Today started my second week here at Green Mountain. I'm excited to begin this week but also quite aware that every day that passes brings me closer to the end of my time here. This week just happens to be "Health Professionals Week" so there are a few nurses, NPs, ect here. While I find it encouraging that these women are here to learn the program, whether for themselves or for to take back to their patients, I am not going to be participating in any of the health professionals events. I am here to work on myself and not my nursing career.
The morning started with breakfast at 8am. We had egg and vegetable frittata. I have managed to master the art of picking out a balanced breakfast. We were excited to see eggs and not rolled oats on our breakfast menu.
Our first class of the day was called "Overcoming Exercise Obstacles." This was a great class for me. I have so many obstacles to exercising. I call them excuses but I really like the word obstacles better. One of the most important things that the instructor told us was that by choosing to exercise, we are making our health a priority. We were also encouraged to write ourself a letter about all the things we accomplished and all the "nuggets of success" we had while here. Once we get home, we put it in an envelope and entitle it "For Emergency Only." Whenever we are feeling our motivation lacking, we can pull that letter out and read it to remotivate ourselves.
Our first cardio class of the day was low impact aerobics. I took this class last week on my first day at Green Mountain. I remember feeling winded and sluggish. Today, I could tell my body was so much stronger. I still sweated and huffed and puffed. But it was different today. It's amazing what we can accomplish in one week.
Lunch today did not thrill me. It was a zucchini casserole. I'm not a fan of zucchini and it had tomatoes in it. We are taught here at Green Mountain that we must learn to eat on a schedule and that even if the meal is not "thrilling," there will be other meals and we can eat something better later. One problem that many women have is the fear of when the next meal will come around. This is from years and years of depriving ourselves on a diet. So, despite the fact that I was not excited about the meal, I ate it mindfully, knowing it would provide me with the nutrition and energy to get through the rest of the day.
After lunch, our first class was "Sustain the Change: Setting an Intention for the Week." This class gave us a chance to stop and reassess what we have learned and to figure out what our goals for the week are. We wrote down the things we want to work on for the week. We also had the chance to ask questions and maybe get clarification of something that may not be so clear to us.
After the class, we had a Total Body Strength class with LynnAnn. She's one of the trainers and has been around here for a long time. She makes the class entertaining and challenging. At the end of the class, we closed our eyes and repeated a mantra. "I'm doing this for myself. I'm making myself stronger. I did this here and I can do it at home." There was more to it than I can remember. I've asked LynnAnn to write it down for me so I can repeat this to myself after I work out at home. I'll put it here on the blog when she gives it to me.
After a snack of yogurt, fruit, and nuts, we had a class called, "Separating Weight from Health: Looking at Weight Bias." As the class also included those women here for the health professionals week, we looked in particular at weight bias in the health care system. It was enlightening but seemed to touch a nerve with myself and a few of the other women who started with me. We almost felt like some of the health professionals here for the week are here only to learn about the program and not so much to implement it in their lives. We also felt that in some of their comments, there was some weight bias or judgement.
Dinner thrilled me and completely made up for lunch! We had a turkey cannelloni and salad. It was real pasta and yummy cheese. Delish. For dessert, we had apple crisp. Last night was supposed to be fruit crisp night but instead we had bananas with blackberry sauce. As we had looked forward to a fruit crisp all day for dessert, we were disappointed. So, we were all so happy to see the fruit crisp tonight. Seriously, you are all thinking I need to get out a little more since I'm so excited to see apple crisp on the menu!!
After dinner, I decided it was time to let my rebel self out a little. So instead of watching the educational movie, I went with another woman down the driveway to this pristine patch of snow and proceeded to crawl around in snow up to my knees and then roll down a wonderful hill. It was so much fun and we laughed so hard!! Unfortunately there are no pictures of me rolling down the hill, which might have caused you all to laugh so hard too!
I just returned to my room from having my evening snack of Triscuits and an ounce of cheese. This is my favorite snack. You cut the cheese up in blocks and put it on the Triscuits and melt it for 15 seconds. Yummy. Like I said, it's the little things we've come to appreciate.
As a closing, I want to encourage all of you to set your intention for the week. What are your goals that you want to achieve? This has nothing to do with your job and everything to do with your health!!
Goodnight from Vermont.
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