Keep Going: Tapping Into the Momentum of Reaching Your Goals

by Liz Rock, Contributor + USATF-Certified Running Coach

My grandmother’s passing sparked something inside of me that I now identify as fear. Though she was the strongest and most fearless woman I knew, my grandmother’s inactive lifestyle, plus poor eating habits that were never addressed in her younger years left her suffering from high blood pressure and heart disease. After multiple strokes, she became unable to swallow and passed away.

At the time, I weighed 350 lbs., and because I saw similar patterns with myself and my own habits, her death felt like being submerged in ice-cold water; it shocked me to my core. I decided to take action. I took a leap of faith to start my weight loss journey and, two months later, fully committed to a lifestyle change.

“There is no final destination in my fitness journey! This is a lifelong ride.”

— Lizz Rock, Runner, Fitness Instructor + USATF Certified Running Coach

Soon, I had tunnel vision. All I really cared about was seeing that number on the scale decrease. Trying to lose that much weight is a hard pill to swallow and I took the view that “sacrifices must be made”. However, I didn’t think about what would happen when I finally got to my very unrealistic goal weight. The gravity of what I was trying to accomplish didn’t fully hit me until I had already lost 170 lbs.

Fast forward to today, and the process of keeping the weight off has been incredibly exhausting both mentally and physically. I’m still catching up on many of the aspects that come with such a huge change in your life, such as learning to love myself internally. Seeking therapy, admitting to myself that my relationship with food has been (and sometimes still is) super unhealthy, and trying to sort through what that all means are the newest parts of my battle.

This also means taking on new ideas like not being too hard on myself, being kind to myself, and forgiving myself for my past screw-ups and current shortcomings. It is definitely a process!

Finding Love for Fitness in Community

Although this weight loss journey has been difficult, the positives continue to be life-changing for me. Through the process of losing weight, I’ve discovered my love for running, my love for fitness and my desire to share my journey to inspire others.

I used to get winded just by walking to my car. Now, I can proudly say that I’ve successfully completed some of the most prestigious marathons in the world, in Boston, New York, London and Chicago. Through running, I’ve discovered run crews and made lifelong friends in the running community.

At 350 lbs., I was truly lost, just going through the motions of life, not taking chances and settling for the bare minimum. Now, I am a co-leader of Boston-based UNNAMED Run Crew and co-founder and organizer of The Bra Run, a 5K run designed to make it a little less scary to run in your sports bra. Not stopping there, I’ve expanded my fitness journey to coaching others, as well. I am a Studio Run Coach at Heartbreak Hill Running Company and a “Sculpt” fitness instructor teaching at TRILLFIT. My growth on this journey has been tremendous, and I am eager and ready to take on the next chapter life has in store for me.

A New Narrative

The narrative about me seems to have always been, “girl loses a ton of weight and now runs marathons,” but that’s actually a very small part of my story.

I know people see my Instagram or read about my journey and think that I’m some success story, or that I’ve “made it.” I’m here to honestly say that I have not. There is no final destination in my fitness journey! This is a lifelong ride.

To be quite frank, I’m scared shitless! The statistics about regaining the weight I’ve lost are against me. Simply writing that it causes me to tear up and I can feel my anxiety starting to creep in. But I’m a fighter and I keep up the continuous work of falling in love with the process. No one can ever take away what I’ve accomplished!

The number 350 is a number that will forever stay with me. A number that I have been both proud and ashamed of. A number that now scares me to death but that motivates me to keep fighting.

Liz Rock’s Transformative Mantras

If you are willing to truly fight for it, anything is possible!
Know yourself, even if it seems f---ed up! Being aware of the good, the bad, and the ugly of yourself is refreshing and freeing.
Get out of your own way. Your biggest enemy is your inner self! No amount of haters can stop you from your greatness. The only person that can do that is you!
No growth can ever happen in the bubble of your comfort zone. 99 percent of the things I’ve accomplished, I’ve done scared shitless.
See that therapist, sis! This journey is about the wellness of the body, heart and mind.
Be unapologetically you! After all, that’s who you’re doing this for.

Follow Liz’s wellness journey on Instagram.