Jenn and her wife Kristen knew they were neglecting their health.
Despite being an avid swimmer in high school, over the years, Jenn, 49, stopped exercising.
She worked a very stressful job in health care and turned to food and cigarettes as stores. At one point, she weighed 310 kilograms.
Jenn tried to lose weight. “Name a diet, I've tried it,” she says. However, nothing stuck, not even the weight loss drugs.
“It doesn't matter if a drug makes you feel full, if you don't stop eating when you're full,” she says.
Then, in 2019, a happy memory made Jenn strive for something more.
Looking at her and Kristen's wedding photos, Jenn thought, “We look so happy. I would like to be happy for more than a few years. I don't want to shorten my life. I don't want to die of a heart attack.”
She decided something had to change.
Not one to do things in moderation, Jenn set herself a very ambitious goal:
Climb Mount Everest.
And she did it.
She trained hard and reached the top. Along the way, she lost 87 pounds.
Little did she know…
Her trekking group would be the last to climb Everest before the world shut down due to COVID.
Jenn returned from her great adventure to a health care system that was completely overwhelmed.
As a gastroenterology nurse, she witnessed tragedies and deaths every day.
She still tears up thinking about it.
“As healthcare workers, we went into the pandemic expecting the situation to be really bad. But it was much worse than we ever imagined.”
As the pandemic unfolded, Jenn's clothes started to feel comfortable again.
Her eating habits regressed. Her mental health suffered. She began to feel as if the results she had worked so hard for were slipping away.
During the lockdown, gyms and fitness studios were closed. But the river was open.
So, on a crisp spring day in 2020, Jenn drove to the river and went for a swim.
That swim became a regular ritual – and a life saver.
“Swimming got me through the pandemic,” she recalls.
“I could get in the water for a few hours and not talk to anyone and just process everything that had happened.”
Swimming inspired Jenn to take on a new challenge. Something that would help her feel like her strong, resilient self again.
Something like… swimming in the English Channel.
To be clear, swimming the English Channel is a very ambitious endeavor. (Fewer than two thousand people have ever achieved it.)
The swim is 21 miles from Dover in France and can take over 20 hours to complete.
Aside from stopping occasionally to shake off protein shakes as you tread water, the swim is non-stop; swimmers are chased by a boat, but if they touch the boat, they are disqualified.
To achieve this goal, Jenny would have to train for many months, spending many hours and kilometers in the river and pool every week.
As her training progressed, Jenn realized she needed help with her nutrition.
“I had a hard time balancing weight loss with boosting my exercise,” explains Jenn. “I felt like I was eating too much to lose weight, but not enough to swim 20 miles a week.”
Jenn's relationship with food was complicated: Years of dieting meant she had become accustomed to a cycle of restricting her intake, followed by bouts of stress eating.
As it happened, Jenn's wife Kristen joined Correct nutrition training in January 2022. (PN Coaching is a habit-based nutrition and fitness training program here at PN that helps ANYONE eat, move, and live better—and achieve their most important health and fitness goals.)
Jenn was curious and tried some of Kristen's practices for herself.
She couldn't believe the results.
“One of the PN training practices was to eat slowly and mindfully. Just by doing this, our grocery bill dropped by 30 percent because we were effortlessly consuming much less food. I was amazed.”
At the next available opening, Jenn signed herself up for Precision Nutrition Coaching.
“At first I was obsessed with calories,” Jenn recalls. “I was used to measuring and counting everything. I felt guilty every time I ate, even after a big day of exercise.”
Luckily, she had her coach. “Coach Denise helped me make peace with the fact that if I'm hungry, I can eat and not feel bad.”
One trick Jenn learned was to separate meal times from “feeds.“
After a ten-plus hour swim session, she would need a quick “meal” of easily digestible, calorie-dense food. But during meals, Jenn practiced eating slowly and mindfully.
That way, she was able to get enough energy to support her rigorous training while still practicing “everyday life” nutrition skills.
By the end of the training program, Jenn had lost 50 pounds—without sacrificing strength or performance.
She entered her race day feeling prepared, energized and grateful.
Jenn's English Channel swim went even better than expected.
She completed the challenge in just 14 hours and 41 minutes – particularly impressive considering her swim coach expected her to clock in around 21 hours.
(In case you're interested, Jenn's wife Kristen, also a PN training client, ended up completing her own athletic feat: Completing the Chihaya Ironman, a very difficult distance race. How's that for a “power couple”?)
After achieving her dream of swimming the English Channel and completing her year as a PN training client, Jenn says:
“I feel extremely grateful. Ten years ago, I never would have believed I could do this. I'm so amazed at where I am in my life today.”
Ambitious goals? We have you.
Jenn's story is a powerful reminder of the importance and possibility of dreaming big.
With a clear, ambitious vision, a huge amount of persistence, and the right kind of support, Jenn was able to achieve an amazing transformation, inside and out.
If you're inspired to rewrite your story, remember: PN Coaching is here to guide and support you every step of the way.
