No tee-shirt. . . but success none-the-less

I left Fitness Ridge Sunday. I'm grateful, smarter, slimmer, prettier, happier, more hopeful, positive... and still not hungry.

I forfeited my flight from Utah to LA because Bonnie was only one and a half hours away in Las Vegas for her boyfriend, Neal's, birthday. I met her down in LV and we drove to her home together. That was a nice drive... made nicer by my i-pod's 5000+ songs being broadcast through her stereo. I dee-jayed 70's classic rock and other stuff. We had standby tickets for the Ellen show on Monday... but didn't really want to stand in line for 4 hours waiting on a seat that probably wouldn't be available... so walked Hudson, Bonnie' boyfriend's dog instead.

My last week at Fitness Ridge was challenging... but still rewarding. I hiked Monday - Wednesday but my knees really hurt a lot so I didn't hike again after that. They still hurt now but are slowly getting better. I grew weary and jaded with the food most of the last week, but it was still good enough. I think it was just time for me to move on. I did most of the classes but didn't do all of them so no tee-shirt. I feel fine about that. Actually there were people in line for their reward of a tee-shirt whom I know didn't do all the classes.... it's an honor system reward. I just can't work that way, it's got to be real or I just feel like a big liar.

I did go to Bryce Canyon on Saturday with 3 friends and will post pics later. Breathtakingly beautiful place.

I was delighted (X3) when I stepped on the scale Sunday morning to find that I'd lost another 6 lbs on the last week. That is 16 lbs total for me. I said when I went there I'd be happy with any weight loss, but 15 lbs would be awesome. 16 is way awesomer.

It's Wednesday morning and I'm returning to Hong Kong tonight around midnight. I'm happy about that - a lot - but I loved being with Little Miss Sunshine - Bonnie. We had fun. We have eaten out a good bit but it's not hard to choose healthy stuff in LA. In addition to walking the dog for an hour and a half on Monday, I also went with her to Rugby practice. While she coached and harassed the team, I walked around the track 10 times. Hmmm... that was 2 and 1/2 miles.

Only 36 hours and I can see Pat and Zoe :-) . . . . . and Kevin on the weekend. Yay.

I plan on keeping this blog and reporting my weight loss as it continues. I like being accountable.

I'll probably update this entry too later but for now.... it's ending so I can get stuff done.

I learned so many things and here are a few that are on my mind.

1. I don't need snacks. I've always eaten snacks a couple of times a day. They were healthy snacks like almonds, olives, string cheese...etc - BUT I wasn't hungry when I ate them, I was bored. Three good meals a day + a fruit or two is enough for me.

2. My body needs and wants exercise every day. I'm going to honor that. I always played around with it before. I planned it, talked about it, bought supplies. . .etc but in reality didn't exercise really hard. I have a plan now (which I will write down later)

3. Really and Truly, no kidding, I am strong and have an athlete inside of me.

4. I really can lose this weight. I can see it now.

5. I need more water than I thought. They tell you at FR to take your weight and half it. That number in oz. is the amount you should drink every day.

6. People want the best for me. I knew that but when you're overweight you think people are kind of snickering at you. Except for a few really shallow people who I wouldn't waste my time with, that's just not the case.

To be continued. . . .

BRrrrr...Rrrr.....!

We've had strange weather while I've been here in Ivins, Utah. The 1st week it was SO windy and pretty cool but weather changes quickly here. We've had warm days by the pool and times when you couldn't get your towel fast enough because the air was so cold after getting out of the heated pool.
Today... it snowed while we were hiking. Cool. I hadn't seen snow this year. It's supposed to heat up to 60 tomorrow, 70's he next day and then up to 82 on Sunday - the day I leave.

I did Stop Sign again on Monday. I worked very hard and shaved off another 5 minutes. (why always 5... never 6 or 4?) Yesterday I had a migraine, so slept through 2 classes but it went away last night - Thank God. This morning I did West Canyon again but by the return portion of the hike, my knee pain was almost unbearable. I'm used to that and hope it won't always be the case. Tomorrow I will not hike, I will ride the bike and do the eliptical. Friday I will do Stop Sign for the last time - knees willing. Saturday morning, me and my friends will go to Bryce Canyon and will leave early so we will forgo the Stop Sign hike. I'll time myself on Friday... but really, it doesn't matter if I do or don't do Stop Sign... it's still 500 X more than I was doing in HK.

I have become much more fit and am able to do things I really hadn't thought of. Last week we were doing a class on Cardio machines - I chose the Bike. Usually I don't go over level 4 but I noticed the woman beside me... same size and similar age... was doing level 12. Hmph.... By the middle of that class I was on level 12 and by the end, I was on level 15. (by golly). I'm also pushing the eliptical up to level 8. I was only doing level 1 when I got here. I'm also burning much less calories for the same class now. Stop sign - first day, I burned 1038 cals, now, even though I'm faster by 15 minutes, I burn only about 750-800 cals.... that's life. (that's also 800 more calories than I was burning while watching Oprah in Hong Kong)
Gotta prepare for 2 more full days of exercise. .. . . . . .
Good night! :-)

A very nice weekend

I had a great weekend with Miss Bonnie who came up Friday night. She was a fun little ray of sunshine. :-) She loved the food and thinks the spa is beautiful. I've been here for 3 weeks already so I'm a little tired of it but she kind of renewed me. Thanks Bonnie. (rrr)

Saturday we did the stop sign hike together. (my knees held up, my blisters are healed-ish) I shaved another 5 minutes off my time and she barely got her heart rate up. It was great fun doing that hike with her.

Saturday night we went to a movie. Sunday we went to Zion National Park.... wow! Beautiful! Breathtaking.... awesome... and windy. We went with my friends from Fitness Ridge, Mary, from Alaska and Natalie who lives in Africa. We had a ball. Natalie is pictured below w/ me and Bonnie.I lost 1 pound this past week. I thought it would be more but I'm happy with the total of 10 pounds. (every week is a new math test). I feel great. Every day this past week I walked at least 3 miles a day and exercised all day. No matter what amount of weight I lose while I'm here, the fact is I am in a much better state of mind and health than when I arrived. The numbers will come.

I am starting my last week here. My goal is to walk Stop Sign every day. I will deal with it if I can't do that because of knee problems but that is my goal. I also plan to do every class so I can leave with the prized tee-shirt. I'm eyeing the 'C' schedule and will probably do that this week. There are less people in those classes... so... we'll see.

Mine and Bonnie's feet... mine are more shiny as if I have a heavenly (angelic) aura around me - or perhaps super powers.... but it could just be the sun's reflection.

Whining: The Sequel :-)

Friday morning

Bonnie's coming this afternoon. I'm really excited about that. I'm renting a car for the weekend so we can go out if we want. She will walk the 'Stop Sign' hike with me tomorrow morning. I'm sure the hardest part of that hike for her will be getting up at 7:15 am. (I get up at 6:30... I'm cutting her some slack). I've booked a 'salt glow' massage for her at 6pm tonight after dinner.... I'm having that before I leave next week. They rub you down with mineral salts that exfoliate every bad thing you ever experienced, then you take a shower.... then they give you a massage too. Cool. You're welcome Bonnie.

I'm not hiking this morning. I have an infected blister on my toe. (ain't that elegant?) It hurt more than anything and it scared me yesterday when I realized the seriousness of it; but I've soaked it in Epsom salts several times since then and it's improved tremendously. It's my own fault that it happened and now I've learned a lesson. (another one). I have to wrap up my blisters every morning (they're all mostly healed). It takes me about half an hour to do it -

• First - get 'mole skin' (soft, chamois-like strips of bandages) and cut it the size you need. Now cut one more just like it.
• Then cut a hole in it the size of your blister and place it on the area - blister exposed.
• Get a piece of 'Nu-skin' (squishy gel like square) put it on the exposed blister area.
• Put the extra mole skin piece on top.
• Put duct tape over all - one sideways, one lengthwise (for heels - not toes, that's different).
• Now do this for each blister. I had 4.

The reason my 'big-toe' blister got infected is because I consider it such a hassle to wrap them up each day, I kept the bandages on from 7am until about 3 or 4 when we have our last aerobic class. (so I wouldn't have to wrap them up again) I would wear socks to cover the bandages when doing Yoga. That was stupid, you're supposed to let blisters breathe! I will never be lazy again.

My knees are feeling better but they really hurt when I walk and that's disappointing. I've decided that I have to accept the fact that my knees will hurt this whole 4 weeks. Since I'm at the end of my 3rd week, I think this is an accurate prediction. After I lose more weight, I believe my knees will be better. I've stuck with West Canyon Hike all week. (2 pictures below)I walk 2 hours every morning on this mostly flat or gently inclined hike - but it has really hurt this week. Bummer. But I walk anyway and just concentrate on the music. Funnily enough, after the hike, I return, ice my knees, do yoga and 40 other classes and by the end of the day my knees are almost pain free.... but on the hike - ouch.

It's funny walking around the grounds here and seeing my friends getting smaller and smaller. Usually when you go on vacation - the people you are with do not physically change - but they do here. There are all fitness levels here. 1/3 of the people are pretty fit and come here to keep themselves fit and challenge themselves on advanced hikes and classes I don't even dare to peek at. 1/3 of the people are looking to get into better shape - a tune up sort of. They may have 10 - 15 pounds to lose. Then there's my group... people who need to lose more than 50 pounds (that's a nice way to put it I think). We're the ones with the most noticable physical changes. Everyone is so supportive of each other. We're all each other's mothers and friends. It's nice. When I discovered my blister.. I had several wise people to advise me and their advise has served me well. We laugh our heads off at dinner and there's a chance that we gossip a little now and then. It's like high school in a way. I have several friends who came here the same day as I who are staying 4 weeks also, that's a blessing. Tuesday, one of them told me that I had lost so much weight and that my face was slimmer.....and younger. I was flattered (and elated almost) until I noticed she was eyeing my chocolate covered strawberries. (back off)

Every week new people come in and old people go out. It is hard to see people leave whom I've come to know and enjoy being with BUT it's fabulous when the annoying ones leave after a week. There's one woman here now who is So WHINEY. I think she doesn't realize she's at bootcamp. When I see her I just run. She's very negative and brings people down. Unfortunately she's here another week. . . . . I'm glad she doesn't live in Hong Kong (one whiner there is enough) :-)

I won't get the tee shirt this week because this morning I'm not hiking (or doing the eliptical even). I'll join the other classes today but will skip one class to get Bonnie from the airport. I will get my tee shirt that last week and on this blog will be a picture of me in it.

7+2 = 9 (cool)

Well, I weighed in this morning and lost 7lbs last week. COOL. That makes a total of 9lbs in 2 weeks, just the type of results I'd hoped for. I'm Skinny! (uh, maybe not.... but I'm better off than before).

I also went to the doc yesterday and he said although I am extremely pitiful, I will be alright. He gave me Celebrex (he actually didn't give me anything... the medicine cost an arm and a leg). My leg is better but I will not do the stop sign hike tomorrow, I plan to do West Canyon which is more flat. I hope I can do the Stop sign hike again next Saturday. fingers crossed.

picture to the left: taken at the artists village

Bonnie may be coming next weekend. That means I'll be doing the stop sign hike with her. :-) I'm looking forward to her coming. It'll be fun to do a Circuit class with her.

Today, being Sunday, there is nothing going on here. Not one class although the gym is open. I had a nice relaxing morning then joined some friends by the pool to eat lunch (Mary from Alaska, Dick & Eunice from Delaware) Very nice folks here. Of course today many people left since lots of folks only come for 1 - 2 weeks. It's a great place to be because the people are not here to show off their new work-out clothes or anything like that. People are very supportive - and it surprises you sometimes. When I hurt my leg Thursday, a woman I didn't even know came up to me and hugged me and said she hoped I'd be better soon. (boy did I love that attention), another woman who I had never spoken to before came up to me and offered me a Celebrex. Wow. What kind folks. this is the view outside the front door of Fitness Ridge

This afternoon I went shopping with another friend here and we saw a lot of beautiful western art. It was in a little adobe village surrounded by cactus and lots of dessert bushes (including tumbleweeds) The western art with its liberal use of turquoise, silver, copper and Indian designs reminded me of daddy a lot. While there I saw a beautiful pink cactus. :-) (I didn't even know God made pink cactus!)I had a decaf, skim latte while there. (contraband) It was good. I decided not to have one with caffeine - I'll wait til I get to L.A. I want Bonnie to make me another cup of her good Italian coffee.

I'm hopeful and positive about this week and the bonus is that I'm hopeful and positive while wearing very loose clothes that I'll probably leave behind when I go. :-)

T.G.I.F.

A pretty bird in the dessert.

I think I'm starting to get really tired of this place. The brown bedspreads, the housecoat that doesn't fit right, the soy-based deserts.... blech!, the 18% humidity that makes me itch every day. I miss Pat, Zoe, Kevin, milk and English tea. (and Bonnie but we're almost in the same time zone right now).

Wednesday, I was really on a high. I worked so hard and was so grateful that my knees were getting better. I did the hardest classes. Then yesterday, I did a 101 hike that went all over beautiful red sandstone rocks.

The stick in the middle of this picture is my shadow.

I was doing very well and then started getting competitive (in my mind) and twisted my knee real bad when going up another level of rocks. What a disappointment. I had to have help down the mountain and was just bitterly annoyed that after 2 weeks of fighting knees and blisters... and starting to really feel some improvement, I'm back at square one... walking slow upstairs, doing that BORING stationary bike, making sure not to twist my knee. Man oh Man am I tired of that.

*%$#!^ and #$%*&#@

I'm not hiking today. I want my knees to be good for Stop Sign on Monday.

So, I'm feeling sorry for myself again this morning but I'm only gonna allow it until 10:30 when I go to the gym and exercise with my i-pod. (I LOVE Bonnie's playlist from her songs I got last year)

We have had a LOT of psychological training here.... about eating, exercising, budgeting calories, emotional eating.... etc.. One theme that is carried out over all is the fact that you have to stay POSITIVE. They preach it here and they seem to all live it. (It is the basis for everything)

I feel positive because for the first time since I became really overweight, I want to live a better, more active, fun and healthy life. (well, I always WANTED it, just never actually WORKED at it) I don't want to talk about it, I don't want to read about it or watch shows about it.... I just want to get really fit and live better for the rest of my life.

I won't be doing any more red-rock hikes but I'll be doing the other ones and I will beat my time on Monday. (fingers crossed - dammit)

Anastasi Ridge Petroglyphs (and Yoga)

Tuesday evening 8:45pm

Yoga is really something. Though it's slow and a little dull at times, it stretches the heck out of you and I leave that class every day feeling less pain than when I went in. We do Yoga every day here. (we do everything every day here).

I hiked Anastasi Ridge today (spelling?) It was beautiful. It was mostly uphill (of course) but it wasn't that steep. We saw numerous ancient Indian Petroglyphs. I also met a little dog who wanted to play with me. I loved him. I sure miss Zoe. I took my camera today. :-)

Tonight for desert we had chocolate covered strawberries.... holy cow are they delicious. It's an every Tuesday night thing. Yay! (see picture)

Today I:

Hiked from 8:15 - 10:15 and burned 794 calories on that one hike.

11:15 - Yoga

2:00 - lifted weights

2:30 - cardio Training - hard work but I can do anything for two minutes per machine

3:30 - Cardio Circuit w/ Stretch - really hard running from station to station to work my heart.

4:30 - Stretch class - I'm 3" taller now.

My knees are improving after my nightly soak in Epsom salts and twice daily icing. Hope all this pain ends soon - it's improved tremendously.

Last week at this time I was exhausted - now I feel so much better! I'm surprised at that. Pleasantly. :-)