Hitch Fit Living Magazine Volume 9 - November/December 2016 | Page 36

Jessica's Story:

“I have always been the “bigger girl.” In high school, I struggled to find clothes that fit and looked like what everyone else
was wearing. I had to shop in the “special” (segregated) sections for plus size women. I had NEVER felt comfortable in
my own skin. I kept picturing myself in cute, smaller clothing. What I saw in my head, did not match what I saw in the
mirror.
In college, I lost some weight. But that was because I was a poor college student who didn’t want to spend too much
money on food, so I didn’t. Of course I lost weight, but it came right back.
After I started my career as a police officer, my weight leveled out for a while. I had to get into shape to graduate from the
academy. I was shown how to do some weight lifting, but my workouts were mainly running to pass the physical fitness
test.
I then met the love of my life, a fellow law enforcement officer. We got married in 2006. My husband is a gym enthusiast.
He got me interested in the gym life, but it wasn’t enough. I would always find a reason not to go to the gym. We work
opposite shifts, so without him there to push or pull me to the gym, I just didn’t feel like going.
We decided to start a family. I quickly became pregnant. I know my starting weight was 206 lbs. In June of 2008, our
first son was born. I don’t know what my post pregnancy weight was because, I didn’t care. How could I? We were too
focused on our beautiful baby boy.
We then decided to add to our family. After trying for 11 months, I became pregnant. Again, my starting weight was 206.
In December of 2011, our second son was born. I noticed that I had gained and retained more weight that time. At one
point, I weighed 230 lbs. I looked at photos of me from the baptism in July of 2012. I was not happy with what I saw.
In 2015, I was still not pregnant and my weight had gotten up to 215 lbs. I h