Here are some photos from FR...

Weight Machines:  "Now you have just enough time to reach down & 

add another 5 pounds before the next set..."

 Cardio Machines:  "What is 1 minute?  You can do ANYTHING for one minute!"

 Aerobics Room:  "It's just a little ball"

  Luckily, they did NOT have to use this on me!!

The Pool:  "Don't worry about the snow on the ground...the pool is warm!"

Dining Hall

 Media Room (computers, books, DVDs)

 Back of the lobby

Shop with all sorts of essentials & goodies

My room was on the 2nd floor, 2nd one from the left

 My room for 4 weeks...and no, I had NO problem finding my luggage at baggage claim!

 Below are some posters in the gym signed by BL contestants that have come to Fitness Ridge:

Day 28 - Sunday, January 9, 2011

I left the resort around 7 am & boarded a shuttle to Las Vegas Airport.  I had a piece of paper giving me some healthy suggestions for places to eat, but none of them were close to my gate.  I felt overwhelmed by all of the choices & not knowing the calorie count.  Luckily, the Cinnabon was the other way from my gate!  Finally, I chose a chicken caesar salad from the Starbucks kiosk...$8 for a small salad!

The flight home was full of people traveling to city near me for a big event.  In the baggage claim area, I was greeted by my 3 children & my parents...what a wonderful reunion!!

Here are the signs that were waiting for me when I got home:

It was good to get home & see my family again...and sleep in my own bed!  A HUGE thank you to my parents for watching my children for 3 of the past 4 weeks!  Another HUGE thank you to my husband & children for letting me go the Fitness Ridge to work on myself - both physically & mentally!!  Thank you readers for the comments, emails, phone calls & cards while I was gone!

Love,
Mitzi

P.S.  Stay tuned because I have more photos to post and things to say about my stay!  Also, please review previous posts because I have added several more photos!!

Day 27 - Saturday, January 8, 2011

Here's our menu for the day:

I'm pretty sure I have mentioned how the whole journey is about more than just the numbers...but being a "numbers kind of gal" - they are still important to me...so here's the number some of you have been waiting for...

Early this morning, I had my final weigh in and I am very pleased with the results!  I lost a total of 20 pounds in the past month!!  Last week, I checked my weight & at that point I had lost 12 pounds.  I readjusted my overall goal and hoped to lose 15 pounds.  I can't believe I lost 8 pounds in just the last week!  When you see me, you may not notice the difference and that's okay.  The biggest difference to me is in my mind, rather than visible to others around me.  I feel calmer & have more peace of mind.

My husband came on the hike with me today & I chose to do the infamous "stop sign" hike again.  I improved my time again by a few minutes and certainly felt a lot stronger than the previous 2 times I have done this hike!  It was nice to have him hike it with me.  I told him I needed him to tell me stories at the end, just to distract me.

Later in the day, we came back to Snow Canyon State Park to geocache & verified what the hiking guides always tell us about the hike.  The altitude at the beginning of the hike was about 3100 feet and 4.3 miles later, the altitude was about 4100 feet at the stop sign.

Here are some photos from the hike:

 Looks like a cactus tree to me...

Later in the afternoon, we came back to Snow Canyon State Park to geocache.  These photos were taken then:

Note the climber in the lower right...

 Here's some more pioneer graffiti...and some present day graffiti as well...

 Doesn't it look like the trees are growing out of the lava rock??

This was taken in a creek bed...not sure if the line on the rocks is where the water flowed from 2 weeks ago or not...

Day 26 - Friday, January 7, 2011

Here's our menu for the day:

Last full day at the resort...and I was able to get my highest calorie burn yet - 5738 calories!!  My shin FINALLY felt better, so it was off on the hiking trail for me!  Our hike was called "Chuckwalla" & it intersected with the hike that I did on Saturday.  I was at the front of the pack, which meant I got a few breathers here & there.  I chose "mountain" cardio class instead of a stretch class & then in the afternoon I did two circuits (alternating between cardio & weight machines) and the much anticipated Zumba class.

Actually the Zumba teacher today was the best one so far...but I am still "so far" from being able to do it without completing laughing at myself!  Little did I know at the time, but the videographer captured me laughing at myself doing Zumba & it made the DVD that is created each week & shown on Saturday night.

I have to tell you about yesterday at the end of the day.  During our last class, I was on the elliptical & giving it my best effort.  My friend told me later that even though she was in front of me, she could see my pigtails going up & down like crazy during the workout!  One of the trainers got to laughing that it would make a good commercial for an elliptical machine to show me on it with fire coming out of my pigtails!  Glad I could provide some humor to those around me!

Speaking of hairstyles, I was confusing someone earlier in the week.  She was new this week & we sat next to each other at dinner on Sunday night (my hair was worn down, like most people are used to seeing it).  On the hike on Monday morning, I wore my usual attire...tye-die bandana with black hat, sunglasses & my winter hat.  I like to have my hair away from my face, but covering my neck when I hike.  When I do cardio, I can't stand to have it around my neck, so I put it up in pigtails.  My hair isn't long enough for one ponytail.  During swim class, I wear a pink swim cap & my goggles.  By the end of the day on Monday, this woman had no idea that I had been in her group all day because everytime she saw me, I looked completely different!

Friday night after dinner, my husband arrived at the resort for a visit.  He had been in Phoenix for work all week & needed to be there next week as well.  He decided to visit me there because he might only see me for 5 minutes in the airport on Sunday.  It was good to see him & to get a chance to show him around the resort.

Here is some of my group on the hike making shadows figures while standing on "Turtle Wall".

 View from the overlook on our hike...look at the beautiful colors!

 We passed this dog & his owner on the hike.  I had to take a photo because the dog looked very similar to my dog as a puppy!

Day 25 - Thursday, January 6, 2011

Getting a text message at 3:15 a.m. has a way of throwing one's whole day off!  It doesn't matter that is was not an emergency, or that it was typed at 5:15 a.m. eastern time by one of your children.  After we were done texting, my mind just started racing over everything back home.  How will I do the transistion??  How am I going to incorporate a much healthier lifestyle into our normal routines???

We had a departing guests lecture today with the lifecoach, Jen.  Have I mentioned how good she is??  Fabulous!  We talked about setting up a plan for when we return home...still gotta work on that one.  After dinner tonight, we had another departing guests lecture on meal planning.  Emily gave a great presentation & provided us with a 7 day sample menu with lots of different options.  Now I need to start figuring out the transition stuff...

I apologize to the my readers for not updating this blog more often during my stay here.  As I don't have a laptop, I need to come down to the computer room to type.  But in hindsight, it is probably a good thing that I don't have a laptop, because it forced me to do some thinking that I might not have done if I was surfing the internet every night!

I would like to continue to write things on this blog once I return back home.  We have been given so much helpful info and it was presented in an easy-to-understand way.  For example, I know someone that wants to lose 20 pounds and I would like to show her that she has several options in order to achieve her goal.  Calories in, calories out...we all know it, but it is starting to sink in!

Here's the menu for the day:

Day 24 - Wednesday, January 5, 2011

My shin still hurts this morning, but not as bad as yesterday.  I decided to take a hike around the town of Ivins rather than go with the van.  If my leg hurts too much, I can go back to the gym & ride the bike or go on the elliptical.  I ended up not needing to come back to the gym early.  In the afternoon, I switched between the bike & the elliptical with no pain.  Of course later someone pointed out to me that I would burn significantly more calories on the elliptical as opposed to the bike.  Gee, I wish I had thought about it sooner because I would have spent more time on the elliptical.

After our mountain cardio class, I was asked to join two other women in a...

JAIL BREAK!!

Who me?  I am such a rule follower that at first, I had my doubts...but then I heard the reason & I was on board for the break out!!  Our dinner was Salmon & Couscous & it was a total of 600 calories.  The driver (who was not a fan of salmon) looked online & found out that Applebee's has a good selection of meals under 550 calories!  Cool!!  She wrote down the calories of several selections & we were on our way.  I don't think I have ever anticipated a trip to Applebee's before!!  I don't know that I have enjoyed a meal as much at Applebee's!

Here is a photo of my meal:

Signature Sirloin with Garlic Herb Shrimp


As the calorie count for these fabulous meal was only 500 calories (not sure how they did it, but they did!), we still had 100 calories left to equal what we would have gotten back at the resort.  Hmmm...what should we do??  Apparently in secret conversations, it has become known that there is a frozen yogurt place in St. George that has been visited by some other guests...I'm not telling who!  We saw it on the way to Applebee's & determined if our calorie count was still less than 600, we would pay it a visit on the way back. 

It is a self-serve yogurt place...yep, they let you operate the machine yourself...with numerous flavors of frozen yogurt & lots of toppings.  I got 4 ounces of red velvet frozen yogurt, which was one of their "guilt-free" choices and according to the website below, it was a whopping 32 calories!!!  And it was DELICIOUS on top of it!!

http://www.only8frozenyogurt.com/only8nutritional.html

If I was looking for a franchise opportunity, I would certainly consider this one!!

http://kraveyogurt.com/

So, I was a rebel with a cause...and I ended up eating 532 calories at Applebee's & Krave...had I stayed at the resort, I would have had 600 calories!

Mitzi

Here are some photos from my hike today:

Day 23 - Tuesday, January 4, 2011

As I got out of bed this morning, the shin really started to hurt with every step.  I was soooooo mad!  I do NOT like shin splints (of course, who would??)  I talked to one of the trainers & she suggested I stay in the gym instead of going on the hike.  That meant I was going to miss the assessment hike.  Usually the first hike of the week is when they figure out which van to place you in for the hikes.  They try to keep people who go around the same speed together.  I have not been pleased with my van placement, but each week has its own different set of circumstances.  My goal for this week was to move up to a van with more challenging hikes.  Of course, now all chances of that would be dashed...

I stayed in the gym & burned a lot of calories, but missed being outside.  In the afternoon, during one of the cardio classes, one of the trainers pointed out that each of us determine how hard we are going to work & she mentioned it didn't matter what van you were in.  I got to thinking about that & I realized that I was getting too wrapped up in the number (hmmm...me, conerned about a number??  Never...).  It doesn't really matter which van I am in because if I am in front, one of the guides will always be with me. There are usually 3 guides with each van -one in the front, middle & back.  I came to terms & realized that I didn't have to prove anything to the hiking guides or myself.  Lesson learned...get over the van assignment...just give it my all!