The year 2009 was a revelation for me. It’s when I took a step back and looked at my life. Even though my life changed for the better by becoming the market leader for Solantic Walk-In Urgent Care in 2008, something was still missing. It was in January of 2009 when I realized if I didn’t do something about my weight, I was going to end up with multiple health problems, just as every woman on my mother’s side of my family has. All I can remember is my mother telling me, “Please, don’t end up like me.” I knew that the reality of what my mother kept saying was coming true, and it was time to make a change.

One night as I watched “The Biggest Loser,” I kept hearing Bob Harper, the personal trainer on the show, say  to count your calories and workout, even if it was for 30 minutes a day. “Do something,” he said.  So I did.

I started working out on the elliptical 40 minutes a night. I chose the elliptical because I had reached my heaviest weight ever, 205 pounds, and because my knees hurt so badly, I couldn’t do what I used to love: running.

The funny, or painful, part about counting calories is realizing how many calories you should take in each day to reach your target weight. I planned for my calorie intake to be 1,200 calories a day, but if I burned 500 calories working out every day, I could have 1,700 calories, which made my goal much more bearable.

I lost 55 pounds in five months by counting calories, exercising on the elliptical for 40 minutes a day and riding a bike six miles a day.

May of 2009 was the best month ever, because I had lost enough weight for my knees to feel free again. I started running, and little by little, I worked my way up to running four miles a day. It was then I told Jennifer Thompson about my weight loss and how excited I was to be able to run again, and she told me about Team Burnham and the Walt Disney World Marathon. I continued to stay on my regimen, working out five to six days a week and counting calories, but for a new reason: I was working my way up to seeing if I could even fathom running 26.2 miles by January. What was I thinking? I had just started losing all this weight, and now I was tasking myself with running a marathon that wasn’t even six months away.

With the help of family and friends, especially from my husband (who thought I was crazy for waking up and running at 5 a.m. three to four times a week), my mom, my sisters, and of course, Team Burnham, I completed my very first marathon on January 10, 2010. Not only was I able to lose 70 pounds in one year, I was also able to run 26.2 miles.

If you want something bad enough, you have to go after it. If you don’t have illness in your family, don’t think you’re exempt from diseases like obesity, heart disease or diabetes. I know that without perseverance, sure will, and a little competitive spirit, I would still be 205 pounds, sitting on the couch watching “The Biggest Loser” and wondering why I couldn’t take my life back.

Article by Bea Kochheiser