Training for life
The other day I was completing a fitness evaluation that asked if I was training for an event. My answer, “Life.” I understand the question was meant to determine if the person completing the evaluation was training for a marathon, triathlon, or another special event. But, the way I see it– life is a special event.
I workout because I want to be stronger, fitter, and live a better quality of life while I’m around. I want to walk, run, bend, stretch effortlessly. A long time from now, when I have grandchildren I want to be able to run, play with them and pick them up. As I age, I don’t want to have help out with my groceries. I want to carry my own bags out. I prepare 99 percent of my meals at home using fresh food because I want to honor and fuel my precious body. I realize, “We are what we eat.”
This is no fad. I’ve got my mind made up. I’ve made a conscious effort to change my life for good. I’m training for life.
Chrisetta Mosley
I am a product – and now a survivor – of childhood obesity. As a child, my family always told me that my extra weight was merely baby fat and I’d eventually grow out of it. I never did. Instead, my childhood is filled with memories of not being able to ride a bike, flattening its training wheels from being over the recommended weight, and avoiding P.E. classes by any means necessary. For years, I wore my fatness like a wounded soldier wears a Purple Heart - with pride. I owned the look. I dressed it up. I worked the room. There wasn't a skinny girl who intimidated me. I made sure my hair was laid just right. Nails polished. Outfits coordinated to the tee. Accessories to compliment every outfit. But everyone has a breaking point, and mine came in the spring of 2004 when I tipped the scale at nearly 400 pounds 388 to be exact. I was MISERABLE trapped inside of that body. I no longer wore my Purple Heart with pride. Rather, I was ashamed and frightened. Ashamed that I had allowed food to become my everything – frightened I would die because of it. Drastic times called for drastic measures... Today, I’m bound and determined to live a better, healthier, active lifestyle. I realize I’m no longer a passenger in my life, I’m the driver. I’m overcoming my inhibitions and I’m slowly but surely saying farewell to my old childhood nemesis, obesity. For once and for all, Farewell Fatso!