My S.M.A.R.T Fitness Goals

Specific. Measurable. Attainable. Realistic. Timely.

One of my biggest regrets about not staying active, is the major loss I've had in stamina and performance. I am a SUPER Competitive person, and I hate being the slow one at boot camp. Now I realize that realistically I am at a lower fitness level than most people at boot camp. But when a retired grandma(no joke) can run a full lap and I have to walk half of it, it really grinds my gears. So in order to keep myself motivated I'm setting some goal and giving them dates that I would like to accomplish them by, as I meet these goals I hope to add more .So here are my specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely fitness goals.

1. Walk a mile by Sept 15th, 2010
2. Jog a mile by Nov 15th, 2010
3. Learn to Snowboard December, 2010.......I love to ski and once tried to learn how to snowboard from my older brother, he's not the greatest teacher, but the main reason  I didn't try to learn again is that it totally drained me to fall down and get my chubby butt back up again. 
4. Run a mile by Jan 15th, 2011
5. Complete a boot camp session without modifications Jan 1, 2011
6. Do 10 real Push Ups June 1, 2011.....I set this one far in advance because even when i was fit i couldn't do push ups

Breakfast, How I Loath You!

I hate breakfast. I love breakfast food, but I HATE eating at breakfast time. As a child I loved breakfast, oatmeal being one for my favorites. But at some point around fourth grade or so I became slightly lactose intolerant I remember always feeling sick to my stomach and nauseous in the morning at school and gradually just stopped eating in the morning because it made me sick. I wasn’t diagnosed with lactose intolerance until high school and in all those years, of getting sick and not knowing why, I think I built up a conditioned response to feeling sick if I eat in the morning even if I have no dairy.
Intellectual I know that breakfast is very important to starting your day right and making good food choices throughout the day. Breakfast is the first chance that body has to refuel its blood glucose levels. Glucose is the main energy source of body and it is also required to fuel the muscles needed for physical activity required throughout the day. Those who have healthy breakfast are less prone to binge for the rest of the day. Research has linked healthy breakfasts with less chronic disease, increased longevity and better health. The effects of a skipped breakfast are short attention span, lack of alertness, longer reaction time, low blood sugar, decreased work productivity. 
So as part of my meal plan, I’ve been forcing myself to eat a little breakfast, generally I’ve been having a piece toast with a little peanut butter for some added protein. But I’m still getting nauseous, less so than I use to, but it’s still no fun eating in the morning. Any suggestions? Anyone have any similar issues?

Wake Up Call

So today at boot camp, one of the campers dislocated her knee:( she should recover fully and on the upside I met a lot of cute and very helpful Firefighters. But the whole incident really got me thinking about injuries in general. I have been really lucky that I have never broken, dislocated, or even really sprained anything (knock on wood). However the last time I was really active, I was more in shape and younger and as we all know the older and more out shape you are the harder it is to recover from an injury. So here is a list of 10 things that can help reduce your chance of injury well working out.

1.    Have a Routine Physical / Fitness Test.
Visit you doctor before beginning a new exercise program. Any new activity can stress your body. If you have undiagnosed heart disease or other conditions, you should modify your exercise accordingly. Your doctor can let you know what your limits might be and suggest an appropriate amount of exercise for you.
2.    Gradually Increase Time and Intensity.
When starting an exercise program, many people have lots of enthusiasm initially, and go too hard, too soon. Begin with moderate exercise of about 20 minutes, 3 times a week and gradually build upon this. You can also use the perceived exertion scale to determine the best exercise intensity for you.
3.    Visit a Personal Trainer.
If you just don't know what to do or where to begin, a good trainer will get you started safely and help you learn enough to work out on your own if you choose. A few initial sessions may be all you need.
4.    Warm Up Before Exercise.
A proper, gradual warm up goes a long way to prevent injuries. The warm up can consist of walking, jogging or simply doing your regular activity at a snail's pace.
5.    Don't Workout on Empty.
While you don't want to exercise immediately after eating a large meal, eating about 2 hours before exercise can help fuel your exercise and help you avoid bonking during your workout.
6.    Drink Before You Exercise.
Dehydration can kill your performance, so stay well hydrated. Try to drink 16 oz. of water in the two hours before your workout and then take in water during your workout to replace any lost fluids.
7.    Listen to Your Body.
If you experience any sharp pain, weakness or light-headedness during exercise, pay attention. This is your body's signal that something is wrong and you should stop exercise. Pushing through acute pain is the fastest way to develop a severe or chronic injury. If you don't feel well, you should take some time off until your body heals.
8.    Take Time for Rest and Recovery.
In addition to getting enough sleep, it is important to take some rest days. Working out too much for too long can lead to over-training syndrome and possibly reduce your immunity.
9.    Cross Train.
In addition to helping reduce workout boredom, cross-training allows you to get a full body workout without over-stressing certain muscle groups.
10.    Dress Properly for Your Sport.
This includes using appropriate safety equipment for your sport, choosing proper footwear, replacing running shoes as needed and wearing clothing that wicks sweat and helps keep you cool and dry. Read more about how to layer clothing for cold weather exercise.

My New Best Friend

As you might imagine going to boot camp three times a week, and the gym twice a week for cardio has led to some major muscle soreness. Enter my new best friend the foam roller.
The foam roller not only stretches muscles and tendons but it also majorly reduces soreness.  Did you know that just below your skin you have soft connective tissue that wraps and connect your muscles, bones, nerves and blood vessels that’s called the superficial fascia. Together, muscle and fascia make up what is called the myofascia system. For various reasons including disuse, not enough stretching, or injuries, the fascia and the underlying muscle tissue can become stuck together. This is called an adhesion and it results in restricted muscle movement causing pain, soreness and reduced flexibility.



The foam roller uses your own body weight to perform self-massage or myofascial release, break up trigger points, and soothe tight fascia while increasing blood flow and circulation to the soft tissues. My favorite exercise on the foam roller is to work on my glutes. I start by sitting on the roller with the soft, meaty part of my buttock directly on top of the roller. Begin slowly rolling back and forth and then target each side of my glutes I alternate putting each leg on my knee and continue to roll slowly.  It’s that kind of hurt that feels SO good, it’s almost as good as a massage, and after just a couple of minutes it really release any tight spots that I might have. I bought mine at sport authority and it was around $20.00, then I found another one on amazon for $12.50 with free shipping they are well worth the money.

You Can't Out Train A Crappy Diet

How many times have you heard?  "It's not at diet, it's a lifestyle!” if you're like me you have probably heard it one time too many. The first time I heard it I thought it was cleaver way of looking at diet changes, but it also seems to infer, at least to me, that part of the lifestyle change is saying goodbye to all my favorite foods. As you might have guessed, I love food! I love cooking, baking, and I love eating out. Fine dining to a hole in the wall taqueria, if good chow can be found, I've probably been there. As a child I use to watch the Julia Child and Yan Can Cook on PBS.


I want to get healthy, but not at the expense of my love for food. So this is my plan:

• 800 Calories a day
• No more simple carbs, lean meats and no refined sugar.
• 40% Complex Carbs, 30% Protein, 30% Fat,
• 3 meals (approx 400 Calorie Each) and 3 snacks a day (approx 200 Calories Each).
• Finally to enjoy every bite I eat.

Healthy food can taste just as good as unhealthy food. One of the tips that I’ve found usefully is to make to most of spices, because most have very few calories. Below is one of my new favorite recipes for Chicken Jalfrezi, which is an Indian or Pakistani curry, with green peppers and a hot and spicy dry sauce. This recipe makes 4 Servings and is about 300 Calories per Serving and if I add a ½ cooked brown rice at 107 calories. It is the perfect meal for me.

Chicken Jalfrezi

Chicken Jalfrezi

• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 1 medium Onion, chopped
• 2 Cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 Green chilli, deseeded and chopped
• 3 cm of fresh root ginger, grated
• 2 Chicken breasts, chopped into bite size pieces
• 2 tsp Mild to medium curry powder or paste
• ¼ tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Tomato purée
• 4 ¼ fl oz Water
• 1 Green pepper, chopped

1. Heat a non-stick frying pan over a low to medium heat. Add about 2 tablespoons of Olive oil.
2. When it's hot, add the chopped onion, garlic and chilli. Fry for about four minutes or until the onions are soft and translucent, stirring occasionally.
3. Now add 2 teaspoons of curry powder or paste, 1 teaspoon of tomato purée, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Stir everything for about 30 seconds
4. Add the chopped chicken to the pan, and cook for 3 minutes in the pan, until it's almost cooked. Stir continuously to stop it sticking.
5. 4 1/2 fl oz of cold water to the pan. Turn the heat down to a lower temperature, and simmer for 5 minutes. It should bubble gently. If you'd prefer a thinner sauce, you can add another 4oz of water and cook for 3 minutes longer.
6. Finally add the grated ginger and chopped pepper, and cook for another minute.
7. Serve over Brown Rice

The Search for the Perfect Over the Shoulder Boulder Holder (Part II)

So once I gave up on finding a sports bra in stores in a 42DDD I decided to order a couple online to try out. The first one the Enelll Sports bra came highly recommended for high impact sports, by highly recommend I mean Oprah. It was featured on her "O" list and she was quoted as saying   "Once you get yourself hooked into this thing, believe me they're not going anywhere." It also had a lot of good customer reviews on several sites so I decided to give it  a try. I'm a fairly skeptical person and rarely I'm I fully satisfied as I am with Enell bra. It a little awkward trying to do up all of the hook and eyes, but no worse then trying to jam myself into a traditional compression bra. It fully supports me while also significantly reducing motion. The girls move less in this then when they were smaller and fit into traditional size bras!I like it so much that I'm going to buy the Enell Lite bra, which is designed for low impact activities. 

The second bra I order is the Goddess Sports bra, I chose it because it had high customer reviews, and was only $27.00 on Amazon! The Goddess bra fit well, and supports well but doesn't cut down on movement as well as the Enell. I wouldn't go jogging in it but I will definitely use it for low impact activities.

After my disastrous shopping trip I posted on Facebook about my frustrations and my choir buddy Patti suggested Fleet Feet, I went down to the store and they had a selection of 6-8 styles of bras that they carried in my size, in the store!  So I picked up a second Enell bra. While searching for a good sports bra I stumbled upon a study that found that during high impact exercise breasts can bounce up to nine inches and that the momentum created by intense bouncing can stretch the breast's connective tissues, causing permanent sagging and pain for many women. So at $60.00 a pop the Enell bra is a good investment, especially  if it keep my boobs from reaching my knees anytime soon :)     

Starting Point

Measurements:

Neck: 15in

Bust: 48in

Waist:39in

Hips: 50in

Thighs:23in

Calf: 17in

Upper Arm:14in 

I can't believe I'm posting these....eekk. I knew it was bad, I've been untagging myself in photos on Facebook for a while now, but there is nothing like photographic proof to reinforce my will power. I think the worst part for me is first the Buddha belly I have going on now, second the sausages I call arms, and a close third the unflattering back fat. I've always struggled with body and perception, but my personal happiness has never been dependent on my physical attributes.  I'm a smart, funny, outgoing, loyal, and loving woman. There is so much about myself that makes me proud and love myself. I often tell my boyfriend "everybody loves me!" okay there is probably a secret hater or two somewhere out there in the world. But my point is I love myself and now I want to LOVE my body too! I don't hate my body now, but I definitely dont't love it. So this is my starting point it can only get better from here!

The Devil at Work........

Look at all tasty candy!

It sits there on my desk like a siren singing to me "Desiree I have your favorite, you know you want to eat one of my many treats, just one won't be bad" Have you guessed what haunts my work day? That's right it's the dreaded candy bowl, the great conqueror of good intentions everywhere. Unfortunately the candy bowl isn't the only assailant that I face in the workplace. In fact of the three I would say that the candy bowl is the easiest of my foes to defeat.

I worked at a wonderful water resource engineering firm the owners are great about providing for us employees who often work late. In the kitchen we have a large supply of snack food. Regularly in the kitchen we will have some type of pastry, bagels, cookies, biscotti, fruit, trail mix, granola bars, yogurt, ice cream, otter pops, chips, fruit snacks, popcorn.....and the list goes on. Actually the kitchen is filled with lots of good snacks but every time I go in there I am tempted by the bad snacks. I know the "just say no” strategy doesn't work with drugs, but can it work with snack foods? Only time will tell if I can win this battle, or if this temptation will be my Waterloo.

My last assailant would be the Emperor to my Padawan Learner. It's the horde of starving co-workers who love to eat out for lunch. Okay maybe it's not a horde, and until now I think I was the leader of this horde. There is a group of four or five of us that usually go to lunch together to various restaurants and fast food joints in our area . Besides my own laziness in not packing a lunch, the main reason I became the leader of the lunch horde is one, I like getting out of the office to protect my own sanity, and second because I enjoy the company of coworker. So my strategy in defeating this cycle is one to set as a goal to bring my lunch at least three times a week and second if I do go out for lunch, to help steer the horde towards a healthier option, such as Pluto's which features a custom salad bar and if I can't then go on my own to a restaurant where I know I can get healthier food. Any suggestion or other strategy on how to survive these work related pitfalls?

P.R.I.D.E.

Personal. Responsibility. In. Daily. Effort.

First off let me say that I SURVIVED my first Boot Camp! It wasn't to horrible waking up this morning at least no worse then waking up at my normal time at about 6:30am. It kinda felt like the first day of school, I had my outfit laid out, bag packed, ate my breakfast, and left the house with plenty of time to spare. However, I don't know about you but my second day of school was always a mad dash to get everything together, get ready, and out the door running late with no time for breakfast. This is a cycle of sabotaging myself with my own laziness, is one that I'm hoping to break or at least curb. 

I think the PRIDE Acronym, which my trainer at Boot Camp Val Fujii talked about today, couldn't have been more applicable for my first day of boot camp. In order to make the changes that I want to make I have to take personal responsibility for my efforts not just my actions. No one is going to make me turn away from the drive-thru on my way home, no else is going to get up off the couch, no one else is going get me out of bed at 5am, and no one else but me can push me to do my best at each workout. So this is me taking responsibility for my actions and my efforts.....hoping to post baseline pics and measurements soon and also layout my nutrition plan.

Left... Left... Left... Right..... Left

So as part of my commitment to a healthier me I have also committed to three months of the Super Women Boot Camp in Folsom, ca.  Which at $239.00 a month it is a hefty commitment. I decided to join a boot camp because the only time I’ve had long term success at losing weight was when I had a personal trainer at 24hr fitness. Which was great, she kept me accountable and keep my workouts fun, but it also cost about $400.00 a month to see her twice a week and as soon as I didn't have the money to keep seeing her I slowly stopped going to gym and eventually gave up on my fitness program. $239.00 a month while still expensive, let be honest is probably  whole lot less then how much I’ve been spending eating out everyday two to three meals a day!

Tomorrow is my first day of boot camp at 6am, which I am pretty nervous about for several reasons. One it’s at 6am and I am not a morning person! Sleeping is one of my all-time favorite things to do and no matter what type of routine I establish I’m just not fully functional until at least 10:30am. I chose the early morning boot camp; because, I have several evening commitments on Tuesday and Wednesday nights and often work late. I figured if I work out in the morning, they only excuse and only person I can blame for missing a workout is myself. Which I am hoping will keep me more accountable.

The second reason I am   nervous is because this is most out of shape I have ever been in my life. Throughout my childhood and high school I was really active. I took dance, played basketball, played soccer, golfed, and was even a cheerleader for a bit. but once in college I basically stopped most physical activity and I know tomorrow is will be hard......I’m just starting and  I am afraid that it will be so hard that I’ll want to quit or that I’ll feel like I will never be able to get back to the active person I was before. Wish me luck! Will update tomorrow on how it went!   

The Search for the Perfect Over the Shoulder Boulder Holder (Part I)

The last time I made a serious attempt at losing weight, I was about 15 pounds lighter, which I swear all went in my bra. In the past year and half or so I have gone from a 38DD to a 42DDD/40E depending on the bra. That is a lot of buzungas!  Anyhow these developments lead me on a search for a sports bra that would provide support and guarantee that I wouldn't give myself two black eyes while running :)

So I started my quest on the internet with my good ol' trusty pal Google, the most recommended sports bras for is busty ladies averaged $65.00-$75.00.  I was hoping for something more in the $40.00 range and I was hesitant to buy bra online. With all of this in mind I headed for our local outlet mall which features Nike, Jockey, Lane Bryant, and L'eggs/Playtex stores hoping to find something that would work. Well 2 hours and 4 stores later I had found nothing, nada, zip! I didn't even find something close enough in my size to try on! Discouraged but not out for the count, I was determined to find something. I went from the outlets to one of the shopping centers with a Ross, Marshalls, and a Sport Authority. I figured Ross and Marshalls would be a longshot, and they were, but for sure the sporting goods store would have something. I finally found one compression spandex bra a size too small that fit but provide absolutely NO support. I think my boobs would have been safer if I was free boobin' it then in one of those torture devices.

Feeling defeated I headed home. I have always been busty I started wearing a bra in the 4th grade and was a size 36D by 6th grade. In my youth I danced and played sports so the search for a good sports bra has always been hard.  But not being able to find ANYTHING in stores in my size to try on was really discouraging. As a Plus size girl I find it counter intuitive that finding workout apparel is SO hard to find and expensive once you find it. Instead of having a pity party I decided despite my trepidation to bite the financial bullet and order a few recommended styles online. More to come on what I chose, and how they worked out.....

Let's Start at the Very Begining.....

Most women I know no matter how thin have issues with their bodies. My body issues started sometime in elementary school, who knows maybe I've had them since birth, I don't remember when I didn't have them. I always wanted to be "skinny" only at the time I didn't realize that I WAS "skinny". To the left is me at age 18 approximately 145lbs, I have to guess because even then I was lying about my weight. At the time I thought I was chubby and always making plans and bargains about how I was going to buckle down and loose 40lbs. Wiser, older me knows that 105lbs is a delusional goal.  My point being that I have always been unhappy with my body and I have decided to get real about the situation.

Since the glory days of high school I have been gradually putting on the pounds. It started in College not eating regularly and constantly eating out. I put on the typical freshmen fifteen, then the sophomore fifteen and then the Junior and Senior twenty. During college I tried Atkins, South Beach, the Zone and any fad diet that I thought might hold the secret to getting my weight back under control. I never was able to stick to a plan for more than a few months and they never gave me amazing results that could justify depriving myself of something really tasty and sinful like a piece of chocolate cake with chocolate ganache yum, or better yet mash potatoes (my fav) load with butter, cream and garlic.

During my senior year of college, I fell in love with my boyfriend of now four and half years Alex. I like to call this my Fat and Happy phase. After college I moved in with Alex, started working, moved to a new apartment,  adopted a cat, lost a job, got another job, Alex went back to school, moved again, adopted another cat, got laid off, got hired back. Life and its crazy roller coaster happened and through all of this I have been happy. I have found a true partner who makes me laugh at the silliest things, loves almost all of the same geeky things that I do, loves food as much and I do and he loves me no matter what size I am. But over the past 4+ fun filled years I have continued to pack on the pounds. So this is the part where I get real about my situation and tell you how much I weigh 224lbs, which at a height of 5'4 is not flattering.With this blog I'm hoping to keep myself accountable and prove to myself that this time I can achieve my weight loss goal of 145lbs and transition from Fat and Happy to Healthy and Happy. I'm hope to post every weekday, so keep checking back to see how I'm doing on my journey.