Let's start at the beginning...

Hello!  If we haven't met, my name is Sophia Ayala Gettys! I'm a stay at home mother of 2 living in Colorado. My claim to "fame" if you will... ha ha... is that I am overweight and can't cook. In Jan, the Food Network aired it's first season of a new cooking competition series called "Worst Cooks in America". Unfortunately... and fortunately I was chosen out of thousands of hopefuls across the nation as one of the "Worst Cooks" I didn't win the 25000 dollar prize, but I did win. What I won was my life back! Being on a reality show isn't just about the time you're on camera it's about the time you're away from your family, the learning your limits in stressful situations... This opportunity changed my life forever! Not only do I now love to cook, I am currently pursuing a carrer in the culinary arts! I hope to be a chef one day, but for now I'm an AMAZING home cook!

While filming the show, there was a day on set that chef Beau and I had a casual chat... He asked me what I did. I told him that I was stay at home Mom... and then he said, "No, what do you do?". I told him that I was an artist. He told me that he was too... I never saw a cook as an artist until that day. As I watched him demo how to do our duck dish, it hit me all at once! The plate was his canvas, the food was the medium... then I realized that all 5 senses were used in cooking and it's like the ULTIMATE ART!

Once I realized this, it made me think of my late Aunt Helen. My Aunt Helen had always been a driving force in my life to be a strong and ambitious woman. I've always been in to the arts and she'd always been my biggest cheerleader. All my life I had heard that we were so much alike and that made our bond very strong. Helen had made her life earnings in the food industry, with her amazingly delicious home made pasta! She did well with her pasta, it made her a self made millionaire. I didn't realize it at the time, but her pasta was her art! I remember her looking over my paintings and thinking that her critiques were just her being nice and encouraging... but now I know that it wasn't just encouragement! The woman knew what she was talking about. I wish that I would have made this connection before she passed away. If she could see me now, I know that she would be so proud! The best part is that again, we're alike... because there's no body in the world that I'd want to be like:)

So I've been fabulously lucky to have an amazing experience of finding myself on a reality show, and it's started a few balls rolling in my life and inspired a health kick!

When I got home from the show I started cooking, and with that alone, the lbs started to come off... but what really made the pounds fall off was my GOD SENT TRAINER Jamie Atlas in Sept. 2009! I made a plea to a local trainer to help lose weight as a charity project on his part and I started cooking everything I loved in a healthier way! I have been working out regularly and even have begun making my own recipes! I've lost 50 lbs in about 6 months and am feeling great! I was even on a local morning talk show in channel 2 (The Deuce) "The Everyday Show".  It was a blast.

Yes folks, life has been good to me these days. I feel more alive than I have in a long time! As a parent (especially a stay at home mom) I don't think we get the right amount of social interaction with other adults at times... or maybe just those precious moments of getting out there and doing something for ourselves. I have began to make that a priority in my life.

In lieu of all these adventures and new goals I have decided to take control even further! I'm just at a place where I need to do something BIG to show myself ! So I've decided to do something INSANE! I'm 29 and in Nov I will be 30, so I've got to do something that is just going to blow my mind if I accomplish it. With my new outlook on healthy eating, cooking, and fitness I have decided to do something that will compliment each of these points... and what I plan to do is... Its not 100 % official...(drum roll please!) enter the.... (keep the drums coming) ING NYC MARATHON! 

I know right! OMG, WTF am I thinking? Well here it is, I'm going to be 30, and I'm married, I've had my kids and I'm ready to be the me that I know that I can be. I've spent my whole life thinking things are too hard or I'm not good enough, or I don't deserve things... that girl is gone! NO MORE CRYING IN MY CHEERIOS and complaining about things I have the power to fix. I've been able to come this far, and I'm ready to take it to the next level. I will be the role model to my children that I want to be and I will be the wife I know I am... and I will be the CHANGE that I hope to make.

I will run this race for the experience, not to win... but for the opportunity to support an amazing charity.  The mental fitness as well as physical fitness I will need to accomplish this will be invaluable to my life and future successes. If I can do this, I can do anything! The charity I hope to run for is TEAM FOR KIDS. I'm waiting on sign up fees to go through and registration to be "official official".

Team for Kids is made up of thousands of adult runners from around the world who raise funds to combat childhood obesity through New York Road Runners Youth Programs .

As a obese child and now adult I feel learning early on about health and fitness can change lives! Like I said, I want to be the change.