It has been almost 6 months since I visited The Ranch in Malibu. Since then, the number one question I hear from people who are curious about the experience is “what was your take~away?”, meaning what were the top tips I gleaned during my time there. I’ve thought about that a lot over the months. One has no choice but to be dedicated to good health habits while in the confines of the ranch, but what happens when you are out on your own? Now, 6 – months, 1- Merry Christmas, a few vacations, 12 college applications, St. Patrick’s Day, a glorious girls weekend, and all the stuff of life later, I think I can share my answers to this question with a true real~life perspective.
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| Our takeaway tiffin, filled with the fabulous kale salad. |
Have I completely transformed my lifestyle since this visit? No, not completely. But I have adopted many tips I experienced there and they have helped me to live a healthier, happier, slimmer life. The amount of information I gained on health and well being was expansive, way too much to share here. So, today I am going to share the bits of information that I’ve found to be the most helpful for me in regards to diet and exercise, things that I have been able to incorporate into my life with ease, and they have made a big difference. In my next post I’ll share the top tips I learned about well~being. In addition to my insights, I am happy to report that I have some great giveaway items from The Ranch to share, details are at the bottom of this post.
The first and most definitive benefit from my visit is the weight {or fat, as they like to distinguish} I lost. Through the preparation process and my week at the ranch I lost 8 pesky pounds that had somehow adhered to my frame over the past few years, pounds that I just hadn’t been able to shed on my own. Pounds that made me feel like a lump of sausage squeezing into my casings each day when I got dressed {what a visual!}. I like to weigh myself every morning and I am pleased to say, those pounds are no longer living at The Market! I also lost nearly 7 inches from my body overall, ahhhh…
This is all great news, but as you may have already assumed, this didn’t happen just by breathing the fresh ocean air. As we all know, to loose weight or maintain a weight we need to burn as many or more calories than we consume. Below, I will share some takeaway points that have helped me to stay at this weight.
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First of all, we are stronger than we think, we can be more active and do much more physically than we can imagine {and with less food}. I’ve always been relatively active, but oftentimes, I get a feeling that I need to eat a lot to stay that active. After our 15 mile hikes, we’d have lunch and a rest period and then we would go to work out in the gym for a few hours. I remember looking at the coaches, thinking “I don’t know if I can do this”. They had obviously seen that expression before and would say, “come on, you can do it”, and guess what? They were right. Once we got started, the extra hours of exercise flew by.
I am a 3 meals a day girl, I rarely snack. But at those 3 meals I sometimes get the mentality that it may be my last for awhile, so I used to eat too much, thinking I needed to store up energy. Since my visit to the ranch, I’ve learned a tall glass of kale smoothie can take me through an hour + of tennis and an hour and a half of yoga, no problem. Then, a snack of an apple and a handful of almonds can keep me going to dinner. I don’t usually eat this sparsely, but, having done this a few times, I realize now that I can be fully functional on much less food than I used to consume.
The power of water was key to our cleansing and weight loss at the ranch. Each morning we filled our camelbacks with plenty of water and as we hiked the Santa Monica’s we were constantly reminded to drink water. In addition to cleansing, water is very filling. At home, I try to drink a glass or two of water before each meal so that I feel fuller when I sit down at the table.
At the ranch house, where we gathered for meals, they offered large glass containers filled with different blends of herbal teas. Before and after meals, campers enjoyed the ritual of preparing a custom brew to savor. The teas had various beneficial properties, and they were warm, tasty and satisfying. The teas at the ranch seemed to satisfy the cravings one might have to reach for a sweet or a cocktail. When I feel a little lull in the afternoon, a warm and flavorful herbal tea keeps my mind, mouth and appetite busy before dinner.
Time is a challenge for all of us, it was a luxury to be able to take a week for myself to really focus on my goals, my health and my well being. In real life, it’s not so easy to take that time to be fit. But, during my visit, I experienced what I always knew to be true, an active body burns more calories. I have made a point to prioritize exercise in my daily schedule. In addition to my scheduled activities, mostly tennis and yoga, I also find that I can be more active while doing my daily activities. One thing that keeps me inscented to stay active is wearing a pedometer. A month before going to the ranch, they sent us a packet with guidelines on how to prepare for our visit. The focus was to ween our bodies from caffeine, sugar, alcohol, dairy, glutens and meat, and also to increase our physical activity.
They sent each camper a pedometer, and a schedule explaining how we should increase our daily steps, in preparation for the long hikes we would be taking each day. I became hooked on wearing a pedometer. This little device recorded each and every stride I took and as those numbers grew, it felt like I was getting “points”, I loved the sense of accomplishment when I reached each of the increasing goals. It takes about 2000 steps to walk a mile and during our final week of preparation it was recommended we take an average of 30,000 steps daily, including inclines. By the time we got to the ranch, I felt well prepared for our daily 10 – 15 mile hikes in the beautiful Santa Monica mountains. I like to wear my pedometer on my waistband, but others preferred to wear theirs on their shoes.
Since my stay, I still like to wear my pedometer. It encourages me to do all those things we all know we should do…
…take the stairs instead of the elevator… park your car far away from you destination… take the longer route… if you have some extra time, run a few sets of stairs or walk around the block.
I love checking it throughout the day to see how many steps I’ve accumulated. One day I walked 7 miles just setting up for a party for my kids! If I haven’t hit my goal by the end of the day, an evening walk, or a jog around the kitchen island can usually get me there.
Oh, guess what?
A pedometer from the ranch is one of the giveaway items!
The dietary philosophy at The Ranch is not to dictate what is bad vs. good, but to essentially cleanse your palette, to give you a fresh start, and to let you experience what it feels like to live without dairy, meat, alcohol, caffeine, sugar and gluten’s. As much as I like to enjoy many of those things, as I have said before, I really didn’t miss them while I was there.
But, since I have been “out” I have reintroduced some of these things to my diet. Following are the specific things I learned at the ranch that I have incorporated into my everyday life. These have helped me to have a healthier diet and keep off that weight okay, okay… fat.
In regards to diet, I think the primary change I have made is incorporating more vegetables into my diet. Most every morning, I drink a tall glass of this delicious kale smoothie made with almonds {with or without the granola}.
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| Splendid Kale Smoothie |
For other meals I try to make sure that more than half of my plate is filled with vegetables, something I learned at the ranch. I also eat a lot less meat than I used to. In place of meat I have been eating a lot more nuts and beans to get the protein my body needs to keep going. On a regular basis, I also make some version of The Ranch Kale Salad, for lunch or dinner, making a little extra to enjoy the next day.
Next post, I’ll write about the best “well being” tips I gained from The Ranch.
Okay, finally, here are the giveaway products from The Ranch. These marvelous glycerin body soap and scrub bars were in our showers at the ranch. What I noticed first was the smell of the soap, it was natural, clean and wonderfully fresh {they offer Lavender, Spearmint Rosemary and Eucalyptus Orange}. But I think my favorite aspect of this chunky bar is the “scrub” factor. While soaping, botanical elements and a touch of pumice gives your body a superb soothing and smoothing scrub.
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| Giveaway items from the ranch, Glycerin body soap & scrub and a pedometer. |
To enter the giveaway complete any, and/or all of the following steps to get your name in the hat, the more steps you take, the more times your name will be entered:
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Subscribe to Splendid Market {if you are already a subscriber, leave a comment and let me know}. To subscribe, enter your email address in the box in the top right corner of this page.
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Get a friend to subscribe to Splendid Market {and let me know who your friend/s is/are.}
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“Like” Splendid Market on Facebook {you can click on the “like” icon in the column to the right, middle of the page}.
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Follow Splendid Market on Twitter {see “follow me” in the column to the right}.
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Blog, twitter or Facebook about the giveaway and leave a comment or send me an email to let me know.
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Three people will win these great items. I’ll do the drawing in a week and let you know who won right away.
Great giveaway, Emily! I am not certain I am as disciplined as you are. Sounds like major change. I am about to restart my walking program.
I am a subscriber!
Teresa
xoxo
I am a follower on fb.
Teresa
xoxo
I am a follower on twitter.
Teresa
xoxo
Tweeting about the giveaway!
Teresa
xoxo
Emily very exciting; what a great giveaway!! I would love, love the soap and the pedometer!! I have wanted one for a long time.
I am a follower and subscriber!!
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
I also follow you on Twitter!! Yay!
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
Emily I Like you on Facebook. Fingers are crossed!
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
Emily…I am a subscriber and absolutely love waking up to seeing that you have posted more gorgeous pictures & great inspirations. Your "Ranch" postings have been particularly fun for me to read as I would love to visit Canyon Ranch someday and am, as many, always in search of better health. Thank you!
p.s. what a great giveaway!
I like you on FB!
I follow you on twitter!
tweeted: https://twitter.com/#!/egood33/status/187324673992835072
shared to FB: https://www.facebook.com/elisabeth.good1/posts/174458822675113
Hi Emily, I love reading your blog and especially love this one as I am in need of a kick-start to losing this extra 'fat' I have acquired! We have been traveling a lot and leave for Switzerland in a couple of days for a 2 1/2 week 'catch up' with all of our friends there that we miss so much! I would LOVE the pedometer and only use bar soap neatly placed in various soap dishes I have collected. (no liquid stuff around here), so I would LOVE that soap as well! I "like" you on Facebook, am a subscriber and will follow you on twitter! Also, I have several friends that would love your blog, so I am about to get them on there as well!! Here's to our health and well being!! ~Shannon
Thank you all for your participation. I didn't post all of your comments about followings, etc. But I will count those in the drawing.
Teresa, I find taking "baby steps" make a big difference in changing your life/ lifestyle.
Carolyn, nice to meet you and thank you for your kind comments.
Sha~sha, have fun in Switzerland. Will you contact me when you return? We'd love to have you and your family to dinner.
xoxoxo, ebh