need to be prepared to be very active.
Tuesday afternoon
Hi again
I didn’t do the walk today but had a session in the gym with just one other girl and a personal trainer who went thru all the moves etc. and machines. I was conked out at the end – cardio on bikes for about 40 minutes in two sessions and I think it was partly due to have not quite enough food. Its been drizzling today and is very cool. Glimpses of the beautiful cliffs and mountains. Food for rabbits but designed for weight loss but most is quite edible. I am missing sweet things a little.
The ladies in the group are very friendly and chatty – one lady has been here for 9 weeks (a record) and still has a lot to shift.
Going through so many clothes and they end up wet and sweaty. I have hand washed some clothes but they are taking days to dry in the bathroom. There is a laundry run on Thursday.
I an very tired today – dinner at six then I’ll be back to rest.
Wednesday
Another day - gym session (circuit) then a walk to Leura and back for lunch then an afternoon in the pool. The pool is undercover and very warm and comforting to sore muscles. It has been cool and drizzling/foggy for two days.
Leura is a pretty village like place with lovely gift and specialty shops,cafes and restaurants. Its fairly close to Katoomba which you can glimpse through the clouds on the next ridge to the west. There are beautiful gardens along the route of the walk to town and some absolutely lovely homes.
After 3 days I am feeling a bit fitter but have been taking it fairly slowly as I don't want to get injured - one girl come from NZ and got an injury in her legs which means that for two weeks she can't do much.
Things are settling down a bit as a routine becomes apparent - thankfully the people who have been here last week or for longer help explain how things work and I guess I will be doing the same next week. The group is very supportive of one another and generally friendly.
Each day has had an education session - so far there have been a naturopath (lots of gobblegook) and diet sessions and today a session on trying to understand why you are here and what your goals are which was quite interesting and provoked differing responses from different people.
The resort is actually huge - some mega hotel built sometime ago and its obviously been through a long bad patch with evidence of lack of maintenance. However, the place has been bought out recently and some new money is being spent. There are not too many customers apparent though there have been a few Japanese tour groups stay for the night.
I am glad that I can get onto the internet which works fairly well which allows some contact with the outside world.
I'm not so sore tonight, mainly because the day was lighter overall and I had a long warm soak in the heated pool.
Gosh Thursday already
Different sort of day today - a bit of a sleep in with start time at 8.00am rather than 7.15. After breakfast a seminar to follow up on yesterday about setting goals and understanding why you ended up at a health resort and didn't take better care of yourself at home. Interesting.
After morning tea another circuit session - a bit haphazard but it worked - followed by boxing by the outside pool. Lovely and cool weather.
Lunch was tandoori chicken wrap - tasty.
Most of the group went on a long bush walk but because of my limited mobility I went on a more gentle walk to Sublime Point. What a gorgeous place and the walk to the point was past fabulous rich gardens - obviously very moist - bird aplenty.
The walk was for about 1.5km with some steep stairs at the end which were ok when you have a walking stick and plenty of time.
Friday – more of the same general program. More circuits and more seminar sessions and meagre food – well measured food. It is amazing how your appetite changes when you are eating less.
The evening meal on Friday is a soup – as weigh in day for the week is on Saturday. Lentil and onion (or possibly celery, whatever it was) was fairly undercooked and quite crunchy.
Saturday – circuit session and then a weigh-in to see how we had gone for the week. Everyone lost weight and it seemed that just about everyone had some number at which they were the best – as it turns out I lost most from my hips which was quite unexpected. It was good to actually have some weight loss for the week to make all of the exertion worth it.
Saturday afternoon is free time and for me was mainly just recovering from the week past. I felt exhausted. Watched a movie on the computer as the internet was down.
Sunday tripping to Govett’s Leap.
I didn't finish this blog as the internet was down for the last of my three weeks. Net result was that I lost 10.2kgs in total. I was happy with that but the weight numbers weren't the main game for me. I was fitter and more mobile.
6 months later
It's now August 2011
I have been doing quite well but haven't lost any more weight - I have put a couple of kgs back on but that's not surprising as immediately after the time away I injured my foot limiting mobility and then old habits have been slowly creeping back - I do like red wine. A trip to New Caledonia and visiting French style cake shops didn't help. But I am more conscious of my eating and I have even booked in for another couple of weeks in a months time.
