Jen began her TRANSFORM journey after having her first child, not knowing she’d get pregnant with her second baby during the process… and STILL lose 50 pounds!
You know when you hear of these weight lose stories, that the people have this “AH-HA” moment as if they are sick and tired of being sick and tired? Well I had mine just before I found out about the transformation project. I had a focus meeting with Devan and he asked what my weight loss goal is?! I said I would like to lose 40 LBS before my son turns two. Then he told me that they are started a transformation challenge. So I did all the paperwork thinking that there is no way he is going to pick me because I had only ever read about or watched these things… nothing like this ever happens to me! Then I get the email saying I was one of the lucky women chosen for this, and oh boy was I excited!
I can’t believe how much I have changed in 3 months! It amazes me everyday. I am getting my energy back and feel amazing! This is an amazing adventure Devan and the Burn Boot Camp community has provided! I did get a little discouraged because about a month in to this program I found out I was pregnant with our second child! As a family we were excited, but getting involved in this great opportunity I was nervous that Devan was going to be upset. When I built up the courage to tell him he was seemed just as excited as we were!
The first couple of weeks were brutal with pregnancy sickness. I still managed to get up every morning and do my work outs! So for those who make pregnancy an excuse for not being healthy, you shouldn’t! All my doctors are on board which makes it easy to continue this incredible opportunity that was given to us! Now that the sickness is kind of wearing off I’m feeling better. I would say my eating has been a struggle. I highly recommend meal prep because if I didn’t have my meals prepped I don’t think I would eat, but since they are prepped it’s all ready for me!
In the past six months I have learned that there are no short cuts, magic pills or special drinks to get you to a healthy lifestyle! You have to want to be healthy for yourself. Nobody is going to do it for you. Also, I feel it’s important to have a great support system because it if wasn’t for all the my family and friends encouraging me everyday I wouldn’t have been as successful. I would have to say my mental focus has been the most challenging to me. With being 30 weeks pregnant you have to fight the hormones and cravings everyday, which can be quite hard. I keep reminding myself why I started this transformation in the first place! Physically I feel great. Never thought I could push myself the way we do at boot camp. The trainers make me want to do better each day I go and I could never do the workouts by myself. Emotionally I have mixed emotions because some days I feel great and other days I just want to lay in bed and sleep in, but I know I made a promise to myself and everybody who has supported me this whole time! So that keeps me motivated to keep going. So once again thank you to everybody who has been there encouraging me to keep going!
When I started this body transformation I started out 250 pounds. Now I’m 215 pounds. Which is amazing to me because when I found out I was pregnant never thought I could lose weight like I have. You always hear everybody gaining at least 25 LBS during pregnancy, and I have lost that and some! I am doing this the healthy way… but don’t worry my doctors are okay with eating healthy and working out! They say keep up the good work!
So when we had our first meeting I was thinking I was going sit and talk to “fun trainer Devan” … boy was I wrong. Now, don’t get me wrong because Devan is a nice guy and fun to train with, but stuff got real when I walked in. He got down to business really quick, telling us all the things we had to do like write blogs and do live social media posts and I was like ‘I thought this is just for weight loss?’ I quickly realized this is more then just how much weight you can lose, this was about how to get healthy and stay healthy.
After having a baby and being out for 6 weeks, not being able to do physical activity other than power walking is tough, but I’m back at it and so excited to get back to my routine. Although my little guy decided to wake up 30 minutes early on my first day back, I could have easily went back bed, but I made a commitment to myself and to the people that love and care about me which makes it easier to get up!
I can’t believe it has been a year already, wow! Some many things have happened. I had a baby by c-section which is surgery in its self. Then trying to take care your family while your recovering from a c-section is also a challenge. I couldn’t have done it with all the help of my loving family, especially my husband. On top of that, trying to get healthy was tough as well. Being pregnant was the easy part! Now you have an extra person relying on you to take care of them. This is the part where I could have easily given up and gone back to my old ways, but I told myself I have come too far to do so. Plus I have such a great support system and I couldn’t and still can’t let them down. They’re cheering me on!
I never in a million years thought I would be a person to inspire someone to change their life style. I’m saying this because three of my family members – my mom, sister and sister in-law, have joined the Burn family! They said I have inspired them to live a healthy life style, which is great because now we can continue on our journey and we can do it together.
I would like to give special thanks to my support system. Starting off with my workout buddy (WOB) Melissa, for being there everyday at 5:30 am even when she didn’t have to be! You are so great! You have made my journey so easy. Thanks for sticking by me, pregnant and all!
For my husband Joe for encouraging me the whole way and taking care of our kids during the crazy hours I wanted to work out. I love you!
For my mom and dad for also encouraging me and keeping positive the whole way.
For my siblings for not thinking I was crazy for doing such a crazy transformation! Y’all were always staying positive.
Thank you to Devan and the Burn Boot Camp family for sticking by me and encouraging me the whole way.
Now that this year has come to an end I feel like it’s the being for me and my family. Turning 30 is not looking so bad! Now I’m on to doing things I never thought possible, because now I have that voice in my head saying “you are stronger then when you started!”
Jen Creveling – Burn Boot Camp, Huntersville
