Some say weight is just a number, and while it’s true that some people who look overweight can be completely healthy, oftentimes there are ticking time bombs inside your body just waiting to go off.
When Chasity Davis was pregnant with her third daughter, she was incredibly overweight. Standing at under five feet tall and weighing 365 pounds, the mom was certainly obese. But she didn’t have high blood pressure, sky-high cholesterol, or diabetes. Nonetheless, she felt miserable. Then she had her daughter and things got bad – quickly.
While in the hospital following her delivery, Chasity began experiencing shortness of breath. She was moved away from her baby to the cardiac ward where she was put on a heart monitor. Soon after, doctors delivered some bad news: “My heart had stopped for about three seconds,”she said.
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Three seconds didn’t sound like long to the new mom, but Chasity really sobered up when doctors continued with their diagnosis. With a 50 percent clogged artery and fluid in her lungs, they warned her that if she didn’t make big changes – and right away – she wouldn’t be around much longer to see her kids grow up.
“Do you want to be around for your children?” Chasity remembers her doctor asking. “You’re not going to wake up one morning and that one day is soon.”
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That’s when it all changed, “I had to make a decision, and all the emotions associated with being overweight flooded over me.”
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After getting gastric sleeve surgery that removed 80 percent of her stomach, she slimmed down to under 300 pounds, but that wasn’t enough – she was still severely obese. So Chasity began a rigorous workout routine, eating healthy (“quinoa became my best friend”) and taking vitamins.
Though she was seeing results, Chasity quickly became burnt out, “I realized one day I am done with seven days a week, twice a day.”
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That’s when Chasity went looking for other exercise alternatives and quickly came across GirlTrek. The organization works to encourage women of color to walk.
It was a simple mission, but Chasity found more than weight loss when she devoted herself wholeheartedly to the group. “No matter what you’re dealing with, when you show up for that walk, everything is better.”
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Pretty soon, Chasity was waking up at five or six in the morning, meeting up with friends at GirlTrek, and covering at least five miles!
Since then, she’s also taken up cycling, Zumba, and hiking – walking the Appalachian Trail not once, but twice.
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It’s definitely been a tough road to get where she is – down more than 240 pounds since her journey began, but Chasity says it’s worth it: “A lot of times in life we don’t want to deal with what’s hard. But I chose to deal with it because it’s even harder on your children and your husband when you’ve left this earth before your time.”
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“Life is so much greater when you are healthier. I just feel great about myself.” It definitely shows!
Share to spread some motivation to get healthy today.
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