Sonya Branch-Johnson remembers a visit to her doctor and watched as he wrote “obese” on her chart. At 300 pounds, she didn’t see herself that way. “I would put on heels and you couldn’t tell me I couldn’t fly.” She continues, “Even in a size 28, I thought I was amazing.”
Her journey to lose weight and inspire others began that day. First she experienced denial, then recognition, and finally determination to change for the sake of her children. “I never thought that I didn’t love my kids, I never thought I wasn’t a good mom. I always pushed that they get a good education. I never thought that I wasn’t teaching them to live healthy. I never thought that was something that I was doing wrong.“ She summarizes, “to be a role model for your kids, you’ve got to make those changes yourself.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about one third of Americans are obese, including twelve and half million children and adolescents. The South as a region has the highest percentages, and no state nationwide is under 20%. These numbers have dramatically grown over the last generation; 1996 was the last year when no state was over 20%.
First Lady Michelle Obama has made the struggle against obesity her signature issue, and drew criticism from conservative voices like Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and Rush Limbaugh, on the grounds that her Let’s Move campaign is another permutation of intrusive government. In a rare display of common sense bi-partisanship, however, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, and Haley Barbour all defended Mrs. Obama. Only time will tell if the epidemic can be reversed.
Today Sonya is helping children at Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital in Baltimore overcome their obesity. “I’m kind of that person that in the background is saying, you can do this and in a way, I’m saying to myself that I wish I had that person for me…and that’s what drives me, I’ll do anything for these kids. We can’t quit on them.”
PHOTOGRAPHS, VIDEO and TEXT by LUCIAN PERKINS / facingchange.org
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A Mother’s Fight Against Childhood Obesity | Lucian Perkins October 7, 2012 at 3:16 am
[...] size 28, I thought I was amazing.” Her journey to lose weight and inspire others began that day. Click here to see the video and read more. Tweet (function() { var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = [...]
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Katharine de Baun February 15, 2012 at 6:16 pm
Loved this story, rock on Ms. Branch-Johnson! You are a hero to us at http://www.fitsmiForMoms.com, a website for parents of overweight teens/kids. We are sister site to fitsmi.com, a site for teen girls struggling with their weight. Love your approach with the kids in this video — it’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle change that has to be permanent.