Former College Student Struggles with her Weight

Janai Cunningham, 23, a graduate of the University of Tampa, always struggled with her weight like most girl growing up in this generation. Cunningham’s biggest fear is that she will end up unhealthy and overweight like she was in her childhood days. As a child, Cunningham was teased and bullied because she was bigger than all the other kids in her class. Cunningham vowed that she would start eating healthy and workout everyday her freshmen year at the University of Tampa.

Cunningham is originally from Clearwater, FL and moved to Kansas when she was only in middle school. “I don’t see a lot of fat people in Florida and that makes me self-conscious,” Cunningham said. Cunningham wouldn’t describe her childhood as awful, but as an experience.

Though Cunningham’s weight was never out of control to where she was obese, she always felt people staring at her. “I look at pictures from when I was young and I really wasn’t big,” Cunningham said. Cunningham was baffled that people used to tease her but she wasn’t big. “I am a very tall girl and my height made it even worse because I was taller than most boys,” she said. Cunningham is currently at 5 feet 10 inches, which is tall for girls.

Cunningham always stood out in the crowd but never thought her height would affect the way people looked at her weight. Cunningham is very much a girly girl. She loves shopping, and getting her hair and nails done. “People always tell me that I should play sports especially basketball,” Cunningham said. Cunningham admitted to not knowing that much about sports but she enjoys playing basketball with friends. As a matter of fact, playing basketball is one of Cunningham’s workout routines every week.

Cunningham’s favorite exercise is yoga. “Yoga is so peaceful and I get to clear my mind and thoughts after a long week of classes,” said Cunningham. Cunningham also enjoys running around the track, lifting weights, and doing spinning classes.

When Cunningham was younger, she didn’t really have anyone to tell her to watch her weight until her mom married her stepdad. “My stepdad was in the military and he was very strict and still had a military mentality that sometimes was mean,” she said. When Cunningham was younger she enjoyed what every other kid enjoyed, chips, cookies, etc. Cunningham’s stepdad thought by being tough on her it would motivate her, but it didn’t. “It made me lazier and made me want to eat more,” she said. That’s why Cunningham decided to get healthy on her own terms.

When Cunningham went to the University of Tampa, she jumped right into exercising and eating healthy. “I wanted to get away from all the negativity and just do it for myself and not for someone else,” Cunningham said. It was initially her New Year’s resolution, and now it is her life.

Cunningham appears to be healthy to many, as well as an average height girl around campus. She is keeping up with her daily workout routine and maintaining healthy eating habits. “I am surprised that I am keeping up with it because a lot of people break New Year’s resolutions,” Cunningham said.

This post is a former blog post found on my multimedia website, which can be found here: https://roibrandon.wordpress.com