Inspiring Stories: "Cancer Couldn't Stop Me"

A longtime runner, this reader didn't let cancer didn't stand in the way of raising funds and awareness for charity.

A Scary Moment
August 11, 2013, was the scariest day of Carrie Amos' life. Seemingly healthy, with five half-marathons under her belt, the 44-year-old collapsed while brushing her daughter's hair. She found out a couple days and several tests later that she had a cancerous three-centimeter tumor on her kidney. The mother of three kids, ages 9, 7, and 5, Carrie was terrified. "My first thought was, Am I going to die? The next was, What about my family?" she recalls.

Road to Recovery
In December, Carrie had surgery to remove one-third of the affected kidney. "I can't begin to describe the pain I felt afterward," she says. Even so, Carrie was back on her feet just two days after the operation, walking loops around the hospital with her doctor's approval. She gradually increased the distance and, a month later, started jogging on the treadmill. Being active helped her feel stronger, physically and mentally, so she decided to sign up for a race. "I thought a goal would keep me motivated, even when my body ached," Carrie says. She set her sights on the More/FITNESS Half-Marathon ; she had run it twice in the past and loved the encouraging atmosphere of the women-only event. "Cancer made me realize how much I take for granted, and I didn't want to waste another day postponing my goals," she says.

The Big Day
After 26 of Carrie's friends signed up to do the 13.1-mile run, she heard about Glam-Runner.com, a company that makes tutus for runners to wear on race day. When Carrie contacted the founders, Monika Allen and Tara Baize, to ask about tutus in orange (the color of kidney cancer awareness) for her team, they offered to donate $7 from each skirt purchased to Carrie's hospital, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

The morning of the event, the sea of orange tutus streaming into Central Park brought tears to Carrie's eyes. "It was overwhelming to see all of these women come together for me," she says. Although it wasn't her fastest race, it was her fiercest. "I wasn't running to beat the clock but to show myself that I can overcome anything," Carrie explains.

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Inspiring Stories: Natalie Jill - The Hottest Fitness Trainer and Her Story

Who Is Natalie?

Natalie Jill is a licensed master sports nutritionist, functional fitness trainer, popular online personality and most recently became a USA Today bestselling author. She has helped millions of people worldwide get in shape with her health programs and in the process created an online business that has generated over seven figures in revenue.

Natalie Jill has an autoimmune disease called celiac. She has been through hardships and has courageously dealt with adversity and has overcome and accomplished all her goals through self-accountability.

Her motto is “Excuses or Solutions YOU decide” - this is how she has lived her life and empowered others to.

Several years ago, she lost her house, her retirement, her marriage ended and she gained a lot of weight. She turned it all around, got her life back and became an inspiration to others. Watch Natalie’s story below…

Watch my blog for some of the Best Weight Loss Workouts from Natalie Jill over the next week.

3 Reasons it is Vital for Women to Stay a Healthy Weight

The worst thing you can do for your self-esteem and confidence is to convince yourself that you are just fine to gain a few pounds. While a couple of extra pounds on an already healthy frame will not really make a difference, those few pounds can be the starting point for a downhill slope that you want to run away from and ruin your healthy weight.

To help you understand just why that is, you might want to take a few moments to reflect on the following reasons as to why it is so important to always make sure that you are getting to and staying at a healthy weight.

1. You Will Live Longer

You already know that you have a lot to live for. However, if you start to allow yourself to no longer care about your body, you will find that it is going to be a lot harder to stick around for a long time.

You want to be around for your friends, your family, your pets, your work, and for all of the future adventures that are in store for you.

2. You Will Be an Inspiration

Do you have any young girls in your family? Whether it is your own daughter, your younger cousin, or a niece, you want to be an inspiration to her. Even if you are in a slump and feel as though you could really care less about your own health at the moment – it is likely that you care a lot for the health of your young relative or friend.

By staying a healthy weight, you will be showing her:

• Goals can be achieved
• That you have to love yourself
• That you have to care for your body in order to be healthy
• That is it fun to be at a healthy weight

3. You Will Feel More Attractive

This is not to say that a woman who carries a little more weight on her is not able to feel or be attractive. However, many women find that their self-esteem is automatically affected in some way or another when they start packing on the pounds. If you want to prevent that, you will want to remain a healthy weight for as long as possible. You will look better and you will feel much more comfortable in the clothes that you like to wear.

With all of those reasons in mind, it should be easy to see why you are going to want to do your best in order to make sure that you are always staying a healthy weight.

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Why Wait Until Monday?

Like many of us I've been in the position on a Tuesday or a Wednesday where I miss a workout or eat a piece of cake I wasn't planning on. As the surge of guilt runs through me, I quickly brush it aside with "It's okay, I'll start again on Monday." I'm as guilty of this as everyone else, and am glad to see I’m not alone – it’s quite amusing to hear many of my friends use the same excuse, as they casually stuff an Oreo in their mouth. In fact, when you’re trying to eat healthy (or follow a diet), I think it’s written somewhere that the #1 excuse or justification is always the “I’ll wait until Monday” approach.

My question is, why? Why do we put off our lives for "Mondays"

or "Next Week" for that matter?  

So you ate a piece of cake and are feeling guilty; instead of then excusing the rest of the week as a “lost cause”, instead focus on your next opportunity to make the right decision. Just do better your next meal. Logically if on Wednesday you make a bad food choice or don't exercise wouldn't it make more sense to pick up the next meal and do better and exercise the NEXT day and still have a solid week instead of putting off until Monday? Throwing away Wednesday-Sunday because a slip up on Tuesday or Wednesday isn't going to get you the results you want. Why waste away today for tomorrow? Moreover, many times, when we use the Monday excuse, we then make it “okay” to cheat, or slip into bad habits until that Monday rolls around. So not only are we holding ourselves back, we’re actually giving ourselves permission to make wrong choices for the rest of the week!

There’s a fact in this new lifestyle. We're all imperfect and there will be days that come up that are harder than most (either regarding food or workouts), but instead of sulking and reaching for the tub of Ben & Jerry's, give yourself credit for doing the best you can each day and try better the next meal instead of putting it off until "next Monday". You owe it to yourself to not put off the better you a single day longer than you have to!

To be honest when my husband asked if I was going to write this post I even said, "I'll get to it Monday". Let the irony wash over you on that one. Good thing my husband gave me that extra nudge I needed. Do the best you can each and every day. Tell your friends, your family, your co-workers. Find the extra support you need to keep you accountable EACH day and if they ever hear you say the words, "I'll start again on Monday", give them permission to slap you. Okay, maybe just remind you. Unless you’re Drew. I will always retain that right!

By Lynn Manning