day 18: so much saddle

this morning i did "saddle" with my hiking group. the hikes on saturdays are optional, so i guess it was my own fault i did it twice in such a short period of time. i wasn't as grumpy this time since i was pretty much expecting everything that came my way. we completed the entire beginning part pretty quickly. it seemed a bit easier. i don't know why but i don't burn that many calories on this hike! only about 800 now, where as in the first week i was burning 12-1400 per hike! ugh.

breakfast was a pb&j with strawberries and bananas inside.

after breakfast i took stretch with paige. i absolutely adore her stretch classes as they are as close to yoga as i'll get here. sione taught his first class this morning in the gym. it was circuit training so that's the class i took second. he did well! i've grown to love him. he's understanding and funny. we've had a few pretty serious conversations and today we were laughing for quite a while together. i'll definitely miss him when i leave!

lunch was tomato soup and bbq chicken pizza. both were okay. i'm not a huge fan of tomato soup but it was one of the best i've had! and the pizza was alright but it was a bit greasy and didn't have enough vegetables on it for my liking.

the afternoon consisted of mountain, kickboxing and pool. i opted to do mountain first, and then end my day with two kickboxing classes.

i only burned about 2700 today. my calorie amount has dropped greatly since the first week. my body is able to work just as hard without losing breath too quickly. i know that sounds like a good thing. that's because it is. my body is becoming stronger making it necessary to work much harder to burn as much. some people here could work out half as much as i do and burn twice as many calories. it just has to do with weight, height, gender, and fitness level. it's a bit frustrating seeing such a low number, and it makes me a bit nervous i won't see results this week. i guess i'll just cross my fingers and keep working hard.

dinner was salmon over orzo and for dessert we had a fruit skewer. a man came up to me after dinner and asked if i was in room 204. i said yes, and he asked if i was the one playing the guitar. i admitted and apologized if i'd bothered him at all, and he immediately retorted that he really enjoyed it and that my voice sounded great! i was flattered, to say the least.

kateri and i decided to skip stop sign tomorrow, and bike to a local village instead. we're also going to bike the 13 miles to st. george and back again this weekend. as for now, i'm going to hit the sack. it's been an exhausting day for some reason and my body is begging that i'll just relax for a sec.

10 days. love you all, goodnight.