Calories in, calories out

Sorry to report, but no silver bullets or amazing weight loss revelations - it's still if you put more into your body than you burn up, then you're going to put on
weight. If you put into your body less than you burn up then you'll lose weight.

But how many calories does your body actually need? One of the key numbers to know is your Resting Metabolic Rate, your RMR. Yuur RMR is the number of calories your body needs to sustain itself, without doing any physical work. Betsy's is around 1,000 calores; mine is around 1700. So I get to eat more!

As 1 pound = 3500 calories, it's obvious that it's better not to put too much stuff in your body, and then try to exercise it off. Especially when it takes only 30 seconds to inhale that oversize 250-calorie cookie with embedded M&Ms and 30 minutes of reasonably exerting exercise to lose it!

You can find an RMR calculator at Shapeup.org. And you all have a great day!

Pinnacle Peak, Snow Canyon, Utah

I don't recall being as sore or as tired as this in our previous visits here but perhaps i didn't get up to 4,000 ft last time!






Thank God for the hot tub - my new definition of heaven.

Watched Biggest Loser tonight while at Biggest Loser. Life imitating art imitating life - or vice versa. Pretty wierd. More tomorrow.

First day back (again)

First day over at Fitness Ridge and t was great to see all the wonderful trainers again and very gratifying to be recognized and welcomed back by all the staff. The facility is still in great shape and the new gym and extension are nearing completion. Can't wait to see it next year. They are definitely straining at the seams since their alliance with the Biggest Loser program and the extra space is very much needed.

The basic philosophy of "compassionate bootcamp" has not changed but there have been several changes to the program with different hikes and different assessments, and many more guides. Day 1 hike was to assess us regarding our abilities in terms of speed and terrain and and of course I had to get competitive so I've been put in the fast group for the rest of the week. Not one of my smartest moves. We went really fast today and at one point were running not hiking - something I had to put a stop to right away!

We met up with several people that we had seen on previous trips and it was wonderful to see Liz from New York again who had arranged her trip to coincide with ours. We also bumped into Max (the brother of the dad and the brother who were on Biggest Loser last year) and he looked incredible - taller if you can believe that.

Food is way better than previous years. Each class is still a stretch, especially the stretch classes (ha ha) which I find the hardest of all - bodies should just not be asked to be put in those positions. Absolutely exhausted but loving it here. Now we just have to figure out a way to see the Royal Wedding this week - is it really going to be worth getting up at 1:00 in the morning?

Return to the Ridge

Well it's that time of year again - if it's the end of April it must be time for Fitness Ridge. Currently getting together new socks, moleskin, Camelback, and all things medicinal for our annual pilgrimage to Utah.

Get ready for postings next week. So looking forward to it!

Ray

Farewell Fitness Ridge

Our week at Fitness Ridge came to an end all too quickly. The shuttle picked us up (the fancy one this time with individual captain’s seats) and took us from Utah, through Arizona, and into Nevada in about 2 hours.

As we passed through Arizona, the Joshua trees, limbs akimbo, seemed to be mocking us goodbye. “Not tough enough for the desert huh? Well you just scurry back to your air-conditioned lives in the plastic ‘real' world.”

Soon the oversized gun shop ads by the highway were beckoning us to come in and try one, the latest AK47 that is, and as we crested the last rise we saw the scrambled international monopoly board of monuments that make up Las Vegas: the Eiffel Tower of Paris, the space needle of Seattle, the Egyptian pyramid that is the Luxor hotel, Campanili of the Venetian, and the Statue of Liberty and golden lonely Trump tower patiently waiting for its Trump Tower 2 to rise from the forlorn muddy puddle of the empty construction site next door.
The last remnants of the snow on top of the mountain backdrop to the city bade us a fond farewell; the perfect metaphor as the memories of our excellent vacation similarly slowly melted away.

Marathons anybody?

One of the great things about this place is the staff, especially the trainers and guides. They are so enthusiastic, unceasingly motivating, positive, and active, it's really all quite too
much for an Englishman! I can see that my citizenship of 6 months now has no chance of displacing that centuries-old, inbred distrust for anybody that energetic. Take for example, one of the guides, Debrah: this morning, she had to say goodbye to us all because she's off to run a marathon on Sunday. And not just any marathon - it's her 193rd - yes, 193. That's close to the mileage on my last car. And these are just warm-up races for her real passion: ultra-marathons - 100 miles. Too, too, much to even contemplate.

Ironically, We're actually going to come quite close to such silliness tomorrow. The St.George Ironman Triathalon is being run on Saturday:
2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bike ride, and a marathon (26 miles 385 yards, 42.195 km) run, raced in that order and without a break, and most Ironman events have a time limit of 17 hours to complete the race.

They will run right past Fitness Ridge. You'll be pleased to know that we will NOT be taking part. However, as a modest doffing of the cap to their incredible endurance, we will be participating in a 6.2 mile (10K) fun run at 6:00 am tomorrow morning. I will be finishing my sixth mile in roughly the same time as they will be finishing their 26th mile.

It's been a great week here and I'll wrap up my final thoughts over the weekend.

No Losers Here

It was a strange experience tonight being with some of the participants at Biggest Loser at Fitness Ridge watching this week's episode of Biggest Loser on TV.

I'm not sure whether it was life imitating art or art imitating life, or life imitating art imitating life. I guess it will be something to think about on tomorrow's hike. One thing for certain, there were no "losers" at Fitness Ridge or on TV. Nothing more need be said.