The Mercury – According to the Centers for Disease Control, 80 percent of African-American women are overweight.

A group of Montgomery County women have joined a national movement to seize healthy lifestyles and overcome this epidemic.

Black Girls RUN! was created in 2009 by two women — Toni Carey and Ashley Hicks — whose mission was to encourage black women to value fitness and healthy living.

According to the   running group’s website   , BGR! aims to lower the percentage of overweight women and, in turn, lower the number of women with chronic diseases associated with an unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle. With dozens of meet-up locations across the nation, BGR! is comprised of novice, intermediate and experienced runners.

“We’re trying to combat stereotypes that follow a predominant amount of women in black communities and dismiss all of those numbers saying black women are overweight, we don’t exercise and we don’t move,” Gina Burke-McDermott, lead run coordinator for BGR! Philadelphia, Montgomery County meet-up, said.

When women “get moving,” Burke-McDermott said, “they lose weight, fight heart disease and obesity.” And people around them get inspired.

“When our families see us moving,” she added, “it encourages them as well.”

Source: http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20130513/LIFE01/130519753/black-girls-run-encourages-fitness-and-healthy-living