Dog Days Are Over

"Run fast for your mother run fast for your father
Run for your children for your sisters and brothers
Leave all your love and your longing behind you
Can't carry it with you if you want to survive"

-Florence And The Machine "Dog Days Are Over"

By Cara

This song takes me right back to The Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge in Malibu. Hard to believe that it was over 3 months ago that I was there. Hard to believe how hard I have worked and how far I have come since then. Forty pounds later and I can see such an amazing difference in my entire life.

Today, Brianne and I met with Michael Friedman our personal trainer. We spent 50 minutes in the 24 hour Fitness Spin room. I have never in my life done a spin class. I did today. Just the 3 of us, an empty room of bikes and an awesome play list. Michael is currently training for an Iron Man, which is amazing in itself, but he clearly knows how to plan music to workout to. He taught us how to pedal to the music, allowing the beats to determine the speed of the pedals. Michael got us about 3 quarters of the way through our workout and asked us to focus on the bike and for the next 3 minutes we would close our eyes and listen to his cues. First, think of someone who you know cannot pedal a bike, someone who might have a disability or just is not able to be on a bike. Next, think about who we were 3 months ago, on our first day at the resort. We were pedaling for that person that we were. And lastly, 1 minute pedaling for who we are now, for the strong and the able and for who we are striving to be. WOW!!! What an amazing class we had today. I am so thankful for the chance to train with a trainer, but Michael takes us to another level. I feel like I am pushed hard and I am so thankful for that. 

As I get stronger both physically and mentally I can feel myself push harder, sweat more and feel more accomplished with each workout. I have been getting down on myself, because I have stalled a little in my weight loss. I want to say it was working night shifts for two weeks, or maybe the freaking girl scout cookie season, but there are no excuses. For me it is about tracking my food and getting in 3-4 workouts per week. In the end when I feel like I am failing,  I remind myself that I still have lost 40 lbs...40 POUNDS. That's some good work. I look forward to where I will be even 6 months from now. And to all of you: keep up the hard work. It's not easy, but no one said it would be.

This is my favorite outside workout. One hour hike to Twin Peaks. I am also really liking planking. So Ryan took these pictures of me on Twin Peaks on Sunday. He's a great workout partner too!