They say weight is just a number, and it shouldn’t be obsessed over—no matter if you’re considered thin or overweight, the number on a scale for some can take over their life negatively. For Valley entrepreneur Christina Jordan, who founded Fit Body Weight Loss, a company that provides personalized health, fitness and weight loss programs, she didn’t realize her weight was a problem and she needed to take steps to lose weight and be healthier until she took a trip to Disneyland with her husband and kids.
Jordan, who was overweight for most of her life, was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in her early 20s and didn’t know what to do. She ignored her health was declining and continued living her life — until that trip to Disneyland, which changed everything.
After waiting in line to get on the Indiana Jones ride, her seatbelt would not fit across her. Jordan and her husband swapped seats thinking it was just that one buckle, but the other one didn’t fit either. Jordan was then asked to leave the ride by a Disney employee. “He didn’t have to ask me twice,” Jordan said. “I bolted off that ride. I left my family and I ran out of there.”
As Jordan was attempting to leave, she reached the turnstile gate, employees had to specially open the gate for Jordan because she didn’t fit. “It was just so mortifying,” Jordan said. “That was when I realized I can’t stick my head in the sand anymore because it’s not getting better.”
Jordan’s transformation didn’t happen as soon as she got home from her trip to Disneyland. Throughout the next year, she went through a series of bad diets, starving and hating how she looked. Jordan was even fired by the personal trainer she hired because she was gaining weight. Over a dozen different doctors couldn’t tell Jordan what was going on with her body.
After realizing that experts, diets, and cleanses weren’t helping, Jordan quit her job in publishing and focused 100 percent on healing her body, which included going back to school for nutrition to figure out why she wasn’t losing weight.
“It’s really about being thankful for the body you have and starting to care for it,” said Jordan. “I stopped all the things that I knew were in my power that I felt were hurting it. Sugar, junk food, GMOs, alcohol, anything like that I haven’t put into my body in over a decade.”
Christina Jordan went on to lose over 100 pounds in nine months, but she had to find her confidence and love herself before she lost weight. “I felt beautiful before I ever lost a pound,” she said. “That’s why I was able to lose weight, because I finally believed I could.”
Jordan added 5-6 healthy mini-meals of fresh vegetables, fruit, lean protein and healthy fats in her process of losing weight.
Since losing weight, Christina Jordan has been featured in People Magazine’s “Half Their Size” issue in 2017, Good Morning America, E! News, Inside Edition, Entrepreneur Magazine, Extra and more.
Swimming with her three children, wearing sundresses and a variety of colorful clothes instead of just black are some of the things that Jordan feels more confident doing.
Now, Jordan’s husband is her trainer. They work out together six days a week and go hiking as a family on Sundays. “We’ve made this a lifestyle that’s fun and we look forward to it,” said Jordan. “I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything. I love my healthy food, exercise and hiking.”
Before developing her own weight loss program, Jordan started by leading seminars and speaking to others at schools, women’s groups, churches and networking events. When she started hearing from people all over the country, Jordan decided she needed a platform to help others. She hired a team to help her run Fit Body Weight Loss in 2010 and is a top-ranked Board Certified Master Nutritionist.
Jordan’s wellness plant-based supplements offered by her company are both nutritionist and doctor recommended, vegan, cruelty free and made in the USA in an FDA registered medical lab. “I created them to help people improve overall wellness, balance metabolic hormones, aid in thyroid function, improve skin elasticity, detox the body and promote healthy, long-lasting weight loss,” Jordan said.
Jordan lives on a mindset of doing anything that scares her. That led her to go to the Ms. World Pageant in 2019. In fact, participating in a pageant when she was 10 is part of why Jordan wanted to change the way she dressed. “I had tried to do a pageant when I was a little girl,” Jordan said. “I was a very large, robust little girl. I actually got laughed off the stage when I was 10. I never went back and I actually stopped wearing dresses. I became a super tomboy at that time because of it. I had not embraced that whole glam, girly side because of that experience when I was 10.”
However, the outcome was different this time around—she ended up winning the title of Ms. World NOWSA (National Organization for Women’s Safety Awareness) Ambassador. “I stepped out of my comfort zone and did something cool that will be a memory for the rest of my life,” Jordan said. “I didn’t care if I won or lost, it didn’t matter. The whole point was just to do it.”
Jordan doesn’t have plans to participate in any other pageants in the future, but instead wants to focus her energy on writing books and helping others through her business. She is in the process of launching a nutrition college in Arizona in 2020.
The American Nutrition Institute will offer students a fast-tracked advanced online experience to earn a degree as a Certified Nutritionist in less than a year. The curriculum will be taught by top nutritionists, naturopathic doctors and medical doctors who are the experts in their field.
“My goal is to empower and help people get healthy,” Jordan said.
Now that Jordan is in a happy place in her life, she encourages others to do the same. “If there’s something you want to do, you want to write a book, you want to tell your story, you want to start a business, you want to change careers, life is too short not to take the risks.”
