Here it is... All typed up... MY STORY!
Blair Christie: Choose To Overcome
I have been on a weight loss journey and a journey of learning to love myself for the 2.5 (going on three) years. I currently live in Charleston, SC and have lived here since I graduated from Erskine College in 2008. I relocated here as a excited and anxious young adult ready to begin my career as a special education teacher in the Dorchester district two school district. Between moving to a new city away from friends and family all alone as well as all the responsibilities of adulthood hitting me like a ton of bricks; my first year here was an emotional one. I had hit rock bottom. I was unhappy with myself and where I was in life. I had to do something; there was no other option. I was depressed. I hated who I was. I thought I would never be good enough to get married because I was fat. I thought I was worthless because I was overweight. I believed so many lies that were not true then no matter what I weighted but truly, what you think is your reality. Luckily I learned something, “Greatness begins in the mind of the great.”
The funny fat girl: that is how I always thought of myself from elementary school up until I reached my first year as an "adult" in the real world. I have always been overweight my whole life. I have struggled with depression, self-loathing & lack of self-worth mostly related to my weight. Coming from a family where overweight struggles are common, I started the dieting fad at an extremely early age. Even in elementary school, I would bring things like grapefruit and tuna for lunch while other kids at their lunchables. In middle school, I took diet pills and tried out for every sport possible which I never made the team. In high school, I played sports and I did other programs like weight watchers but was never able to really lose a significant amount or make a real life change. I never thought I was good enough in anything because of my weight. I did not matter how smart I was, how talented I was, what grades I made… I always felt like I fell short. I felt like all those things were shadowed by my weight. When I got to college, I made the "freshman fifteen" that is the typical expectation for weight gain in college a joke. I gained 80 to 90 pounds in college. When I graduated high school, I was a size 18 and when walked across the stage as an alumni of my alma mater a size 26 was underneath that black graduation gown. Happy would probably be a common term that I would assume my college peers and friends would use to describe me but deep inside I was so unhappy and was fighting a really difficult battle in my mind and in my heart.
I tried all types of diets, implemented exercise from time to time and felt like I knew what I was supposed to do to be healthy but actually applying that knowledge was such a challenge. When I moved to Charleston to pursue my life as an "adult on my own," I was fortunate enough to meet an incredible woman, who is now my best friend and mentor in various areas of my life, who had previously completed the Healthy Charleston Challenge at MUSC and had great success in it. (Mentorship from someone who has fruit on the tree in any area that you want to grow in is vital!) This lady was very dear to me and she knew that I was on my last limb. I felt hopeless and I felt like I was drowning in self-hatred. I had to do something or else I was going to let hopelessness in this area over take every other area in my life that was good. It was time to do something about it. I trusted her with all my heart and I knew at this point in my life I really did not have another option. I signed up for the HCC with money I really didn't "have" but I knew that it would be worth the investment in myself, my health and my future. There was a winner, over comer and fighter spirit inside of me waiting to get out; enough that I figured out how to make the money happen and took a leap of faith!
The Healthy Charleston Challenge truly opened up a new doorway to becoming who I was created to be. It educated me in such a way nutritionally, gave me intense exposure to training and exercise and gave me team accountability that have lead to success and incredible friendships to this day. The HCC empowered me to realize that there was more inside of me and to truly make a life style change. When I began the HCC, I could not climb a flight a stairs with out being winded. Heck, lets get real, I could not even bend over and tie my shoe much less run a mile. I could tell starting in this program that this time it was different than all the other attempts I had made to lose weight and workout. I had really made a true decision and I was willing to do whatever it took to achieve myt goals. During the challenge program, I lost between 50-60 pounds (I cannot remember the exact amount…it seems like so long ago) and won the competition as the woman who lost the most weight as well as on the winning team. Katie St Clair of Total Approach Fitness in Charleston, SC who trains out of MUSC Wellness Center was my trainer. I owe so much to her for what she did, has done and continues to do. She is a beyond incredible woman. She is excellent in her field and her clients have amazing success to prove it. She pushes and sets high expectations and empowers you to learn how to do so for yourself. She is well educated in personal training methods and in nutrition and has a heart and giving spirit that is still serving me to this day. There really is nothing that I can do to repay her and no words that can express my appreciation and thanks to her. I want to continue thanking her by paying it forward and carrying on the legacy of serving people as she has done for me.
After the Healthy Charleston Challenge, I continued an even harder journey which was carrying out weight loss, exercise and proper nutrition all by myself without the support of a team or a program. It was difficult but it was not an option for me. I have an incredible trainer at MUSC who has radically changed my life. I hit a plateau half way through the major chunk of my weight loss. At that point, like anyone else who stops losing, I began to get frustrated but I was determined not to give up. I had become a winner and an overcomer. I had made the decision to reach my goal. Once you make the decision the solutions are there if you seek for them! Through my Nutrilite business, we had a partnership with Inherent Health Genetic Testing and I had heard about their genetic test. I decided to give it a shot! My health and well being was worth it. It was for this genetic test and my success with weight loss that I was featured in the national magazine FIRST for Women in March 2012. It took a lot of the guess work out of figuring out my nutrition and helped me tweak things in how I exercised and ate.
A quote that I have read and has stuck with me throughout this journey is “if you would believe as much as you doubt your whole world would change”. That quote not only applies to our belief in ourselves and in the greatness that is inside of us but for me, as one who has a passionate relationship with God, it’s true for His word. His word is not just words but it is HIS WORD; meaning its true, unwavering and applies to me as I am his beloved daughter. I decided to take God’s promise of me being able to do ALL things to another level on the day that I clicked the “register” button for the 2012 Myrtle Beach Marathon. When I was at my heaviest in college weighing 295, I joked about one day running a marathon. In reality, I would be great at a movie marathon, eating contest or anything of that sort but a marathon of running that was a joke. Jan Walker, a very incredible friend of mine who is an avid runner and someone who I dearly look up to as a woman of God and a woman of strength, was a professor at Erskine during my time there. She reminded me not to long ago of a memory that has stuck in her mind as she has been watching my journey. She shared with me that one day she was leading a Couch Potato to 5K program at Erskine and as we were at dinner in the cafeteria, a friend said “Blair, you should do this with me!” She recalled me looking at my friend, laughing hysterically with doubt and disbelief in myself as I said “I would never be able to run a 5k” then I got up and went and got more food. Deep inside, I really wanted it with every ounce of my being but it just was not possible; not just the 5k but the marathon. I wanted it so bad it hurt. I longed to be so much more than I was… and deep down I think I felt it was there. I could not even tie my shoes without being severely winded so a marathon was completely out of the question. Jan, is a fighter and winner herself, and if I have learned one thing its that people who have fought and overcome obstacles are great at seeing greatness inside of others. Jan Walker saw so much greatness inside of me then and is still encouraging and fighting for me and with me to this day!
Though I did not participate in the Couch Potato to 5K program and ate an ice cream cone instead, little did I know that victory as well as larger ones were in store for me just a few short years later. Through small goals, small victories along the way, this slowly became an attainable goal and reality for me. I am a special education teacher and have been teaching for four years. I have taught in a severe and profound special needs classroom for a few years and in this type of classroom, unfortunately, death happens a lot. I had a sweet little girl in my classroom who passed away unexpectedly from seizures. She was wheel-chair bound, she fought through seizures, surgeries, meds and still smiled. She was limited yet was life changing. She was an inspiration. She exemplified what it meant to be a fighter and an over comer. She struggled with a lot of health issues and passed away. The day that she past away, I was so frustrated and angry. I had so many emotions I just did not know what to do with, I just needed to go run to get out my anger, frustrations and just clear my mind. This was during the HCC program and I had probably lost about 35-40 pounds at this point and had not run more than a mile. I decided I was going to go to the Cooper River Bridge in Charleston and I was going to run the whole thing down and back without stopping which is approximately 5 miles. I was going to do this because my student couldn’t and God gave me an amazing body that works and I was capable of more than I had been giving myself credit for. I ran the whole thing with tears flowing down my cheeks and transformed at the victory of finishing. Even to this day, as a type, this I get angry at myself and even a little at humans in general; we are capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for and we settle for so much less. That little girl to this day is ministering to my heart and my journey as a runner. I have been running longer distances ever since. I decided to register for a marathon since it was a reality. I ran the marathon in memory of her as well as a good friend of mine who died in Afghanistan fighting for my freedom. I raised money for families who have a spouse fighting for our freedom and sent them packages as a thank you for their service. I am proud to say that I I finished my marathon in February and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. My incredible room mate made me a shirt that read “Choose to Overcome: From 282 Lbs to 26.2 Miles that I wore the entire race. Choose to overcome has become my mantra not just in health and fitness but in every area of my life. We truly do have a choice.
Compared to other times in my life, my fad dieting and working out was temporary. I never wanted to, cared, or planned on it being a lifestyle change. I wanted the results with out putting in the work. I am thankful I learned that anything worth having is worth fighting for even through blood, sweat and tears. I am so thankful that I am changed to the core and I have been transformed not just physically but mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Each day, I am gaining confidence not just in who I am but in whose I am! Every day as I choose to make decisions based on what I need and what I want most in life rather than how I feel in that moment, I am changed and moving forward but I was radically changed when I crossed that finish line in Myrtle Beach. I will never be the same!
My ambition level is through the roof and I am always looking for new challenges to add another chapter of victory to my story. Currently, I am raising money through selling various products and training to become a Tae Bo instructor. If all funds are provided, which I trust and believe that my God is faithful and His word says that “He meets all my needs accord to His riches in Christ Jesus,” I will be going to California in late July to train with Billy Blanks for 12 hour training days to become a certified Tae Bo instructor. I am really excited about the challenge that the certification will be in itself but also about the possibility of getting to lead and inspire others in a fun, healthy workout and hopefully help empower someone who was once like me learn to love who they are. We all have so much goodness inside of us. We all have so much more to give! We all have gifts and talents to share and give and heart that empowers that giving. Since I have been training for certification camp in July, the Lord has provided yet another incredible person in my life. James Pushia is my Tae Bo instructor in Charleston. He has served me and given to me hours on end this past month trying to get me “Billy Ready.” He has pushed me and given his wisdom and heart with no expectation of receiving anything in return except that I continue my mission, my journey and give my heart away by helping others. I am eternally grateful and thankful even when it hurts like the dickens to take another punch, do another push up or perfect another side kick.
In the beginning of this, I said “Greatness begins in the mind of the great.” There could not be a truer statement. I really wish people truly understood how much their attitude, their thoughts and their words mattered. If you believe you can do something then you can. As I write this, I am amazed at the Lord and the strength that He has given me. He has provided for me in beyond amazing and unexplainable ways. Through giving me incredible programs, providing trainers who have worked with me for free, amazing support systems of friends who have encouraged me and financial blessings. I cannot say thank you enough to all of those people he has placed in my life. I cannot thank him enough for my family and friends who have believed in me and supported me. The Lord placed an incredible woman in my life, through my Amway business of all things, who really was the start of all of these transformations. The Lord worked through an incredible woman of God named Julie Puchetti. Her love, mentorship and friendship changed my life. Before I began this journey, she loved on me like no one else has loved on me. She encouraged me every time she opened her mouth. She had me read books on success principals which are universal in anything that you’re trying to accomplish. She saw greatness inside of me and told me every time she had a chance. She was a true mentor to me meaning that sometimes she told me things that were painful to hear; things that I did not want to hear. Friends love you just the way you are; Mentors love you too much to leave you the way you are. She always empowered me to believe in myself and see possibilities and opportunity in every situation. She taught me change my words and thoughts into life giving powerful positive things rather than believing and living in negativity and lies. She walked out mental toughness and Godly strength in front of me and demonstrated what it is to let the Lord be your strength. She is truly the start of this transformation that I have made not just physically but emotionally, mentally and spiritually. I praise the Lord for her and give God all the glory for every victory in my life. He truly is faithful!
I have so many huge dreams and goals for myself, for my health and for my future in every area of my life. My journey, my mission, is not over. It started with a weight loss goal of losing 150 pounds as to this date I have lost 124 pounds but I have changed. It’s no longer about reaching a goal weight and trying to make men want to marry me. You may laugh but seriously I believed that no one wanted to marry me because I was overweight and I literally thought that once I lost the weight that someone would come running to scoop me up to be his bride. I am still not married but every single day falling more and more in love with myself and my God. Its not about the weight loss but empowering others to overcome and love themselves. It’s about giving away and serving the way that I have been given to. I am slowly but surely learning that my worth is not in my weight, my marital status or any other worldly factor. It is a battle and a struggle and some days, honestly, despite all my success, I get knocked down hard. Sometime I fail. Sometimes I made bad choices but every time, with out fail, I get back up. I am slowly but surely learning to love me to the core and not be held captive to the self-imposed prison of other’s opinions of me. God has given me a great vision and passion for things for me to do and a heart for serving and helping others. For my future, I am working to build my Nutrilite Health business to the point where it can meet my financial needs so that I may start a training/nutrition business or facility so that I can serve and train people for free or extremely minimal cost. I want to be able to have the platform, credibility and abundant financial blessings so that I can serve and help where my heart feels is where it should go and help. Two other things I would like to pursue in the future, Lord willing, is writing a book about my journey, the good and the bad, and the victory in choosing to overcome as well as writing a children’s book that depicts my story, struggle and victory in weight loss from a young age. I am forever grateful and incredibly excited about where I am going and what is to come! I truly love to share my story and love to hear other peoples stories. Most importantly, I especially love to help encourage others in overcoming. Feel free to email me if you’d like at
KatBlairChristie@gmail. I’d love to hear from you and thank you so much for reading this and supporting my journey!
