Saturday - Zion National Park

Thoughts on Friday

Well, since I posted a lot of pictures last night, I thought I might try to get a bit of writing in today. I only have a few minutes before lunch, but here are the things I have been thinking about today:

1. I feel really good. My body (and even my mind) are exhausted, but I have experienced a really good feeling in my body from all this exercise. Obviously people can't exercise like this all the time, but it has really given me a new desire (in my mind and body) for exercise. I would say I've certainly had that desire before, but now I feel it even stronger.

2. I must take the things I've learned here home with me. It is so easy to not exercise and to overeat - and this would be easy to do. The real value in this trip will be what I implement when I get home.

Ok, that's all my mind can get into words now - and I've got to head to lunch!

I can't wait to get home and tell you all in person about this trip.

Friday's Hike - Camelback

(This picture was posed for, by the way...)

Friday

Today's Schedule:

6:30 am - hike
9:30 am - breakfast
10:15 am - Lecture: Goal setting
11:30 am - Pool Class
1:00 - Lunch
(may try to squeeze in a short bike ride here)
2:30 pm - Spin class
3:30 pm - Hip Hop (!)
4:30 pm - Gentle Stretch
5:30 pm - Dinner
7:30 pm - I'm getting a haircut!

Fitness Ridge Food

Here are some pictures of some of the food at Fitness Ridge. Now, I happened to take these on a night when the presentation of the food was a bit more "gourmet" than other nights. That said, I have really like all the food.

These strawberries were SO good - dark chocolate and 140 calories for both!

Pictures of Fitness Ridge Facilities

Pictures of the facilities here at Fitness ridge...

The building in the backgrond is the sleeping rooms (20 rooms total):

Here's the front entrance:

Dining facilities:

Pictures from Thursday's Hike

Pictures from Thursday's Hike

Thursday

Thursday's Schedule

6:30 am - hike (the "saddle" hike)
9:30 am - breakfast
10:15 am - Cooking Demonstration
11:30 am - Yogalates
nap!
1:00 pm - lunch
1:30 pm - Pilates
2:30 pm - Treading (interval class on the elliptical machine)
3:30 pm - Treading #2 (I actually voluntarily did this a second time instead of another class)
4:30 pm - Pool class
5:30 pm - dinner
6:15 pm - Lecture: Mindful Eating (by Emily the dietician, who I think is great!)

Thoughts on Wednesday

I know that I have been putting a lot of information on here (the daily schedules as well as the hike pictures), but I want to include a bit more – maybe a bit of what my experience has been like here – and maybe a bit of the emotional side of being here.

First of all, so far the experience has been great! I am just at the right fitness level for a program like this. Strong enough that I can really enjoy it and not be totally miserable from the workouts, but also at a point where I have a good amount of room for improvement.

I've spent parts of each day tired – but the funny thing is that the kind of tired changes within a day – from tired muscles to exhausted tired to just plain sleepy tired. Most of all, I've felt slightly sore and sleepy tired. But in some ironic way, I also feel energetic. For example, right now it's about 9:20, I don't have anything I need to do, but I'm not quite ready to go to bed – and I have to get up at 5:45 for a 2.5 hour hike!

I've also felt a tiny bit “brain dead” - maybe that's not quite the right word – but it hasn't been a terribly emotional week for me. Maybe it's just that I'm on autopilot going from class to class and getting ready (bandaids on for hikes, sunscreen and bathing suit on for pool class, clean clothes on when you're finished working out, etc.) for classes.

The people I've met here cover a pretty wide spectrum. In age they range from early 20s to 60s, and most range from slightly overweight to obese. Most actually do have a moderate amount of weight to lose. What I've found most interesting is how long some people are staying. There is a girl who just finished college and is staying here 6 weeks before starting a job she already has. There's another who is here for 8 weeks, who is coming out of a depression and giving herself this time to really change some things in here life. I'm amazed at the everyday, normal folks who are here for 2 or 3 or 4 weeks – who just took vacation from their jobs and made it happen. Interesting, eh?

In case you're wondering about the food, I think the food here is really good. It's light and healthy and seems like enough, but definitely not too much. I definitely have felt hungry, but not in a way that makes me frustrated. Usually when I get hungry it's either time for a class or a meal or bed. We eat 1200 calories a day (300 at breakfast, 400 at lunch, and 500 at dinner). Included in the 1200 is a piece of fruit to take on our hikes. We also get dessert with dinner, and they have been really good. All of the food is dairy-free, and white sugar and white flour-free. They use fructose and agave nectar to sweeten some of the desserts and all breads and desserts use whole wheat flour. And they use lots of tofu! The meals are served pre-portioned and they are very strict about the portion sizes. There was a girl sitting by me tonight who is celebrating her 40th birthday today. We had chocolate-covered strawberries for dessert (2) and they were VERY good, and she asked for one more (since it was her birthday). Cody, our 18 or so year old server said that unfortunately he couldn't give her another one. I joked that he might lose his job if he did (in all actuality I knew they were probably very serious about this), and he said that yes, that was true...he could probably actually lose his job for doing that. Crazy – but I see the logic.

This post has been a bit scattered, but I hope you enjoyed reading it. Off to bed and I'll write more tomorrow...

Pictures from Wednesday's Hike

Today's hike was called Red, White and Blue - for the red rocks, white rocks and blue skies. Somehow I got talked into going with the advancedI think it was about 4 miles and took us about 2 hours. It was a good hike with lots of steep inclines and LOTS of sand.

Wednesday

Today's Schedule

6:30 am - Hike (we did Red, White and Blue - for the red rocks, white rocks, and blue skies!)
9:30 am - breakfast
10:30 am - Core Strength class
11:30 am - Aquacise (pool class)
1:00 pm - lunch
2:30 pm - Cardio Circuit
3:30 pm - Circuit Training
4;30 pm - Gentle Stretch
5:30 pm - Dinner
6:15 pm - Increasing your Income (a lecture about burning calories through exercise)

I'm off to class, but I have some great pictures of today's hike to post when I have a chance...

I went to dinner in a bathrobe tonight.

I can't say that I ever thought I would do that. But I did. I went straight from pool class to the hot tub to dinner. And no one even batted an eye at me.

I miss Juan.

I do. And I just wanted to say it.

Photos from Tuesday's Hike

Photos from our hike this morning...this first one is of me and my roommate Jo Anne:

Tuesday

Today's Schedule:

6:30 am - leave for hike
10:00 - arrive back and eat breakfast
10:15 - cooking demonstration (very interesting)
11:30 - Core workout and stretch
1:00 - lunch
2:30 - Cardio Intervals (on an elliptical or other machine)
3:30 - Total Toning (I think this is free weights)
4:30 - Aquacise (exercise in the pool!)
5:30 - dinner
6:15 - Lecture: Spending Your Calories Wisely

So far today's going really well. The hike was fabulous and actually felt easier on my body than yesterday's "hike" on pavement. We saw some absolutely amazing views - it's really a different kind of beautiful here.

I feel that I was very well prepared for this trip. My workouts with Jon, Cabrillo pilates class, and spin class at SV Fitness gave me a lot of knowledge that has given me a very good foundation for fitness.

One thing that I've realized by being here (Jon, you're absolutely right!) is that I CAN work out more than once a day! Here I'm working out WAY more than once a day and I feel great. Another huge insight I've had is that this (and really everything else) is not a quick fix. Not that I came here looking for a quick fix, but just in case anyone thought it was, I realize that long-term success is going to mean working out and limiting calories day in and day out.

Gotta run to lunch...I'll try to post some pictures later - I'm still having some trouble with wireless!

Monday

12:30 pm

“You're in for a real treat.”

That's what my now-new friend Jamie said to me on the shuttle bus after she discovered that I also was going to Fitness Ridge. Turns out that she came here a year and a half ago (when they were operating out of a hotel and adjacent gym), and the fact that she was returning said something to me!

This morning, my alarm went off at 5:45, and I promptly got up, got dressed and headed down to the lobby for “test-in.” I found it interesting that they don't call it a weigh-in (definitely a word with bad connotations), and it truly was more than a weigh-in. They quickly gathered information on us such as our age, our height, our weight, and our measurements, including body measurements as well as body fat percentage.

Here are some of my numbers:

Height: 5'6” (really about 5 foot, 5 and ¾ inches)
Weight: 201.5
BMI: 32 (I think!)
Body Fat Percentage: 36.6%

At the end of the week, we'll “test out” and take all these measurements again.

Next we headed to Snow Canyon, a local state park, for the “Stop Sign Hike.” This is the hike that is used to gauge each person's hiking ability. I hiked part of the hike with my new friend Jamie (from the shuttle yesterday) and then hiked alone until the end – reaching the stop sign (4.5 miles from where we started) in 1 hour and 19 minutes. This is another thing we do again at the end of the week to assess our improvement while we've been here.

After returning was breakfast (at 9:30), “Budget” class (income vs. expense in terms of calories), and now I'm off to Aquacise class, followed by lunch at 1:00.


5:15 pm
The afternoon felt like we really got going on the exercise part of the day. At 2:00 we had an introduction to the gym equipment and how to use it all, followed by Circuit Training (going back and forth between cardio machines and weight machines) and Cardio Circuit. This class was much like exercise classes I've seen before and at the same time – nothing like anything I've ever seen before.

Today's Schedule (just to recap):

6:20 am Test-in (weights and measurements – and a picture!)
6:30 am Meet the trainers
7:00 am Leave for hike
9:30 am Breakfast
10:15 am Budget 101 (budgeting calories)
11:30 am Aquacise (strength and cardio exercises in the pool)
1:00 pm Lunch
2:00 pm Intro to Circuit
2:30 pm Circuit Training
3:30 pm Cardio Circuit
4:30 pm Gentle Stretch
5:30 pm Dinner
6:30 pm Tai Chi on the Red Rocks

Sunday

For many years I have been overweight. Like so many others, I have seriously tried almost every diet and program out there, but at the same time, and for a long time, I was not really open about my struggle with weight with very many people. And like so many other people out there, I have lost and gained weight over and over again.

Many of you know that in the last year, Juan and I have both been focusing on our health and working to lose weight. To date, I've lost give or take 50 pounds. This is down from my highest weight ever in June of 2007.

It's been a fun yet challenging experience, and one not without many bumps along the way. At some point, I realized that this is going to be a life-long journey, and that I'm never really “there” or “done.” Precisely for this reason, I've decided to (and it's scary to even type these words) fully embrace physical fitness as a lifestyle and a passion.

One part of that process for me has been the decision to spend a week (and a chunk of money!) at a place called Fitness Ridge near St. George, Utah. Check out Fitness Ridge's website at www.fitnessridge.com

Over the last few days, I've thought of the idea of blogging about my time here as a way to share some pictures, as well as my experience, with friends and family. But I also hope to continue to use this blog into the future to document my journey, to keep me committed, and hopefully to inspire others in their journey.

So..with no further adieu...

Sunday 9:30 p.m.

I arrived at Fitness Ridge today! I got up early and got dressed and all packed up (after not being able to find my tennis shoes – tell me, what would I have done at a place called Fitness Ridge without tennis shoes?!). Juan and I stopped off for a coffee and a scone at Peet's and headed to the airport. I flew from SJC to LAS and after playing a few nickel slots in the airport, took a shuttle to St. George. It felt like it took forever to get here (probably because I was so anxious to get here and see the place!), but the drive did get prettier as we went. Fitness Ridge was the last stop on the shuttle bus route, and I arrived just in time to check into my room and get down to dinner on time.

We had dinner (salad, pasta with turkey spaghetti sauce, and some sort of cheesecake – I'm guessing it was tofu-based), all introduced ourselves, and then had an orientation. I would say there's about 35 of us here this week, most just arrived like me, with a handful who are here for 3 or 4 weeks. My room is on Week 3 of 4 weeks. People are from all over the country and all seem excited about focusing on their health and fitness.

It's getting a bit late and I really should go to bed, but I promise to write more and include pictures tomorrow.