The Story Behind Chango Fitness

Everyone has their own story, here's mine...

As far back as I can remember I've always been overweight. Entering my 30's, life's everyday stresses were coped with the indulgence of yummy food and even tastier beverages. The heavier I got the harder it was to cope and more the indulgence. In 2009 I found myself NOT being able to do as many things I truly found joy in. I found myself at 319 lbs and ready for a change. No matter how much those that love me would tell me that I needed to make a change, no one else could make the decision for me but me. I made the decision to put my bootie where my heart wanted to be and got moving. It started with little changes like what I ate and taking brisk walks. Over the next 3 years, I was excited to see the momentum build... from walking to running.  And over those 3 years I was wearing "blank" shirts I found through one of my suppliers since it was hard to find workout/running shirts my size.

    2012 was a monumental year. I was down to 265 lbs, I ran my first 5k and 10k, I joined the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training and was training for my first half marathon. By the beginning of 2013 I had my first two half marathons under my belt. I often cracked the joke that "I may be a ch#nky m#nkey, but I am a ch#nky m#nkey gone wild”  What’s with the "#” instead of a "u" and "o" in those words? Well I'll get to that!

    I was really excited about my progress and to keep myself motivated I came up with some t-shirt designs and created a few shirts to wear during my workouts. My tagline on the shirts was "Ch#nky M#nkey Gone Wild" and people started asking about them. And just like that an apparel line was born. Through CMGW, I had a facebook following of almost 2k fans and shirts started selling; and not just in my home state of Texas but from California to Maryland.  A few shirts here and there made me happy; knowing that my journey was helping others kept me motivated too!

    And then it happened... on January 24, 2014, I received a cease and desist from the attorneys of a very popular ice cream that you can buy in your local grocery store.  Apparently the first two words in my tag line is the name of one of their flavors and I was infringing on their trademark. After a couple months of review and my not-so-deep pockets for attorney fees, I conceded and agreed to do a complete name change.  Hence, why I NOT actually using their actual name above.  In July 2014, Chango Fitness was born. I thought I would hit the ground running with it, but quite frankly my spirit was totally devastated!

    The new facebook page kept me in touch with about 100 followers from before but all-in-all I've kept Chango Fitness pretty low key. I felt I needed to give CMGW time to fizzle out and in turn I found my fun workouts turned serious, maybe too serious. I started training for my first full marathon and although things weren't as fun as they used to be, on December 7, 2014 I ran the Rock-N-Roll San Antonio Full Marathon.  It was a big accomplishment but it led to the start of a year's worth strains and injuries in 2015.

    2015 was filled with a lot of plans to participate in events and runs but they just didn't happen.  I went through A LOT of injuries and while mourning the end of CMGW, I fell into quite the funk. Through the support of my loving husband and great friends, I was encouraged not to give up. 

    And so 2016 through 2019 have consisted of recovering from some pretty serious injuries and getting active again. Just maintaining my weight at about 265 lbs has been quite the challenge since at the beginning of 2015 I had gotten down to 229lbs. So in the past few years Chango Fitness has been re-birthed, revamped and slowly going mainstream.  And NOW we are in 2020... the year started strong and in March 2020 we are now ALL hit to deal with the effects of the CoronaVirus. Today we stand with all of our April 2020 run expos CANCELLED. So what do we do? ... well the journey continues for me and Chango Fitness and for ALL OF US! 

I have a long way to go and it won't happen overnight but I might as well make it fun... GO WILD, GET FIT!

​Follow me one facebook & instagram to see where this journey goes..... @ChangoFitness