When I heard that I would have to work out for six hours per day for an entire weekend, I wasn’t sure that this was a “vacation” for me. But since I love a great challenge and being outdoors (as long as I get to sleep in a hotel room), I decided to embark on a three day Eat Play Love Fitness adventure.

I took the old timey Rocky Mountaineer’s Whistler Sea to Sky train for the first time and was in awe of the picturesque beauty that one doesn’t get to see when driving. Everyone should take this train once!

Eat Play Love is stationed at the luxurious First Tracks Lodge in Creekside Village right next to the Creekside Condola and the beautiful ski hill.

Almost immediately, we ran up this very hill, not once but five times, all while doing push-ups and burpees in between! No cheating allowed: we were closely watched by three tough trainers.

Thankfully, I managed to get a bit of free time before dinner to experience the Peak to Peak Gondola. Honestly, my mind was blown by the amazingness.

When they say “Eat Play Love” they truly mean EAT, because there was a lot of incredible food to be had and the word “diet” never entered the conversation. We had our own nutritionist and our own personal chef (ah, celebrity treatment!) to answer all our hard-pressed questions.

Instead of an early bedtime, a couple of us snuck to the Village to catch a K'naan concert. Why not? It’s a vacation after all.

(That's Jacqueline Hennessy of More magazine in the red jacket making her way up.) 

The next day was insane. Rise at 6:30am for breakfast and coffee and then embark on six hours of fitness: one hour walk; one hour of yoga; half an hour of core work; hour and a half of boot camp (ouch!); and two hours of a gruelling up-hill forest hike!

Needless to say, I was exhausted (although, somehow, I managed to keep my hair looking good). But it was strangely rewarding, knowing that I’m capable of something like that. Then came day three, when we had to hike up that same dreaded ski hill again, this time holding a medicine ball in one minute intervals. And, on top of that, we also got to carry these rocks on which we wrote our fitness goals.

I can see why Eat Play Love founder Simone Lovell strongly believes that a fitness vacation can inspire one towards a healthier lifestyle: “When you remove yourself from your everyday life and stressful environment to escape to a fitness and health focused retreat you will eliminate carb cravings, speed up your metabolism, create new and improved lifestyle habits, and kickstart your fitness success story.” Our trainers and nutritionists left us with a package full of exercise and nutrition tips, as well as delicious recipes.

(That's Breakfast Television's Dawn Chubai at the end holding an impressive v-sit.)

Afterward, I felt super fit and strong, highly energized and relaxed (I guess that’s the “love” part). Plus, I got to check out Whistler Farmers’ Market (shhh, I may have bought a treat or two) before hopping back on the Rocky Mountaineer to Vancouver.