I thought I might Puke, but I was still having fun!

Mom has asked me to contribute with some anecdotes from the Fitness Boot Camp in which I am participating this summer. I have enrolled in the ReinventU Boot Camp for the next 12 weeks, and I am hoping to get a healthier approach to my life. Part of the program is journaling, so I guess this counts!
Saturday evening I attended the opening orientation which was at the gym that hosts the camp Chizel It . I could tell from the orientation that this was going to be a great experience for me. The format of the camp very much suits my personality (and weaknesses). The group of 50 women are divided into teams of 7-10 people under the leadership of a mentor that was also a participant in the last bootcamp in the winter. In your team, you are also matched up with a "workout buddy" whose skill and schedule match your own. My buddy will be assigned next week, but I am pretty sure it will be a woman who is an RN and keeps a very similar schedule to mine.
Last night I went for my first 1 hour workout session, and it was brutal but fun! We meet every Monday night from 7-8 for a "mixed workout." Charles (the owner of the gym) started with some low impact cardio, then high impact, then step, then floor exercises, and finally stretching. I was a bit thrown to not have a warm up, and with the lights off, the strobes and disco ball flashing, and the hip hop music pumping like a night club, I realized that skipping dinner was probably a mistake. But I powered through the nausea, and did what I could to keep up with the seasoned women who have been doing this for 6 months. Everyone was really helpful and many of my new friends took the time to help me work on my form and give me advice on how best not to injure myself. Some of the combinations of pumps, kicks, punches and steps were confusing, and I felt like as soon as I had gotten into the groove we would change sides! I am sure in a few weeks I will be a natural, but for now I am only mildly coordinated. It was really so much fun, and I am happy to say that I did not throw up or embarass myself in any other way.
It was really uplifting to feel the common energy and vibe of a group of women all hell bent on improving themselves physically and emotionally. The director of the program, Frances, is incredible and has the wonderful attitude of encouraging her women by boosting them up, and not judging.
My mentor Marcia is bubbly and giving, and our team ended the night together with her offering a prayer that was both inspirational, and well-spoken from her heart, and that I think was worthy of our major accomplishment and our future challenges.
My goal for the next 10 days while Alex is away is to attend a class at the gym every night. Once he returns, getting home after 9 every night may not be so do-able, but by then I should at least have a foundation of exercise that I can do on my own at home, and a healthy eating and water drinking regimen (which I started last night as well).
One of the "free gifts with purchase" was a set of portion pals. They make it easy to see how much you should be eating of the things you like to eat. (if a bit depressing at the beginning) so after looking at them and considering the practicality of actually putting my food on them and cutting etc. I realized that this would not be a practice that I would keep up. My compromise is to only eat meals that will fit into one of the plastic Gerber bowls I have for the kids. They are almost exactly the right dimensions to match the pals. Last night I had a chunk of challah with a Tablespoon of TJ's Peanut Butter and a teaspoon of light cream cheese, and an artichoke.
Tonight I am off to kickboxing!