My Weight Loss Journey

About Me

Hi, thanks for stopping by!  I'm Jill, I was the original creator (and one of six original team members) of Win, Lose, or Blog.  You may or may not have noticed that Win, Lose, or Blog has been inactive for awhile now.  Well I recently decided to take it over and continue with the weight loss and health motivation in the form of my own story.  I hope you'll follow along and share my journey with me.  

I was born and raised in the gorgeous Pacific Northwest but have since relocated to upstate New York.  I am a photographer, fitness enthusiast, and mom to two cute boys.  My youngest little guy has apraxia of speech, which is a fairly uncommon disability so it's not well known, but it adds some extra challenges to our days.  Somehow in between working, breaking up fights between my loving but typical little boys, speech therapy and sign language sessions for my son, and all the rest of life's craziness, I manage to squeeze in some meal planning/prep and a workout 6 days a week.  

Follow my on instagram for daily motivation and healthy lifestyle tips!  @jill_getsfit

My Weight Loss Journey

I was already at an unhealthy weight before having kids, but after having two babies 15 months apart the stress was my perfect excuse to turn my habits from bad to worse.  In the picture on the left above, my youngest was already over a year old and I was just continuing to put on the pounds.  I got virtually no physical activity and ate crap all day long.  Then after the kids went to bed I would top it off with "second dinner" that usually consisted of pizza or something similarly unhealthy.  

Finally one day I got sick of feeling bad about myself, not just about how I looked, but about my lack of self control.  I decided to start working out and eating healthy, portion controlled meals.  I started by doing Jillian Micheal's 30 Day Shred and counting calories using my fitness pal.  Those two were a great combination for helping me form a habit of making healthy choices.  

Since then I have tried countless diets and exercise programs, mostly because I like trying new things so I don't get bored.  I have found the ones I am successful at are the ones that help you make a sustainable lifestyle change.  The ones that are too restrictive usually end up back-lashing, at least for me.  

I started my weight loss journey two and a half years ago and I'm down 45 pounds.  I have had my ups and downs along the way, and I still have 10 pounds to go, but I've found I'm at my happiest when I focus on being proud of my self control and healthy choices rather than the number on the scale.