"I was a size 12 and now I'm a zero," she says at her desk in the newsroom.
If you're a regular guest on our news at five, you know Jordyn Nelson because she greets you in the lobby and takes you back to the studio, always with a smile. But for a long time, she says she didn't feel like smiling. "I wasn't happy with who I was. My confidence wasn't there," she explains. "I was a 38 DD, and I remember laying down one night and my back hurt so bad!" Jordyn says it was her prayers that night that gave her the strength to do something about it. "It was just taking a step, that first step of faith."
That first step included diet and determination. The second step was more like a jump, a jump into ZUMBA!
Zumba is a dance craze that's sweeping the nation. For a year now, Jordyn has been slipping off to Zumba four or five times a week…and the pounds have been slipping off as well "And before I knew it," she says, " my health was better! Zumba is very easy on your knees. You don't hurt. The Zumba slogan is 'ditch the workout and join the party'. and that's really what it is."
Zumba is not just for the younger crowd… but the young at heart as well. It is popular, for example, at the UMC Activity Center. Robin Walker is an instructor there. She says "Most of the people here are between 55 and 94. They are moving all the time and they love to come to Zumba because it's a great exercise for them. it goes by fast when you're dancing and having fun.'
Jordyn's class is more intense because it's the next level, called Zumba Shred. "It's designed to get your heart rate off the charts", says Bren Taylor, the instructor at Studio 57. "You can fry calories. We're sweating buckets. We need mops afterwards," she says with a laugh. Jordyn adds, "A lot of people look at Zumba and say ‘I can't do that. I'm not coordinated'. That's fine. The key to Zumba is to just keep moving!"
Perhaps more important than losing 55 pounds, Jordyn says she no longer needs breast reduction surgery. She says when she looks back at pictures of her when she was 12 sizes bigger, she thinks who's that girl? Now, she says when she gets up in the morning and puts on a 32B, she's so relieved that her back doesn't hurt and she feels good about herself.
But Jordyn doesn't share her story to boast about her new size. She says she just wants to share her story "to encourage others that if i can do it, so can you!''
For the complete interview explaining how Jordyn lost all of her weight, click here.
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