allcdnboy1
New member
Pulled from her website: FitByJen.com
My name is Jennifer Marnell and I want to share my personal success story with you. In fact, when I look around me at the number of people struggling with weight, I want to share my story with them.
I am a 30 year old wife and mother who has struggled with weight all of my life. Two and a half years ago I started on a journey that has changed my life forever!
At age 27 I maxed out at a whopping 300 pounds and only stood 5 feet tall. I looked like a butter ball. I can laugh about it now, but back then it was embarrassing. My health was a very big risk with the way I was and I could have been dead at an early age. Not to mention I was always tired and out of breath just walking, I had no energy to do the normal “mom” things with my daughter like play ball out side, skating, or any physical activity. After one too many embarrassing moments of not fitting in the booths at restaurants and not being allowed on rides at the amusement parks I had a heart to heart with myself and decided I did not want to be the “Fat Mom” anymore and I needed to be a good example for my daughter.
With the support of my family I started my journey with the most important key, “A Mind Change!” The reason I succeed now whereas before diets always failed was that key factor; I was ready mentally. Anyone can go on a diet; that’s easy; but you have to change your mind first if you want to succeed. Once I made up my mind, I went on a low fat, low calorie diet. After a few hard months it paid off. I lost fifty pounds. That got me so excited and determined that I wanted to start exercising and I knew exactly where to go… Gold’s Gym! I did not know it then but the day I joined the gym my life would never be the same. When I first joined the people were super and helped me learn the ropes; but I was very self conscious so I stayed in the ladies only area. One day I decided to try the water cardio class and I was hooked! It was great and a lot less stressful on my bones (at 250 pounds that was important!) and I actually lasted the whole hour. That was a big accomplishment for me. After a month of seeing even more results I got the courage up to go to the group fitness class inside the main fitness room where other people could actually see me. I was very nervous at first and I thought it would be a room full of thin people who would take one look at me and laugh, but boy I was so wrong. I walked in and it was a room full of people of every shape and size, some just like me. The instructor was wonderful and very helpful. After that day you could just call me an addict. I was in every group class I could take and it made such a difference in my self esteem. With that extra motivation and encouragement from taking the classes and the people at the gym, along with my wonderful husband and daughter I dropped all the way down to 180 pounds.
After a year and a half I got a little discouraged because I hit my first plateau. So after a few weeks, again not knowing this was another life changing decision, I hired a personal trainer. He was amazing. He told me we needed to change my whole routine, including what I was eating to shock my body. It was getting used to my old routine and food. So after a four week program with him I lost another 20 pounds and from then on there was no stopping me. I kept my routine and also continued my classes.
After dropping my weight down to 134 pounds and with everyone being so supportive and people coming up to me and saying that I was their inspiration; it hit me like a ton of bricks. I wanted to use this experience and pass it on to others the way it was passed to me. The first thing I decided was that I wanted to be a group fitness instructor. In October of 2006 with the support of the head instructor, I received my certification to teach Group Power, the first weight endurance class I attended. After a month of teaching I wanted to give back even more. In November of 2006 I flew to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and was certified by the NCCPT to be a personal trainer. Most recently in July of 2007 I was the regional winner and International runner up for the Gold’s Gym “Change Your Body Change Your Life” Award.
After two and a half years of hard work, thanks to the support and encouragement of my loving family, I am 180 pounds lighter, my life has just begun and I currently weigh in at 120 pounds and wear a size 4 and I have energy to spare. But most important to me and my family are the health benefits I’ve gained by reaching and maintaining this weight. As we have all heard over and over, by losing all the excess weight, I have significantly decreased my risk for heart attack, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke and several other life-threatening diseases – which is why it is called MORBID obesity. With that in mind, I have decided to start touring and tell my story to anyone who can benefit. After all, I’m not superwoman, I have no super human powers – so if I can do it – so can anyone else who wants to do it. And sometimes, all it takes for a person to gain the motivation they need is meeting someone who truly understands the struggles and can say, “Yes, I know. I’ve been there.”