Born and raised in Bakersfield, California, I was the second born and the only girl of five kids. For as long as I can remember and despite how active I was, I have always struggled with my weight. Along with the weight problem, I also struggled with self-confidence.

Growing up in a household of mostly men, I was a complete tomboy. It wasn’t until high school when my appearance would really start to bother me. It was here when my self esteem was its lowest. I felt ugly, fat, and unworthy. I remember going to school every day dressed pretty much the same way as the day before: long hair always pulled back into a ponytail, no make-up, bad acne, school t-shirts, and jeans. Because I felt this way, I would surround myself around people who carried themselves well to fill the void I was feeling both physically and emotionally. These were people I perceived to be attractive and who had the lifestyle I thought I wanted.

It wasn’t until the beginning of my college education that I would start to gain some self confidence. The summer of 2008, shortly after graduating high school and enrolling into college my aunt, Diane, offered me to live with her and her family.

Living with her and maturing into a young adult, my confidence and self esteem started to rise. She is a very confident person who is always following the latest trends and actually takes the time and effort into looking her best.

Living with her, she slowly eased into teaching me how to do my hair, make-up, and even how to dress in a more flattering way. This would take my self esteem to the highest it would be in years.

After about two years of slowly gaining self esteem and confidence, I knew that I was still lacking happiness. Around this time, I was starting to become unmotivated with life, my education, and I was missing a good sense of direction. I was unhappy with where I was and didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life anymore. I needed guidance in many aspects of my life.

As December, 2010 was coming to an end, I remember sitting at a New Year’s party talking to my cousin, Mona. We were talking about New Year’s Resolutions when she turned to me and asked what my resolution was. I looked at her and said, “I just want to live a happier and healthier lifestyle. “ For me, this resolution meant a variety of different things: from simply being a better daughter, to going to church more often, to drinking more water, to eating more fruit, anything that would make me a better person at the end of the day, not only for others, but for myself.

As part of that resolution, the two changes that would make me the most successful were, one, to go to church more often and, two, to get a gym membership. I knew that in order to fill the voids I carried with me, I needed something greater than I go guide me through the journey I was about to take on. I needed to learn to have faith and hope. To me, faith is having the ability to believe in things that I can’t always see. I needed faith to believe that there is a God because without faith, how could he exist? Without hope, there is nothing; no reason to put forth the effort needed to truly succeed. Not only did I need to learn to have faith in HIM, but I needed faith to believe that the small changes I was making to better myself today, would benefit me tomorrow. For this reason, I started attending a local church, Valley Bible Fellowship, on a regular basis for guidance.

Also as part of that resolution, I decided that getting a gym membership would be a healthy decision. I went into this not expecting any results. I didn’t want to set a weight loss goal, because I didn’t want to lose weight, hit that goal, and then stop once that goal was hit, just to gain everything back. If I was going to lose weight, I wanted it to be off my body because of the better habits I created for myself and because I maintained a healthier lifestyle. I wanted to be happier forever, not just for a few months.

Getting this gym membership, I met a girl that would change my life forever. Sam was a personal trainer that I met for my fitness consultation. After confirming that my weight was 250 pounds and that 45% of my body was pure fat, I knew I was going to need her to help to get me through this barrier.

After a year of hard work, discipline, failure, sacrifice, and determination, I lost over 80 pounds I had built a support system that was so strong that I couldn’t fail, even if I wanted to. Although my time with Sam was limited to two times per month, just seeing her at the gym kept me motivated. She was one that would never disappoint me and someone I always felt comfortable asking any questions I may have had. On top of her endless support, I used social media to my advantage. Every few months, I would post a comparison picture of my results so that all my family and friends could see the results I was attaining.

Despite all the positive support I had, I encountered plenty of skeptics who would try to shoot me down. Although the negative attention I received bothered me, I used that energy in the gym. I ran faster and longer, lifted heavier, and ate better. I had my eye on the prize and I was determined to get to my goals.

All while working on my lifestyle habits as far as fitness and nutrition; I was attending school studying fitness and nutrition in a personal training course.

By the end of 2011, through hard work, dedication, trial and error, and discipline, I lost my initial 80 pounds and finished the personal training course. By the time February, 2012 came around, it was time for me to become a certified trainer and find a job.

I enrolled to take my test and passed on the first attempt. 80 pounds down, I was definitely not the fit trainer ever seen, but with an old picture and certification in hand, I applied and interviewed for a personal training position. I was hired on the spot.

Since then, I have held my position as a personal trainer inspiring many to make positive changes in their lives. I am not only fit and healthier, but I can honestly say I am much happier.

By simply making the decision to better myself, I have found happiness, passion, faith, and a career that I love.

Of course there were times of doubt and mountains I thought I would never be able to overcome, but looking back now, all those barriers that I overcame made me that much stronger. Even if I felt like I was in the dirt crawling, I was still moving forward.

Now, at about 100 pounds lost, I am using my story to inspire hope. Although 2011 was the foundation of everything wonderful in my life today, it was probably the most stressful and most unpromising year I experienced in a long time. I didn’t know what I was doing, I didn’t know what to expect, and I wasn’t even sure if the personal training school would work out in my favor. Even filled with these doubts, I put my faith in God’s hands and hoped that I was headed in the right direction.

Looking back now, I know now that my New Year’s Resolution was the best decision I have ever made. Taking time to work on myself was one of the hardest things I had to learn to do. I’ve learned that no one will take care of me the way that I need to be taken care of. Everyone has their pain, their story, but it’s your choice to sit and mope about it, or stand up and change what you don’t like. Along the way, I realized how much I love and respect my family and friends. Recently, I have learned that I had people praying for my success. I had friends who would take time out of their schedule to run with me at my pace all to keep me motivated.

I have never taken these people in my life for granted but for what they have done for me so selflessly during one of my hardest times of my life, takes the level of respect I had for them to entire new level. Without them, I wouldn’t be anywhere near the place I am today.

I am excited to see what future plan God has lined up for me because I know it is something great. America is suffering from an obesity epidemic and I want to be part of the change, not the statistic.

We all have obstacles in our life; but it’s our job to create the destiny of those obstacles; because pain will always be inevitable, but suffering will always be optional. Put all your fears, worries, and struggles in His hands because he is all you need in order to succeed in anything in life.