Jumpstart Your January for a Healthier 2016

HI! I’m Jess: mommy of 2, military wife, lover of food, fitness, doggies, beach days, craft beer, New England sports, and general positivity! I’m also a Health & Fitness Coach, which less than 2 years ago is something I NEVER would have thought I’d be saying. I used to HATE working out. I can’t count how many gyms I’ve joined only to fizzle out embarrassingly fast. And my go-to meals since childhood have been chicken nuggets and buttered noodles… eating habits I clung to well into adulthood.

So, imagine my horror when at 27 weeks pregnant with my son, I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes. So much changed in that instant when I suddenly had to overhaul everything I was eating All. The. Time. (While being an emotional pregnant mess, no less!) I realized I had no idea what it even meant to eat “right,” but like it or not, I had to figure it out now for my health and my baby’s.

Several Google searches, one trip to the nutritionist, and many, many tears later, I was (forcibly) launched on a journey towards healthier living. I started cutting way down on carbs, incorporating more protein & veggies, actually reading food labels, and paying attention to portion sizes. All of this was admittedly against my will at first, but here’s what happened…

1. I learned there is an undeniable link between what I put in my body and my overall health. We all “know” this, but I got to SEE it in numerical data with every meal I ate. If I slipped on my diet and ate pizza, my blood sugar levels were BAD. If I stuck to my nutrition plan high in veggies and lean meats, GOOD. An eye-opening experience, to say the least.
2. My baby thrived. It honestly hadn’t previously occurred to me how my nutrition was truly correlated to my baby’s health. If not controlled, GD can be dangerous for the baby, but I was literally keeping him safe with my nutrition, and because of my efforts, he was perfectly healthy!
3. By the time I checked out of the hospital after giving birth, I weighed 14 pounds LESS than my pre-pregnancy weight. YES, YOU READ THAT RIGHT.

Talk about a wake up call. My nutrition was so bad before this diagnosis, that in just changing my diet alone (I wasn’t exercising other than walking), I dropped 14 pounds of excess weight WHILE PREGNANT. Well, that was it for me. There was no going back. I still had A LOT to learn about how to sustain a healthier lifestyle longterm, but I also had a profoundly changed outlook on how important it was to do so. (And not to mention, the new, smaller jeans I bought and I wanted to stay in!)

I knew one part of maintaining my weight loss and being healthy was finding an exercise routine I would be able to stick with. I had a 3-year-old and an infant at home, and I’d quit every workout routine I had ever started in the past, but I was finally determined. When I purchased my first Beachbody home workout program, I’ll never forget my husband’s words: “In 2 weeks, those DVDs will start collecting dust.” He was wrong.

A few months into my new routine of 30-minute workouts, 5-7 days/week, a friend invited me to do a Clean Eating Challenge with her (at which I promptly scoffed and rolled my eyes). I joined anyways, and my mind was BLOWN. This was the nutrition guidance and accountability I needed. I had assumed “clean eating” meant nothing but salads. Turns out it meant eating all kinds of REAL food. I began learning so much about how to just eat SMART, read ingredient labels, and fuel my body with good nutrients, rather than obsess over my carb count.

I jumped from that challenge into a Fitness Challenge using the workout program I was already doing anyways, and HOLY SMOKES… Suddenly, I wasn’t working on this healthy stuff alone. I had this instant community of like-minded, supportive individuals to check in with each day; with whom I could vent, celebrate, be motivated, and be held accountable. In 2014, it took me 6 months to go from someone who HATED working out and had always given up, to becoming so passionate about what I was doing, I wanted to share it, so I could help others figure this out, too. I became a Health & Fitness Coach through Beachbody as a platform to host my own nutrition and fitness-related challenges, and it’s been the most personally helpful, motivating, and rewarding journey.

No matter where you are on YOUR journey to a healthier lifestyle, I invite you to join my

Jumpstart Your January Challenge starting January 4th!

It’s FREE to join the Clean Eating Challenge that includes:

A complete shopping list

Simple, healthy meal plans

Daily tips & topics

Motivation and support in a private Facebook group

And ME as your free coach for any 1-on-1 support you need.

Click Here to Join

You can also stick around for the optional 21-Day Fitness Challenge starting January 11th:

Workout at home for about 30 minutes, 5-7 days/week

YOU choose what workout program you want

Daily tips & topics

An accountability partner within the group for added motivation

Chances to win WEEKLY PRIZES!

Please reach out to me ASAP to sign up for any or all of this!

jessminopfitness@gmail.com

Find me on Facebook

IG: @jessminopfitness