Snowy Sad Saturday!

Yes, I said snowy! We went out on our Sat Stop Sign Hike and couldn't go past the Mini Stop Sign (3.2 miles up) due to the ice covered roads on the top of the mountain. So, they turned us around to avoid injury and made us walk either down the 3.2 miles or up to West Canyon which roomie and I hate! So, we all walked back down and then another 4 miles back to Fitness Ridge Resort. So, a total of 10 miles was walked by roomie and I! Not too shabby!

I must admit, I'm a little sad today as I know that my roommate, Sandy is leaving to go home tomorrow and I have really enjoyed her company. I know I now have a new friend in Tampa! I'm so glad that we only live a couple hours away from each other. I can only hope that my new roommate is as nice and accommodating as Sandy!

After our hike, we came back to FR and did a Circuit class. After that, we went to lunch and then sat in the hot tub for 2 hours while washing/drying clothes. We then got ready to go to Graduation in the dinner hall and received our 3 week prize of a great looking Fitness Ridge jacket. We were happy. Afterwards, we went out to celebrate!

We came back and Sandy packed her suitcases to be ready for her weigh in in the morning and to catch her shuttle back to Vegas. Now, I'm here writing this blog while she sleeps and I worry about what my new roommate for tomorrow will be like! :(

Top pic: Sandy and Marjorie (instructor and hike guide at FR)
2nd pic: Eric hiking (I kidded him about wearing his underwear over his pants ... LOL)
3rd pic: Ice covered bridge on the Stop Sign Hike
4th pic: Sandy and Dee Dee after going out ... taking a pic of ourselves ... we forgot to take one while we were out tonight :(

Friday's Here!

The top pic is of us going into the "Slot" ...
The second pic is of me inside of the "Slot" ...
The third pic is after we climbed up the mountain and looked down into the gap that is called the "slot" ...
The last pic is of our group on top of "Wedding Mountain" ... what you don't see is that right behind that back line is a straight down drop a few hundred feet! It was really scarey standing on top of that thing! We had to be extra cautious!

Well, It's Friday and that means the week's almost over! The sad part is that I'll be losing my roommate on Sunday. The good part is that I only have one more week here ... I'm REALLY MISSING my hubby and my pups! So, 9 more days honey!

Our day started off by going on a hike up to "Slots". I've been waiting this hike as it only happens every other week and I didn't do this one my first week here. So, I went even though it was cold with the possibility of rain. It did hail on us, but it was like baby pea size. It's called Slots because of the small spaces you can go through that looks as if it is a giant sized slot machine and you could put a giant size quarter in it. We went through some of the "slots" and it was really cool. There was a lot of old "graffiti" on the stone. They say that the slots were formed by an earthquake that separated the rock. It was really cool, but hard climbing today. My knees are shot at this point. But, I did it and did enjoy it at the time, but paying for it tonight.

I had a great day in the gym too. A great Cardio Intervals class, a great Circuit class, and two awesome Cardio Disco Jam classes with John! I had a good conversation with Eric about the Biggest Loser stuff too. Michele, I told Eric to tell you that my husband and my roomie and her husband are already reserved for the first week in January 2011. We're going to Vegas for New Year's and then over to FR for a start to our new year. I hope you and Eric can come with us all. I look forward to meeting you sometime! :)

I really worked very hard today and don't have much more to say other than we have The Stop Sign Hike to look forward to in the morning and I'm bound and determined that roomie and I are making it to the top tomorrow! We've only been to the top the first week, and thereafter, we've only been going to mini Stop Sign and back down. So, tomorrow will be a hard hike as we plan to do the 4.5 miles up, ride the van back down to the mini stop sign, walk down the 3.2 miles from the mini stop sign, and then the 4 miles back to the FR resort! So, a total of 11.7 miles is in store for Sandy and I tomorrow morning! I'll report back to ya tomorrow night! :) Nighty Night!

Today's Schedule:

6:00 am Kickboxing or Open gym (Sandi and I missed this one as we overslept)
7:00 am BREAKFAST (Parfait, but I hate them, so I had Cereal with Almond Milk)
8:00 am Leave for Hikes
8:30 am Hike (We did Slots today)
11:15 am Pool or Stretch or Cardio Intervals (We did Cardio Intervals)
12:30 pm LUNCH (Thai Parsnip Soup, Chicken Ceaser Salad)
1:15 pm Lecture: Prep for Next Week
1:15 pm Lecture: Sandy did Increasing Your Income for Departing Guests Only
2:30 pm Total Body Conditioning or Circuit (I did Circuit)
3:30 pm Cardio Disco Jam or Circuit (I did Cardio Disco Jam)
4:30 pm Pool or Cardio Disco Jam (I did a 2nd Cardio Disco Jam)
5:30 pm DINNER (Turkey Burger with Carrots and Chocolate Sorbet)

Sandy and I worked out in the gym after dinner for an extra 30 minutes to try to help with the fact that we didn't go to Open Gym this morning. Aren't we good girls? LOL :) More tomorrow!

Access Hollywood/Extra Visits Fitness Ridge!

Well, today was exciting! Access Hollywood/Extra visited Fitness Ridge to film Eric and Seth in action here at the resort. Those guests who wanted to be on film had to sign waivers and then they were in the filming as well. It was fun and I can't wait to see how they edit it all down. It's supposed to air either next Tuesday or Thursday.

I went on a hike today with roomie. We went on the Stop Sign Hike, but we only wanted to do the mini stop sign (3.2 miles up and then 3.2 miles back down). We originally wanted to walk back to the resort (4 miles) but nipped that due to bad weather! We did it really quick and had to wait in that parking lot for half an hour to get a van back to the resort and we were freezing in the rain! We huddled up together to try to keep warm! Rain, wind, and freezing cold make it a miserable day! But it was better than hiking in the mountains with those conditions!

It's been raining all day long! And they told me when I got here my 1st week that it only rained like 10 days per year. I think it happened this week! Sucks! :)

My roomie, Sandi, and I have thought about making up a shirt to wear here next year. LOL :) It would read, "I lost my boobs at Fitness Ridge". hehehe ... It seems that's the first place it goes away! Not too great of a place to lose, but oh, well ...

Top Pic: Dee Dee, Sharron (one kick butt instructor!), and my roomie, Sandi!
2nd Pic: Seth Word, Dee Dee, and Eric Chopin
3rd Pic: Tonight's Dinner (best yet) Stuffed Chicken with Wild Rice and Peach Cobbler
4th Pic: During filming at BL@FR with Eric and Seth. Maria from Access/Extra in middle during lunch

Today's Schedule:

6:00 am Total Body Conditioning or Open Gym
7:00 am BREAKFAST (Eggs, Bacon on Whole Wheat Muffin)
8:00 am Leave for Hikes
8:30 am Hike (We did Stop Sign)
11:15 am Open Gym (Pool closed due to weather)
12:30 pm LUNCH (French Onion Soup, Greek Pita with Salad)
1:45 pm Open Gym (but we did filming with Eric and Seth)
2:30 pm Ball Works
3:30 pm Treading
4:30 pm Pool (Closed so we did Weight Circuit)
5:30 pm DINNER (Stuffed Chicken Breast with Wild Rice and Peach Cobbler)

I'm so excited about getting home next weekend and riding my new Street Strider! I'm sad I'm losing my roommate, Sandi! :( I'm sure I'll cry when she leaves and I have to get a new roomie for my last week! I told her that I'm going to go buy handcuffs and rope and hog tie her and make her stay with me for my last week!!! LOL :) Nancy did such a great job placing us together. The good part is that we're only about 2 hrs away from one another and will see each other again! I'll miss you Sandi! Muah!

Quizno's Pix

Our Quizno's Run for the 3rd Week Guests:

Denise, Dee Dee, Brad, Katie, Sandi, Sara, Stacy, Paige (instructor from FR), Dirk, Jim, & Set.

2nd Pic:

Jim and Dirk

3rd Pic:

Brad and Set

4th Pic:

Sara and Sandi "jonesin" for a Diet Pepsi ... they were able to have it! :)

Wet Wednesday!

Yup, a very wet Wednesday. They had originally told us that it only rained maybe 10 days out of the year. Well, I think all 10 have arrived! :) We went to Fern Gulley on our hike today ... yep, Sandi and I made it out of the gym and went hiking! It was awesome because it was like an adventure! We had to figure out ways to navigate around the babbling brook that was caused due to the rainfall. Our normal hiking area was now very wet! So, we jumped across rocks in the water to get across and had a great time! It was a little slippery on the high rocks, so we had to be very careful today.

The above pictures show us looking at a waterfall happening in Fern Gulley across the way. That's the terrain we had to cross to get there. The second picture shows us hiking on the way there. The third and fourth picture are actually standing in front of that waterfall where the water has fallen into a little pond in a cave like area. It was so neat to see!

Third week guests get to go on either a Quizno's trip or a grocery store tour (to check labels). Today, us third weekers went to Quizno's and had to order fast food that was 400 calories or better. They gave us a nutritional guide to see what each sandwich was all about. You can get any nutritional information online for any fast food place or restaurant. It has to be supplied. So, we had a good lunch off campus. :) Those pix are above today's hike pix.

Today's happenings:

6:00 am Yogalates or Open Gym (I chose Open Gym)
7:00 am BREAKFAST (Muesli & Fruit)
8:00 am Leave for hikes
8:30 am Hiked to Fern Gulley
11:15 am Pool or Core Workshop or Circuit
12:30 pm LUNCH (We went to Quizno's so don't know what they had)
1:45 pm Open Gym
2:30 pm Step-n-Pump
3:30 pm Mountain
4:30 pm Pool (but I did a 2nd Mountain Class instead)
5:30 pm DINNER (Salmon with Rozo and Fruit Skewer)
6:30 pm Yoga (I didn't take it ... not required)

We went to Target tonight too. Left at 7:15 and got back around 8:30. This is an every Wednesday occurrence.

Well ... until tomorrow! Night Night! :)

Another Rainy Day!

The picture above is something I bought myself tonight. It's called a Street Strider. It's basically an Eliptical Bike! You can take it outside and have a great time on it or sit it on the stationary system to make it an indoor eliptical! Awesome, huh? It comes in 5 different colors: blue, red, white, black, and raspberry. Of course, I chose raspberry! I had it shipped home and can't wait to get there to use it! Check out this website on it: https://www.streetstrider.com/How-to-use-StreetStrider/

Also, pictured is Dirk ... a great guy from Colorado. Him and his best friend are married to twins and have a race car that they race all over the US. They are so darn funny and good ol' boys! Love 'em!

Yup, it's still raining in this dessert area! And they said it only rained like 10 days a year! I think we'll hit it this week then! LOL :) So, my roomie and I didn't go on the hike AGAIN today. Instead we stayed in the gym from 8:15 until 10:30 this morning working out ... We did over an hour on the treadmill and then worked on the weight machines the remainder of the time. I really wanted to hike ... tomorrow, I'm going for it!!!

I had a kick butt day in my afternoon classes! I took 2 Cardio Intervals classes and kicked my own butt, but then took Sharon's Total Toning Class and she kicked my butt!!! She didn't seem to think I had a heavy enough weight bar (12 lbs) so she doubled it to two weight bars (24 lbs). I'm the only female she did that to. She also did the same thing to Eric Chopin. I think she likes picking on me! :)

I did go get a Pedicure tonight after dinner. I needed those toe nails clipped so that I could be more comfy in my hiking shoes. I highly recommend that you DON'T get a pedicure like 2 months before you come here as you need to build up your calouses on your feet instead of scraping them off. Also, bring a pair of toe nail clippers! Another lesson learned while here!

Today's schedule:

6:00 am Hardcore or Open Gym (I chose Hardcore Abs)
7:00 am BREAKFAST (Peach Muffin & Fruit Dish)
8:00 am Leave for Hikes (I stayed in the gym)
11:15 am Yoga Stretch
12:30 am LUNCH (Tomato Soup & Lettuce Wraps)
1:00 pm Calorie Challenge
1:45 pm Open Gym
2:30 pm Cardio Intervals
3:30 pm Total Toning
4:30 pm Pool (but I took a 2nd Cardio Intervals Class)
5:30 pm DINNER (Shepherd's Pie & 2 Chocolate Covered Strawberries)
6:30 pm Relaxation Techniques (I didn't take this class)

More tomorrow ... :)

Rainy Days & Mondays!

I don't know which makes me more excited ... the fact that Eric Chopin (Winner of BL Season 3) and Seth Word (Finalist of BL Season 2) are here at FR while I'm here or the fact that Eric's wife, Michele, wrote on my blog! Ahhhh! That's exciting! Thank you, Michele. I hope you write again! (hint hint) I told Eric this morning that you had written and he said, "Oh, You're the one that's doing the blog. My wife's been reading it and told me you had said it was going to rain all this week. So, my wife knew to pack my rain gear!" I'm tickled pink over that one!

Today was rainy nasty. It was cold too! It's Stop Sign Hike and I didn't go for 2 reasons. One, My blister and Two, the Rain! I stayed in the gym and did cardio for 1 hour followed by all the machines for another hour! Running to and from classes or our rooms was miserable! It's supposed to be like this tomorrow too! Sucks!

Our days schedule"

6:00 am Yogalates
7:00 am BREAKFAST (PB&J Panini & Fruit)
8:00 am Leave for hikes (I didn't go, did 2 hrs of gym instead)
11:15 am Choose Pool or Mountain (I chose Mountain)
12:30 pm LUNCH (Tortilla Soup, Turkey Sandwich & Salad)
1:45 pm Open Gym
2:30 pm Circuit Training
3:30 pm Kickboxing
4:30 pm Pool (But I took another Kickboxing instead)
5:30 pm DINNER (Chicken & ??? with a Parfait to die for)
6:15 pm Tai Chi (didn't take this as I took the other 2 optional classes)

Pictured above is my trainer/counselor, Tiffany. She's so sweet and cute! You'll love her! Not pictured is Sharron who kicked my butt today in Kickboxing Class! So much so that I took the class twice ... I came here to get my butt kicked! :)

I'm missing my husband and family and animals terribly! I hope you're doing okay, honey, after losing our baby girl of 17 yrs! I can't wait to see you in 2 weeks! xoxo

How Exciting ... Erik Chopin's Here!

So, I'm in the FR front office talking to Cody & Travis (who work the front desk and both are adorable) and I turn around to see who's talking on the couch ... it's Erik Chopin, the winner from Season 3 of The Biggest Loser!!! Ahhhh! I acted like a star struck fool! I started jumping up and down and told him I was one of his biggest fans! Of course, I know Michele (his wife) is his BIGGEST FAN! He put his hand out to shake mine and I asked if I could have a hug instead! He's soooo tall! And to top it all off ... I'm on the same Red Team as he is! So, now, we have Erik Chopin and Seth Word (Season 2 Finalist) here at the same time! Seth has been doing awesome this past week ... we've been on the same hikes and he runs circles around all of us! LITERALLY ... he runs up the mountains and down them!

Well, I weighed in AGAIN today so I could get measured in inches lost. I'm soooo excited! I didn't lose 3.6 lbs as posted last night, but 5 lbs! Can you believe that? Another 1.4 pounds overnight! So ... my total loss for my halfway point (2 wks) is 10.5 lbs! And, better than that ... I have lost 13 inches so far! I can't remember all of them, but 4.5" on my hips, 3.5" on my waist, and 1.75" on my upper thigh. I have another 2 weeks to push myself to the max to try to achieve my goal! However, I'm happy with any loss at this point! I'm enjoying the fact that I've gained more confidence in myself to know that I can do more than I thought I could do! I'm kicking butt! :) LOL Seriously, I'm happy to know that I've climbed a mountain and that I've ran on a treadmill. I'm also happy that I've stayed on a treadmill longer than 15 minutes! In treading class, you pick either a treadmill, an elipitical, or a bike and you have to stay on that machine for the entire class (45-50 minutes) while bumping up either the speed or incline or level every 5,4,3,2,1 minutes and resting inbetween for that same amount of time. So, for me to stay on that machine that long is amazing! I'm proud of myself, I must say! :)

Tomorrow is another one of those dreaded Stop Sign Hikes, but I'm not sure I'm able yet due to swollen feet/ankles and the blood blister on my heel! Which sucks because I know that the hikes are the big calorie burners! I want to stick with my buddies Brad, Jim, and Dirk ... they do the Stop Sign Hike EVERYDAY and they're losing double digits weekly! So, we'll see what happens! Wish me luck!