Janelle's First Step Forward

Janelle Van Zant Fitzgerald.

Janelle has been doing an amazing job with our challenges and sticking to her eating plan.  We are so excited to share her story and help her throughout her journey.  We will post her week to week struggles and results.  

We hope to inspire others to come forward and share their own journey.  We understand how vulnerable, but motivating it can be to share such personal struggles with everyone. We do this to help everyone out there know they are not alone!  If anyone else out there would like to share their story email us and help inspire change.  We hope Janelle's story touches people the way it touched us.  

Thanks for sharing your story Janelle, and we are so excited to team up with you and help you through this process.

To share my story and my before pictures is beyond difficult for me, but I am so ready to change my life. I feel so strongly that this is something that is necessary for my FIRST STEP FORWARD. This last year I let myself get so busy with life, work, family, and stress that I just didn’t make room for worrying about what I ate or working out. So before I knew it I had put on another 33lbs. This is a lot considering I was already way over weight.  

I will not ever forget the day I stood on the scale and saw that I had passed 200lbs. I just sat there and cried. 

I honestly didn’t even know where to start at that point because I have never been heavier.  When I read Elise’s story I literally just sat and cried because I truly related to her inner battle and seeing her come back from a weight so close to mine. I felt hope for the first time in a LONG time.  

Reading this blog really opened my eyes to realize where I am and the effect this weight is truly having on me and my happiness. 

To feel this hope again to me is a miracle, because it is something I have lost through my downward spiral of failed diets and excessive weight gain. I realize I cannot continue down this path any longer and want to feel confidence and love for myself.

 I have always struggled with my weight to some extent.  Through my freshman to senior year of high school I went up and down in weight averaging around 140-160 which at 5'2' isn't super healthy. Most importantly, I didn't feel good about myself. I also never really was truly committed to working out. I went through phases, Zumba, running, aerobics and  Pilates. I have had numerous trainers and paid a lot of money for meal plans that have been super restrictive and kind of unrealistic. 

I have done HCG a total of 3 times each time not only gaining back what I have lost but also gaining more. I have done the Lemonade diet also numerous times losing a ton of weight only to gain it right back and more. I had failed so many times it was almost embarrassing to keep trying.  

Four years ago this month, when I got married I weighed 145, after the first year 160, after the second 173 after the third 183 and right now after gaining 33lbs this last year I weigh 216. I just bought a size 16 pair of jeans a month ago and they are already tight and looking like they want to rip!

I'M JUST DONE!!!!

I'm done cropping myself out of photos!

I'm done dreading running into anyone I used to know!

I'm done not fitting in any of my clothes!

I'm done getting winded walking up one flight of stairs!

I’m done not liking what I see in the mirror! 

I AM DONE LIVING THIS WAY!  

MY LIFE IS MEANT TO BE MORE THAN THIS!!! 

I am spiraling out of control and I haven't been sure how to get control. I had almost felt like giving up.  It is terrifying to think about if I continue down this path where I will be in a year, a month or heck even tomorrow! 

I Janelle hear by share this pathetic but very real and honest story on where I am in my life, and I submit it with these before pictures and stamp it as MY FIRST STEP FORWARD!!  

Thank you for your inspiration ladies.... I know this is going to be one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life.  But I am so excited to feel the accountability I feel with sharing my Journey with you all, I am so committed that honestly nothing is going to stop me from taking my life back and gaining confidence in myself!  So excited for all of us to share and support each other as we all take this on.  I already feel so much support seeing everyone post their pictures of their workouts and watching everyone’s weight loss gets me even more excited!  We GOT THIS!