by Betty Balaba
They showed me to my room. I had opted to share with someone else, thinking having someone to talk to would be better than being alone. My roommate was already there; we had been placed in a nice ground-floor room. A girl in her twenties, with a very smiley face which I realised was just signs of nerves. She was of medium build and a little shorter than me. We seemed to warm to each other immediately.
“Have you been to a camp before?” she asked.
I shook my head.
“Nope, never. You?”
“No, but I thought I better come. My bum was threatening to swallow up my hips!” Someone with a sense of humour, that was a good start. “And what brings you here?”
“I couldn’t afford to have three wardrobes with different size clothes.”
She grinned, seeming to know the problem.
“I’m Kate,” she said, offering a hand.
“I’m Becca,” I said, shaking it.
The room had twin beds, separated by a nightstand. Kate had already chosen the bed near the window, so I opted for the one opposite the door ‘A quick getaway,’ I thought. Then I thought of Jenny, who hated sleeping near the door. ‘Whatever is going to get you, will get you first!’ I smiled at the thought. She would be proud of me taking control and coming here.
There were two large windows in the room; the one near my bed looked out onto a large hill and the other one out onto the drive, which was crowded with cars dropping people off.
One of the staff came in and told us to don our tracksuits. We were going to be weighed and measured so we could compare the results when we left in seven days. I was looking forward to weigh in as much as I would a cardboard meal. What a seven days it would be! I grimaced. And now my measurements would be unavoidably pushed in my face. There was no place to hide at a boot camp. But wasn’t that why I was here? Because I didn’t want to hide anymore?
The measurements – when they came – almost sent me over the edge. And if that wasn’t enough, they wanted pictures too! There was no point in sucking my gut in. Let’s see what seven days could do, I thought.
Thinking the worst was over and that dinner was next, I started to relax. Everyone was nice; all women, apart from two men who seemed already to know each other. I had been expecting to find that most of the people here would be overweight. Some were a little. But some were already slim and seemed to be using the camp to get even slimmer! I hoped it wasn’t going to be a week of constant competition. A bell went and Kate headed to the door of our room.
“Time to head down! The bell means we have to congregate in the hall.”
I followed her. It was 5 o’clock, so I guessed that we would get a briefing on what would happen throughout the week. But no, I was wrong about that. Instead we were led outside to the hill outside my bedroom window and told to run up it as fast as we could. Kate and I looked at each other like we had misheard the instructor, whose name was Tony. No chance, everyone really was running up the hill at their own pace. So we scrambled after them. I was pleased to find I did not come last – but I wasn’t exactly in the top three either.
Gulping for air at the top, I wondered if this boot camp thing really was such a good idea? But I didn’t have long to wallow in thought.
It seemed this very unexpected introductory session was not over yet. We had to do press-ups. I did mine from my knees rather than my feet. I wasn’t going to end up in A&E on my first day! This was followed by jumping jacks and then burpees. Apparently, they wanted to ‘gauge’ our fitness levels. Why did they not just hand out a questionnaire? I would have gladly told them myself.
Still, although my ears were ringing and my heart racing, I guess I was still alive. I sidled over to Kate. “Do you think we can get a refund if we feel this is not for us?” I panted.
“I doubt it,” she said with a grin, and linked her arm with mine. “Don’t worry, we’ll keep each other going!” I wasn’t sure how that would work; because I could tell that she was much fitter and slimmer than I was!
After a little break, it was time for dinner. I say ‘dinner’ but I would have classified it as a starter. Strips of chicken breast with what someone called a salad. I just saw green leaves. It had a delicious mustard-based dressing though.
The briefing happened after dinner. I am sure I must have taken some of it in. Mainly my mind wondered towards worst-case images of assault courses and circuits, so I couldn’t tell you exactly what was said. Perhaps if my brain had received some of its routine after-dinner sugar, I would have been able to focus better! But instead I felt sleepy and fearful, and dreaded the first official day tomorrow. I was in bed by eight, exhausted and knowing that with no refund, I would be there the whole seven days.
I slept like a baby who knew how to sleep the whole night. Not even a hurricane could have woken me. But something else did. I was woken from a deep sleep by the sound of a loud noise. Boom, boom, boom! It took me a few seconds to come to. What on earth was going on? I finally realised that it was ‘house’ music playing at full blast. Well it definitely was a different kind of alarm call. Welcome to the first morning of boot camp!
I glanced at my phone on the bedside table. 6:00a.m.! I groaned and my head fell back on the pillow. What on earth, my body was hardly awake! Then I heard another even worse banging. I didn’t have long to wait to find out what this new noise was: one of the instructors was actually banging on a frying pan with a wooden spoon. Apparently, it was to make sure we did not go back to sleep. Chance would be a fine thing! The music was still blaring louder than any nightclub I had ever been in.
Kate yelled from across the room.
“Bang goes our lie-in!”
I started laughing with the little energy I could muster.
“We better get up… When are we supposed to be at the front door?”
“6:30 a.m.”
I threw my covers aside. At the debriefing the night before, we were told what to expect – and one thing for sure was a very early start.
At 6:29, Kate and I were by the front door, fighting to put our shoes on. There were six other people making their way to the front door in various stages of dress. I had to smile. Clearly no one was ready to exercise at this hour.
Before long, we were walking along the road in single file in the morning darkness. We then turned into what was the largest field I had ever seen. I didn’t even want to anticipate what we were going to do next. But I did not have long to wait. Yes, we were told to run around the field. I thought I misheard but then found myself forcing one leg in front of the other. It was one hell of a big field to get around. Not even at my fittest had I run around an entire field this early, and such a large one. Let alone without breakfast.
After making it around twice, I felt like I was going to pass out. My breath was quickening like I smoked a pack of cigarettes a day. Thankfully, a whistle blew and we were told to come to the centre. I was definitely awake now! I managed to study my other campmates, congregating in different stages of exhaustion.
Needless to say, I was far from the fastest person at this camp. The few of the others who had been before were easy to spot. They had been at the front when we were running around the field, and some had hardly broken a sweat. Holly was a fellow camp-mate kindred spirit who was also in shock. She was thinner than me but no fitter. I liked her on first sight: she still had on her fake red nails and her hair styled, even running around a field before dawn! Well, it may have been styled this morning but it now looked as messy as the rest of ours. They had told us not to bother wearing make-up during the seven days. It was just as well because we would have looked like clowns before long.
Of course, make-up was less of an issue for the two guys. Steve was in his early forties, but looked fifty. He looked six months pregnant and moved as if he was too. He said that he was there to get rid of his beer gut. I couldn’t help but agree. Tom was a city trader and had come to get fitter, he said. But to me he did not look fit to start with. It rather looked like his fast living was finally
catching up with him. He looked the part though, with a new tracksuit and visibility pads, fitness tracker and a fancy watch that measured goodness knows what. Holly stood next to me as Tom breathlessly explained the workings of his tracker.
“All the gear, but no idea,” she said with a wink. I smiled at her, stopping myself from laughing.
The women were a different matter. Jane was in her twenties, and long and lean. She had been at the front of the pack; this was her third boot camp in two years. I did not know I could survive one camp, never mind three in two years! She was the fittest person I had met in a long time. Jane could do a four-minute plank. Enough said. I was happy that although I was the biggest, I came in the middle of the pack in terms of fitness. I was still surprisingly fitter than I thought, in fact. There were two other ladies in their early forties who looked like they had come because they had lost a bet. They hadn’t stopped complaining from the first moment I saw them: It was too early, too cold, too hard and, most of all, too much work! Surprisingly, they did not irritate me but made me smile. At least I wasn’t the one doing the complaining.
The main instructor, Simon, I could only describe as a man mountain. He was ridiculously fit and he had barely started with us yet. While we had a drink, he put ominous-looking different-sized cones around the field. What now? Couldn’t we just go back and have breakfast? How much could we be expected to do on an empty stomach? My whole body, I am sure, was in some kind of shock. After a few rounds of circuits, the like of which I had never done before and I’m sure must have originated in the army, we finally walked back. I say walked – but limped, dragged, or crawled would be better descriptions.
Time for breakfast. My body felt like it was done for the day but we were just starting. Breakfast was porridge with three blueberries. Three! Why bother? I know about portion control but this was leaving me hungry. It felt almost like I hadn’t eaten at all.
Half an hour rest and then more circuits, this time up a hill. I say hill but it was more like a little mountain. Flipping tyres, jumping ropes, boxing, sprinting, and doing burpees. Oh, did I forget the plank and sit-ups? I was ecstatic though, running on adrenalin and the other feel-good hormones of exercise. Endorphins? My body got me through it.
Lunch was a salad and salmon affair. Very tasty but again, portions a bird might complain about. Finally, a rest.
I lay on my bed and hoped to relax. Just as I was starting to, it was time to go on a hike. They said it was going to be for six miles. I thought it would be a gentle stroll – wishful thinking, clearly. The hike was at a fast pace, going uphill after hill after hill. The moment you thought you were finished, you were confronted by another one. People who thought they were fit quickly found out that a whole new level of fitness was needed. Still, Kate and I hung out together on the hike. We grabbed each other’s hands and ran as we were chased by sheep, and tiptoed past bulls if they looked at us in a funny way. We laughed, and ran, and kept each other going. I hadn’t thought I would, but I was enjoying myself. Meanwhile Jane was busy improving her fitness and keeping up with the front-runners. Kate and I left her to it.
Simon the instructor kept a subtle eye on me throughout. Probably because of my size, he thought that I wouldn’t be able to continue. They had a car available for when people gave up: I guess he thought it had my name on it. And so it was, he came up to me at the end of the hike and said, “You are doing really well, keep it up.” I was pleased. He didn’t seem like the kind of man who threw out compliments like confetti.
When we got back, I was beyond exhausted. But we weren’t done yet! Stretching was next. But I didn’t think my limbs would ever move in the way they were demonstrating. They did, somehow. After stretching, we had the delights of an ice bath. The ice bath was an actual bath – but it was outside and filled with icy water. It was supposed to help your muscles. I kept my mind on that idea, because every part of my body was screaming that it would be torture. But I had another full day of activities the next day, and I didn’t want to be sore. So all the help I could get, I would take.
Easing my limbs into the icy water made my skin burn. I could hardly catch my breath. The only thing for it was to just push myself in. It was no time for being timid! I survived my three minutes of shock. These ice baths better do what they were supposed to – because they were not enjoyable.
Dinner followed but I hardly had the energy to eat. Amazingly, I had survived the first day.
*
The next few days went by in a blur. My body got fitter, sure, but then the exercises got harder. Somehow, I managed to keep up. I found that I needed less sleep, sometimes finding myself awake in the middle of the night because it was so quiet. Could I be missing the sound of traffic? I guess I really was a city girl at heart.
Every afternoon, the hikes seemed to get longer and incorporate more hills. I enjoyed the scenery, making sure that I stayed in the middle of the pack or at the end of the first group. Firstly, I didn’t want to be last; and secondly, I didn’t want to get lost. I had no compass and there were no signs in the fields to tell me where to go. My worst nightmare would be to get lost in the countryside; with dark descending and nocturnal animals coming out to find me. I knew how to survive in a city, but not out here.
I am not going to lie, the exercises were gruelling, yet we all managed to soldier on. Even Carol and Sarah, the unhappy duo in their forties, ended up complaining a little less.
As the week came to a close, we were definitely pushed one step further beyond our limits. I had found out that I was good at running, boxing, rowing and hiking. My body got better at it; but I never quite got to grips with the circuits. If I never did another sit up, it would be fine by me! On our last day, we finally had a good breakfast – pancakes with fruit. I had become so used to the small portions by then that I almost could not finish my food. But I made a Herculean effort worthy of the pancakes and managed.
Like on the first day, after breakfast we were sent to get weighed and measured. I remembered going through the process but it seemed a blur now. I couldn’t remember the measurements or how much I had weighed. What I did know was that two weeks before going to the camp, I had lost six pounds from the heaviest weight I had ever been. I put it down to the few HIIT classes and greatly reducing my sugar intake.
We all sat in the sitting room awaiting our turn for the weigh-in. I could tell that I had lost something and my body had definitely toned up. But at this point, all we wanted to know was what the numbers said. Most people came back into the room smiling, which was encouraging.
My name was announced. I went over to the weighing room, both excited and scared. Another picture was taken of me, so we could see the before and after results, and then, for the measurements.
I had lost an inch from my thighs, an inch and a half from my waist and an inch from my hips. I was absolutely delighted. I had worked very hard for the results but I was still to hear about the magic pounds. Now, to the scale. I was happy to step on them, and I wouldn’t have been able to say that just a week ago. One foot first and then the other. I told myself to keep breathing. The instructor moved closer.
“Don’t look down,” I threw my head up and looked ahead.
“Eight pounds,” I heard.
I clapped for myself and then felt a bit self-conscious. In my mind, I was dancing a full jig. Eight pounds in seven days! Well six days really, because all I did on the first day was arrive and the hill fitness assessment. Eight pounds was fantastic. A week well spent!
I went back into the sitting room and was asked my results. We were all telling each other and offering congratulations. It was probably one of the few times people would freely offer their weight and measurements to other people! Well, people who weren’t pro athletes and who had only known each other for under a week.
They also had given us a cooking and nutrition session two days earlier. This was supposed to give us pointers on how to eat more healthily when we returned to our normal daily routines. The main thing
was to reduce my sugar, incorporate more greens, and exercise. It had to be a whole life-style change. No more fad diets or quick fixes! Would I do another camp? Definitely! But I would wait for my body to recover first. This had been the first step to changing my life and getting my body back, I thought to myself proudly. It had been a great kick-starter, and I felt my confidence was on the up for the first time in a long time. I even looked forward to showing off the results to my most honest judge, Sophie.
It had been a truly amazing experience! Pushing my body as hard as I could, I sometimes did not think I would make it. Day after day of relentless exercise and physical exhaustion. But I had known that if I kept at it, I would manage, and I had.
The experience had shocked my body into fitness and it was great to learn about nutrition – what I could eat to nourish my body to its optimum level. I already knew in theory, of course; but it was good to be re-educated.
It was more than that though, so much more. I had re-discovered my belief in myself. My determination and refusal to give up in each task had been what had sustained me. Now this boot camp experience was the start of this weight finally coming off for good. I knew I could do it and I would.
Adding the weight I had lost before the camp to this week’s loss, I had now lost a total of 14 lbs. Only two a half stone to go till I reached my goal! I had so much energy, clarity and above all, I could say I was happy.
Chapter 19
Keeping Momentum
After camp, I was determined to carry on the momentum, and so I ran around the park at least three times a week. I had to smile at some of the characters I saw there. There was always a man walking his tiny dog in the park whilst smoking. He was not really walking but mainly standing in one or two shady spots as his dog ran around, chasing anything that moved and yelping continuously. I ran past them one morning and decided I’d seen them regularly enough to merit a friendly greeting.