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!!!

New Friends had to leave us today! :(

Yes, we're sad that Margot and Lynne Bingham had to leave today. They were our close buds to hang with. So, these pix are for you! Kassie and I hope to see you guys in Penn and NYC! Love ya, Lynne and Margot!!!

BTW, go check out Margot B's website for her newest CD that is being released! www.margotb.com ... She is an amazing and upcoming "Super Star" (jazz hands raised)

Treading Thursdays and Zumba Fridays!

Pix from top to bottom: 1. Rene, Nancy, and Trevor after the last Treading class. 2. Kassie enjoying the Spin Bike during Treading with Gretchen. 3. Me being a dork! 4. Our Alumni class from last Jan that returned this year! 5. On Upper Gila with Kathy from Colorado, Linda Ash and me.

Sorry for not posting yesterday! I was so pooped out after a day full of exhausting hikes and Treading! After that slam packed day and eating dindin with my bestest roomie, Kassie Kay ... we went and sat in the hot tub and then back to the room where we fell asleep while watching "The Blind Side".

I can tell you this, Upper Gila hike is killer! I didn't think I would be able to finish it and still be alive! My heart rate was so high I thought for sure I'd have a heart attack, but I didn't and I'm glad I got to see such beautiful views! I burned 1250 calories on it!!! Then I topped it off by doing not one, but two Treading classes!!! I'm a nut case, right? You ask what is Treading ... you go your hardest on whatever cardio machine you want to use for 5 minutes, then cool down for 5 minutes. Then you go your hardest for 4 minutes, then rest for 4 minutes ... then 3 ... then 2 ... then 1. Then whoever the trainer might be throws in a surprise of some sort for another amount of time. It's a killer. I did my first class on the Recumbant Bike and the 2nd class on the Treadmill! Shew ...

Today I did the Stop Sign Hike, but only went to mini (3 miles) and then back down to total a 6 mile hike. I'm mad that I didn't burn as many calories on it though as I did yesterday on Upper Gila. I'm finding that I can get through the paved hikes quicker and easier, but my calorie burn isn't great enough to be happy about it! The off road climbing hikes are the way to go for a harsh calorie burn! After I got back from hiking and did lunch, I had a great time doing 3 classes of Zumba. I really like these classes! But then again, I am an ex-dancer!

Tomorrow's plan ... to leave from FR and walk down towards Kayenta and then on to Coyote Gulch to check it out and then walk back to FR. It's supposedly around 10 miles total to do that ... we'll see with my handy dandy new Polar GPS Watch! :) It calculates my hiking miles along with my speed of walking and my calories, heart rate, and time exercised. More on this hike tomorrow. :)

I hope you enjoy reading my blog ... anything special you want to hear about, let me know! :) Dee Dee

Still Cold in Utah!

I can tell you this much ... Utah is definitely a lot colder this year than last year! Snow on all the mountain tops! It's beautiful to look at, but not very fun to go hiking in. Due to a bad knee I got on Monday from hiking on the icy stuff and it getting sore yesterday on Scout Cave hike, I opted today to just walk on a paved route. I left from Fitness Ridge and walked to Kayenta and back which was 7 miles. Not as crazy as the climbing hikes, but something new.

I have a great idea for those of you craving something sweet while you're here! Have one of the waiters/waitresses bring you a ziploc baggie of sliced apples. Take that ziploc bag and sprinkle one packet of Truvia and some cinnamon on top of the apples then seal it and shake it up. Voila ... instant apple pie without the crust! Now everybody is doing it here. LOL It is good ... especially when you don't like something they're serving for a dessert ... like pineapple skewers. In my opinion, they aren't good! One girl tried it on a banana and liked it, but I don't know about that one ... I didn't try it as it didn't sound that appealing to me.

Just as a reminder to those that read this blog, FR does have a referral program. If you feel my blog has helped you out and answered some questions you might have had, please, tell them you heard about Fitness Ridge via Dee Dee Palmer! I could use the referral and if I'm not mistaken, you get something too. :)

I hope you like my blog and if you need any questions answered or if you have any ideas of things you'd like for me to blog about, please let me know! Peace Out!