This story is part of Health’s #RealLifeStrong series, where we are celebrating women who represent strength, resilience, and grace.

Misty Diaz was born with spina bifida, but it wasn't until she was in her 20s that she met another person with the condition. “I was going around thinking I was the only one who had this disability," she says. Now at 30, the L.A.-based athlete travels around the country running races—and inspiring others with (and without) disabilities.

Spina bifida is a birth defect that affects the spine and spinal cord. In Diaz’s case, it damaged her L5 vertebrae. “It affected my walking, my growth, and my bladder,” she says. As a result, Diaz stands at just 4’4”, weighs 80 pounds, and uses crutches to get around. That hasn't stopped her from completing 5Ks, 10Ks, half-marathons, and even extreme obstacle courses. 

Two years ago, Diaz became the first adaptive athlete ever to finish the Red Bull 400, a 400-meter sprint up the ski jump at Utah’s Olympic Park in Park City. When she first heard about the race, in a video on Facebook, she knew right away she had to try it. Diaz began training her upper body with lots of rowing and lat pulldowns, so she could make it up the near-vertical incline on crutches. She reached the top in 35 minutes. In 2018, she shaved 10 whole minutes off her time. 

RELATED: Professional Runner Gabe Grunewald Has Stage 4 Cancer, But She's Not Giving Up Racing

Diaz wasn’t always an athlete. After her 28th–yes, 28th–surgery, a bad breakup, and a struggle with severe depression, Diaz was craving a big life change. She remembers thinking, “'I can either stay in this situation hoping for a different result, or I can take the [discomfort] that I’m going through and feeling, and I could try something completely different.'" That's when she discovered fitness.

Diaz started with small, doable goals: Her first milestone was making it from her apartment to her mailbox. Then she wanted to walk down her entire block; then to the nearby beach. “I stayed consistent, and I was loud about my progress,” she says. “Positive energy fueled me to want to keep doing a little bit more.”

A little bit more eventually became a charity 5K walk. She showed up to the race in a purple tutu, red lipstick, and a collared shirt. “I had no idea what I was doing,” she says, “but I never once took into consideration that I had crutches. I started when everybody started, stopped when everybody stopped, and crossing that finish line was like the threshold of starting my life all over again.”

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That first race inspired Diaz to sign up for a second one–and put a little more effort into training this time. “I had never been in a gym, but I got a gym membership,” she says. “You can’t just Google ‘how do you use a treadmill if you’re on crutches’–you’re not going to find anything,” she says. Stepping into a gym was overwhelming, but she tackled it the way she does any obstacle: Take things slowly, learn from what non-adaptive people are doing, ask questions, and use her problem-solving skills to figure out a way she can mimic the movements. 

Being super-friendly didn’t hurt either. “I would just be like, ‘Hey guys!’” she says in a bubbly chirp. “I became friends with the gym manager who could see I had trouble reaching stuff.” The manager gave her guest passes so friends could come to work out with her, free of charge. “I was so grateful,” Diaz says. “Plenty of people would have given up on their first and second visit, but I found what worked for me.”

RELATED: I Have a Chronic Pain Syndrome Dubbed the ‘Suicide Disease’—Here’s How I've Learned to Embrace Life

Her second 5K turned into more races, including half-marathons, and eventually obstacle races. Now, she says, she’s done 70 all over the world. Races give her a unique way to connect with other people who might usually be a little more cautious around someone with her condition. “People might be intimidated around me,” she recognizes. It’s one of the reasons her trademark red lipstick became such a racing staple. “It gave people an in, an ice breaker.” A compliment was an easy conversation starter, and she says she’s built racing friends off of a simple, “I like your lipstick.” 

Thanks to the connectivity of social media, she’s made virtual friends around the world, too. Parents will contact her, inspired to race on behalf of their child with spina bifida. She also mentors kids with the condition. “I call them spina beautiful,” she says. “It was never my thing to be ‘the girl with spina bifida,’ but I just knew if I kept up the racing, slowly but surely I would start to uncover things about myself, and I might possibly be able to help other people.” 

“When I meet someone with spina bifida I want them to know that anything is possible,” Diaz says. “You can still accomplish anything you want to, you just might have to try a little harder."

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Take your ab routine to the next level.

The biggest legging trend for 2019 will look pretty familiar to anyone who lived in Adidas track pants back in the '90s.

Workout tights that take a cue from the brand's iconic tri-color side stripe are everywhere right now. And while the original is still cool, we're also seeing lots of leggings that have a refreshed take on the classic style—think side stripes on modern fabrics, over eye-catching prints, and paired with other trendy features like mesh panels or colorblocking. We're guessing some of the stripe-y bottoms below will soon be popping up at your gym or next SoulCycle class; add them to your cart now before they're gone.

Updated classics

Left: The beloved Adidas 3-Stripe Tights ($40; nordstrom.com) has a lean-but-not-too-tight fit that's perfect for low-impact workouts or just lazing on the couch. Center: With its waistband logo, compression fabric, and pearlized finish, the Koral Rhys Mid Rise Energy Legging ($125; koral.com) delivers a high-performance take on the trend. Right: For crazy soft comfort, you can't go wrong with Champion; their Women's Track Pant ($50; champion.com) has a subtle side stripe and is available in both black and millennial pink.

Sleek neutrals

Left: Shimmering stripes snake around the leg in the Ivy Park Metallic Asymmetrical Stripe Legging ($90; nordstrom.com). Center: With velvet stripes and insulating fabric, the Sweaty Betty Thermodynamic Run Legging ($135; sweatybetty.com) is designed to keep you warm during cold-weather workouts. Right: You never need to sacrifice quality for price when it comes to Old Navy activewear. The High-Rise 7/8-Length Side-Stripe Yoga Legging ($28; oldnavy.com) comes in a deep purplish hue that's surprisingly versatile.

Multicolor stripes

Left: Part of Bandier's just-launched All Access sets, the Floyd Legging ($118; bandier.com) makes a statement paired with the matching Floyd Crop Top. Center: With mesh cutouts and candy-colored stripes, the Lorna Jane Nexus Core Tight ($111; lornajane.com) lets you embrace two popular trends in one. Right: The seriously cool P.E. Nation Crossbar Legging ($150; carbon38.com) has a seven-color stripe on one side and solid green colorblock on the other—so you can rock different looks from every angle.

Stripes + patterns

Left: A solid black side stripe balances out the tropical, surf-inspired pattern on the Nike Hurley Hanoi Legging ($68; nike.com). Center: The Athleta Contender Blossom 7/8 Tight ($89; athleta.com) will have you dreaming of spring with its sweet floral pattern and unexpected navy stripe. Right: Hate wearing the same leggings as everyone else in your spin class? The Upside Good Dinosaur NYC Pant ($99; carbon38.com) is the answer.

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Running can build endurance, strengthen joints, and get rid of stress. But running is also a great workout for weight loss, especially for beginners. 

“If you want to burn a lot of calories fast, running is one of the best exercises you can do—especially when done at a high intensity,” Stephanie Blozy, the owner of Fleet Feet of West Hartford, Connecticut who has a masters degree in exercise science, tells Health. “Because both feet are off the ground mid­-stride when you’re running, it’s really just a series of jumps. The faster you jump and run, the more energy is required of your muscles, so the more calories burned.” 

To lose weight, the math is simple: You need to make sure your calorie intake doesn't exceed the number of calories you burn. That means either eating less, moving more, or doing some combination of both. Running helps you create a calorie deficit that allows you to shed pounds and maintain your weight when you reach your goal. It also can lift your mood and give you a thrilling feeling of freedom, which in turn boosts your mental health (hello, runner's high).

Here's the amount of weight you can expect to lose by running, how to get started if weight loss is your main goal, and the right way to keep burning calories as you run—so you continue to lose pounds and aren't tempted to throw in the towel.

RELATED: This 30-Day Plank Challenge Will Transform Your Core in 4 Weeks

How much weight you can lose by running

A 140-pound person burns 13.2 calories per minute by running, according to the American Council of Exercise. And the more you weigh, the more calories you’ll burn (it takes more energy to move more weight). This means heavier people will experience more of a calorie burn at the onset when they start running. It explains why you and a friend might not burn the exact same amount of calories even if you ran the same distance at the same pace together.

But running for weight loss works another way too: It burns a significant amount of calories after you’re done. That’s called excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, and research published in the The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research found that the afterburn lasts five minutes longer for runners than it did for walkers.

RELATED: 10 Ways to Actually Enjoy Running

How to start running for weight loss

If you’ve never run before, you need to start slow and build up your running tolerance. “Stick to a pace in which you’d be able to hold an easy conversation while running with a friend, and aim for 10 to 15 minutes to start,” New York-based Grayson Wickham, a physical therapist, certified strength and conditioning specialist, and founder of Movement Vault tells Health. Thinking in terms of time versus distance can also making running seem less daunting (and less like the torture of middle school gym class). 

When you find a pace and distance that feels good, start increasing your time or distance by no more than 5% to 10% per week. “Otherwise, you increase your chance of injury,” says Blozy. “This is something I call ‘training in the too's’: too much, too fast, too soon.” Bottom line: Listen to your body. If you feel ready to go further, go for it; if you’re starting to have foot, ankle, or hip pain, or you just don’t feel good overall, you need to back off a little.     

RELATED: 3 Common Yoga Poses You're Probably Doing Wrong—Plus How to Fix Them                                               

How to keep up the weight loss

Not all running is created equal, and the fitter you get, the easier it'll be to maintain the pace you started with. The problem, though, is that your body will have adjusted to this pace, and you might find yourself in the dreaded weight loss plateau. “The key to burning maximal calories when running is keeping the intensity high so you don’t settle into a steady state, which can happen when you run at a comfortable pace,” says Blozy.

To prevent your body from getting used to running, you need to switch things up and continue challenging your body with longer runs, sprints, or shorter, higher-intensity runs. “The most optimal protocol to use for weight loss would be incorporating sprint intervals of varying distances, intensities, and rest periods between intervals,” says Wickham. Think: Picking up your pace during every other song on your playlist or running a quarter-mile fast followed by a quarter-mile at an easy job, then repeating several times.

RELATED: 15 Running Tips You Need to Know

Sprint intervals—or hill intervals, where you’re running up an incline repeatedly with recovery time in between—accelerate your calorie burn both in the moment and for the rest of the day, says Blozy. “So even when you’re sitting at your desk, you’re burning more calories than if you didn’t exercise,” she explains. The more intense the run, the more calories your body will need to burn after exercise to aid recovery.

But at the end of the day, what’s going to help you the most in your weight loss goals is consistency. “All aspects of fitness, including running for weight loss, rely on consistency to achieve your goal,” says Wickham. “Find a pace, duration, intensity that works for you and stick with it for the long run. This is truly the only way to create lasting change that will yield lasting results.”

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You’ll have a blast while burning all the calories.