I have been aware of Jess's struggle with weight but more importantly I have been AMAZED at how she has turned her life around. Jess is a true inspiration who demonstrates that it IS possible to have four kids, study AND look after yourself (and be a total knockout I must add!). I am so pleased that Jess agreed to share her story with you all. Jess, thank you so much and a HUGE hug of congratulations on your successful journey from me :)
Jen xx
Jess tells it in her own words...
I have struggled with my weight since I was about twelve. I was never one of those girls who could eat whatever they wanted, and my body shape isn’t run of the mill either. I’m more of an apple and tend to carry my weight in my chest and stomach. I was always very self-conscious.
My love of cooking and food certainly don’t help my situation either. I have sat between 72 and 82 kg for most of my adult life. (1m 175cms tall) certainly not obese ,but teetering on the edge of the heavier side of average and overweight.
After I had my first two children, the weight came off relatively easily. With my second, I joined weight watchers and got down to 70.6kg, just 0.6kg shy of my goal weight. Then I came unstuck. I gradually put the weight back on, not exercising and eating lots of junk and by the time I found out I was pregnant with number three in June of 2006, I was back up to 80kg. This put me on the back foot for the pregnancy and by the time I was full term, I was close to 90kg.
After having number three in the February of 2007, I was suffering quite severely from PND, which I had also suffered from after I had my second baby. We were living in a area where I had no support, I had a 3yr old, a 19 month old, a newborn and a husband that was working 70-80 hours a week. I just wasn’t coping. I constantly ate junk. If there were no junk, I would bake something! I don’t think anyone knew just how much I was eating. In October 2007, I was at my heaviest. About 92kg. Between October 2007 and 2008, my weight went up and down over and over again. I did get married in the middle of this period and I thought to myself, “If I can’t lose weigh for my wedding, I’m NEVER going to lose it!!” I was 82kg at my wedding. L
Like I said, the weight went up and down and I was right back up to 92kg when October 2008 came around. It was at this point I ONCE AGAIN, decided to do something about my weight. Between October 2008 and January 2009 I went from 92kg to 75kg. It was during this time that we decided that we would like to have one more baby. At 75 kg, I was back into healthy weight range (JUST) and in late January, we were lucky enough to be pregnant again.
Throughout pregnancy number four, I kept up with good eating an exercise. I managed to stay at the gym until I was almost full term, attending pump classes until 33 weeks.
Once number four was born, I was determined to lose weight. I was determined to be 65kg( I had been 65kg once before, for a very short period when I was 19!!!!) by the time I turned 30 (December 2010) which gave me about 13 months to lose the weight. I signed up to weight watchers and went back to the gym when Finn was six weeks old. My starting weight at this point was 81.6kg
I steadily lost weight with weight watchers, reaching the goal they had set me of 70kg by February 2010. I reached my personal goal of 65kg in April 2010, way before my cut off of December 2010!!!!!
These days, I tend to sit anywhere between 64 and 67kg. Once I get up to 67, I know its time to cut back a bit and get back on track.
Losing weight has been the best thing I have ever done. I love being able to walk into a shop, pick up a size 10, and have it FIT!!!!! I don’t think I’ve actually ever been a size 10 before. I love exercise, pretty much anything. Combat, RPM and pump are favourites, but I also love to run. I will be running my third half marathon in four weeks from today. EEEEK!!!! I still get shocked when people talk about be being thin, especially people who didn’t know me as a fat person.
To anyone who thinks it’s impossible to lose weight, or those who think they’ve tried so many times before, you CAN do it, if you really want it.
