99% Honest, 1% Ridiculous. (And pictures to prove it).

People seem to enjoy honesty, so here we go!

I’m Jessi (clearly). I’m 28, have a 10 year old son and an amazing man to call husband. Quite obviously I fall on the “not necessary” side of the Oxford Comma debate. (Yes, I am also a bit of a grammar queen.) I joined MFP last year, dabbled with it, left it, gained 3 pounds and then looked in the mirror 5 weeks ago and said NO MORE. In 5 weeks, I’ve dropped 25 pounds, began walking more frequently and have changed my family’s eating habits. Now with that out of the way, here’s why I’ve joined MFP:

I am the heaviest that I have ever been in my life. I remember being young, thin and fit – as a competitive swimmer, I really had no choice. Granted, I’ve never had thigh gap, but I didn’t need it to know that I was healthy and so assuredly fit. Back then, I was the only Freshman to make it to the big, Varsity Invitational for my region, and actually placed in the 100m Butterfly. Proud moment, and also one of the last where weight and fitness are concerned.

(I’m the Hansen-Looking chick on the right…)


(Also on the right…)


(In the middle…)


And then this, the most amazing thing in my life, happened:



Yup, that’s a whole 75 pounds in 9 months. Don’t be fooled, though, I ate healthy through my entire pregnancy; salads, fruits, veggies, no fast food, no soda, limited caffeine… I just gained a ton of weight. And it never, ever went away. In fact, it multiplied.

I gained weight through an emotionally, and only one time physically, abusive marriage. And then I gained weight through a stressful divorce, and a stressful long distance relationship (with my amazing, current husband). The damage of not handling life in a conducive, positive way was done. Five weeks ago, my heaviest weight ever, looked like this:



With a face like this:



Oh, no, wait… that’s Sir Nicholas de Mimsy Puppington. Sorry… the actual face of mine (I’m the one with the red, curly hair…):



But then, five weeks ago, MFP became an obsession. I researched and got frustrated that I couldn’t lose weight and also eat all of the Taco Bell. I began tracking and reading more about health and fitness, I started pinning healthy recipes on Pinterest. I made my family eat broccoli (I know, I’m so evil). I updated all my Facebook statuses to “HEY I LOST MORE WEIGHT LOOK!” And now, five weeks later, I have no desire for Taco Bell, soda, horrible nasty not-really-food-food. And, I’m starting to see the change…



Especially in my face…



I’ve resisted posting an introduction thread until now because I needed to make sure that I wasn’t going to quit. I needed to assure myself that I’m in this to lose it all, to get healthy and stay that way. 25 pounds down, 5 weeks in, completely personal transformation… I’m ready now. I’d like to have motivation to keep going, friends to laugh with and to damn the slow weeks and plateaus. I’d like to be mutually encouraging, whether you’re trying to drop 5 or 100 pounds.

So, if you have a sense of humor (definitely a requirement) and want mutual motivation, support and encouragement, go ahead and send a request.

(Also, as an extra added bonus, you’ll get nerd and geek culture references quite frequently… I mean, even my food diary is Hobbit style.) :happy: