I'm back! Who is this girl?

Well, have you missed us posting? I was just thinking about this blog and thought it would be nice to update it. Here is a little Nikky update from the past few months.

Who is this girl? I am now the girl that goes to the YMCA multiple times a day during her MEA vacation. I shop in only two sections of the grocery store (produce and meat). I say no to committing to things that would not allow me to attend my favorite classes at the gym. I organize my day around meals and exercise. I have more energy for my students. I am happier.

This is just a brief summary of how much I have changed since starting this journey in June. Yes, there are times when things do not go so well or when I choose to not follow the plan (darn wine!). There are weeks when I am overwhelmed or just tired from this journey and want to take a break. HOWEVER, I have experienced success and it is addicting! I have an amazing support system in Austin that makes the day-to-day struggles not so bad. I have recruited great friends to join me at the gym and make better choices when I go out. I have found an amazing faith community that encourages my gift and draws me nearer to God. I know that the Lord is my ultimate priority and I am still working on giving the control over to Him daily.

So, what does a typical week look like? I am posting this mostly to encourage anyone that would like to join us at the Y or maybe just needs motivation to get off the couch.
Monday - Deep Water Aerobics
Tuesday/Thursday - Cycling and Kickboxing
Wednesday - PiYo and Kickboxing (really early in the morning!)
Friday-Cyclebox
Saturday - Cycling
Sunday - DAY OF REST:)

Are you up for the challenge? I love each one of these classes and it helps so much to have the motivation of the instructors. Cycling has been an amazing workout and each time I have a total "Biggest Loser" sweat dripping on the floor moment! I am still sticking to the food plan consisting of 5 meals a day and using the guidelines I learned from my time at Fitness North.

Goals? My ultimate goal is still pretty far away but I will share some short term goals. I would like to lose 19 more pounds by Christmas and 40 more pounds by April 1. I would love for you to pray for me because I know there will be temptations and busy concert schedules. I will try and keep you updated on the progress in the next few months.

Happy Fall!
Blessings,
Nikky

Results

Sorry to make you wait so long! It has been a crazy few days and we are still trying to adjust to being home. Here are the short and sweet results from our time at Fitness North.

Nikky - 39lbs and 17 inches
Camille - 37lbs and 18.25 inches

We will continue to update our blog so stay tuned for more exciting adventures!

Nikky and Camille

Day 27 and 28

I am writing this post from the comfort of my couch in (drum roll please!).....Austin! Let me go back to Saturday and tell you what we did. The morning started with our official weigh out and measurements. Then we had pancakes, blueberries, and turkey sausage for breakfast. Can you believe it?! It was so good but not many of us could finish our plates. Then we loaded into a van and traveled to Duluth where we went to a Zumba class on the beach. I loved every minute! Camille was a little out of her element but you should have seen her wicked moves (wink, wink)!:) Then we went down to Canal Park and rented some bikes. These were not your normal bikes. They had four seats and sets of pedals, two in front and two in the back. They looked so easy but we soon found out they were much harder than they seemed. At one point we had to pull over because we were laughing so hard when a runner passed our bike. It was a great final celebration and we had a ton of fun. The afternoon was filled with packing and exit meetings. The grand finale included celebrating Sheryl's birthday by throwing her a little party. We also presented Leif and Kelly with some gifts. We even listed all our favorite Leif quotes from our time at Fitness North. We laughed a lot and it brought back many great memories. After the staff left we played a couple of hands of cards before going to bed (after dark!). The morning brought many goodbyes and even some tears. Camille and I could not believe that we were actually leaving. We made it! We had a wonderful drive to the cities with Kelly and talked a ton about our time at Fitness North. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone but we know that we are ready to continue this journey at home. I promise we will post our results when Camille comes back to Austin and we can share it together. They are quite amazing and we are so proud.

Hope you're sitting on pins and needles!
Nikky and Camille

Day 26...IT"S FRIDAY!!!

I can't believe that today is day 26 and it is FRIDAY!!! It is our last unofficial workout day because tomorrow is fun day!!  We started off with a 2 hour pool workout.  Then we went back to the dreaded ballroom.  I know that I told you I had retired the ballroom, but they didn't ask my opinion...go figure.  So we started out with some core and then Leif had a surprise for us.  He has set up 10 cards of Tyson squats.  For those of you that don't know what a Tyson squat is here you go:  you go up to the first card and squat down to pick it up, then you go to the next card and squat down and put the first card down and then squat down to pick them back up again one at a time.  In other words 10 cards = 100 squats.  He asked for five volunteers and Nikky, Tara, Allyson, Camille and myself volunteered.  We all did it and then the rest of the group did it as well.  I had been mentally preparing for this day so I tried 15 cards and I did it!! That is 225 squats for those of you that wanted to know.  Then Devil Boy (Leif) made us run up and down the stairs 5 times.  Is he CRAZY!! I couldn't even feel my legs.  Then we continued to do core training and then step aerobics with the Bosu ball.  We had one more round of Bosu ball and I asked if I could do Tyson Squats instead, I hate that darn bosu ball.  So I ended up doing 10 more cards.  Which is another 100 squats!!  Do the math everyone, that is 325 squats for me today.  My legs will feel it in the morning.  Don't worry though we were not done yet.  Leif had some more torture up his sleeve for us.  He was preparing for Devil Boy Terrors (That is where you get in the plank position and have to push a 20lb kettle ball across the floor of the ball room).  He was pretty excited to make us do these. But we had a surprise for him...last week the winners of the Ultimate game in the pool were granted a VETO.  This meant we could veto one exercise we didn't want to do.  We decided to play our VETO card and not to the devil boy terrors.  I think Leif was disappointed he couldn't make us do them, but a  deal is a deal.  Instead we ran 5 suicides with a 20lb kettle ball in each hand.  Beats having to do Devil Boy Terrors.  Then we did 5 more suicides with no kettle bells and then WE RETIRED THE BALLROOM!!!  YEAH!!!

This afternoon we went to the gym for about 100 minutes.  We even had a little extra time to stimulate the economy of Two Harbors.  We did a little shopping at a few cute shops downtown.  After two we were pretty tired and had to go home and cook dinner.  We are now going to bed so we can get up at 6am for our final weigh in and measurements.  I can't wait to find out my results tomorrow.  Stay tuned on Sunday and we will post them for you.  Hopefully it stops raining so we can Zumba on the beach tomorrow.

God Bless,
Camille and Nikky

Day 25...To the Lighthouse!

Well today we started out a little earlier than usual because Nikky, Camille C. and I decided to walk to the lighthouse and the tugboat.  Nikky was so excited because this was her goal for our morning walk since the first week and she did it!! I am so proud of her!! Here are the pictures to prove it:

Then we drove to Hermantown and went to Jill's 4UFitness.  We did a spin class, some kickboxing and kettle bell training with Jill and Danielle.  They are awesome and we are going to practice our TRX planks and come back to visit them when we can hold them for one minute.  Don't worry Jill, we will be back:)  We got back to Two Harbors and had a gym workout after that.

Tonight we ventured down to the hot tub...first time all month.  We spent about an hour and a half there and then made the trek back up the stairs.  It was well worth it though.  We are looking forward to tomorrow being over so we can have our fun day on Saturday.  If the weather is nice we are going to Zumba on the beach...YEAH!!

                                                   All of the cards we have received in the mail!!

We want to thank all of you that have sent us cards in the mail.  It is truly a highlight of our day.  Even  our roommates get excited for us.  We are so blessed to have such good family and friends.  You are all such a blessing in our lives and we couldn't do this without you.  Thanks for all of the texts, facebook messages, and phone calls too.  You are all AMAZING and we love you tons!!  Can't wait to see you all soon and continue our journey with the love and support of those around us. 

God Bless,
Camille and Nikky

Day 24...Where Am I?

Is it Sunday yet??  No, but we are one day closer.  Today started out as usual with our morning walk and pool workout.  We see the same guy on our walk every morning, I wonder if he will miss us next week?  Then we had our circuit day in the ballroom.  Leif was so nice he made our rounds 90 seconds instead of 60...it is amazing how much harder those last 30 seconds can be.   I am hoping that was our last day in the ballroom, but if the weather doesn't hold out I am fearing I might have to go back on Friday.  I don't know if I can run one more suicide!!

Then came the afternoon hike.  We had some injuries, blisters, family emergencies and a few other reasons that a few people had to stay back and only 4 of us went on the hike.  So Leif, Kelly, and the four of us loaded up and took off for our hike.  Let me start out by telling you all how sore and tired my legs were before I started this hike.  It was supposed to be a loop, but loop it did not.  It was an uphill climb (I felt like I was rock climbing) and I didn't think my legs were going to make it.  We walked through ankle deep mud, over rocks, through forests, and then I started to get a little worried because we were walking along the river and we walked uphill so much we weren't even by that anymore.  No one really knew where we were so we stuck to the trail.  I got excited when I saw a man walking toward us.  I asked him if the parking lot was close by and he said, "I don't know I came from Canada. I have been hiking for 17 days."  WHAT!!! Where am I going and how am I going to get out of here.  After trudging uphill through mud and rock we finally got to the top of the mountain.  We thought we were almost to the parking lot, but we looked down and way off in the horizon we saw our vehicle sitting in the parking lot.  I felt like one of the Von Trap family climbing the mountains out of Austria. Only I was heading to Canada.  We just kept walking and eventually found a trail that went down.  We made it to the highway and walked that back to our car.  I have never been so happy to see a highway in my life.  I did consider hitchhiking back to Austin, but I figured I got this far I might as well finish.  My legs are killing me and I am trying to be nice to my feet so I have given them their own pillow.  I am trying to sweet talk them into surviving 3 more days. 

Tomorrow is another day closer to Sunday so I am going to head to bed and dream about Sunday.

Camille and Nikky

Day 23 - Could this really be our last leg day?

Hello family and friends! Well, this morning started with our normal walk except for one thing...Kelly made me her special project for today! She is our wellness coach and is just about the happiest person I have ever met. She kept challenging my speed by walking ahead of me so I had no choice but to keep up. Our normal walk is about 3.4 miles but there are also "excursions" you can take to the lighthouse and the tug boats. Last week I made it to the tug boats with Leif  but it took me a little longer than 1 hour. Today (with Kelly's push!) I made the entire route with time to spare. Yay me! My goal is to hit both by the end of the week. We then had our pool workout with no deck jumps because we had worked our arms so hard the day before. Isn't Leif nice?:) We then went to the ballroom for the last day of leg circuits - well, at least Camille was trying to negotiate it to be our last! I think the reason why we hate leg days is because every day seems like a leg workout with all the walking we do. Our legs are sore before we even start! We completed nine flights of stairs, 20 wall sits, mountain climbers, all sorts of lunges, squats, and many other things that make our legs cry out in pain. Camille was even asking the maintenance guys for rides home. They just told her she could make it. I think Fitness North has brainwashed them too! Our last circuit was suppose to be 60 seconds at each station but Leif decided if two of us could hold a wall sit for two minutes we could change it to 30 seconds. Four of us volunteered and we all succeeded! Camille and I were so proud that our legs could hold out for that long. It was awesome! We also ran a couple relays and suicides before the torture was finally over. We ended with ab work and a cool down walk on the beach. It is so nice outside today! It finally feels like summer. The afternoon with split with some of us going to Gooseberry for a hike and some staying back to use the gym. Camille was lucky enough to go on the hike and I was stuck trying to give my hamstring a break by working the gym for 2 hours.

We appreciate the support from everyone reading our blog. The comments, facebook messages, emails, and phone calls are so awesome. We received at ton of cards today! It was such a wonderful surprise and we treasured all of the encouragement. It was needed! Our time at Fitness North is coming to a close but this is only the start. Even though we won't be working out 8 hours a day we will continue to update you on our journey and progress. You are all awesome! THANK YOU!!!!

Until tomorrow,
Nikky and Camille

Day 22 - Monday's at Fitness North are over!

Monday. Done. Check. No more Monday's at Fitness North! As much as we love it here we are happy to be in our last week at Fitness North. Today was a pretty normal schedule. We went on our walk and morning pool time. Then we went to the ballroom where Leif had set-up a wonderful arm circuit for us to conquer our way through. We even had a surprise visit from O'Neil! It was fun to see him for a short time. He is always motivating! Our arms took a beating and we even had energy to run a few relays. Camille's bear crawl is the funniest thing I have ever seen! She wiggles her way down so fast that no one can ever catch up:) True talent! In the afternoon we went to the gym because of the threat of rain. Neither Camille or I was upset by the lack of hike (shocking!). We completed 2 hours of cardio and even had some one-on-one time with Leif. He was able to challenge our arms even more! Now it is almost 6:30pm and we are both laying in bed with the same tired look and aching bodies. This is something we will not miss at home! I look forward to laying down and not having my legs feel like they are on fire. What wonderful dreams!

Until tomorrow,
Nikky and Camille

Days 20 & 21...I take back what I said about hiking

Saturday - Day 20

So today we had a two hour pool workout that ended in an intense game of Ultimate.  Of course it was all about the sport of playing and the exercise we were getting from the workout so the winners and losers were not important.  Since I am not competitive at all I will say that we all had fun and that was the main idea...Yeah right, you all know me and I was pretty excited that my team won!!

Then our director, Sheryl, thought it would be fun to pack a lunch and go hiking all day.  Not my idea of fun, but no one asked me of course.  Nikky's hamstring was not being nice to her so she stayed back and did a 4 hour workout on the Nu-Step machine. Doesn't sound like much more fun than hiking.  So we started hiking the Cascade Falls.  Of course there were a ton of steps and the waterfall was pretty nice.  Then we kept walking and Katie and I ventured out on our own and we were supposed to meet at a bridge and then turn around.  After walking a while we ended up walking through the enchanted forest and ankle deep in mud we decided we had missed the bridge.  So in order to make it back where everyone else was we had to double time it back and that included jogging most of the way back.  We were pretty tired after that hike.  But low and behold they had another hike for us.  For fun we decided to hike up Oberg Mountain and then stop at the top and eat lunch.  The mosquitoes were awful, but we made it to the top and ate then started to head down.  Things were going pretty well when I suddenly stepped down on a rock, twisted my ankle and fell hard to the ground.  I will admit I said a few choice words when I was on the ground.  My leg was bleeding pretty good and my friend Jenn tried to wash it off with water from her camel back.  I decided it wasn't going to get better so I just got up and started walking again.  I left a blood trail for those behind us in case they got lost.  When we got to the bottom they had another surprise for us, ANOTHER HIKE!!!  I take back what I said about hiking, it is my arch enemy once again.  So we started walking and we felt like we were walking up hill the whole time and then we got to the mountain climb.  I was pretty sore, exhausted and I didn't think I could possibly make it.  I will say I shed a few tears but I kept walking so that no one would see.  It was a pretty intense moment.  They are right when they say that your mind will shut down before your body ever does.  I was mentally shutting down, but my body kept going.   We made it to the top and then made our way back down.  After 3 1/2 hours of hiking, a bloody leg, and a twisted ankle they decided that we still needed to fit in one more hour of cardio on our own when we got back.  We weren't very happy (that is and understatement) but we did it anyway.
But then we went back to get massages last night.  They were unbelievable!! After that we came back and had another fun game of hand and foot (card game).  All in all it was a good day.  Oh and we got 4 letters today which completely made our day that much better! Thanks Dawn, Jamie and Mom you guys are great!!

Sunday-Day 21  Sunday=Fun Day

We have decided that we would like more Sundays in a week.  We love our rest and recovery day!! We were weighed this morning at 6am.  We still don't know our results, but we will find out next weekend.  Then in the afternoon we decided to go to Duluth.  Our friends Camille and Sharon needed new shoes so Nikky and I took them to the Duluth Running Co.  our favorite shoe store.  Sharon (who will be 69 in August) needed some shoes that didn't have a high heal on them.  So we convinced her to buy a new pair.  She got the same pair that I got two weeks ago and now we are going to be twins.  Since Nikky and I didn't need any workout shoes we decided to try on the Fivefingers shoes.  They are the shoes that have a place for each toe.  They are supposed to be really good for building strength in your feet and legs.  They look kind of funny when you wear them, which made me fall in love with them right away.  Nikky loved them as well.  They feel like you are barefoot, but they have grip on the bottom. You can wear them in the water, walking, hiking, running, or anywhere.  I ended up buying a fun blue pair and our friend Camille bought a black pair.  Nikky wanted a black pair, but they didn't have that color in her size so she is going to order some later.  Instead she got a cool pair of shoes that are just like them without the toe separation that are black and hot pink. They are awesome!  We then headed to Target to get a few more band-aids and some other essentials. 
When we got back we met our new roommate Allyson.  She is very nice.  We also met Jill our new next door neighbor who also seems very nice.  We are now getting ready for bed so that we can get through our LAST MONDAY here at Fitness North.  YEAH~~~

Camille and Nikky

Day 19...Way Down Yonder in theTettegouche

Well, another day bites the dust.  Thank goodness because that makes my countdown that much smaller.  We started out the day by going on our morning walk by the lighthouse.  I have been working myself into a wog for some of it.  For those of you not familiar with a wog it is a mix between a walk and a jog.  Too slow for others to really know you are jogging, but fast enough for your lungs to scream out in pain after too much of it.  My goal has been to run up the hills for the past two weeks.  Today I started to run more intervals and walk and wog the entire way.  It is a start for me:)  Then we had our pool workout and breakfast.  As a fun surprise we went to the ballroom for some cardio. We did some Indian runs.  For those of you not sure what this is we get in a line and walk while passing a medicine ball over our heads to the person behind us and then the last person in lines runs it to the front and we continue while walking around the resort complex.  I am sure people watching us got a pretty good laugh.  Then we ran some stairs and did some crazy relay races.  We even had to do a relay race where we had to bear crawl.  The bear crawl is where you walk with your hands and feet on the ground and butt high in the air.  That had to be a pretty funny sight too.  Our trainer, Leif, likes to come up with new evil exercises for us to do.  We think that he dreams them up in his nightmares and last night must have been quite the nightmare because he made us do "Devil Boy Terrors", (that is what Jenn named them because we call Leif Devil Boy).  We had to get in the plank position (on our hands and feet with knees off the ground) and push a 20lb weight while trying to maneuver our bodies forward.  It was CRAZY!!

This afternoon we went on a hike at the Tettegouche.  I want you to know that the first 2 weeks I was here I despised hiking.  Everyone told us how beautiful the scenery was and all I said is "I can see that in a picture."  I hated hiking!! Don't tell my trainers here, but I am starting to see why people like hiking.  It is still exhausting, but I am not keeling over wanting to die so I am able to take in a little bit of the nature around me.  Today we went up to the High Falls at the Tettegouche and saw a beautiful waterfall with a rainbow.  Then we decided to hike down to the bottom of the high falls to see if we could find the gold at then end of the rainbow.  What do you know, there was no gold at the end of the rainbow so we had to go all the way back up the stairs to keep hiking.  My legs were not happy with me.  Then we went to the two step falls.  Let me tell you they should rename that trail to the 200 step falls because that is about how many steps we climbed to see them.  It was a muddy, wet walk with  a lot of stairs, but I survived.  I will post pictures later. 

Can't wait til tomorrow is over because we are getting another massage.  It is what gets me through the week. The thought of a massage.  There are four of us going tomorrow our roommate, Camille, is coming too.  Yes you read that right we have another Camille living with us.  It is pretty crazy to have two Camille's in a group of only 11 women.  She is AWESOME though and I love having her around! 

Till tomorrow,
Camille and Nikky

To my left hamstring

Dear Left Hamstring,
It has come to my attention that you are still very angry with me. For over two weeks you have been screaming at me and I am not appreciating the bullying that you seem to dish out every day. I wake up every morning hoping that you will survive the day but there has only been a few days where you have lasted through all the workouts without bringing me to tears. I know you would like a break (and I am sure the rest of my body would agree with you!) but we are here until July 3. Suck it up buttercup! I have treated you well at night - gave you ice and even a massage! Please consider healing before Monday. I have one week left and I would really like to kick some butt instead of having you be a pain in mine.

Sincerely,
Nikky

Day 17 and 18

Sorry for not posting yesterday. We didn't have much to write about since the day was pretty much like Tuesday. The rain is still coming down but the chance for sunshine tomorrow looks pretty good. With all the rain we have not been able to take our morning walks (replaced with extended pool time) or afternoon hike (replaced by 2 hours on cardio machines in the gym!). We started this morning with our pool workout where I am sure that we did over 1,000 deck jumps...well, at least over 100:) Then we when to the ballroom where Leif had graciously set-up 24ish stations for us to continue the torture on our legs. Five of the stations featured wall sits. A wall sit uses a medicine ball and a sturdy wall (we might have tried on a fake wall - not good!). You lean on the ball against the wall and squat down so your knees are bent at 90 degrees and hold that position for 60 seconds (or longer!). Sounds easy right? Try it! Doing 10 of these was quite the workout for our legs and that does not even include any of the other stations! Our time in the ballroom ended with some farmer suicides. It is amazing to me that Leif could make us hate suicides even more but it is possible - just add 20 pounds in each hand! After lunch we drove to Hermantown to visit the lovely and extremely tough Jill at 4-U Fitness. We were there for 2.5 hours and completed an hour cycling class and a TRX/Kettle bell workout. If that was not enough we also did a short kick boxing session at the end. I think we all left feeling just a little (or a lot!) exhausted.

We must say that this journey is starting to take its mental toll on our brains. It is intense and we can't even remember what it was like when our bodies didn't hurt this much. The staff is wonderful and our roommates are awesome. Please pray for refreshed minds as we continue on our journey. The Lord is faithful and we are going to need His strength to get us through the next two days.

Maybe our hidden superhero powers will kick-in soon....

Until tomorrow,
Nikky and Camille

Day 16 - Leg Day!

Hello! I am writing you this post from a very very windy North shore! The waves are crashing and we had to cancel the hike this afternoon because of all the rain. No worries, they had other ways to keep us busy:) The morning started with our usual walk and pool workout. Then we went to the ballroom and enjoyed (yeah right!) our leg circuits which include many lunges and squats. It is still very tough and both Camille and I are counting down the "leg" days. After legs we had a core workout which included our favorite exercise - planks! Camille was even fortunate enough to have Kelly sit on her for awhile:) Then the real fun began. Leif set up cones for relays and we proceeded to run (yes, run!) suicides. Since we were doing SO well, he also decided to add crunches, burpies, and jumping jacks at each cone. Our workout area is all carpet so there are occasionally times when people will trip. Guess who tripped today? Camille! I must say when she fell she remembered her volleyball days and tucked and rolled. It was a perfect 10! We were kicking some serious butt and running much faster than we ever had before. I am sure the hotel was wondering what was happening because we kept cheering for our teams at the top of our lungs. All in all it was a very successful day. The afternoon was not as eventful because of the rain we had to spend the time doing our cardio at the gym. We survived and thrived today!

The days are not getting easier and we thought we would send a little challenge to all our family and friends. Not only do we want you all to eat healthier and exercise more but we would love to have some letters of encouragement. Camille has received two cards (from the same wonderful person!) and they are the highlight when they arrive. So we are putting our address just in case any of you would like to send some notes of encouragement our way. We would love it and it might make the tough days just a little brighter! No pressure but I know at least our mom's will read this and send us one;) Thanks for being on our journey. Your prayers are felt and we are very blessed to be here every day.

Until tomorrow,
Nikky and Camille

Address
Superior Shores
c/o Nikky or Camille
1521 Superior Shores Drive
Two Harbors, MN 55616

Day 15...Monday AGAIN!!

So we started our 3rd week today.  We started our Monday with a morning walk.  All of the newbies were wide eyed and bushy tailed at the beginning of the day.  Then we did our pool workout and arms were our morning circuit.  Everyone was pretty tired by lunch time.  We ate and then headed to Split Rock for our afternoon hike.  I was walking with one of the new girls Katie.  She is athletic and has a long stride.  My short legs take two or three steps to her one.  We hiked to the top of the  Day Trail (again) and then Katie and I did some off-tracking and exploring.  It wasn't too bad until we found the 123 stairs.  We walked down them, but then had to walk back up them.  The newbies who walked with Leif and Kelly ended up getting an extra 1/2 hour hike because Leif was feeling pretty spunky on their first day and I think we wore them all out.  They are now walking like those of us that have been here 2 weeks.  For those of you old enough, remember the Carol Burnett Show?  The lady that played the little old lady that shuffled when she walked, remember her? That is what we all look like when we walk now.  I am officially counting down though.  11 more days of exercising until we come home...

Camille and Nikky

Days 13 &14

Well our weekend is nearing a close so I will fill you in on what we did.  On Saturday we had our usual morning walk and pool workout with an extreme game of Ultimate.  It was pretty fun.  I am not competitive at all (this is Camille here) but my team did win! Then we had a surprise and we got to go to the gym for a 90 minute cardio workout and then a 1/2 hour of Leif training and abs.  We were so excited to give up our free time that we had last week to get in one more workout.  Do you hear the sarcasm? And if that wasn't enough we drove up to Tofte, MN and climbed a mountain.  Really it was the Oberg Mountain Loop.  We did finish it in 1 hour and 20 minutes as a group though.  Then we ended our day with a trip to Pamida and a fun game of hand and foot card game.  We felt like real people because we actually stayed up until 10pm.  That is the first time in 2 weeks!!

Then on Sunday we got weighed at 6am.  They won't tell us our results this week.  Oh well just more to look forward to next week.  Then we were off to our massages.  We went to a place called Massage by the Lake.  Here is the website. http://www.massagebythelake.com/ It was an absolutely amazing experience.  We even scheduled one for next Saturday night after our workout.  I can get through one more week if I have that to look forward to.  Then we came back and had pizza for our roommate Jenn's birthday.  It was amazing.  Here are a few pics

 

Then we took our afternoon naps and then had dinner and orientation with our new roommates.  There are 8 new ladies that our going to start their journey here at Fitness North.  We are excited for all of them as well as excited for the new challenges and obstacles that we will conquer in the next two weeks.

So here is to another full week of exercise:)

Camille and Nikky

Day 12...To Beaver Bay!!

We're Shrinking!! Look at how much we have shrunk already!!

Ha, ha, ha, this is a picture of Nikky and I after we finished our walk from Split Rock to Beaver Bay.  It was about a 6 mile walk.

Here is me when I finally reached Beaver Bay...Just wanted to take a picture to prove I made it.

Here is Nikky:)

So for the rest of the day.  We walked our almost 4 mile hike this morning and then had an hour pool workout and then we went to the gym for 90 minutes of cardio on the machines.  My butt still hurts from spin biking yesterday and then I did it again today for 30 minutes.  In the afternoon we went to Split Rock and then walked to a nearby town, Beaver Bay.  My legs are so glad that the day is over.  Tomorrow is Saturday and then it is our massage day!! YEAH!! I am sad that we will be losing two of our roommates on Sunday, but our friend Jenn is here one more week and we are already planning our Fitness North 7 reunions.  These people are awesome and I know that we will be friends for a long time to come.

I hope you all are having a great summer.  I miss seeing all of your smiling faces!

Camille and Nikky

Day 11..Spin class and TRX training

Hey! Nikky here:) We have conquered yet another day. They don't seem to be getting much easier, but I guess that is what we paid for:)  Today we started out with a two hour pool workout. They are always pretty intense and we did a lot of swimming with no legs to assist today.  It seemed so much easier when I was little.  I encourage you all to try swimming with a pool weight between your legs up and down the pool. We drank a LOT of pool water! Then we had an hour of bosu/step arobics in the ballroom and then an hour cardio at the gym.  The afternoon was a little different. We ventured to Hermantown were we went to 4-U Fitness. It is owned by a wonderful (and spunky!) woman named Jill. We were all a little scared because we were told that we would be doing an hour spin class and also an hour of TRX. Jill had called in one of her cycling teachers (who was awesome!) and he led us through the class. I think our whole group could agree that we have never actually dripped sweat on the floor before. It was a total Biggest Loser moment that we all watch on TV! There was grunting and sweat going everywhere but we made it through. Then we had an introduction to TRX. TRX uses straps that are hung from the ceiling or wall. You use your body weight to do many of the exercises that we had been doing with weights before. It is amazing how hard it is! Here is the link incase you want to check it out. http://www.trxtraining.com/

Today was one of the first days where I actually said "I have nothing left". It was tough and there were times when tears were shed because I just felt so weak. It is a struggle when your body does not do what you desire it to. This process is emotional and I know we both are just taking it one day at a time...or in some cases a minute at a time!

Love you all!
Until tomorrow,
Nikky and Camille

Day 10...Much better day:)

Okay it's me (Camille) again.  Before I tell you about our day today I have to tell you the best part of yesterday.  On our hike we did a little off-roading and we were walking down this steep path when I stepped onto a rock and lost my footing.  I went to grab something and there wasn't anything there.  Jenn (who was in front of me) screamed and I started falling.  It was a pretty good drop off and I could have ended up in lake Superior where, according to Jenn, I could have gasped to death.  That is what she says can happen if your body hits cold water and you can't catch your breath.  Thank goodness for a friendly tree who broke my fall and scratched my arm up pretty good in the process.  I got back up as soon as I could and started walking.  Sunshine, aka Kelly, asked if I was okay and I had to keep walking and say that I was fine because I didn't want to look like it hurt.  But I will tell you all...it did!  I have the scratches to prove it in the picture above.  They look much worse in real life (am I getting any sympathy yet:).

OK, now on to Day 10.  I woke up with a  much better attitude today.  Being grumpy is just too much work so I decided I am done being grumpy.  We started off with a two hour pool workout.  We even got to use pool dumbbells. Boy are they fun!! It is hard keeping them underwater to do the exercises, but it adds a whole new element to our pool workouts.  Then we had our circuit training today for 2 hours.  They cut it a little short because of the exhausting day we had yesterday.  It was still pretty tough.  I think at this point my muscles are so tired that anything is a little difficult.  It was a good circuit though.  In the afternoon it was cold, wet and raining so we drove over to Hermantown and did a kickboxing class.  Oh boy, that is a workout!! It was a good change of pace though.  Tomorrow the forecast calls for more rain so rumor is we are going to do a spin class and something called TMX.  Not sure what that is all going to be like, but I think that not knowing at this point might be better than knowing. 

We had our favorite dinner tonight: Turkey loin sauteed on the stove with veggies and then our cauliflower mashed potatoes. Those are the cauliflower that tastes better than mashed potatoes.  All is well here and we are one more day closer to meeting our goals.  We are also one day closer to Sunday when we have scheduled our end of the week reward for ourselves...massages!!! We are so excited.  Just a little something to look forward to at the end of another week.  We will have to think of another reward for the next Sunday...any suggestions?

Well, thanks again for all of your support, words of encouragement and prayers.  They are definitely helping get us through this.  We are so blessed to have you as family and friends and we know that with your support we can accomplish anything.  YOU ARE ALL THE BEST!!

Love,
Camille and Nikky

Day 9...Really it's only day 9!?!?!

Okay, Camille is posting this blog because she is excited she is still here (that was almost not the case earlier today).  Let me rewind and tell you about our day.  Nikky is still dealing with her sore hamstring and I now have a pain in my left ankle.  It feels like it is in the bone but I don't know.  So we started off walking our morning route from our house to our normal route place.  It was a little slower for me than usual, but I finished.  Then we had our pool workout.  Our favorite part were the deck jumps in the deep end of the pool (NOT!). At least no one drowned.  It was a leg day for circuits...I HATE LEG DAYS!! I was in a pretty bad mental place and it took everything I had just to finish.  Actually at one point I started walking home when everyone was taking a cool down walk to the lake, but I turned around and made it back when they did.  I am glad I did.  Then this afternoon we went for a hike up and down some fun stairs and hills.  It was at Tettegouche state park.  Everyone keeps telling me how beautiful things are, but all I can think about is getting through the hike.  Hopefully this will get better.  I have decided that if I were to go on the biggest loser I would probably be the one to say "Vote me off, I want to go home!" Oh well, one day at a time. Hopefully I make it 4 weeks.  This mama really misses her little girl :(

Tomorrow is another day I will start it with a smile.  Til tomorrow.

Camille and Nikky

Day 8

Well, we are here to start another week! We went on our walk this morning and then Leif killed us in the pool and in the ballroom. Since there is only 5 of us it was intense. No hiding! It was another arm circuit day so by the time we left our arms were feeling like noodles just hanging out at our sides. We had lunch and then Leif took Camille and our new roommate on a hike through the lower falls of Goosebury. Camille was contemplating on jumping into the falls because it was so intense! Thankfully she arrived back safely. The rest of us used the cardio machines and had an extra pool workout with Kelly (aka Sunshine!). It was quite the afternoon and we were all glad when we sat down to dinner. Camille and I also had our intake session with Kelly. This was a meeting where we talked about our past, present, and future. It is hard to see past these weeks here because we have so long left but I know it will arrive and it is better to plan. Camille did not come back from the meeting with tears but I might have (shocking!). We will both be successful and we know you will all support our on-going journey once we arrive at home.

Until tonight!
Nikky and Camille

Days 6 & 7

On Saturday we had a little bit of a different schedule which was a great change of pace.  We had a 2 hour intense workout in the pool instead of our morning walk. We spiced it up with a little music though which made it a lot more fun!! Then we had breakfast and the rest of the morning to ourselves..."what time off?? What are we supposed to do? Really you say we can rest?" Those were some of our comments, and we decided to take the rest time and heal our blisters.  In the afternoon we drove to Duluth and walked on the lake walk to the lighthouse and across the  lift bridge.  It was a nice day, but we were definitely looking forward to Sunday.

OH MY SUNDAY IS HERE!!! On the 7th day God rested and so did we:)  We did get up at 6am for our week weigh in.  It was very exciting!! Nikky lost 20 pounds and I lost 18 pounds!! We are so excited and now ready to conquer another week.  We are ready to kick some butt and take some names so watch out Leif (our trainer). 
As a reward for getting through the first week we took a little nap in the morning, ate lunch and then Nikky, Jenn (one of our AWESOME roommates) and I headed to Duluth for new shoes.  We went to the Duluth Running Company store.  We all got a new pair of shoes to help our feet and confuse them so that they stop getting blisters, okay I bought two pairs, but my feet were begging me to.  Then we headed to Target to get some supplies...more band aids, laundry basket (we are trying to keep our sweaty clothes in one place), hangers, and some blister stuff. 
Then we came back to meet our new roommate Kris. She is really nice.  I should probably stop and tell you about our amazing roommates and friends we have made this week.  We started out as a pack of 11, but one had to leave for medical reasons.  There are two houses next to each other.  The 5 in the other house were all here one week and they left yesterday and today:(  We will miss them, but are making plans to run/walk a 5K together in October.  The ladies in our house are all here for another week.  Anne is an inspiration to us all.  She is 60 years old and ran a marathon at 52.  She gives everything her all and is a smiling face we can count on.  She is one of the sweetest people I know.  Deanna is a fun and crazy lady who makes us all laugh.  She is always asking questions and then letting us all know what she learned. Which is very helpful.  She also has an amazing smile and is a go getter. Last week she and another one of our roommates Jenn did wall sits for 3minutes in a row!!! WOW, what determination they have.  Then there is Jenn.  Jenn is always pushing me to do my best.  She is very determined and has a very team oriented mindset.  She is a great chef and isn't afraid of anything.  We talked Jenn into staying one more week and we are so excited.  She is awesome!! 
We are so happy for our little family we have created here at Fitness North to help us get through this journey.  We are also thankful for our family and friends who are following our journey are are offering us words of encouragement and prayers.  We couldn't do this without all of your support!!! Thank you all!! We miss you and we will see you soon.

Camille and Nikky

Day 5 - It's Friday, it's Friday! Can't believe we made it to Friday!

Well, Nikky here, it is Friday night and I can tell you that my hamstring is getting better. While everyone went on their walk today I spent the time walking in the pool. It was an hour in the morning and 2.5 hours in the afternoon. I even had to race some kids up and down the pool to keep myself going:) The injury is still frustrating but I know that if I keep moving I can make it.

No Bosu balls today! How did we get so lucky you ask? We went to gym in Two Harbors and did some weight training and cardio on the machines. It was a nice change of pace but not easier. We were told we had an awesome  workout and for our reward we were given the privilege of walking the 1.5 miles in windy fifty degree weather. What fun! It seems that whenever we drive somewhere in town we have to walk back...hmmmm....we are on to them! When we get back we are going to have to have our friends and families drive us places and make us walk home so we don't forget all the fun we are having here! Camille went on her 2.5 hour hike - about a 10K so she is ready for the Nickel Dickel Day 10K in Waconia in October! It feels like our Dad's were right when they said that they walked up hill both ways to school. I never thought that was possible until now! We also had a nutritional talk with our trainer Leif. We are excited about the plans we are going to take home with us. Lots of information but I loved the quote "If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail". We have time to plan here and I know we will be successful.

Meals
Breakfast - Special K Cereal with berries and almond milk
Lunch - Spinach salad with asparagus and shrimp (yum!)
Dinner - Chef salad with lots of veggies and chicken
Snack - Apple and 7 almonds

Until tomorrow,
Nikky and Camille

Day 4 - According to Nikky:)

Hello! Sorry for the late post but yesterday was quite the day. The staff said Wednesday would be the worst but I think Thursday took the prize. Of course the morning started with our familiar 5K route through Two Harbors and ended with a session in the pool. We then went to our favorite place - the ballroom! Sounds nice, right? Well, it is always set up with fun circuits for us to do (including the dreaded Bosu ball!). Camille and I were rotating around the stations and working really hard when all of a sudden I was slamming down a 12lb ball and it got away from me. I went to go pick it up and I felt something tighten in my left hamstring area. Of course I tried to shake it off and finished that station and moved onto butterfly kicks which are done down on the floor. I got down but then the pain increased and I ended up in tears on the floor. Fast forward a few hours and my leg was really in pain. I iced the heck out of it and got in the car for our afternoon hike. We went back to Spitrock and I was going to find some level trails to walk but there really weren't any so I spent 2 hours making the loop in the parking lot:) At least I was walking! Camille was so amazing and hiked (double time!) with her group back up the Minnesota Mountain for a great photo moment. I can't tell you how amazing everyone is here. The ladies in our group are so hard working and encouraging! We got back and ate dinner. Camille was feeling nauseous and went to bed right away. Bedtime at Fitness North is around 7pm...who would have ever thought two night owls would go to bed before the sun?! There are difinitly some things to pray about and we are so thankful for all of your support.

Here is what we ate Day 4!
Protein Shake
Breakfast - 1/4 cup egg beaters mixed with some fresh veggies and a flat bread bun
Lunch - Chicken and Bean Burrito - wrap, chicken, sauteyed peppers/onions/mushrooms, salsa, Laughing Cow cheese wedge
Dinner - Cod with lime and spinich, Lemon Garlic Green Beans (so good!)
Snack - Orange

Two of our favorite things!

Here are pictures of two of our favorite parts of staying in the wonderful accommodations at Superior Shores. It truly is a blessing to be staying somewhere so beautiful and with all the things we need and some luxuries too!

                                         A wonderful spa tub to soak away all those sore muscles.

                     A washer and a dryer (not coin operated!) to wash all of our sweaty clothes.

Day 3 - Hiked up a mountain!

Well, we woke up this morning and got out of bed and down the stairs. This may sound simple but when you are as sore as us it is quite the challenge. We walked our 3.5 miles, completed water exercises, and worked our way through what seemed like a million circuts. As a "bonus" we got to sprint up two flights of stairs five times! Don't worry, Leif was gracious enough to let us walk down:) Then we got out our favorite Bosu ball. Nikky has been experiencing some chin and ankle pain so she switched to a step (hopefully she will be back on the ball soon!). Day three is definitely tough but we hope that this will continue to hurt less and empower us more. We walked the mile back to our rooms and prepared for our afternoon hike. The staff here kept saying that day 3 was the toughest because our bodies were just going through a ton of crap. Boy were they right! Do you think they took it easy on us? NO! We went to Spitrock and hiked up a Minnesota mountain! It was crazy hard but we did it and here are the pictures to prove it.

For those who have been following our meals, here is what we had today.
Breakfast - 1 cup Kashi Go Lean cereal with strawberries and a cup of almond milk (unsweetened). We also had 1/4 cup of egg beaters with some veggies mixed in.
Lunch - Flat bread wrap with chicken and veggies
Dinner - Southwest turkey tenderloin with peppers, onions, and broccoli. PLUS we made mashed cauliflower! The best meal so far!

Until tomorrow,
Nikky and Camille

Day 2...What have we signed up for??

Okay, so it was a little harder to get out of bed this morning at 5am..and I mean physically harder to get up.  Our muscles were definitely sore.  We had our protein shake by 5:30 am and were on the trail by 6pm.   We got (noticed I said got not had) to go on our morning walk.  It was hard, but we got through it.  Camille thought that a good goal would be to walk to the lighthouse by the 4 week she was here, little did she know they would make her go on Day 2.  Guess she will need a new goal:) The we came back to the pool for our morning workout...those flutter kicks are a killer.  They seemed so much easier when we were kids.  Then came breakfast.  We had oatmeal and an egg made to our liking (with no butter or fun stuff on it).  They do give us lots of great seasonings though and it is getting fun learning how to cook with those.  And vegetables are available at every meal which is good.  Then came circuit training/bosu/ab training for the next 2 1/2 hours.  It was a leg day and I don't think either us could feel our legs by the end.  We thought the Bosu balls were bad, but the wall sits topped that one today.  At  one point Camille thought she was going to die, but of course she didn't.  Then came lunch. We had tuna with veggies and some sweet mustard on a whole wheat flat bun...it was amazing! Of course at that  point I think I could have eaten my arm and been satisfied:) There was supposed to be a pretty bad storm coming so we didn't get to go on our hike, instead we went for an hour workout at a gym and then did relay races back in our workout room.  Yes, you heard me right..relay races!!! UGGG! They were pretty difficult but yet again we survived.  When we were done they gave us a bonus and let us walk the mile back to our rooms, aren't we lucky:) Finally we got to come back and make supper.  We had chicken tacos on a whole wheat tortilla.  We used ground chicken and added cumin and chili powder with some onions and then topped it with spinach, lettuce and tomatoes. We had carrots and celery on the side it was delicious:)
We just got done watching O'Neil's tape that NBC made for him documenting and  highlighting all of his success towards reaching his weight loss goals and gaining his life back.  It was AMAZING!! We are inspired to continue. We know that this journey won't be easier, but with a good mindset, some blood, sweat and probably some tears we will get through.  This is only the beginning for us.  We plan on taking back everything we learn here and truly changing our lives to be healthier...Anyone want to join us? :)

Until tomorrow,
Camille and Nikky

Day 1...We Survived!!

Well, Day 1 is over!! It started at 5:00 this morning when we had to get up to get our protein shake so that we could go for our warm-up walk (which was 3 1/2 miles). Then we went to the pool for a workout.  After that we had breakfast which consisted of kashi cereal, almond milk, a few strawberries and a hard boiled egg..  Then came circuit training which included some boxing moves, bicep curls, lateral raises, dumbell raises, lat pulls, jumping jacks, triceps extensions and a few other things that I have blocked from my memory...probably due to the pain they inflicted.  Next came the dreaded Bosu balls, whoever invented them has a sick sense of humor because they were very hard.  We spent a lot of time on them as well.  We got to wrap up our 2 1/2  hour circuit and bosu session with abs...UGGG!  Then came lunch which was a turkey burger on whole wheat flat bread will some lettuce and tomatoes and some broccoli.  In the afternoon we went on a 2 hour hike, oh what fun!! (can you hear the sarcasm).  It was a lot of hills, but we survived that too.  Then came supper.  We had chicken with mushrooms, onions, and green pepper baked in the oven and some asparagus.  It was quite good.  Our house does a great job with cooking:)  Now we are resting and looking forward to going to bed after our snack of an apple and almonds at 8pm.  We hope we can stay awake that long.

Camille and Nikky

We have arrived!

We finally made it and just got done with orientation. We got to meet Sheryl, O'Neil, Leif (our trainer), and Kelly (our wellness coach). They are amazing! We are very nervous to start our day tomorrow at 5:30am and work all the way through to 6:00pm. We will post our schedule tomorrow (if we can lift our arms!). Check out our pictures and be jealous of our amazing new digs we will be living in for the next month.

Signing out and going to bed,
Nikky and Camille

Fitness North

Take a look at our pictures so far...you won't believe how beautiful it is! Click on the picture to see lots more.

Our Journey...

Biggest Loser has been a favorite show of ours for many seasons. We have grown attached to Bob and Jillian, though Nikky is slightly afraid of Jillian. We had talked about how awesome it would be to actually go and live on the Biggest Loser ranch and be rockstars on the show. Though we know we would shine and likely win it all (yes, we are very humble) we didn't think it feasible to leave school in the middle of the year. And let's face it, that is so not good for the kiddos. And then there's Alice, who would miss her mom and her best friend way too much. Needless to say, there were hurdles that were too hard to jump over. And so, our dream of being the Biggest Losers seemed destined to stay unfulfilled...
A seed was planted and an idea began forming in the heart and mind of Camille. She had this epiphany moment where she started looking into weightloss resorts for the average joe.Utah and California seemed like the only options available to pursue this thought. Camille thought (insert thought bubbles here) "Hmmmm, who can I convince to go on this crazy adventure with me, cause I sure as heck can't do it on my own...?!" There was one and only person to sell this crazy idea to and the choice was obvious...Nikky!
After a total of 2 conversations Nikky was sold-though hesitant about going out of state and being gone so long. She kept saying she wanted to go someplace in the Midwest, but when the thought entered their minds, there was no place available. Then the "Where Are They Now?" Biggest Loser episode aired and featured Fitness North, a camp started by Biggest Loser alum O'Neil and his business partner Sheryl. Seconds later Nikky was on the phone with Camille..."Guess What?!" A couple of days later the rational one (Camille) called Fitness North and signed them both up for the adventure of a lifetime.
Though we had no idea how we were going to pay for this, we took the leap and signed up and put our trust in the Lord. With prayer over this opportunity we pursued leads we learned about through insurance and tax credits. And now here we are, a few days from leaving and everything is paid for and all costs are covered!! PRAISE THE LORD.
So, now you know what lead us to take this adventure. The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Pants is our way to invite you to be a part of this amazing and slightly terrifying journey. We want to share our joys and tears as well with you, our friends and family. We are so anxious to see all we are going to learn in this "jumpstart month". This is just the beginning. This is our giant leap into changing our lives and shrinking our pants.