Jessica was one of our winners from this summer’s Smokin’ Hot in 90 Days Turbo Fire challenge. Jessica committed to get fit along with hundreds of other Turbo Fire fanatics and shed an amazing 21 lbs and 29 inches in 90 days! Congratulations to Jessica and all of our other winners and check out her story below:
I have always had a weight problem. I know that half of the problem stemmed from incorrect information regarding food and nutrition and inconsistent exercise and lack of dedication. At 16 I started to struggle with body image issues and comparing myself to my friends like most teens do. I experimented with diet pills, and fad diets, only to be left with an exhausted body and racing heart. I did cheerleading and dance so I was able to stay in ok shape even if I made poor diet choices, but something had to change.
During all of these “diets†I had the emotional rollercoaster ride of a lifetime. I moved home from college without completing my classes, I was suffering from depression and I was incredibly homesick. I found out that my dad had a bone disease that required a double hip and femur replacement, and he needed my help to get around, bathe, and run errands on a daily basis. I pushed through got a job, started counseling and things seemed to get better momentarily, but my depression and anxiety got the best of me and I could not “stick with†any diet or fitness regimen.
I was constantly exhausted and drained for no apparent reason and I felt hopeless and hated my appearance. That’s when the drinking really began. I started drinking for all the wrong reasons, I knew I couldn’t have the attention of a room with my looks so I tried to be the drunk one, the funny one, the social one, anything that could distract people from the fact that I was really just the overweight one. Despite all my complexes and lack of confidence without alcohol – I got engaged to my high school sweetheart, I bought a house, I got married. He is my rock, and I am forever fortunate that he has been there for me through thick and thin- literally!
After my wedding in 2010 I wasted no time trying to get pregnant, only to suffer a miscarriage and to find out that I may be too out of shape to ovulate properly and that conceiving a baby would be very difficult in my current state. I started hormone therapy – which only made me blow up even bigger, and in the same month that I lost my pregnancy – I found my mom after she had committed suicide.
Depression was at an all-time high, I didn’t think I could handle anything else and then — I got pregnant, it was a beautiful distraction although a high risk pregnancy, I had to have injections daily and was placed on bed rest the last 2 months — I gained 85 pounds as a result of it. After a complicated delivery at 42 weeks, I was rushed to have emergency surgery and several subsequent blood transfusions, I was so weak, but so big that it took several people to move me from table to table which was beyond embarrassing. Three days after I delivered my son I weighed 310 pounds.
January 1st of this year came and the old “make a new years resolution†idea came around. So I stopped drinking pop and I started to exercise – Walking at first, sometimes the arc trainer at the gym, but I got moving. I NEVER saw myself as the mom who stands on the sidelines, I wanted to be an active parent who was involved with my child both physically and emotionally. I knew that if I did not address my body issues and self-confidence issues that I could run a risk of indirectly projecting those issues on to my son, just as my mother had projected her negative self-worth on me. I had to end the cycle of body image problems and depression – so I did. I started by reading everything I could get my hands on in regards to self-help, depression, and nutrition.
I looked up the Turbo Fire Facebook page for some encouragement to find that a challenge group was starting “Smoking hot in 90 days†At first I told myself that I couldn’t do it – but I started to think about the things I had read, and for once I said, “why NOT me? Why can’t I do this? What is holding me back?” I thought I would quit, and it was easier to let myself down then to actually drop out of a challenge group – BUT I joined because I needed the accountability and because I had never truly completed the program.
This is when my life changed.
I took these pictures day 1 in just a sports bra/shorts, and I remember sobbing so hard looking at my distorted physique. But I pushed play. My loose belly after my child smacked my thighs with each kick, jump, and punch – but I pushed play. I had to heat and ice my knees the first month religiously because of the pain and swelling of all the weight compressing down on them with the choreography- but I pushed play. I worked full time, I am a mom, I am a wife, I maintain a household, I battle depression- but I pushed play. I scheduled my workouts and they were non-negotiable, I did not allow myself to miss.
I started to shrink, my clothes were not painted on and bursting at the seams. I started to look forward to certain workouts, I started to have energy throughout the day not even a pot of coffee could muster up, I started to feel alive. I took an active role in the challenge group – I shared photos, videos, meal ideas, and I held myself accountable like I never have in my entire life. Covered in sweat, I felt empowered, accomplished, and before I knew it, I didn’t have to think about anything anymore – this program transformed me and became part of me in such a way that I knew I would forever support not only Turbo Fire, but all Beachbody programs.
Things have changed since Turbo Fire, I have little to no knee pain, I sleep better, I have more energy during the day, and the symptoms of my depression have drastically decreased. My son and I go for a walk almost every day to enjoy the neighborhood, and I easily chase him around everywhere inside and outside without feeling winded. I fit down the slides at the playground, and he can sit on my lap on the tire swing, and when we race, I am faster – for now! Because my new life is so active, I have even cancelled my cable TV because with being an involved mom and completing my workouts each day – I just don’t have time for the junk!
I cannot express the feeling of accomplishment I had when I finished the program. It was something I never thought I could do – and my results were good, VERY good and stood out to me and many other people in my challenge group. I have never been able to say that I started and finished something with no regrets – but now I can! Beachbody has also started a new addiction for me – and that is finishing what I start.
My goals are endless and my journey with Beachbody is just beginning, I am planning a few more discussions with my coach – and with her advice I am thinking that I may even coach myself – which is something I would have NEVER had the confidence to do.
