Day 4 - Monday 12th May
We were woken by the whistle again, although all three of us were up and about pretty sharpish. Mind you, I didn't feel as achy as yesterday morning. Time to grab an OJ before heading off to the barn for Stretch & Move, which was Circuit training again. Nobody had any energy or enthusiasm, we walked round during our warm up all mumbling and cursing, but it was not as bad as I had expected. I was actually surprised by how alert (and full of breath/energy) I was. Then, just as we thought it was all over we had to do a third circuit!
I managed to get part way round the 3rd circuit before falling of the step whilst punching the air, and landing on my arse. Sian was by my side immediately checking I was alright, I wasn't sure what had happened and felt very silly, but sipped on my water and when we changed I carried on. Discussing it with my roomie afterwards, we figure I must've blacked out as she saw it from across the room, and I didn't think I'd slipped off the step. I managed to complete the 3rd circuit but was filled with apprehension for tomorrow in case we had to do 4 sets of repetitions. Other than my fall? I survived.
I felt a bit queasy afterwards, maybe that was the thought of porridge and prunes for breakfast? I thought it was only served in OAP homes and hospitals! We also had an orange for our mid-morning snack. My tummy hurt - letting me know it was hungry perhaps? - but there was no exercise straight after breakfast - instead a nutrition workshop, ahhh the relief of being able to sit down for a while. Porridge and prunes were surprisingly nice although I'm not sure I'd use prunes if I was to make it at home. I couldn't stomach black and sugarless coffee so settled for hot water instead.
The nutrition lady was running late so we sat and gossiped for ten minutes. We were all tempted to run back to our rooms to kip, but as I was about to go and complain she arrived. Darn 
The nutritionist was actually really interesting, but she did tend to wander off into other areas. It was a 2 hour session and we all tried to delay her as long as we could. She had a loud but husky voice which reminded me of a friend, and that thought made me chuckle.
I was shocked to find out how much fat is in Cheddar cheese, and she identified how easy it is to take the block out and nibble on it whilst grating it for other dishes. I'd thought I was alone in doing that, but obviously not!
We also got some handy cooking tips, which I will implement when I get home. Sadly we also got homework from this session! Nothing strenuous thank goodness. We were given disposable thermometers and asked to take our armpit temperature for the next 3 mornings and to plot our temperature on graphs in our folders.
After the nutrition workshop we had a Muscle Cutter session - circuits using gym balls, resistance bands and weights, but designed to tone different muscle groups rather than just be cardio.
I discovered that sit-ups are much easier with a gym ball than normally (shame I don't have space for one) but other exercises were a nightmare, and you had to keep going until told to change. Such agony, I don't think I was aware of all my muscle groups before this point. I was pushing myself fairly hard, but also believed that I could push myself harder. Surely I should have ached more if I was working myself to the right levels?
I think at this point I could see bicep muscles developing, but I wasn't sure if my imagination was on overdrive or not. I realised I really do want to lose a substantial weight, and would've been pretty annoyed to only lose 4lbs. I think I would've cried or demanded a refund! However, all the exercises and tips I've been shown will be invaluable (if I choose to carry them on), especially being aware of the portion control - I have been eating way to much! No wonder I feel sluggish after eating! Best thing is that there are so many little bits I can get hubby to do as well! 
Again we were asked why we wanted to lose weight. I'm to use this as my carrot when I'm flagging. The problem I have is that there are a million small reasons rather than any one big motivator. I looked down and felt like I was just one big belly, I don't know how it got so big. I remembered again how two stone felt, carried in a rucksack. If I can lose that much over the next year how fit will I be? I must keep remembering that two stone bag!
Lunchtime at last. It was quite nice; spicy soup in a mug and salad with feta cheese. There wasn't much feta, just a few cubes, but it was enough to flavour all the leaves on my plate. Already sick of bloody lettuce leaves, and there was no carrot or tomato to liven it up. By this point we were comparing who had the most red pepper in their plates 
and nearly arguing over it.
Todays walk was 20 minutes after we all finished eating. It was hillier than the last one, I think this is when I went through the village of Stoodleigh, but a lot of this walk was through forest and so very cool. I managed to stop and get a few snaps along the way, and to finish in 2hrs 20 minutes. It was quite motivating for me to be overtaking the first group, but I imagine it would've been demoralising for them seeing us. I kept myself cheery by thinking how determined one of the larger ladies was. She had gone from doing no exercise at all to this crazy, crazy week! And yet she was always cheerful and smiling as we walked by.
Afterwards my feet and thighs ached, I soaked my feet and they were alright, but my thighs were still sore. Other than that I was alright. I guess my body is getting used to this exercise malarkey. My batteries were running low on both my mobile and my MP3 which had me worried. How would I call for extraction or keep walking without them? I can't believe I told hubby Not to pack my chargers!
Dinner was smoked mackerel, probably with salad, and if not with overcooked vegetables. I was surprised to find I like it, and will have to retry both mackerel and salmon on my return. I think I'll try salmon on the BBQ though as I don't know how to cook it. We had a fruit salad with dinner, but I saved the fruit to eat later. It was in liquid which someone dubbed 'dishwater' which looked and tasted pretty foul. I ate the fruit til about 9pm but felt hungry afterwards - the first time I'd really been hungry! We had an exercise workshop before bed, which only touched on how/what exercises we could do at home, but we busted all our excuses for not being able to exercise too!
No time? 5 minute ad breaks are perfect for some situps, take the family out to play football, jog to the shops instead of walking.
Gym no good/can't afford the gym walk somewhere, do the exercises from this week, get a DVD, get off the bus earlier.
Basically, no corners or stones were left unturned for our excuses to hide behind.
Sleep, sweet sleep came quickly.
to you all. 
