Picture Update

After such a successful weigh-in yesterday I decided that it is time to post a new picture! The "before" picture that is posted on my first ever blog post was from 11 pounds ago and the picture of when I was heaviest was exactly one year ago! I feel amazing!
My little puppy Sammi decided to be in the picture too. :)

Now all I need is a tan! haha

Lower Abs

I discovered a new ab video! I have still been doing the workout from the other video, but I wanted to do something that would really target my lower abs because that seems to be where I collect the most fat.

This video has a couple of really good lower ab workouts that I think should work really well!

http://www.5min.com/Video/Lower-Ab-Workout-145279620

I will be posting new pictures of how my body has changed throughout my journey very soon! :)

Love Always,

Jessica Clark

From Beer Belly to Six Pack

I have decided that on my days in between from running I am going to work on my abs. My gut seems to be the place that takes the longest on my body to lose the fat so I am going to start giving it an extra boost. Running alone helps to reduce belly fat, but I want to speed up the process a bit especially since I am not running every day. I would love to run every day, but the program I am on only allows me to run every other day so abs on the off days it is!

I found this awesome ab workout on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdcDEhk1Sgo

I have not tried it yet, but it looks pretty difficult which means it will work. I think with this specific workout I can tone muscle quickly without having to exhaust myself so I am excited to try it! I will keep you updated as to how it is going.

I posted some before pictures of how my belly looks now and I will post new pictures ever so often to show my progress. :)

Love Always,

Jessica Jeannine Clark

Brain Health

My mom sent me this link earlier and it is a quiz to take to discover your brain health. It is all based on the way you sleep, the way you eat, the state of your mood, and many other things. I received my results and they seemed pretty accurate.

Here is what they were: http://www.amenclinics.com/my-brain-health/online-tests-calculators/cyb-questionnaire/cyb-questionnaire-results/?a=2&b=4&c=6&d=6&e=0&f=0&g=1&h=1&i=0&j=3&k=0&l=0&x=1&oa=1&ob=0&od=1&oe=1

Some very interesting stuff! Take the quiz for your own brain health at: http://www.amenclinics.com/cybcyb/online-tests-calculators/cyb-questionnaire/

Love Always,

Jessica Jeannine Clark

Good and Bad

Well, I weighed in today and sadly discovered that I had not lost any weight this week. :( However, I did not gain any so that is good. I did the second week of C25K today on a treadmill in the fitness center at my Mom's apartment complex. I had been doing it on the treadmill in my Dad's garage and it was so hot and humid! It was a million times better in the fitness center and it felt really good rather than exhausting so I know where I am doing my workout from now on!
I am disappointed in my non-loss, but I am happy that I did not gain and that I am loving my workouts! Exercise does release endorphins (the body's natural happy chemicals) so that is good that I am getting lots of those!


Weight this week: 143 lbs.

Accomplished this week: Sticking with my workouts

Goal for next week: Work out everyday and watch what I eat a little better like actually measuring stuff rather than just eying it.

Love Always,

Jessica Jeannine Clark

Results

I received the results of my Health Screen today and they were not too shabby! There were a couple of things however that concerned me a little. My HDL (good cholesterol) level was a little low and my chloride (electrolyte) was low. I did some research and discovered that chloride is basically sodium. I guess I am not getting enough salt in my diet! I also discovered that as long as your triglycerides and LDL (bad cholesterols) are low then a low HDL might not be a risk. Either way I am going to try and boost both of these because I want to be at optimum health! Has anyone heard of these such things and have any advice for me?

Thanks,

Jessica Jeannine

Excitement and Disappointment

I weight myself every week on Sundays. Last week when I weighed myself I was 3 pounds lighter AND I fit into all of my old pants! It was a great week and I felt really good about myself. This week I only lost one pound. I am so glad that I did not gain or maintain, but I was still disappointed in myself. Why didn't I lose more? What did I do wrong? I should be celebrating my loss, but instead I can't help thinking that I messed up. I seriously just need to celebrate the small victories and give myself a confidence boost. I think that the more confident in myself I become, the more I will lose and the faster I will grow to love the skin I'm in! I will work on that this week.

Here are my stats for this week:

Loss of 1 pound, weighing in at: 143 pounds

Here are my goals for this week:

Exercise more and be more careful about what I eat.

Love Always,

Jessica Jeannine Clark

About My Journey

I am 5'3 and my weight has fluctuated throughout my whole life. In high school I was at my thinnest weighing only 118 and wearing size 1 jeans. The sad part of that is that even back then I thought I was fat. I have never had a good body image and I think that was one of the major causes for all of the weight fluctuations. After high school I went through some hard times and ended up gaining a lot of weight. I then weighed what I thought was my heaviest ever, 155 pounds. During this time I started working at a very physical job and lost most of the weight not even realizing it. I then weighed about 130 pounds and looked great.(pic: bottom) I stayed about the same weight for quite a while bouncing back and forth between the 130s and 140s and then I met my future husband. :) You have heard of "happy fat" right? Well that's what I call what happened to my body! My now husband and I would always go out to eat and out drinking when we first started dating. I didn't even think about how unhealthy it was because I was having fun and was happy. This went on for about a year or so. I just kept eating and not exercising and didn't even care. It wasn't until March of 2010 that I tipped the scales at 167 (pic: middle) and was shocked at how I let myself get. During this time I had recently found out that I was pregnant. My husband and I were so excited! I thought, "Yeah, I gained a lot of weight and probably should do something about it, but now I NEED to gain weight!" and I ate as much as I possibly could. Well sadly we found out just a couple of weeks later that I had lost the baby. It was a very rough time, but it was also an awakening. I felt to blame for the loss. I thought that maybe my body wasn't healthy enough to hold and grow a human life. I felt disgusted with myself and made a promise that I was going to do something about it, I had to! And I did.....
I started out counting calories and trying to exercise a little bit. I struggled A LOT at first, I just kept wanting to eat! I somehow still lost ten pounds and was down to 157, it was a good start. My mom then told me about Weight Watchers and how easy it is and how it is not even a diet it is a lifestyle change. A lifestyle change? That is exactly what I needed! So I started the amazing program of Weight Watchers and started exercising my butt off (literally) and here I am about 4 months later and weighing in at 144 pounds! I have lost a total of 23 pounds since my lost pregnancy! I am very proud of myself and am continuing to push forward. I recently took a health screening at work and realized that I am in all of the healthy ranges for body fat and waist size! It would have been awful to see what those stats were back in March! I am almost down to a normal BMI, 3 pounds away to be exact. My first goal is to weigh 135 which is only 9 pounds away and my ultimate goal is to weigh 125 pounds and then we will see! I am currently doing a running program called Couch to 5k. It is a great beginners program to running and anyone can do it.

Here is the link: http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

IT IS FREE! :)

I decided to start this blog and share my official "before picture" from this point (pic: top) so that I can share my journey with anyone who is interested and I hope to inspire others to become healthy along the way. Having a great body would be awesome, but being ultimately healthy would be even better and that is what I am striving for.
Thank you so much for reading my blog!

Love Always,

Jessica Jeannine Clark