Jessica Enslow was 20-years-old when she found out she was pregnant for the first time. She would go on to have three more children with her first husband. After remarrying, she and her new husband had three more kids. Seven kids later — Jessica felt that she’d never have her ‘old body’ back.
After every pregnancy, Jessica would use fitness DVDs and diets to try and fit into her old clothes. It wasn’t until her seventh pregnancy that she took her health seriously and completely transformed her lifestyle — and body.
“It never occurred to me that my body wouldn’t just bounce back in a New York minute,” she wrote on Instagram. “I usually didn’t feel like ‘myself’ for about a year after giving birth.”
Jessica began to document her journey and healthy lifestyle overhaul on Instagram. She wanted people to know that it wasn’t because of vanity that she wanted to hire a trainer, but she wanted to be healthy and fit.
“Whoever said a ‘pregnancy transformation’ isn’t a ‘real’ transformation has probably never given birth,” she wrote on Instagram. “Not only does a woman’s uterus stretch to 500 times its pre-pregnancy size, then has to contract {often painfully} to shrink back down, but gaining weight to varying degrees usually comes with the territory too!”
After Jessica’s second baby in 1996 seemed to take her to her highest weight but you’d never know it now.
She admitted that she was often times very sick during her first trimester and food seemed to be the only thing that would help.
“I felt very sick the first 3 months of each pregnancy, but this just made it too difficult to workout regularly & I ate All. The. Time.”
Jessica is 43-years-old now and, after working with a professional, learned the proper work-life-balance for her. That included eating correctly balanced with mom duties.
“Health is not just about how you look, but how you feel! Finding balance between working out and being a mom has been a struggle at times for me. I’m finally feeling like I finally have energy and stamina again after taking a long break from rigorously working out.”
After giving birth to her seventh child, Eli, in 2013, Jessica started to transform dramatically. In just three years time, her hard work is obvious in her progress pictures.
“Staying fit is a commitment. It is a constant process with exercise, but for me, more so with diet,” she wrote. “It is a lifestyle.”
Jessica’s Instagram account, documenting her journey and story, has been an inspiration to other moms out there. Not only moms but women, in general, who want to feel healthier and more fit. It’s a complete mentality and lifestyle change that Jessica has fully embraced.
The progress this amazing mom has made over the years shows that it’s never too late to set lofty goals — and beat them.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
