Jennifer Garross' Challenge Photos & Essay

Before Front/ After Front / Before Side / After Side

I entered the transformational challenge with the “hope” it might work. I can full heartedly say it did! I realized through the challenge that I had been robbing myself of the full benefit of boot camp. I learned that I had not been following the menus as well as I could have been and the key is prepping my food in advance. I also learned that going to boot camp twice a week is not enough exercise and found when I put my mind, body and soul into it, I could work out daily. There were challenges along the way as with any project. I struggled a couple times with making the right choices in my meals and almost caved for the easier route. I showed myself that I could prevail and made the right choice. In doing so I felt stronger not only physically but emotionally as I am one of those emotional eaters. I had several obstacles that I feel I overcame throughout the challenge. The first would be prepping my food for the week. I don’t always have a lot of time, but found I could do this when I planned appropriately and what a difference it made. The second obstacle would be my jobs. My schedule does not always allow for me to eat when I should but planning appropriately helped even if I was not always 100% successful, I did not give up. The final obstacle was time. I made time to work out outside boot camp and have found that I now crave my time at the gym. I have developed a routine and have not allowed for any disruptions. I guess I would have to say another obstacle was myself. I had to not only prep my food, make time for workouts, but also change my thinking. I have a tendency to do too much negative self talk and set myself up to fail. I found that instead of saying “I can’t do this” and saying “I can” made a huge difference and kept me going. I feel the biggest contributing factor to my success would be my daughter. She is my champion and cheerleader. Whenever she saw that I was struggling, she would jump right in with encouragement that helped to keep my going on the right track. I do believe my proudest moment in the challenge was when people started noticing a difference and asking if I have lost weight. The fact that my clothes have been fitting better and they are smaller is a definite plus! I would tell other busy women that achieving your dream body is doable and easier than they think because I was able to do it working two jobs, running my teenage every and keeping up with the day to day chores. The biggest impact the challenge has had on me is the confidence I now have in myself. A big part of that is thanks to you Concita for always believing and encouraging all of us!