Team Beachbody ¡preestreno!Español Guest

I am a permanent work in progress.

I grew up with an intense dislike of exercise (hey, it's
VERY hot in Florida, and PE classes were nothing short of
torture, especially for a kid prone to heat rash like I was)
and a fatalistic belief that I was destined to always be the
lone oversized and chunky girl amongst a sea of tiny,
ectomorphic Asian cousins and friends. I just figured that I
had been dealt a lousy hand by genetics, and that there was
nothing I could do about it. I knew nothing about training
or proper nutrition and chose to focus on my school work
instead of the usual petty social concerns of my peers. In
gym class I just tried to keep my head down and get through
the semester with a "B" while exerting myself as little as
possible. I never considered going out for any sports
because years of team sports in PE had reinforced my belief
that I lacked coordination and athletic ability.

College was more of the same as I chose to attend a school
that was strong in academics but not exactly known for an
active, athletic student body. My weight hovered in the
lower to mid-150's with a body fat percentage that was
probably perilously close to 30%, and at 5'6" with a build
just on the border between small and medium, this was just
too much for my lower back. After a fall at age 19 while
wobbling around on inline skates, I developed sciatica in my
lower back which caused me excrutiating, constant pain in my
back, hip, and both legs as well as numbness in my feet. If
I had been in better shape, the fall might not have resulted
in an injury, but unfortunately, my core and posterior chain
muscles were not strong enough to stabilize my back, and I
wound up recovering slowly and painfully over several
months.

I enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1996 still out of shape and
not sure what I wanted to do. Although my friends and family
all thought I was crazy for doing it, I now think it was one
of the best things I have ever done because my time in the
service taught me how to finally push myself physically. I
learned that I was NOT hopeless at exercise. I just hadn't
been exposed to forms of exercise that I enjoyed and was
good at performing. It turned out that I was still a lousy
endurance runner, but wow, I could do a LOT of pushups,
situps, and anything involving muscular strength. I felt
strong, energetic, and able to tackle any physical challenge
for the first time in my life. I went from 152 lbs to a low
of 136 lbs before settling in the 141-146 lb range for the
rest of my tour and swore I'd never turn into a weak,
squishy civilian chick again.

When I returned to school after finishing my 4 years in
2000, however, I let myself slack off and stopped
exercising. Without the external structure of Army PT to get
me out of bed and sweating, I just defaulted to sedentary
college student mode again. My weight stayed the same, but I
started to lose my hard-won muscle and get fatter. In 2004,
I finally took an objective look in the mirror and realized
that it wasn't G.I. Jane looking back at me, it was Ms.
Average Jane Fluffypants.

Disgusted with myself but not willing to crash diet and
perform binge cardio like so many women around me, I chanced
upon a copy of "Body of Work", the companion video to Bill
Phillips' Body for Life book. My physical ideal has *always*
been a more muscular but still feminine physique (think
super heroine or figure model, not bony runway model or
anorexic starlet), so BFL was right up my alley. I did two
12-week BFL challenges in a row, whipped myself into shape
without the help of a drill sergeant this time around, and
have been hooked on weight training, healthy nutrition, and
all sorts of non-cardio exercise ever since!