Meet Jessica Parkinson

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Parkinson. Jessica was introduced to us by the brilliant and talented Lexi Zadak Schmidt.

Jessica, thank you so much for joining us today. We’d love for you to bring our readers up to speed – can you introduce yourself and share your story?
I grew up very athletic, always into sports and loved competing. After college, I continued to work out and run and maintained a very athletic life. In my mid 20’s I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. I didn’t realize what was going on, I was constantly tired, stopped working out, gaining weight for no apparent reason, mood changes. It took six months of gaining weight and being constantly lethargic, for me to go to the doctor and realize something was actually wrong. My doctor wanted to prescribe me thyroid medication to assist my thyroid, but once you start that medication you have to be on it for life and that’s not what I wanted to do. After my own research I realized there are ways to correct your thyroid levels naturally and I had already spent 6 months feeling awful, why not try it naturally for a while and see what happens. It got very frustrating, I started working out again, eating what I thought was healthy (1200 calories a day), continued to maintain/gain weight. I had friends and family tell me to just get on the medication because my weight will go down but I was too focused on doing it naturally. Finally I found the world of CrossFit, I needed to get back into a sport, where I met my nutritionist Lexi and we started to work together. She had me eating 2200 calories a day, which was also very frustrating. It was HARD and I felt like I didn’t trust that eating more would do anything and I was just wasting more time. But of course, after a month of eating consistently I was down weight and felt the best I had felt in a really long time.
A little over a year later, my energy is amazing, weight is down, and thyroid levels are where they should be.

Let’s talk about your work and career – what else should we know?
I am an administrative coordinator for the Children’s Hospital. I am very driven when it comes to my career, and love working with children.

Lexi Zadak Schmidt and LZS Nutrition Ltd have been great to us and I know you’ve got a great relationship with them as well. Maybe you can tell our audience a bit about Lexi and LZS Nutrition Ltd and your experience with them.
There is a lot to reflect on! I found Lexi through CrossFit, and she just seemed like such a genuine and kind person. She holds such a welcoming space, I have never felt judged by her and you can just tell she truly wants the best for her clients and will do whatever it takes to get them there. My first goal with Lexi was to get my thyroid under control and lose weight, we increased my calories and added supplements. It was so hard mentally eating almost double what I had been eating, I decided to just trust the process and it only took a week or two and I was losing weight. After that I was all in. I was consistently losing 3 pounds a week, and my energy got so much better. I felt like a fog had been lifted over me. I got updated bloodwork done and my thyroid levels had improved so much within a few months. Then, about a year later my levels are even better and no longer a concern for me (other than maintaining)!

Second goal was my gut! I had some crazy digestive issues going on, I was getting bloated after everything I ate, I would have stomach pain, acid reflux. I also had to mentally trust this process. Turned out after a food sensitivity test, I am sensitive to quite a few veggies. We did 30 days of eliminating all foods that I was sensitive too (onions, dairy, gluten, tomatoes and peppers) and then added in things that would restore my gut lining and good bacteria. I would say my gut is now healed, I never get bloated or experience anything like I was.
Third and biggest goal was getting fueled for hiking Kilimanjaro! I still wanted to lose weight before this hike, but also had to keep training hard for it. We did a small cut about a month before the hike, where I dropped weight and then, two weeks before my hike we did a refeed, so my calories were increased and I was eating the most I had ever ate. I maintained the weight I dropped to during my cut while eating increased calories. I felt so fueled and ready for Kilimanjaro and had a successful climb!

Instagram: @jess.marie.parkinson