My week at an On Track fitness/weight loss/ wellbeing camp...

[TheFoodtheFadandtheFugly]

Day 1:

I am at a camp for the week at a hotel. I arrived this evening and the programme begins tomorrow. I wanted to write about it and was browsing Mumsnet when I thought why not do it here! There might be other people who have been on these things on here. And I want to remember why I came here and that I need to be motivated. I am going to treat this a sort of diary, ignore me if you want!

So:

My weight: I have (as many of us have) been intending for years to lose weight properly. I got down to 12 stone 10 (my goal weight is at least 12 stone to be getting near a healthy weight for my height and build.). At my heaviest I was 15 stone 4 and it showed in photos and in outfits that I could no longer where.

Then a shit year happened of work and all the usual and I went into denial a bit - weighed myself the other week and I was at 14 stone 7. I was appalled, even though I knew perfectly well what and how I had been eating. I have thrown money at the problem and here I am.

Exercise is something I have never been enthusiastic about; that is an understatement. However, as I get older I want to be fitter and learn to exercise properly - not to do with weight loss as I know there is a limited connection, but for the main benefits to long-term physical and mental health as I get older.

Sugar addiction is very real and again something I had only realised and read into in the last few years. The documents I have been given talk about the withdrawal symptoms of caffeine and sugar; it will be interesting to see what the effects are as I have been massively comfort eating and sugary foods are/ have been a routine, though less so recently.

I must remember to push myself and be positive, to get the most out of the week that I can.

Disclaimer: I am not pushing an agenda or trying to sell anything; I am not a blogger or marketing bod. I am just a large person just trying to motivate herself (and sounding like that Four Weddings quote, bah).

Now to make sure I sleep well!

Good luck op, I would love to do something like this!

I always wanted to one of these bootcamp things so very interested in how it goes for you!

out of interest what is their solution re food? low carb. low fat, calorie counting? if you have issues with sugar then i hope its low carb as this helps me with that particular issue.

good luck, reading with interest.

x

Good luck.

So how’s it going op? What are they feeding you? Are you suffering with sugar withdrawal?

How was your first day? I know from the tv show called Sugar Free Farm that the sugar withdrawal can be horrendous. Looking forward to your update.

Day 2:

It has been a full-on day and I am fairly exhausted - I will be going to bed promptly this evening. I wish I knew a coherent order to write this in. Thank you for your encouragement and questions, will do my best to answer.

The day began with an early breakfast of nuts, Greek yoghurt, chia, porridge, etc. There is a guide as to how much of each you are supposed to have, depending on what you choose. We were told this is the "most processed" our meal this week was likely to be.

One of the reasons I joined this particular camp is that it is not one of the militaristic/ discipline one. What appealed was what we were told in our welcome talk was the most important part of the week - the seminars and sessions. We had the first of a series of talks from a nutritionist who described herself as "old school," we talked about the changing understanding of nutrition, myths and, yes, sugar. She called it the charlatan of carbohydrates! Our second session was a goal setting session, which I think I'll post about separately as it was an interesting one, but one that needs thinking through to apply.

Re my suffering from sugar withdrawal I don't think that it has been long enough yet. I think that will definitely start from tomorrow as our exercise intensity continues. I also have something of a diet coke addiction, so I am interested in how having none of that will go too! They fed us a chick pea spicy soup/ broth for lunch (no pudding, obviously), and dinner was chicken with carrots and veg spiralised etc. Probably the only complaint I have so far is that I wish we had been given more green leafy veg, as we have learnt in the nutritionist session how important the plate balance is.

The exercise part of the day was the toughest, though actually enjoyable some ways. We were recommended to start the day with a 30 minute walk before breakfast which I enjoyed. Then it was a fitness assessment with running/ walking/ crawling 1km, sit ups for two minutes and press ups. This was really good as an instant reminder of why I am here and a reality check of my fitness! It also gave me what I am looking for in terms of varying exercises and making them manageable.

We then had a Tabata workout! Something I had never heard of, or done before! Ow! I could feel the impact everywhere. I liked it, and it illustrates the discipline and long-term commitment necessary with these exercises so they build up - not just my version of half-heartedly bouncing along to a youtube video. We have heart beat monitors, so again it was an indication of what pushing myself really looked like! Yet I am aware there were times I did not commit to the full intensity of the exercises as much as I could have done, so that is definitely something to work on for tomorrow. The bubbling water in the hydropool after was amazing! Worth it!

I'll finish with one thought we were given that consistency not motivation is the key - for example, when you wake up and you have set yourself a time in the week for a run. It is better to walk three times a week for an hour etc, than running more but then stop after a month. This was my starting point, and something we discussed in SMART targets in the session, which I will focus on throughout the week.

Anyway, that is very likely more than enough! Boxing and walking tomorrow.

Thanks for the update. I love my diet coke too and would love to give it up but can't. I agree that it's better to find a sustainable form of exercise than one that you only do for a few weeks. Please keep the updates coming as this is something I'd like to do one day so keen to find out how effective it is.

Day three - part one

I have decided to try and do mini-updates instead. I did feel the lack of caffeine this morning, the routine of having it to wake you up. But the breakfast of mushrooms, scrambled egg and rye bread was filling. We have a full range of herbal teas as well.

My muscles feel sore this morning, but I feel good for being more active than usual. We have boxing next so I am going to make sure I have suncream and plenty of water. I have never done boxing before, so this should be interesting!

Hi OP. Thanks for sharing. This is really interesting. Why no caffeine though? I despair!

Caffeine withdrawal is tough - so many of us depend on it to wake ourselves up. Boxing is hard work especially in this heat but a very good upper body exercise. If you don't mind me asking, how much does a week in one of these places cost approximately and can you get your own room or do you have to share?

This is interesting! Couldn't cope w caffeine withdrawal though

Hey OP! How's it going?