Weight Loss Success Story: Jennifer size 14 to size 6

Published:  05/17/2014

From Jennifer:

Before I started working with Maria, I was a stay at home mother of two boys (both under 3 years old!) who felt like I had no time to exercise and no desire to eat healthy. As a stress eater, I felt like it was totally impossible to leave behind my junk food! How would I cope with my stress?! And exercise? No way, I had a toddler and a baby, and I could barely keep up as it is.

As a young mom who is a former athlete and dancer, I hated the way I looked as a 5'9" 167 pound woman, but felt powerless to do anything about it. My husband was always sweet and said he loved my post-baby body, but I hated every last jiggle and pound! I wanted it gone, but felt helpless about where to start.

When I met Maria, she said the one incredibly motivating phrase I would repeat to myself for the entirety of my weight loss journey, "Jennifer, in 12 weeks, you could have a brand new body!" Maria was completely correct. With her help, I went from not being able to run or lift anything heavier than my kids, to now! I now run a 9 minute mile, can bench press 50lbs, squat press 145, and I'm slimmer and healthier than before I had my kids! I'm a slender, healthy and energetic 145 pounds, and back in my size 6 jeans!

I'm not saying it was always easy. I over-ate things that were bad for me when I got stressed, until Maria gave me alternate suggestions on how to cope. The best part of having Maria as my trainer was when I needed help, she was there. I never had to wait to get to see her, she was always quick with the responses and it was such a relief to know she had a solid education and a ton of research backing up her suggestions. I wanted my weight loss to last, and fad diets never work. Likewise, I wanted a trainer who knew what she was doing, because as a mom I couldn't risk sloppy training that would leave me injured. Maria was my peace of mind that what I was doing would be safe, AND effective.

I realized on my weight loss journey that with the right help, motivation and training, you can achieve any goal you set for yourself. Maria was a constant source of encouragement and assistance, and you know the interesting part? I never set foot in a gym with her! Can you believe it? She helped me over the phone and through email because I live in Missouri! Now, if I can get all this done with Maria's help just over my computer, imagine what you can get accomplished! I know I sound over the moon about her, but I mean every word. My body is proof that she knows what she's doing! From a size 14 to a size 6? In just over 3 months? Amazing, right?!

Only you can make the decision to change your life, but if you're really lucky, you'll have Maria by your side cheering you on and helping you strategize your nutrition and training. After all, 12 weeks to a brand new body? That's no time at all!

~ Jennifer James

Click on each photo below to see the details on Jennifer's progress

From Maria: Jennifer started my program in January 2011, weighing 167 pounds. She came to me frustrated about her previous lack of success in losing weight.

Jennifer has followed my recommendations and when things got tough communicated with me so that I could help her. She has had many challenges as a busy stay at home mom of a 2 year old and an infant: an strong desire to “reward” herself at night with food after the kids went to bed, little time to exercise as often as she would like, fatigue, weight loss plateaus, minor injuries, and a transition from stay at home mom to full time working mom. Then to make it worse, her new work environment was full of tempting junk food. Despite challenges and temporary setbacks, she has been successful and has learned an "easy to live with" strategies that will help her keep the weight off and live a healthy lifestyle...forever!

My hope is that everyone reading this will be encouraged by Jennifer's success story.

Jennifer wrote regularly in a blog that chronicled her journey, posted pictures of herself and detailed her progress: http://justeastofwest.wordpress.com/2011/06/02/my-trainer-is-the-best/

For even more inspiration and entertaining reading, visit her blog and select weight loss under "categories".