Today we’d like to introduce you to Gisbel Chapa.
Hi Gisbel, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My name is Gisbel Chapa, my faith, family and friends mean everything to me.
I have always been overweight my entire life, the heaviest I ever weighed was 270 pounds and I am currently at 135 pounds. I truly have never ever felt better mentally, spiritually and physically.
Consistency in anything we do is key and no doubt that every underdog has his or her day.
I have always been picked last in sports due to my size although I’m great at sports and believe me Losing weight is hard especially twice as hard to maintain it off, it takes a lot of grit, self-discipline and self-control. I go to the gym every day because a little each day goes a long way.
I decided to become a coach and make health and fitness a priority in my life because I too want to encourage and help others who struggle with weight loss or have been bullied due to being overweight. Being on both ends of the spectrum from 270 to 140 it truly makes a difference in truly understanding when someone says, ” I don’t feel comfortable in my clothes or in my own skin” because I too know what that feeling is like. Thankfully I’ve always had people who love me for me but that isn’t the case nowadays when you have children killing themselves due to being bullied.- I plan on changing that.
Over the summer I helped my God Son Xavier lose 20 pounds in less than three months- he was 13 at the time. It’s amazing what happens when we instill the right words of encouragement and remove the word “can’t” from our vocabulary. The best part of that was watching the confidence he didn’t know he had grow more day by day. It’s easy to say kids are the future yet we aren’t doing enough to provide them with the right fuel. Not only is he living proof of what we can accomplish when we have the right people cheering for us but I am living proof that doing a little each day, being consistent no matter how hard of a hit we take we can accomplish any goal we set our mind too if we truly choose to. – Key word: Choose.
Working out isn’t just for my benefit, it’s for the poeple I care about as well, I want to be around longer for them. Find your why and watch the weight fall off. Ask yourself Why? why do you go to the gym everyday? Why do you run everyday? The “Why” in anything we do will always be the game changer.
Thankful that I have a solid foundation in faith because I will always choose faith over fear even if that means I have to take major risks after all life is a risk in itself. Beyond being thankful for my parents, the unconditional love and support they have always shown me. I couldn’t be the person I am if it wasn’t for my parents, Luis and Gloria Chapa Salinas. They instilled so much in me that giving up is never an option and only the crazy survive and Lord knows I’m am a bit crazy. Ha
My cousins in Austin, Houston and Chicago, you all mean so much to me. My best friends since childhood, I love you all so much especially Maryann Barragan- Dills, 20 plus year friendship, no one knows more how I eat than she does. Haha, I love you dawg. Jovanny Aguayo, you are the best guy friend a girl could ever ask for! Karina Acosta who always orders meal prep meals from me and has lost a good amount of weight herself. Being a small independent business isn’t easy but the people who order and share the food make it worthwhile. Extremely thankful for all the great coaches such as Coach Leah Irons from Crossfit Ammo in Allen, Texas- if it wasn’t for her saying, ” Bell, just add a 100 meters each day, I wouldn’t be the runner I am today. Thankful for all the amazing mentors I’ve had such as Diana Araguz, she’s a Godsend, taught me everything I know about retail and how to serve others. Thankful for all the great bosses, even the bad ones because the bad ones are examples of what we shouldn’t become. I personally never keep company I cannot learn from. I recently enrolled back into college to pursue my civil law degree and I couldn’t have done it without the push of Cassandra Garcia Hernandez- some say she is modern RBG and the world definitely needs more strong assertive women taking charge and fighting for what’s right.
Making health and fitness a priority helps in every aspect of our lives not just for our overall health. Being in a better mood will help us with our productivity at work, our own energy level, be more sociable and simply be more active so with that said I would like to be remembered as the person who always showed up no matter what, had a smile on my face and made someone else feel good about themselves. If we ain’t living life for others, than we simply ain’t living. Feel good, do good and be good is a great way to live life especially when time isn’t on our side and we need to cherish every moment we have.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Being overweight has always been a challenge, not fitting into the clothes I would have liked to. Not being able to finish a race, suffered a mild heatstroke. – thankful for the stand by paramedics and my close friend Yesenia Rosales who was there as well to provide aid.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
What sets me apart from others is that I truly understand what it is like to feel uncomfortable in our own skin, to not want to take the picture because we don’t like the way we feel so I understand and relate and trust me I am here to tell you all that doing a bit each day goes a long way.
I enjoy doing a little bit of this and that, I don’t like boring at all. I struggle with the easy stuff and love challenges. From time to time I do photography, run everyday and do yoga with my dogs Athena, Bella Grace, Rocco and Blue. I do independent contractor work, I even did some in our beloved Austin Texas, I love BBQ and sushi. I speak English, Spanish and Chinese, getting tattoos that reflect a different chapter of my life.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Favorite books: The Joy of Less by Francine Jay
Podcast: Eric Thomas – Highly Recommend
Apps: The motivation app, the Bible app
Contact Info:
- Email: gisbelchapa@gmail.com
- Instagram: coach.gchapa
