Our Mission:
To bring together health and fitness information that continues to motivate and inspire movement within each and every one of us to live our lives to the fullest.
Growing up a Hispanic in San Antonio has its drawback when it comes to health. I myself, a Hispanic male, know how that is. We, as a community, console each other with food of some sort. We celebrate with bar-b-que for birthdays (not to mention Mother’s Day and Father’s day), tamales at Christmas, tacos on Sunday morning after church, and don’t get me started on Fiesta, with the gorditas and fajita tacos. I am one to admit, it is extremely hard to say “NO” to family and friends in fear of hurting their feelings.
Now growing up a Hispanic female, can only be harder. You are the glue that keeps your family together. When you are unhappy, everyone is unhappy. You do the cooking; cleaning, comforting, and you are not really allowed to show any emotion. Now this is not a rule of the Hispanic community, it is the way Hispanic females behave. They take in all of the pain and hurt of their family and really do not take time for themselves.
The person I had the pleasure of running with is all of this….. and more. Melissa grew up on the Southside of San Antonio and fought all of the demons of obesity and weight gain. She grew up in a normal childhood, average size for her height (4’11), and was active. BUT, with most people (especially Hispanics), after marriage, the weight started to stick.
Most of the time, we love the person for who they are, not what they look like, as was the case in this marriage. But, after a while, if you are not happy with yourself, then how can your partner be happy.
Melissa knew there was a problem when she did not feel comfortable anymore. She went to the doctor to see what the problem was, he told her she was overweight. And the tests that she took backed up the Doctors words. She really knew something had to be done when she went to the cardiologist because of heart complications and had had so much trouble keeping up with the stress test.
At this time, her weight peaked at 203 lbs. If you think about this, I am 6’0, and I weigh just under 200. Now you can imagine someone a foot shorter carrying around 203 lbs. She would cry, feel bad about herself, and get frustrated when she would see people wearing something she liked and knew she could not wear it because it would not fit right, or just not fit. Right then, she knew she had to do something to fix this. This was not about hurting feeling s anymore, not about comforting herself with the extra serving of ice cream. This was about taking this matter into her own hands and doing something that takes will power, inner strength, and plain out guts. She had decided she wanted to live life to her liking. Full of energy, feeling great about herself, and leading by example.
Now, she had stressed that this was not an easy process. This took discipline, a lot of saying no, and really looking at the long term goal. She cut calories, and really watched the portions she would serve herself. She said there is no “forbidden” food to her, but what does matter is the amount you eat. This is coming from a Hispanic female, who grew up on the Southside of San Antonio.
We had the pleasure of running The Athlete’s Foot Muddy Mayhem, which was her first obstacle based race. All of her races had been regular 5k’s & 10k’s and a half marathon in 2008 on the street with no obstacles in between. As with anyone new to this, she had no idea what to expect. She was nervous just like the rest of us, but when the gun went off, and everyone started to run like there was no tomorrow, she was keeping up with the pack. She did not miss a beat and gave it her all. She completed each obstacle with every ounce of energy she had and was not going to leave an ounce of adrenaline in her body.
As she approached the last obstacle (the muddy water pit), she had a smile from ear to ear. She knew that she has just completed something that not everyone can say they have done, and she did it with speed and endurance. And along with the smile on her face, her mother, who was also inspired by Melissa to make a lifestyle change, was in the crowd, watching proudly as her daughter crossed the finish line all muddy, sweaty, tired, and full of pride.
I have to admit, when I first met her, I thought she had been a long time runner. I saw her as someone who really took her appearance and health very seriously. The way she presented herself, and how she kept a great pace during the 10 mile run really had me guessing she had been doing this for a really long time.
The Southside of San Antonio has an obesity and overweight population of 86%. There are 2 roads you can take. The first road is living the same old, greasy, taco, not living for tomorrow, or you can follow in Melissa’s footsteps and begin a healthy, exercising, invigorating life for tomorrow. Melissa did not want to be another statistic. She lost 89 pounds and her mother has lost 30 pounds. She is now a very healthy 114 pounds and I have yet to see her without a smile on her face. Attitudes and emotions are contagious. I know I felt happier, livelier, and just overall better when talking to Melissa. Wouldn’t you feel better if you looked like her!
Age: Twenty something.....
Height: 4’11
Weight: 203
Age: Twenty something+1
Height: 4’11
Weight: 118
