Inspire.

      

That's all I've ever wanted to do. Whether spiritually, academically, physically, emotionally - I have felt the need to share what I've learned in hope that it would improve someone elses life. 

I found this quote on Pinterest tonight, and after that, my wheels started turning. 

                                

In all aspects of my life, I have tried to be the best I possibly can. I try (and it is always a work in progress) to prioritize my life by God, Family (including Clint and his family), School, & everything else.  I work very hard in school just to stay afloat, but still find the time to stay physically fit and live a healthy lifestyle. I maintain great relationships with the people I love. I try to get friends actively involved in fundraisers that benefit others, and I donate what I can to those in need. I obsessively check animal rescues and pray that those animals find forever homes. 

So if I died tomorrow, would I have left my mark in this world?? 

                    

I feel like I have, and let me tell you why. 

While looking through old pictures of myself, I realized that I have come a LONG ways in my fitness journey. What started out as a chore, has developed into a way of life. I now LOVE sharing advice with people, inspiring them to change their life, and ultimately, help them regain their LIFE. Being overweight and unhealthy is exhausting. You feel terrible. Your health is terrible. And someday, your doctor (Or P.A.) will yell at you. 

                                  

Just LOOK at my chubby cheeks. I'll admit, Little miss Haley looks adorable as a chubby tot, but me? Ugh. I definitely did NOT have abs then.. nor did I know what eating healthy was. I'm fairly certain I was hung over in the top picture also. Underage. Hungover. Lost. Way to go Jessie, way to go. 

One day, I just decided to change. Ya see, I had a scary doctors appointment that changed my life forever. I was 20 years old. I just started a new job, I transferred colleges, had no idea WHERE I was going in life, and now a health scare. This Doctor, bless her heart, was very blunt and told me I HAD to change my lifestyle around if I ever wanted to feel healthy again. So just like that, I did. When you're TERRIFIED that this lump you just found could be cancer, and these lumps are a consequence of your stress and DIET, working out and eating healthy was a no brainer. 

I started with at home work outs because I didn't know WHERE to begin. From there, I gave up alcohol COMPLETELY and started eating healthy. From there, I established fit clubs in my community to work out together. From there I started online coaching to help people with their nutrition and exercise. It became FUN to inspire & motivate people. 

  

I got my family involved. My mom was even losing weight doing a 10-min at home workout! I loved getting the updates from my family.  I would come home from work and have kids BEGGING to workout with me. Whether it was a simple family walk. 

                          

A 5 mile run while this feller biked. His red face is adorable. :) 

   

My summer bootcamp. 

    

My FAVORITE. Family push up contests. (OK. Megan won. There, I said it..)

   

                    

TOUGH races with my brother. (Tough Mudder) 

                   

Workouts with Hayl. Yes, She lasted all 48 minutes on that elliptical as I ran. 

And lastly, post workout seal stretches. 

Eventually, my family started working out on their own. My brother, Todd, challenges me to work harder and join races with him. I look forward to hearing updates from my sister, Holly, that her clothes are loose, or she is doing a race. I smile when I see Andrea pin healthy meals on Pinterest because she loves her junk food. I'm still working on JJ..... BUT, the biggest transformation of all has been miss Megan. She started her journey by losing 26 lbs on the 24 day challenge, and then after that - she did the rest on her own. 

                                 

After getting my family on board, friends started to join. I started getting text messages like this:

                                  

I have been so blessed to have the opportunity to help some friends obtain more self confidence, find more energy, and accomplish their fitness goals. I've also been able to help some get extra income by coaching others. My ultimate goal, after I graduate PA School, is to share my fitness and nutrition tips with patients by establishing a community program. 

In the meantime, pick up some weights. Lace up your shoes. And throw out the junk food. Start today! Get friends and family to join you, and pass the inspiration on. 

Imagine if we all inspired just ONE person each day, think about how quickly the world would change. <3 
       

Wake up call!

So here it is.. Day 1 of my 24 Day Challenge. 

I forgot how excited I got to do these things!! I woke up, threw on my tightest clothes for my before pictures and measurements, and laid out every product that I needed to take today. I previewed my before pictures, and thats when all of my excitement crashed and burned. 

                 

I thought to myself, "Wow Jess, you really let yourself go over the holidays.." Here you have it: a fluffier, exhausted version of myself.  After my self esteem was destroyed, I had to drink that fiber drink. I'm a texture person, and there is just no getting around this drink. Picture this: my scrunched up face, my plugged nose... Gulp one.. Gulp two.. Gulp three.. Phew, I didn't puke.. Day 1 Success. OK, Its not THAT bad. In fact, I love doing the cleanse portion of the challenge. Its so worth it. Whats not worth it is all that junk I devoured over break

In hindsight, I have no idea why I took a 4 week vacation from being healthy. I had a 4 week break from school for the holidays, and I literally stopped caring about myself for some unknown reason. I BARELY worked out, I didn't take any of the products I normally did, and I ate food that literally made me ILL. Yes. Physically ill. I was nauseous, tired, and had headaches almost every single day. It never occured to me that I was eating complete garbage for meals. Cookies, ohhhh the cookies! And take out food, ughh. I want to puke just thinking about it!

The last few days of my Christmas break, I decided to watch some Netflix. I clicked on "Hungry For Change" and in that moment, I realized SO much. It finally occured to me that what I was consuming was making me sick. After that, I watched "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead." Again- FLOORED. I hope everyone in the world watches these. I'm still speechless! Clint told me months ago to watch these, and I heard him, but never listened. I guess I should listen to him more often.. whoopsies. 

I hope more people have a similar wake up call like I did. Yeah, I only took a 4 week break, but those 4 weeks had physical effects on my body.

Today not only was the beginning of my 3rd semester in PA School, but it was also Day 1 of my 24 Day Challenge. I know I'll be successful because I planned AHEAD for this challenge. In fact, I have 2 other classmates/amazing friends that are joining me. We've meal prepped for the entire week, and even mapped out our workouts! We clearly aren't Type A.... ;) ANYHOW. Together we meal planned with clean, minimally processed, healthy food. This planning isn't ending in 24 days. Ohhh no! I'll be doing this forever I hope! 

If you're interested in learning how to meal plan, we first went and searched for recipes on Pinterest. Since we are away from home for about 9+ hours a day, we needed meals that could be prepared ahead of time, frozen, and cooked in a crockpot later. With the help of this handy dandy website: http://organizerbyday.blogspot.com/2013/11/20-crockpot-meals-under-20.html?m=1,  we successfully found meals that worked! We wrote out our grocery list, added any useful electronic coupons to our Kroger Card to save us money, and went to the store. After purchasing the entire produce section (but really....), we went home, prepared the meals, and stowed them in the freezer. 

For exercise: we are planning on doing a mix of running (prepping for half marathon!) and interval workouts. Oh yeah, and we have to work out at 6 in the morning because we have no other time. I keep reminding myself; "You've got to want it. It'll be worth it!" 

So there you have it: 3 insanely busy Physician Assistant students who are able to eat healthy and work out despite our hectic schedules.

Bored? Try todays circuit workout from http://dailyhiit.com:

50 seconds on, 10 seconds off

-walk out pushups

-jump lunge burpees

-dead lift row + bicep curl 

-4 mountain climbers + pushup 

We did 10 rounds for a total of 40 minutes! 

Before I go, I just wanted to close by saying that I'm working out and eating clean to FEEL a certain way, not to be some specific weight. I will probably be close to 138 lbs when I'm done with this challenge, but thats because its my proper metabolic weight. I've been that weight for years! My body, however, will FEEL better in 24 days. My fat will transform back into muscle, and I will have more energy. A scale is just a number. It wont ever define me. 

How bad do you want it?

I haven't been on here in a while - my apologies! I have been incredibly busy with school. Finals are approaching and then I have an entire month OFF. Yay! :)

Today I wanted to reach out and not only write for you, but write for me too. Sometimes writing is my form of therapy. If you know anything about PA School, you know we need all the therapy we can get!

A few years ago, I made the decision to change my life. I decided to stop drinking alcohol because it added no benefit to my life. I decided to eat healthier because little by little, I was killing myself with junk food. I stopped drinking pop (or soda as you may call it..) I eliminated some toxic "friends" that didn't support my change. I started working out.

These changes did not occur over time. I had cheat days, and I still do. After months of slowly transforming into the new ME - I realized something. I realized I was investing in my health, and my future, and by making these decisions, it added so much purpose and VALUE to my life. I know that might sounds crazy to you, but I dare you to try it. This is all you need to do.

1. Give up junk. Junk Food. Junk TV. Junk Friends. Slowly but surely, your junk attitude will go with it.
2. Replace it with HEALTHY food. Start being active! Go read a book, see a play, listen to new music, travel, pick up a Bible, GROW as a person. Surround yourself with new, like-minded, supportive people (unless you already have them. Then keep those ones close!) Change your cant's to CANS. Allow your life to change.

Again, those will happen over time. It helps having a supportive group of friends throughout this process as well. After I made the decision to change my life, I was introduced to a company that allowed me to be surrounded by amazing people. I do not for a minute think that this was by chance. I think it was a divine plan and the grace of God that I was introduced to these people. Every day they supported me to be a better me. I still, to this day, think that AdvoCare is a personal growth company disguised as a nutritional company. It makes helping others and reaching out so much more rewarding.

Maybe your journey doesn't involve PA School, or traveling. Maybe it doesn't involve AdvoCare, or working out. REGARDLESS of your journey in life, I hope to share a piece of information that can help. Whatever your goals, whether fitness related, school related, life related, WHATEVER, -

Success is determined by how bad you want it.

This is an important concept that I really need you to understand. I'm sure you've seen the YouTube video about wanting success as bad as you want to breathe, but do you get it? REALLY get it. It's a concept that even I have to remind myself.

In PA School, I have to force myself to study for hours and hours, regardless of how exhausted I am. In a class FULL of brilliant students, I constantly feel dumb, and for whatever reason, settled with the fact I wasn't as smart as some. Then it hit me. I got into this program for a reason. Now, in order to pass, I just have to want it. Work the over time until I get there.

Fitness wise, I had to push myself to the limits to change my body. Nutritionally, I had to give up everything I knew and start over. I had to read books on what to eat. Learn exercises that would transform my body. Hang out with people that would support me, and exercise WITH me. ANd most importantly- I had to shut up the little voice in my head that told me I couldn't do it.

Changing is a terrifying thing sometimes, but you have to WANT it. I think too many people are in the pre-contemplation stage.

Yeah, being a healthy weight would be nice, but you cannot give up the food you're all to accustomed to.

Having abs and strong arms is the definition of your dream body- but you dont have time to work out because you are watching a show to see which housewife is desperate.

Getting A's in school and doing well would be ideal, but for some reason you feel dumb, and feel like you don't deserve better than what you've been doing.

Getting a promotion at your job? EARNING what you are WORTH? That thought sounds like a DREAM. Well guess what, it's true. You can have those things because many of my friends do now. You just may be in the wrong area.

What I'm getting at is this: too many people think they want it, but they don't want to put in the work for it. And if they don't want it, it's typically because their negative thoughts or negative friends/family are holding them back.

Please - let go. It all starts with a decision.

 

 

After making those changes, I have learned so much about myself.

 

I'm a fighter. I'm resilient.

And I refuse to let anyone else get in the way of my happiness. 

 

My First Blog!

Hello, Hello!! Today was the first day of my second semester of PA School!! So as a treat- heres my "Back to School Picture." =P

Although the class only lasted 10 minutes, I was able to spend my day doing somewhat productive things. I joined my girls (Taylor and Sara) at the gym for an intense leg workout. Afterwards I meal prepped with Sara. With PA School consuming the majority of our time, its much easier to eat fast food than it is to actually prepare a healthy meal. Sara and I made a pact to meal prep together so that we can avoid eating garbage. As future health care professionals, we have to walk the walk if we want to talk the talk. Patients will be more likely to listen to us if we, too, are HEALTHY!! :) 

Todays meals:

Breakfast- AdvoCare Meal Replacement shake (Chocolate - blended with ice, banana, and strawberries) 

Lunch- Salad with romaine lettuce, spinach leaves, carrots, peppers, turkey, avocado, and cucumber 

Dinner- Spaghetti squash and green beans

Snacks (throughout the day)- Grapes, celery and natural PB, spark, post workout recovery shake

Tomorrows meals and workouts are already locked and loaded. SOOOO excited for dinner (and you'll see why.....tomorrow.)

Before I go, I wanted to leave you with something - Today wasn't easy. If it were easy, everyone would be rich, happy, fit, etc. At the gym, I had to literally PUSH myself to keep going. I'd look at Sara and Taylor and think "If they aren't stopping, I'm not stopping. One. More. Rep..." When we got home, I wanted ANYTHING fattening drenched in chocolate. Cookies, donuts, ice cream, brownies.. mmm. Again, I had to convince myself it wasn't worth it. Eating that food actually makes me feel worse! My body just THINKS it wants it. Health and Fitness is MENTAL. Whatever you do, don't give up on yourself. The benefits of living a healthy life are worth it. 

"Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity." - John F. Kennedy