I must share this inspiring story with you.
This is about a beautiful girl. A hard working mother. Someone I know personally. Her name is Crystal.
For years, like many of us, Crystal suffered with being overweight, not even realizing that “being overweight” was just a symptom of something even more disturbing. Her diet, activity level, and mental depression were taking a destructive toll on her life and future prospects. She shared with me over the years her sadness, guilt, and despair over her condition.
In 2012 Crystal reached a breaking point, shouting internally in desperation: “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where to start!”
Crystal and I began sharing mind-opening health-related articles and videos with each other over the course of the year. We learned that good fat is good for you. That the grains we’ve been eating are not the same grains our ancestors ate. That our food supply is laden with hormones, chemicals, and lies. We started changing the way we ate. Slowly.
By this time, we had both become convinced that a full-blown traditional, or Real Food, diet, even “going paleo,” would be a really good idea and in our best interests. My own journey had moved me to stop eating grains altogether. After suffering for years with horrible indigestion and acid reflux, these symptoms disappeared! Gone.
But that is a different story…
My loss of 40 pounds just by making a few relatively easy changes (the difficulty being mostly in the mind), had a huge impact on Crystal. Her aunts also had a great impact on her. They are runners, and would post their statistics and enthusiasm about their runs on familiar social channels.
Late 2012: Crystal decided to become a runner (Here was my thought: “?!?!?!”). At almost 300 pounds, everyone in her circle of family and friends was amazed that she would consider something like this, let alone undertake it seriously.
Yet she did.
She used a popular smartphone app “Couch To 5K” which takes you slowly from inactivity to actually participating in a 5K run! About every other day, Crystal would post her activity. She had absolutely no shame.
Let me stop here. When I say “no shame,” I mean, she would post the smallest activity. What may have seemed laughable on Facebook, with everyone else posting many miles, Crystal’s postings were about fractions of a mile. She posted photos of herself during the struggle. This was a HUGE inspiration to so many people, myself included.
Read the bottom of this post to see how you can congratulate Crystal on her journey & inspire others.
Crystal’s journey has involved a paleo diet, smoothies & juicing, walking, running, and lots of determination she did not know she had. The results are just amazing.
To date she has lost over 50 pounds, and it just keeps coming off! Watching the changes in her overall health, mental outlook, and activity level is remarkable.
March 2013: Crystal finished her 5K run at the San Diego River Walk earlier this month!!! AND she became engaged this month to her longtime boyfriend and supporter, Robert.
They’re getting married!
Are YOU inspired?
As a surprise (now known), Crystal’s sister entered one of her before and after photos in a $400 makeover contest on Facebook. She had a huge lead in the beginning. But, alas! She is now at least 20 votes behind. Can you help her?
TODAY & TOMORROW ARE THE LAST DAYS TO VOTE! – April 30th 2013
If her story inspires YOU, could you help spread the word so that she will win this makeover contest by the end of tomorrow? It should go to the most deserving, and I think it is Crystal – don’t you?!
It will take less than one-minute & TWO THINGS ARE NECESSARY TO MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT:
- Like the House of Imago FaceBook Page (You can “unlike” it later if you want!) – I am NOT connected to this company at all…
- Scroll to the CONTEST & LIKE Crystal’s photo – you will notice that since the original photo was posted in the contest, she has lost 20 more pounds!
- and lastly, why not share this post with your friends – who couldn’t use an inspirational boost? Use the sharing buttons below! Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest – they’re all there…
—–> One thing I forgot to mention: I am so proud of Crystal. She is such an inspiration to me personally.
She is also my precious daughter!!! XXXOOO
Peace, Love, and Veggies!
Anya
5/1 UPDATE – She won the contest!
Plus the business is giving a bonus! Thank you whoever voted – we pulled it off: Here is the House of Imago’s statement -
The votes are in! Before we announce the winner, we want to say that both of these woman are amazing and loved by many! We were moved beyond words by both parties and decided to give a prize to our runner up!
So without further ado… Our runner up is NATALIE! Winning a $100 gift certificate!
The big win goes to CRYSTAL who’s family and friends made it crystal clear who they wanted to win. AND!!! Because of their efforts owner, Shayna Roberts, would like to reward Crystal’s mom and sister who made her win possible by styling their hair as well as Crystals on her wedding day (an additional value of $260)
Thank you to all who voted!
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