Vortex Pix! May 2011

Pics from top to bottom: 1) Kat going down into the Vortex; 2) Me going down into the Vortex; 3) Van 7 Rocking it in the Vortex; 4) Kat climbing out; 5) Me climbing out of the Vortex. Loved this hike!

Pics from Camel Back in May 2011

Pics from top to bottom: 1) Sean down in the Vortex coaxing us all down; 2) View from the top of Camel Back down into the valley; 3) Paulette and me ... awwhhhh; 4) Dee Dee climbing; 5) Colleen climbing up Camel Back.

2nd Week during 4th Visit to Fitness Ridge in Utah

Pics from top to bottom: 1) Cactus blooms; 2) My roomie, Kat; 3) Me on Cinder Cone; 4)Van 7!!!; 5) Overlooking Stop Sign while on Cinder Cone.

My 2nd week at FR was once again amazing! I did some good hikes during the week (Stop Sign, Upper Gela, Cinder Cone, and my fav, CamelBack!). I loved my hiking guides this week, John, Kendall, and Avalon. Hiking is my favorite thing in Utah ... that's the MAIN reason I keep going back. I've done CamelBack 4 times now and FINALLY went down into the Vortex! I'm proud of myself!

I met some wonderful people during my stay ... as I usually do! Patti Anderson and her daughter, Stephanie (from the Biggest Loser Season 9) were so thoughtful and down to earth! My fav's so far! Paulette Gilbert from Phoenix, Arizona ... you rock! Loved meeting you! Colleen from Pennsylvania ... you're a hoot! Erin Benwell, Sean Lucas, and Nicole Kindred all from Canada! Loved the laughs we had ... remember the chiropracter fun??? :) Van 7 rocked!!! Luisse and Ruben from Vegas were wonderful! Oh, yeah, Ruben danced in the tv show, "Dance Your Ass Off"! Loved the Zumba class with him!

I've had such great experiences during my stays at Fitness Ridge! Besides my Vortex conquer ... I also ran 6.3 on the Treadmill this week! I'm a happy girl! I'm so looking forward to my next adventure in California Sept 18, 2011! And, I've reserved my next Utah FR trip during the Ivins Fitness Festival ... so, I'll be back in Utah again April 29-May 13th of 2012!!! The Fitness Festival is May 6 where I'll once again do the 10K! I absolutely loved being there this time of the year! The weather was great ... the cactus flowers were in bloom (which I've never seen before after going 3 times previously during the cold months).

Just an additional fun thought for those that were there while I was there this past time. A lot of us want to go back the first week in Sept to see Sean Lucas and to see how his progress was. He's there for 19 weeks!!! I'm wishing him nothing but greatness in his endeavour! I will be pricing The Red Mountain Spa to see how much it will be ... I'm also going to book a hiking guide for the stay to go hike Camel Back and maybe in addition, Saddle. Anyone want to join us ... let me know!

I took some pix of the gym construction. It's scheduled to be finished June 16th. I can't wait to see the finished product! Pix are here on the blog!

I must let you know, I did great during my stay. My test out was 8.5 lbs down as well as approximately 8 inches! I'm happy with that. I've lost 2 lbs since being home and it's only Thursday. I will post my progress here for you to see! :) If you like reading my blog about Fitness Ridge, please, tell Trevor or Nancy or Shalay! There is a referral program! You can't go wrong by going to FR! Don't just go by the pricing ... understand how much you get out of your stay! You'd pay that amount being on a vacay and messing up your health! Serioiusly ... go to FR and check it out! Tell them Dee Dee sent ya!

d2dancer@aol.com ... Dee Dee Charleston Palmer on facebook! Ask any and all questions, but make sure you put the blog interest as your subject line so I'll know why someone that I don't know is emailing me. :) Okee dokee?

More Pix!

Pix from Top to Bottom: 1: Biggest Loser's Sarah and Deenie from the current season ... Deenie, in my opinion has won the at home prize! Along with Pat and Stephanie Anderson, Sam, Sione, and Adam; 2: Me with Sam, Stephane, and Pat at the Ivins Fitness Festival; 3: Deenie, Me, and Sarah after the Festival back at FR; 4: Deenie, Kat (my roomie), and Sarah at FR after the festival; 5: My Mother's Day roses from hubby and my card from my daughter.

Pix Continued

Pix from Top to Bottom: 1: Me and Pat (the guide) after running the 10K, I didn't know that I had squished my banana!; 2: Denise Eastman looking snazzy in her signed shirt (by all the BL's that visit FR); 3: Kat & Crystal running across the 10K finish line; 4: Everett crossing the 10K finish line; 5: Sarah (currently on BL) and Me at Ivins Fitness Festival

My 4th Visit to FR Utah! Love it here!

Pix from Top to Bottom: 1: Sam (Biggest Loser Season 9), Me, Pat (BL Season 9) on elipticals; 2: Me with Sam yelling at me on treadmill; 3: Kat, Sam, Stephanie (Sam's fiance, BL Season 9), Me, and Pat after Circuit class; 4: Stephanie and Pat at the Ivin's Fitness Festival; 5: Me crossing the 10K finish line. *More pix on next blog!

I'm soooo sorry that I didn't finish my 3rd visit blog! :( I didn't write about my weigh out on that Sunday. But the great news was that I lost 7 lbs total and went from 184 down to 177! I love Fitness Ridge (FR)! If you follow the program they offer, it works, and you WILL lose weight and inches!

So, here I am again, back at FR. I apologize for not blogging daily, but this time around I worked even HARDER than I ever have before because I felt a little stronger since I've been working out 3 times a week with my 2 trainers back home. I've also done a 5K at home ... thanks to my male trainer, Tom Dirscherl and his beautiful wife, Jenna. But, nightly, I've been passing out to sleep before the nightfall hits!The weather doesn't help either! This is my first May being here. I've only done two January's where it's been so damn cold! And, I've done an October visit which was great weather. Right now, it's been like 50 in the morning, but in the 90's by the time the hikes are over! HOT!!!

So, here goes for my 1st week here:

I weighed in "up" again (partied too much at home during April ... my birthday "month" celebration)at 188.4! Sucks, but hey, it's life and I'm sure you guys all understand where I'm coming from. But, I signed up for a 10K prior to getting to Utah which was going to be held during my stay here at FR on May 7th. After arriving here that Sunday, I found out that everyone here at FR was expected to do either the 5K or the 10K and FR was paying for it, so I got my $ credited back to me.

The disappointment for me for this first week was that Sharon wasn't here! :( Her daughter got married in Hawaii and she was absent. However, the highlight for the week was that we were able to have Sam from The Biggest Loser Season 9 (?) come in from Malibu's FR and train us on that Friday. He taught our Circuit Training class and I might add, he was awesome! Not only did he look GREAT, but did an awesome kick ass class! Also here was his beautiful and sweet fiance', Stephanie Anderson, and her lovely mom, Pat Anderson! They are undoubtedly the nicest people I've met from the show! Very much down to earth!

My week was so fulfilling as I kicked bootie for sure! I ran on the treadmill at a 6.2 which is a personal best for me! I did the 10K on that Saturday in 1:43 ... even though I wanted to do it in 86 mins since my 5K in April was done in 43 mins. But, the hills here in Utah are so harsh to walk up that it took a lot more energy and was harder than the flat pavement in Florida. But, I'm proud of myself for even doing it ... especially at 6:30 in the morning! The Ivins Fitness Festival was so much fun that I signed up to come back to FR here in Utah next May 6th so that I could be a part of the 10K again and the festival was fun. I was able to see a lot of the Biggest Loser contestants: Sam and Stephanie and her mom, Pat, as well as Adam, Sione, Deenie (who I think will be the at home winner for this season) and her daughter Sarah (who is here now working out for 2 weeks getting ready for the finale).

There have been more changes! They no longer give out weekly tshirts as gifts. But, for the Calorie Challenge, they give prizes for the top 3 winners and it's no longer a group challenge, but an individual challenge. For the Sunday bagged lunches, there is no longer any soups. Marjorie is no longer a trainer here, but she's still here as a hiking guide and subs when needed. She's been here all this past week as a guide and did both Sunday check in's. I asked why and her hubby, Pat, told me that they liked to travel so much and it was hard for her to take off from FR as a trainer. They had a new trainer here that I had never seen prior (I was told she was here previously but I didn't see her) ... Brooke. She's preggers so not sure how long she'll be here. And, Gretchen who used to be the hiking guide and one of the servers in the dining room, is now a trainer.

An incident that happened here this week that MIGHT make some changes in policy is that one of our guest wanted to walk back from Stop Sign ALONE. My roommate, Kat Wright, gave this person her cell phone for safety precautions and one of the guides gave her a different route to walk back from Stop Sign. Instead of the norm of walking back the way she came, she wanted to walk down Overlook and then take a route from there that was told to her by one of the hiking guides. She got lost through many wrong turns and we were all worried when she wasn't back at the resort by 3:30! So, Cameron (the owner) went looking for her in his truck along with Cody. They found her only 2 miles from the resort, but by that time she had walked close to 18-20 miles! Needless to say, she was severly dehydrated and sunburned as well as tired. So, they may take away our priviledge of walking back. :( I'm hoping not, but I will find out this week when I tell them I'm walking back! I think it should be allowed if and only if you are buddied up with someone and have a cell phone with you. I also believe that it should back down the way you came! I don't think anyone should be penalized and not be able to walk the route we are familiar with. Maybe not let newbies do it, but those that have been doing it for a long time, leave them alone!

I did weigh in this morning ... 5 pounds down! I'm going to work even harder this week to improve my levels! I just hope I can stick with that goal! :) I had a great Sunday ... even though I was away from my kids and grandkiddies on Mother's Day! My roomie and I rode the bikes down to Coyote Gulch via going through Kayenta. We had some coffee then had the Mother's Day Brunch there which my roomie treated me too. She's so sweet! We made good choices and ate a healthy lunch. Then shopped around Coyote ... love their goodies! We definitely helped the Ivins economy! I ended up spending $500 and she spent enough! :) Geez! Then we rode the bikes back. We did 4.5 miles there and 4.5 miles back!

Did I mention the NEW FITNESS RIDGE COMING TO THE EAST COAST? Yup, you read that correctly! Cody told me first that it was between Cocoa Beach, FL or Peachtree, GA. Then at the 10K, Nancy told me it was a definite Georgia. So, I can't wait to hear more! I'll be definitely wanting to try that out as I would be able to drive there from Orlando! I'll let you know more when I know myself. :)

Lastly, I want to mention the FR Referral Program! If you like what you read with my blog, PLEASE ... mention my name to the Reservations people! Again, my name is Dee Dee Palmer! I will help you with any questions you have about Fitness Ridge in Utah!

I'll write more next weekend ... maybe even during the week, but for now, Good Night All! I hope you like what you're reading in my blog! Feel free to email me at d2dancer@aol.com or hit me up on Facebook! Dee Dee Charleston Palmer

Tiring Thursday!

Pix from top to bottom: 1.Our group mid point Saddle Hike. 2.The frozen ice at Fern Gully. 3.Our hike group at the Arch coming down from Saddle.

Hiked up Saddle today and let me tell you ... it's hard!!! A straight up climb for a lot of times! We went over to Fern Gully to see the water fall that I had seen back in October ... too funny ... it was frozen ice!!! We took a pic of it for comparison! A lot of slippery rocks today for sure! But, all in all, it was a good hike even though it hurt my back a bit!

Went back to the Ridge for a Stretch class, Lunch, then it's Treading day! I did 2 of them and had to leave at the end of the 2nd class due to my back hurting so bad. I called Brenda, my friend that gives massages, and she came and picked me up and gave me a great hour and a half massage!!! She's awesome! She thinks I sprained my back and it felt like it too!

Dinner tonight was AWESOME!!! We had grilled skewered shrimp and veggies over rice and for dessert we had apple cobbler! Yummy!

Well tomorrow is my last full day here at the Ridge! Saturday is just a hike, then shower, dinner, & graduation! Home on Sunday! I can't wait to get home to my own bed and see hubby and my kitties and big boy (my Boxer). I miss them all! :)

More tomorrow ...

Tuesday and Wednesday

Pix from Top to Bottom: 1.Michelle's Birthday 2.Birthday Strawberries 3.Kassie and Dee Dee on Teeter Tawter Rock. 4.Kassie, David, and Dee Dee on Teeter Tawter. 5.Dee Dee happy about being on the Treadmill during Mountain at 15.0 Incline!!!

Well, to finish off my Tuesday blog since I wrote it during my lunch break ... I said I was going to try to do 2 Cardio Intervals on Tuesday ... I did 3!!! Yep, I'm crazy! But, it was good ... I was on the Treadmill and I burned 271 in the first class, then 266 the second class, then was feeling the pain during my 3rd class and hopped on the Recumbant Bike where I only burned 210. But,it was a good workout day for sure! One of the ladies here had her Birthday and they brought out Chocolate Covered Strawberries with a candle on it for her. :) Cute

Today was better though. I definitely burned more calories today! We hiked 3rd Rivine but we had a new guide and we took the wrong path and then went the wrong way and went too far! We ended up hiking 6 miles! Oh, well, Jordan is still sweet even though he took us the wrong way ... hey, we got a good workout! :)

The best part of the day though was riding the Street Stryders up to the Kick Ball field again where we had a great game of Kick Ball with 8 of us plus one of our trainers. After we came back from that Kassie and I did 2 Mountain classes and a Kick Boxing Class! Crazy, huh? Mountain is where you are on a cardio machine and step it up one time every 3 minutes for a total of 12 times. You can either add on speed or resistance to your machine, but you have to make it harder each time. I did both of my Mountain Classes on the Treadmill. Had a good calorie burning day!

Just want to mention that a great snack that I've been making is sliced apples with Truvia sugar sprinkled on it along with a lot of Cinnamon! It tastes like an apple pie without the crust! It definitely helps you get through the day!!! I like the Hot Tea (Vanilla) with Cinnamon sprinkled in it too! The hot tub helps a lot as well! Your muscles ache A LOT at the end of the day!

Our Monday and Tuesday ... 1/10/11 and 1/11/11

Pix from bottom to top (Sorry, had to go back to edit that as I posted them wrong originally): 1.Kassie, Dee Dee, and Shim made it to Stop Sign today! 2.Our Open Gym time we went to play Kickball ... our Kickball Group Pix. 3.Dee Dee on the top of Barrel Roll Hike. 4 & 5.The view from the top of Barrel Roll Hike.

Well, didn't blog yesterday as I was so tired that I just came back to my room and crashed! It was a full day for sure! I hiked Barrel Roll where I burned 1200 calories. My heaviest workout for sure was riding the Street Stryder up to the Kickball field where we proceded to play a game of Kickball. I burned 442 calories in exactly 1 hour!!! I know for sure now that I'll ride my Street Stryder at home more often seeing how many calories it burned. I only rode it 3/4 of a mile there and 3/4 of a mile back!!! Crazy, huh?

Today, we did Stop Sign and I did it in 1 hr 22 minutes. Not sure how I did my last time here on it with time, but it was cold out today and miserable. I "plan" on doing at minimum 2 Cardio Intervals today ... writing this during my break after lunch. So, headed out to class now! More to come!

Remember, use my name if and when you book here at Fitness Ridge for a bonus for you and me!!! :) Chat more later!

Extra Pix of Last Week's Snow!

These are some more pix of last week's snow mess we had to endure. I got them from one of the other guest here. I thought you might enjoy them! The first pic is outside the dorm area where you can see the snow on the ground. The 2nd pic is crazy ... out by the pool, check out the chairs covered in snow!!! Ahhhh! The 3rd pic is our gazebo by the pool covered in snow! The 4th & 5th pics are in the early morning out by the dorms ... check out how they had to clean off the sidewalks!

Thought you'd enjoy them!!!

Sunday is Finally Here!

On Saturday for our hike, Kassie, myself and one of our buddies from last January, Denise Eastman, went walking through Kayenta and then on to Coyote Gulch. We hung out there shopping and looking at the art works before walking on back to the Ridge. We walked a total of 8 miles for our jaunt! It was great to see Denise and we all shared our stories of the past year. We love you Denise!

Yup, last night was Graduation Night. However, Kassie and I decided to skip it and go rent a car and go out. We needed to get away from the Fitness Ridge and find an escape. We did! A little sushi restaurant called Benji! Yummm! :) Afterwards, we went to go see the grad's bowl and then we went to get some cards and such from the local store.


Today, Kassie and I decided to go out for some lunch and see a movie. It was fun to go hang out. We saw "Little Fockers"...funny movie, but not as good as the first one. You know how those trilogies can get! It was just fun though to hang with my buddy and roommate! We then came back to our room and watched yet another movie, "She's Not in My League" and then go to the Orientation in the dining hall. A lot of newbies here this week (40) compared to the stay over guests (26)! I already miss my buddies that had to leave today and on Friday! :(

Tomorrow will be yet another thrilling day for Kassie and I as we made a pledge today to either make it to the 6:00 am classes this week OR go to the gym after dinner and work out for no less than 30 minutes each night! It will be hard thing to stick to, but we need it in order to lose the weight that we want to lose! Today was weight in's and I lost 5 pounds and KK lost 4! So, we're not disappointed (especially since KK was sick all week), but we know we can do much more than we did this past week! So, we'll see how that works! My plan is to stop my Polar Watch after every hike and every class and write down how many calories I burned per class. That way I will know at the end of the day as to how much more working out I need in order to burn more calories than I did last week. I have to do MUCH BETTER this week! Wish me luck!

Remember, if you use my name when you book Fitness Ridge, you and I both will receive a Referral Fee of $100!!! So, tell them that you read Dee Dee Palmer's blog and that I sent ya! :) If you need me to help you with any questions about this wonderful place, email me on Facebook (Dee Dee Charleston Palmer) ... Nighty Night!!!