McKinley Grapevine

I wanted to share this “Couch to 5K” success story with you.  Shannon Fleshman, a Renewal Specialist for McKinley started the program in January of 2012.  Read her story below 🙂

“I truly did start at a place where running 90 seconds was a challenge for me and today I regularly run 3 miles as an “easy” workout. It’s amazing what starting out slow and sticking with it can do. The Couch to 5K program eased me into it so I never felt like it was too hard. One day I was happy to complete 90 seconds of running and before I knew it I was completing 9 minutes and then 9 miles when I ran my first 15K. Now I am registered for the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington D.C. on October 27th, 2013!  It’s a great way for anyone to ease into running and not feel discouraged or overwhelmed.  🙂 So far I’ve lost 52lbs!  I still have 30lbs I’d like to lose and my goal is to do so before the marathon.   I’ve been working on it for probably a year and a half. I’ve found that taking it slowly has helped me to keep the weight off and avoid feeling deprived like on some more strict diets that I’ve been on in the past where I gave up and ended up gaining it all back plus more! Using Weight Watchers as my eating plan and running has been very manageable for me and even though the progress has been slow the numbers continue to go down. Some months when I have vacation, holidays or other celebrations just maintaining my weight is a success and I definitely attribute that to my running program.”

Shannon, great job and THANK YOU so much for sharing your story!!  I’m excited for all of you to start your own “Couch to 5K” journey!!  Please email me when you decide what race you are going to enter and if you know of other races I have not listed.  Enjoy the rest of your day!

I want to share a story with you about a woman who made a choice to make a plan instead of making excuses.  Her name is Tamara Thoma and she is a Commercial Tenant Services Coordinator for McKinley.  Change is never an easy thing to go through because it’s uncomfortable.  Tamara didn’t let the discomfort stop her, she just pushed through and CHANGED! I hope that after you read this incredible story you will be inspired to make the changes you’ve been wanting to make, but for whatever reason have chosen not to.  Here’s her story.

“I was probably a good 150 pounds overweight.  The killer was I went to a doctor’s appointment and they wanted to do an MRI.  They doubted I would fit in the machine and wanted to measure me around.  I wanted to die when they had to walk the tape around me twice.

My son was my initial inspiration.  I had days when he would ask when I was working out and if I ever said I wasn’t going to he would ask why not.  He’s 23 so I never had a good enough lie and ended up working out anyway.  The results ended up being my motivator.  You hold in one hand your results and in the other hand the tv show you’d rather watch.  Which one would you pick?  Eventually one of the Bob Harper DVDs had a moment in there when he says, “you have to work out daily.  This is no longer what you want but what you need.”

It’s a pathetic struggle every day. I almost want to cry. I hate activity.  My dad would ground me by sending me outside when I was growing up.  But now I do it by telling myself about how far I’ve come.  Any day I don’t work out (that’s beside the one day I have to rest) feels like a betrayal of all of the other days I worked out when I didn’t want to.  I imagine my fat-self back a year and a half ago, begging the fitter me to keep going.  She reminds me that I’m the only one that can do it.

I also think of the gift God gave me in my body.  Did you ever lend someone something and they abused it, I mean really crapped all over it?  Sometimes I wonder if that’s how God feels.

I started with weight watchers in Sept of 2011 and started working out Feb 29th of 2012.  Yes, that’s right it was leap year and I was admitted to the hospital with cardiac symptoms.  Lena Sparks, Kristy Coleman and Jessica Furlong bullied me into going to the hospital where after 3 days I was cleared by the doctor who told me to, “knock myself out.”  He said I had a wonderful, beautiful heart that could take it.  Since then I’ve worked out 5-6 days a week for about an hour.  I started out with Bob Harper’s Biggest Loser DVD’s, graduated to Bob’s High Intensity and then Insanity.  From that September I have lost 96 pounds and I fly through my sizes.  I would really like to lose another 50, but that may be too much so 30 would be nice.  Like Shaun T says, I will have to love the body that I will have and not the one I want. I have also busted down two pairs of work-out shoes with Insanity!  They take quite a beating.  With Insanity I have only lost 12 pounds over the two months, but my strength, balance, flexibility and endurance have gone off of the charts.  I can do things now that I couldn’t imagine doing two months ago.  I’m really excited to discover my progress as I go through the first month again.

I downloaded the workout schedule and stick to it.  I also found the nutritional guide and follow it pretty close.  I use the EAS Soy powder with water and drink it twice a day as my morning snack and after my workout.  I’m also going to drink the last of my diet coke at home and I have resolved to not buy any more.  It may be tough. I like my diet coke.  But I consider that I will use the same thought process; if it helps me lose weight and get leaner which would I rather have?

It’s not a pretty story and I’m ashamed that I let myself get so out of control.  It’s not a race and it’s not a marathon, it’s an “about face” and a march into my new future.”

Thank you Tamara for being strong enough to make the changes you made and brave enough to share your story with all of us:).  I am so proud of you!!