In need of some inspiration to spearhead your fitness goal for the New Year? Check out how Karen King went on a simple online shopping trip that turned into a life changing decision to get healthy from the inside out. Though most people will be amazed by Karen’s physical transformation, this intimate interview helps illuminate the holistic and integrative approach she took to make it happen on her own terms. May her incredible story serve as a catalyst for anyone in search of some motivation to spring into action in 2010!

Cheers, Maya

Name: Karen King
Age: 46 (47 in March)
Profession: Yarn Store Retail
Children: Ysabel (almost 16) and Duncan (11.5), both of whom are Ice Chamber Kids. I’ve loved my works outs, and just becoming more present in my body, and I want my kids to have this too.

MAYA: Can you tell us how an online shopping trip served as a catalyst for you to make some significant changes to your health and well being?

KAREN: “Retail therapy” redefined, huh? I received the Athleta catalog in the mail, in what must have been late August or early September 2008. I especially loved the light purple-pink color of the Teelicious Deep V Top. That color never fails to take me to a happy place. Anyway, I decided to order online, rather than phone. When the website came up I saw the screen-shot of a very pregnant Maya and the headline about her post-partum fitness comeback. Now, I was 45, had been battling depression for too long, had been largely sedentary (walking the dogs just doesn’t cut it), and was fairly resigned to what I thought of as “middle-age spread.” So I clicked on Maya’s video, not so much hoping for inspiration, but more with a wistfulness about how things were when I was younger and fitter.

And the rest is history, for me. Maya’s video is beautiful. There’s a REAL person there. This isn’t just some advertising gig. Maya is clearly an amazing athlete, but you can tell she didn’t exactly love every minute of working out to reclaim her fitness. And, even though she was very fit before, and seems so young to me, her “re-fit” didn’t happen overnight. And look at that kettlebell stuff! Very impressive! I was floored that this was all centered around what looked like an amazing gym, right in my own backyard, just one little town away, and I hadn’t even heard of Ice Chamber. Where had I been? Under a rock? I think I signed up for the starter pack that very same day.

MAYA: What were your initial goals when you enrolled at the Ice Chamber?

KAREN: My goals were vague. I was reluctant to specify anything, really, because I was afraid of how bad I’d feel if I “failed.” I just said that I wanted “to feel better and stronger,” then I put my head down and kept going.

MAYA: You committed to training 3x per week and have successfully completed that goal for over one year now. Tell us about some of your personal achievements.

KAREN: One of the first milestones was leaving Boot Camp thinking “Hey! I can pretty much do this,” not, “I can’t BELIEVE I just did that! Cough! Wheeze!” That was about three months in. At about four or five months I stepped up to training 4x per week. That was another biggie, and it was about then that I started noticing changes in my body. I noticed that my clothes were looser, I slept better, and my arm muscles started to show up. I started using the 15 and 20 pound dumbbells. I did (I think) 40 sit ups in a minute, and 40 push ups in a minute.

Also, at about three months or so, my depression very concretely shifted. I feel like a poster child for exercise as an antidote to depression. Before there were visible changes in my body, I was able to stay back from the edge of the big black hole. I was even able to drop a medication. I’d been told repeatedly that exercise would probably ease depression, but just couldn’t motivate. My theory is that the medication, etc., helped get me to a point where I could motivate, and it was all good from there.

MAYA: You were initially very reluctant to weigh yourself and measure your body composition when you started. Why?

KAREN: I come from a family of very petite women and only a few medium-tall men. So, by 7th grade I’d stretched inches over my mother and was closing in on my father. My father was/is always a Marine, so he’s very fitness-oriented and was not very subtle in his guidance. I always felt big and soft. I got the idea that women were supposed to be around 5′ tall and around 120 pounds. I was beyond those numbers before I even realized I was supposed to care! No. Numbers are not my friend.

MAYA: Since taking measurements is an optional but standard procedure for new members at the Ice Chamber, you did opt to chart those statistics… but only on that first day. It took a medical exam for you to step on the scale again recently. Has your opinion changed now that you know you’ve lost over 40 pounds?

KAREN:It did turn out to be good to have that initial number, because now I can feel proud of the measurement of my of hard work. However, I think that if I’d weighed in frequently, I might have become too focused on my weight, rather than my fitness. I like that I was able to stay focused on how I felt, how difficult or easy a burpee was, or how many pounds I could curl. That, for me, was more fun.

Also, by not doing the weigh in, I didn’t ever hear what someone else’s weight was. I was able to remain inspired by my fellow Boot Campers’ strength and dedication… and by their amazing pull-ups.

MAYA: Since weight loss was not your initial goal when you started one year ago, many people will believe that you shed the pounds effortlessly. Is this true? What dietary changes can you attribute to your incredible weight loss?

KAREN: I truly don’t feel that I’ve been on “a diet,” though I did make some changes in my eating habits. The first change I made was breakfast. I used to eat half of a whole wheat bagel with Nutella on it, or some toast, with coffee. That did not fuel me through Boot Camp at 10 am. So I shifted to a more complex carbo and protein breakfast: a big bowl of Kashi Go Lean cereal (sprinkled with a little of another cereal for some sweetness) in milk. That definitely holds me through to midday. Next I looked at a lot of the nutrition entries on the Ice Chamber blog. There are entries by what sound like wonderful cooks and some very health-oriented eaters. I realized that one thing going on for me was that I seemed to be high in carbs and lower in protein than those people. So now I eat a protein-centered lunch like “the insides” of a turkey sandwich with no bread, or yogurt for lunch. I like the way I feel fueled, not full, afterward. I snack on almonds too, rather than bread or crackers. In general, now I will choose protein or veggies over carbs, but I’m very far from strict about it. I still have ice cream. I still drink wine. Sometimes I have a whole sandwich.

MAYA: Aside from consistent physical training, what else is central to your health and well being today that wasn’t true one year ago?

KAREN: Sleep. A full eight hours at night, and a late afternoon nap whenever I can get it! Currently, I’m carefully tracking stressors in my life, evaluating each one as I become aware, asking myself if this is where I want or need to spend my energy, my life, my spirit. Taking creative steps to either consciously engage the challenge of a stressor or step away from a stressor is very empowering.

MAYA: What advice do you think would have been helpful for you to hear before you embarked on this journey to optimal health?

KAREN: One of the things I appreciated early on at Ice Chamber was what I think of as “inclusiveness.” I never got even a hint of a hint that anyone thought I couldn’t re-tune my body, or that anyone thought I was the stereotypical middle-aged woman unable to accept middle-age spread. I was one of the group, encouraged and inspired like everyone else, in a wide range of ages and fitness levels. So, I guess it might have been helpful to have pointed out what I observed: that losing fitness as I age is by no means a given. In fact, gaining fitness is just as possible. And way more fun!

MAYACHELA (MAYA) GARCIA is a mother and co-founder of Ice Chamber, a unique athletic training facility in Albany, CA. Her area of expertise is getting women (especially moms) in top shape utilizing kettlebells, bodyweight movements, weightlifting, and their natural environment... {more»}

Related Chi: Postpartum Comeback Journey