Days 11,12,13

These past few days have gone by so fast that it's hard to keep track of them. I can't believe it's been almost two weeks. Only four more to go until I head out to L.A. It's crunch time. The next couple weeks I have to work my ass off if I want to make my goal. I need to start eating better and less, get going on strength training and keep up with my cardio I've been doing. These next 10 pounds to lose are going to be hard, and I have to be self-disiplined if I want to succeed. It's the worst part about me, I cave in all the time. I have to remember why I'm doing this and know that it's so important for me to succeed as an athlete this winter. No more injuries!

Day 11:

Food- 1,680 calories

Exercise- 0 calories

Net calories- 1,680 (over)

Day 12:

Food- 2,239 calories

Exercise- 862 calories

Net calories- 1,377 (over)

Day 13:

Food- 1,529 calories

Exercise- 624 calories

Net calories- 905 (under)

On day 11 I relaxed and didn't do anything. It's important for the body to rest every every once in awhile. Right now while I'm not doing any strength training, it's not as important to rest every other day, but once I get into lifting weights more, I will want to rest the certain muscle groups so they have time to build up. Day 13 was a great day. I ate healthy, felt healthy, worked out longer and weighed less the next morning. There's just something in your body that rushes around when you get happy, and when it's been a rocky patch, that feeling feels really good and makes me want to keep going. I like feeling good about myself, wait, I take that back. I love feeling good about myself. I love feeling healthy and knowing that what I'm putting in my body is going to help me in the long run. Being healthy will help me be happier in life, which is everyone's goal, right? It's easy to be lazy and give in to the temptations in life, but eventually it starts to ware on you and you find yourself being more sad than happy. Easier said than done, though.

Ski Utah Park Rat Competition

Hey everyone! I need your help! SkiUtah.com is having a contest for the best person to blog on their website about the Utah terrain parks. Who better than me? So please vote on my video on the Ski Utah Yeti facebook page! Or just go to this link:

http://www.skiutah.com/winter/parkrat/entries/lynn_neil.html

Every vote counts, so tell all your friends! If I win, I get a Utah Silver Season Pass which lets me go to any mountain for up to 30 days this winter! That would save me so much money in season passes!! And I would also get to blog once a week on a huge website! So please take a few minutes to vote on my video! Thanks so much!

Days 8,9,10

Wow it's hard to believe it's been ten days. I'm a quarter of the way there. Time flies. I've been doing really good with my diet...I haven't gone out of the way to make sure I'm eating the expensive healthy foods, but I have been making sure I eat only what I need and I haven't eaten any sweets or drank any soda. Usually, I drink one or two sodas per day. Cutting out soda alone will be a huge step for me. Here's how the past three days went:

Day 8

weight: 139.9

Food: 1,692

Exercise: 625

Net Calories: 1,067 (over)

Day 9

weight: 140.1

Food: 1,878 calories

Exercise: 813 calories

Net Calories: 1,064 (over)

Day 10

weight: 140.9

Food: 1,395 calories

Exercise: 168

Net Calories: 1,227 (over)

Even though I was over in my net calories, I came pretty close to my goal. I'm going to start working out a little more everyday and hopefully it will help shed the pounds.

Day 7: Week 1 Review

This past week has had its ups and downs. I felt tired and sore after the first couple days of working out, but after about day 4, I started to get used to it. I actually have more energy now than I had before. I wake up before my alarm clock at 8 sometimes and don't feel so tired at night. I'm not as sluggish during the day and I actually look forward to going to the gym. Now that I'm past my phase of tiredness and procrastination, I can push forward with my training without hesitation. So my goal was to not eat any sweets, drink soda, or eat anything in excess. I accomplished the no soda goal and I don't think I ate too much except for maybe one day. The first day I couldn't stay away from that cupcake, and then the last day a chocolate chip cookie somehow made its way to my mouth. How'd that happen?! Well, like I said before, I'm not going to put myself in jail or dwell over a few mishaps here and there. As long as I keep exercising and burning calories, I will be happy. I accomplished my goal of loosing 2 pounds, I actually lost 3! I am now down to 140, but still have a long way to go, and I know the pounds later on are going to be harder to loose than these ones. I at least want to get to 130 which is where I usually am when I'm healthy. All I can do is to just stay on track, keep doing things and stay active and eat a well balanced diet. And of course stay motivated and happy and always keep my goal in my mind.

"If you reach for the moon, you might land on a star"

Days 4,5,6

Day 4:

weight: 140.8 lbs.

Food: 1,029 calories

Exercise: 153 calories

Net Calories: 876 (under)

Day 5:

weight: 140.4

Food: 1,326 calories

Exercise: 119 calories

Net Calories: 1,207 (over)

Day 6:

weight: 141

Food: 1,610 calories

Exercise: 665 calories

Net Calories: 36 (under)

The days that I don't go to the gym or do a physical activity, I need to make sure I eat really healthy. I went over my goal of 944 net calories per day on day 5 because I didn't make it to the gym. But that's not a very good excuse because I could've done something during the day even if it's at-home exercises. I feel good now that I worked out hard today. And tomorrow I have lots of picking weeds in the yard to do so I'm sure that will burn lots of calories.

Day 3

Day 3 was pretty rough on me. I ate some yogurt and granola with a banana in the morning and then felt sick all day. Not sure if it was that particular food, or I just got sick, but at the end of the day I threw up everything I ate for the day. So I guess I won't count today's calories. I was exhausted and sore, but still managed to snowboard a little. Every Saturday, we get snow from the ice rink and set up our boxes and rail in the park. It's a lot of fun, but super tiring because it's so hot out. That might have been part of the sickness too...not sure. But after puking I felt much better so I hope tomorrow will be fine, because we're headed to Bear Lake for my mom's birthday!

Day 2

Day 2 was a little easier than the first day. I was extremely sore when I woke up, but did some light stretching to loosen up. I definitely didn't have the energy I had on day 1, but that didn't stop me from going to the gym and doing my workout. Here's how the day went:

Food: (2,090 calories)
Breakfast- egg and cheese breakfast panini with cheese (780 calories)
Lunch- peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a protein shake (490 calories)
Dinner- 2 slices of Hawaiian pizza (680 calories)
Snack- Fiber One chocolate granola bar (140 calories)

Exercise: (681 calories)
Biking- 30 min (238 calories)
Elliptical- 30 min (238 calories)
Stretching- 30 min (51 calories)
Weight lifting- arms 30 min (68 calories)
Biking around town- 15 min (85 calories)

2,090 calories consumed- 681 calories burned=1,409 Calories which is 415 over my goal. I have to remember that these are just estimates and that these numbers are just here to guide me and to make me aware of what I'm eating. I'm not going to take any of this to heart, and I know that if I stick to my goal of staying active everyday and eating healthy I can accomplish my ultimate long term goal.

Day 1

Whew! Made it through the first day. I am exhausted! I stayed active pretty much the whole day, but my cousin was in town which forced us to eat out. I try to avoid eating out whenever possible because most restaurants cook their food with lots of grease and butter and MSG. Things were going great until my sister broke out these cupcakes that were made by a special cupcake factory and she basically forced it down my throat! Okay, so that last part wasn't true, but I caved in and ate one. That was a one time thing and I promise it won't happen again!!! I'm not all about changing EVERYTHING, but my goals are to cut out all soda, sweets, and grease. I want to cut down my dairy and bread intake. And the number one rule to losing weight is to make sure you burn as many calories as you take in. So thanks to my iPhone app Lose It, I can easily see what my estimated calorie intake and output is. According to it, I have to lose 2 lbs per week which means my calorie intake per day shouldn't be more than 994. And this only gets me to my goal by Oct. 13 or something, but I'm okay with that. I still want to stay healthy and losing too much weight at one time is definitely not healthy. Here is my breakdown for day 1:

Weight: 143 (eek!)

Food: 2,085 calories

Breakfast- 2 eggs, slice of white bread with butter (208 calories)

Lunch- Protein shake, Bolthouse chocoloate whey and soy (280 calories)

Snack- Corn on the cob with butter, and grapes, cupcake (451 calories)

Dinner- Chicken fettucini alfredo with french bread (1,145 calories)

Exercise: 661 Calories

Yoga- 1 hour (128 calories)

Elliptical- 25 min (199 calories)

Stationary Bike- 25 min (199 calories)

Walking- about an hour total (136 calories)

2,085 calories intake-661 calories burned=1,423 Net Calories

According to my Lose It app, my goal is 994, so I was 430 calories over today. Not the best first day, but I am going to ease into this so that I don't get burnt out. My long term goal is to keep up this healthy lifestyle. I usually do good for awhile, but then it falls apart and the roller coaster starts coasting downhill real fast. My cheating today didn't help either and I am really disappointed in myself. I hope I can control whatever else crosses my path in the future! Hopefully day 2 will be better.

Beach Body Challenge

Lately, I've been bad about what I've been eating. Bad eating habits combined with lack of exercise has resulted in a significant weight gain. I'm not ashamed to admit it. And I think making it public and letting you all in on my goal of weighing 125 pounds again will help my motivation of actually doing it. I have a photo shoot with Arbor at the Hot Dawgs and Handrails contest September 23 and I want to look good. Hopefully I can sneak some L.A. and beach time in too. I realized it's coming up quick and need to get my ass in gear! So here I am writing this on a whim. Everyday, I'll let you know how much I weigh, what I ate that day, and what kind of exercise I did. Over the years I've learned a lot about health and being fit and living an active lifestyle. I've tried many different programs and been to many different health seminars. I'll put all that into action over the next 44 days until I go to Cali. I'm sure everyone (or most normal people) go through slumps, and I've been in one pretty much ever since I got back from Mt. Hood. But it's time to turn it around and go back to becoming a healthy, strong and energetic person. In other words, I need to turn back into an athlete. It's important to me and I want to commit to this 100%. I don't even care if nobody reads this, but if you are thanks for your support and watch as I strive to reach my goal of weighing 125 lbs by September 23. You can also try what I do and see if it works for you. Who knows, maybe we can all help each other, and if you're trying to lose weight, do it with me! I'm not going to change things dramatically, but I definitely need to be true to my word and commit all the way. If I lie, I'm only cheating myself. So tomorrow let the challenge begin!

Shredding Mt. Hood in the Summer

Nomis asked me to blog about the Wasatch Project and our time at Mt. Hood shredding during the summer. Here's the link to check out what we're up to!

http://www.nomisdesign.com/category/girls/

Free at Last

Snow came to the mountains for, maybe, just maybe, the last time this year on Memorial Day. It's almost June! And still winter is reluctant to let go. Tahoe is getting a blizzard, figures. The seasons are changing and shifting slightly...every year winter comes a little later, and leaves a little later in the spring. Most people are mad about this and curse it when it rains/hails for a week straight. But I enjoy it. I love when the grass is green everywhere and the temperatures are comfortable. And don't forget the white-capped mountains. That's the best part. Looking around and seeing the trees covered with white. Although, it's a little more exciting when it happens in autumn. I was blessed to be able to ride at the end of the year, and I took full advantage of it. I rode for myself. No one else but myself. It's been a long time since I've been able to do that and it felt so good to just....cruise. I had the most fun I've had in awhile. No pressure, no stress, no one telling me what to do or where to ride. I was free. The reason for snowboarding in the first place. I tried to capture that feeling and I will remember it every time I ride to remind myself why I snowboard.

SIA 2011

Way back in the day when Dustin was a buyer at a sports store, I always wanted to go to SIA. It's the biggest tradeshow of the skiing and snowboarding industry that happens for a weekend once a year. It's really just one big party in Las Vegas. There's all sorts of people there in a huge convention center, all selling and buying and looking and getting free schwagg, and of course, drinking. Well, that all changed when they moved it to Denver and it toned down a lot. That's what I hear anyways. So now that I can't ride, and I'm not competing somewhere, I finally get to go. And it couldn't have been more beneficial to me. I got to meet the whole Arbor family and got to know them and hang out. It was so much fun! The president, Bob Carlson, took us all out to the best Japanese I've ever had. I don't eat fish or sushi, but my chicken teriyaki was delish! The waiter said it was the best dish they had, so I knew I couldn't pass that up! It was so incredible having everyone's support and being so welcomed into their family. They truly are a family and I am so blessed to be in their circle of trust. They are a company that really cares for their athletes and makes them a priority, which is hard to find in a company. I can't thank them enough for opening their arms to me.

Having the best mom on the planet, I made it to SIA for the first time. I had no one to drive with and my truck's a gas hog. My mom wanted to get away and see a friend anyways, so we packed up the subi and headed to Denver. We got there just in time for the Ladies Night Fashion Show. I finally got to meet Jessi, the women's designer for Nomis Girls. She is awesome and I can't wait to get to know her better and hopefully be a part of the Nomis family. The fashion show was in this little tiny bar upstairs and everyone crowded around and watched as the models strutted their stuff. The new Nomis line looks so amazing! I can't wait to get my hands on a few outfits! I was bummed that Simon Chamberlain, the pro rider who started Nomis, wasn't there, but his twin and business partner Andreas was and it was incredible being able to meet him!

The weekend went by fast with a lot of walking around, winning free stuff, accumulating stickers and posters, hanging out, meeting reps, seeing fellow shredders and chillin' with my new family. It was a very successful trip and I guess it was a blessing in disguise that I was there and not riding. Such an awesome experience, I kinda want to go again next year...

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Technine rider Mark Frank Montoya mixin' some beats

Nomis and Technine rider Derek Dennison and I

MFM and I

Early season trip to Colorado- A back breaker!

"This is gonna be your season" everyone would say. I couldn't get that out of my head as I was being taken down on the sled. Just a few minutes before, I was standing at the top of the course, ready to take on the day. My knee had been hurting from the first day of practice so I had been off my board for a few days. Going up the chairlift, Dustin was telling me to take it mellow and we'll warm up slow, but all I could think about was how I was going to take this course head-on. I had so much confidence as I dropped in, I forgot to look around me. It had snowed a little, my board wasn't running fast, there were hardly any riders on the course...needless to say I was somehow blinded by my ego and I went to hit the 3rd jump and lost all my speed going up the lip. Now, in the past, I have made the mistake to decide to stop at the last second and I accidentally fell off the lip to the deck and broke my neck. So I decided to go for it! I popped as hard as I possibly could and then there was whiteness. All I remember seeing was white everywhere and then a little bit ahead of me was the line for the knuckle of the landing. I knew I was screwed. I just tried to stomp the shit out of the deck. Surprisingly my knee didn't hurt at all. I took it all with my back, and as I landed from 30 feet up to flat, I got major whip-lash that broke my T11. At the time I had no idea what happened. I tried to get up but my back muscles felt like they were clenching harder than ever. I was so happy I could move my arms and legs and knew that everything was going to be alright. I was hoping just my muscles got damaged, but knew the pain was pretty severe. Laying there waiting for the appropriate people to come help me, I was in awe. I had no idea why I thought I could clear this jump and I knew I had just made a horrible decision. A choice that would cost me my season. And could've cost me my career and life as I know it. Dustin looking over me, I could only make out blobs of colors through my fogging lenses. He calmed me down but it was hard for him to keep his emotions that were rushing through him inside. The Dew Tour medical crew worked fast to get me comfortable and into the ambulance. I was so sad that tears would just rush out of my eyes like someone had just turned on the faucet. What was I thinking? I was such an idiot. In a blink of an eye, I had veered off the path to glory and had strayed off course down a bumpy path. Not a path anyone ever wants to take. But like I've said before, this profession is all about sacrifices. And if you think you're never going to get hurt, then think again. Sacrificing your body has been a big one for me...maybe one day I'll wise up and stop getting hurt. So there I was in the hospital in Frisco for the next 4 days, while Jamie Anderson and Torstein Horgmo take first (surprise!) in the first comp of the season. I tried to cheer myself up by thinking there must be some sort of reason for this. I was super optimistic while I was in the hospital. I don't know if it was all the drugs or what, but I was always thinking how I'm going to make the best out of this situation that I put myself in. I had a choice. That's the glory of being human. We have the power to decide things and make choices that will affect the future. I decided that I wouldn't let this little bitty road bump stop me from making my way back to the path to glory. Whatever my glory would be...

Christmas went by, blah. New Years went by, blah. I slept the days away and layed up during the night thinking a million thoughts all at once. The worst part was that I wouldn't be going to Switzerland for the two major comps of the year. I had been looking forward to Europe so much. I have never been there to snowboard. As I stopped taking those nasty little chemical capsules and the drugs wore off, I became so angry at myself for making this stupid mistake. I was now transitioning from the denial to the bargaining stage. After a few days of constantly griping at myself and wishing I could turn back time, I have finally come to face the fact that I must move on with my life. I have to accept the fact that I was an idiot. I haven't gone to the doctor at home yet or started physical therapy, so I have no idea how long it will take until I can strap in again. But all I can control is what I do during my recovery in order to get stronger faster.

There was a moment through all this that I thought it would be easy to just give it all up and get a real life. But why should I take the easy way? And I love snowboarding so much, it would be so hard to not go everyday. I haven't given up yet, and I was just getting the ball rolling. I decided I would take these next couple months easy and focus my energy into marketing myself and the Wasatch Project. It's an area I lack skills in, and I am a modest person so it's hard for me to "show" myself off. I just want to ride. But in this day of commercialism it's important to make yourself known. I will have more opportunities and time to network with the companies who support me and possibly make new connections with other companies. Whatever the reason is for me being an idiot and hucking myself to a broken thorasic, I'll try to make it the best reason I can think of. Because I have a choice! And I choose to brush myself off, and learn from this, so it never happens again.

Back Yard Bang 2010

The first rail jam of the year! I didn't know if I was ready or not, but I decided I'd give it a go anyway. A few of us drove out to Colorado friday and stayed with Red Gerard's family in Frisco. They were so hospitable and nice to us, we had such an awesome time. Red is our youngest kid on the team. He is only 10 but can slay it better than some of us! We got up super early Saturday and drove to Denver with Red and his older brother Trevor who works for Salomon. Salomon sponsored the event and Trevor had to be there early to set up. We walked around trying to find something to eat and drink, but could only find a convenient store. Finally after hours of waiting around, we had our riders meeting and started the heats. I was in heat 1, so I got to start right away. The set-up was kinda sketchy, but I did a few good tricks to get me into finals. Jose (a boy on our team) also made finals and I was super proud of him. During finals, they opened the car gap and I got the courage to spin over it. I didn't know how my knee would do, but surprisingly it didn't really hurt. (But maybe that was all adrenaline 'cause it hurt the next day) I did well enough to get 2nd and won myself a board, boots and bindings. Oh and don't forget my cool trophy! I was pleased with myself and was stoked that I got up on the podium. Another Arbor rider Cody Boane got 3rd in the men's so that was cool too. The next day we rode Keystone for a few hours and then headed the 8 hours back to Utah. It was a quick trip, but well worth it. In a week, I'll be going back to Colorado for the month to train on some big jumps. Can't wait!

Finding Myself

I always thought I had a pretty good idea of who I am and what I want to do with my life. When I was little, I wanted to be a veterinarian when I grew up. I loved animals and wanted to help them. My very first job was at a vet clinic when I was 15. I witnessed some things that haunted my dream of becoming a vet. After months of working there, I decided it wasn't the pretty picture I always thought it was. I stopped dreaming of becoming a vet. Throughout high school I was clueless as to what I wanted to do when I got to college. I thought I had it all planned out, but now I was going into college without any idea of what to do. I've always loved sports and helping people, so my mom pushed me to think about physical therapy. The only thing I could think of was 6 years of college, which I was not pumped on. I've never been an over-achiever, just plain achiever. I settled for Athletic Training. I took a year of it and realized that taping stinky feet and icing athletes wasn't my cup of tea. Maybe I should go for physical therapy? At this point in my life, I had never even thought about becoming a professional snowboarder. I loved snowboarding and wanted it to be a big part of my life, but didn't think I could make a living at it. After winning almost all the amateur competitions in the U.S., I thought, "what now?" I decided right then and there that I wanted to try to make it to the top. And in order to do that, I would need to dedicate myself 100% and stop messing around. I finally found my calling.
A lot of people think that pro snowboarders have it made. But I found out that it is a lot harder than it's made out to be. Sure, it's awesome going to work on the mountain everyday, but there's a lot more to it than that. Sacrifice. I've had to sacrifice so much to do what I'm doing today. First of all, money. I have none. And unless I win some major comps or get sponsored by companies with lots of money, I will probably always be broke. But I'm doing what I love to do. Which is more than I can say for probably 75% of all people with jobs. Every time I whine about not having any money, my boyfriend says, "well you can go work a 9-5er if you want" and I just think about all those people sitting in their cubicle answering phone calls and watching the clock all day. Office Space, such a great movie. I shake my head in disgust. I LOVE my job, even though I don't make much at it, YET. In the snowboarding world, your career is what you make it. You get what you put into it. It might have taken me 10 years of recreational snowboarding to realize this, but now I'm in full force, working toward my goal everyday. It's very important for me to have goals, because if you don't, then you don't know what you're working for. I've always made goals for anything I do. First it was for ice skating, and I accomplished my goal of testing through my gold level. Then it was in high school, and I graduated with a decent g.p.a. and got into college with a fair amount of scholarship money. Then in college, I got my associates degree. If I don't make a goal for myself, I find that I float around aimlessly. And that doesn't get you anywhere. So now I actually have a snowboarding career and all my hard work is paying off. Last year I realized how close I actually am to becoming one of the best girl snowboarders in the world. Crazy. I would've never thought that 3 years ago. I may have been a little slow figuring out what I want to do with my life, but at least I figured it out. I also had to sacrifice family and friends. I spend so much time snowboarding and traveling that I put my family and friends on the back burner. This one kills me. My family has always been supportive of me and my ambitions, and sometimes I feel that I don't give back enough. I try to make the time to spend with them, but it never seems like enough. I find myself surrounded by friends who I ride with, but what about the friends I had before snowboarding? My friendships with them have dwindled. Sacrificing things for your dreams is the hardest thing. I've also sacrificed my love of eating. I am an athlete now, which means you can't just gorge out on a tub of peanut butter or chocolate anymore. It's so hard for me to eat healthy, but it's worth it. Along with diet, comes working out. I finally have a personal trainer now and boy does it show. After having both ACLs repaired, I am determined to get into great shape so I can prevent future injuries. Which brings me to my last sacrifice. My body. I've had my fair share of injuries from snowboarding. Surgery on both my knees, broken ribs, broken neck, jammed fingers, sprained wrist, dislocated elbow and many bruised asses. But this comes with the territory. I don't know any competitive snowboarder who hasn't had injuries. Just part of the game. These are all sacrifices I am willing to make for my career. Sometimes it's hard to see, but it's worth it. There's nothing better than having that feeling of accomplishment. Whether it's just dropping into a line that you hiked an hour for, or standing on the top of the podium, or simply just having an awesome day riding with some friends, I never regret the decision I made when I committed myself 100%. Now my goal is to reach the top, to go beyond what I think is possible, and to surprise myself everyday in some way. I want to push the other girls to progress and I want them to push me. I thrive on challenges and if something isn't challenging, it's boring. I guess I just have a competitive nature, but I've always competed and wanted to be the best at what I do. So now I'm on the road to success and one day I will be able to afford a nice house and start my family knowing I lived my life the best I could.