From Madelynn: Day 22 of Inspire! is Jasmin.  Jasmin is my sister-in-love!  She has been a What Size Was Eve supporter since day 1 and I  am so excited she wanted to share her story with you all.  I love that everyone who has shared is on different paths!  I hope you are challenged by her story.  Everyone, meet my sister-in-love, Jasmin…

My name is Jasmin and I’m 28 years young. I’m Madelynn’s favorite sister-in-law on this side of the family (I’m her only sister-in-law on this side of the family). Like many women my plans to lose weight came every January of my teen and adult life or after a weekend of being around too many skinny and pretty women.  I would tell myself that I was going to start working out that Monday, but I was LAZY. I would always hear thick girls talking about guy’s appreciating a girl with more curves and how they didn’t think they were fat instead they said they were just “pleasantly plumped.”  We make a lot of excuses for our weight. We say all those things, but deep down inside I think, we want to be skinnier.

On Aug 31, 2013 I moved to Georgia and when we arrived my husband had to go back to Chicago for a few weeks and I decided I was going to take advantage and eat lots of veggie because he hates them.  I didn’t weigh myself when I came to Georgia, but in July I went to the doctor because my knee and ankle had been hurting and my doctor flat out told me I was overweight and that’s why my knee and ankle were in pain. I was hurt, a part of me was hoping he would have said there was something wrong and I needed knee or ankle surgery. When I told my husband about what the doctor told me, he had a look on his face, but didn’t say anything at the moment. Not too long after he said he spoke up about something he heard, he said for every pound to a pound and a half lost it takes off 8 to 10 lbs of pressure off the knees. Hearing my doctor and husband talk about weight made me want to punch someone and cry. So I weighed myself and came in at in at 246 lbs.  The last time I was in the 200’s I was pregnant. I felt it when I tried getting out of bed, when I would try on clothes and sad to say even in my intimate time with my husband. I was seeing signs and many more regarding my being overweight and I still didn’t do anything to change.  It was laziness!  

When I came to Georgia and I was here with without a car. So I had to walk the kids to the bus stop, take them to the pool and park. Also, they were on baseball teams and since that was their first time being on a team and not having experience I realized they were really bad and my husband was in Chicago which meant I had to get my lazy butt up and teach them what I knew.  Doing this, controlling my eating and joining the small activities with them I started losing weight.  I didn’t keep track of my weight and how much I was losing but little by little I was noticing how I wasn’t dying for air and water when I was engaged in all these new activities.  I also wasn’t struggling to get out of my bed!

I lost some weight before my husband came home and I was hoping he would notice, but nooooo!!  He had too much going on with finding a job and had too much on his plate to pay attention to my weight loss. I realized I really wanted to hear someone tell me that they noticed my weight loss, but I got nothing. I just continued doing the same routine I was doing since I moved down here. Then one day before the holiday, I finally weighed myself and I saw that I was 198 lbs and I freaked out!  I was sooo happy. I decided to start looking at old family pictures and I saw the difference. We decided to do before and after pictures of everyone in the house and I noticed a difference in all of us…it then became a family thing!

But then in November when my sister and family came for Thanksgiving, I went crazy with the amazing food they cooked and all the sweets we got for the kids, that’s when I gained 5 pounds! It’s funny how I could feel those 5 pounds!  That wasn’t for long because now I’m back on track and trying my best to keep with motivating myself to lose more weight and get healthy for myself and the family.

It feels amazing to be on the right track with eating better and exercising. I believe most of us think that we have to give up all the good food and workout to the extreme in order to lose weight and that’s not true. I just added more veggies and did more activities with my kids. After I lost some weight, I realized I had more energy so I started exercising at home! I would walk around my apartment with my husband’s weight vest, I would do 20 minutes of Zumba (beginner’s video on YouTube) wearing a sweater and now I jump rope on my balcony and I moved up to 45 min of Zumba. I’m the type that doesn’t like going to the gym alone, so if you’re the same just start at home. Also if you are a prayer warrior/worshiper then walk around and during your time with God.  It’s a great time to do it!

Be encouraged today…We can do this…The best is yet to come!

Madelynn

“Then you will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” John 8:32