As a young girl, out of curiosity I placed my hand on the red burner. Ouch! I quickly learned, a red burner means it’s hot. I never done that again.
As an adult, I was driving down the highway in a new area of town I accidentally took the wrong exit. Oops! I never took that exit again.
Trivial mistakes like those are a part of life. So, are not so trivial mistakes, like my latest. As you know, healthy living is a relatively new concept for me. I’ve been obese the better part of my life (see previous post) so I know all to well how to be inactive and eat unhealthy.
Anyhow, I had been working out and eating healthy for about three years — the best run of my life — when all the sudden my professional life became hectic and I started slipping off of my program. I’m an all or nothing kinda gal so when I wasn’t able to workout I also began making poor food choices. Before I knew it, it had been six months before I seen the inside of a gym and I had an expanded waist line to prove it.
I beat myself up about it. Hung my head some, but such is life (see previous post). I have to learn from it and move on. What I learned: I can’t afford to not workout. I can’t eat what I want when I want. I have to set a routine and stick to it even when life becomes hectic. This is no fad. There are no quick fixes. I’m in it for the long haul. This is a lifestyle.
I’ll never touch a red burner again, I’ll never take that exit off the highway again, and I’ll never travel off my path of healthy lifestyle quite the same again. Mistakes made, lessons learned.
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!