Jessica's Journey...

I sent my sister a picture today of my new work out outfit. She told me to post it to Instagram but I was too scared so she said she would do it since I wouldn't.  My initial reaction was embarrassment.  I had already worked out when I took the pic & I didn't think it was flattering but I only expected her to see it.  To my surprise I went to work and my phone started blowing up with texts. Clients and friends saw the picture and were telling me how inspired and motivated they were by me.  I didn't realize how my progress had affected people. Rachel had been telling me I needed to post my 1 year before and after pics but I kept making excuses. I was scared. But all the positive feed back today about the first picture gave me the courage to do it.  So here is my story.. Please be gentle with your comments as I am human with feelings. (In other words I'm a woman and we are super sensitive!)

Jessica's Journey...

I'm not by nature a athlete. I hated excersise and really didn't care that much about sports. I was actually conned into playing Softball one year and begged the coach not to play me. She agreed after I dropped a fly ball three times in a row. I have one sister who was an amazing Volleyball star in high school. And another who was a awesome Softball player. I just figured I didn't get the athlete gene.  I had the worst eating habits growing up than anyone I know.  I lived on peanut butter M&M's and Dr Pepper in High School. Oh and Cup of Noodles... Almost every night for dinner.  I wouldn't eat meat. Or Veggies. Or really fruit either.  It wasn't my parents fault I just really had issues with food.  I LOVED junk food plain and simple as that.  In my 20's I started reaping the consequences of my eating habits. I would gain 10lbs. Lose it. Then gain 15lbs. This went on through out my 20's. And then I hit 30. Oh dear God.. Everyone who warned me about hitting 30 was right. I was 25lbs over weight and experiencing fatigue, hormone issues, hair loss, dry skin and constipation that was seriously alarming. I kept asking my Drs if there could be a thyroid issue or anything else wrong with me. They kept saying no.  So I started Crossfit in hopes that I could lose the weight and start feeling better.  I was scared to death so I made Brad go with me. And I literally hurt so bad after the first work out I didn't think I would ever go back. But I did. I kept going and I started dabbling with Paleo. Which was hard bc I really didn't like anything on my Paleo menu. I started a Paleo Challenge at my box in January of 2013. I followed the diet 80-90% of the time. The rest of the 10-20% was pizza and beer.  Which for me was really good compared to my diet in the past.  And everyone around me was losing weight. Except me. I quit turning in my food log because I was embarrassed thinking that everyone would think I was lying about my food journal because I wasn't losing any weight.  I thought something had to be wrong because all though I had quit gaining weight I didn't lose a pound and to change your diet that extremely you would think I would've lost a pound or 2.  I switched Drs and I finally found a Dr who diagnosed me with Hypothyroid.  I was relieved to find that there was something wrong with me because I knew I felt terrible and that just couldn't be normal. I spent a couple months on Desicated Thyroid and I felt better but I knew I wasn't 100%.  I was watching the girls around me at Crossfit get better and I was not really progressing at all and found it hard to get there as I was so sore from each workout. I really was finding that I enjoyed Crossfit but it was depressing to not see much improvement. It didn't seem like the soreness was normal but I really didn't have anything to compare to.  Frustrated with my new Dr I started looking for a Holistic Dr. I found one. One hour away. But at that point it didn't matter. I wanted to feel better so badly I would pretty much do anything. And I went to see her with that exact attitude.  Brad drove me to Valencia, I spent a hour and a half in her office with all my lab work papers and came out in tears.  I was overwhelmed with the information she gave me. She diagnosed me with Hashimotos Thyroiditis. The answers were right in front of my last Dr she just didn't care enough to even look at my Labs.  This Dr sent me home with a book and told me she would only work with me if I went 100% gluten Free and followed the Paleo diet closely.  She said if I didn't it would be a waste of her time because there would be nothing else she could do for me.  So I cried to my husband Brad who I'm sure thought to himself " this will last all of one week".  But it didn't.   I went home and stayed up late every night reading and researching. I learned that Hashimotos is a autoimmune disease. I also learned that 80% of our immune system is in our gut. The more I read the more I realized that my whole life I had been setting myself up for something like this to happen. It was inevitable. I researched and researched and found that for people with Hashimotos it is extremely important to stay away from gluten because of Two reasons.  One is almost all patients diagnosed with Hashimotos have a gluten allergy or intolerance. And two the molecular structure of Gluten is almost identical to that of the Thyroid. So when Gluten gets into the blood stream the brain cannot differentiate between the two and it basically fuels the auto immune attack.  The way I saw it was I had NO other choice than to listen to my Dr.  So I started Paleo. 100%. Two weeks in I noticed my hair quit falling out.  I started going to the bathroom every day.  I lost 8 lbs in 3 weeks. I was sold. I felt better and better everyday that went by.  I for the first time in my life started looking at food as fuel and nutrients for my body. And I didn't want to poison it anymore.  I became interested in my body and how it worked and how food could heal my body. And you know what?  Two months into Paleo I decided that there were only positive things happening to me. Not one negative thing.  Every symptom I had been complaining about for the last couple years was going away.  I was working toward that 100% and I was getting there. I didn't care what people thought of my new diet because it didn't matter. What did matter was I was feeling better then ever and best of all I was losing weight AND I was getting better at Crossfit.  Noticeably better. Everyone was commenting on how my body was changing.  It felt good. I felt good.  I made up my mind that this was going to be a lifestyle change for me. It wasn't a diet. This was just how I ate.  And it started getting easier. I would say at the 2 month mark it felt natural to me.  I  started getting super annoying because it was all I could talk about. I just wanted people to know what the Paleo diet and Crossfit was doing for me.  And I knew I was annoying but I reallly couldn't help myself.  It was like I knew a secret that was so good because it could help anyone who chose to listen and apply it to their life. Somewhere along the way I started to find a balance and tried to not talk about it ALL the time.  But with the changes people started asking me my secret. I had friends who wanted my recipes and my help. And the crazy thing is I'm just a amateur. I'm nowhere near where I need to be nor do I know that much. I just know enough to make it day by day and I am lucky enough to be a avid reader so I just keep reading. And researching.  And talking to people who eat like I do. And literally stalk other peoples blogs and instagrams for new recipes.  I started talking to my sister about starting a blog. She started doing Crossfit before me and has been a clean eater for a long time and has a husband Jacob who has a masters in Exercise Physiology and is finishing Chiropractor school. (I know lucky her). I'm not good at the computer stuff but she is. And we basically were weekly trying new recipes and exchanging them and any new knowledge we had gained. Or any knowledge we had pulled out of Jacob.  We decided that we weren't professionals but if we could help a couple people along the way then why not start a blog. If anything it would help hold us accountable.  So here we are. Two sisters one eating Paleo and 100% gluten free and the other eating paleo most of the time and clean the rest of the time.  On a journey together hoping to motivate our family and friends and help even if it's just a little bit. So with all that said I decided to post my story with my 1 year pictures. I'm not going to lie I'm scared to death. My body is no where near where I want it to be.  I'm super critical of these pictures.  But I keep reminding myself that in one year I have lost 22lbs,  built more muscle then I have ever had in my life and all the while dealing with a Autoimmune Disease. So is my body perfect?  Nope. And that's ok. I've made so much progress and I am truly proud of myself for it.  I'm just a average girl who doesn't consider herself athletic, and still gets super intimidated every time I walk into my Crossfit box. A uneducated girl trying to educate herself about nutrition and her body.  And a girl who wants nothing more then to change her life for the positive so when she decides to have children she can be the best example possible.  That's it. Jessica's Journey.. This journey is just barely getting started :)