First Monday

The sign at the reception desk

Day one was VERY full. They are so organized here, it is amazing. There are 69 guests here this week, and we are divided into 3 groups by color. If you've ever seen The Biggest Loser, you can probably guess what the colors are: black, blue and red. I am in the blue group. Basically, the group stays together for the group exercise classes. I think it may have more significance as the week moves on (e.g. we could win special competitions, but I'm only guessing. . . ) Here was my schedule for today.

Did I mention they are VERY organized?

The highlighted ones are ones I have to attend as a "First Weeker." And the others I am expected to attend. And, yes, they take roll at each class, at each meal, and at each lecture. (Prizes are involved if you have perfect attendance for the entire week. . . oh, yeah!!!)

As I said yesterday, we started at 6:15 am, meeting in the dining room to go over how the hikes work, etc. I was assigned to a certain van and precisely at 6:30 am we drove up through this neighborhood (of amazing houses) to the Chuckwalla Trailhead. If you have ever been hiking around Red Rocks or Garden of the Gods, it was like that. We hiked somewhere between 5 1/2—6 miles today. (And all I had to eat was about 1/2 of an apple!) Here are a few pics:

The beginning of the hike.  I scrambled up over that ridge at the top.

Somewhere along the way.

Yes, the trail was right along this ridge!

Our reward! What a view at the top. 

After the hike, we jumped back into the van (OK, "jumped" was a little strong of a word, but you get the idea) and headed back to the FRidge. We had a few minutes to wash our feet, change our socks and head over to the dining room for BREAKFAST (at 9:30 am). I was so ready for that!

Our menu for the day, and the corresponding calorie counts.

And photos of the actual food, which was quite tasty, believe it or not! And the presentations are beautiful, too.

Breakfast fruit

This WAS my egg sandwich. I was so hungry, I forgot to take a picture of it before I devoured it! 

Normally, I am not much of a soup person, but this soup was delicious! 

These are fish tacos, and they were quite good! And filling.

My salad, which is not accounted for in the 1200 calories for the day, so it is extra. 

Dinner = Delicious, again! Chicken with asparagus, wasabi potatoes, and some kind of delicious sauce.

Pineapple sorbet. . . OMG this was good. And VERY refreshing after exercising All. Day. Long!

About the exercise classes. I was sweating like I have never sweat before! (There is no time for picture taking during class--go figure!) Each class is 45 minutes with 15 minutes in between, with the exception of the daily hike, which is first thing in the morning for about 1 1/2 hours. So, today I started off with the 5.5 mile hike, then had "Open Gym," which was this class called "Mountain" where you do 3 minute intervals on a cardio machine, increasing your speed or incline/resistance for the next 3 minutes. . . for the rest of the class. Then I had Stretch, which was like a modified yoga class. After lunch and the lecture I got right back into it with a Step class (very hard, yet, somehow, fun!), a pool class (it felt SO good to be in the water, even though I was still working hard!), and ended the day with circuit training.

After dinner was another lecture (in which it was VERY hard to stay awake!) and my "official" Day One at the FRidge ended at 7:00 pm.

I decided to get back in the pool again, just to cool/rinse off a bit. And then I spent some time in the hot tub. Fantastic! I'm hoping that will help keep me from being too stiff or sore in the morning, because I start the whole thing over again tomorrow. New classes, new challenges.

Thank you for all of your comments! Goodnight :)