The BOOT-ee Camp Report

Here I sit with my warm Aussie sheepskin Bootees on, oblivious to the lack of degrees outside where it has been -32, trying to figure out "where it is". I have looked in the bedrooms, the living room, the kitchen and the laundry - then I ran out of rooms and returned to the staring point in the bathroom - And STILL the scale said 7 pounds was lost! Hooray in 2 weeks, I just LOVE Bootee camp. And even my wonky home scale has to agree. Maybe those of the testosterone persuasion would be calling it Booty Camp, but I found it way too much fun for those connotations. And I was doing it solo in my town evidently - nobody else at Gold's here! What's with this? It's wonderful free stuff that really works AND makes you feel good? Hey it is not too late!
If you have not done Bootee Camp yet, I suggest you don your bootees and get thee to a Gold's Gym or similar, post haste and sign up for this lovely feeling! Gold's gives you two weeks free, just for mentioning Dr Phil. (It's only three syllables, do try!) And best of all I have glitched on food only one small time in 2 weeks despite all manner of unusual emotional hassles during that time. And it was the one day I failed to follow the rules properly and I ate too *little* brekker and lunch. My support person came to my rescue. Follow the Bootee footsteps and you won’t fall off the wagon! Only the weight does.

Eating Fun, on day one:
I had planned my meals carefully the day before, and stocked the house the previous weekend with great yummy goodies like shrimp and spinach, mushrooms and green peppers, extra-virgin olive oil and powdered skim milk (for "cream" sauce, egg nog and chowder). I also stashed eggs for my microwave poacher or omelette device, rice bran to boost fiber in all sauces, cans of Alaskan salmon for chowder, plenty of greens for salads and plain yogurt (for "Ranch" dressing by adding lemon juice and a little sugar). There were blueberries, paprika (for antioxidant pigment), green tea (instead of coffee to kill cortisol stress hormone instead of stimulating it), and frozen fat free yogurt ice-cream to have with the berries. All from the goodee two bootees list in the Booty Camp book aka WLC Food Guide acquired for a mere $4.39 from Costco.
This whole food thing worked like magic because I planned the 3 meals and 2 snacks in *detail* down to the saucy ingredients, the day before always, and that meant on the day I did not have to think about food for the day *at all*!!! This really made a world of difference. Somehow planning tomorrow's food is not the same as planning on the day you need it - and I had no worries on the day. Delicious stuff was ready to enjoy. And I taped recipes on my kitchen cupboard in print I could read without glasses, portions stipulated and to be measured accurately, so it was dead easy to stick to this.
I was never hungry. I had at each meal or snack: Protein, a teaspoon of olive oil or salmon oil, fiber 5 g or more, and pigment - this being a fat burning and anti-inflammatory "recipe" from Dr. Perricone which fits neatly within the Bootee camp system.

Day one as a weight lifter was a little interesting:
See - weights burn 100% fat where aerobics burn 30% fat and the rest carbs. What a waste! I arrived at Golds to see this array of alien robot beings in red, silver and black uniforms, waving the wrong number of limbs in unnatural directions, sometimes with a parasite on board. Would that contraption not swallow me up? What was I supposed to do with THAT thingamagig?
Luckily I was able to observe other people while surreptitiously looking for something recognizable so I could seem to know what I was doing. I noticed nobody minded that I was in weirdo land without a clue, they just did their own thing, and I relaxed a bit and sank into a rowing machine from which I could study what was for which. It soon made sense and by the end of the hour, I was happily experimenting with robots and weights and pins you pull out so as to move 20 lbs without extra zeros.
As a finale I decided my weak arms were in for free weights and I strolled over to that section and nonchalantly put as much gusto into my ten pounds going up and down as the guy next to me put in with his twenty thousand pounds or so going up and down. Maybe he repositions Mack trucks for a living I thought. My ten was fine for pushing computer keys. I studiously noted how many reps at which pounds I did on each robot that day and each subsequent day. Well yesterday was my last free day and now I get to brag:

Push-up weights - day one ten pounds five times. Day 14, 30 lbs 30 times.
Rowing machine - day one 3 minute "warm-up level" going 1 Km and only just keeping up with the pace boat. Day 14, 20 minutes at 27 strokes per minute level 7, beating the pace boat by 11 lengths. They had to send a helicopter 4 times to drop off an extra rower in the pace boat to try to keep up with me, and only once a shark got one when I slowed down a bit.
The graphics were cute, and there is a big TV with subtitles as well. Day one sit ups. - In my dreams!! No way. Day 14, I did 50, plus 50 more obliques!
I'm sure you get the picture. I could not believe how just doing what little I could each time, grew SO fast into a really impressive (for me) improvement. Some days I did robots, other days I rowed, some I did abs attempts, some I did arms, some weights, and I just did an hour to 90 minutes (I lost track of time!) every day but two. I have muscles in places I did not know I had them now! My back no longer hurts as much.
I also tried a yoga class. I just love Yoga ever since classes for beginners a year ago. So I arrived and waited for the instructor to de-pretzel and feel warmed up enough to start the class. "Welcome to Power Yoga" she said! Yikes! This was when I was at sit-ups of one per day. Well there was plenty of power in that room, they didn’t need mine and I did what I could and even felt good after the class. But the next day - nope! That one was not my level. But I made two new friends there so it was a good outcome.

I lost 2 inches from my waist, and 7 lbs this two weeks, and I know I have muscles where there used to be that F word. As I have weight loss resistance and usually muscle degeneration due to Cortisol from Cushing's syndrome, this for me is nothing short of a miracle. So if I can get this for having fun at Bootee Camp - PLEASE do yourself a huge favour and sign up for this, it's really a power kickstart to your progress. There are 8 more weeks of Booty Camp to go, I am so encouraged! The new offer from Gold's is even better than the one I got
- it is two weeks VIP free pass, and that includes a personal trainer to show you what is best for you and how to do it. I did not have that, but still got a great value. Anyone who goes to Gold's on the Dr Phil program can ask for a free 2-week VIP pass, even if you are allergic to the Bootee Camp concept. It's a separate deal from Bootee Camp - and you can have either Bootee Camp two week free pass or the WLC meeting place VIP one, your choice. Take it from me- you'll thank yourself :-)))

Booty Camp Correspondent
…Irene de Villiers,
[Two-week Boottee Camp Graduate, on the way to ten weeks.]

I was very depressed and felt no way out. I literally prayed each night "please God,let me die,I already feel dead and I'm no use to anyone. Please don't let me wake up."
Then the UWS book changed my life, especially Key 1 "Right Thinking". I came to life!
Key4: "Unless you eliminate self-defeating thoughts,they will actually gain momentum,becoming more deeply lodged in the habitual paterns of your life and more unyeilding to change."
I put myself down for so long and believed everything I said. If I got a compliment I thanked them, but told myself"yeah, right". When I had to actually take note of all the negative things I said to myself and evaluate their truth I began to realize how untrue these things were. I started thinking of myself in a new way, looking at the good in me.
I chose how to feel and react and my life became worth living.
Since Sept.22,2003 "Right Thinking" has given me the confidence to get a great job, my marriage is better than it has been in many years, lost 33lbs, 17+ inches, but the best part is how I feel and think. Dee

Denise Burns,NC
Co-owner
DrPhilsWeightLossChallengeVA-NC-MD_n_all

Newsletter Contributions

Want to contribute to the Newsletter? Share your event and photos, individual photos, an article, promote your group, anounce upcoming events, place a free ad to get rid of your clothes that are now too big, How are the keys working for you, and anything else related to WLCing!! ALSO, Be the first to know when the Newsletter comes out! Click here:

Click to subscribe to WLCnews