I promise never to eat poorly or to skip a workout if I don’t have to go back to the Biggest Loser “Resort” ever again…it was hard, to say the least, and a physical challenge that I did not think I would survive.  Read about my daily adventures in my blog at https://kathyhamiltonblog.wordpress.com

Long ago, I did want to be a contestant on “Survivor” and I am a loyal fan of that show, but this seemed worse to me.  Don’t get me wrong, having 3 meals a day with 2 healthy snacks and a dessert prepared for you is amazing.  I loved the healthy food, the beautiful hikes, some of the classes, and the wonderful guests and new friends I made.  I am just so glad to be home and back to my old routine of caring for the family, working on my upcoming events, WORKING OUT, EATING RIGHT, and playing catch up.  I will try to impart all that I learned at the BLR into a summary of notes, but they have indicated I could go to jail for stealing their secrets and since I just feel like I came from jail, I do not want to risk it.  I had a great weekend of gourmet prepared meals, fine wines, and even desserts.  However, it is Monday morning and I am BACK IN THE SADDLE again with my usual commitment to lose weight and drink less fine wine…oh well.  I’ll keep you posted!!!

Things I learned
At the Biggest Loser Ranch
Home workout
Goal is to burn as many calories as possible while getting stronger!
Does not have to be complicated, move faster than you normally do!
1 hour per day is ideal but 10 minutes is plenty of time to BREAK a sweat, breathe
hard and build lean muscle !
Keep heart rate up by running in place or jumping jacks.
Get heart rate up first in beginning of work out and when strength training. Do
jumping jacks squats planks push ups
Work out in total time increments for the week, example is to do 5 hours per week
total. That way when you can only do 10 minutes twice a day add it up. Don’t
stress if you can’t do it every day.
You have to change your routine every 5 to 6 weeks . It keeps your body
guessing. If you have been walking for years you have to change. Do bike, run,
hills, classes. No reading or talking on phone during treadmill!
Mountain is 6 minute uphill or increase in resistance on cardio machine like
treadmill or elliptical. Do 4 mountains increasing every 1 minute for 6 minutes
with rest for 1 minute.
Foreign stress is good, feel things in working out that are outside of your comfort
zone and are not used to.
Sample workout:
Cardio blast first for a few minutes
Then do
3 sets for 30 seconds each
Squats lunge, you can use weights if you want
Core planks – like the beginning of a push up but hold for one minute goal
Push ups even if you can only do a few! Girl style is ok, better than nothing
Burpees are jump down squats to the floor into quick plank and back up
Sit ups – Cameron does not like crunches and does them lower
Bicep curls with weights, if you can do 20 easy then increase weight
Start with high heart rate
Only rest as much as you need we don’t need as much rest.
6 minutes each round is great don’t waste time don’t just walk 3 miles a day !
Use elastic Bands to push and pull add resistance
Be efficient with your time, if you only have a few minutes CRANK it up!
Overall message: if you are going to exercise you need to be efficient with your
time, use multiple resources to keep your body guessing and moving in as many
ways as possible.
What I learned from Ali Vincent: when she was trying to lose she installed a spin
bike at her job and jumped on it during breaks! She also did 13 half marathons
last year, set a goal of 5 k or half marathon.
Challenge yourself you will be amazed what your body can do.
Overload your chest muscles and torch your legs (from Coach Cameron)
Facebook Cameron Klein for more workouts.

Daily meal planning with Rachel
1 day meal planning is good, prep for the week if you can. Shop with a list. Wash
and cut up all fruits and veggies even fruit and berries.
To preserve fruits use small amount of vinegar and water to wash fruits. It is good
for berries.
Cut romaine and wash and spin. Layer in paper towels and this will keep it or use
the green bags from the store for veggies.
Plates!
Split plate with half veggies cooked, consisting of not over cooked non starchy
veggies, then 1/2 cup starch and 4-5 ounces protein. Note that you have to have
protein at every meal. For wine drinkers have no starch or dessert at dinner. Ok to
have at lunch or breakfast with bigger portions because it burns. You can choose
bread or starch but count it in 1500 calories total for weight loss. You must burn
more than 1500 calories. One two hour hike with some uphills can burn over
1000 calories!
A normal person has a standing calorie need of about 1500 calories per day. That
is to maintain your weight with no exercise. Note, one meal of Kung pao chicken
at PF Changs is about 1200 calories or 29 points on weight watchers.
You must pair your carb with protein.
Stress builds up cortisol in your system for years. Cortisol makes you fat.
Don’t ever eat standing up, take a seat. Enjoy food and eat slow. Don’t eat in front
of TV- that translates to mindless eating of massive amounts and you will not be
able to recognize signs of fullness so you won’t stop. This causes hundreds of
more calories to be consumed.
Don’t eat off spouse or kids plates. Three forks of Mac n cheese from your kids
plate is 150 extra calories!
Eat only food from your own plate.
Don’t ever eat out of the container always count it out and put it on a plate.
Ration your snack – we had one sliced apple with 1 tbs of peanut butter for snack
or a banana with peanut butter it was great.
Have one ” off ” meal on the weekend instead of the whole weekend.
Distract yourself if food is your stress comfort. Call a friend, take a walk, read a
magazine or book, get a hobby. Some of these ideas are from Joy Bauer
Drink water before the meal and after not during or your food won’t metabolize
properly. Drink 100 ounces at least daily.
Chew and eat half of your plate of food then stop for 5 minutes. It takes 20
minutes to realize you are full.
Stevia is ok.
Take a multi vitamin ok
Commit to stopping eating at a certain point if your plate is a big one, tell yourself
when you are going to stop.
Bad habits like eating snacks etc replace with good habits like exercise,
shopping, and music.
Rethink food waste from your plate. Your health is valuable and costs more than
the food you toss in garbage or put in a to go bag for later.
Try for 90 percent good behavior and 10 percent cheat on foods you love. But
only 10 percent!
Don’t have a list of NO foods. This has been proven to backfire and not work.
Saturated fats are solid at room temperature like butter,meat, cheese. Limit these
to 7 percent of total daily calories.
Healthy unsaturated fats are in olive oil, salmon, almonds, natural peanut butter,
avocados, they raise good cholesterol.
Trans fats are bad, they are in fried foods like donuts, fries, pie crusts, biscuits,
pizza dough, cookies, crackers, stick margarine, shortening. They raise bad LDL
cholesterol and cause type 2 diabetes Bad Bad. You should have 1 percent max
per day of these fats.
Eat during the early day the biggest meals at breakfast and lunch. For alcohol
don’t have any starch or dessert to replace that part of the 1500 calorie day of
intake calories.
Sodium is 2300 mg or 1 teaspoon total ! Yikes.
Always eat before going to the store so you can really concentrate and look at
labels.
Shoot for 25 carbs per meal approximately if you are on 1500 calories.
All fiber one bars make your stomach upset because it is not natural to have that
much added fiber.
Natural sugars come from dairy and fruits, if it does not say then it is added
sugar.
Yogurt is awful for sugar content. Have plain Greek only.
You don’t have to count sugar if from plant or dairy.
Healthy fruits are ok but don’t overeat fruits and always pair with a protein if
possible.
Eat 25 to 30 protein grams per meal total or your body can’t process.
Peanut butter has hydrogenated oil bad bad. Only natural peanut butter.