Hi there!  Well, many of you are wondering who I am?  Where did I come from?  What does she know?  Well, first off, yes, my name really is Jennifer Lopez.  No, I was not named after the actor or the ‘real one’.  I get that question almost everyday or when I tell someone my name they say, ‘really?”.  No, I’m kidding! haha  But, yes, it is Jennifer Lopez.

Let’s see, where do we start?

Growing up I was always involved in playing sports.  I think I played every sport but I stuck to soccer.  I played soccer from 5 or 6 all the way through high school.  Was I good at it?  Well, I sure tried my best and I was a decent player.  If you ask my mom, of course she’ll say something to tease me and say, ‘oh those poor girls always got a foot in the crotch from Jennifer!’.  Which is a total fib, but you know how moms are.  I was even asked to try out for my college team but I didn’t end up doing it.  I guess I didn’t want to be on campus longer than I had to be.  I love sports.  I love physical activities.  Whether it’s running, bike riding, boxing or taking a family stroll, I love it.  It makes me feel alive.

I ran my first (and only – to date) marathon in January 2010.  I did it so that I can say that I ran a marathon.  And I tried it because I just wanted to finish it.  I wasn’t worried about time or doing it to impress anyone.  I just wanted to try.  And I did it.  I finished a 26.2 mile trek that during many times I thought I was dying! LOL  The first half of it was a piece of cake, but then somewhere around mile 19 or so my body was no longer listening to my mind and wanted to lay in the grass.  I’m not gonna lie, I did.  I thought I was dying!  But I got up and said to myself there’s no way in hell that I’m gonna run 19 miles and not finish the last 7.  What’s 7.1 more miles when I’ve already done 19?  So I did this run, walk, cry thing until I finished.  Almost 7 hours later, I finished.  And then I ran to the tents with the cookies and Gatorade and tried to stuff my face but I was so parched that it wasn’t working out for me.  I walked like I just got off a horse for a week and lost a toenail (ew, I know but it did grow back normally).   But hey, I got my completion metal! (#win) I will run another marathon before I die, and I will do it this time for time.

While I was training for my marathon, I really loved the lifestyle I was adapting and loved the way I was feeling.  I was doing some weight training but it was more for my butt not to get flat.  Ever notice how long distance runners have one giant leg or back?  (either way, it’s something that I didn’t want)  It’s because of the way they are exercising and moving the muscle.  So, I did it to fight flat butt.  Anyway, I really liked the training component of it.  It challenged me both physically and mentally.  There were plenty of days that I wanted to stay in bed or go day drinking (I was living the Mecca of day drinking – South Beach) on the beach but I had already paid for my race, running shoes and expensive socks ($14.99 for 1 pair!) so I might as well see something through.

I decided to start training for a bodybuilding contest late 2011.  And when I told people what I wanted to do, they thought I was nuts.  So I found a coach, trained for 5 weeks and competed!  I did it because I wanted to and because I wanted to see if I was capable of discipline.  Pretty cool, stuff.  I loved seeing myself shrink and shape up week by week.  I’ll dig up those pictures and share them 🙂

So, let’s fast forward to me now.  I had an amazing baby girl March 2013.  It was the most beautiful experience of my life and every day she challenges me to be a better person.  I gained 43lbs during pregnancy and struggled to get rid of it.  So, here I am.  I am on a journey to get back into shape.  I want to compete again.  I want to be fit and healthy.  I’m going to be as real and raw as possible.  I want you to get to know me.  And I’m going to be honest.  This is my open diary and my accountability to both you and me.  If I can do this, maybe I can inspire someone to get healthy too 🙂

So, here we go!

xo

J