I have always come away from those types of checks feeling like I totally crushed it! I love going to the doctor because I’m always healthy.

So now, let’s break down my numbers because honestly I’d rather have you learn from me rather than yourself.

BMI: 22.4 (Normal range: 18.5-24.9)

Body Composition: 20.7% (Desirable Range for women: <28%)

Total Cholesterol: 164 mg/dL (Desirable: <200 mg/dL)

HDL Cholesterol: 70 mg/dL (Desirable: >40 mg/dL)

Weight: 132.6

Cholesterol Ratio: 2.3:1 (Desirable Ratio is less than or equal 5 to 1)

Systolic Blood Pressure: 98 (Normal is less than or equal to 120)

Diastolic Blood Pressure: 70 (Normal is less than or equal to 80)

Fasting Glucose: 106 mg/dL

So What’s the Problem?

You must be looking at my numbers and thinking, “What are you so worried about Jess? You’re crazy!” The honest truth… the “numbers” that I looked at, was only the weight. 132 pounds has been the heaviest I have been (minus being pregnant.) I have always been around 115-120. The bathroom scale has always been my best friend. Watching my weight has been a huge priority for me ever since I was a sophomore in high school. Every time I have ever gone to the doctor, my weight was the only thing that ever mattered.

As soon as I stepped on that scale and saw my weight, everything else went out the window.

What Really Matters?

So what numbers matter then? Is your weight the only thing that you should focus on? The resounding answer…NO!!!

One of my really good friends appears to be overweight, but she totally just smoked a half marathon! Her average mile time was around 9 minutes! When she goes to the doctor, her numbers look amazing!!!! But walking around, she gets judged because she “appears” to be overweight.

I have known other people who are so skinny that if they turned sideways you would lose them. They look fabulous in everything, but when it comes to their health, their blood pressure is through the roof! Their doctors are telling them that they have to gain weight, in order to become healthier.

What if we didn’t look at people and think, “Man, they are overweight!” Or “Geeze, they are so skinny! I wonder what they are doing?” What if we looked at everyone around us and focused on what makes them beautiful? Their personality, hair, eyes, amazing shoes etc. Why can’t we get rid of the words “overweight” and “skinny?”

Instead of focusing on our weight, we need to focus on the other healthy numbers. The things that really matter! Because come on, having a good cholesterol means a ton!!! Having an awesome blood pressure MATTERS! Learn from me and don’t focus on one dumb number. Don’t let it ruin your day because you may be heavier than you have in the past. Celebrate that you are healthy and all that you have accomplished!

Need help focusing on other things when you look at yourself? I got you!

The post Weight vs. Numbers…Which One Actually Matters? first appeared on .

Take a minute and look at the photo above. What do you notice? Do you notice the big blank whiteboard? What about the silver edges? However, If you’re like me, you probably noticed that blue dot in the lower corner. Yep, now whenever you look at the picture, your eyes are going to go right to the dot huh?

But what does this whiteboard have to do with you? EVERYTHING!! This whiteboard is you! The blue dot represents something that you don’t like about yourself. For example, it’s my square hips. I have that indent on the side of my hips and every time I wear pants, that’s what I focus on. Everything else could be amazing, my hair, eyes, personality, smile etc. but the one thing that I focus on is what I don’t like.

Look at that whiteboard and all of the open space that you could do anything on! It is full of the good that you have! But what do you focus on? The stupid blue dot in the lower corner. It doesn’t take up that much space, it’s not gigantic, and it’s not even right in the middle.

Your Potential

Just like the whiteboard, you have tons of potential, tons of beauty!!! However, when you look in the mirror, what is the first thing you notice? Those dang square hips right? Or that big pimple on your forehead. Something so small seems to have such a huge impact on us and the way that we perceive ourselves on a daily basis.

In order to change your perception of yourself, you need to be able to look in the mirror and focus on those things that make you beautiful. Focus on the silver edges, or the huge white space full of potential. Not the one small thing that could hold you back.

Sometimes it’s hard to figure out what you love about yourself. This blog post can help too!

The post What Do You Look At When You Look In the Mirror? first appeared on .

Those around were moving to the music. However, my sister and friend were really starting to get into it. They were laughing, dancing silly and just having fun. I could tell that others around wanted to dance like they were, but didn’t want to seem weird or crazy.

These girls were radiating confidence and it was contagious. There was a lady standing off to the side who had been talking and watching. Suddenly a song came on and she came running into the middle of the group. She yelled, “I have been wanting to dance all night!! I love this song!! You guys are so fun! I want to be like you!” We all welcomed her into the group and had a blast!!!

Are You Holding Back?

Watching my sisters (because really I consider the sister-in-law one of my sisters, she is the best!!) dance and truly love life made me think. How many times do we dance by ourselves in private? Our true selves come out when we are by ourselves. But once we get into public, we push our true self aside. We worry about what others around us could be thinking.

Listening to the music, we are dying to dance and let our true self loose. However, fear takes over and we end up holding ourselves back. We are not allowing others to get to know us.

However, the truth that night was that those two girls were beautiful, inside and out. They were being themselves and allowing others to see who they truly were. People around were getting to know them and there wasn’t even a conversation happening.

There is a well known quote that says, “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning how to dance in the rain.” However, I want to change it to, “Life isn’t about holding back, it’s about letting your true self dance through.”

This week, I want to challenge you to allow others to see a small part of who you really are. It may be letting loose and dancing at a wedding. It may be wearing that one outfit that you love, but you think others might not like it. Or, you could sign up for a 5k or a singing competition. You don’t have to go big, but do something that allows others to love you a little bit more. And more importantly, allows you to love yourself a little bit more.

This is another great blog post about ways to build confidence and reasons why you should build confidence!!!

The post Let Others See The Real You And Love Yourself first appeared on .

The other day, I put my yoga pants on and walked out of my room. My husband looked at me and said,”You have such a cute figure! Why do you hide it with workout clothes?” Then the excuses started coming. After listening to all of them, he looked at me and said, “Ok that makes sense.”

Throughout the whole day, I kept thinking about his statement. Why was I hiding my figure? Finally, I came to the conclusion that I was afraid to see what was underneath. After school ended, I started drinking more soda and eating more treats. Subconsciously, I didn’t want to see if I had gained weight. It was easier to hide all of my mistakes with Yoga pants and a t-shirt.

Every day, it is so easy to put on yoga pants and move on with my day. Sometimes I feel that if I wear yoga pants, I’m tricking myself into thinking that I’ve worked out or that I am going to workout. Once I sat down and thought about it, I didn’t realize how many things I was trying to hide by just wearing a pair of pants.

Breaking the Habit

So how do we break this habit? I’ve been wracking my brain trying to figure this out. Because I’ll be honest with you, I LOVE my yoga pants!!! I don’t really want to give them up! But we don’t have to totally give them up.

I’m finding that I need to get up in the morning and get my workout done. Once I get it done, I need to come right in, shower and get ready for the day. Use the yoga pants for the workout, not your all day apparel. Once we change out of them, we can’t hide from our fears. We have to face our bodies and all of the wonderful imperfections that we have.

I couldn’t believe that I had forgotten how much clothes can boost your confidence. I had literally just written a post on it. But I found myself slipping into my comfort zone. Slipping made me realize that we are all imperfect. We all have faults and it’s easy to forget. It’s easy to look at myself and say, “It’s different for me.”

If you find yourself needing a new look or a great confidence booster, check out my all-time FAVORITE clothing website. I just ordered myself a brand new dress just to give me that extra boost!!! You can also click on the ad below!

The post Yoga Pants: Actually For Workouts or a Safety Net? first appeared on .

I’ve always known what an obsession is, but I’ve never looked at the actual definition. The two words that stuck out to me were “continually” and “intrudes.”

It’s time for honesty; my obsession is….. Running. If you ask my family, they will tell you that that is all I think about. I wake up in the morning and say, “I need to go running today.” After work I come home and say, “I really need to make sure I get my run in tonight.” If I’m grumpy and my husband asks why I’ll tell him, “It’s because I didn’t run today.”

Are you annoyed yet? I know I am! Do you feel bad for my family yet? I do!! In fact, I feel so silly and realized something really important. My priorities are really messed up.

Does Your Obsession Consume You?

As I took a step back, I realized how much running has consumed my life. That is all that I focus on every day. My kids are starting to notice it. They notice that my main priority is running, not spending time with them. Not playing in the backyard with them, just going out for a dumb run.

Typing this post is so painful for me because I’m finally being honest with myself. I am finally starting to realize how much I have been consumed.

I wanted to dive deeper and figure out why I am so obsessed with running. It all stems from my struggles with accepting my body. Whenever I run, I feel like I am in control of my body. If I run, I am losing weight. What started out as a simple way to maintain my weight has turned into a life obsession.

It’s Time To Be Honest

So how do we fix our obsessions? You do what I did, be honest with yourself! Find your obsession, then dig deeper to figure out where it stems. Why do you obsess on it? If we can honestly look at our lives, then the changes start to come.

My goal for you is to be honest with yourself. Find your obsession and then start to change it. I’ve decided to change the way I talk about my running. I can still run, but I don’t need to make a big deal out of it. Just get up, go for a run and then come home. Make it simple and not a big deal.

Need more ideas how to love yourself?

UPDATE: I have been trying to be a lot better with my running obsession. It has been going awesome!!! Yesterday, I really wanted to run, but we were trying to get ready to leave town. Inside, I was going crazy because all I could think about was running. Even though my brain was screaming at me, I was calm on the outside. Vocally, tried not to mention running once. I wasn’t ornery because I didn’t run. Overall, I felt great!!!! It helped me boost my confidence because I felt like I could focus on other things (More important things). Try it out!!! Let me know how it’s going!

The post What’s Your Obsession? Time To Be Honest. first appeared on .

Then she said something that really hit me hard. She said, “It makes me feel better about myself because I thought I was the only one that struggled with my body. It’s nice to know that I’m not alone.”

We all have struggles in our lives. And we always will have things that we struggle with. There are so many times that we tell ourselves, “I’m the only one who has this problem. ___________ doesn’t have this problem because they are so put together. They always seem to have everything going for them.”

It’s Not just You

I would venture a guess and say that there are many people out there that have the same problems. How many times do we get the question, “How are you doing?” And our answer is ,”I’m doing good.” But are we really good? Or are we just saying that so that people will think that we are all “put together”?

I’m not saying we need to spill our guts and become that one person that always has a sob story. But maybe if we answer honestly, our friends will become our best friends. Their struggles will become your struggles.

In fact, I think it would blow our minds to find out about specific people and the struggles that they have. If you want to read about my own struggles, here is my story.

As soon as my friend told me this, I immediately felt a closer bond with her. I felt almost united with her because we both struggle with the same thing.

Once we realize what other people struggle with, we can make a conscious effort to reach out to that person with compliments and other things to help them with their problems.

The post You Are Never Alone: Even Though you May Feel Alone first appeared on .

Some days, I don’t even like looking in the mirror. When I was really struggling with anorexia, I remember looking in the mirror and all I could see was fat. I would pull and pinch my skin and say how chubby I was. The weight was coming off drastically, but all I could see was fat.

I felt, well Ugly!

How Do we Fix it?

I’m sure we all feel this way at one point or another. And it’s not just once, it’s multiple times! It could be just multiple times in one day! So how do we over come this?

One thing that has really helped me is to find one thing that I love about myself everyday. This morning, the one thing that I loved about myself was my eyes. I love that my eyes are blue just like my dad’s. Since I picked my eyes today, I wanted to make sure that they popped even more, so I picked some eyeshadow that makes my blue eyes stand out.

I always hate getting my picture taken. But the one thing I found that I love is my pose. I know I sound weird hahahaha, but if we find one thing that we like, even in our pictures, it’s easier to find that love for ourselves.

If we focus on one thing a day that we love about ourselves, we start to develop a true love for ourselves. It goes from, “I hate this about myself” to “Wow, I love that I have such pretty eyes!”

Pretty soon, instead of loving just one thing, we start to love multiple things about ourselves.

If you need more ideas on how to boost your confidence here are 5 Easy Ways that are affordable!

Here’s a list of things you can focus on each day:

• Hair
• The way you look in a certain outfit (wear that outfit)
• Smile (wear a fun shade of lipstick to make it pop even more)
• Eyes
• Laugh
• Friendliness

I also found this really great website on some more ideas on how to boost your confidence.

The post Love Yourself A Little Bit More With This One Easy Tip first appeared on .

Find Your Style

My clothing style is really unique. I love love love vintage style clothing, especially the 50’s era style. Lately, I have been buying all of my clothes from a website called Unique Vintage ( you can click on the ad below to check it out!). Can I just say that they have amazing clothes with so many options to choose from! The clothes are very durable and last a very long time!

As I was scrolling through Unique Vintage one day, I found out that they have Disney style clothing. If anyone knows me, they know that I also love love love Disney! I immediately picked a few outfits that were Disney themed and then eagerly waited for them to arrive.

When they finally came, I decided to wear an outfit to work that looked like Snow White.

Own it Girl!

That day at school, I had so many kids that kept saying, “Look! It’s Snow White!” “Look how pretty she is!” It made me feel so good!!!

I also had a lot of co-workers tell me how fun I looked, but the main thing they told me was, “You look so cute! I could never wear something like that!” I’d then ask them why and they would reply, “I don’t have a cute body like you. It would look terrible on me!”

This really got me thinking. Why couldn’t we wear something like that? How many times do we as women go to the store and longingly look at an outfit on a mannequin or on the rack and think, “I love this! But it wouldn’t look good on me.”

We don’t even give ourselves a chance to try it on, or wear it to work. We don’t give people a chance to give us compliments because we already shut ourselves down.

I found that once I embraced my style and starting wearing things that I really liked, my confidence started to boost tremendously! I felt good because I was wearing something that I already loved. When I started receiving compliments from other people it helped my confidence even more because I started thinking, “My style must not be too bad!” Here are a few more ways to boost your confidence.

My challenge for you this week is to go out and buy that outfit that makes you say, “I could never wear that!” If you need some help getting started, try out these amazing shoes!! They are so cute and definitely make a statement!

The post How to Make Clothes Boost Your Confidence first appeared on .

I was doing all that I could to just stay above water; there were some days that I didn’t get home until 7:30. By that time I was done with everything and to make matters worse, it felt like I wasn’t appreciated for all that I did.

I felt like I had given everything that I possibly had. The only responses that I seemed to get was, “I need this” “Do I have to?” “I don’t want to!” “Mom!! she’s touching me!” “I need you to go to the store and get me _________.” I longed to hear “thank you” or “you’re awesome.”

Who’s With Me?

How many times do you have weeks like this? As moms we usually give so much of ourselves and for this reason, we are totally wiped and tumble into bed exhausted.

One problem that I run into is that by the end of the day or week, I’m so tired that I don’t want to do anything for myself. How do I find enough time or energy to take a breather?

A second problem, I feel guilty if I do take time for myself.

Does anyone else feel this way? Please tell me I’m not the only one! So how do we change? Let’s talk change NOW!!!!

Just Say NO!

One big way to change this is to say NO!!! Nancy Reagan said once, “Just say No!” She used it in context of saying no to drugs, but I’ve taken it in a different way. It is ok to tell people that you just can’t do it. You don’t have to be the super mom that does everything for everyone. If you are too stressed or tired, there is nothing wrong with saying NO.

This week, I challenge you to “Just Say No” to ONE THING. Once you have done it, comment and tell me what it was that you said no to. Tell me how it made you feel. At first you’ll feel guilty, but then you’ll feel a million times lighter, I PROMISE!!!!

Every year, I coach my littles in AYSO soccer. This year, I have been working on my masters degree and adding one more thing to my plate seemed unbearable. I guiltily said “no” to coaching. However, it has been amazing for my mind and spirit! There is one less thing that I have to do. There is one less stress on my plate, but it’s all because I chose to say NO!

What Will You Do?

This coming weekend, my kids have soccer games, parties and chores. I am planning on telling them that they need to pick one. This is my “Just say no” for the week. What’s yours!? Choose one RIGHT NOW, so that you can get a little of your life back.

Just in case you need a little more of a boost to let you know how amazing you are, here’s another reassurance!

Remember! Don’t forget to comment down below and tell me how it made you feel!

If you need a little extra pick me up, these chocolate covered Oreos are to die for!!!!

The post Feeling Tired and Worn Out? You’re Not the Only One! first appeared on .

After the game, she came running up to me with the biggest smile. Her coach told her that she did a great job, and her friends gave her lots of high-fives. As I started giving her the advice I thought up, she looked at me and said,”Mom, I tried goalie and I think I’m going to stick to running and playing defense.”

Not once did she say anything about letting any goals in. The only thing that she focused on was the fact that she tried something new.

Is It Really Failure?

I started thinking about this sweet little girl and her mindset. She had let quite a few goals in, but was it a failure? NO!!! She had enough confidence in herself to try something brand new. She stuck it out the whole second half and then when it was over, she made the decision to stick with what she knew.

I was filled with so much admiration for my little B. Her confidence was radiating tonight.

But why can’t we all be like B right now? What is holding us back in trying something new? There is always that chance that we could fail. Is it ok to fail? ABSOLUTELY! We learn from our failures. Through our failures, we can find a new hobby, a new love, a new dislike. But most importantly, we find out who we are and our strengths and our weaknesses.

I want to give you all a challenge this week:

Do something that you could potentially fail at. It may be starting a new education route, trying that one Pinterest dessert that you’ve wanted to (I want to see pictures of it!), trying a new DIY project, signing up for that 5K… anything that you have wanted to do, but when you go to do it, you talk yourself out of it. Use my best advice ever to help yourself push through.

Once you have done it, comment and let me know how it went!!! Seeing others experiences and support can help us grow and improve. My most recent thing that I tried was making macarons. I was scared because I might fail, but they actually turned out ok!!!

The post You Could Fail, But What If You Don’t? first appeared on .