Everyone has a story to tell

In 2009, I let my health go or should I say I didn't pay attention to what I was doing when it came to eating sweets and my food portions along with being active. I became my heaviest at 197 lbs! I was not comfortable in my own skin. I kept on smiling through so no one would know how I was really feeling - Like a failure for letting my self get this way. I was miserable on the inside. I would work out a little, but wasnt really serious. I wasnt focused with the right mindset of what I truly needed to do. Here I am in 2009 - 2010 - 197 lbs and going on a size 14.

 

May 2011 - That was when I decided to truly take my life back and try to do better. Right before I started, I worked at a preschool and oh how stressful that place was! The classes were packed to the max and it was very difficult to get things done on a daily basis with so much chaos. I finally decided I had enough - even though it helped pay the bills - I quit. I was quite miserable. It was a leap of faith that I took, not knowing how we were going to keep going with me not working. I just knew that God was telling me that I had to get out of that preschool.

It was tough. My husband was going through paramedic school and a lot of his time was taken up. I didnt always know how we were going to pay and take care of everything, but I had faith that God would provide and He surely did. We got rid of a few things like cable and to this day, we never got it back - we learned how to live without it and I am completely fine with that. I started slipping a little bit to what seemed like a dark area - depression. The darkness did not last long as I was determined to not let it truly soak in. It was also a time when my mom's kidneys started failing due to complications with diabetes. She had to start dialysis. It was a lot for me to take in, knowing that I wanted to help her in every way that I could. I felt guilty like it was sort of my fault for not knowing what diabetes really does to your body and what I could have done to push her to exercise more and take care of herself. A turning point for me was to start now to take care of myself or I was going to be headed in the same direction.

I decided that I would get fit, be diciplined, learn to run and become a runner. I have ran before, but I never really got into it with paying attention to shoes, speed, breathing, etc. This time I was going to make it happen. I started with the Couch to 5k program that helps you become a runner with run/walk interval training. So I set out with the Insanity workout videos and boy were they insane! It was the toughness of a workout that I needed to jumpstart things and then I ran in the evenings and sometimes just in the mornings. Some days it was just plain out rough - days where I didnt think I had it in me to keep going, but I kept going! I would talk to myself and say "if you want this you gotta keep going. The pain you feel now is no where near the pain of having a baby!" I knew that I would have to push and dig deep to find that inner strength that has been burried within me. The strength that God instilled in me to be strong and fight. I would always remember the scripture "With Jesus everything is possible!" and I would reach to him for the strength to push myself.

Here I am today after much hard work at 170lbs and a size 8 (muscle weighs more that fat)

Little by little, I felt the changes that made me a stronger person. Running became my peace, my inner sense of who I am. It gave me hope that things wont always be like the way they were. Looking back on all the things I went through, I realized that they have shaped me to become who I am today. I found my passion and I want to help others learn how to run, encourage them and let them know that sometimes their mind and thoughts get into the way of what they CAN do. I enjoy motivating people to keep going because whatever they may be going through, I know that there IS light at the end of the tunnel. I have also realized that not everyone can understand the way that my eyes see life - eyes that can see within every person and know that they have a story to tell. Everything that a person does reflects on what they have gone through and not everyone will be able to understand that. So tell your story - who cares what anyone else thinks!

Much Love,
Krissy

Weekend, Where Art Thou?

Yaay for Mondays! Saying that in my most sarcastic voice. Actually Mondays arent bad at all. When my alarm goes off on a Monday, everything inside me starts kicking and screaming! It is so a mind thing. Well for one, I cant stay home. I get to get ready and go to work! If it were a Saturday morning, and that alarm goes off anywhere between 5:30 am and 7 am. I am litereally like woo hoo, lets get this day started! Weird, I know - I hate sleeping in.

Think back to my weekend, it was a good one! We attended a baby shower on Friday night for some good friends of ours (really my husband's friend and his wife) to celebrate the adoption of their first baby girl. Another friend called to see if she could get our daughter Constance (4) and take her to dinner with her daughter - for us to go to the shower kid free! How sweet was that? Constnace got to play with one of her buddies and we got to go to the shower as adults!

Shopping for baby gifts was fun as it had been a while since I have truly roamed the infant area at target. I like to always print out registries (for baby showers) to see what the parents have on there, vs something that they didnt think about that will be extremely useful. Target has THE cutest stuff and I was getting close to coming down with that "baby fever". We had to grab what we wanted to get and head out, FAST. After we arrived to the shower, it was just a nice time talking and mingling with everyone, especially the new mommy! I had known her for a while from previous get togethers, but I didnt get to talk to her much before (sometimes I get a little shy), but it was REALLY nice talking to her.

Saturday came and I had a plan for the gym. I was to be at the Gym at 8:15 to do weights and run 2.5 miles then hit Zumba! That didnt go as I planned, but I think it went according to God's plan. I got to the gym at 8:40 and Constance was pitching a fit about wanting to go home, even though she told me the night before that she wants to go to the gym in the morning. I finally convince her to stay and head over to my side to warm up. It was 8:50 and I had 10 MIN to do weights before my Zumba class would start. I managed to do just arms and jumped to the co-ed side to shake my tailfeather. I was bummed as I didnt run, then I heard someone call my name. Turned around and it was another good friend looking fabulous as could be! We chatted a bit then I got into my dancing. I danced to find out that the class was only 30 minutes that day! WHAT?! So of course I feel like I didnt do anything like I normally would - Bleh!

I noticed another friend coming through with her family and she had just joined the Gym the week before. We started talking and I find out that she could use some help working out. Im thinking to myself "YES!- This is going to be so much fun". Helping others workout and realize their potential truly makes me happy. I gave her a good workout and she was fighting the best she could. Made me proud!

As for Sunday, It was a wonderful day of coughing (it was Horrible) and a fabulous morning at Church. After church we took a trip to a nice park in our area and Whole foods market to get some fresh organic foods. It was nice to take a look around to get inspired to eat even healthier.

So that was my wonderful weekend. Im looking forward to an amazing week of staying on track and getting some runs in!

Much Love,
Krissy

Oh blogger, I have missed you!

Wow has it been a while since the last time I blogged - not on here of course, but with a blog that I used to write with regularly. I have to say that I actually missed it. I kind of fell of the band wagon with my other blog Sweet Memories Cakery & Designs, mainly because I started a lifestyle change to get healthy and stay healthy. I was baking so much sweets then that I was constantly tasting them and eating. And I  know good darn well that sweets are my weakness - my husband calls me the garbage disposer, ha ha! On a serious note, its kind of true! It was horrible and sometimes I still want to shove cookie after cookie into my mouth when I bake. I mad a focus to get better with portion control and listen to my body. The baking side of me is still within me and its something that I am good at, but it's not my passion. Where as the papery design side, is a little stronger within me and I do hope to return to it sometime soon. I love me some pretty paper!

I started a new blog because recently, I have become more aware of the fact that I LOVE helping people with their fitness. I love motivating, pushing, and just being there for others that have made the decision to get healthy and live a great life! I have so much on my brain on a daily basis and its so hard to turn it off! Blogging about my experiences and day to day stuff will help relieve some of that. I hope that I can inspire you to get up and go - and believe in yourself, because with God, nothing is impossible!

Much Love,
Krissy