What Motivates You?

As a young mother of two attending high school by day, taking evening classes, and working graveyard to help make ends meet. The last thing on my mind was living a healthy active lifestyle.

At the age of 18 I weighed over 220lbs, I had no energy or motivation to do anything to improve my health. One evening my dad asked me to join him for a walk at the Leo Aguilar Stadium. I wasn’t excited about the idea, but had no other plans so I decided to join him. We walked four laps around the stadium at a nice slow pace. The walk felt great, we began talking about our health and how we should become more active.

We decided we’d begin walking 3-4 times a week for 30 minutes. There was no pressure on speed or distance it was just a casual walk after dinner a couple times a week. After about a month we decided we really liked our evening walks and talks so much that we began walking 5 times a week. Some days we had so much energy we’d stay out for 45 minutes without even realizing it. On one of those particular evenings my dad asked me to finish our last lap jogging. He gently placed his hand behind my back and gave me a push. I felt loved, supported and encouraged by my dad. I admired his patience in helping me to regain my health again. As of that evening our evening walks became our evening jogs.

Around this same time my dad and I began to talk about our eating habits. We had no background in Nutrition but we understood the basics. We started making healthier choices, and drinking more water. That’s when I really began to see a change in the way I looked and in the way I felt. I was excited to see myself not only losing weight but becoming stronger. After 6 months of exercising and eating healthy I lost 60 pounds and had tons of energy for my workouts and my boys!

My dad motivated me to change and his patient and gentle approach is the way I have been inspired to teach. It really doesn’t matter if you’re walking, jogging, or running as long as your direction is forward. Be patient you’ll get there!

Attend one of the FREE exercise programs offered by the City of Los Fresnos at Los Fresnos Memorial Park.

For more information contact Christine De La Rosa, Los Fresnos Community Health Worker at 956-312-1406 or email at [email protected] or Los Fresnos City Hall at 956-233-5768.