Summer... time for Yoga?

After losing my job about 2 months ago I have become quite stressed as you can imagine. As many of you know I have had a trainer for the last year and lucky for me I have paid for enough sessions that I can continue seeing her for the next few months without having to pay her fee just paying for the regular membership!!! BONUS! So while searching for a new job I am able to continue working out to attempt to keep my anxiety under control but apparently that hasn't been working. So Plan B it is, thanks to an amazing friend (MOLLY) I have taken up Yoga. The nice thing is that I can take it right through my gym and don't have to spend anymore money. WIN! I have already found a better peace of mind as well as inner strength while in my practice. There are defiantly some new muscles in use that I didn't realize I would be using and even though the first couple of days after I was in some pain now its great. Not only have I found that stress release that I very much needed I am getting a great workout to boot. 

Tips for Yoga: 

1. Find the right instructor for you. With any class whether it is at a gym or a studio there is probably more than one instructor you can take the class from. I was lucky to find my favorite instructor so far in my first class but if needed keep trying different instructors until you find the one that works best for you. I have tried other classes with different instructors because I wanted to go to a class on a Saturday but I found I didn't like how that instructor ran his class. So today I went back to the first instructor and had a much better experience. 
2. Don't compare yourself to others. This can really be said for any class you may take but I find it especially true for yoga. The practice is yours and yours alone. I do look to those around me to make sure I am doing the pose correctly because I don't always know what the pose is called and sometimes it is easier to look at the person next to me instead of the instructor but I also try not to compare what I can do to what the person next to me does especially since I am not all that flexible right now.
3. Use the buddy system. Find a friend to go with you it will make it a lot easier to follow Tips # 1 and 2 if you do!

Who's ready to see me Trot like a Turkey!!

For those of you not in the Buffalo, NY area the title of this post may not make a whole lost of sense but for those of you who are it should make a ton of sense at least around this time of year. Now I don't want to leave some of you in the dark so I will tell you what it means... I am running in the 119th annual YMCA Turkey Trot. Yes... I said running. An 8k... that just shy of 5 miles.
If you have read any of this blog before you may have read that one of my goals is to start running foot races. Initially I thought I would get to this in the future, you know a couple of years down the line once I have lost a substantial amount of weight. But motivation has come calling by the name of Peggy G. and I decided this could be a way for me to jump start that weight lose, RIGHT NOW. 
Now, I know some of you must be thinking... "What is this girl thinking?" This is going to be hard... She has already injured herself a couple of times this year... This was goal on the bottom of her list for a reason, it was to come after everything else. 

"Trust me these are all things that have run through my mind before. I am full of self doubt so I decided to turn over a new leaf and try something new. I mean that's the only way I am going to change right?"

Now I have consulted my favorite runner... Molly P. and she has put together a training plan for me so that I am not completely lost in what I need to be doing but it has been harder than I thought. I don't know why I thought it would be easy as I don't normally run and for the fact that I am super intimidated by treadmills. Now, put me on an elliptical for 3.5 miles I'm good... I won't be going super fast but I can finish it and be all sweaty and gross by the end but I won't be in extreme pain. I tried to attempt this on a treadmill I could not finish it didn't even get half way even with walking the majority of the time I was on it, wheezing even after taking my inhaler (did I mention I have asthma) my ankle that I twisted about a month ago was clicking in protest. My calf was as tight as a rubber band about to snap and my side was cramping... all things that I do not fine fun at all. This all happened this past Friday.
It is now Monday, I have not stepped a foot back into the gym in utter fear of failing. I have stretched some but not enough that I think that it has helped but only time will tell. I need to get to the gym today and I do believe I will have better luck as well I have to do better as I have a lot of work to do. 

See training schedule below:

THIS WEEK!!!!
Thursday (11/13)	Friday (11/14)	Saturday (11/15)	Sunday (11/16)
OFF	3.5 MILES	40-45 min Cross train on elliptical	30 Min Walk
NEXT WEEK
Monday (11/17)	Tuesday (11/18)	Wednesday (11/19)	Thursday (11/20)	Friday (11/21)	Saturday (11/22)
40-45 min Cross train on elliptical	OFF	EASY 3.5 Miles Run	30 min walk	OFF	40-45 min Cross train on elliptical
RACE WEEK
Sunday (11/23)	Monday (11/24)	Tuesday (11/25)	Wednesday (11/26)	RACE DAY
40 Min Run (take this as slow as you need too!!!)	30 min Cross train on elliptical (go super easy on this)	30 Min Run (take this as slow as you need too!!!)	30 min walk	8K	YOGA CLASS and 20 min walk

Wow... Has it been a while....

I have officially become the worst blogger on the face of the Earth. My last post was more than 2 months ago in which I wrote maybe 3 sentences that was mostly me whining that I wasn't motivated to keep working out at that time. I still haven't gotten fully back into the grove of things but I have been able to start working out at a normal pace like I was before I injured myself in May. Which at this point I need to just pull my self together and even if I am tired and don't want to go because I had a long day at work, just go to the gym and work out any frustration I may have had throughout my work day by working off some calories. But the last couple weeks have been so busy because of Mak's wedding and everything that goes along with that and going to Bills games on one of my only days off in the week I have worn my self down that I feel like I need a few days off just to get back to feeling like I will have enough energy to get my ass to the gym and have a meaningful workout. I think at this point my biggest problem is that I don't like going to the gym when I know I'm going to half-ass my workout. If I know I'm not going to be able to go all out I don't want to go at all which just ends up hurting me more because then I'm not going. I still go when I see my trainer and Christine is fantastic and getting me in the groove but when I don't see her I feel lost. Like I can't do it if she isn't there. Which is incorrect because I used to go to the gym without a trainer all the time before. 

~~~Bottom Line~~~
Karen needs to get her act together and get her ass to the gym!!!!!

Now that I said that, I think I can finally check one of my goals off of my list... #3! For those of you who did not read my goal list check out my Goals tab on the top of the page.

Now I won't know if I like how I look in the pictures until those come out from the photographer but I easily fit into my dress with no problems whats so ever. No I didn't have to have my seamstress take the dress in which would have been best but not having to worry about fitting into my dress in the weeks leading up to the wedding was a great feeling too. For the pictures that I have seen so far I am confident that I will actually like these pictures for once in my life. Fingers crossed!!!!

Need Motivation

When I first started this Blog I had so much motivation and determination and now.... NOTHING!!! What do I do now. I need to find some motivation in something and at this point I will take anything to kickstart this journey again. What is a girl to do... I was on a mission and doing great but I feel like I have had a horrible setback and don't know what to do at this point... Someone, anyone please send some suggestions. This girl needs HELP!!!

Tool Time

I have discovered throughout this process that not only do I need to have the will to make this go of being healthy the successful one but you also need the support from those around you and also the right tools to make sure that I am on track with my goals. When I originally started my 100 day workout challenge I started by tracking on poster board showing the number of days I had worked out and each day I wrote what I had done that day to be active. Whether it was just taking a walk or what I did at the gym that day. Now I have selected to also get something that will track how active I am being throughout each day. I have some friends who have tried products like FitBit, Jawbone and similar monitors to track sleep, distance or steps travelled, etc. I have found that since I have started using my FitBit Flex Monitor I can see when I haven't been as active and make a more conscious effort to correct that by the end of the day. I selected this product because I needed something to help track what I am doing. The sleep tracker seems to shed some light on why I tend to be so tired when it seems I have been sleeping for hours on end. Now I'm not saying that I need this activity tracker to be successful but it couldn't hurt, right? 
I started writing this post probably about a month ago and finally was able to finish it today. At this point I have also started my 100 Day Challenge over again. As you know I hurt myself back in May while traveling in Memphis, TN and had planned on once I had healed I would start up again from where I left off. After thinking about I have decided to start completely over again! Wish me luck once again!

...And the Results are in Part 2

As you know I finally got my MRI results in after about 3 weeks due to a backup of results at the office, and as of my last post I was getting a CT scan done that day. I did get those results back in a very timely manner, YAY! I now have the conclusive results that I have a proximal medial non-displaced fracture of my left tibia and what does this mean?! I can only use a bike for cardio so no treadmill or elliptical until I see the doctor again in 3-4 weeks. Until then it is arms, chest and back at the gym until further notice which I will keep doing under the watchful eye of my amazing trainer Christine!!! Thank you for all of support and for pushing me to my max even with my injury!!! Love it!

For all of my loyal readers please visit my new page documenting all of my goals and see when they get accomplished and how I have transformed!

...And the Results are in!

So after more then 2 weeks of waiting I finally got the results from the MRI I had done on my knee. So good news is that I do not have a torn meniscus but bad news is I have a non-displaced fracture. Where you might ask is this fracture... not entirely sure. I got the results while driving in Vermont last weekend with my old college roommate, Molly, and the PA who called was not very specific in this description. Today I had a CT scan done to see... not entirely sure but I think they told me its to be able to see a better picture of the bones since it is a fracture. I love how after a several weeks of waiting to see what is wrong with my knee I still don't know. It has been almost a month and a half since I was first hurt and none of the results I have gotten back are conclusive in the least. I am hopeful that after it taking almost 2 weeks just to get the MRI results that they are a bit quicker to get back to me with these results. I am tired of being scared that I am going to hurt my knee more if I work out too hard or push it before it is fully healed and make things worse. I don't want this to be a set back that keeps going on forever and ever. 

Lots of challenges ahead but I promise to be positive and look to the finish line as a checkpoint in my journey but never the less to enjoy the journey all the same.

Ps. New goal to be added to my journey:
Train & Run in a 5K, 1/2 Marathon and Full Marathon one of which must be in San Francisco so that I can hang with Molly!!!

Health Check

With this being my first post since I have been back from Memphis and my most recent injury I wanted to give an update about what I have been able to do since then but more importantly what I have been eating since the working out has been extremely limited. Since being home I have seen an orthopedic surgeon to look at my knee and tomorrow I go for an MRI to see what internal damage there may be since he seems to believe that I have a torn meniscus and if that is the case I will be having surgery ASAP. Since I am still is some pain from whatever is wrong with my knee I have not been doing any cardio other than walking since this has happened. Luckily enough walking on crutches did help raise my heart rate some when I was using them. I have been off of crutches for about a week but still don't trust my knee to not buckle to walk on a treadmill or ride a bike. What I have been doing is still seeing my trainer once a week to at least get some abs, back and arms worked out. It still keeps me accountable to make sure that I am still going in and still have someone to report to essentially. I never thought I would miss going to the gym when I couldn't go anymore.
My diet has been more important then ever since this has happened and to be honest I haven't always eaten the best since I have been injured. But that has changed over the last week. I put together meals for the week and I'm not eating the crap that they call food at the cafeteria at work. Granted the food isn't all that bad but it most defiantly is not the best but more than anything its expensive and by brown bagging this last week i've saved so much money I can't even fathom it! 
While writing this post what I realized more than anything is that I don't necessarily have a problem choosing healthy options I just have a problem with portion control. I tend to eat way more then I need to and it clearly shows. 

Memphis in May

My trip to Memphis started as optimistic as one could be. I'm going to excercise daily before going to the competition grounds keep doing my smoothies and eat relatively healthy when most of the food is anything but that. First couple of days were great the weather could have been better but other than that I would say that I was doing just fine. On Friday however things took a turn for the worse, being the clumsy person that I am I twisted my right ankle while stepping half on the grass half on the sidewalk while heading to my teams booth and when I tried to catch myself before falling I popped my knee and am in an extreme amount of pain. So much so that I took a trip to the urgent care center for X-rays. Good news is nothing is broken but I'm on crutches for the foreseeable future and need to keep icing it. 
Other than this unfortunate incident on my art my time in Memphis and later in Nashville was fairly enjoyable.

My BBW team Too Sauced to Pork did very well with 2 calls to the stage meaning 2 top 10 finishes. And what was even better was a 1st place finish for our Vinegar Sauce!!!!! Our other call was for 6th place in Ribs which for the Super Bowl of Swine where we are competing against the best of the best we couldn't be more happy to finish where we did!!

Here's some evidence of our awesomeness!!

Not only did we get a trophy and bragging right but also a giant check!!!

Too Sauced to Pork showing pride while accepting our award!

Vinegar Sauce concoctors!! Frank and Dave from New Hampshire

We also love sharing the experience with so many people from around the world, Check out this link!

http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/story/25532504/bbq-fest-welcomes-teams-from-across-the-world#.U3e2GYBYye8.facebook

Peach Mango Smoothie

I find that changing up a smoothie helps the same way that changing up what workouts you are doing. It makes life more interesting and helps to make it something new that you want to try. I started with going to the frozen fruit section of my supermarket for inspiration. I found peaches and mango and knew I already had strawberries at home. Then I looked into add some other ingredients to make it more interesting. I decided to add some ginger root to my smoothie. While ginger isn't commonly used for weight loss it does have use in other cultures to help with the common cold. I figure that if it can help fight a cold it may be able to help prevent one too and have been sick several times this past winter. Plus it tastes great in this smoothie!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup Tropicana Farmstand Peach Mango Juice

1/4-1/2 cup Milk (use whatever you have around; regular, soy, almond, etc) 

Handful of frozen Peaches

Handful of frozen Mango

1/2 Handful of frozen Strawberries

1/2 inch of peeled and finely grated ginger root (I use a microplane)

Large Handful Spinach

1/2-3/4 scoop unflavored Whey Protein Powder

Layer in Blender and blend on high until smooth. Start with 1/4 of milk and add more if needed to help blend the ingredients.

***Notice that I don't use any ice in my smoothies. If you use frozen fruit in your smoothies you won't need to use ice and on top of that they won't be watered down. And Bonus frozen fruit is less expensive then fresh fruit!! If you have a good farmers market near you go there to get good seasonal fruit and you can always freeze them yourself for an even better deal.




To freeze your own fruit, follow this process:

1. Find the freshest fruit that you can. Don't use fruit that is over or under ripe because once you freeze it, the quality will remain at that state. 
2. Wash, skin and trim the fruit depending on what it is. For berries with leaves, wash and trim the leaves off. Make sure to dry the fruit thoroughly before freezing other wise you will have a lot of ice crystals which you don't want. Anything like melon or stone fruit (peaches, nectarines, etc) cut to the size you want before freezing. 
3. When ready to freeze place on a cookie sheet and place in freezer overnight. When completely frozen, remove from pan in store in ziplock bags. Stores well for 6 months.