Before I introduce the lovely lady who wrote this blog post, I want to remind you that the FREE 10 Day Healthier Happier You Project starts this Monday, March 26. This is a 10 project that is all about creating healthy habits into you daily routine that will help to enhance your health and help you feel a little healthier too. This project is all about you! My list is filling up fast, shoot me an email if you want to be added to the email list and closed FB group.  

Today I have the lovely opportunity of introducing a special guest on the Just Me Jenn B blog.  I say special because that is exactly the type of person Lateece Wing is.  Every now and again a person will come into your life and they just have that glow factor.  They shine, and because they have that special light or glow about them, you shine too.  I first met Lateece in 2014 when I was leading the Y Fit weight loss challenge at the Y of Maryland.  Lateece and her husband had joined, and every time she showed up she brought her A game with her. She spread her light to her teammates with encouragement and her beautiful positive attitude. It is a real honor to share her story with all of you.

I have always been so inspired by others’ stories, that I never really thought that I had a story of my own. I always thought of it as “I’m a regular lady who has had a couple of bumps in the road but not anything that would inspire others.” The healthier and happier I become in life I am realizing that I do in fact have a story, we all do! Which is actually pretty awesome, even though my husband will read this and give me the side-eye because he has been encouraging me to share my story for over a year now. I can be pretty stubborn.;) But, My name is LaTeece, I’m a wife, mother of 4 and entrepreneur.

So first, let me be honest, I was overweight & unhealthy since 2002 after I had my first child. I was 18 almost 19 and I didn’t have a clue about eating right and I only knew a little about exercise because my father was in the military so needless to say we did A LOT of exercises! Haha! And I played sports but after high school all of that stopped almost instantly. My boyfriend at the time, now husband, worked at Burger King and we would go see him way more than we should have to get the “hookup” on burgers. Just thinking about it makes me cringe!! It didn’t make it any better that in my home growing up it wasn’t really an emphasis on “eating healthy”. Now granted we didn’t eat horrible but we ate fast food a lot and we drank Kool Aid daily that I always made sure was EXTRA sweet. So as you can see, I didn’t start off very healthy and I honestly didn’t realize the mistakes I was making until adulthood.

After having my first son all those unhealthy habits caught up to me REAL quick. I went from 170 lbs to about 215 lbs. I gained a little over 40 lbs, only to have a 6lb precious baby boy. Initially, I did drop some of the weight but I was on the DEPO birth control shot and my stomach became what I called “bottomless pit” and I was always hungry!! And boy did I eat!! Over the course of a year I gained back what I lost and some. I finally decided to get off of the shot because I was gaining too much weight and then not even 4 months after coming off the shot I found out I was pregnant again with baby boy number 2!!  A year after I had my second son I started working at the Rite Aid warehouse which required a lot of movement and I was on my feet all night. We also had access to a free gym so I started to use the treadmill for about 30 minutes each morning after my night shift. That was the first time I had been under 200lbs in almost 5 years and then guess what??? BOOM!!… Pregnant again… with baby boy number 3 and my biggest baby at almost 9lbs. So of course I blew up like a tic, LOL! I weighed the highest I’ve ever been and that was 253 lbs and to only be 5’7 and weigh that much it didn’t feel good. Even after I had my son I only lost about 10 lbs and managed to lose about 10 more pounds then hovered around that weight until I got pregnant with my daughter in 2009. YAY! I got my girl;) I finally topped the scale at 243-245lbs even after having my fourth and final child and I still was not serious about getting healthy.

In 2014 after lots of life changes I was working as Medical Assistant. I sat at a desk for 11 hours a day so that definitely didn’t help get me motivated to be healthy. November of 2014, I did a small health screening at my job and the results scared the life into me!! My results came back saying I was pre- diabetic and if I did not change my habits, within a couple years or less I would have to be on medication and not to mention my blood pressure started running high as well. I knew I had to change, and that’s where it all began. I looked at my four children and my husband and realized I could no longer be selfish and risk being taken away from them because of things that I can control. At the age of 14 my grandmother passed away and she had breast cancer, diabetes and was overweight as well. My father had already had a mild heart attack in his early 30’s and then in 2006 he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and had to have immediate surgery. Thankfully he is still here almost 13 years later, loving life and cancer free at 54. Unfortunately, because of the cancer he is on lots of medications and was diagnosed with diabetes as well. I have Aunts who have had cancer and heart disease and there mounds of other health issues that run in my family. So, I was definitely risking my health every day that I didn’t make the necessary changes.

I slowly started changing my eating habits and exercise habits. I had tried just about every diet and eating style there is. I even burned myself out from working out too much! Although I knew I needed to change I didn’t really have the knowledge so knew I needed to I changed that. I became extremely interested in health and fitness and I made it my mission to not only change my life but my family’s life and those around me! We joined the YMCA and really got serious about the exercise part and even managed to win a fitness challenge that they hold! Shout to the “ Red Team!” I started recognizing my passion for health through our membership. In 2015 I stumbled across green smoothies and that same year I attended a training conference held by JJ Smith, author of the 10 Day Green Smoothie cleanse, in DC!! I became certified to use her book and recipes to help others which brought about Wing 6 Fit (Wing is our last name and the obvious 6,lol)!! I was excited but I knew I couldn’t help others until I first truly helped myself. It wasn’t until late 2016 that I actually completed the 10 day green smoothie cleanse and then continued on my journey of eating clean and drinking green into 2017! Since then I have become even more passionate about health, helping others and power lifting as well! As of now my bench press max is 250lbs!! Which would almost be like lifting the old me when I think about it! I exercise regularly and I get my kids and husband involved as well! My husband and I have gym sessions at least four times a week & working out as a couple makes it fun for me! All of my kids are athletes so we all love making sure we move as a family! We also have revamped our eating lifestyle. So much to the point that my kids even read nutrition labels and they now are 15,13,10 & 8! They love helping in the kitchen and even sharing their own creative healthy food and exercise ideas!! I helped my husband lose over 40lbs and I am almost at the 50lb mark myself!! I am still dropping weight slowly and healthy and I feel better now at almost 35 than I did in ALL of my 20’s!! And even bigger than the weight loss I just FEEL healthy by giving my body what it needs.

Wing 6

What I realized over the years is that you have to be truly ready to change or maybe even have something scare you enough to WANT to actually do the work to make the change. We can easily get so caught up in all the fads and gimmicks and what “society” believes we should look like. I too, was a one of those people. I would look at pictures and see videos and try to figure out what am I doing wrong?! But I was looking at the wrong place. I should have been looking in the mirror and learning to love myself at every stage of health! That is where the true change came in. I had to love myself and most of LISTEN to my body and give it what it needs not what my mind craves. For me, I am obsessed with green smoothies! I love the simplicity of them and they taste good too! I have learned portion control and to control my cheat days. So I can’t eat my favorite mozzarella sticks from TGIFridays every weekend and during the week! Haha!! I don’t mind missing out on some Fridays, if that means I will live a longer and healthier life! Wherever you are in journey celebrate the little things and most of all enjoy your journey to health because it’s a lifetime lifestyle change. Remember, your journey IS your story.