Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog
Mom on the Move!
Allow me to introduce myself to all of you fabulous fitness friends on here! My name is Jackie & I am a busy mom of 2 AMAZING girls. I am passionate about health, fitness & overall well being. My fanatical routine that I currently possess has not been that way for long, though. It will be 2 years, next month, from when my journey began. Allow me to share.
My youngest daughter was turning 5 & for her birthday, she wanted to go to Build a Bear! My in laws made the drive over to our place & we all headed out. Before heading into the store, someone was nice enough to take a family picture of all of us. The day was GREAT! As soon as we got home, I rushed to the computer to upload the pictures from the day. THERE IT WAS. The picture that changed my life. It is my now famous "before" picture.
Needless to say, I almost fell out of my chair when I saw myself. Yes, I had been purchasing bigger clothes. Yes I ate crappy food. No I did not exercise. But NO WAY was that ME! I called my husband over & demanded that he be truthful (BLESS THAT MAN). No it was NOT a bad angle. It was ME that I was looking at. It was how the world saw me. More importantly, it was the example I was setting for my 2 daughters. I buried my face in my hands & sobbed.
How did this happen? How did I allow this to happen? I even dusted off the scale & hopped on! WHOA! I wracked my brain for the next few hours. The answer came simply. I was out of control. There was no more hiding from the truth. I HAD to change. In that very moment, it happened & I never looked back! I committed to lose the weight NATURALLY. No quick fixes, no fad diets. Just good old fashioned hard work, consistency, diet & exercise! To date, 80 lbs have been shed.
This 2 year journey has turned out to be so much more than losing weight. That was the easy part. I realized that I was hiding behind food & substances that were keeping me checked out & in MAJOR denial. I had been running from so many traumatic lifetime events & it was NOW time to deal with them! It was time to get sober & heal. I am an "all or nothing" type of personality so that works in my favor with my lifestyle change. It didn't do me any favors prior to seeing that picture!
I am beyond committed to this & am SO thankful for the opportunity that picture gave me 2 years ago. I realize that my TRUE passion is being the healthiest version of myself & have plans to pay it forward. I am currently enrolled in courses to obtain my Personal Training & Group Fitness Certifications. It's funny how life has a beautiful way of working itself out!
Comments 5
Jackie, I really enjoyed reading your story! I have to agree that it starts with looking at pictures of yourself. I can recall looking at pictures and thinking, this can't be me. Those around me would say it was just a bad picture, so I would often deny how heavy I was. It brought back memories of my obese days reading how far you have come. Great job!
Congratulations! So impressed with what you've done in such a short period of time.
Hi Jackie. Welcome to the blog. I'm happy to hear your success story and more importantly how you have become your authentic self once again. You are now someone who are no longer in denial about what you eat and how you look. You are going to make a terrific personal trainer!
@ Rich & @ Jackie,
I agree with the point about the pictures. I never had denial as much as the "above the shoulder" blinders on. What I mean by that is I would never see myself completely unless viewed in a picture or one of those full body mirrors you see in department stores. Often, all I would see is my head and shoulders in the morning if I were to shave or brush my teeth. I always seemed to miss seeing the rest of me and it never really sunk in as to just how obese I was getting.
Thank you ALL for your sweet comments! It is TRULY what pushes me yo keep moving forward! I am honored to have been given the opportunity to share my story with such a great group of people on here & really appreciate you all taking the time to listen!