day 15: discouraged...

today is officially the start of week three. of course, it's sunday so i don't really count it that way. i woke up around 8:30 and went downstairs to weigh myself quickly.

the scale read 182.4. this means i lost only about 4 pounds in the second week. not exactly happy, but that's still 9 pounds total i've lost while being here. in the real world, anyone would be happy about that.

breakfast was a whole wheat waffle, scrambled eggs, and sausage. the waffle is always pretty good. i guess i'm going to start cutting back on food and pressing forth on working out. i need to take advantage of this situation i've been given.

after breakfast, i went to go see friends with benefits with kateri and erica. it was okay, it was pretty cheesy. but some parts were good and at the end i wished i had a boyfriend for a good ten minutes, realized that sexual encounters are always way more awkward than the movies, and nothing would ever happen to me the way it did to mila kunis and justin timberlake. so i guess that means it met all of the standards of a romantic comedy. well done.

we stopped at walgreens and i got a few nail polishes: gold shatter, lime green shatter, a teal color, and a vibrant purple.

we get a bagged lunch on sundays and today it was peanut butter and jelly, string cheese, a few carrots, and an orange. totally satisfying. i ate lunch in the lounge of the new building ("the court") with annie while watching an episode of family guy.

i took a nap for about 2.5 hours until it was time for dinner. the people this week seem to be way more friendly than those that were here last week and there's 2 guys that look to be about my age. dinner was a tamale and "chocolate pie" which is the same dessert i had the first night i was here.

the redundancy is getting to me a bit and i found myself in a bad place today. i'm going to try and push the negativity out of my brain. hopefully this week will go by just as quickly as last week and will show me better results. i'm going to leave food on my plate this week, and go to all morning cardio classes. i have 2 meetings with jen, the life coach, this week. she's not here my last week so i'm going to get it in now, while i can.

i've been playing guitar a lot and just trying to get better. also, here's a picture of my little drawstring bag if anyone was interested (i'm not in the picture, don't worry. that will be a surprise!).

and here is a picture of my friends in my room at fitness ridge:

(from left to right) natasha (my roommate), annie, ed (in the back), and shanelle. i miss ed and shanelle a lot. but i'm so glad i get to spend my next two weeks with annie. she's absolutely wonderful and genuine.

i'd post pictures from the hikes but i can't because i don't have my cable for my camera.
thinking of you,
goodnight!

day 14: exhaustion!

this morning i woke up and i felt utterly exhausted. i had signed up to do saddle, which is one of the hardest hikes they have at fitness ridge. i woke up around 6:15 fully intending to do west canyon instead. it's a flat hike, mostly pavement, that walks through the ridges and has barely any incline. much easier than stop sign, and much much easier than saddle. i put on my running shoes and headed towards the van without even getting any water for my camelbak.

well, when i got outside the first thing i heard was "okay, you're sierra right? this is the van for saddle." i'd written my name on both lists, and crossed my name off on the saddle one last night. i guess they didn't get the memo, and for the next half an hour i was pretty grumpy. but i headed off to saddle anyway. i can't wait to show you pictures of saddle. you're going to flip out! the whole entire beginning was a full climb. practically 90 degrees, except unlike volcano it didn't last ten minutes. it lasted a half hour, if not more. don't forget, i wasn't wearing my hiking shoes. so difficult.

at one point, you drop down into a pit of sand. most people were graceful and just slid down gently until they were close enough to jump. i did the same except planted my knees and hands into the sand instead of my feet. nice one...

when i got back, i was pretty exhausted but i knew i still had two more classes. i headed to breakfast where i had a bowl of granola with almond milk and a banana.

after breakfast, i got into my bathing suit and went into the pool for "open swim". kateri and raunie were attempting to build a raft so kateri could float across the pool. that entire scene pretty much distracted me from swimming laps. by the way, swimming laps is a lot harder than i thought. i wish i never stopped swimming it probably helps build endurance. after that i grabbed skinny legs and all for the first time since i've been here, read about a page and took a nap in the shade. it's so excruciatingly hot here.

lunch was a hawaiian mahi fish taco. everyone was complaining it was bland so i got tuna on a bagel thin instead. after lunch, kateri and i quickly got dressed and biked 6 miles into st. george. it took us about an hour and fifteen to get there. once we were there, we got starbucks (unsweetened iced green tea) and went to see crazy stupid love. it was really great! i definitely recommend it. ryan gosling is a god. it's ridiculous. after that, we biked a different way back to the ridge. our bike totaled about 13 miles roundtrip. i had so much fun with kateri in st. george. she's such a wonderful and beautiful person.

once we got back we were exhausted, it was about 7:30 p.m. (we'd left at 1:15 p.m.). i caught a ride with a girl here into town again and bought kateri and i two 6 inch subway sandwiches since we'd missed dinner. i'm surprisingly extremely full. it's kind of weird not being able to eat as much. not wanting to eat as much i could definitely get used to. after i ate, i went to kathy's room and she helped me finish the small drawstring bag i had started. i can't wait to crochet afghans. it's going to be so fun!

once again, another week is over. i'm going to miss shanelle, francine, and kathy. but i am so glad i met them and i can't wait to see them again. this week's vibe was a bit different. the new people were slightly cold and a bit stand-offish. the personalities didn't compare to those i got to know in the first week, but i am still glad i'm here. i'm still glad i'm pushing to the end.

third week is supposed to be the hardest week. a lot of people hit roadblocks. but i'm going to do my best as i've been doing, and just keep thinking of what's at the other end of all of this: freedom. liberation from physical and mental weight i've carried with me for far too long. i have to be honest, i'm afraid of disappointing myself when i leave here. i was talking to sione today and it really is impossible to know what it's like to struggle with your weight unless you actually do struggle with your weight. and i'm talking about attempting to manage an unhealthy weight. not your occasional 5 pound gain and loss.

i hope you are all taking something out of this. and i hope that when you work out that you push yourself a little harder and think of me doing the same for you out here.
with love, goodnight.

day 13: screaming and slapping

today i went on a hike called "camelback". it's one of the signature hikes at fitness ridge. we hiked along a lot of sandstone and reached a deep decline into a bowl-like shape. they call it "the vortex". it's pretty intense to get in and out of. ed was on my hike again, since he's in my hiking group. i absolutely love him. we spent the last two days together and i can't wait to visit him in brooklyn.

breakfast was two pancakes, eggs, and turkey sausage. after breakfast i went to stretch, and then i went to cardio intervals. stretch today was one of my second favorite stretch classes i've taken. cardio intervals was a great workout. it seemed to be a pretty easy friday morning.

lunch was a mushroom soup and a tostada salad which was absolutely amazing. the tostada salad was two small tortillas that'd been crisped in the oven, topped with beans, lettuce, soy cheese, red onions.

after lunch i went to zumba twice! zumba was much better this week. so much more exciting, so much less woo-ing. i skipped the last class of the day, which would've been a pool class anyway, to go to the tennis courts with kateri. we played tennis in 110 degree heat and afterwards we rode over to the "splashpad" which is basically just a bunch of sprinklers for little kids. we probably shouldn't have been there.... but it's fine.

a bunch of us skipped dinner tonight and decided to get sushi after graduation. graduation was long and boring. everyone was crying. a lot of people said wonderful things, but most of the speeches were way too long and ed wasn't there to make me laugh. the only good part was the raffle drawing. i took a survey last week that was supposed to take 5-10 minutes, but it lasted more like 15-20 minutes. it was pretty tedious and i wasn't really feeling it. i took the second part of the survey today, and they entered my name into a raffle. there were a bunch of prizes you could win: a polar watch, a pedometer, a 2L full sized camelbak, a jumprope, and a water bottle. i thought for sure i wouldn't win anything but i walked out of there with this beautiful blue camelbak! at the end, sione did a tribal dance he used to try out for the biggest loser with. it was pretty funny.

after that, ed and i went to get sushi at a different place than everyone else. he's a pretty intense person but i absolutely love him. we get along so well and i laugh so hard my stomach hurts when i'm around him. he bought me dinner! everyone is so kind here. we barely ate anything. we split a seaweed salad, two rolls, and a small bowl of cold glass noodles. we couldn't finish anything except for the seaweed salad. i guess that's kind of awesome, and means my stomach has shrunk quite a bit!

when we got back i met up with natasha, annie, and shanelle in my room. ed came to join for a bit. shanelle had videotaped sione's dance so we let ed watch it. he calls sione a beefcake and is always wondering (loudly) why he never takes his shirt off. all ed had to say about the video was, "he calls that dancing? it just looks like screaming and slapping".

i'm gonna miss a few people this week but mostly i'm just excited to be heading into the third week. only 12 days of working out left really! i'm going to be so sad when kateri goes home. i'm already miserable that shanelle and ed are leaving this weekend.

excited about my new camelbak, even though i already have a cute tiny one.
goodnight everyone. miss you all.

day 12: sand &fastfood

this morning we took a hike called "awesome chasm". we had to leave about 20 minutes early in order to finish our hike on time. so we left FR at 6:05. it was about an 8 mile hike i think. most of the hikes are 4-8 miles. there was a ton of sand on the trail! it was so frustrating. i stayed close to ed, who's from brooklyn, and he kept me laughing the whole time. i think maybe i just think the things he says are funny because he still has a slight russian accent. today he complained, "if only there was a large body of water, then maybe this sand wouldn't be so atrocious". i absolutely love him!! the chasm was awesome but we only stayed for about 5-10 minutes which was kind of ridiculous considering how long it takes to get there.

breakfast was a bacon and egg sandwich, which i believe i had at the beginning of last week. i'm not a huge fan, but everything else here is fine so i can't complain.

next i went to another label reading lecture. today we looked at the labels on frozen meals, yogurts, salad dressings, and tortillas. as i've said before, they really just stress the consumption of foods that haven't been processed an unnecessary amount. the shorter the ingredient list, the better. fage was considered the best choice of yogurt! i was completely satisfied with that since i could eat fage forever.

all the talk of food had me really wanting to head over to the gym (makes sense, right?...hahah). so the next thing i chose was "gym class" which is usually a random cardio activity selected by a trainer, but today there were only two people in the gym. another woman and me. that's it. i grabbed my ipod, hopped on the treadmill, and walked a half mile to warm up, ran a mile at 5.7 (i never thought i would do that, ever), and then walked a half mile to cool down. that only took me about a half hour, so i decided to go into the empty aerobics room and stretch by myself. i was in heaven.

lunch was a vegetable soup and a turkey club pita (served with a side salad). when i walked into the dining room, i saw a mcdonalds bag on one of the tables as well as 3 pizza boxes. nicole ran over and started screaming at them, asking what they were doing with all of that stuff. it didn't take long to realize it was a prank! T, the guy who pulled the prank, said mcdonalds made him buy something. he had to actually buy 2 cheeseburgers and throw them away. poor guy... hahah. sharon hit him over the head with one of the pizza boxes.

after refueling, i went to the gym to play volleyball, yet again. it's fun every time though especially if kateri is around! for my afternoon classes, i took treading first and then took ball works. i did treading on the elliptical which i found less boring but it was harder to maintain speed. incase you forgot, ball works is the class where we strength train with a giant pilates ball. you wouldn't think it'd work but i think i might actually feel it tomorrow.

shanelle, annie, and i skipped our third class and went to the new basketball court and messed around a little. i ran a lot today so i knew i needed to stretch as much as possible. the basketball playing was horrific and now i understand why i chose tennis and softball. we attempted to play around the world but we could barely get ourselves across any countries. it was shameful. truly.

dinner was a café salad, which is lettuce, rice, beans, pico de gallo, citrus dressing, red onions, and grilled chicken on top of a whole wheat tortilla. for dessert we had apple crumb which tasted quite similar to the one we have at thanksgiving (hi mom). i decided not to go to the lecture after because i'll have the opportunity to go to the same one next week. no reason to rush myself out of here, since i still have plenty of time...

i watched true blood instead. it was a greaaat episode, if you haven't seen it yet--you really need to get on that. now i'm going to go shower.

guess why? 80 minute swedish massage tonight :) with my new best friend... you know.
love you,
goodnight!

day 11: orange you glad we're orange?

this morning we went on a hike called "scout cave". it was actually pretty easy with only a few inclines on the way to a cave. the cave was probably the only exciting part, and my camera ended up fogging up (since it sucks more than anything) so i didn't even get to capture scout cave. oh well, didn't take me long to get over that one. one thing about this trail that for some reason kind of bothered me was that it was covered in ants. i know ants are strong, but i felt like i was stepping on them a lot... and i really don't like that.

i get made fun of here a little bit because of the whole, "we-don't-kill-bugs-in-my-family-if-it-can-be-avoided" thing. people are a little relentless towards insects, which isn't fair because they can't fend for themselves. (yikes! guess i sort of understand why i get made fun of.) on the hike, my friend ed from brooklyn and i spoke about grammar. we went on forever and he started to tell me about his job as an assistant principal at a school in brooklyn. he's such a funny guy. he has absolutely no filter to what is okay and not okay to say publicly. i'm kind of used to his rudeness, i feel, but most people aren't. he's harsh but i think he's hysterical (maybe just because he never stops).

breakfast was hot muesli with raisins, walnuts and a little bit of almond milk. then, i headed over to a the "health and wellness workshop", which was about having an emotional toolbox. i still don't think i know what that means. i'm not sure if the lecture was helpful, i'd probably have to take a look back at my sheet to find out. i think that might be a hint that it wasn't too touching (as a lot of the lectures are). afterwards, i went to stretch class.

lunch was a squash soup and a caesar salad pizza. the soup was absolutely incredible and the pizza was all right. quickly imagine how hard it is to eat lettuce on top of a thin crust pizza. i bet i looked super sophisticated while i was eating.

after lunch we had open gym and we played volleyball again. sione is shadowing as a trainer now and he "supervised" our volleyball game. we played music from my ipod and i was really nervous, which might surprise you. a skrillex song came on and i went to go change it when one of the trainers that was in the gym, robin, was like, "i know skrillex!" i almost died until she explained she has a 17 year old daughter. even so, i still appreciated that.

next i took kickboxing twice in a row instead of taking mountain. shanelle and i dance through everything here. we tried to turn volleyball into zumba-volleyball and kickboxing into zumba-kickboxing. sharon probably won't join in on our idea but it keeps us moving and laughing. sometimes people even join in! after two of those classes, i hit the pool.

my color this week is orange. there are 3 colors assigned: purple, orange, and yellow. the colors don't mean anything except that they assign the order in which we take our afternoon classes. for instance, yellow would have kickboxing first,  then orange would have it second, and purple would have it last. a lot of the time you can stay through two classes, but the only class we are not allowed to change is pool. too many people in the pool is a bad thing, and everyone wants pool to be their last class. i think there was about 30 people in the pool today, which would make it the biggest pool class i've ever had. it was so hard to move around and be comfortable. a ton of people ignored the "rule" about switching your pool class. i thought it was a little rude, considering most of the people here are adults and should know better.

dinner was grilled turkey and yam fries. dessert was chocolate covered strawberries! kateri sat with us tonight and i love when she's around because i never stop laughing. i'm so glad she's here another week. we didn't get to play tennis tonight because she had a hair appointment. i was a little disappointed because today was a pretty low calorie day, i didn't burn more than 2800. i know you think that sounds like a lot, but it's not at fitness ridge.

kateri asked me to bike into st. george on saturday. it's about 1.5hrs each way. i told her i was down before she told me how long it'd take but she's so fun that i can hardly imagine being bored. she tells me that she needs a picture with me and a note that reads "your mom is not boring" before she leaves. she has 3 (or 4?) sons that she's adopted in africa. one of her sons right now attends the college of new jersey. isn't that so cool?

around 7 i went to go learn to crochet some more with kathy. i'm still not very good but i know 3 stitches and i finished a tiny square i'm going to call a washcloth. now i've started a tiny drawstring bag. kathy calls herself "the yarn chef". i think that's really clever. she makes all sorts of items, from baby hats to shawls. these tiny bags are really cute and they seemed pretty easy. i still love knitting though, don't worry.

off to bed. love you all. goodnight!

day 10: be your own inspiration

today was the hike "stop sign" again. i'm with a whole new batch of people this week, "the fast van", so i was a little bit nervous this morning. but kateri made me feel better pretty quickly. when we got there, i paced myself out more than last time. i didn't fall behind like i thought i would. in fact, i shaved a solid 4 minutes off of my time! that means it only took me 1:10 to do it this time.

on the way back down, i didn't think i'd make it to the bottom so i was prepared to stop at west canyon again, as i did last time. francine, a woman i met last week who is in my group this week, was pretty close behind me and we stayed pretty close together for the remainder of the hike. she kept me motivated to jog out the rest of the hike back, so i did. i don't think i would've finished the entire 8.6 miles without her. so, that was a big accomplishment!

it rained on the hike today. apparently it never rains in ivins. sharon seemed a little flustered by it. i absolutely loved the feeling of hiking up in the rain! the entire desert smelled of gratitude as each drop fell. it was ridiculous and i felt like i was a part of rejuvenation.

breakfast was a banana muffin with a mixed berry puree on top. it was absolutely delicious! i hope that i can actually bake those muffins at oswego and have one for breakfast instead of skipping breakfast... (i hope, i said).

after breakfast, i went to strength circuit. it was okay, but it doesn't get your heart rate going like circuit training so it's a little less intense. next i went to stretch, which was in the newly opened gymnasium.

lunch was a cauliflower curry soup, and a chicken salad sandwich. cindy, a guest here, makes me laugh so much everyday. she's one of the funniest people i've ever met. each week she gets in her local town newspaper. apparently it's run by just one woman, who writes/edits/self-publishes. today's headline was "babysitters find jobs challenging". underneath was a picture of the abstinence club's most abstinent.... we laughed about that for a while. cindy wondered aloud how one could be "more abstinent" than the next.

lucky for us, shanelle asked chef to make the granola for his demo this week. so after lunch i sat through his demo. it took a little bit to keep my eyes open through most of his talking, but i loved learning how to make the granola. it's so great i can't wait to make it for my fam when i'm home!

today's afternoon schedule was a bit easier than usual, i felt. i had total toning with robin first, then h20 deep water suspension with sharon (it was still raining at this point), and lastly i had cardio intervals with annamarie. i had a breakthrough in cardio intervals. i chose the treadmill next to francine, who hurt her knee today. usually francine goes pretty hard in the cardio classes, but today i think she ran vicariously through me. it's eight 30 second increases, a minute at the top, eight thirty second decreases for speed. then two sprints, which i ran at 6-7. after that, we do the same interval again, only i chose to do incline for the second one. afterwards, you do two more sprints.

before we did our last 2 sprints, annamarie told us a story about how she was afraid to run past 6 until one day the guy she was working out with reached over and pushed her speed up to 9. she told us to break our speed barriers and go beyond what we had been afraid of passing. i knew my speed barrier has been about an 8.7. i just don't think my feet can take me much faster than that.

well, i was wrong i guess. both sprints are only a minute long. the first sprint, with francine motivating me the whole time, i got up to 9.5. i could not believe it. her voice just made me feel like i should keep moving up the ladder and going faster than i ever have before. the next sprint, i only got up to a 9.2 but she was still just as motivating.

for some reason after i broke 9, my eyes started to sweat... (incase you don't understand what i mean, i guess you could say i cried.) it was the first time i've cried at fitness ridge, which is kind of amazing since people love to cry here. i don't really know what happened but i guess my body was just so confused and i was so astounded at what had just happened that i couldn't grasp the whole situation. francine totally got me through the whole day! everyone here is so supportive of everyone else.

dinner was meatloaf and string beans. for dessert we had this cinnamon tortilla with ricotta that had been blended with berries on top. it was actually one of the most amazing things i've ever eaten for 94 calories. after dinner, i went to open life coaching and we talked about how to move past pressures of friends and family to eat badly. i'm so lucky for my family. i thought about that the whole time. jen said that her parents were supportive of her to come here when she first came, but when she got home they shoved bad food in her face. i know that my family is reading this and waiting for me to come home and share anything i haven't already shared here with them. i wouldn't be here without either of my parents and i'm so glad to have gotten this opportunity. i can't say it enough: it isn't about the number anymore. i've pushed myself beyond limits i'd once mentally set.

kateri pulled me out of the lecture early to go play tennis with her. i absolutely love kateri. everything she says makes me laugh and we get along so well. she's such a genuinely great woman and i'm so glad that i got a chance to connect with her. (i'm so going to visit her in west africa, what a life.) anyway, the really important part is that i beat her 6-3. but every game was close, so i was getting a little nervous.

on our bike ride back from the tennis courts, scott (theprettymasseuse) beeped at me from his truck and my heart rate hit it's high for the day. just kidding. (a little).

back at the room, natasha and i talked for a bit. she's really wonderful and encouraging. she spent a good ten minutes telling me how impressed she was by me in our cardio intervals class and that makes me feel great because she is in way better shape than i am. i'm happy to have her as my roommate.

i love you all, it's time for bed.
goodnight!

day 9: the first day of the second week

this morning was another assessment hike. we hiked a trail called "temple quarry". there were minimal sights to see, and there was no temple. how disappointing. it was a good work out though, i burned about 1200 calories. sucks though, because i trail jogged a lot of it.

this week i believe i've been put with the advanced group. i guess we'll see how that works out for me. i have to hike stop sign tomorrow, so this blog post is going to be short.

breakfast was a greek frittata with avocado on top. it was awesome! cute elliptical boy served me. (he comes up again later in this blog post which makes me want to gag).

after breakfast i took the life coaching lecture again because i hear it's different every week. it was okay, not too different though so i was slightly disappointed. after that i took mountain. my friend Kateri and i tried to run for a lot of it, but we both couldn't break it. i think it's become a subconscious goal of ours for the next two weeks.

lunch was a carrot soup, and a rice and bean burrito with a small salad. lunch was also embarrassing.
there's a server alex who usually spikes his hair, but today he didn't. i told him i liked his hair better that way (without spikes) but apparently he took it the wrong way. a few minutes later cute elliptical boy came out from the kitchen, out from the dining hall, to the back patio tables, and stood in front of our table. my insides started to crumble. he looked at our table and went, "which one of you is sierra?". no. not real. i graduated middle school in '06. none of this was okay. so, at the least witty moment of my life i just said, "umm.. that's me." he just responded with a "hey what's up?" and things got pretty awkward for him, me, and the rest of the table surrounding me. i turned around and alex was watching. he got a kick out of it for some reason but the whole situation was really awkward and awful. anyways...

afterwards, the second week+ people had "open gym" which changes every day. today it was volleyball in the new gymnasium. it was so fun but i danced through most of it and tended to dodge the ball... volleyball has never really been my thing. next was h20 intervals, then circuit training and then core training. today was easier than last monday. i feel stronger and in better shape. but i can't believe it's only the beginning of week 2.

dinner was a salmon burger and a side of broccoli. it was pretty awesome. i'm always amazed at how well the food comes out.

shanelle, annie, charlene, and i decided to go to a store that sold a lot of nike products for cheap. i didn't buy anything, but it was nice looking. i switched my appointment with scott to thursday because my back is feeling okay and i have a feeling it'll be better to save a spot at the end of the week incase it does start to hurt again.

i miss you all a lot. i wish you would all comment more but that's okay. i'll get over it.
with love from the middle school,
goodnight!

day 8: don't worry, i'm crocheting now

today is a very different day at FR. today is the day we don't have to wake up before the sun does! how wonderful. my body was ready to wake up by 8, however, and i set off downstairs to breakfast. i saw everyone getting ready to leave and realized that my first week went by so quickly. i wonder if summer at home is passing at the same pace. i miss you all a lot and i can't wait to see you when i get back.

before i went to breakfast, i ran into the weigh-in room and weighed in. ready?
my first week, bloating and all, i now weigh: 186.1. which means i lost about 5 pounds in the first week.
i can only hope my results will continue.

breakfast was a whole grain waffle with a citrus sauce and a little bit of scrambled egg and turkey sausage. after that, shanelle, annie, and i went to the movies to see horrible bosses. i got a venti unsweetened iced green tea. there is nothing like that in the heat! and i'm sorry, i know it has caffeine. but i am so over that.

on sundays we get packed a sack lunch that we pick up in the morning. the sack lunch had roasted red pepper hummus, 3 pita triangles, a few carrots, a few cucumbers, string cheese, and an apple. it didn't feel like much but it definitely was fine to hold us over until dinner. in the meantime, we met a lot of new comers that had already arrived. among the newcomers is a girl named natasha. she's 21 from montreal, and she's so sweet. we all love her! we asked if she could room with me and since everyone at FR is so accommodating, natasha is now my roommate (for the next 2 weeks).

we all went to dinner together to enjoy spaghetti squash, chicken, tomato sauce and snap peas. it was wonderful. for dessert we had key lime pie... which isn't really pie at all. it's actually pudding on a grape nut base but i mean, whatever, we take what we can get. after dinner there was a quick orientation where we go around and say our names. it was in the new building which was just opened today!

afterwards, my friend kateri, who lives in west africa, and i decided we would play tennis this week. so that's definitely something i get to add to my daily schedule of exercise! i think she wants to play everyday. another friend, kathy, has been crocheting. i told her how i fell in love with knitting this past year but couldn't pick up crocheting as easily. she went to joanne fabrics today and picked up a crochet hook and some yarn for me. can you believe that?! is that the nicest thing you've ever heard, or what? so after orientation we sat in the lobby of the new building and she taught me how to crochet. i picked it up pretty quickly and i think i should be all right enough to suffice by the time she leaves on saturday.

i am so touched by the people i've met here. stephanie, a woman who i really connected with last week (she was a one-weeker), was wearing a shirt from her personal training studio she owns that says "steph's gym". i told her how much i loved the shirt, and i may (or may not) have jokingly said that she should take it off and hand it over... well, later that night, there it was. sitting at the front desk waiting for me. between kathy and stephanie, i've gotten really lucky here. everyone is generous and helpful and just so much more than i expected.

tomorrow is the beginning of week 2. i'm nervous, but excited. week 1 passed quicker than i thought. i hope this one goes even faster than that.

p.s. it reaches about 105 here during the day, my camelback is a wonderful thing, and i'm not sore enough that i can't walk, but i'm sore enough to feel it.

oh, and guess who gets to see her favorite massage therapist again soon? ;)

with love, goodnight.

day 7: i suck at bowling

this morning i chose not to do a hike. since my back has been hurting i figured it would be a good time to give it a rest. on saturdays, you sign up for a hike instead of just going with your normal hiking group. i signed up for a cardio-blast class with robin that started at 7 am. i burned the same amount of calories i would've on a hike! amazing, i know. but believe me, it wasn't as fun as it is to climb up mountains. you don't get the same sense of accomplishment.

breakfast was FR's homemade granola with almond milk and a bit of fruit. after breakfast, i took a stretch class and then a strength circuit class. the stretch class was great. OH! which reminds me, i had a massage last night. my back feels so much better. you might be wondering if it was as awkward as i thought it'd be.

of course, it wasn't. scott was really nice and after about five minutes i finally just said, "so... are we allowed to talk or is that weird?" and he told me it was all preference. if you know me at all then you already know my preference: talking--which is exactly what we did. we talked about so many different things and kept a really great conversation going. we found ourselves hysterically laughing because we got along so well. a lot of people wouldn't like that and probably would've found it hard to relax, but it eased my stress over the fact that a gorgeous boy was giving my flabby body a massage. he told me the pain in my back wasn't in the lower back, as i'd thought it was. it was in my mid-back and the pain in the mid-back was putting stress on my lower back. the conversation and feeling more at ease with him helped me to feel more comfortable with telling him how much pressure was too much, etc.

i'm seeing him again on tuesday night, in hopes one final massage will tell my back to get over it and strengthen up. (or maybe my back will keep hurting because it wants me to love scott forever...just kidding..?)

lunch was tomato soup and a chicken salad sandwich. after lunch, our day was over until dinner. i chose to sit by the pool with shana and her roommate kathy. i laughed so hard today! i laugh a lot here. everyone is funny in their own way and there are some people who just make me laugh so often. after that i played guitar for a little and then got dressed to go to dinner &graduation.

i was late to dinner, and when i got there everyone was so dressed up. it was nice to see everyone not sweaty and gross for once! hahah. dinner was an enchilada and steamed broccoli. the best and most filling dinner so far, and it was less than 400 calories. for dessert, we had a chocolate covered piece of banana. it was delicious, of course.

after dinner was graduation. they showed the DVD they make over the course of the week compiled with video clips of us working out and also pictures of us on the hikes. everyone was laughing and reminiscing quickly, and then we went around the room to say any last words as departing guests or just for the end of the week in general. everyone was very moved by their first (&only, for some) week at fitness ridge. i was too. i've met some really wonderful people i can't imagine not seeing again! so many of them have offered a place to stay if i was ever in town. fitness ridge is like a huge family. you all go through the pain, burn, and pride together.

when it got to me, i quickly said a few words. mostly i just wanted to thank shana for helping me get through my first week. i really looked to her to pace me through my workouts and to motivate me to go harder. i can't imagine having anyone else do that for me. i got really lucky! also, a woman said that her goal is to do 27 charcos in puerta plata (where she lives now), and if anyone from fitness ridge wants to go and stay with her to try and accomplish all 27 falls they are more than welcome to contact her. 27 charcos is a series of 27 waterfalls you climb to the top of and jump down. shana and i immediately looked at each other and decided we wanted to train to do that. i think that might be my next goal. climb the falls.

after everyone cried (except for me--aren't you all so proud?), those of us that signed up for bowling went right along to bowl. i think i bowled a high score of 50? i was awful. but you know what? that's okay because i can run and climb mountains now. i bet bowlers can't do that... also, i made up a great song to the tune of "firework" by katy perry: "cause baby we are taco bell, don't you love the way we smell? makes you go yum, yum, yum as we slide into your tum, tum, tum." i only did that because when you walk out of the bowling alley there's a taco bell. i don't really have cravings for anything here.

when we got back, shanelle and i danced in the aerobics room to a bunch of music on my ipod. afterwards we sat outside with annie and a few others until we got too exhausted to keep up conversation. annie and shanelle are great and i'm so glad i met them. they're hysterical and without them i might feel a little lonely.

goodnight, guys! until tomorrow.
p.s. shana if you read this, i miss you already............. :)

day 6: the staircase bitchress

our hike this morning was called "central park". i didn't have any idea what to expect at all. well, it sure was hard. i think it might've been the most challenging one so far. there was legitimate hands and feet rock climbing in this one, even if it was only up a very steep incline and not actually a 90 degree angle. matt and jennifer were our hike guides, but there were only 3 of us in the group today so it was awesome and we all went at a pretty quick pace. i'm glad there weren't too many people otherwise it would've been a lot harder to feel safe, i think.

we passed a few different "landmarks", which all had the funniest names ever that really don't correlate to what you actually see when you get there. first, we hit jeff's ledge which is this area that you need to scoot yourself around the ridge wall very carefully so you don't fall. then you need to use your hands to help you hold your body close to the rocks. if you were to slip, i think it could be pretty dangerous. the next was the staircase mistress, better known (apparently) as the "staircase bitchress". i think i like that name better because honestly it's pretty tough climbing up those rocks but once you get there you feel wonderful and on top of the world. it looks like a staircase from one side. it's amazing how beautifully mother nature has designed everything. the last stop was piano rock. "piano rock, oh my god that sounds so cool!!!" you're probably thinking. but honestly, once we got to the top of that one, we decided to change its name to "little rock on big rock" or "rock rock" (i like that one because what's supposed to look like a piano just looks like a big rock...). the hike was quick, less than 2.5 hours but it sure kept us out of breath. i burned about 12-1400 on this hike as well. (my numbers from yesterday may have been off).

breakfast was eggs, a slice of french toast, and turkey sausage. i skipped out on the sausage. after that we had stretch, which i really needed because at certain times during our hike i was afraid my back would maybe give out. it didn't really help, unfortunately. and i went on to cardio intervals to see what i could do. i pushed not so hard in the beginning, but by the end they have you so revved you don't have any bone in your body that doesn't want to push harder. i ran at 8.7 for a minute and that was really quite the accomplishment i'd think.

lunch was red pepper soup and a chinese chicken salad. the salad was mixed greens with edamame, oranges, cabbage, almonds and chicken. the dressing was an asian vinaigrette he showed us how to make in a demo. also, lunch was actually 7th grade in NMS because apparently cute elliptical boy thinks i'm cute too (courtesy of my new friends shanelle and annie, and a server our age named alex). so, that was a fun gossip period, i guess.

after lunch i had a class to prep me for next week, and robin (a trainer) told me if i ever feel homesick especially during the 3rd and 4th weeks i can always talk to someone. i told her i was more concerned about my back than being homesick, no offense guys. i'd rather be here getting my fitness on! hahah ew. anyways, the prep class was wonderful. everyone went around the room and said something they were proud of accomplishing. some people chose to pass, others talked about how they ran for the first time in years, others talked about the hikes. when it got to me, i said something like this:

i came here with a weight goal. i would be here for a month, and i just wanted to lose weight. but i had no idea the amount of accomplishment i'd feel each day when i got to the top of a cliff i never thought i'd climb, or when i hit an all time high on the treadmill. i want to keep pushing myself as hard as i can for as long as i can because honestly everyone here is inspiring. when i see goals like running for the first time, or jumping rope for the first time, or even just making it through the week... it truly hits me that these people are doing it for more than just weight. they're doing it for health, in hopes of living longer than they would if they didn't try at all. i'm so lucky to be here, and i'm so lucky to be meeting the people i've met thus far. every single one of them has a story.

after the prep class i had H20 intervals, circuit training, and zumba. in circuit training, i showed sharon my shirt for the first time today. when i packed to come here, i threw a bunch of t-shirts into my bag. i quickly picked my light grey tennis t-shirt in hopes it'd keep the sun away from me. well, i must've forgotten that the shirt said "bring the pain" on the back (compliments of coach hughes) and sharon said "bring the pain" about 5 more times through the class. i don't think anyone really liked the shirt that much... i did though.

the zumba class was awful. the epitome of awful. it was so boring and slow. she didn't wear a microphone, and she didn't explain the moves. which is fine, i can catch on. a lot of people here can't. i just think her moves should've been faster. i didn't get my heart rate up at all, so it kind of killed that 300 calories or more i would've burned in another class. also, she kept going "WOOO!!" in a really high pitched voice once every minute. literally. i was so mad, and bored, and woo-ed out.

dinner was a meatball sandwich on bread-thins with tomato and lettuce and a little bit of marinara sauce. also a side of string beans (which, mom, you know i hate... ;]). for dessert was a parfait, chocolate pudding on the bottom, vanilla on top of that, and strawberry kiwi on the very top. it was great! (made with silken tofu). after dinner, i scheduled a massage. remember how i embarrassed myself yesterday in front of the cute massage therapist?

well, i walked up to the front desk and said i'd like to schedule one. she said, "how's tonight at 8:30?". of course i was okay with it because massages fill up quickly here. but quickly i remembered my awkward encounter, and i jabbed, "with who though!?". of course, it's scott. kill me! hahah i have my massage in a half an hour. i hope it works out the kinks in my back but if not i don't know what i'm going to do.... it's killer!

so, i'm off to shower before my massage. i have a half a day tomorrow! i'm going to go to a cardio-blast class instead of the hike to take it easy on my back. hopefully i'll do okay. also, graduation and bowling tomorrow night which should be great. i got everyone to go!

love you, goodnight.

day 5: dreading treading

today was not too bad. i used my polar heart monitor/watch for the first time, and it was fantastic. only, i'm not sure it read my heart rate completely correct... unless i am a super burner (which i am not opposed to). we started off on our hike around 6:30, as usual. our hike today was called red mountain. sounds exciting right?

i was so bored it was ridiculous. my heart rate went up a few times on a couple different rocky inclines but more or less the trail was flat, surrounded by evergreen trees and cacti, covered in sand. i was not a fan, and i don't think anyone else was either. matt, cute concierge boy, was our hike leader and he sped off on the trail faster than a jack rabbit. (by the way, i laugh every time i see an actual jack rabbit because their ears are so much larger than their whole body it's hysterical. just picture these huge ears rapidly hopping through the brush...) i stayed up with him and shana and everyone else followed pretty closely behind. at one point, we stopped to regroup and if everyone was silent you could hear the sand wasps buzzing. that's how many there were all along the trail.

once we got to the end of the trail, the view was one of the most beautiful i've seen so far. it overlooked the most intensely standing ridges. these seemed the most red, the most proud. we stayed there for about 10 minutes just looking out, and then we set back. i forgot to ask how long the trail was but it was long enough to cover the standard 2.5 hours. i burned about 12-1400 calories on this hike.

when we got back it was breakfast time, and this morning we had a peanut butter and jelly panini. basically, a bread-thin spread with a tiny bit of peanut butter and a tiny bit of jelly stuffed with sliced bananas and strawberries. after breakfast, i stayed for label reading because honestly i don't think anyone knows how to truthfully read a label and what to look out for. here's something i learned today: tropical oils are bad. this means anything containing palm oil, palm kernel oil, and coconut oil etc. you should think twice about buying. we also learned the standards: the less ingredients the better, avoid ingredients ending in "ose", avoid over processing and foods filled with "stuff" rather than natural foods. i love the idea of this. filling your body with the earth rather than chemicals.

after that i had gym class and usually this can be anything from water volleyball to kickball. but today we stayed in the gym, and did what tiffany referred to as "rolling hills". we had to increase the incline every fifteen seconds for 8 minutes until we reached the top of the hill. i hit incline 15 (highest) pretty fast and stayed on that for the 3 minutes we had to push it out. then we got to recover for 2 minutes, until it was time to run down the hill. when it was time to run down, we had to sprint full speed for one minute. i ran at 7.3. pretty intense but as we like to say here at FR, you can do anything for one minute. and you can really do anything for 30 seconds. we repeated this rolling hills after a quick calisthenics routine around the room. only this time, the final speed sprint was for 2 minutes. which, i couldn't hold out at 7.3 for 2 minutes. my body would have shot me in the face. after the treadmill, we went outside to jump rope. i was so impressed and proud of the women at least 60-70 pounds heavier than me that were giving jump rope a shot. and they did great!

lunch was a tortilla soup and a turkey sandwich. the tortilla soup seemed tomato based but it was a wonderful thick and filling pureed soup! after that they brought out the turkey sandwich which was a bagel-thin with sprouts, turkey, tomatoes, and red onion. i put hot sauce and a little mustard on it. that was one of the best lunches i've had so far. after lunch we had yet another cooking demo from chef cameron. it was cool except for i think i already cook pretty well so now i just know what to cook with. maybe i'll buy his recipe books. he had a good muffin recipe that i think i'd like to try and make weekly for my break fast oswego unless that's totally unrealistic.

after lunch was ball works, treading, and h20 full body. ball works is a toning class done with the pilates ball. it wasn't too challenging but my arms definitely burned a bit. my next class, which pushed me harder than i've ever been pushed in my entire life, was called treading. sharon, my fav lady, taught this class. logan (that's his name i was told), a server here, was working out behind me. he was hot! i was so sad. enough of that, back to treading-- you start off warming up for about ten minutes. then you sprint all out for 5 minutes, recover for 5 minutes. sprint all out for 4 minutes, recover for 4 minutes, etcetera until you reach one minute. there was a lot of sharon yelling, a lot of me wanting to tear my clothes off out of pure discomfort, and most definitely buckets and buckets of sweat (not sure if this was from the exercise or the nerves i had from the cute boy behind me). my heart rate hit 175, about. i burned well over 400 calories in this class. i stumbled back to my room to change for the pool class, and when reading my heart monitor it  said i burned 3235 calories throughout the whole day, resting and exercising. i was so proud. then, i went in the pool to take that final full body toning pool class. so i'm guessing today, i may have burned 3500 which means i possibly lost a pound...... but let's not jump to conclusions.

anyways, dinner was waldorf chicken salad over 3 leaves of boston lettuce. i ate them as lettuce wraps. for dessert, there was a pineapple skewer drizzled with a mixed berries puree. it was all pretty good but not exactly the most filling thing i've ever eaten. thankfully tonight i didn't have a long lecture after dinner because i'm not a departing guest. i'm here to stay. week one, almost done. (thank god).

tonight i laughed so hard that i cried. i haven't done that in a while. i was hanging out with two girls i met here, annie and shanelle. they're a little older than me but not by much. they're awesome! we were sitting in the computer room talking. the computer room looks out down a hallway where a lot of the massages take place and i was mid conversation when literally the most beautiful boy i've ever seen walked out of one of the rooms and i stopped talking and just looked quickly as he walked by. i found out his name is scott, he's a massage therapist here. ugh. then he walked back by while i was still drooling and stood in the hallway outside of one of the rooms. i tried to pick conversation back up again but i was so flustered and annie and shanelle were just laughing at me being awkward and awful. so i just laughed. to the point where i was basically laughing at him. i can't believe he didn't leave that hallway sooner. he must've known we were talking about him! ...he should be a model... legit.

then i spent the rest of the night with shanelle, annie, cindy, and marshall (as well as a few others who popped in here and there). some of the funniest people ever and between cindy and marshall i just couldn't stop laughing. i bet my core wished i would. it'd had enough for the day.

--"maybe the best thing terrorists could do is just build more fast food restaurants"
goodnight! love you all!

day 4: "oh, i'm sorry did i say donuts? i meant ELLIPTICAL."

woke up a little later today. around 5:50. i ate a green apple and some cashews again (a little carb, a little protein) to make sure i wouldn't be hungry by the end of the hike. today we were assigned a hike called "stop sign" because there's a stop sign at the top. so original, i know. i hope someone vandalizes the sign someday. someday soon. (can anyone think of anything clever to write on it? other than "hammertime"?) well, let me explain further.

this hike is the longest of all of the hikes, i believe. however, from a first-weeker's point of view it seems that it will be the easiest because it is purely on pavement. it's 4.3 miles to the top: partly path, and partly on the main road through the ridges. when you finish, you can walk back down (another 4.3 miles--totaling 8.6 miles) or you can take the trail out to an overlook (about another 2.5 miles round trip.)

i guess i must've forgotten that if something is a hike to get to--it's difficult. i started off pretty enthusiastically. my friend shana and i have been in the same group together since day one and we tend to go at the same pace. she pushes herself really hard so i like to try and stick with her so she subliminally pushes me as well. she's been here before, so she knows the stop sign hike. keep in mind, i don't have any idea what to expect.

we started off at a fast pace and ended up jogging for a bit but after about 5 minutes of trying to keep up with her (time moves so slowly when you are hiking sometimes) i realized i had to pace myself a bit more as i didn't know what was to come. so i slowed down and moved into a brisk walk. the path moves out of the dessert terrain and ends at the highway. it's pretty hilly, not too intense but there are a few slopes that you have to push hard to get up. once you get to the highway, there's about 2 miles of pure hill. think christian herald x2, for 2.5 miles, after you've already been hiking for about an hour. SO HARD. and not even remotely enjoyable because you're not in the mountains like you are with the other hikes. you're just walking up a highway hoping that you can walk the rest of the day. probably the only time i'll ever think about how glad i am i didn't run.

once at the top, they take your gross, ugly, sweaty picture on their camera probably to put on the DVD we get at the end of the week. not exactly a memory i want to keep, me next to a stupid stop sign at the top of torture hill. i decided to hike back down and robin (one of the trainers) kept me company for a lot of the way. we walked pretty quickly as i hiked a little more than 7.5 miles in 2 hours and 15 minutes.
i think we have to do this hike again every week. i could probably do without that.

the rest of the day i felt a little nauseous probably from the energy i exerted during the hike. a couple of the other girls i hiked with felt the same way so i was a little less upset that i felt sick. it passed quickly.

after torture hill, we had breakfast which was a sausage, egg, spinach, and tomato sandwich. it was good but i felt sick immediately after so it's really hard to say. plus, we all know i just like food (that's probably a reason why i'm here). then i went to circuit training which was taught by paige this trainer who openly admits she is tightly wound. she started off by letting us know wednesday is the hardest day and we didn't need to push too hard, she wouldn't be upset. so, feeling sick, literally to the point of gagging, i gave about 70%. not great, but whatever i'm in workout town i'm sure i'll find a way to make up for it. after that was stretch. paige taught that too. she was awesome for that class, modified a few yoga postures which i quickly unmodified to get the whole stretch.

then we had lunch, which was french onion soup followed by a small salad and a half pita filled with mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, and ground turkey. after lunch, i had a lecture on emotional eating. this lecture got so serious i honestly thought i might cry at times. i need to stop. it was just so emotional. we had to write down 3 negative thoughts we have about ourselves. i'm not going to share mine, because i think that's too personal for the internet. but the woman giving the lecture, jen, she used to be heavy. and she lost over 80 lbs and now works here, telling her story to everyone. she kept talking about how she used to feel like a "retard" (i kid you not) because of having learning disabilities and moving from place to place so much she didn't always have time to catch up. but really, there's only so many times you can hear the word "retard" in 45 minutes without wanting to bawl your eyes out. i was on the verge. every time i looked around people were listening, or picking their cuticles, or even their noses and there i was. saddened and teary from the lecture on emotional eating. not because of actual eating but because of everyones emotions flying around the room and hitting me on the head.

anyways, afterwards i had mountain. i decided to do incline today instead. i'm not sure why since my legs still felt like they were walking up death mountain. my heart rate didn't increase as much but my calfs were burning and i was sweating. i think that counts. next i had H20 circuit which was okay. it's too relaxing for me, but i'm sure i'll feel the work we did tomorrow.

my last class of the day was kickboxing with sharon. let me explain something. sharon is the head trainer. she is so fierce it's ridiculous. she has a pretty high pitched voice, and the stern face of a warden but i think i might be in love with her. she is one of the most beautiful women ever. i mean, she's pretty to begin with but then you add in the intensely fit body and the way she works with the guests here and she becomes phenomenal. she's inspiring. ...i think i figured out my type... anyways, i got a lot of shit out during kickboxing. it was awesome. great way to end the day.

dinner was salmon, over couscous with asparagus. and for dessert we had 2 chocolate covered strawberries. then i went inside for yet another nutrition lecture. i sat across from a man named marshall who is absolutely hysterical. we learned a lot, mostly about different types of eaters and how it's important to be an intuitive eater. i also learned that, "your hips are not a refrigerator" which i guess is sort of obvious but the whole room was silent so i'm going to go ahead and guess it was out of pure shock that our hips are not actually refrigerators.

my back is still killing me. time for bed.
p.s. everyone talks about food here and it's hysterical. favorite cookie conversations, favorite meals. today's conversation at my dinner table was, "favorite way to prepare grits". nice!

goodnight.

day 3: when's the last time you grew shellac?

woke up again this morning at 5:30. okay well, 5:50... but still in the 5's and quite honestly that's impressive for anyone (way to go dad you do this everyday!). i swallowed a banana whole and shoved a few cashews in their somewhere. just kidding, kind of. but i remembered to eat because 3 hours of morning hiking without food is stupid.

i got assigned to the second most advanced group, i believe. i find it really difficult to think that we're not in the most advanced group after today's hike. the hike was called "volcano". we drove up to this completely unintimidating sandy trail that moved towards mountains that were way too ridiculous to hike. or so i thought. little did i know the sandy trail ended in about a half of a mile and the rest was practically full mountain climing. i'm totally exaggerating, but it was hard. we were climbing up a mountain, taking each step one at a time as if it were the stairway to heaven. the loose, rocky, unsafe, stairway to heaven. god did not want us to come.

once we got to the top, my calf muscles were killing me and my heart was beating pretty heavily. but i've never felt more satisfied or accomplished. many times i would look up and think, "there is no way i will ever make it up those rocks." so, i stopped looking up. because every single time i thought that, i ended up doing it and it just seemed easier not to see what was ahead of me. the view at the top was worth whatever i had to do to get there. i will never feel like that until i do another hike like that. so accomplished, so worth it. (the hike was about 4 miles, but it was literally at a 90 degree incline).

breakfast was a fruit, greek yogurt, and granola parfait around 450 calories. after breakfast, i took stretch class instead of a lecture. my lower back hurts a bit, but it did before i got here. then i took a free weight workshop, which i regret taking because i already really know a lot of the stuff they taught us in that workshop. lunch was an avocado and chicken soup, and a green chile pizza which was awesome. then shortly after we had a calorie challenge where we had to guess how many calories were in some items on the outback steakhouse menu. following that, chef cameron gave a cooking lecture and demo... pretty cool to see how he made some of the food we ate today.

next, i took deep water suspension class which was in the pool and worked with weights and treading. i like those classes because you feel them but it's also relaxing to be in the pool. after that, i had cardio intervals with robin who was awesome and motivating the whole time. that class is pretty intense, but i think i could go harder next time. i started at a brief walk and ended up running my hardest at 6.2 for a minute but it doesn't feel as long as i thought it was. the hard part is maintaining such a quick speed for the whole ladder. at the end you go all out, and i ran 7.3 but only for 30 seconds so it really wasn't that big of a deal.

last class of the day was total toning and it was your average toning class. a step, some heavy hand weights, and a body bar with all of your classic activities -- biceps, triceps, calf exercises, lunges, etc. but it was pretty hard and my arms were definitely burning. i can't wait til i can use heavier weights.

dinner was a barbecue chicken sandwich and some broccoli and carrots. pretty good. it's way more food than i expected, and it's all excellent. i kind of feel like we eat too much. or, i eat more often here than i do at home. i think because i'm on a scheduled meal plan but i'm never hungry and i'm never stuffed so there's really nothing to complain about at all.

lastly, we had part 2 of 3 of a nutrition lecture. emily is the nutritionist that gave the lecture, and although i really do know most of what i'm hearing, it's good to hear it again. you can never hear that too many times. she had us look at a fiber one bar, and read the ingredients. her advice was, if you can't grow it-- don't eat it. "when's the last time you grew shellac?" she said. i laughed but i don't think anyone else thought it was funny because they were too preoccupied with how sad they are they can't have fiber one bars anymore. i'm not. i like this all natural thing everyone is on. it makes sense. so, this lecture inspired me to start a food revolution at oswego, which is apparently possible online.

that's what i'm going to do now, try and start a petition. i refuse to waste my parents money and let myself get any heavier than the weight i weighed in at on sunday. oswego's gonna have to come along for the ride. i'm emotional.

i must go, trueblood calls. (sorry these are still so long, but read them. maybe they'll inspire you. maybe they won't. but it'll be a good support for me while i'm here, and that's definitely what i need to drown out any negative thoughts that may come my way!)

day 2: there's no excuses, you're worth it.

i woke up about 10 minutes before my alarm went off, anticipating the day to come. finally, 5:30 came. i jumped up, threw on the same clothes i'll be wearing for the next 4 weeks, lathered my feet in "body glide" and put on my new hiking boots.

today was "assessment day", the day that places all guests into their hiking groups for the week. everyone is assessed and reassigned to groups. i was placed in an intermediate group to begin. we headed out for a trail called "chuckawalla". it was absolutely the most beautiful experience ever. the last time i've seen anything like that was in assisi in italy. the ridges were a deep red clay color, coated with a dusty brown sand and rooted deep within the sand were brown and minty green brush. the ridges were breath taking, but even the mountainous figures in the distance coated in brush were beautiful in the sunlight. this is my home for 4 weeks, and every where i look takes another breath away from me. honestly. (unfortunately i didn't have much breath to be taken away).

so we hiked 5.8 miles in 2 hours. and by hiked, i mean sped up a mountain at a ridiculous pace, and then jogged back down with the guide. however, there were about 6 people in my group, and only one other girl, shana, and i could keep up. so we hiked with her and the rest hiked with the tail guide. it's still an enormous effort regardless of how fast you're going. oh, let me also mention the guide i was hiking with had to be in her late sixties. most of the guides are 50+ and i have to say it is ridiculously impressive.

cute concierge boy, and my shuttle driver are also both hike guides.... like, you're kidding right? talk about small town lifestyle. i like it though, and i feel i have a lot of people to get to know in the next few days. so when we got back, we had breakfast (at 9:30) which was some fruit, and an english muffin type thing with eggs and bacon. it was good! next, i took a lecture which reminded us all of calories in and calories out. also, it taught about RMR (resting metabolic rate) and if you're interested in finding out yours just check out shapeup.org. i suggest it, it's an important number to know if you want to understand how many calories you should take in, and how many calories you should try to burn.

my next class was mountain class, which is a class where you begin on a cardio machine at a certain speed and then every 2 minutes you increase something about your workout. i chose the treadmill and i chose to increase speed rather than elevation for this class. so i started at brief walk and ended up running. i didn't think it would be so hard but by the last few decimals i was dying. and the last speed, your  "top of the mountain" is 3 minutes. longest 3 minutes of my life. but the trainer, tiffany, kept giving us power talks and everyone kept yelling "i'm worth it" and cheering each other on. tiffany seemed to notice how hard i pushed and i felt awesome afterwards.

after that class, we had lunch (12:35). first course was a sunchoke soup. the second was a tuna nicoise salad. a huge plate of lettuce with steamed yams, artichoke hearts, olives, green beans, and tuna salad. it was amazing and ridiculously filling. also, the presentation of the food is that of a five star restaurant, you wouldn't believe it.

next, i headed to circuit training. it's a standard circuit class. you rotate from cardio machine to weights. i found it kind of easy, and it went so fast because you are never bored with any machine. after that was core training. nicole was the most intense trainer i've met so far, aside from the one that gave the budget lecture. it was a lot of free weights and pilates ball work outs. most of the exercises i've done before so i didn't really find this class that awful either. but regardless, i was still tired.

my last class of the day was H2O intervals which was almost kind of relaxing. it worked a lot with the resistance of the water against the pool weights. everyone was singing and laughing, there was no way to not enjoy it. but everyone was also exhausted and as soon as the class was over we wobbled over to dinner, which was roasted chicken over yam puree with asparagus. and for dessert we ate a few orange slices striped with chocolate. then there was a nutrition lecture... the end.

now my roommate candy and i are watching the bachelorette and for some reason i'm getting really into it.... so i have to go now.

also, i'm sorry these are so long but there is so much to say! also once i've gone through all of the classes i probably won't write as much... but who knows. just skim! bye i love you all

day 1: arrival and the complainers

this morning i was pulled out of a dead sleep. i don't think i've ever been more exhausted in my life. i enjoyed 102.7's acoustic sunrise the entire way to the airport. it was the most glorious experience for some reason? acoustic sunrise is... awesome, to say the least. unfortunately i will never experience it again because never again in my life will i wake up at 6 am on a sunday (if i can help it).

okay. so the airport was fun. tip to every girl alone in the airport: don't bring your guitar with you. because every single guy that you walk by will look at you and ask you when you'll play him a song. and honestly, the answer will always be the same (no matter how cute he is): no. because in reality, any guy ballsy enough to ask a girl passing by for .5 seconds to play him a song... is weird. that's that.

the plane was awesome. i sat in the back row next to this puerto rican guy from manhattan. he was seated separately from his girlfriend and afraid of flying so we ended up talking for about 2 hours about fitness and nutrition. most people have had the same reaction about me being here for a month: "wow that's so long!!" but now that i'm actually here at fitness ridge, it's become a common response.

so once i left the airplane, i had to lug my carry-on and my guitar to the tram that would bring me to the baggage claim. unfortunately, i wore that great navy blue sundress i have and my boobs were basically hitting everyone in the face as i became more and more annoyed with the entire las vegas airport and it was just disastrous. such rude boobs, jess.

i got onto the shuttle after sweating my way across the parking lot. it was a tiny ford van, with 3 people in each row. on the list i saw at least two names with "fitness ridge" written next to it, so i felt more at ease knowing some were on the same page as me. as i sat, these two women appeared at the shuttle door in their brutal virginian accents and started spewing questions and complaints, quite loudly, as if everyone around them was supposed to immediately respond and solve their problems. gross. i wasn't down. i instantly put on my headphones, and had to continually increase the volume to drown out their bickering. so after about 2 hours, we pull off to a gas station on the side of the road. i pause my music to see what's going on, and the women start yelling "this wasn't in the brochure!!! excuse me? excuuuseee mee but this isn't planned, what's goin' on?". literally, i think i might've worked harder at not strangling them than i will this whole month at fitness ridge. begin the "please don't let these women be going to fitness ridge" anxiety. soon, we reach the first official stop. everyone gets off of the shuttle except me... and the women. of course. luckily, they were going to green valley. i pressed play on my headphones until we dropped them off and i decided to sit in the front seat with the driver. he told me a bit about what he knew about the resort and dropped me off.

i got out of the shuttle and looked over to see a blonde boy about 5'8 there to greet me. oh thank god!!!! so insta-smile begins and i'm not even a little embarrassed. i checked in, and weighed in. as i said before, i'm going to be honest with all the honest measurements.

starting weight: 191.4
they measured my waist, my bust, and my hips but i honestly don't remember those. i'll write them down next time

so after that, cute boy named matt brings me and my stuff to my room and we talked a little. he's 23, and works as the concierge here. i put down my stuff and i headed to dinner. stuffed chicken over wild rice with a tomato sauce and blanched carrots. (it was surprisingly awesome). also, there was a "chocolate pie" which was actually just chocolate pudding over grape nuts. but it was good. then we got a quick orientation lecture and i headed back to my room.

my roommate was here already with two other women. my roommate's name is candy and the two women were named marie and natasha. the nicest and funniest women ever!!! i'm thrilled thus far. i've already been warned about hikes on my hands and knees and "snore-a-palooza" which apparently happens at night. good thing i brought ear plugs. every single person here is so friendly and it's only my first day. it's time to get to bed. tomorrow's upload will be way shorter, if you guys want... i know this one was super long but i honestly could NOT avoid telling you about cuteconcierge and the complainers. like come on.

oh also, sione fa is here from biggest loser season 7. he's a guest this week and a trainer for the weeks after. HELL YEAH he is sooo sexy it's ridiculous. also, tina from season 9 is here but i don't really watch the biggest loser so i don't really feel as strongly about her. i'm sure she'll be nice!

bye!!

15 days until departure.

Hi.

I'm 15 days away from heading down to the airport and flying over to Utah to begin --what I am going to  cliché-ly describe as-- the rest of my life. I'll be living in Ivins, Utah for a month (July 17th-August 14th). I decided that while I'm there I will document my experiences via blog, mostly for my own reflection but also so that you can follow my every move. This blog is going to be filled with honesty. I will be writing every single detail that I find important, from my measurements and daily routines to any advice that I pick up along the way.

A few things I should explain about myself (incase you are going to be attending fitness ridge in the future and happened to find this blog), and about fitness ridge (incase you have actually no idea what i'm talking about at all):
My name is Sierra, and I'm 18 years old from Valley Cottage, NY. I'm going to be a sophomore at SUNY Oswego in the fall. I've wanted to go to Fitness Ridge for a while, but never really thought I'd end up getting a chance to go! I'm so excited (and nervous) to see what's to come. Basically all I know about Fitness Ridge is what you can find on the website (&other blogs).

Monday-Saturday: 6-7 hours of exercise a day.
I'm pretty sure we have to wake up at 6 a.m. on these days, so it should be interesting to see how my sleep schedule adjusts. (Julia, I'm going to be going to bed earlier than you do!)
Also, I should add that everyone at FR is on a 1200 calorie diet. And i'm going to guess that they don't have glacé there, either...

Anyways, I'll be updating with workout schedule and meal plans for each day mostly. I'm sure I'll meet some interesting people along the way, too!

'til July 17th,
Sierra.