Day 3: I hurt.

Day 3:

6:00AM: Yogalates (optional)
7:00AM: Breakfast
8:00AM: Hike
11:15AM: Pool or Circuit
12:15PM: Lunch
1:15PM: Lecture: Breaking Barriers
2:30PM: Kickboxing
3:30PM: Mountain
4:30PM: Pool
5:45PM: Dinner
6:15PM: Lecture: Intuitive Eating

Calories burned today: I didn't write it down! It was around 4000 something though.

Since I'm kinda going in reverse, this post will be a bit more concise. Since I've caught up to date in my next post, it'll be easier to blog in the future I believe.

Thanks to everyone for commenting and following me on my Fitness Ridge/The Biggest Loser adventure thusfar. The support has really been great and it really spurs me on. :)

Brekkie today was a muesli/oatmeal cereal type deal with bananas, strawberries and craisins (dried cranberries) and raisins mixed in. This was the first meal I opted out on. I am terrified of raisins. I'm not like one of those weirdos on Maury who runs away screaming from mustard but the little black, wrinkly critters freak me out. I'd rather have a fresh grape. I'm glad I opted out though because I was given an absolutely delicious cereal with almond milk. The wait staff were nice enough to let me know what kind of cereal it was and they brought the box out to show me. It was a brand called Nature's Path in a green box. Looking at the website right now, it looks like the Hemp-Plus Granola. Good stuff.

Today's hike was Third Ravine. We had the option to split into 2 groups:

1. Longer, harder and more perilous
2. Long, hard and less perilous.

I chose # 2. Hey, it's just my first week and I'm terrified of heights! The most difficult part of the hike was in the beginning where we had to go up a steep, rocky incline for what seemed to be a bit more than a mile. After that we had to wade around some rocks here and there and we were quite high up. I wanted to stop at one point because of the height but I soldiered on and it got a bit easier. The end goal of the hike was to reach these caves that are supposedly very beautiful. I say supposedly because our group was a bit slow (we have to wait for everyone to be able to keep up) and we had to turn around with less than .5 a mile to the caves. Bummer. Next time I'll take option # 1.

On the way back from the hike, I was listening to the Biggest Loser Theme song on my ipod, the song is called Proud. I can't tell you how fitting the song is here. The damn song made me cry in the van because I really did feel proud of everything I've accomplished here in the short time I've been here. I'm a freaking sap. :P

I look into the window of my mind
Reflections of the fears I know I've left behind
I step out of the ordinary
I can feel my soul ascending
I am on my way
Can't stop me now
And you can do the same
What have you done today to make you feel proud?
It's never too late to try
What have you done today to make you feel proud?
You could be so many people
If you make that break for freedom
What have you done today to make you feel proud?
Still so many answers I don't know
Realise that to question is how we grow
So I step out of the ordinary
I can feel my soul ascending
I am on my way
Can't stop me now
And you can do the same
What have you done today to make you feel proud?
It's never too late to try
What have you done today to make you feel proud?
You could be so many people
If you make that break for freedom
What have you done today to make you feel proud?
We need a change
Do it today
I can feel my spirit rising
We need a change
So do it today
'Cause I can see a clear horizon
What have you done today to make you feel proud?
So what have you done today to make you feel proud?
'Cause you could be so many people
If you make that break for freedom
So what have you done today to make you feel proud?
What have you done today to make you feel proud?
What have you done today
You could be so many people?
Just make that break for freedom
So what have you done today to make you feel proud?

As usual, I chose to do pool today after the hike and the class was taught by John. John's pool class is pretty intense for the first 30 minutes or so. Standard pool stuff, weights in the water, doing various movements. The best part was the last 30 minutes when he let us do some aerobic dance moves with the water noodles. Love those things!

Lunch today was a green pizza and a new beet and sweet potato soup that they're testing out. The soup had a strange bitter aftertaste, it wasn't the best. I was hoping to try out their famous beet soup with the heart design on it. :P The green pizza was alright, nothing to sing home about but a lot of the ridgers did seem to like it.

We had a lecture after lunch called Breaking Barriers. To be honest, I was so tired that I barely remember what it was about. Here's the blurb from our booklet though:


None of that sounds familiar to me... but I'm betting it was pretty good... lol.

After lunch we had kickboxing with Sharon. She's awesome. Very full of energy and she really seems to care about how you're doing. This was my favorite class out of everything so far. I had shipped over my pink kickboxing gloves that I had gotten when I took one kickboxing class with my friend 'P,' and they came in handy today. It was intense and even better than the class I took in Hoboken. I wish I could take Sharon home with me. She'd make sure to kick my ass daily, I know it.

After kickboxing, we had Mountain with John. The class was tough, no lie. You just basically keep upping the intensity every 2 minutes for 12/13 levels. Not fun. Good for you but hella not fun.

We once again had pool afterwards and goodness knows what happened. I'm sorry but I really can't remember what happened. This is EXACTLY the reason why it's always a good idea to update blogs the day of otherwise they just slide out of your brain.

After pool was dinner and what's nice about that is that you're allowed to go to dinner in your robe if you're like rather than running back to the room to change back into normal or workout clothes. So that's what I opted to do. I nearly fell into my food at dinner I was so tired. We had a salad with slices of chicken breast in it. Nothing special or fancy but it was tasty and filling. I'm almost never hungry here, so that's a good thing.

After dinner, we had a lecture on intuitive eating. Since I had grabbed my booklet earlier, I was able to sit through the lecture in my swimming suit and robe. Interesting stuff. I learned that I'm a mixture of a bunch of different bad eaters.

I am a:

Chaotic eater: I have no routine, skip meals, eats on the run and eats what is available.
Unconscious eater: often eats while doing other things (reading, t.v., etc;)
Waste Not eater: hates to see food go to waste, looks for deals, overeats when there is food in abundance
Refuse Not eater: cannot say no to offers or encouragement, eats out of fear of disappointing or offending
Restrictive eater: always on a diet, vacillates between under eating and binging, develops lists of good and bad foods

So basically I am in pretty bad shape.

I am a chaotic, unconscious, waste not, refuse not, restrictive eater and that is why I'm fat. What kind of eater are you?

So after dinner, one of my fellow ridgers, 'V' was kind enough to take a small group of us to Target because the sign up sheet for the van was full. It was great because she's familiar with St. George and we got an impromptu tour as well. It's really a beautiful city. What's horrible is that we passed by a Carl Jr's and an In-N-Out burger place, both of which , we don't have in NJ. I'm not a big fan of fast food but I've always wanted to try the two and my mind is already finagling how I can try the places before I leave. Bad bad bad!!

So here are some recent observations:

*The sun here is really intense. On top of that it's very very dry. I've been very careful about wearing a hat during all my hikes (my mom would be proud) and spraying on sunscreen as well as slathering on facial sunscreen before hikes, after pool and throughout the day. Today is Day 3 and I'm already slightly sunburned despite all the precautions I've taken. Also, the bottle of sunscreen that I purchased is almost empty. It was brand new just 3 days ago!! So advice? COVER UP! Many have started wearing t-shirts during pool classes because water makes the sun even stronger when it's reflected off the water's surface.

*There's a lot of fiber in the food here. For some, that's a god send since they've been going to the bathroom happily and regularly... but for others it's a curse because they're dealing with gas problems. Plan accordingly.

*There is no body judgment here. Everyone has come to FR to better their lives. Don't be scared of what your body looks like and don't be scared to reveal it. This really is a safe haven. I haven't worn a bathing suit or tank tops in years but here, I'm very comfortable wearing whatever I want. No one cares, no one looks, there is no judgment. Be free!

*Lastly, why are all the people in Utah so healthy and good looking? It's really strange. It's like everywhere you look, everyone is attractive, in good shape and ridiculously happy. It must be something in the air. I put the news on in the morning and even the news reporters were mentioning how model scouts frequently come to Utah to find new talent. Weirdness

* Updated with videos!

Third Ravine Hike

Third Ravine: Hiking

Third Ravine: Photo Op

Third Ravine: See Tiffany Hike

Third Ravine: Small Break