Meet Jerri Lynn. She Lost 22.5 Pounds and Crushed 6 of Her Goals!
How do I love CleanFoodCrush? Let me count the ways!
One pound, three pounds, eight pounds…all the way to a 22 1/2 pounds weight loss to date, since beginning my first 30-Day Clean-Eating Challenge in April 2022!
Hello; I’m Jerri Lynn from Colorado!
At 59 years old, I have been married for 32 years, and we have two adult sons. I studied elementary education in college and taught for a few years. Our first son came along and my role as a stay home mom began. I never went back to formal teaching, however, I did volunteer at our local state park as a naturalist for twelve years when the boys were old enough to stay home alone.
I have always been fairly athletic and active. Hiking, biking, skiing, and fishing were my main outdoor hobbies with our young family. These days, my husband and I snowshoe more than we ski, and kayak on calm lakes more than we fish. Golf also occupies much of our time during spring through fall. My indoor exercise routine used to be at a big box gym, but since Covid, I decided I was happier at a Pilates studio. I do love to read, but rarely allow myself the time. I am also a novice photographer. You can take a look at my work on Instagram if interested (st.v_station 6).
A breast cancer diagnosis in 2001 would change much of my active lifestyle.
My medical history is super long, so I’ll skip right over the treatment, a second near-breast cancer diagnosis, a bilateral mastectomy (2005) with reconstruction, and finally surgery to remove my silicone breast implants in 2018, which kept me ill for thirteen years. Breast Implant Illness is the coined name for those of us harmed by these devices.
I have otherwise always eaten relatively well, but not necessarily clean. One thing I never gave too much thought to was whether or not what I ate, actually helped my body in any particular way.
My love of baking would be one of my biggest obstacles to eating healthier. Even though I never consumed large quantities of my baking, I loved to make my family happy with the treats, so they were always present in our home. I suppose this was learned as a child when my mother mixed up batches of cookies, and I had to stand there and bake them all! How I hated that! My brothers would come along and start eating the baked cookies, or the cookie dough; I would scream bloody murder about it. My mom would get mad at me for screaming, and, mix up another batch of cookies. I had to stand there baking another whole batch, while my brothers ran off to play. I hated baking. It’s funny how that all turned out with my love of baking for my own family.
I eventually gained ten pounds between the years 2018-2022 (April) and weighed 148. This is the most I had ever weighed, other than during my pregnancies.
My husband was growing bigger as well. Additionally, his annual physical came back borderline Type ll diabetes, and he possibly had sleep apnea. His blood work results were just scary! Something had to be done!
I had seen Rachel’s recipes pop up in my Facebook feed, and they looked amazing…so I tried a few. They were quite delicious and didn’t make us feel like we were on a “diet”. In my head, I said, “What the heck…” to signing up for the April Challenge. My husband struggled slightly more than I did, but, it did catch up to me in the form of fatigue.
Jerri and Tony, enjoying a CFC recipe
I was quick in removing refined sugar, flour, and dairy from our home, along with all the processed “unclean” foods. I also removed nearly all cookbooks and recipes. Some may say that’s overboard. Well, we’re not going back to that way of eating, so why keep them around? Our most favored recipes are in my head. If we decide to we want to make one, we can. But those recipes are otherwise in the past. This is an easier concept for me than for my husband and maybe others, as I think my superpower is Willpower & Stick-to-itiveness.
I am a very driven person when I want something.
➡️ I wanted to lose weight
➡️ I wanted my energy back
➡️ I wanted no more joint pain
➡️ I wanted to sleep better
➡️ I wanted to have my husband stop snoring so we could sleep in the same bed again!
➡️ I wanted us to be healthier going into our senior years, so we could enjoy each other a little longer. ❤️
All of those things have happened.
It’s hard to pick just two favorite recipes; we love so many of them.
- Blender Oatmeal Muffins: These are a staple in our home! Easy and fast to make, delicious, nutritious, and versatile!
- BBQ Chicken Meatballs (using the CFC bbq sauce!). This is our latest favorite!
This tells my husband not to eat those bananas… they are for blender muffins later!
If you are looking for a healthier version of yourself, you will find it here at CleanFoodCrush. Rachel’s advice and amazing recipes, as well as, the support from administrators/moderators will get you over any bump in your road. They are all here to help and guide you along your way.
I wish you well on your own journey to better health! ❤️
– Jerri Lynn
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