#imjessi

I'm a 28 year old carnivorous, workaholic gal living in Los Angeles. When I'm not out doing my photography thing, I'm a professional negotiator & an unprofessional (yet very good) chef! I live with my best friend, our mini farm garden, and our animal farm of animals. My fitness journey really started in highschool, but I turned to drugs/alcohol/all kinds of unhealthy behaviors that brought me to my lowest (106lbs) and back to my very highest (231lbs) weights. I was vegan, vegetarian, atkin's dieting, drug addicted & damn near anorexic...nothing worked. I would party and the kill the hangover with grease. BLEH. So fast forward 8 years: now I live with my best dude friend who can mow down 89347589375 calories and drink 6+ beers a day and never gain an ounce. So getting healthy has become not just a necessity for me...but quite the challenge as there is booze & junk in my house 24/7. (but mainly because I REALLY LOVE TACO BELL AND ANYTHING SMOTHERED IN GRAVY.) All kidding aside, this is serious for me because I want to be happy with myself again. These days, I work from 9-6pm Monday through Friday at a job that I love, and I have class on the other side of town 2 nights a week which means I get home at 11:00pm. But because I don't drive (I am just soooOoOoOoOoO GREEN like that! (re: CARLESS IN LOS ANGELES...FML)...it takes me damn near an hour/2 hours to get everywhere. So, I have a pretty insane schedule. I also had to get over feeling guilty about the whole "don't eat past 7pm" thing because it makes no sense for me, and I actually really enjoy eating dinner with Jay when I get home. My schedule also means that I wake up at 5:45am every weekday morning, cry/scream/kick/pout...chug coffee & go for a run, or do power yoga, or do INSANITY, or do a little at-home ZUMBA routine because i like dancing alone without pants. I try to exercise for an hour a day, 5-6 days a week, and try to burn between 400-600 calories a day. I haven't really incorporated strength training into my routine, but I'll be joining a brand spankin' new gym this month. I bring my lunch and snacks to work everyday, and I cook dinner everynight...even if  I eat at 11pm. My approach may not be the same as most but it's mine and so far it works for me. So, I am super grateful for my cousin Madi doing this with me. From MY posts, you'll likely find lots of re-blogs of awesome fitblr tips from my favorite fitblrs, food pics (I FUCKING LOVE COOKING), swearing, recipes, posts about my love/hate relationship with INSANITY & marathon training...along with goofy shit about well...goofy shit. This is me...an ex-party girl trying to let go of her Jameson & Taco Bell ways and swap it for whole grains, healthy fats, and goddamn RUNNING. My goal being to get where I want to be by next fall, and start a new life/mini farm in ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA.