Fit and Healthy Jovana: About Me

A little background about me. One day in 2008 I woke up, walked downstairs to eat breakfast, stepped on the scale just to "see" and came to the realization that I had let myself balloon to 187lbs. For my 5'6" frame, I was huge. I wore a size 15 in juniors and there was no denying my need for help any longer. I immediately asked my friend Janis to join weight watchers with me. She joined with me, and we began counting points on everything we ate. I realized I had no concept of portion control or what healthy food was. I also realized that if I could eat a banana for 2 points or a cookie for 2 points, I would choose a cookie every time. That first week on weight watchers, I gained 3 lbs. Greaaatttttt. Our leader talked to us about this different type of program that they offered called "The Core Plan". We were allowed to eat anything that wasn't processed. Any fruits, veggies, lean meats that we wanted! The only stipulation is that we needed to listen to our bodies and realize when we were "satisfied". After 6 months on weight watchers, I got down to 165 lbs and a size 9. I loved not counting calories or points. It was while on the Core plan that I stumbled upon my first issue of Clean Eating Magazine. I would buy it every month, but never made anything out of it. I was intimidated by some of the ingredients that I had never heard of. From Clean Eating magazine, I came across Tosca Reno's "Eat Clean Diet Book" and read it cover to cover. I started Eating Clean and was loving how I felt. From there, I discovered Oxygen magazine. I would buy it every month, but was too intimidated to try any of the workouts. I literally read it cover to cover, put it down and never thought about it again. When I started reading Oxygen, I fell in love with my fitness idol Jamie Eason. I started following her on facebook and would try all of the recipes she would post and loved how positive and encouraging she was.

Once I had gotten to what I considered a "normal" size, I quit following the rules of weight watchers and clean eating. The next few years, I ballooned up and down again. I wanted a quick fix, so I tried Atkins, South Beach, crazy crash diets and nothing worked. I would get REALLY intense when I started a diet and follow it 100% for a couple of weeks, almost to a psychotic degree. Then, like that, I would fall off the wagon and just completely cheat and binge on everything in site. That would last a couple of weeks, and the cycle would go round and round.

I was sooo unhappy. I was sick of feeling like the biggest girl in the room. I hated clothes shopping. I hated when my boyfriend would want to go to the hot tub because I was so ashamed to put on a bathing suit. At one point, I was so unhappy that he offered to pay for a personal trainer for me. I quit after two weeks.

One night, the boyfriend and I were at dinner with our neighbors. He was jokingly complaining that I had replaced the ketchup in the house with a low sugar variety (another crazy intense diet spurt) and my neighbor jokingly said to me "Wow, you just go from one extreme to another, huh?" He probably doesn't even remember saying that, but I'll never forget it. I decided that I needed to get serious and choose a lifestyle that I can live with. No more one extreme or the other. No more crazy crash diets.I don't want to be "that" girl. I needed to find a BALANCE.

In January 2012, my boyfriend and I began eating clean diets and doing the Jamie Eason Live Fit trainer. I can see that my body responds really well to eating clean. I feel great and I have more energy than I ever have. This blog will be where I document my progress and keep myself accountable for my new lifestyle.

Some pictures of my journey: