Austin Adventures in Blogging?

Hello everyone! Welcome to the Austin Adventure Boot Camp Blog. Let's get some of the formalities out of the way. My name is Stephanie Delk and I am the business operations manager of Austin Adventure Boot Camp and also a Southwest Boot Camper. This is a forum where we can informally introduce you to our trainers, as many of our campers as possible, and offer advice on nutrition, fitness and staying motivated! On alternating Mondays I will be interviewing some of our campers to give you more perspective on what can be achieved at camp. I am happy to count myself as one of the achievers, here is an excerpt of my story:

Name: Stephanie Delk
Age: 28
Occupation: Rock Star
Height: 5’ 11”
Starting Weight: 253
Lowest Weight: 153- a billion years ago
Current Weight 193 and still losing!
Boot Camper Since: Oct 2006

My first class was challenging but Stephanie and the other women were very supportive. I was tired--no—I was exhausted. (Keep in mind I had been leading a pretty sedentary lifestyle until about a week before my first ATX class, I was a champion couch surfer.) After that first class I was in all kinds of pain, but I felt empowered. I knew that if I kept going there was nothing that could stop me from losing the weight.

The first time I “ran” the mile was miserable. I got shin splints. I got cramps. I couldn’t breathe. I don’t know what I was thinking--I couldn’t even run the mile when I was in elementary school doing the President’s Challenge. I maybe ran about a tenth of a mile before I slowed to a jog. By the time I was three quarters of the way through, my legs were aching so badly I started to cry. I snuffled across the finish line, aching and crying and disappointed in myself for letting my weight get so out of control. Stephanie was there at the finish line, 16 minutes and 37 seconds later, assuring me that it would get better. The women in class were supportive and made sure that I knew that the first mile time is just a starting point. It would improve. I would feel better. I just had to keep moving. At the end of my first camp I had cut almost five minutes off my run time and I had lost 7 pounds. A month later…(click here for more)

This past year has led to some huge changes in my life and those changes are part of what made me begin working with Austin Adventure Boot Camp a little over three months ago.

As my story says, this past year I lost 60 pounds. Boot camp helped me get my ducks in a row, fitness and nutrition-wise and here I am nearly on the other side of it.

I will not lie. This has not been easy. But it definitely has been more empowering than I could’ve imagined and strangely enough some days I have more fun before 6:30am than I ever thought.

The culmination of my year of work is coming up. I promised McD that I would run a 5K and on November 4th I am going to participate in the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure. I’ve got an adorable Race for the Cure page y’all should check out and if you are interested in running with me you should sign up to be a part of our team. I believe that you can also ‘sleep in for the cure’ on our team as well.

We will be handing out Pink Prizes so please do join us and help us support the fight against breast cancer!

Now I’m headed off to the Central Camp tomorrow so I better get off to bed.