Wednesday, September 17, 2008, 3:16 PM
Boot Camp
By Kirsten Palladino

Day 24

I'm so sad that boot camp is coming to an end. Friday's our last day, and that'll consist of a physical fitness test, the same kind we had on Day 1. I'm quite confident that I'll beat my records. But I haven't lost more than those 2 pounds I wrote about in Week 1. Granted, I feel much more solid, but I weigh the same AND my pants fit the same. So I'm disappointed in that. But I'm not disappointed that I took on this challenge and rocked it out in boot camp. I am planning on taking up running and other exercises at a gym and on my own starting next week, and I'm confident that the weight loss is just around the corner.

Ramsey, our team leader at Operation Boot Camp, continues to tell us that the muscle we're building is fantastic for increasing our metabolism, even when our bodies are at rest. And I just found this gem on WebMD: "Cardiovascular exercise will torch calories, but resistance training is a big part of the equation if you want to burn fat. Boosting your muscle mass increases your metabolism, so you burn more calories all the time, even when you're not working out."

Our fitness writer Colleen Oakley told me she did boot camp a few years ago and wasn't losing any weight either. She says it took 7 or 8 weeks to see a difference and then the weight just kind of fell off. Her trainer said that your body goes into shock or something and desperately holds onto the weight and then just all of a sudden lets it go.

I'm ready for my body to let it go already! It's been four weeks!

Today's workout was great. We were all over the park doing lunges, sprints, dips on retention walls, planks, push-ups, sit-ups and much more. When we were cooling down with stretches, our instructors asked who liked the workout and only one person raised her hand ... it was too early to tell. I'm like that almost every day. If I blogged seconds after the workout, you'd be hearing a completely different tune from me. But just 30 minutes later, I'm feeling fantastic. And that energy lasts throughout the day, which I love!