Hi, my name is Jessica. I am 32 years old and I have struggled with my weight since I was 10 years old! For some of you, you may know what that story feels like. For others, it may be a more recent struggle. No matter how or when your struggle started, I understand your pain and disappointment when you have tried every “diet” under the sun. I can remember my mom putting her and myself on a “diet” when I was 10. We did the cabbage soup diet, we did the we are going to starve ourselves for a few days diet only to then binge eat diet and even tried diet pills together.
I remember in high school that I wasn’t super large, but I weighed more than everyone else. I had some success with Weight Watchers the summer before my senior year of high school and I felt great, until sometime in college when I fell off the bandwagon. That led into years of yo-yo dieting through my twenties. I did the HCG diet and lost a good amount of weight only to gain double back. Yo-yo dieting, mixed with stress and depression help get me to where I am now. And for a long time, I think I sort of just gave up and just wanted to accept that this is who I am and I am never going to lose weight no matter how hard I try.
BUT, I didn’t really want to accept that and knew that in the bottom of my heart, that was just an excuse. Last year, I felt compelled to start a new journey through blogging to help hold me accountable, but more importantly, help others learn to love themselves. I did and I started off doing pretty good. I started incorporating healthier choices that were livable and I was feeling great that I did the hardest part, which was to take the first step. I had the blog up and running for just about a month, and then…
Last spring, I started the keto diet and was excited that I was able to stick to it longer than three to four days. I was feeling good about myself. I was into week three when my world as I knew it, fell apart. I had worked for an organization that I had poured my heart and soul into for almost eleven years, but this place that was such an immense part of me had become a toxic environment that I didn’t even recognize it anymore. Ultimately, I had to make the decision that I had in my mind been trying to make for years and that was to leave. In June 2018, I packed my car to the brim and moved from East Tennessee to Charleston, South Carolina. I took a job at another organization that has brought me new friends and an upbeat and positive atmosphere, which is what was lacking in my world before.
It has taken this long to heal, and I’m not completely there yet, but Charleston has soothed my soul in so many ways. I’m rediscovering who I am, my purpose and what I want out of life. For months, healing has looked like beach trips, wine, discovering things in my new city and eating a lot of unhealthy food. I made the decision when I went back home for Christmas that the blog had to be relaunched because I felt like I finally knew the direction I wanted my life to go and I was ready to make goals and reach them.
I started the year off at my heaviest weight ever, 298 pounds. I have in mind my goal weight, but I’m not focusing on that as much as I am making small goals. The first goal is to lose 10% of what I weight now, so rounding up = 30 pounds. Let’s do this together!
Eat, Pray, and Love Yourself 