I'm baaaaack!

So I'm now back in reality after spending a week at a health retreat and a few days in Nelson Bay. What can I say about the health retreat? Well, it was absolutely friggin' awesome! I had an absolute ball. After being completely and ridiculously nervous about going, all those stupid thoughts I had like what if I'm not fit enough, what if I don't make any friends, what if I hate it, I can now happily say I was worrying for nothing. And I can confidently say that I am feeling and looking better than I have in a very long time.

It's amazing what a diet with no processed foods, no sugar, no salt, no red meat, no caffeine etc will do for the human body. I thought my diet was already pretty good but after going to a couple of different seminars on detoxing and food and seeing a dietician, I now realise it was a lot further from perfect than I thought it was. I have never been a coffee or tea drinker, I got my caffeine in the form of a coke zero at least once a day. I now haven't had a coke for 2 weeks (I stopped drinking it before I went so I could manage any detoxing symptoms if needed before I got there - luckily I didn't suffer any) and armed with better knowledge of what caffeine does to the body, I realise now it could have impeded my weight loss. I have never had a real sweet tooth or eaten a lot of salt, but now I realise how much of the stuff there is in a lot of processed foods and now know what to look for on food labels to minimise it. I haven't put any salt on anything I've eaten and haven't had a single food item with sugar in it. I left on Sunday, but the only form of meat I've had other than seafood so far is chicken - I think I'm scared how my stomach will react to red meat! The food we were given was for the most part brilliant. The only things I didn't like were a blood orange and pumpkin tart we got given on our last night for dessert - I am strongly against combining sweet and savoury foods so to put pumpkin in a dessert was plan wrong!

I tried heaps of different exercise classes - the spin class was definitely hard core, I haven't sweat that much in a long time and being instructed to keep up with the triathlon competing, 7% body fat guy leading the class left me wanting to get off the bike and punch him lol!! But I kept going and obviously enjoyed it because I did another class later in the week. I tried a cardio box class which was awesome, deep water running which I loved, their super gym circuit which was tough but unreal, pilates, a couple of different style yoga classes from what I normally do which really worked up a sweat, went on a 5km walk most mornings (the mornings I didn't, I did the deep water running) around the neighbouring golf course (after the 6:30am tai chi class which I did EVERY morning! I was so proud that I got myself up in time for that every day!), I pretty much tried everything that was on offer and will definitely be continuing with the cycle class and probably the boxing as well. I really surprised myself with how much I could just keep on keeping on. I spent a bit of time in the gym by myself as well. I probably did a good 3 hours cardio every day, but it wasn't a chore at all which I wasn't expecting.

So that's the hard work I did, now for the fun stuff! On day 1, I had trigger point therapy. Not pleasant while it's being done, but afterwards I felt great. Day 2 I had acupuncture on my neck and shoulder - my neck because I get a lot of tension headaches stemming from my neck and my shoulder for an old swimming injury. Absolutely LOVED it and will definitely be going to see someone to get that done regularly. I noticed within a day or 2 of having both those therapies, the top of my shoulders were actually a different shape - all the tension and knots had been realeased. Day 3 saw me have a whole body swedish massage which was heaven. Day 4 was a salt scrub, mud bath, hot stones massage extravaganza. Again, absolute heaven. Day 5 was a pedicure during which I fell asleep and day 6 was a facial, which again saw me fall asleep!

So all in all, I had an absolutely fantastic time and would live at the Golden Door if I could!!! One of the highlights for me came on my last morning there - I weighed in to discover I had lost 1% body fat and 2.5kg. Unfreakinbelievable!!! Yes, I worked hard and obviously that isn't practical in what we started calling the 'outside world' but to have managed that in a week when my weight has been at a bit of a stalemate lately felt unreal. I haven't officially weighed in with WW yet, but I guess I now have about 12kg to go to get to goal. I needed a jump start to get things moving again and that is certainly what I got. I made some great friends whilst at the Golden Door, had a lot of laughs, a lot of sweat, a lot of good food and in general just good, clean, healthy living. I got so much more than I was expecting and have come out knowing that I am so much stronger than I ever gave myself credit for. I knew I was a reasonably strong person in mind, but had no idea just how strong, and I never would have thought I was that strong in body. My week at the Golden Door has been nothing short of life changing for me and I would recommend it to anybody.