Athlete of the Month: Mother’s Day Edition

Athlete of the Month: Mother’s Day Edition

Jan Wilson

In honor of Mother’s Day we are switching up our Athlete of the Month to Transformation of the Month. We are keeping this one close to the Fitastic family. It is my great pleasure to introduce you to this month’s Transformation, my mother, Jan Wilson. Who better to be our first transformation success story than the mother of the Wild Will Transformation herself?  Coach Steve and I made the trip back to my home town of Menomonee Falls, WI to sit down and hear my Mother’s amazing story. Get ready to be inspired and to all the Moms out there, grab your tissues, you are going to need them.

Jan before Oct 2012

Jan Wilson’s story began back in 1982 when she wanted to lose weight for her wedding day. She achieved her goal and looked amazing on her wedding day.  However, the universe, it seemed, was determined to put back all the weight she had lost. First, her father was diagnosed with cancer in 1983. In between being a new wife, a full time employee of Miller Brewing Co and care taker to her father, there was no time to focus on eating the right foods to maintain her weight.  When her father passed in 1983 she found out she was pregnant with the future Wild Will, and as often happens with pregnancy, more weight was gained. Then, before she could even get the baby weight off from her first pregnancy, my sister was conceived then born in 1986. Again, more weight was gained.  From 1986 to 2012 Jan began her time in yo-yo dieting purgatory.  During those years she would lose weight, gain weight, lose some more weight and then put it back on.  She tried every diet from Atkins to Jenny Craig (much to my chagrin) all the while starting to accept that she was just going to be a big lady.  She knew nobody could have everything they wanted – something is always sacrificed.  She was married, she had great children, her sacrifice was her body: she was supposed to be big. Every excuse was made to take her mind off her weight. In fact, I can remember how we never had a scale in the house. According to my father it was because “a scale would do more airtime in our house

Jan 2014 Does that black shirt look familiar?

then most airlines.” Jan never really accepted how she looked; she just accepted that it was the way it was.

That is until October of 2012. During a doctor visit her A1C came back at 7.5 and with that my Mom was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes.  That is when my Mom had to come face to face with the reality and the mirror. In her own words “everything changed because health is not an excuse. I always said I would only change if it came to my health.” Well the universe heard her and this time it was on Jan Wilson’s side. Jan began the next step of her journey right away. She went to “diabetic school” as she calls it and had 4 classes with an amazing dietician who set her up on a meal plan that she turned into a lifestyle.  Jan Wilson gave up every indulgence she has ever had, knowing that for the rest of her life she can only have “40-60 carbohydrates” per meal. It was all about carbs, insulin and blood pressure going forward.

Jan openly admits that she did not do this on her own. She did it with what she calls the “3 Fs – Faith, Family, Friends.”  By friend she meant “real friends” the kind that you can call at midnight and they will come right over to help you, no questions asked, expecting nothing in return. In fact, her friends (a small group of PTA Moms I know as “The Momfia”), banded together to support their friend’s struggle. When they went away for a weekend each Mom brought meals that Mom could have based on her new meal plan or they picked restaurants in the area that would support her new lifestyle.  I am forever grateful to these amazing women.

Jan stuck to her guns and followed her meal plan even in the face of tragedy.  During my Mom’s initial transformation, my uncle (her brother) passed

Jan with the MomFia

away from cancer. Though devastated by yet another loss, Jan remained strong and stuck to her meal plan. For someone who was an emotional eater this was a feat.  It was, she recalls, one of the hardest things she ever had to do and she did it. As she put it “you only get one rodeo in this life” there was no going back for her.

Within seven months of that fateful October day in 2012, my mother, Jan Wilson found out her A1C decreased from 7.5 to 5.1 and to this date has lost 105lbs. In fact, her doctor was able to tell her two words that a doctor lives to say but very rarely is presented the opportunity to do so: “You’re cured.”  That piece of good news was delivered along with the fact that he was taking her off all her blood pressure medication.   To be clear, this is not the end of Jan Wilson’s story. From the beginning, this journey was about lifestyle not another yo-yo diet. My mother has never looked back and as of her last Doctors appointment her A1C is 5.0.

Jan Wilson is truly the strongest woman I have ever known and I am prouder than ever to call her my mother.   She continues her transformation by living the life. Before she goes out to any restaurant she checks the menu online to see what her options are. When at the restaurant she makes sure the server is aware of her lifestyle choices and asks for the right modifications to her meal. She will even bring her own yogurt and protein, just in

Rockin the Oh My QUAD. Check out the difference.

case. She walks our black lab, Shane, every day for her current exercise regime. Jan continues to lose weight and becomes healthier every day. As she says she now “eats to live.”

Whether we are getting ready for competition or just want to look and feel our best, Jan’s best advice can apply to everybody.  She says “At the end of the day, even if I didn’t lose a pound, it’s what could I have eaten that I didn’t eat.” and that’s when she gives herself a pat on the back. That, my friends, is advice we all can live by to lead healthier lifestyles.  The wisdom of a Mom is irrefutable.  My Mom’s new mantra is that if she can help one person, just one person, then she can be a happy herself.

Here are Jan Wilson’s top recommendations of things she wished she would have made herself do years ago:

-Be honest with yourself

-No excuses accepted

-Have a hard conversation with yourself

-Take a good long hard look in the mirror

-Take a picture

There is so much more to Jan Wilson’s story. So much so, that I will be doing a Part 2 that will come out on Mother’s Day and will focus more on the specifics of what Jan did during her 1^st 105lb transformation.

I am so proud of my Mom. This is a woman who scarified everything for her family including her health. She never put herself first until the day she realized that her ways would take her away from her family at a young age.  Mom, I love you so much and I am so very proud of you.

Everyone please join me in congratulating my mother, Jan Wilson, as May’s Transformation of the Month. My Mom is every woman out there who struggles with weight loss and goes through the ups and downs and peaks and valleys of dieting.  Help me fulfill my Mom’s hope and share her story to your friends, your family, your Moms, Sisters, Aunts, etc. Share on your social media.  Allow my Mom’s story to reach as many people as possible so they can see that, at any age, at any time, you can achieve the results you have always wanted – you can improve your health.  Thank you all for reading.

Love you Mom!  Happy Mother’s Day to all the Fitastic Mom’s out there!