Hello, I am Jessica Marchant
I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
On July 31, 2012, I married the man of my dreams, Nate Marchant
I am passionate about being healthy in all ways (exercise, eating, sleep, low stress,
mental health, money management, etc)
and this is my story....
I lived a "Normal" life
I was a normal teenager and college student. I lived my life having fun....staying up late, watching movies, eating whatever sounded good, not really caring about my health. As a freshman and sophomore in college I only exercised to play volleyball, or the occasional "roommates and I decide to change and go to the gym for a week" stuff. Needless to say, I was pretty lazy. I really enjoyed watching TV and movies. I would watch one every day or two, sometimes multiple a day (this was before the facebook, or youtube era, I'm sure I would have transferred my wasting of time to these things also).
As for eating, my favorite things were pizza, potatoes, and cake. Well, actually frosting was right up there. I ate whatever I wanted. While I will not go into my horrible eating habits, I dare to say that it was bad, a little worse than the typical college student now. I gained the freshman 20, and the next year 10 more pounds. I remember having access to a scale once a week, and I would watch my weight go up and up and up and just hope that it would stop...but of course it didn't. I did care, but I enjoyed my habits more that I wanted to lose weight (health wasn't even an option at that point, just not gaining weight would've been nice). Every few months I would go on this strict diet of no sweets, it would last a week or two and I would binge and gain more weight than I lost on the diet.
On my mission, I did the same thing. I got even heavier (despite the fact that I rode my bike and walked everywhere.) I felt it was never going to change and that it was in my "genetics." That this was how big I was supposed to be, I was just "big boned." In all reality, I was just stuck. Stuck in habits and stuck in a mind frame, I felt that nothing worked so why keep trying?
My "Book of Mormon Diet"
I had decided to read through the Book of Mormon with the emphasis of gaining Christlike attributes. This was a miracle, it lead me to realize that a top Christlike attribute is "self control" and to gain this we need to do all things to "overcome the natural man." This all happened at the beginning of my time in Taiwan. I was about 6 months into this when one day I stepped on the scale and realized I had hit the weight I had sworn I would never reach. I wanted to cry. I knew I had to change. Something happened inside of me this time. I realized that the Savior could help me lose weight. If I applied the principle of self control and didn't give into the natural man (who loved over eating, eating junk food, and not exercising, being lazy, and binging) I could do it.
I realized this: Self control was a Christlike attribute. It was a thread throughout my whole life. I couldn't hope to have it when I didnt want to sin if I never applied self control to other areas of my life. I knew that I had to become a person with self control. I knew that this included eating and exercising.
Long story short, as I studied the Book of Mormon more and more, and applied this principle into my life, I started to lose weight. I actually lost 30-35 lbs over the next 9 months. And....it stayed off. I came home....and it stayed off. Here I am 2 1/2 years later, and....it has stayed off. Losing weight was not the only amazing thing, I also became more patient, gained control of my temper, and didn't desire to be lazy.
My Journey of Knowledge:
I came home from my mission and tried my hardest to live as healthy as I knew how, but my knowledge wasn't very great on the subject. I only knew "internet truths"...you know when people say
"You know they say eating 5 meals a day is better..."
"You know they say carbs are bad for you..."
"You know they say..."
"You know they say..."
Its everywhere. I didn't know how to live the lifestyle I wanted in this world of internet truths and tasty foods. As I dove into my major (Exercise and Wellness) I learned many many things. I finally learned "truths" (or at least how much we can know from modern science). It was eye opening. I finally found out that most of what we eat tastes good, but is not good for you. I also really learned how my eating affects my health now and later. I realized that I wanted to feel good now. I also didnt want to die early and have a life full of chronic diseases that are brought on by unhealthy lifestyles, such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
My life and "mission" now
So all of this comes together in this blog! I still struggle sometimes, and see others struggling because the "normal life" is all around us. It seems like unless you spend a lot of time being educated about health, the fallacies will suck you in...So I hope to bring us all to the a greater understanding of the truth. Mainly, I hope to help others come unto Christ through the Gospel truths through words of the prophets, like I did on my "Book of Mormon diet"...and also share with them bits of my knowledge, since I have spent endless hours studying health and wellness.
While I do not profess to live a "perfect life," nor do I know all things. I do feel that part of my mission now is to share the wonderful knowledge that I have gained. Compared to before, I live a much happier life, I feel so much better physically and spiritually. Overeating and not exercising made me feel gross all the time. I feel so light and clean now, and able to serve. I feel energized. I feel like the Lord can use me as a tool if needed, He wouldnt have to skip me because of my bad health or habits.
I also feel that the knowledge I have gained from my classes is priceless, and I want to scream it to the world. We all get lost in this world of "internet truths." The media is changing all the time (how many times have they switched on the idea of margarine or butter being better for you?)
I hope you come along the journey with me while we discover how to apply the principles of truth along with a few tips that I will share of how to apply these into our lives to create overall wellness with: losing weight, eating healthy, decreasing stress, managing money, increasing mental capacity, exercising effectively, preventing chronic disease, and many many more....through a different approach. An approach of applying doctrines to change our behavior....applying Heavenly Father's "Perfect Plan"
Disclaimer #1:
While
I do not proclaim to know "the secret to life," nor do I represent the
official views of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, some
of the quotes, views, opinions, and statistics I share on this blog do
come from: The Standard Works, words of the Prophets, Peer Reviewed
Journal Articles, and top level classes at BYU. Then through all of my
studying and training, I bring you my own interpretation of the
information.
Disclaimer #2:
While I do believe in the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and repentance and
moving forward, I will still share the events of the past, repented of,
not apart of me anymore, for the purpose of helping you understand more
fully where I am coming from.
Disclaimer
#3: While I am connecting me losing weight to being a spiritual
experience for me, I do understand that weight, size, eating, etc. is
not in the temple recommend questions. I do not look down upon, nor
consider it sinning to eat or look differently than I do. I love
everyone, and hope that everyone reading this can improve in some way.
Disclaimer
#4: While I do profess to know more than the "internet truths" floating
around, what I share is not perfect. I do though, study these things
out thouroughly. I make sure and only share things that have been proven
through many, many, many peer-reviewd, very trusted studies. I WILL not
share something that is just a hear say, or only shared once, or a
fluke study. With that said, it could still be wrong, but to the best of my knowledge it is as good as we are going to get.
