My Experience at the Pritikin Center

Pritikin

Creating a healthy lifestyle can be confusing.  You'd think with the volume of information available at our fingertips in this day and age, it'd be easy.  Just do a Google search on 'losing weight' and you'll find a variety of results.  There are so many different diets and of course they all claim to work.

It used to be less confusing. Eat less and move more. But it turns out that the type of foods we eat is important too.  

How thankful I am that I had the opportunity to stay at the Pritikin Longevity Center and Spa two times.  The first time was January 1, 2000 when Greg and I were determined to live a healthy lifestyle.  We stayed for two weeks.  We exercised in their gym every morning. Our program consisted of aerobic exercise using the treadmill, weights and stretching.  They were designed specifically for us by Masters educated exercise physiologists.  Our target heart rates were calculated according to the results of our Treadmill tests.


We stayed in their beautiful facility at the Santa Monica Hyatt.  Pritikin has since moved to Miami Beach. Our room was ocean front so we got to sit and watch the sun set every evening.  The Santa Monica pier was easily seen from our room as well.

Each day we ate our meals in their dining room.  We were encouraged to eat breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and evening snack.  And we lost weight.  Can you believe it?  No starving. But we ate lots of healthy food and attended classes during the day.  We even had cooking classes to teach us how to cook healthy so when we returned home we'd be prepared.

Every afternoon, Greg and I would take walks along the Santa Monica pier.  We often roller bladed along the path from Venice Beach to Malibu.  What a fun time!

We stayed for two weeks.  When we returned home, we tried to maintain a similar lifestyle but it was more challenging.  But we absolutely made major changes and as a result lost weight and felt more energetic and healthy.  We even returned the following year for one week refresher program.

I wish I could go back!  

Unfortunately, Pritikin is an expensive program.  I do subscribe to their newsletter though.  But it's hard to stick to it if you like to go out to eat.  I enjoy an occasional popcorn and when I returned home from Pritikin, I couldn't believe how salty it tasted.

In the meantime, I have the knowledge and know how.  As many of you know, I worked as a cardiovascular nurse for 25 years.  I taught many heart patients how to live a healthier lifestyle.

So I'm sticking to my plan which is now finally becoming a habit for me.

• Treadmill for 30-45 minutes each morning before work and even on the weekends
• Weights every other day
• Stretching daily on my mat
• Sit-ups, planks and a few more Pilates moves daily
• Water, water, water

Most days all I drink is water.  But if I occasionally go out to eat, I do enjoy an iced tea.  I'm happy to report that my clothes are not as tight.  My scale hasn't gone down as quickly as I'd like but it's heading in the right direction.  I have more energy.  But I  must confess that by the end of the day, I'm tired.  However, that might have something to do with the fact that I work with children aged 3-5 all day long.  And they are active!  :)

Accountability is important so I'm linking up with Kim of Just Just for Clicks for Weigh-In Wednesday.