I think being overweight is hard on anybody, but
especially moms. I know because I had an extra 30 pounds of weight on me after
having my second daughter. I think some of the weight never left after having
my first daughter sixteen months before. Weight can creep up on you and before
you know it, your clothes aren’t fitting anymore and you’re buying larger
sizes.
I didn’t want to be part of America’s statistics
for obesity. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention they
say over the past twenty years there has been a dramatic increase in obesity
and that more than one-third of U.S. adults (35.7%) and approximately 17% (12.5
million) children and adolescents aged 2-19 are obese.
I knew I needed to do something about my weight,
so I joined Weight Watchers. I went every Saturday to meetings and weighed in for
about eight months until I lost the weight.
Seven years later, I am still down 30 pounds. I tell you this because I
have met so many people along the way, who all want the same thing-- to lose
weight and be healthy. After reaching my
goal, I wanted to help others learn how to lose weight, so I started leading
Weight Watchers meetings.
One person I want to tell you about is a
42-year-old woman named Michelle Burrell. She came to my meetings a little over
a year ago and since then has lost 85 pounds. Incredible! She is a single mother
of two. She has a 16-year-old son Shawn and an 8-year-old daughter, Elana.
Elana is about 80 pounds. I tease Burrell and say she lost her daughter. One
day, I even had Burrell put her daughter on her back and try to carry her
around. It was hard for her to do. For years, Burrell has been carrying that
extra weight.
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| Michelle Burrell before losing 85 pounds |
Before losing weight, Burrell says the list was
endless of what was hard for her to do because she was overweight. Now she eats
healthy and exercises almost every day. She found an exercise she loves to do.
She takes trampoline cardio classes at Airheads Trampoline Arena in Largo a few times a week and runs the other days.
This is a person who told me a year ago, she was winded after going up stars.
She couldn’t bend down before to polish her toenails. Burrell is continuing her
journey of losing weight. She says she’s half way there. I am so proud of her
and her accomplishments so far. Her life is changing. Just recently Burrell
completed a half marathon, which is just one of her many big accomplishments.
Her biggest she says is feeling comfortable enough to go to the beach with her
daughter and being physically able to build a sandcastle.
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| Michelle Burrell 85 pounds lighter by eating healthy and exercising |
What is so important is that Burrell is a role
model for her daughter. Her daughter is seeing her mom eat healthy and exercise.
Her daughter wants to do the same. Burrell says her daughter goes to trampoline
class and even runs with her. Elana is also grabbing for the fruit instead of
cookies.
When we are eating healthy and exercising our kids
will usually follow what we do. We need to set good examples and buy foods that
are healthy. I know I feel better when I eat healthy and exercise. I want to be a positive
influence on my kids.
I found a few programs locally that you may want
to check into that are free for kids. All Children’s Hospital has a program called
Fit4allkids to help children manage their weight and make
healthy good choices. They also offer free online cooking videos with recipes
called Cook eKitchen. All Children’s
teamed up with Kohl’s and has free cooking classes for kids called Kohl’s Cooks
for Kids. They run once a week for five weeks. The next class is April 10th
in Largo. I even noticed Walgreens rewards you for getting active with their
Walk with Walgreens program.
There are programs available to help you, but it’s
up to us to make healthy eating and exercise a part of our life and our
children’s lives.
