Tag: beachbodycoaching

3 Years of Health and Fitness

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In the 3 years since I have been working out and going through my transformation, I have never posted pictures of myself without a top on. Why? Because despite how far I had come, I still wasn’t happy with my progress. I’ve since come to the realization that if I am going to coach my friends, family, and others to be happy with small improvements, that I need to start drinking my own koolaid and practice what I preach.

I am far from perfect. I still have big hips and thighs, a big butt, a bit of love-handles, and some belly fat that keeps me from seeing my abs. The biggest, and arguably most important, difference between the girl from the top photos and the girl from the bottom photos is that now I am confident and happy enough with myself to post pictures featuring my face.

Unfortunately I do not have photos from when I was over 200 pounds to show the full transformation. Hindsight is 20/20, and I wish I had been brave enough to take before pictures. When I started this journey, I had already tried just about every diet tip, trick, pill, supplement, wrap, and more on the market. Nothing seemed to work, so I pulled out the old P90X and thought I would give it another go, but I had tried that and failed to stay the course many times as well. My failure to take before photos is both a testament to my lack of belief in myself that I would make it, and also a complete and utter hatred for my body and myself for letting myself go.

You’re probably thinking that in 3 years of health and fitness, I should be a lot more ripped than that. Well, you’re probably right. The problem is that I am an emotional eater, so when life throws curveballs at me, I tend to return to old habits. The past 3 years have been a total roller coaster of ups and downs when it comes to my weight loss. I had lost 60-65 pounds, then I fell off track and gained 30 back. I got myself back on track and lost those 30 pounds, bringing me back to where I was before. Then my grandfather was diagnosed with cancer, and four months later, he was gone. During the year between the diagnosis and following his passing, I totally derailed and wound up gaining 40 pounds back. Since January 2016, I have been working to lose those 40 pounds, and I am just about 5 pounds away from where I was before despite a couple of minor setbacks due to illness and life experiences.

My point in all of this essentially is this: It doesn’t matter how many times you try and you fail. What matters is how many times you try again. Nobody becomes successful at anything without failing along the way, and you can ask any expert in any field, and they will tell you the exact same thing. Failure means you are trying. You just have to know how to get back up and try again. Don’t let failure destroy everything you’ve worked towards. It is okay to take some time, but always brush yourself off and get back at it.

You are NEVER alone. Guaranteed, there are others out there struggling through the same journey that you are currently taking. I am right there with you on this journey myself, and someday I will achieve my goals. If you want help achieving yours and you are lacking the support and guidance that you need to get you there, you are more than welcome to reach out to me. I would be happy to help you out, and share information that I’ve learned along the way. Simply use the contact tab and fill out the form to send me an email directly, and I will respond as soon as I can!

Thanks for reading

xoxo

Jess

“I’m already skinny, I don’t need to work out”

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I have heard this phrase multiple times upon inviting people to try a Beachbody program. It actually drives me crazy, because it implies that fitness and nutrition is only for people that need to lose weight. I have a little secret for anyone out there that thinks they don’t need to work out or eat healthy simply because they are “already skinny”… YOU’RE WRONG!

Fitness is NOT just about getting “skinny”. Fitness is about gaining strength, being healthy, and staying active so that you have less health risks and can be around longer for your family.You can be skinny, and still not have muscle definition. You can be skinny to the point where your bones are showing like in that first half of the image, and still not be happy with your body. I know a lot of naturally “skinny” people, and most of them have issues with their appearance just like those with extra weight. In fact, many of them go to the gym to try to CREATE the curves that they are lacking by adding muscle to their body.

In addition, just because you are “skinny” does NOT mean that you are healthy. You can be skinny, and still be putting yourself at risk for health issues by being inactive and eating junk food consistently. Being naturally small does not give you a free pass to skip out on exercising and eating healthy, because not doing those things is likely going to catch up to you at some point in your life. For example, many people have this fast metabolism when they are young and treat it as a free pass to do whatever they want. Since they passed up on the opportunity to maximize that fast metabolism and keep it working for them, they eventually lose it and their bad habits bite them in the butt when they start packing on the pounds later in their life. Do you someone that has been through this? You probably do, even if they haven’t admitted it.

It is really unfortunate that so many people seem to think that nutrition and fitness is simply for weight loss. It is so much more than that. It enhances your mood, it puts you in a better frame of mind, it gives you confidence in yourself, and that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Click Here if you are ready to give up the misconceptions about fitness and nutrition, and start your own journey to a healthier life.