Before and After: A Heart in Sol Love Story

It's time for another installment of "what Jaclyn is doing these days to keep herself in check." This is a pretty easy post to write because I had already written the story about a week ago for my trainer when he asked during the month of July for us to send in our stories of "before and after" our time at Heart in Sol. It may be slightly redundant for those of you who have been following my story, but since I have been "kicking it up a notch" since March, I thought it was worth sharing where I am right now.

 

Here's what I sent in....

 

April 2012 (right around the time I redeemed my Living Social Zumba deal) to July 2013

 

And just because I wanted "extra credit," I also have a bathing suit shot for you. I think Jake and I both slimmed up. ha!

And the story...

 

My parents bought me a Heart in Sol Living Social deal for Christmas 2011. My mom said, "All the young people I work with love it." I said, "Hmm." It wasn't that I was avoiding Zumba- I just never really gave it a second thought. I went "couch to 5K,” I was “shredded” by Jillian, and I am a P-90x “graduate.” I felt like I had been successful in introducing exercise into my life, but those programs all had a beginning and an end. And each time a program ended, I felt frantic- like all of a sudden I was going to balloon back up 10 jean sizes in 5 days. So, I cashed in my Living Social in April 2012, and I went to Zumba class maybe 4 times the month of April...and that probably definitely included May, too. And then I realized that it expired in July, and I can NOT let a deal expire. So, I started going regularly to use up those punches. And then I found a teacher that I loved. And he made me sweat. Like a lot. And then, when I went on an extended vacation, I found that I missed it. Like a lot. Which made me wonder..."What is it about Zumba?" And it hit me. There is just something about Zumba that's good for your soul (Sol?). For anyone's soul really- dancer or not. But
most definitely good for my "full-time working mother of 2 worship leader" soul. Zumba truly allows me to be 100% “in the moment." For 60 minutes, I seriously cannot think about, worry about, plan
ANYTHING. I can be completely "empty-minded” for an hour and just BE. And sweat. Like a lot.

 

So, I Zumba’ed my heart out for several months. And felt great. Zumba was the cardio exercise that not only got my heart rate pumping, but also filled my soul with a joy that I didn’t know I was
missing. But I was still eating. A good amount. And probably definitely not the best things you should be eating in the “healthy lifestyle.” (Zumba works up an appetite, you know.) So, while my heart was full and my head was happy, my waistline was not as small as I would like it to be. I realized I needed accountability. Because as awesome as Zumba is, no one from H.i.S. was
going to call me if I didn’t come to class or lecture me when I went out for chips and salsa after class.

 

So, I asked Patrick about personal training. I needed something new. I needed a jump start. I needed that accountability. In March 2013, almost a year after my first Zumba class, I started my personal training journey. And after day 1 I knew it was EXACTLY what I needed. I LOVED it. Patrick was encouraging from the beginning, setting an achievable, yet challenging, weight loss goal for our first 12 weeks- 15 pounds. I lost 16 and eagerly signed up for a second round.  At every session, Patrick is motivating, entertaining, educational, inspirational, challenging, and just plain FUN. I look forward to every session with anticipation of what we will do and how far I will stretch myself.  (And how many times I will experience muscle failure and happily fall flat on my face.)

 

As of March of this year, I have lost about 20 pounds. I am not only pre-baby weight, but pre-wedding weight and probably right about high school weight. My arms have never looked more defined, and my abs (I can actually say that I have abs now) saw the sunshine at the beach this year. But, most important, I am happy. And extremely proud. And after 5 months, I still look forward to each training session.

 

Like a lot.

[Side note: Personal training is a complete luxury item in our life right now. Like DVR. And lawn/weed care. But I'll tell you, it's completely worth it. We've made other sacrifices to accommodate this added expense and I don't regret it one bit. This is the only life I'll have and I want to be happy and healthy and be the best "me" that I can be. We don't eat out as much, which saves money (and calories), and we try to conserve other places to make this work. I encourage you to consider it if you have even the slightest interest, and if you are in the Triad area, I know a great place you can check out. Hee hee.]

[Additional side note: Heart in Sol is not endorsing me for this post, however if they would like to, I would be happy to take an endorsement. See above note.]