Fitness Magazine

Fitness Magazine is looking for stories about people who qualify as both overweight and/or obese and also identify as a "Fitness Buff"  When I saw the call for stories, I thought to myself, Self, you need to tell YOUR story.  Then I read the 24 or so comments.  

Some of the comments were very positive and people identified themselves as both a fitness buff and overweight.  What?  They thought they were just like me!  I was so happy reading those posts.  

Then I saw several responses that accused "Overweight and Fitness Buffs" of 'stuffing their face' or challenging that you can't be both overweight and healthy.  I immediately felt embarrassed that I even thought I might be a fitness buff.... then I got angry.  

I as a person am important.  I may not be 100% but I am a work in progress. So I wrote my entry and sent it off!

Here is what a wrote:

My name is Jen Cherry and am both a Fitness Buff and overweight.  I qualify as overweight really easily.  I am 5 ft 8, 178 pounds.  I have a BMI of 27.1, solidly in the overweight category   My body fat percentage is 29.9% (nearly obese) and I have 54 pounds of fat on my body.  I wear a size 10-12 in the United States, but here in Germany where I am stationed with my Active Duty Military husband, I often cannot fit in to clothing that is sold in regular stores.  I find myself needing to go to the the "grossedammen" shops, or the large woman's store.  This can, at times, be disheartening.

Qualifying as a Fitness Buff is pretty easy too!  I am a certified personal trainer and small group instructor.  I teach a 2 popular programs on our military base: A Serious Weight Loss Clinic for women with more than 30 pounds to lose and a high intensity Boot Camp.  I'm also the aerobics manager at our facility, teach indoor cycling, and am occasionally invited to  appear as a guest on our local radio station during "Fitness Power Hour."  I work out regularly 3-5 times per week and am lifting at this time trying to increase my muscle mass.  I have personal fitness goals to do an unassisted pull up and bench press my body weight!  I eat healthy and use MyFitnessPal to count calories and model healthy choices for my clients who can all view my log.

I have been called, "The Fat Trainer."  I have at times felt humiliated and ashamed that I do not look "the part."  I have cried, doubted myself and my vision.  I almost quit more than once.

I have overcome illness and injury, separation from my family, friends, lost careers, and all the stress that comes with Military life.  I am independent, have created a strong positive community and developed programs for my clients that not only work; they are healthy programs that have long term lifestyle changing success.  I'm proud of my life and my body on a daily basis.  Though I still struggle with insecurity.  I didn't always look the way I do now.  I have been varying degrees of overweight my entire adult life.

I have had many struggles with my body and my feelings towards my body.  After college I began my career as a Mental Health Counselor, a desk job and started gaining weight.  When I turned 30 my struggles became harder and harder.  I was lucky to adopt a dog.  He made it necessary for me to take a walk every day, before I knew it, we were jogging together.  He was an older dog though, and he couldn't run in the summer heat in Arizona.  So I joined a Boot Camp Class.  Suddenly working out was fun.  I had a smile on my face every day at an ungodly hour of the morning and it stayed there all day.  I had energy and motivation.  I will always be grateful for Boot Camp, the instructor, and the women who cheered for and challenged me.  Boot camp changed my life.  Up to that point I had joined and quit dozens of gyms, rented and bought hundreds of DVD programs, and used just about every quick fix miracle diet cure sold.

After 3 years of Boot Camp workouts I had lost over 40 pounds.  I had tried spinning, I had jogged with friends, and I had started to play tennis and hike on the weekends.  I was happy, confident, and proud of my body for the first time.  I decided to take a giant leap with the support of all my friends. I earned my Personal Trainer Certification!  Life threw me a curve ball, as sometimes happens, and I ended up moving to Germany with my husband.  Now I've started Cherry Wellness, a place I can bring both my training as a mental health counselor and personal trainer together to help people.  I want to help people take the big steps both physically and emotionally to live a strong healthy long life and enjoy it!

I hope Fitness Magazine get's thousands of entries from women like me.  I hope this can be a start to understanding that health and thin do not go hand in hand.  I hope other people are inspired, challenged, and uplifted by this project even if they do not choose my story.