21. How I Lost 67 Pounds | MSgt. Jan Jackson

In this powerful "How I Did It" episode, Jan Jackson shares an extraordinary story of transformation—rising from high school dropout to Air Force Master Sergeant through sheer determination. Confronting a family history marked by tragedy—early deaths and physical challenges linked to poor nutrition—she boldly declared, "I am not my past. I want to be the one to break this cycle."

Her remarkable journey is a testament to resilience, as she not only overcame personal obstacles, but also became a beacon of hope and healthy living for her colleagues and daughters.

This is what #TrueGrit & #MotherlyLove looks like!

Contact Jan for virtual coaching at: 

Email: mmwfitness21@gmail.com

LinkTree: Mind & Matter Warrior Fitness (Certified Personal Traininer)

LinkedIn

Instagram: MindandMatterWarriorFitness

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Transcript

Jan (00:00.308)
I am not my past. I let my experiences shape who I am today. I can take the good or I can take the bad and transmute it into the good. And always tell them I'm like this alchemist, right? You turn my pain into the power that I need today. So with my family dynamic, I feel like everything that I experienced growing up and watching my mom and, you know, seeing my aunts and everything, I really felt that, hey, this is time for me to be that generational cycle breaker.

I want to be the one to be able to break this cycle of things that's going on in our family. And how do I do that? I do that by modeling it and taking control of my own life, right? And control the things I can control and modeling that for my children.

Jollie (00:49.71)
More than 73 % of Americans have overweight or obesity, while more than 12 % have food insecurity. America is getting heavier, sicker, and more isolated from each other every day. Our motto, Eat, Give, reflects our belief that virtually every problem in America could be fixed if we took better care of ourselves and took better care of each other. Welcome to Interrupt Hunger's Move, Give podcast, where we talk with experts in exercise is medicine, food is medicine, and food insecurity.

And understanding that knowledge isn't always enough to help you lose weight. Every other episode showcases someone who's lost at least 10 % body weight to share exactly how they did it. Interrupt Hunger is a 501c3 nonprofit, which helps you lose weight while feeding the hungry. Bring our free 12 week weight loss challenge and donate your weight program to the places you live, work and pray. We fund our mission with sales from our movie, give bracelets and clothing. So please visit us at interrupthunger.org to show your support.

50 meals are donated for every item sold to the nation's largest hunger relief network. So get to look good while feeling good. Now on to today's episode.

Hey everyone, it's Jolly here with Interrupts Hunger's Move Eat Give podcast. Thanks for joining us today. I've got Jan Jackson with us today. Jan, you've got a fantastic story and thank you so much for joining us today.

Yes, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity.

You bet. You bet. I was just telling Jan, the people you come across in life that shine the brightest have really gone through a lot of crap in their life sometimes. And the struggle to see what comes out the other side is just pretty amazing. And what I like to do is we'll start off, I'll ask you to share as much as you want or not. This is your time.

Jollie (02:34.324)
about your family dynamics and work dynamics because there's a listener out there that's going to be listening to you and say, my gosh, she is just like me. And if she can do it, I can do it. So tell us about your work and family life.

Thank you so much for that question. You know, I really love how you talked about, you know, people that have the...

one of the greatest stories, right? We've been through a lot and I consider myself a silent warrior. You know, I deal with things and then, hey, you know, behind the scenes, but I've always been a warrior. And so just, you know, a little bit about me. I was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. And growing up, we grew up in, you know, what we would consider the projects or people would call it, quote unquote, ghetto. And so, you know, growing up in some rough areas of Atlanta, you know, I was, or I was exposed to a lot.

you know, seeing a lot of things that my mom went through and some of the sacrifices she had to make because, you know, my father passed when I was two years old. My mom was a single mother at the age of 17. And by 19, she had three children. And so I am the oldest of three. My father had another son. So I do have a step brother. And then also what's surprising is that in my maternal side, my mother immediate family, there are

12 of us as far as grandchildren and I am the oldest of all those grandchildren. So I think about the responsibility and everybody's talking about being the first order, right? You're the one that's helping out and you go through all the things with your mom and I feel like, you know, I had to grow up a little fast. Me and my mom, really, we were about 15, 16 years apart. So, you know, me being a teenager, 15 years old, my mom is 30. And so she was very young, but I can truly say that growing up, I've watched my mom experience a lot.

Jan (04:22.678)
She had her own battles with drugs and everything and in and out of different things because of her life happenings and being out on her own at such a young age. And I just remember growing up, when we talk about that family dynamic and how we were raised and the different experiences that my mom had and she was doing the best that she knew how, right? Just based off of how she was raised and trying to raise us. One thing she always did was ensure that we stayed in school and

You know, we did the best with what we had. And when I thought about that family dynamic, oh my God, there was something that I thought of too growing up as it's going to relate to what we're talking about today. And I was like, I remember those days that, you know, there were some nights we didn't have anything to eat, you know, and we still made it happen some kind of way. And I remember growing up eating surf sandwiches. Oh my God.

That was like the best thing for us, like, we get to eat a surf sandwich? We'll take that. And as a dessert, like, whoa, I can't drink any juice or anything like that. have any drinks. So what we will make, sugar water. Can you imagine growing up like that? And, you know, it wasn't always bad times. We did have some good times growing up. I could truly say that. But just based off of that family dynamic, we have a small family and, you know, growing up in Atlanta, you know, everybody's tight knit, you know, in the area that I grew up in and

You know, also I did stay connected with my dad's side and there was a point in time in my life where, I was taken away from my mom and I was in the foster care system at the age of 11. And so after that, you know, I had a family member that ended up taking me in. And so just learning different life lessons at such an early age exposed me to a lot, but I can truly say it gave me a lot of resiliency because I had to learn a lot of things early on and I was separated from my siblings for a while.

you know, growing up like that and living in a teen shelter at one point. And I'm still trying to deal, you know, with the relationship with my mom and rebuilding because again, she still had her own struggles. There was a lot that I did experience. Long story short, you know, I was able to come out of the system after a while due to that family member. And I believe that everything happens for a reason because I always knew that, oh my goodness, like,

Speaker 1 (06:38.498)
I have so much common sense, you know? And that was later on down the line. I will never forget I had an uncle tell me when I was young, he said, you have a lot of book sense, but no common sense. He said, you're smart, but you're dumb.

Wow. Wow.

How do you take that potential from a child? And so I knew I was always going to go places at such a young age. I think now fast forwarding to that family dynamic, although I have lost a few family members. My mom passed in 2020 for stage four breast cancer, but she also dealt with different ailments such as diabetes.

and hypertension and different mental health illnesses as well. But I can truly say she was such a strong woman. And because I understood the things that she was going through, our relationship was so strong before she transitioned. And I'm very thankful, which is why I keep going. And this is why I'm also present for others and for my daughters. And I talked about that silent warrior. And I know a lot of people ask like, hey, what's your life like?

Sometimes people don't know a lot about me because I don't really put it out there like that unless I want to. even at work, you know, I'm a military member. I deal with a lot at work and I'm working, I'm taking care of people and I'm also trying to take care of myself. And being a single mom, you know, here's my daughters, right? My daughters are now 10 and 13. They have been my reason why. But I think of all the things that I go through, a lot of people don't know.

Speaker 1 (08:07.918)
They look at me and think automatically, oh, she has a good life, she has it all together. She's probably never been through many things in life. And when they hear that, hear my story, they're like, wow, you're one-stop woman. How do you do it? How do you have that poker face is what they call it. Because I always tell people I am not my past. I let my experiences shape who I am today. I can take the good or I can take the bad.

and transmuted into the good. And always tell them I'm like this alchemist, right? You turn my pain into the power that I need today. So with my family dynamic, I feel like everything that I experienced growing up and watching my mom and, you know, seeing my aunts and everything, I really felt that, hey, this is time for me to be that generational cycle breaker. For my family dynamic moving forward, I want to be the one.

to be able to break this cycle of things that's going on in our family. And how do I do that? I do that by modeling it and taking control of my own life, right? And controlling the things I can't control and modeling that for my children. And also inspiring my sister and my brother. We keep in contact. And so, you know, that family dynamic, we're still close now. It's just the three of us. We have other cousins between, you know, my mom's sister. My mom was a twin. Her twin passed before my mother.

due to type 2 diabetes complications, as well as her youngest sister. Same thing, know, so many different ailments and illnesses. And, you know, I think now one thing I do is honor my little cousin. She was 25 years old. When she passed away from complications of type 2 diabetes, she was also an amputee as well. And, you know, my little cousin who also deals with it now, she's still living, but I just recall seeing her at a young age, seven years old.

having to check her blood sugar and stuff and having insulin. And so I really feel that where I am now and being that generational cycle breaker, I also want to be the model for what my cousins and my family need to see with that. so that takes me to, I've been talking a lot here about that.

Speaker 2 (10:12.086)
my gosh. I'm so glad I invited you on here and thank you for sharing all that. know you say, you don't just wear that on your sleeve. You got the poker face, but gosh, you are such an inspiration for people that come in touch with your life. So you're pretty amazing.

Thank you. And so I know, you you wanted me to go into the work dynamic.

Yeah, you've done some cool stuff.

Thank you. So I know that's a lot, right? Just my upbringing and, you know, my will and the way I was raised and just my mindset. I knew again that I was meant for something greater.

And being a high school dropout, this takes me to my work dynamics. A lot of people didn't know I was a high school dropout, but what I did, I got my GED. I moved forward and I wanted better for myself because again, I was growing up and I always worked. I've been working since I was 14 years old. I my first job at McDonald's and you know, I can say now I was like, hey, I'm 15. And I was like, no, you're not 15. They found out my real age because I needed a work permit.

Speaker 2 (11:17.166)
My first job was Wendy's as a fry guy and I left after two months. like, I'm gonna go start mowing lawns or something.

I that. But long story short, working since I was 14 years old, you know? So joining the military was something I never really thought of. And so when I was at school, I'll never forget, I was thinking about joining the Marines. was like, whoa, I don't think that's going to be a good fit for me. So let me keep running from this recruit that keeps coming to my school. And,

Have a day, and good break.

I think so. Sometimes I think I joined the wrong branch sometimes. But it's all good. But you know, I am a military member. I joined the Air Force in 2008. I'm so gracious for that. That took me out of a lot of my predicament because my life at that time had started rolling downhill a little bit. I had been evicted from my home. Luckily, I had someone in place that, you know, gave me a place to stay. And I was getting ready to ship out for basic training. And I'll never forget, I told my recruiter, I do not have time to wait.

to, you know, for a job to come open, I'm ready to go open general. So since then, I've been trucking in the military. I've I've held numerous roles. So my primary role in the military, I'm a healthcare administrator. So pretty much your support function of military treatment facilities or your medical group.

Speaker 1 (12:32.884)
And I've been doing that for a few years and with my work dynamic now, I've held so many different roles and I can truly say that the best role I've ever had in the military was being an MTI. That's a military training instructor. And I was equivalent to a drill instructor or drill sergeant, but I learned a lot about myself there that was a very busy, very demanding job. It was challenging. I had my rough patches there, but truly the rewarding factor of that job is that it taught me a lot of humility.

It also taught me some integrity, being able to speak up and say, you know, and do the right thing, right? Make the right choices. Sometimes we don't always make the right choices, but hey, at least those are the goals to get it right the first time, right? And so I learned a lot just dealing with my trainees and saw that I always had that coach mentality within me to inspire people. And my story also helped me in that environment. And so was able to transform thousands of our civilians to become warrior airmen, is what we call them.

And once the space force came into effect and we were starting to train some of those recruits in, I had such an awesome time down in basic training, but I've always held very busy jobs. You can imagine I come from basic training and then 21 to now headquarters setting. I really thinking, was like, they got me. But I'm very thankful for that transition because I feel that.

I do have to move around and I have to use my hands and those different things to take care of the mission. And so I'm very thankful for the fast paced environment right now with me working for the Air Force Surgeon General, which is a great opportunity. I've held now one, two, three, I think it's like almost four roles within the headquarters. And that's kind of unheard of most times, but again, as you transition and you're learning and people are seeing you, you're most likely to be sought out for certain things.

Just very thankful for that work dynamic. And there's a lot of things that I do there in the headquarters for a lot of personnel there that take care of the overall arch mission and the big air force at broad, as well as our joint operations that we do have with most of our sister services and defense health agencies. So just to tie all of that in, yes, that is my family dynamic and my work dynamic.

Speaker 1 (14:46.498)
I'm a very busy woman, but I make time for things that are important for me and I prioritize my children and also my well-being of myself.

I think it's a, yeah, I mean, there's, there's just a lot. We could spend a lot of time on this, but a few things. If you haven't gone through bootcamp, I don't think you could appreciate what it means to be a drill instructor, drill sergeant or whatnot as a single parent for four years. Like that, that's saying something. mean, that's yeah. So like being in the military is a sacrifice. Being a single parent is a sacrifice. And then you've been able to, you know, figure out how to.

how to prioritize your own health and help other people out there. It's just been, yeah, that's pretty impressive. One other thing I wanna share, I found that you hear the Marine Corps, military, whatever, it's such an incredible fraternity or sorority. like the best, it's the strongest one there is and it's still cool. I'll be at the VA and you run across an old timer with a Marine Corps hat or whatever and man, you just.

I just say like, simplify and then like 25 minutes later, you know? But it's so cool. the, like so many people that I've met and become friends in the military have got like just intense struggles that they've been through. And sometimes it was they were escaping life for a better life from their own. Sometimes they didn't have.

anywhere else to turn, they went into the military sometimes, you know, they had family members in the military and that's the only thing they ever dreamed of. That's kind of my whole family, lots of military members. Yeah. So I don't know, I was just thinking about that a lot as you were talking, it, it, it gives you the, tears you down and then gives you the building blocks and the foundation to become something great.

Speaker 1 (16:37.45)
Absolutely, I totally agree.

Wow. Well, thank you for sharing all that. Yeah. I just appreciate you so much. So, okay. Let's turn because I want to tell folks the way our paths crossed is because we have some common friends that are, working on a joint project between the American Legion and the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. So we both were honored to be, we had our own journeys.

featured in Legion and that was a really neat project. Why don't you talk about the lifestyle medicine portion of things and then you shared your why, like how did you, yeah, how do you incorporate all the pillars of lifestyle medicine? You don't have to go through each one, you know, that's a big, that's life.

Absolutely, I really agree with that and thank you so much for that question because lifestyle medicine, I wasn't introduced to it until I got to the headquarters. I've never heard of it before and I was currently working for a general banister. She was our prior director for the medical operations and so when I heard of Air Force Lifestyle Medicine, we had the Lifestyle and Performance Medicine Working Group.

That's when I heard about Lifestyle Medicine and I'll never forget sitting in a meeting. heard Mary Ann for the first time she was speaking and I was like, that sounds like something I'm interested in. And you know, I'll never forget, I got a little intimidated because I saw, you know, the link come out for solicitation of volunteers who would like to help out with that working group. And I saw all their different titles, dietician, physician, and I'm like, I'm neither one of these, you know?

Speaker 2 (18:21.998)
have any letters behind my name.

Yeah, but I'm very interested in this because I have a background in personal training. I've been doing health and wellness things for a while and I was able to get out of that whole intimidation thing and Colonel Kill, at the time she was active duty, encouraged me to join the working group. And from there, I learned about Lifestyle Madison. She gave me the history and the background on ACLM. And I was so intrigued. was like, this is something that I can utilize.

these pillars can be something that could guide me every single day. And it's like a simple reminder. And so what I always tell people with lifestyle medicine, right? We have those six pillars and how do those six pillars help me? Because it reminds me of the comprehensive airman fitness model that we have in the air force, just a little bit more detailed because when one thing is lacking, it's gonna affect somewhere, right? I'm going to realize something is going to be in balance. So how do I utilize this? And I can really say from,

you know, a personal standpoint is that my mental health has tremendously improved based off of those six pillars. And when I think of it, I'm like, okay, the main thing I focus on is getting my day started. My first day, I would say the soon as I get up, I have to get prayer time in. And so I feel like that connects to that spiritual side of things for myself. And, you know, the social also connects with that too, because I can socialize as well with my sister and.

you know, we're getting our day started, but I always take time to take care of myself when it comes to that. And then also, you know, meditation, we talk about mindfulness and all those different things and setting the tone for my day, affirming myself. And then, you know, the physical activity. I always tell people when we talk about physical or physical movement, right, or just movement, period.

Speaker 1 (20:08.908)
You don't have to always get a workout in. Some days, Jolie, I get up in the morning and I go straight to my living room because that is my gym. I've been doing that since my daughters were babies and it just helps me eliminate any excuses because I have everything already set up in my space for myself. And if I don't feel like working out, lifting weights or strength training at that time, honestly, I'm walking in place.

I'm walking in place and maybe I'm listening to music, maybe I'm getting little dancing in to kind of, you know, lighten the mood for the day. That's my physical movement and, you know, I'm finding time to do those things. And even at work, know, work is very busy and so sometimes I have to remember to get up and take those small breaks. We have a walking trail inside of our headquarters. That's my time to get some more physical movement in.

for my day and not running through all of them, but also nutrition has been a very big piece because I feel like nutrition has also affected the mental aspect of things for me. When I'm not eating healthy or I'm not eating properly the way I need to, I can start feeling it. I feel the fatigue. I'm going to start feeling a little hangry at work or I'm not going to be myself and it also affects my performance. Now I'm a little bit sluggish. may not perform at my, that performance peak that I'm looking for at the gym and

You know, there's different things that help me. And then also I look at that social part of it, connecting with others, that's really big for me. I'm an extrovert, so I got to have that. I got to have some type of interaction daily. And so I feel like the six pillars have been a guiding factor in my life. And I'll tell you one last thing, how it was so crucial for me and where I felt they were so beneficial. Beneficial is when I had knee surgery back in 2023. Coming from being a person that's used to getting up, moving.

not being on crutches, not being in a brace, know, doing things on my own, just that autonomy. When I had that knee surgery, I tell you, I was like, my God, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I mean, there was sometimes I'm like, I'm about to cry, you know, like I just need somebody to do this. One thing I remembered, I will never forget, I started Googling and researching workouts to do after recovering from like a knee surgery.

Speaker 2 (22:07.438)
It's a lot.

Speaker 1 (22:17.654)
And I was like, okay, this is what I need. And so every day I was making sure I was checking those pillars off and I would get in my chair and I was in that living room and I was just working out and I still was lifting weights and everything, upper body things. And, you know, I still was able to take care of myself. I had to pull myself out of that rut because if not, it was going to be bad for me. Because again, I wasn't used to that. had never experienced something like that. I just felt alone, but

Those pillars really pulled me out of a dark moment during that time. yeah, I can go.

I'm a, so it's funny, like I'm living that right now, cause I've still got my boot on, my air cast. I'm a couple days away from seven weeks out from some major ankle surgery. And I actually haven't been able to run for over a year. And like being out on the trails and I never wear headphones. It's just, that's my time to think, it's my time to talk to God. It's like.

I get up at five in the morning and so, know, watching the sunrise come up and hearing the birds wake and you smell these incredible smells. Like my gosh, my day is just like so much brighter and like it is better for work too, because I come up with some fantastic ideas. Absolutely. Like out of the blue, your mind is just like you, you need that time to just let your mind wander and decompress. It's yeah, that's amazing. I love that you were in the.

in the chair, but you know what, that's a, that's a really good point because like, man, with, Tik Tok and, IG and so many things, like, I think some influencers feel they need to make things like the more complicated their suggestions, the smarter it makes them feel. And then what it does, it intimidates the heck out of a lot of people. And like, there's some people I follow PhD down in Australia, Jackson Frye that he, his thing is like, it, doesn't take hardly anything.

Speaker 2 (24:17.794)
to get healthy, like very few minutes, just walking. You know, I know some folks that are exercise physiologists, they're really trying to promote this idea of exercise snacks throughout the day. You know, just take stairs, you know, if you got a mid morning break, you know, do some stairs or, you know, just walk around the building or, you know, whatever. it doesn't take much time. Like if you got 15 minutes, like that's fantastic. Get your heart pumping and blood flowing and you know, I mean, it just, it's

Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (24:46.926)
It's really, really easy. Like you shouldn't be, you shouldn't be sedentary at home because you don't know where to start. Like you could get some 10 pound dumbbells at Walmart for like nothing, you know, or you can start walking the trails like you do at work. And community is huge. So trying to do it on your own is really tough. I guess it sounds like you've got a lot of people around you that, you know, you're talking about the exercises and you're building community and you know, going to find, find a neighbor.

You know, ask them like, Hey, do you want to start walking? Something. All right. No, this is good stuff. How about, okay, let's, let's talk about your eating style. Yes. Cause it's, you've tried a few different things. Like I have anybody that's been on this journey for awhile. You just cycle through, like you hear something like, okay. I'm gonna try that. you're, well, that's not really for me. I'm a tweaked kid. And, but you know, over the years, like I'll say the longer I've been doing this, the easier by eating.

Yes, absolutely.

Speaker 2 (25:43.66)
style has become. share that with us if you don't mind.

Absolutely. Thank you for that question. Because, you know, like you say that there's been different things that I've tried. I've tried it all. Fat diets, intermittent fasting, you know, all the different things out there. But I can truly say that I like to start off with this. Going fast doesn't last, but slow and steady keeps the momentum.

I like it.

And the reason why I say that is because when I think about my typical diet, I am a plant-based or you know, you would call it plant-forward. so,

Wait a minute, let me stop. So that doesn't mean vegetarian though.

Speaker 1 (26:21.64)
Right, not vegetarian. So most people call it vegan, right? And so with that, don't have any animal byproduct or anything that includes my products and stuff. I don't go to the extreme of like clothing and all that different stuff, right? It gets to the wheeze of everything, but I definitely do my best to incorporate plant-based eating strategies within my diet. so with that, and the noise that I talked about earlier, right? Going fast doesn't last. How I got into that and slow and steady is because

With my typical diet, a lot of people believe that, I gotta go cold turkey and it's not gonna last for me. Now, it may work for some other people, but for me, I had to slowly transition and that kind of me keep that momentum going because I went from eliminating certain meats to being a vegetarian, I was being a pescatarian, and then full on, you know, down to being a plant-based. I that's what I would call it since 2016 when I started transitioning.

You know, so my typical meal, just depends on my health goals too at that time as well. Jolly, can truly tell people I'm not gonna always eat the same every day, but when I have certain goals or certain things I'm trying to do, I do at least meal prep. So my typical morning thing would be assorted fruits. I get some bananas in, something that's gonna get me pumped up and live and up in the morning. I like to start off with coconut water too. That's my go-to. So I have a refrigerator full of coconut water.

And I just love the benefits because again, you know, as we're sleeping, you're losing fluids and all that stuff. So to like quickly hydrate, some electrolytes in for my workout, I like to start with coconut water. And so also a plant-based protein smoothie is also my go-to for breakfast. There's just different assortments for me. Some days it may be oatmeal or, you know, a bowl of cereal, you know, rain granola or something like that with mixed nuts and...

typically for my lunch. am a huge fan of mixed vegetables. I love a stir-fried veggie with some type of nut in there, peanuts or cashews. And so I'm normally doing that and I usually tell- Yeah. I know I said something about it. It reminds me like of an Asian dish, like a compound chicken or-

Speaker 2 (28:19.436)
Nuts in your stir-fries? I never thought about doing that!

Speaker 2 (28:28.524)
Yeah,

Where it like the nuts in it and stuff. That's just, I just love it. And you know, so with that, I'm normally doing like a mixed veggie or sometimes a salad would be my go-to with some tofu. And that's how I'm getting most of my protein and also some beans too. So I'll do like chickpea. Chickpea has been my favorite. So I'm always getting like little chickpea snacks and those different things. As far as a typical, you know, lunch for myself would be like a mixed veggie, brown rice or a quinoa.

is another thing I'll go with. So I ensure like I have a mix, right? So when you look at the plate, I want to make sure it's colorful, but also having my proteins there, my carbohydrates, some healthy fats. So whether that's the avocado, you know, just those different things to kind of mix it up. Cause I don't eat the same every day unless again, I'm meal prepping, I'm eating the same.

for a particular goal. My typical dinner vary as well. The same thing that I have for lunch. I love sweet potatoes, know, towards the end of the night, I'm getting a good sweet potato in, brown rice or, you know, quinoa. Again, I love different plant-based meats that are sold in Whole Foods in different areas. I try not to eat too many of those, but I do go towards like, you know, your mushroom burgers or your black bean burgers and stuff. And so that's like a typical dinner for...

myself and in between, I'm always going to have like those different snacks, kale chips, chickpea chips, granola. And sometimes my protein bars as well is something that I go to because again, I have such a busy job and I'm trying to find time and me and my daughters, we all have different diets. So I'm cooking for three people with different meals because they're not plant based. So

Speaker 1 (30:03.202)
That's just my typical, and sometimes I am intuitive with my dieting depending on the season or that timing of what's going on with me. To understand that, my body's feeling this way, I need to have more of this, and also depending on my training during the week. So that's my typical week of how I eat.

Yeah, it's funny. So folks that aren't familiar with the, uh, the phrase plant based athlete, I've, uh, you know, I've listened to a lot of podcasts of, people that have done some like legit endurance or strength, strength training. I'm not a vegetarian. I'm not a vegan. I still absolutely love burnt meat. But what I've found is, is that, um, I just, one of the, podcast guests, Dr. Jacqueline Alvin, she's, uh, she's director of culinary medicine at UT Southwestern.

She's actually become one of our advisors and I've learned so much from her because she's a mom with a couple of teenage kids and she's got a busy, busy life at work being a doctor. I'm leading department and everything. A couple of things she's mentioned, she's like, it's not restrictive. Like everything she recommends is additive because like our bodies weren't built to lose weight. It's really important for people to understand that our bodies were not built to lose weight.

So anything you try to take away from it, your body's gonna push back. You're not gonna know it, but your body's gonna push back biologically. And so when you're adding things, like try to add like one fruit, like if you don't know where to start, asked a couple of people in the last week asked me like, where do I start? Where do I tell other people to start? Like start by like one extra fruit, one extra vegetable a day, right? Or try to figure out like, I don't like a lot of vegetables, but I love chili. Chili is super, super easy. You can meal prep.

cut it all up and you let it go all day. And so I started trying like different vegetables to like it sneak in there. can't taste them and until it still tastes really, really good. You could put some like fresh fruits or raw nuts, like on the, on the, on the kitchen island. And so if you have kids, you know, they come home and they're going to reach for something. Or if you happen to have one of the, one of the nice last stories with Dr. Albin real quick, I'm a huge fan of hers, but one of the neat stories is having teenagers, they have teenage friends that come over. Teenagers eat a lot.

Speaker 2 (32:16.254)
And they asked for like appetizers and stuff like that. So she's gonna do what you like normal, you know, the, processed foods that kids love, but she also puts out like a veggie tray and raw nuts and fresh produce of all different sorts. And she's like, you know, they're eating some of the quote unquote, unhealthy or stuff, but like that veggie tray and raw nuts is all gone by the end of the night. And so just making it, making healthier foods easier and being additive. So.

Ask them what like what you're talking about. It's good stuff. plus the other thing, sorry, I got off track there a little bit, like you're lifting, you're lifting some serious weight. And to be able to do all that and maintain everything you do with a plant forward lifestyle is, it's possible. just, you just got to start experimenting, right?

Absolutely. Do you mind if I share something with that? So, you know, taking it back to my journey of when I lost like a total of 67 pounds, when I first started this journey after I heard of, you know, my diagnosis and everything, I was working with a retired veteran now, he's retired Air Force, Coach V. And I was his first like ever client that was a vegan at that time years ago in Okinawa.

And that was around like 2015, 2016 timeframe. And he was like, I've never dealt with this before, but I'm willing, right? I'm ready to play around with it. Like you said, it's like I became my own scientist at this point. You know, I'm experimenting and he's experimenting, which had to figure out what works and what doesn't work. But he got me down to literally 11 % body fat. And I was a fast runner as well.

This is all on a plant-based diet. And a lot of people say, how are you getting your protein? I'm like, hey, I'm doing my protein shakes. I'm eating my tofu. I'm doing my mixed veggies. There's so many different things I have to play around with. I'm tracking what I'm eating, what's working and not working. But I was a catalyst to him being able to train other athletes now, because he does bodybuilding shows and he trained bodybuilder. I was doing power lifting, all of this stuff with just that type of diet. And I would never forget running a 10K with my children.

Speaker 1 (34:28.787)
in a double wide stroller out there doing a 10K. I mean, there were hills and I was able to do it and being a first place female in a 10K. All of that, you know, and I felt like it was just a stamina, like he stated, Add a little more fruit, you know, start somewhere. And it was just different things of me playing around with my diet and, you know, what helped me perform better.

I knew that if I was going to eat burgers and fries, I was not going to be that performing athlete that I needed to be. But I didn't deny myself of that stuff. I still had those things. But that really showed me that, oh my God, I can really outwork myself. And I'm competing out here too. Others who are out here as well in this fitness realm. And it really showed me like, oh my God, I'm getting here in deadlift 250, almost 300 pounds.

If people are wondering how are you doing that and you are vegan or plant based, would

That's incredible. Do you mind sharing how old you are? I don't know if you've mentioned that or not.

So I am 38. I'll be 39 next month. I started my journey at 28. I've been in the military of course since 2008. Seriously getting into fitness in 2016 years ago of course when I was 28. would say that. Wrong here.

Speaker 2 (35:47.202)
Yeah, being able to- You said you hit 300 pounds? You were able to lift 300?

Almost, almost. And so I can say my heaviest was 265 for a deadlift. Oh, MG, I feel like I was going to pass out because we did a competition for the strongest military instructor and I did the female category and I won that category. Yeah, so yeah, they went by the total of the three big lifts for the compound lifting. Yeah, that right there. And with the team, because I was with a team of people that was like egging me on to do it. I don't know what came out of me, but yeah, I was able to do it.

That's so cool. What are the three big lifts you mentioned?

So we have the bitch press, of course your chest press. You have the squat, right, and then also the deadlift.

Yeah. So you were able to throw that much kind of weight around, but then you also sneaked in there that you won first place in the female group in your 10 K. That's pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (36:43.65)
Yeah, I've done a lot of different things and that just proves to show people like, hey, you know, it is possible as a vegan or your plant-based diet to be able to still perform. And that's one thing I've been wanting to study. I know we can talk about that later when it comes to even athletes in college and, you know, other sports that are plant-based.

Yeah, sure. You know, when we, when we talked last time, you said something that was really important. And, I love when people throw this in. You said involve your kids in everything, in everything, because so many people I talked to, they, they say, I don't have time to exercise or I don't have time to focus on myself, which we just, we need to work through that.

But if it's not about, again, it's, it's additive. It's not about, you know, taking something away to make time. It's about just changing your life a little bit. So it's not about you exercising by yourself, taking time away from your kids and family. The smart and easy thing is, to add your family into your exercise.

Absolutely. Thank you for that. And I can truly say the same thing that you just talked about, right? The additive. I love that. Like, how do I bring them along? Or how do I bring others along? And how do I make time? And one way is basically through experience. And I've been doing this for very long time. And one thing I learned when I had my daughters, they were very young. They were babies at this, you know, at this time. And I was like, you know, I

have to work out, which is why I'm a big living room advocate. Okay, that's my gym because, you know, that's exactly where everything happened and for me to make time and space. And my daughters were babies and sometimes they'll be in their playpen, you know.

Speaker 1 (38:32.526)
set them up in like a little play area and they're right there with me and I give them something like here mommy's over here working out and sometimes I would take them to the gym so I'm very thankful for the gyms that have the baby area.

They had like a mommy and me area at the gym when I was stationed at Lackland. And so I didn't have any excuse as I was transitioning, right? And so I always made it my point in time. Whenever my baby got up and I for sure knew I was just gonna get this a long time, I just brought her in there with me and she's in there working out. I was making videos too. This is what kept me motivated to show other parents that they can do it is I was using my baby and we're like squatting together or I'll work around, walk around.

I had my little, I forgot what it's called, like a little carrier. Yeah, was just walking. I would go and I would include them every time. I was like, hey, I know that they want to play. They want to have fun. Let's go through the stairs together. And at that time I was married, you know, so we would do things as a family. We'll bring the kids along. You know, if they're at soccer or we're having some type of activity for them, I'm walking or, you know, I'm out there doing little things. But I included my daughters in everything that I

I even found little weight sets on Amazon. That's like this little weight bench set. I mean, it's very light, but they will mimic what I was doing and they will actually work out with me. I have my pull-up bar at my doorway. I always kept a pull-up bar so many years later and they're all, to this day they'll come, let me do one pull-up. But it was something like when I go on a walk, right? It's like, hey, I want to go take a walk today.

let me take the girls, whether it's going to the park or I'm walking around. If I have a stroller for moms who have very small children, that was something I did. And I know sometimes we talk about it not being safe in a lot of areas, right, depending on where you live and everything. But I always found time to be able to include my daughters. I even bought them some little weights. I still have them to this day.

Speaker 1 (40:33.698)
from Japan and they would lift weights with me. They would come in and do like, I would show them what I'm doing and they'll be alongside me working out and I'm making my mommy and me content with them. And so it was so good to see that I'm inspiring them because they kept that going as they got older. So I had no excuse. And sometimes you have to do this.

Find times where you're least distracted too, right? Because it's not going to be all the time that I want the kids to come along with me or my spouse at the time. I get up now, 5 AM, just like usually, 5 AM. Sometimes I get up at 4.30 depending on my work schedule and I know that they're still asleep. That gives me time to myself, 20 to 30 minutes.

And if I can, hey, do I find a gym? Now my daughters can go to the gym with me. When I was going to the YMCA in San Antonio, they had it where you can bring the kids at a certain age, they can come out to the floor with you, or they'll have the child watch area. And so, you know, just those things right there, starting in that moment really helped me include them in everything that I was doing. So they was an additive to my journey versus me feeling like I had to sacrifice them. Any point I didn't have to sacrifice them.

If I went on a 10K and it's open for everyone, I'm bringing my babies in a jogging shoulder with me. So many ways to include the children, whatever they like to do as well. My kids like to go out and play and Dave and Buster, I'm like, hey, this is time for us to walk. They're moving and we're getting movement in. That's my time with them set aside. I feel like there's so many different things that we can do with our children. And so if you have this passion or you're an athlete,

I love this, it's so important.

Speaker 1 (42:12.984)
shooting basketball, hey, let's come out to the court with me, you know? And just including them on that journey with you because they help you. My girls motivate me. They was like, come on, mom, let's go, one more, one more. And I love that it keeps me going. You know, now they're a little bit older. I can't do it like I used to when I was younger. You know, we wake up and we will work out together. I'm like, hey guys, we're gonna get up before school. Let's get your day started and we're working out together. And they're like, mom, I just want sleep now.

But when I go for walks or when I'm doing things, hey guys, let's go for a walk right now. We do things together that's fun. And I feel like including them really helps you because it eliminates the stressors, right? And it eliminates the excuses is what I call it. I can't make any excuse because I can bring them with me. It doesn't have to be me going to the gym or.

lifting weights. I could just simply move by going to take a walk or you know we're playing or we're doing chores together so yeah that's that's my take on that.

It really is experimenting. And just like we were talking about, like you have to figure out, like if you're not a big vegetable eater, like me, like you find it, like I love black bean burgers. Like I love burgers, but like sometimes there's a really good restaurant down the street that has fantastic burgers, but they also have fantastic black bean burgers that are, that are healthy too. And so like I'll switch off there, but.

You know, you try different things and some of them taste horrible. found a frozen, all-natural black bean burger that actually tastes really good. Well, they had a couple other versions of like one was like red pepper and I don't know, carrots. I'm like, Oh, this is horrible. I took one bite through the whole package away. You don't know until you try it. The same thing, the same thing is for physical activity, especially. think it's, I'm realizing it's actually easier with, with your kid too, because.

Speaker 2 (44:03.148)
Like having our girls 27, 23 at seven and like the little one, like being a runner, like I need and being 50, like I really, I haven't focused on flexibility and stretching. And so you get some injuries and some aches and pains. I'm like, okay, well, I need a full work on this. I'm like, okay, so I could either do it by myself early in the morning or we could start creating some healthy habits with my little one. And so we started doing like yoga and stretching like before bedtime.

And just as a way to like wind down, I was talking to a friend the other day. This was a great idea. didn't know no one like this, but he does Ironman and he needs, you really have to work on flexibility and stretching. They do it at family time, like while they're watching shows on TV and he'll sit on the floor and do stretching and his daughter's like right there with him. And he said the neatest thing she's gotten like so into it that she gets excited about picking their stretching routine that night.

I'm like, man, I got cool. That is so neat. I love that. You just gotta be creative.

Yes.

You have to, yep. It's all about creativity and experimenting what works and what may not work and just the schedule and how you're feeling too that day.

Speaker 2 (45:16.908)
Yeah. Well, I know we're all on a journey, but you've gotten a lot of parts of your life figured out and you had the will to do it and not being afraid to fail. So this has been good stuff. So anything else you want to leave us with? You're doing some neat stuff on social media, podcast. You want talk about any of that stuff?

Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (45:39.91)
Sure, know that kind of ties into a lot as far as it comes to my mental health, physical health, and social and networking too. And one thing I wanted to always be was not a gatekeeper. I always want to be someone who inspire or aspire to inspire other people. And I didn't want to keep all this information to myself. And I feel like I had a long journey and a tremendous story to tell to others because

Again, you never know someone until you actually get to know someone, right? And I'm a true believer of that. And so what I've done now as it relates to continuing to inspire others, I took my journey and I wanted to better myself and I wanted to get educated and I wanted to learn more about the fitness world. And so, you know, I did become a certified fitness trainer or a personal trainer back in 2017 through ISSA. So that's the International Sports and Sciences Association.

And I've been doing that and been able to coach military members as well as my civilian counterparts through different weight loss plans and nutrition and those different things to start their journey. Because I felt like for me, I had to learn from someone and it took for Coach V to be that person that ignited that fire within me. And I'm like, okay, that spark is here. So let me go out and light other candles and give other people this energy.

And so that's something that I'm doing now. And also I did start my own fitness business online virtual through Mind and Matter Warrior Fitness. So these are things that I'm doing now to just set myself up for when I get out the military. It's like my baby and you know, I'm able to work with one client right now in Japan and I've been working with her for a while. So I'm excited for her journey and we're waiting for that transformation with her. But being able to do that alongside what I do in the military to help people and to showcase a

of how lifestyle medicine is a benefit to everybody, right? No one's exempt from this, but I feel like, you know, these are things that I'm doing now as far as being able to get my story out there as it relates to the podcast. I did start a podcast. It was just out of curiosity during COVID. I was like, just sitting in this house. If I told you I'm an extrovert, I didn't have to talk to people. I didn't need to connect. This is really hard for me.

Speaker 1 (48:01.74)
And so how do I get my story out there and how do I educate and talk about different topics, you know, just off the whim to people. And I did start a podcast called Janda Gotta Speaks. And this is more of a personal development because I feel like no matter how much professional development we have and that we obtain and all this education, taking care of ourselves personally has always been a big thing for me. And so there was one point in my life where I really had to get into my selfless season. Still taking care of others, but.

I had to ensure that I filled my cup first. I was no good to all the people I had to take care of in this military service, as well as my children, if I didn't pour back into me. so my podcast has been a catalyst to that. It's been a way for me to open up and just talk about different things in life and inspire women. And I've gotten to a point now, Jolly, of starting to research and look at things because I'm a lot older and I'm looking at like...

premenopause and perimenopausal, you know, how our weight and our health is directly tied to our hormones and, you know, different things that's going on as we age as women. And so now I'm looking into becoming a women's fitness specialist through NASA. And that's something I'm currently working on so that I can keep that going. But also a lot of these things that I'm doing on the outside, I still spread this to my counterparts in the military by taking care of our military community.

And you know, these are things that I feel that it's going to continue to allow me to assist and spread, know, my story as much as I can. Every chance that I get, I'm talking about it and I'm speaking of it and encouraging people and whether that's through my podcast, whether that's through me posting on social media, even on my LinkedIn, you know, I know it's a professional platform, but sometimes I'm posting, hey, I'm in a gym today.

That's inspiring to people. And so those are the things that I'm working on, just kind of helping me set myself up for, know, when I leave the military to still continue to take care of our veteran population, because as we know, you know, it has been mentioned that our veterans are the most unhealthiest in the United States, right, compared to our civilian counterparts. And, you know, for me, I have a big...

Speaker 1 (50:16.142)
when it comes to that stuff and being able to take care of people as well as children with special needs and certain disabilities through adaptive sports. So there's a lot here that I'm inspiring or expiring to do, but things that I'm doing now currently is being able to help people through my online coaching and.

been able to just talk and using the downtime that I do have outside of the military, because I have a very busy job as a senior enlisted leader right now. And we're setting up a command from ground zero for the Air Force Medical Service. And I'm finding time to take care of myself, also take care of my children as well. By involving them in sports, we're finding little ways with them. My daughter did cross-country for a little while. She was like, mom, that's not for me. And I was like, OK, but if you do this.

You can do track. Come on, you got this. Let's go. She was like, OK, I'll do it if you want me to. I said, no, no, no. Do it because you want to. And she's like, OK, I don't want to do it.

It's like, I don't care what you do. Just be passionate about something.

Exactly, passionate. Well, you know, those are the things right now that I'm, you know, kind of wanted to add to this space. And one thing I do want to add to people, I want people to take away from my journey is don't wait to a diagnosis. I know sometimes that's easier said than done, right? Sometimes we do need that wake up call. Sometimes we do need those signs when it's time for us to start taking care of ourselves. But being proactive, listening to Jolly, right? This podcast, we'll eat, give like,

Speaker 1 (51:47.094)
These things are in place as that proactive measure for people. Take the proactive measures by joining a community. There's so many resources out there. Understanding that physical activity doesn't mean lifting weights all the time. It doesn't mean that you gotta go for a run. Hey, physical movement, we want you to have some type of physical activity in there.

And again, we talked about that just simply going for a walk, simply just moving and starting somewhere. And even with nutrition is so many resources. I'm very thankful for a lot of the things that ACLM offers for us on the DOD side and just learning and connecting to the Air Force Lifestyle and Performance Medicine Working Group with all of our different physicians throughout the course that are.

Also working with patients to spread this knowledge of me being their enlisted champion for this. I'm like, yay, let's Need more people on board to do this. I'm excited because I get to work with, I don't know if you know Dr. Reagan Stigman. Disimpressive. a fireball, right? She's like, I would tell her she's a force to be reckoned with.

So cool.

Speaker 2 (52:47.544)
was on a call with her, yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:55.896)
She's such a breath of fresh air and I love speaking with her and working with her. so me just doing different things and getting myself out there and looking at ACLM and lifestyle medicine as something for the long term for me getting now is basically how I'm going to be able to set myself up to still continue to inspire and help others by continuing that knowledge and education, right? Cause it's not going to be always given to you.

You know, we just have to get out there and find it. You know, I feel like having this community here, how I've been able to connect with you has been such a tremendous blessing for me. And I feel like everything's always happened for a reason and we align with people for so many different reasons. But yeah, I just wanted to leave everybody with that and end it off with that.

I love that. uh, you know, as you're talking, I, well, when we talked last time, I actually wrote down something you said, you said there's never balance, but there can be harmony. And, you have like, you fully live and breathe that and everything you've just covered over the last, over the last hour. it's, that's, that's the goal. That's what you want to find in life. How does it all fit together? And everybody's, everybody's picture is going to look totally different. And so it's how do you, how do you bring that all? How do you bring everything together to

to make harmony so that life is good. Well, if somebody's listening, I think it's cool because so you're in Fairfax, Virginia now, but through your online virtual coaching, like you're able to coach somebody in Japan. I mean, that's pretty neat. So it doesn't matter where you are in the country. If you're listening here, if you're a military member, if you're a busy professional, if you're a mom, like whatever, you don't know where to start. You just need some help. Hey, we don't get here on our own.

Absolutely. It takes a lot of help. You got to be willing to ask for help and there's, that's the only way you're to get better. So I'll, definitely add the, the links for you, your, your, virtual coaching and your podcast and the show notes. But Jan has been so fun getting to getting to know you. I'm really glad that, that we connected.

Speaker 1 (54:53.262)
excited too and I'm excited I'm also thankful for this opportunity and getting to know you and knowing about your story as well that has been very inspiring so yeah thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (55:10.254)
Thanks so much for listening. Please rate and review the podcast on the platform of your choice so we can reach more people and more people are recommended this podcast. And if you really liked it, the single best way you can help us grow is by telling your friends. Now for all the legal stuff. The views and opinion expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent. For my day job, I'm an employee of ABB and appear on this podcast on my own accord and not in the professional capacity as an ABB employee.

All viewpoints provided are my personal opinions and not intended to reflect those of my employer. If you have any questions or comments, please shoot me an email at jolly at interrupt hunger.org. Let's go spread some joy people.