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For me this has been a journey, one of taking control of my life and realizing that I have the power to change and more.

I have always LOVED food. I was never really worried about what I ate and never gave much thought to what I was eating growing up. When I started cooking for myself and eventually my own family, nutrition became more important and I made a more concentrated effort to make sure we were eating “healthy”. But unfortunately, I never considered that too much of a good thing could be just as bad for you as eating junk food.

Growing up, I had always been pretty active and in high school I was on the swim and dive team. I guess my weight gain began when I started having my children. I found that I didn’t make time to keep up with my physical activities. So my body changed from a size 6 to over a size 14 with the births of my five children. I lost the weight from most of my pregnancies, except for the weight I gained from multiple miscarriages and from carrying my last two children.

I had learned to accept the size of my body and thought that there was really no way to change it. Over twelve years, I have tried several times to lose the weight, but always found myself in the same predicament in the end. It seemed no matter what I did, the weight was not coming off. I had tried walking, swimming, cycling, and even several home exercise videos to no avail.

Well my weight ballooned to it’s largest with my last pregnancy. In the summer of 2007, at 19 weeks gestation, we found out that our baby had a life threatening birth defect. That same week, my mother ended up in the ICU with a tumor in her liver. We were not sure if my son could be carried full-term or if my mother would survive.

Needless to say, I wasn’t paying attention to how much I was eating. I finally stopped looking at the numbers on the scale at the doctor’s office when at almost 8 months into my pregnancy it read 198 lbs. I think it finally hit me when I was out shopping one day and a woman approached me and asked if I was having quadruplets! That was definitely a wake-up call and it got me thinking about what I must do once my son was born. By the time I delivered Elliott, I was 200+ lbs.

Since the condition my son has is pretty rare, our local hospitals did not have the experience needed to handle his situation. After much research, I found the perfect facility and ended up over 2500 miles away in Boston, MA, having to live apart from my husband and children for about three months. After my son Elliott was born, he had an extended stay in the hospital following his surgery. I was not allowed to hold him for three weeks! Looking back, it amazes me that we were able to pull through this, but not without some physical scars.

My change began when my husband decided that he wanted to try this program that my sister introduced him to called P90X. He started working out and learning more about nutrition and portion sizes. Over the 90 day period, he lost weight and got into the best shape of his life. Gradually, our whole family’s eating habits began to change. In March of 2008, I decided that I needed to get fit now, not only for me, but for our children too.

We have three children with medical needs. Our son Elliott’s condition is considered “life-long” and he will need other surgeries as he grows. Our daughter Ainsley has the only case record with her type of genetic condition which includes a long list of many other complications. Also, our son Ethan has a congenital birth defect that caused blindness in one eye. None of their conditions are inherited or genetically related and as my Periantologist said, “how did you get struck by lightning more than once?” They are wonderful children and I am thankful that I have the opportunity to be their mother. I wanted to make sure that no matter what else comes our way, that my health does not limit me or my ability to meet my children’s needs.

Since I was nursing (and still am), I was concerned about dropping my weight too quickly. I started out by following only the nutrition plan that came with the P90X DVD’s. Slowly the weight began to drop off and I started to see results. Then I decided to Bring It! and began doing the workouts (lean version) with my husband, Todd. Well, all I can say is WOW! I was finally able to get rid of the doomed Jones-Johnson butt that I inherited! I maintained a safe weight loss that allowed me to still nurse and achieve great results. I remember one day when my son Ethan hugged me and said “ouch, what is that?” Well, he had hugged me around my waist and bumped into my hip bone – something that has been under layers of fat for pretty much his entire life. Some other exciting changes that I saw were how our children view their health. Our daughter Avery once turned down eating pizza because she wanted to “eat something healthy instead.” Ariana, our oldest, loves to have hot lunch at school only on salad bar days. I guess it has rubbed off on all of us and we are in the best shape of our lives! Our family goal is to work together and maintain a healthy, fit lifestyle.

P90X and the Club meal plans helped me go from over 200 lbs. and a size 14+ to 118 lbs. and a size 2! I never imagined in my wildest dreams this was possible. I am in better shape now then when I got married. I now realize that I did this and I am capable of so much more! It is a lifestyle change that is here to stay. I have even surpassed my original goals and am on my way to lose an additional 10 lbs.!

I want to say “Thank You” to Tony and Beachbody for giving my family the tools to make our lives better. We have seen an improvement in our overall health. My husband and I are active and our children have caught the bug too. Even our extended families have started to get more physically fit. Since then, both my husband and I have become Team Beachbody Coaches and are starting to help others meet their fitness goals too.