Short post tonight.  Today is rest day at the Ridge, it was also my last day there for this round.  They measure you when you arrive, then again when you leave (or every 4 weeks if you are there for longer than that).  I got great news and rewarded for my hard work this week.  My results are :

Pounds lost : 8
Inches Bust: -3
           Waist: -2.75
            Hips:  -3.75


I was hoping for a little more in the tummy, but it will come in time.  Breakfast was a waffle today, and my sack lunch which I did pick up and take with me to eat on the way home was artichoke hummus and pita.  Hummus is one of the lunch or dinner substitutions, and I thought eventually I would find something I didn't want to try and substitute hummus for, but that didn't happen.  I was slightly disappointed last night that I hadn't tried Chef's hummus while there when someone was raving about it at dinner again last night.  So, it can be said I was thrilled with our lunch today (and even more thrilled when I stopped halfway home and ate my lunch).

I stopped at Costco as I hit town tonight and picked up a few things beside fueling the car.  Orowheat rounds were on the list --- my plan which executed well tonight was a chicken salad sandwich with more than half of the filling veggies -- I had some sliced red bell pepper as a side, and ate an orange for dessert. 

No exercise today aside for a little extra lifestyle steps --- but they did suggest at least one rest day per week --- and 5 hours of driving is enough to zap my energy.

Plans for tomorrow --- massage, shopping at the regular grocery store --- Ill most likely do eggs for breakfast and plan on making the carrot ginger soup for lunch -- most likely with more chicken salad -- Ill reserve plans for dinner until I get to the grocery store, I am leaning towards grilled chicken with a side of sweet potato.  I also get to work on a plan for where to follow through on exercise, first off by checking out the place at work.

I plan on updating my progress once a week or so --- for accountability mostly.

I cant believe its 830 and Im on the wind-down, I plan on an early bedtime tonight ( by home standards -- but still resembling the past few weeks).

Take care

I'm sorry I didn't get anything posted last night, after a busy day I met up with some college friends I hadn't seen in 25 years and had a great visit at thier house.  I can't believe the years have gone by this quickly.  She pulled out old photos of us, wow -- I recognized myself, but time sure changes things.

So here is the scoop on Friday -- The hike that we got to go on was the third ravine -- sort of like geocaching --- we took the hard way up and found an easier way down, thanks to the hike guides.  The hike was beautiful as we made our way to the top, I mananged a middle slot where I was between guides, it was an easy trail to follow and gave me some time for self reflection as I made my way up the mountain.  I am still amazed at how my body adjusted to all of this, a week ago I hurt like the dickens and wondering how I would make it through a week, and there I was going up the hill feeling like a million bucks and having the time of my life (mostly). One thing I did learn was that I do well with the slow and steady approach --- kept me sweating but able to keep moving.  I managed a slide down a rock which nabbed my sweats, and put a nice hole right in the backside, good thing there was a layer underneath to protect the rest --- both from getting wounded, and from exposure.  We ended up in a really neat cave, found two geocaches, hung from cliffhanger for a photo op, a few goup pictures --- then down the hill by way of an old service road --- see the easy way down --- had to cut time somewhere I supposed since the way up kept us occupied. Found 2 geocaches on this trail, the guides knew of both of these, the GPS didn't pick up additional (until I solve a puzzle or two for next trip).

Classes today -- pool (intervals), zumba, circuit training and pool volleyball. Okay Friday gets to be a little of a play day, but we worked hard for this.  I still maintain that Zumba is not my best shot at coordination, though I followed a little better this week, but how to get those hips to do what the instructors do, is well beyond my comprehension.

Food -- It was a long time ago -- breakfast was something breakfasty, Lunch was a chicken stew ( I missed my soup and meal being seperate), it did come with a side salad though.  Dessert was a parfait with kiwi and strawberries on top, really liked it --- still drawing a blank on dinner --- I can remember I liked it well enough though.

Today is Saturday --- half a day.  The Ridge offers 3 hikes on Saturday --- Stop sign (why anyone wants to climb 4.3 miles uphill on pavement a second time in a week is beyond me --- okay its a great calorie burn, you can try and beat a time, its great if uneven terrain is stressful) --- for me too much of a chore, I wanted dirt.  The second offered was west canyon which I have been on already.  So I chose the one that leaves from the Ridge here.  Anasazi  --- great hike, service type road (well technically dirt road for a good part of it but no driving from us) then we got to the trail --- nice petroglyphs around this area --- and 3 caches up on the trail --- may have hooked another guide today, he was willing to hike another 1/2 mile up if the group turned around too  quick, they didn't we were a slightly faster group.  We caused one hike guide a little stress though by taking a side road to a nearby cache before we caught up to them on a second segment of petroglyphs -- I'll attach a few pics.  On the way back to the ridge managed to pick up 2 more caches, one down the street a little, and one in front that I missed last week --- who knows why.  After lunch I went out and drove around Ivins a little bit, and geocached for a few hours.  I came back to the ridge and got a good shower in, put on non-workout clothes, did my hair rather than pony it up and went to dinner. 

At dinner they showed us our weekly video --- I really enjoy these videos of the week, for me it will be a great source of motivation when I watch them getting the visceral reminder of what I accomplished here.

I am amazed that its time to go home tomorrow -- where did my last 2 weeks go, and how did they fly by so fast.  I am ready to work on this at home though, make adjustments and see where it takes me.  I get my checkup on how I am doing in May when I return for another week, similar to the last two.  I'll keep you posted.

Thursday is over --- Todays hike so far is one of my favorites.  We went to Hidden pinyon.  We ended up going to piano rock and stairmistress by way of our hike.  I hate the sand which we started on, but most of it was packed and/or the hardened sandstone.  Fun pictures.  My right foot is starting to really be iritated at me, I thought I had the issue solved, but obviously putting too much pressure on my heel again , two more hikes to go here, wish me good rest for it tonight.

Two lectures for me today, one was about number crunching and how to determine realistic goals for ourselves.  The second lecture tonight was more about menu planning and ideas for when we go home.  Both loaded with good information that I will definately use at home.  If I didn't mention it earlier, I bought the cookbooks -- I decided they are a good starting spot for learning to cut calories and still have variety and flavor in my meals -- and for the most part, I have liked most things here.

That brings us to meals --- almond-butter and jelly on an orowheat round with cut fruit for breakfast.

Tortilla soup and pesto pizza for lunch. Waldorf salad for dinner, with pineapple for dessert. 

Classes today --- stretch after my hike, then treading (I still like this one best of all the intense cardio classes), pool, followed by ball works -- doubt I'll ever love the ball -- however did learn a few exercises worth repeating so guess its time to pump mine back up when I get home.

Short post tonight -- I know the posts are getting shorter, its just that with this schedule -- I'm just ready for bed early.

I cant believe another day has been completed here at the ridge.  As I have mentioned before, 30 seconds here can be perceived to last nearly a lifetime, though the dfor me ays can go by quickly.  Today I felt a little run down, this is an incredible pace to maintain. The beautiful part of this though, is that I can see so many places where I am so much stronger.  They tell us here to look at the things we gain rather than what we are here to lose, I like that philosophy.  My endurance has improved significantly, I see it every day on the hikes.  My pace is still "slow and steady" but unlike the hikes I take at home, I am not stopping as much here.  Today our hike was to "volcano"  -- it started at the end of the stop sign hike, we jogged across the highway, then circled up and around to a  peak, I managed to get a geocache on this trail too  -- Joan's Bones, if the pic turned out I will post it here.  I think tomorrow I will be repeating a hike from last week, it will be nice to see if my ability has improved, it was a hike I enjoyed so unless it changes, I am looking forward to it. (and if it changes, I get a new hike-- which is nice too).  I am in a great van for me this week, right in the midst, its been fun visiting with other guests as we are on the trail.

I came back for a water class -- I had 2 today, a circuit class and deep water suspension -- I sure wish I could swim better --- floating isn't an option in these classes, doing things like putting water dumbells under each knee and motoring around the pool is.  My problem is that it feels like I am on a bucking horse most of the time.  I still maintain that I am really ejoying the pool, still getting a good core workout there, and definately have tired, sore abs after a week and a half here, I am just crossing my fingers that it will equate in inches lost.  The problem with being with myself everyday is that the mirror is not a reliable source of information.  So until Sunday I will keep my energy up and put it out there that the inches are coming down too.

My other two classes were kickboxing ( a little more coordinated today, doubt I will ever fall in love with it), and mountain --- I suceeded in climbing yet another mountain --- using a bike today, its a class that climbs a level every three minutes for a total of 12 while keeping the same speek --- I was smarter this week and started my level a few higher, but then only climbed one resistance at a time --- much better than last week where my first 4 levels got double increases.  I was still done by about increase 9 --- but what is another 12 minutes with friends, we made it.  This and treading are two classes I will most likely incorporate at home into my life.  As much as I hate them for the moment, I feel accomplished when they are done, it is a nice high.

Meals today --- breakfast was a sausage mcmuffin and fruit salad.  Lunch was a salad with a turkey pita sandwich.  Dinner was one of my favorites, salmon and couscous.  Dessert was the dark chocolate covered strawberries -- this week I chose them over plain strawberries, and decided they were heavenly -- maybe if dark chocolate covers fruit I will like it from now on. (It seems to be a theme here).

I'm ready to take on Thursday now, I have time to goof off online for an hour or so, then bedtime -- going to be early has been an interesting experience, now to see how well I do at being better at bedtime once I get back to the real world.

Til tomorrow

Tuesday of week 2 is now officially over.  It amazes me that when 30 seconds takes an eternity to end, the day is something entirely different.  How can I have just completed day 2 of my second week here.  I did stop sign hike today --- the entire 4.3 miles up the trail/road  I felt really sluggish, like I didn't have the same energy for it that I had a week ago when I was a little fresher.  I did however better my time -- this week was 87 min, so I improved my time by 3 minutes -- I had wanted a little more, but I will take it, at least I improved.  Tomorrow I'll be back trekking through the area (possibly a spot called volcano, but we don't know for sure until 745 in the morning).  The other 4 classes of the day --- free weights class (information more than doing), cardio intervals (I must have had the choice of pool over this one last week -- I liked it -- but it was a bit brutal), total body toning (why is a 12 pound bar so heavy to lift repetitively?), and pool (this one was one of the toughest yet).

Food, I substituted eggs and toast for the parfait for breakfast.  Lunch was a chicken avocado soup (different, but I liked it) and a turkey sandwich with a side salad with strawberries.  Dinner was a barbecued chicken sandwich, edamame and the dessert was pineapple sorbet.

I attended one class today on relaxation given by the chiropractor.
I did my laundry.
I bought the cookbooks (I actually like most of the food, and the recipes are relatively simple).
I relaxed with a deep tissue massage --- this one was to die for -- I could ramble, but Im jello right now and off to bed.

More tomorrow