Meet Jamie! Our First Super Star of the Week!

I wanted to start a super star of the week on my fitness page, my biggest goal in starting the page was to show people that you CAN do it. You can be the healthy person you've always wanted to be and still live your life. You don't have to starve, you don't have to go without at parties or outings. You have to learn portion control. You sometimes have to say no or not today, but it's worth it in the end to look in the mirror and be proud to be you and feel amazing in your own body. I've met so many wonderful and inspiring people since I started my own journey in January, one in particular is Jamie.

Meet Jamie a 26 year old from Pennsylvania, who has always struggled with her weight. Recently she and I had a great chat, I asked her some questions about her journey!! Check out Jamie's story below!

2005 250lbs

When did you start your journey? 
"2006! I was pushing 250lbs and my size 20 pants were getting tight."


Have you always had a weight issue? 
"Yes"

What made you start your fitness journey?

 "I just felt like I had to do something. My feet and knees were painful all the time, I didn't feel good about myself, I just started trying and then kept on truckin"

What is your favorite exercise routine?

"Zumba! I love dancing and I get excited about any dance class that I can modify for knee problems."  

 What's on your playlist that gets you pumped? 

2010

"A lot of hip hop, reggaeton, and dance music. Lots of motivating lyrics to phat bass beats.

Here's my Spotify playlist":

Gurl Look At That Body How much weight have you lost total?

"About 110lbs"

What tips do you have for someone still working towards their goal?

Foodwise: "Cook several meals at once! I prepare a week's worth of meals on Monday nights and separate all of the servings out into separate Tupperware containers."  

Exercise: "Try different things and don't be afraid to be a newbie! Also, cleaning counts as activity points in Weight Watchers" ;) How did you lose the weight/ what plan did you follow?

"I started really small: taking the stairs instead of the elevator and parking my car farther away in parking lots. I remember parking on the roof of parking garages so I had to do several flights and felt so good when I could do it with ease! After that I started by using the Livestrong app, getting a gym membership, and buying some personal training sessions. I've used probably every fitness and diet tracking app...I would get bored with one or stop using it for months at a time and then try a different one. I think SparkPeople and WeightWatchers have been my favorite thus far!

I made a huge lifestyle change with my diet....which was my biggest challenge. I cut soda completely, stopped hitting fast food restaurants, and drank more water. I stopped justifying the drive thru and would go months at a time without going! I also started cooking and packing things full of vegetables.

Now I use WeightWatchers faithfully (Meetings and the eTools) and I think this is perfect for me." What's your favorite "cheat" meal? 

"Fried chicken with homemade macaroni and cheese. There's just no right way to half the fat on these."

2012

What is your favorite snacks?

"Frozen bananas, grapes, hummus, and laughing cow light semi-soft cheese" How do you feel to hit lifetime status with WW?

"So satisfying. I was especially excited to get 6 extra points per day!"

2013 140lbs

Who is your biggest inspiration?

"My friends! I've got a really great core of friends that are supportive and will listen to me prattle on endlessly about Weight Watchers and the new yoga classes I'm trying."

What's your favorite motivational/weight loss quote:
"Your body keeps an accurate journal regardless of what you write down"

Jamie congrats on all your hard work, you look amazing and you are most defiantly a super star!

Facebook.com/irunbecauseiliketoeat

My Journey to a better Me

As a teenager I was beyond blessed with not having a weight issue.

October 2011

When I was 18 I had a pretty standard weight for someone of my height, I still was not exercising in any form. I met my husband and was married by the age of 19. A married life of late dinners and nights out quickly spun out of control and before I knew it I was 180lbs and was mortified. I went on Adkins in 2005 and got down to 145lbs in roughly 5 months. Then I went off Adkins.....within a year I was 190lbs, and then I got pregnant with my first child. My son was born in March of 2007 and I delivered him at 234lbs. How do I know all this....because I have hated myself for a long time and I remember all these numbers because the number on the scale has been an obsession for a long time for me. So in May of 2007 I decided it was time to fix my weight. I started weight watchers....it took 40 weeks to lose 65lbs, my mind wasn't in the right place but I got down to 145lbs and once again I stopped. I quit everything, no more biking or dancing, I went right back to the same old lifestyle of not watching what I was doing, by 2011 I was 175lbs again and foundmyself pregnant with our second child. I delivered our daughter at 224lbs. Nursing her will be one of the most rewarding and humbling things I have ever done. I tried to diet while nursing her but my supply kept dropping so I decided to focus on her and I could work on me when she stopped. In October of 2012 I was 205lbs, I hated myself, I had worked so hard to lose weight and I was right back where I started. I spent a few months trying to lose weight and got myself down to 198lbs.

In January 2013 I made a vow I would not make a weight loss resolution, I had an awful attitude and one of my biggest problems in my life was the way I looked at things. Everything was the end of the world, everything was negative, even when something was going right I would come up with at least 3 ways it could go wrong. I needed an attitude adjustment, I decided

September 2013

that my resolution would be to be more positive. On January 4th I started my weight loss journey, I put my mind in a different place, this wasn't a diet like last time, it was a lifestyle I needed to change and this was my training on how to live the rest of my life. In May I was down 30lbs and I found running....one of the greatest gifts I have ever been given,

January 2013 to July 2013

running has given me so many wonderful things confidence, power, strengthen, and it is easily the best therapy I have ever had. I have been struggling with my weight loss both physically and mentally since July. I have had a slow decline in my weight but one thing has changed, my actual size. I am slimmer than I ever have been, while my weight seems to be maintaining in a 5lbs range that I don't want it to be in, my clothes are baggy again and I'm reaching a point where I have no jeans to wear. The mental stress of constantly trying to be "perfect" has gotten to me. Tonight on my run I had a long talk with myself and really looked at me. I wasn't happy....wasn't one of the biggest points of getting here to be happy? I haven't been truly happy for months now because I'm so pressured to get this weight off. But who is pressuring me.....no one....I am. I have engrained it in my mind that my body will be perfect at a certain weight and that isn't the case anymore. What I want changed about my body most likely isn't a weight issue pound wise, it's a toning and slimming issue. Yeah a few more pounds may come off but my goal should be to tone and tighten not lose pounds. When this clicked in my head on my run I found myself crying, my body will never be perfect, no one has a perfect body that is real. Everyone has something they don't like, my body has done amazing things. It has wear and tear from carrying two amazing little people and it has gone

October 2013 

October 2013

from obese to healthy in less than 6 months. My body is amazing, it isn't perfect but it is amazing none the less. The pressure of weight loss isn't here anymore, it's loving and taking care of my body...that is my focus now. I am different than the 145lbs Staci of 2008.....I'm better than her, I'm stronger, healthier and far more active than she was. If my weight number wise hits the 130's that's great I will defiantly be over the moon....but if I stay in the 140's for the rest of my life that is ok too because as long as I get out there and run and stay in control of who I am than I have reached the ultimate goal of what I set out to achieve. I am happy, healthy and above all I am a role model for my children. One of my favorite things my son asks me in the mornings.."Did you go on your run Mommy?" 

My babies and I October 2013