The Plus Size Princess Fitness Initiative – So Smart & Inspiring!

I’ve shared my health and fitness journey here off and on, but more often lately that kind of sharing has been off. I figure if I don’t want to talk about it, I should be about it. For me, my journey to wellness has never been about fitting into a specific dress size or being a certain weight. It’s been about being better to my body and appreciating it as a temple, being able to climb multiple flights of stairs without feeling like I’m about to faint and being able to run away in case someone is ever chasing me. It’s about being healthier than I am, because my family history (or family present) of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart issues scares me into action.

This is why I can’t get behind initiatives that don’t come from people whose journey I can identify with. I need to know that you’ve walked the walk, not just talked the talk. I look to fitness inspirations who I know have been changed by their own journey. I look up to people who pursue fitness because they are motivated by health.

This is why CeCe Olisa’s initiative, Plus Size Princess Fitness (#PSPFit) truly inspired me.

 

Like myself, CeCe is a big girl out here working it and looking fly. CeCe is beautiful and proud of her curves. But she has had to come to terms with her health, and it’s led her to create this action plan not just for herself, but for others. And YOU can register for the 30 day pre-Thanksgiving boot camp up to TODAY, Friday at 1pm EST.

 

 

 

CeCe explained a little bit about #PSPFit to me. Take it away, CeCe!

– Tell me a bit about your personal fitness journey. What led to you creating PSPfit?

Well, I created #PSPfit because I needed it… I spent a lot of time trying to lose weight in crazy ways because I hated my body (spoiler alert: I just gained more weight). The moment I began to show love to my body through clean eating and fitness, my overall health improved and 45 pounds came off.

I have Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) which is an endocrine disorder that many plus size women suffer from without knowing it. PCOS can create any combination of symptoms like oily skin, hair in weird places, irregular periods and… weight gain/inability to lose weight. The zinger is that weight loss is the one thing that often improves PCOS symptoms, so its a medical catch 22! After finding out that many women heal from PCOS by eliminating processed foods, I hired a nutrition coach who helped me transition into clean eating and pounds that I’d fight to lose in the gym melted off like it was nothing.

I also had to tackle a major case of “Gym-timidation”. Being plus size in the gym meant that trainers didn’t push me as hard or they ignored me altogether, but I loved working out! I finally found a trainer who celebrated my body and what it could do at any size. Hearing a big muscle guy tell me that my body was “beautiful and made to move” was so motivating! I began to think “Wow, if curvy women could experience compassionate fitness, maybe we’d hit the gym more. If we understood how what we eat affects our skin, hair, ability to get pregnant, etc. maybe we’d ditch the junk and eat more vegetables and whole grains”.

Of course, I was investing a lot of money for this kind of coaching and in this economy not everyone can afford to shell out $1,800/month to get healthy. So… that’s where my idea for #PSPfit boot camp came from. I thought maybe I could use the influence of Social Media to get a group of women interested in fitness and clean eating, maybe we could offer this important education at a steep discount… so far it seems to be working! We’re working with Lane Bryant Active, so instead of $1,800 #PSPfit boot camp members get four weeks of nutrition and fitness coaching online or in NYC for $99.

– What are the main goals of PSPfit? What’s the thing that makes this program different from any others?

#PSPfit focuses on health instead of weight loss (although weight loss is a symptom of healthy living).

#PSPfit has a nutrition coach who can listen to your health issues and give you a list of things you should be eating to reset your body

#PSPfit has YouTube workout videos with curvy fitness models!

#PSPfit is an international community of curvy women who love their bodies, but understand that healthy curves are the way to go.

– What do you want every participant to get from their PSPfit experience? What are your ultimate hopes for PSPfit?

#PSPfit is a community driven project, I hope it evolves to meet the needs of the women who take advantage of it… I’m up for anything! I hope that #PSPfit participants learn that they can embrace the body they have now while striving for improved health, it doesn’t have to be one or the other.

 

 

The window for this session’s registration is small, and closing soon for this 30 day Thanksgiving bootcamp. But you can follow the journey on Twitter with the #PSPFit hashtag, and you can join the next one at www.pspfit.com. Go CeCe!