My Healthy Journey Part 2: 70lbs lighter!

 

Oct. 2006, 70 lbs lighter

10k race with my sisters Grace and Mary

Ironically, I hated running and still hate it at times. It is not therapy, in itself. It is not fun. It is a means to an end. It is a mode of getting from one point to the next. Nevertheless, running has probably been the best gift I have ever been given. It has provided the opportunity to get to know my sister better. It has provided a way to get to know myself better. It has provided a way to be a positive role model for my daughter. And finally, it has provided a way to become healthier.

By the end of my second year on this journey, I had lost almost 50lbs and by the time I got re-married later that year, I had lost another 10lbs and had a BMI that was within the ‘healthy’ range for the first time in 15 years.


Since then, I have had two more children and with that the fluctuations that naturally occur in weight. Overall though, I have maintained a total weight loss of between 60-70lbs. and try to hang around 145lbs. My weight loss was not sudden. It was not an overnight thing. It was a series of small baby steps. Similarly, maintaining that weight was not a one-time decision, it is a journey. It is a journey that requires decisions that come in the form of small baby steps-choosing to eat healthy one meal at a time, choosing to be active one day at a time, choosing to be balanced in my life one moment at a time.

My daughters, Kennedy and Tristan

Getting to the gym on a regular basis, eating the fruit and veggies instead of going for the sugar-laden foods, getting enough sleep and keeping my mental energy up to remain committed to healthy choices is a daily decision. With the birth of my son in June, I am carrying about 30 extra pounds and getting to the gym between three children’s schedules is a real challenge.

Yesterday, I just wanted to throw my hands up and tell myself it is just too hard. Then, I have moments like today: I was dressed to run all day but every time I thought I had a moment to make a break for the road, something came up. When my youngest daughter, who is 3 years old heard my complaining late this afternoon, she immediately began insisting she go “running” with me. For three hours, that is all I heard about. She’d come into the room with flip flops: “I’m ready to go running!!” A moment later she had her jacket on: “I’m ready! Let’s go running!!” So, once Dad got home from work, my girls (now 8 and 3 years old) and I went for a “run.” It was a short, disjointed walk/run around a 2 block area that was painfully slow, but it was the best run I have had in a long time.

1k Fun Run with my daughter, Tristan, 2007

THIS is why I run and this is how I stay strong in my commitment.

Today I ran with my daughters.

Today I passed on a legacy of health and wholeness.

Today I was successful in my game.

Today I was a hero.

This is one of the things that I love about Little Healthy Competition: it isn’t about setting big goals for fast results and overnight transformation. LHC, for me, is about continuing to make the little changes that I can live with for the rest of my life… It is about one moment, one day, one life that we get to live. It is about the small things can we do that build upon each other to create a balanced and centered life for
ourselves and those around us.

Keeping off the weight for 7 years!!!

Keep running!

Chelsea Robinson
Durham, NC