My Jessie’s Girls journey has been an amazing two years of learning, frustrations, tears, love, physical and mental growth and finally faith in trusting the process. I don’t even remember how I stumbled onto Jessie’s programs. Probably because she kept popping up all over Facebook when I was trying to look at other things! I am glad those ads are so persistent. I purchased my first program, Muscle Building, and went to work. It was kind of a disaster. I had only been eating 1000 calories/day MAX, and I jumped in with both feet trying to eat 2200+ calories without reverse dieting. I felt terrible and gained weight and I was going to quit…then Jessie announced the Jessie’s Girls 3k Challenge!

I went at it again, purchased Muscle Building 2, still didn’t know about reverse dieting and felt like I failed again. So, I tweaked the food, added more cardio (I was a runner previously), lifted heavy and gained some major muscle, but still was so fluffy and felt sluggish. I loved the programs and the online fitness community of women. I’ve never had so much support and positivity, but I just wasn’t feeling successful.

Back to the Beginning

Now, let me backtrack a little. I don’t like to be negative and bring up the past, but my past is why I am where I am today, so it is relevant to my journey. I was married for 31 years. We have eight children together and both of us enjoyed working out for most of our marriage. However, when I expressed interest in competing, he would always say, “Those women spend hours in the gym every day…you can’t do that because you are raising children and shouldn’t dress in a bathing suit parading on a stage.” What he didn’t consider, is that I was doing this for ME, but his attitude was never positive when I talked about it. Finally, I just stopped bringing it up and the dream went away.

29 years into our marriage, I found out he had a 2-year affair. This was such a blow to my self-worth and I felt like I wasn’t enough, like my entire marriage had been a waste of time (except for my beautiful kids). But looking back, I can see now that I learned a lot during that time to help make me a better and stronger woman. I slowly began to climb out of the hole of self-doubt and low self-worth and into the light of finding out who I really am and what I am capable of. I began to get serious about my weight training, but still didn’t have the tools I needed to transform my physique like I desired to. Then came Jessie’s programs – again!

Help was on the way

Back to the present. I have attended two Jessie’s Girls Training Camps where Jessie taught me the proper way to lift to get the most out of my workouts and how important the nutrition piece is for me. I am 53 years old, and it is hard to make this body do what I want it to! But after her Camp in April 2017, one thing stood out to me – to make sure my macros are on point for EACH meal! Before, I was happy if I just got all my macros in by the end of the day. But when started paying attention to the small details Jessie teaches, that’s when I began to see the biggest changes!

Finding and Support

On December 20, 2016, we lost our 24-year old daughter, Kylee, and her unborn baby in a car accident. For months (and still to this day), I lost my appetite. I am a stress starver, not a stress eater, and this tragedy messed with my ability to get the nutrition I needed. I reached out to one of the Jessie’s Girls Ambassadors and she helped me so much with reverse dieting. I’m still reversing and I don’t know how long it will take, but I believe that it is truly the key to my present success along with now being married to the most supportive and amazing man who helps me see my full worth and is my biggest cheerleader!

The mental changes have been huge. My confidence is at a level I have never experienced before. I can walk into the gym and act like I own the place! I am not concerned about who else is in there or what they might be thinking or if they are looking at me. I just don’t care! I am on a mission to detail this physique and no one is going to stop me!

Love and support in the face of tragedy

Now for the part of my story that is not fitness related and will make me cry as I write. Jessie Hilgenberg has created a group of Jessie’s Girls who are beyond amazing! She allows ZERO negativity in the community. It is a place where I feel like I can go for encouragement, answers, support, and LOVE! When we lost Kylee and her baby, this group and my family were the people that kept me sane, prayed for us, sent love and positive thoughts, sent gifts that I will treasure forever and ran to me and put their virtual arms around me and helped me through a tragedy that I thought would never happen to me and is a parents’ worst nightmare! I will never forget this! I love these Jessie’s Girls as if they were my own! Jessie is Queen Bee, but I am Momma G…and I am so honored to carry that title!

If you love Gaylene’s story and want to be a part of this amazing Jessie’s Girls community, all you need to do is purchase a Jessie’s Girls Training Program, request to join our amazing private community, and start changing your life! Click on the button below to get started today.

CLICK HERE