Fitness Ridge Take 2!

Time flew by. Next thing I knew it was time to go back to Utah. I decided not to blog while I was there. It wasn't because I was hiding the fact that I had to go back. It was more because I was going to just focus on the experience and not have the stress of making sure I blogged every night. I met Lianne at the airport in Vegas. It was so great to see her! I was so out of control this time that I was still drinking Diet Pepsi (I had not had it for 3-4 months during my last FR trip) and even at the airport I got a HUGE greasy Vienna beef sandwich. How disgusting.





The first time I went to FR I ate well as much as possible before and cut out caffeine long before! This time I didn't even want to. That's how far gone I was! I was only going for a week this time and that worried me. I hope it was enough time to get me to smarten up. (So far, so good) We shuttled together to St George. It was Saturday so we got a room at the Marriott and just spent some time catching up. Unfortunately some of this time was spent at Applebee's with a "nasty" pile of alcohol, mozza sticks and boneless buffalo wings. BRUTAL. What were we thinking? The next morning we took a cab to the resort.

It was so exciting being back! The red mountains were as stunning as the first time! Seeing the familiar faces :) Its amazing that the trainers and staff remember you! I know it was only 5 months, but they see a LOT of people! Unfortunately upon arrival was the dreaded test-in. BLAH Apparently in the month that my scale was broken my weight had crept back up to 2 lbs less than the day I first tested in at FR. I was so disgusted with myself. I do attribute some of it to the alcohol, salty appetizers at Applebee's, travelling and the insane heat.. I had to be retaining some ,major water! It was a pretty hard pill to swallow, but that's why I was back. I was excited to be at FR UNINJURED!! I could give it a lot more physically than I was able to the first time.

It was great to see all the familiar faces of the staff and to meet the people I would be spending my week with. That place attracts some of the most amazing people in the world I swear! The people I met there have the hugest hearts and the best personalities! The schedule had changed to accommodate the hiking in the heat. We now hiked at 6:30am then came back and had breakfast. I am happy we didn't have to hike in the heat, but it made for a long day when you re used to breakfast first. It felt like it was lunch time when we returned, but it was only breakfast :P

I must say I was NOT disappointed that there was no timed Stop Sign hike! It was a great indicator of fitness improvement, but you can only do that hike so many times before you're bored with it! LOL They also have changed the hiking program for the better. Now you hike on Monday in a random group and the guides assess your fitness level. You are put in a group based on your speed and ability and you stay with that group, in one van for the rest of the week. You no longer get to choose your hike. I liked this because I found out I sold myself short on my last visit to FR. I could have been doing much more than I did. This new program kept me pushing myself :) The hikes I did with my group were Chuckawalla, Anasazi Ridge, Stop Sign, Camel back, and Saddle. Saddle was the only one Id never done before. It was CHALLENGING!! I bitched the whole way up the gigantic incline. I was ready to throw myself off one of the cliffs! LOL. It had stunning scenery though and once I lived past the incline it was a spectacular hike!









I am going to be pretty vague with the basics of the trip. Its pretty much a repeat of my 4 weeks from February. I will just write about fun stuff,accomplishments and things I am proud of etc..

The food was good as usual! They've also added some really good lectures on emotional eating that I found valuable. Some of the moments that stand out in my mind are:

Camel back hike- When I did this hike in February the vortex was full of water so we couldn't go in. This time it was dry and it was a great experience! My new friend Annelise was determined to go in and faced her fears and made it to the bottom. I was so proud of her! I actually teared up :) She is an amazing woman. SO strong and SO inspiring! Its so wonderful watching people battle their demons!



Treading- I was injured for most of my treading classes during my last visit. I have never been a runner. During this treading class I ended up running 8.5 MPH!! I was so proud of myself. The best part was I hadn't even wanted to go to class. I was feeling tired and moody. It feels even better when you didn't want to go and then you kick your own ass! I want to try to stick to treading once a week at home.

The Storm- There were constant thunderstorms while I was in Utah. During on particular storm the power went out Right after dinner. Lianne, Annelise, Diana, Elena, Ruth and I all sat outside and chatted and painted our nails. It was so much fun! The sky in the distance would light up with an amazing lightning show and the sky turned a crazy red. I remembered that Jen the Life Coach had asked me and Lianne to do chalk outlines of each other on the cement. She wanted us to write 3 things we like about ourselves and 3 things we like about each other inside the outlines. I mentioned this to the girls and the 6 of us ended up all doing it together! It was so much fun! We learned a lot about ourselves during that exercise and we laughed a lot :) They are all such amazing women.



Pictionary and Taboo- Graduation night a group of us had a blast playing games. There was a lot of laughter and a lot of indecipherable drawings..LOL "are those zits?" "its a canoe!" "its a penis" LOL Tawny, Maria, Elena, Tina, Mala, Travis and Ruth. We all had a really good time. Too much fun!

It was an amazing trip to Fitness Ridge. I didn't think I could gain more going a second time, but I did. I gained more friends, more self esteem, more confidence, more health..

I felt that I had made significant progress during my week. I was aiming for 4 lbs of weight loss. My first trip to FR I lost 4,4,4,8 for a total of 21 lbs. I could see a drastic difference in my waist this time, but I was still nervous about testing out. It turned out I had nothing to worry about! I had lost 11 lbs! I lost 1" off my chest, 6" off my waist and 3" off my hips! I was extremely happy!



I have been behaving since I got home. I am allowing SMALL indulgences and making sure they don't get out of hand. I want to prevent a binge and its not realistic to deprive myself of everything I like. I need to remember the 90/10 rule that Emily instilled in us.

I haven't exercised as much as Id like to this week. I have been active though.. hiking to the river to fish, working with dumbbells, walking to my friends house. Now that my son is gone I plan to start going on nice loooong hikes. There are beautiful locations around my house that are calling my name! We are also planning a trip up north to Haida Gwaii (Its on the coast of BC just below Alaska) I want to make the most of the trip, fishing and hiking and taking in all the amazing scenery..

I am going to try to keep blogging to hold myself more accountable this time. Whether or not anyone reads it..lol