Born2lbfat

My life with Lipedema & Lymphedema...destined to be fat.

Winner! Living Bold With Lipedema

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“A picture is worth a thousand words, this picture turned out to be worth $500…

“I’s not whether you win or lose but how you play the game…

I never imagined a day at the pool with an underwater camera would lead to my story of living with Lipedema being featured on HealthCentral, nor that the contest would be an experience in itself. There are several stories to be told, the story of being fat shamed while at the gym when the picture was taken, the story of why I entered the picture for the HealthCentral #LiveBold contest, and the story of the connection I made with fellow contestant and second place winner Gabe Howard.

I became aware of the contest through the Obesity Action Coalition, I have been a member since 2012 and am known for being a strong advocate against weight stigma and bias. Upon seeing the contest guidelines, to share a picture of how you live bold with a chronic condition, I immediately thought of this picture. While I initially thought the picture made my butt look big, I quickly realized the powerful message captured in the moment. I crafted my words to fit the image and submitted it for the contest. I did not set out to win the contest, my only intent was to share my story. However, as voting continued I saw I had the potential to win and ramped up my social medial campaign to solicit votes.

One day I decided to check out the #LiveBold hashtag on Twitter to see which other contestants were promoting their stories. I came across Gabe’s posts, I had read his story and really connected. I began to follow him on Twitter and sent him a Tweet. I liked his story so much, that I started requesting that my friends and family vote for both of us. It turned out Gabe lived only two hours from me. Small world indeed, his father is actually from my hometown. Win or lose, I had made a new friend.

So then the announcement came and I won! My story was going to be featured on HealthCentral.com. This was huge, not only for me, but for the Lipedema and Lymphedema communities. The prize was well timed also, as I was preparing for my trip to Washington, DC to attend the National Lymphedema Network Conference and Lymphedema Lobby Days. I used the $500 Visa Gift card towards my hotel expenses.

Me with the HealthCentral Staff

Me with the HealthCentral Staff

So it turns out HealthCentral’s offices are located in Alexandria, VA and when they heard I would be in DC they invited me over to meet the staff, tour the offices, and lunch. I also filmed an interview with them to be included with my blog post, Living Boldly With Lymphedema and Lipedema

Lesson learned: Never underestimate the power of your story…or a picture of you in your swimsuit.

 

Just Keep Splashing – My FitBloggin’ Ignite Video

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I shared my journey to health in the pool during my FitBloggin’ 14 Ignite in Savannah, GA. This was my first FitBloggin’ conference but it will definitely not be my last. Forgive my rushing, the point of an Ignite is to give quick information within 5 minutes, I excel at talking fast, I fail at getting to the point of a story within 5 minutes. Overall, I shared my story, I raised some awareness about Lipedema and Lymphedema and I found an entire new community of support and friends.

 

Find Me at FitBloggin’14

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I took the plunge and submitted a spark for the Fitbloggin’14 Ignite Fitness keynote event. The community voted for my spark so I’ll be sharing my story at Fitbloggin’14 in Savannah, GA in June.

Ignite Fitness is THE FitBloggin’ keynote event. Five minutes, 20 slides, a whole lot of fun…yes, I am limited to 5 mins. Think I can do it?

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Finding Sarah – Just keep splashing: My journey to health in the pool

Weighing more than 500 lbs, I began my journey to health by walking laps in a pool. I progressed to water aerobics and learned that water fitness was actually one of the best exercises for my lipedema and lymphedema. While my physical abilities may be limited, fitting on gym equipment and mobility, in the pool I have freedom with my movements (foot at shoulder level) and the ability to adjust the intensity of my workouts. I have taken classes at many gyms, my favorite being with “Coach” as we called her, thick accent and “more faster” commands. My first day in her class, at a new gym she advised “do your best.” She obviously noticed this was not my first class, and in the midst of an exercise as I was daydreamingly making “rolling” moves with my arms she dropped down into a push up on the pool’s edge so she was in face and yelled. “Faster, faster, faster.” Whoa? What happened to “do your best?” She obviously noticed I was not doing my best, which was appreciated, and funny as heck. My journey to health has definitely been full of waves, and even a rip current, but I keep on splashing. I am healthy, and my lymphedema has amazing improvement.

 

 

Bathing Beauty

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I’m sitting here in my bathing suit.

Why?

Because I’m about to head to an aqua aerobics class. Yes, that’s right I’m wearing a bathing suit AND going out in public. It’s a nightmare scenario for many. Even the non-obese have this fear of bathing suits. I live in Miami, there are beautiful people everywhere…real and fake. I actually asked myself if I was “pretty enough” to move to Miami five years ago. Afterall not only couldn’t I fit into a bikini, my legs are too bit to fit into rollerblades. Crazy, am I? You know you think the same self-defeating thoughts. But really have you ever looked at others, it’s not the body, it’s the suit. Either you have a cute well fitting suit or you don’t. I’ve been on cruises, to busy waterparks and to the beach. I’ve seen many bodies, young and old, fat and skinny, male and female, in bathing suits. Skinny doesn’t equal cute, confidence equals cute….so find you a nice bathing suit and strut your stuff.

I love the water, my mom would take me to water baby classes at the YMCA and that is where I’m headed in about 15 minutes, to the YMCA. I’m going to test drive their advanced aqua aerobics class. Yeah, I’m skipping ahead to advanced. I LOVE me some water exercises and they love me back unlike other exercises. I joined a gym back in July, and yes I actually WENT and worked out. I would do about 30 mins of cardio, and 30-45 mins of weight training. It felt great to accomplish so much. Then my lymphedema got worse, it doesn’t like the strain, despite the fact I work compression garments. So I returned to my search for a decent aqua program. This one is about 20 mins away but hopefully worth the drive. Expect a full report. And look forward to my test drive of their belly dancing class on Saturday.

Frog legs and butt cracks.

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Note to self: Jump test.

The pretty blue Land’s End bathing suit fits, I swear it does. But my “baby got back” needs extra coverage when jumping is involved. I walked around in it just fine, but bring on the jumping in water and it’s weggie time. So next time I’ll be sure to wear a different bathing suit…I have more than one…I umm have more than five.

Next time.

Why yes, next time. This was the class I’ve been looking for, great workout, fun instructor, and did I mention great workout. Despite what the dumbass at Bally’s on 163rd Street in Miami said (which was that I could get a better workout than water aerobics, saying this in reply to my question does your club have water aerobics…the answer was no, but hey let’s diss her choice while we’re at it) water exercises are an excellent workout option for all. And according to the YMCA 45 minutes of walking in water is equivalent to 3 hours on land. It also puts less pressure on your joints. And hands down I can do more “things”, positions, stretches, crunches, in the water than I can do on land.

And as a bonus for me, unlike land excersises than can strain my lymphatic system, water exercises are beneficial for lymphedema patients. The depth of the water creates compression, and the motion of the water against my legs works like gentle massage.

No wonder I gotta go, gotta go, gotta go right now at the end of class.