Last summer on the way to the airport one early morning, I saw the boot campers.  I thought to myself “that looks fun!”  It took me 9 months to find Milwaukee Adventure Boot Camp, but I am grateful every day that I did.

At the time that I started boot camp I weighed more than I did when I gave birth to my daughter 10 years ago. “I’m so sick of my chub” I would say aloud to my friends and family over and over again. Not only was I unhappy with my weight and general physical fitness, I felt stuck.  Inertia in all areas of my life had set in.

Over the past few years I’ve exercised on and off but never really changed my eating pattern.  Boot camp has changed all that for me. 

Gone is the daily glass (or two) of wine along with the pasta and cheese.  The great thing about my new eating habits is that I’m never hungry.  While eating every 2-3 hours helps, clean eating is also very satisfying in many, many ways.

When I began the Slam Bam Challenge I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to transition to clean eating habits and I was mourning my relationship with Chardonnay.  While I feared failure, I was more afraid of success.  Believing in the process and letting the experience strengthen me from the inside out has been transcending.  I’m happier than I’ve been in years, my confidence has soared and most importantly, I am filled with hope that I will once again “be all that I can be.”

My family loved the pantry raid!  Not only did it force me to clean my cupboards which was cathartic on some strange level, but it reinforced my new commitment to clean eating and the program. 

While I am overweight, my 10-year-old daughter is seriously underweight.  Maggie hung on Catherine’s every word and we realized that we can both eat healthier and fulfill our individual goals of losing and gaining weight.  It’s great to see my kids eat whole what pasta (while I look on in envy) and I feel like a better Mom as they slowly reduce their white flour and sugar intake and increase their intake of veggies.  Maggie has started reading the nutritional breakdown on cereal boxes!

By 7 a.m. every morning after we work out, I feel like a rock star. Most importantly, I would like to express my sincere and heartfelt thanks to Catherine and the Boot Camp Team for changing my life.  I am hoping that this is just the beginning.
 

Here's what one of our Slam Bam contestants has to say about her experiences with battling weight and food cravings. Coach C.

I have enough insight into my eating habits to know that certain behaviors are inspired by what I call my “fat-girl  mentality”. I once talked to a food counselor about my fat-girl mentality and she told me that I should learn to love that fat-girl who is a part of me. I laughed in response, but I thought to myself, “How is that possible?”  Isn’t the fat-girl who I am trying to get away from? How can I possibly learn to love her? She is who I want to forget. She is who I want to change. Is that possible? Will she always be a part of me?

One thing my fat-girl did was every time I was about to make a life-change with my diet, I would eat every favorite bad thing I could get my hands on…pizza, cookies, cupcakes, muffins, French fries, burgers, cheese (and lots of it) etc. I felt like I may never have them again so I had to eat all of it until I felt sick to make sure that I would not miss them. The funny thing is that it only made me want them more the following day. I found it more on my mind which made my new diet plan even harder.

If I ate something that tasted good and made me feel pleasure, than I ate it until there was no more regardless of my level of satiety. My fat-girl would think, “This tastes SO good and I don’t know if I will ever have it again. I want to enjoy this as long as I can.” The problem is that this thinking happened often even if it was something that I could eat again just by going back to the store and buying more.

The opposite was true as well. If something did not taste as good as I would expect it to taste, such as a burger or fries, then I would keep eating it thinking that the next bite would be better. When that bite would not satisfy me, I would try again. Next thing I would know, my plate would be clean and I would think as I was coming out of some sort of trance, “Why did I eat that whole thing? It wasn’t that good and it was not worth the calories.” Sometimes I would have to make up for my foolish waste of calories by eating a dessert that WOULD be worth the calories.

My “fat-girl” really was a nuisance every time I tried to diet. I would get beyond the above bad behaviors, but then I would walk around thinking “I can’t have this and I can’t have that.” My focus was on my will-power against the “can’ts” and as with each “I can’t” that I successfully avoided, my feeling of deprivation grew stronger. I would try to ease this feeling by telling myself that when I reached my goal, I could eat it again. My “fat girl” would then be satisfied and start making the list of all the things she would eat once my diet was over. Obviously this ended in failure as my fat girl would come out like a bear after hibernation looking for her first meal. I had reached my goal weight and any food was fair game. I could eat anything now because I was skinny. That is my “fat girl”.

This time around, I have been more successful at eliminating the fat-girl and not falling victim to her by taking a healthier approach and not telling myself “I can’t” and planning on what I will do once I reach my goal weight. I thought I had eliminated her and that the counselor had been wrong. I did not need to learn to love her, because she was no longer a part of me.

That all changed after a trip to Costco. I went to buy some produce, and as I was exiting the produce refrigerator, I realized that I was (by no mistake) staring at the bakery. I had this overwhelming urge to buy the package of 2-dozen chocolate-chip cookies and go home and eat them all. I know I would feel horrible afterward and I would learn my lesson and never do it again. What made it even more tempting is that I had a fraction of that pleasurable feeling that I would get for the 10-seconds that it took me to eat something bad. I told myself “no” and took a few more steps and saw a chocolate cake. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I thought about buying that and eating the whole thing! Then I started thinking, if I was going to do that, I might as well buy the cookies too.

By this time, I was white-knuckling my cart so that my hands would not reach out to pick up any of these items. I averted my eyes and walked as fast as I could out of that section. As I moved away, I was horrified at what I had thought.  I became aware that the “fat-girl” was still there and always would be there. Maybe the counselor was right. Maybe I had to learn to love her because she is a part of who I am. I realized that the struggle I had that night would never go away, but maybe if I loved my “fat-girl” it might become an easier battle. Now, I just have to figure out how to love her.
 

Sunday was our second group meeting, and I am pleased that Jennifer Pelot Rysewyk, one of the Milwaukee Moms’ winners, has agreed to give you an update on her experience so far. – Read on! Coach C.

When I entered and won entrance into the SLAM BAM Challenge, I had no idea what I was in for.  I certainly had no idea that I’d be waking up at 5 am, gagging down a protein shake, and getting myself to boot camp on time every weekday morning.

These past 3 weeks have been intense, to say the least.  I went from eating whatever I wanted, and calling going up two flights of stairs to my office my “daily exercise”, to working out harder than I have since high school and eating an extremely healthy diet.  After just 3 weeks, I am still struggling because I know just how far I have yet to go to reach my goals, and it really scares me.  But I’m also enjoying being able to see accomplishment and success in every day. 

Each day the healthy eating gets a little easier, I am a little bit stronger, the intensity of it all scares me a little less, and I find I'm becoming a happier person than I’ve been in years.  It’s so much more than I dreamed could happen in just 3 weeks.  I can’t wait to see what happens after 3 months!

It has officially begun - the journey of a lifetime for the MABC (Milwaukee Adventure Boot Camp) Slam BAM Body and Mind Transformation Challenge contestants. Ten local Milwaukee ladies decided it was time to REALLY get serious about making their health and fitness a priority in 2009 - oh yeah and to change their bodies AND minds!

On March 8^th, we met informally to do weigh-ins and measurements. We discussed the many things each contestant should expect over the next 12 weeks, answered questions and consoled fears.  With any big decision, there is fear and anxiety involved...

• Can I do this?
• Am I strong enough?
• Do I have what it takes to really change my life?
• Am I too old, fat, out of shape to make these changes?

We heard it all at our first support group meeting and discussion. All the contestants left that meeting with a customized meal plan in their hands and were feeling empowered, excited, hopeful and ready for the next challenge (the first one of course was the "before" picture taken that first day)!

Fast forward three weeks as we prepare for our second weigh-in this coming Sunday (3/29).  We have already had many contestant successes including: losing three pants sizes, gaining more energy, sleeping better, and experiencing less food cravings than ever before. Can you believe it? In just three shorts weeks, lives are already being changed for the better. But we have just scratched the surface Slam BAM followers. Just wait!

I tell the contestants to trust the process - if you do and you EXPECT great results, they will happen. As my grandmother (she is from West Virginia) would say...."hide and watch and see what happens!"

Until next time - Coach C