Too Fat to be Skinny

Chris was the winner of my giveaway

June 27th was the Rocket City Bloggers 1st Meet & Greet, it was a beautiful event with many bloggers from the Tennessee Valley coming together at the Huntsville Madison County Visitors Bureau to network.  I had the pleasure of being introduced to Joe Martin, blogger & owner of the Huntsville Adventure Boot Camp, by fellow blogger Carol Marks ( www.girlabout.com ) and gifted two $75 gift cards to go workout with them. The next camp was beginning on Monday and I decided to jump on in and get this weight off.  I shared my concerns with Joe about my asthma, size and knee troubles and he assured me that I would be cared for.

The camp has two locations and two times; Huntsville & Madison, 5:30 AM & 5:30 PM .. I chose the Madison location at Horizon Elementary just about across the street from where I live at 5:30 AM... I was excited, sleepy, nervous and scared all at the same time.  My plan was to get up at 5am get dressed, eat a light breakfast, have my husband drop me off and I would walk home with my son.  I packed my reusable Walmart pack with a mat (borrowed from my daughter), wrist weights, towel and a water bottle.  I layed out my workout cloths &  forced myself to go to bed at 11pm (the process began at 10).

I was ready to workout, my son had an overnight guest so I would be walking back alone but I was pumped.  The ladies were laying their mats down in the parking lot and our instructor Katie greeted me with a smile and said, "You must be Lawanda, I am going to take good care of you".. Wow I felt safe and ready to go.... there were women of different sizes and abilities so although I was the largest one there I didn't feel intimidated at all... well not yet

We began with a warm up and I was huffing away when Oh crap my feet began to feel like I was walking on a mat of nails... I tried to push through the pain but I couldn't take it anymore.  I asked Katie to come over,  explained to her what happened and she showed me how to relieve the pain.  I needed to sit on my knees stretching my feet by flexing them behind me.  She suggested I take off my shoes and try to continue the workout in my socks.  That was perfect, I had on two pair of socks and I didn't feel any pain. We did a fitness test, some other exercises and a cool down.  Katie showed a modified version for every exercise and except for about two moves  I was able to complete them all.

Everything seemed to be on the right track so why did I title this Too Fat to be Skinny? Well my evening took a turn for the worst. I was in a lot of pain but I expected that however the pain lead to severe swelling in my knees and ankles and a trip to the hospital.  I was advised that I needed to let my body heal (at least a week) and to lose at minimum 50 pounds before I considered exercising again.

Depression was upon me... I had a pity party, cried a bit and even found comfort in a pint of Haagen Daz Vanilla Bean ice cream.  I felt like my world was crumbling, but I still needed to tell Joe that I was sorry but I wouldn't be able to take advantage of the wonderful gift he had given me.  I messaged him on facebook sharing my tale of knee drainage and despair ... I was hoping he didn't think I was ungrateful or simply a hopeless cause... He didn't, he did something I could have never imagined... He vowed to be there for me! He said Katie & himself would be there to help me get this weight off no matter what! I was so happy! I felt encouraged and the future seemed to be offering a ray of sunshine.....

Well I'm going to begin journaling my food intake (follow me on my fitness pal) and dieting to hopefully lose 50 pounds and then be ready to take this bootcamp by storm.

Feel free to send me a friend request on My Fitness Pal and help cheer me on to my goal! I will make sure to follow you back!

****** Special thanks to Nothing bundt Cakes - Huntsville on Carl T. Jones for sponsoring my giveaway with a beautiful 8 inch cake.... If you want an amazing, moist and beautfully decorated cake you need to make your way to their store.  They always have great samples and the mini bundts are the best guilty treat!******