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Hiking my way to fitness at Mountain Trek
M o u n t a i n
T r e k
British Columbia
A typical day looks something like this: 6:30 – Yoga 7:30 – Breakfast 8:30 – Hiking (lunch on the trails) 3:30 – Return to lodge 4:00 – Stress Management seminar 5:15 – Dinner 6:00 - Spin/cardio class 8:00 – Massage All of this on 1200 calories and no caffeine. So why would anyone choose to spend their hard-earned vacation time here instead of perhaps a beach in the Caribbean?
P l a y
“People say they come because their clothes are too tight,” says Kirkland Shave, program director (weight loss is guaranteed at the resort). But he adds that there is often a ‘tipping point’ in people’s lives that motivates them to come, whether it’s a bad habit they want to break or even a major life event like a divorce. For our group of 12 from the US and Canada, the reasons vary. Half had been here in previous years, and for the majority the reasons were health related.
& S t a y
T
he schedule is not for the faint of heart at Mountain Trek, a weight-loss resort located east of British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley in the Kootenay region.
“My diet was unhealthy, and with a history of diabetes in my family I knew I needed to do things differently," says New Yorker Michael Hussy. There was also a litre-a-day diet coke addiction he was looking to kick.
by Jennifer Merrick
For myself, I wanted to lose a little of the weight that had been creeping on year by year and kick- start a healthy diet and fitness regime to continue at home. The hik-