Hi friends!! I wanted to sit down and write from the heart tonight. I want all of my fans to know who I am, what I stand for, and how I got here. I follow a fellow blogger who coined herself 'hybridrasta mama'. I love this. I am definitely a hybrid. I take a little of this and a little of that. Through a lot of research, listening to my instinct, and some very key people, I have come to live a lifestyle that works best for my son and me. I want to state for the record that I am not perfect. I do the best that I can. My journey has been full of fun, hard work, tough times, curve balls, losing, winning...you name it. I want to use this blog from now on to motivate and educate. This particular one will tell a little about my personal story.
The Journey:
I started competing in 2008, and took the stage at my first NPC show in the summer of 09. Dieting for a show is tough! But the rewards were worth it! I met so many awesome people and loved every minute of it all! Then I got pregnant in December of 09. During my pregnancy I suffered from depression and gained a lot of weight. That kind of abrupt lifestyle change played tricks on my mind. However, once I gave birth to my beautiful baby boy, I knew it had all been worth it, but that I had a lot of work to do to get my body back!! I probably tipped the scale at 215 by the time I gave birth (I have never admitted that until just now), my pre-pregnancy weight was 145. That is a whopping 70lbs! I had decided during my pregnancy that I would definitely nurse my baby, and I think I can attribute a lot of my weight loss to that! However it was very slow in the beginning. I wasn't willing to put the baby in the childcare center at the gym when he was super little, so I did what I could at home as far as working out. But I didn't cut calories for fear of messing up my milk supply. I would say when the baby was about 7 months old I started back at the gym intermittently, but it wasn't until he was around 9 1/2 months that I started making it to the gym regularly. He just turned 10 months and I am at the gym 5 days/week now! I do all my cardio at home while he sleeps still which I love. My current weight is 132!! So I have lost 83lbs. to date! The goal is 129 by August 13, which happens to be my 29th birthday and the Europa super show. I am still nursing my sweet baby (the goal is a year) and I won't have complete control over my body until I am through with that, but he is worth the wait as far as I am concerned :) That is my story to date! I hope any of you momma's out there that might read this find it inspiring! It has not been easy for me, but it has all been worth it!! I have big plans to make it back to the stage and I won't stop til I get there!!
'Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them - every day begin the task anew.' -Saint Francis de Sales
See you soon!! Jen
Thanks for sharing your story Jen. I'm sure you are inspiring more people and in more ways than you know. I have no doubt that you will reach your goal. I look forward to seeing you on stage when the time comes.
ReplyDeletemuch love
karrie
Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I’m so glad you are human. This blog has eased my mind and also made me question many things that never crossed my mind (for example, cutting calories while breastfeeding). I’ve known your husband Brett since High School and the hermit crab that I was back then probably deterred me from being social and being friends with you, rather than just knowing of you. You and Brett are so full of knowledge, dedication, determination and the list goes on.
My husband and I teeter totter around the idea of starting a family. Of course there are many factors in this huge life changing decision, not just physical. Inspiration is motivating and contagious and I’m so glad that we get to hear your story. I have so many questions from prenatal vitamins, exercises for pregnant women, natural child birth to post pregnancy. When I do become blessed to have a child, I want to put him/her first obviously but I don’t want to put myself to last. I want to pick your brain!!! I’m sure there are many out there reading your blogs and find them useful and inspiring (which I wish there was more…lol) and although being a mommy is exhausting and time consuming I would love to hear about your resources you used for getting informed about good health during pregnancy. I’m not sure when we plan on trying but I want to be prepared physically, mentally and emotionally. Do you plan on training mothers-to-be or new mommies? I would love to sign up if so!
Anyways, I’m so proud of your amazing progress and you give hope to so many, even those who just have dogs as their children ;-) The gym has been my best friend for the past 3 months but that’s only because I am a teacher and summers allow me to be in the gym 5-6 times a week, my fear is coming up here in August when school starts up and I’ll fall back to not going but once every couple of weeks. Thanks for sharing your journey!