Live Vibrant: Jessica Day

I have known Jessica for 11 years now and this girl is incredible.  She radiates confidence and I am so excited to be able to share her success.   Thank you Jessica for who you are and for being a member of our challenge!!!

Hello! My name is Jessica Day. I have two beautiful girls and live in Clinton Utah. My husband is a detective for Ogden City. I have my own little cleaning business, and work as a teacher for Leap'n Learners Preschool. I love life, and always have! I love to run, bike, read, play volleyball, play with my girls, vacation, and learn new things about health and exercise. I feel like I have been on a weight loss journey my whole life, always worrying about weight no matter what weight I was at! Here is a little bit about my journey of weight loss...the good, the bad, and the ugly.
I have always been an active person. I love sports. LOVE sports. I love to play basketball and volleyball, and stayed busy with sports in High School and College. When I was pregnant with my first baby Lily, I was playing sports up until 5 months when I found out I had a slight tear in my uterine wall and could no longer exercise in any way. That was really hard for me, and so I ate. And ate. I gained a lot of weight with Lily, and kept it on. I was still my happy self, but deep down I hated the way I was, and the fact that I had no self-control. That is when I started running. I did my first race a year after I had Lily. I was so scared. I had always done a little running but didn't think I could ever be good at it. My brother and sister in law talked me into it, and so I started training. It was a 5k, which was a marathon to me. I still remember when me and Ashley, my sister in law, were training and I ran my first 3 miles straight. I had always wanted to be able to run around the 3 mile block around my parents house, but never even tried. And then I did it! It was a huge accomplishment for me! That is when my confidence started to grow, and I started to believe in myself. I realized that if I put in the work, even if it was slow, I could accomplish anything that I set my sights on. That race was the first of many! On my bucket list I have always had 'run a 1/2 marathon'....haha, I don't even know why I wanted to, I thought I would NEVER be able to do it. This past summer I ran my first half. It was hard, but I knew if I put in the work, I would be able to do it. I also did 2 Sprint Triathlons last year, and one this year. If you would have asked me a couple of years ago if I could do this, I would have told you NO WAY. I don't tell you all of this to get a good pat on the back, but to help you realize that you CAN do anything you put your mind to. It took me two years to work up enough confidence and determination to accomplish my goals. And now I have more goals that I am working towards, and it feels great!
So now I want to talk about one one more item of my journey, and that is the eating part of it. Ahh!! Trying to eat healthy is such an emotional roller coaster! I feel like I have the tools to eat properly, I am educated and know what I ought to eat....its just the DOING part that is hard. It is 100% mental. To help me, I signed up for a Biggest Loser Contest at the gym. It was life changing. I saw so many different women, all struggling with the same issue. Weight. Stupid weight! It would have been easy to quit, but I wanted this so bad for myself. I knew it was going to be hard...and it was! But it was so worth it! I started eating 6 times a day, and started counting my calories on MyFitnessPal. I love that app. The hardest part was going to parties and seeing all of the delicious food! But when I stuck to my diet, I felt in control of myself. It got easier as time went on, and I could see the weight coming off. I started at 216 lbs, and am currently 155lbs. I know I have a lot more to go, but I feel awesome and proud of myself! Here are some before and after pictures....
So with all of that being said, here are some tips that helped me become happier and healthier.... 1. DONT be the 'I will start on Monday' person. Not everyday will be perfect, and that is fine, but don't let it ruin your week!! Start again, as soon as you can. I used to always 'Start my diet on Monday'.... and that meant eat as much as moms yummy desserts on Sunday as possible. That is NOT going to help you. 2. BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!! And realize your successes, no matter how small! Everybody is at a different part of their health journey. I used to look at the girls on the treadmills who would run for days...literally days. I would run a few minutes and walk, and be discouraged. If you are trying your best, and a few minutes is all you can run, PAT YOURSELF ON THE BACK! Because in the next few weeks, you will see those minutes adding onto each other! You will surprise yourself. 3. Surround yourself with others that have similar goals as you do. It never helps to have people around who don't understand what your goals and ambitions are. 4. SIGN UP FOR A RACE!!! A 5k, a Triathlon... ANYTHING!!! This is one of the biggest things that helped me with my self confidence and to push me to do better. It doesn't matter how fast you finish these races, just that you prepared for them and are accomplishing new things! 5. SIGN UP FOR WEIGHT LOSS COMPETITIONS! You are already there! It is good to have goals and supports to help you along the way. And it is always fun to add some competitiveness to your life! Anyway, I hope that my story helps in some way. GOOD LUCK on your 30 day challenge! Thanks Stacy, what an awesome opportunity we all have to better ourselves and to be vibrant