My goals for this blog is to help inspire women to not only run but to challenge themselves and grow in their own confidence that they can accomplish a task that seems impossible. Believe me, a year ago, if I told myself that I would be running 4 miles for fun I would have laughed at myself but wondered if I really could do that. I know I can, not only because I want to but I have pushed myself and have done it. (Today training run is 4.5 miles so I know I can do it!)
But I also want to lead by example for my son. I want him to beat the odds in this 1 out of 3 kids are obese nowadays. That is such a disturbing fact. 1 out of 3 ARE obese. When I was 12 I was bigger than all my string pole friends. I remember I weighed 125 lbs at 12 years old. But I was not fat. I in fact did have more muscle on my body than any of my friends. My son is proof of that because he inherited my muscle mass and he is solid and stacked! I struggled with self confidence issues and thought I was fat to the point that in my junior year in school that I was barely eating. I lost 20 lbs in 7 months. I got down to 145. I looked skinny but it was a bone sticking out everywhere kind of skinny and was very unhealthy. When I started eating again I gained all the weight back. Thus started my yo-yo dieting. But in high school I was never fat. I was bigger but I was stocky. I actually had a flat stomach, just a tiny little pooch. And I thought I was the fattest girl ever. I do not want my son to feel like I did, EVER!
Couple things to think about. I couldn't run a mile. I was weak in that regards. I didn't push myself activity wise. I pushed myself in other areas but didn't do sports. Didn't think I could. I would use the excuse of I couldn't breath and had asthma but that was because I didn't exercise. I hated to. It wasn't fun and I could have done more than I attempted.
I am so strong now. I might not be high school skinny but I think I am in better physical shape. I can push myself farther. Eventually the weight will come off. That I do know. But for right now I am just going one mile at a time. Here is a great article I found for childhood obesity.
http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/body/overweight_obesity.html
Also here is the website to the Let's Move campaign by Michelle Obama!
http://www.letsmove.gov
So let's lead by example together! Let's show our kids it is fun and amazing to exercise! Happy Running!!!
