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Sunday, July 24, 2011

Needed Break

Do you ever feel like you just need a break for certain things in your life and you will come back stronger and better after. That's what last week was like for me. I was sick, behind in school, and tired. So I decided to slow down on the business side and get my health and school back in order. I feel now I am able to hit this full force and knock some socks off some people! I am really excited recently because a sad but exciting opportunity has come into play. My 8-star upline coach who was really over everything that happened in Decatur, has decided to move to Atlanta. Although this is really sad and everyone is going to miss her, it is an opportunity for others to step up to the plate and take charge. A good friend of mine, Jason, and I have decided to take this and run with it. So we are collaborating our ideas and we hope to set Decatur on fire for this business and especially their health! I'm excited for the opportunity to become a leader for our community. I've done a lot of work personally in my life. Reading Personal Development books and just focusing on my inner self has helped me tremendously! I feel like a totally new person! So I hope that you can watch me step up to where I need to be and become someone that other's come to for help with their fitness and nutrition and just life in general! Love you all and thanks for reading!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Cutting Calories is a Good Thing Right?

Most people know that the common rule of weight loss is to eat fewer calories than you burn. This is true. In order to lose a pound you need a deficit of 3500 calories. But doing this in a short amount of time can back fire one you. How you ask? When you body gets too little calories it goes into what we call starvation mode. The body starts to store fat instead of shedding it in order to prepare for "starvation". It's afraid it won't get food so it stores up instead. This will cause you to either hit a wall or even gain weight. NOT WHAT YOU WANT! So the MOST that I suggest you deficit from your day is 1000 calories. Now ok this does not mean that you only eat like 500 calories and burn 1500 working out 6 hours a day! NO! Your body burns calories when you are asleep! This is figured into your burn for the day. A calorie burn is all of your burn for the day...this includes digestion, moving, chewing, EVERYTHING! The equation for your resting metabolic rate if you are a female is this: (10 x w) + (6.25 x h) - (5 x a) - 161. W= weight in KG (lb/2.2) h=height in cm, a=age. So a 143 pound 5'5 21 year old's RMR would be as follows (10x65) + (6.25 x 165.1) - (5 x 21) = 650 + 1032 (rounded) - 105 = 1577. This means even doing NOTHING all day you burn 1577 calories. So if you wake up and walk to the bathroom...boom more calories. A normal person with a sedentary job would most likely burn an additional 500-800 calories. I highly suggest going to www.teambeachbody.com and figuring out your caloric needs under "Eat Smart" then Nutrition Tools. This will give you the calories you need to eat based on the RMR, BMR, and activety level as well as goals! If you are really serious I highly suggest a BodyBugg. It's 90% more accurate in giving you your exact calorie burn for the day! The meal plans on the Team BeachBody site will also help you stay in your calorie goal. I did a review of the BodyBugg in an earlier post so please check it out! So don't workout all day then only eat 1000 calories. You will be fatigued, have headaches, and NOT LOSE WEIGHT! If you have more questions or need help figuring out you caloric needs just message me on fb!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Day 1 of the 30 Day Challenge and my PB2 Review!

Today officially started the 30 day Summer Shakedown Challenge! I have 3 girls doing it now and I'm so excited for them! I text each of them this morning with a word of encouragement and a tip of the day! One of the girls text me back and said she tried TurboFire and it was...and I quote..."that was 1027477282 times better" than the other program she used to do! I love converting people to my FAVORITE workout ever!It's just such high energy and the music makes you want to workout! Jeez please just click the TurboFire link to the right because the video speaks for itself!!! Now my diet on the other hand wasn't 100 percent today because I was at my grandparents. Now I love them to death, but fudge, ice cream, and chinese food are staples at their house. It's really hard to say you want something that they have to go out of their way to fix. So I had general tso's and ate very little. I fixed my unhealthy lunch option with a nutritionally power packed Shakeology for dinner. One thing was a little different with this Shakeology than any other I have had so far...PB2.

I learned about PB2 from other coaches and customers in the business but never really did any research til lately. I looked online and the prices are reasonable but the shipping is a little pricey. Luckily I found a local store that carries it. They had one left and said that they sell out like crazy. So note to self "stock up the next time they are in!". I was a little skeptical at first...would powdered peanut butter live up to my desire for creamy delicious peanut butter? and the results are in....IT DID! I could taste the Peanut Butter right away! It was a little more gritty than usual but I think if I try and mix the PB2 with the water first it would be better. Either way it was a great way to get my favorite taste of Peanut Butter with 85% less fat and only 45 calories compared to 190 in regular peanut butter. I will forever use this unless for some horrid reason I run out before I can get more! My tip for the day is learned from the Japanese and is about portions and fullness and is called "Hara Hachi Bu". It's about stopping eating when you are only 80% full because your stomach is probably really 100% full. This has helped the Okinawan's live longer and healthier than any other people in the world! This by chewing your food at least 20 times before swallowing or taking sips of water in between bites! I hope to visit Okinawa some day to not only visit a fellow coach and internet friend Tarah Carr, but to also learn secrets like these from the healthy and fit elderly there!

Sunday, July 10, 2011

30 Day Challenge Count Down

Hi All! I'm so excited because in 2 hours we officially launch the 30 day Summer Shakedown Challenge! This is 30 days on one on one motivation, support, and education about health and fitness. At the same time it's a competition to win a prize at the end, plus get the benefit of better health and wellbeing! I'm excited because at the end of this 30 days is my friend Brittany's wedding! I'm so looking forward to wearing a cute dress and feeling comfortable in it! Plus Bailey is the flower girl so I'm going to have to be in front of people trying to help her! The thing that I have learned in the past few weeks is how to get over temptation. It's amazing how just changing your eating habits for three weeks can curve your cravings and help you feel better. I had been eating so healthy for the past week and a half especially, and then Saturday night I had finished my cleanse and I was hungry. I have migraines and hypoglycemia so sometimes the cleanse is hard for me. So I just wanted good thick food!!! So I ate food that was CRAP, and what did I feel like afterwards? CRAP!!! OMG I regretted every bite I put in my mouth. So no more of that! I don't crave sweets anymore...sweets for me now are either frozen grapes or dark chocolate squares. I love these treats and they don't break the calorie bank! I also love my dinners. I use the rule of 1/2 my plate being a veggie, 1/4 being a carb, and 1/4 being meat (about 3-4 oz). For example tonight

this was my dinner, the carb was the corn, veggie was the asparagus, and then I had 4 oz of grilled chicken. Then if you can't eat chicken alone like me, I use BBQ sauce...and thick BBQ sauce...this way you use less and BBQ sauce isn't highly caloric!! This was sooooo filling and tasty!!! I also watch the FOOD Channel...you might think this just makes me hungry and I eat more...but I watch it to learn how to make delicious dishes with substitutes to make it more healthy! You'd be surprised that many of the shows show great ways and different ways to make vegetables! Also watch the portions they use...they are much smaller than we are used to in America...but they are what we are suppose to eat!! So if you want lasagna go for it...but eat the RIGHT portion. I perfer to eat MORE food like a huge salad...than a small piece of lasagna. Or I'll pick one meal to eat less and plan small snacks around it that are low calorie but filling. Like grean beans with spray butter and steak seasoning. It's about 70 calories and a huge portion. Great idea to add to a small meal! Message me on FB for more ideas or help! I would love to know your goals and where you are in life!

Friday, July 8, 2011

Day 2 of the Cleanse

I couldn't wait to post this! I got on the scale this morning to see a....drum roll....5 lb drop!! I almost started dancing, then I remembered I still can't put weight on my foot! So happy with my results so far! I feel lighter and I feel great! I am still struggling with the headaches though. Still haven't decided if its stress, weather, being cooped up in this house, or the calorie drop. Today I'm going to say the calorie drop because no one was here at lunch time to fix me my shakeology so I still haven't had it...that only puts me at like 200 calories so far and that is definitely not enough! So I can't wait for my mom to get home and fix me my salad and shake! I'm going in to work for a few hours tonight so hopefully that will not only help my headaches but my mood as well! oh and I also just did my first ever YouTube video and you should check it out and tell me what you think! I'm so excited to finally get my story out there and so that people know why I'm not skinny like I was a year ago. I love motivational videos of other people's stories and I hope that this can help someone else~ Well short blog today! See you tomorrow!

YOUTUBE LINK: http://youtu.be/Q6TqidnXe_M

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Shakeology Cleanse Day 1!!!

Ok so my Best Friend's bridal shower is Saturday...first public appearance besides church since my surgery. So what am I going to do? A Shakeology Cleanse of course!!! Gotta look good at that party! Especially since my friend is a super fit woman and I'm going to look like her someday. At first I wasn't sure...I was really hungry this morning and my usually egg white on toast sounded so good...BUT I did it! I had my shake for Breakfast and Lunch. Only water and ice mixed into it! I've also just been drinking tea and water all day (besides my coffee this morning!). For dinner I did the salad with chicken on it. Now I'm waiting to have me midnight snack of my last shake! I can so do this for two more days! I did get a migraine tonight, thought at first it was the calorie restriction, but then I looked at the radar and noticed it was probably the massive storm on its way, not my diet. After a run to the pharmacy for some emergency Rx meds, I'm feeling much better! Had the Shakeology Summer Shakedown Challenge Kick-Off webinar too! It was awesome! My success story was shared and I got to share a lot through the chat! Its amazing what information we can share together to inspire and motivate people! I can't wait for this Challenge to start so I can be there for my girls and help motivate them to get them results!! This is going to be amazing! I still have some spots left if you want to join!!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Accountability

This is probably the biggest key factor in any success. Whether it's Network marketing, job hunting, relationships, or weight loss. You need someone by your side who is going to push you to do more, be more, and achieve more. Think about it, if you had to get on the phone every night and tell your best friend that you didn't do anything you were suppose to do that day, that would suck. You would feel like you were a failure. Now if you are competitive like I am there is another key to this. If you get on that call and your friend tells you she did 5 exposures about her business, did a 60 minute workout, ate clean, drank 8 glasses of water, 20 minutes of Personal Development, and spent an hour bounding with their husband. Then you have to turn around and tell her you only did 2 exposures, 20 minutes of exercise, had some pizza, drank only half your water, skipped your Personal Development, and didn't do anything with your friends or significant other. You would feel like he or she won. So every day I do the most that I can physically do so that I can get on that call with my success partner and at least feel like we did what we could do if not more! It challenges us to be better and that is something you need to do where ever you are in life. I bet you even the top people in Fortune 500 companies still have people who keep the accountable. I've had a sort of success partner in the past week and I have my Success Club Team Challenge Team that I have a weekly call with as well to keep me in check. Since I started that, in the past week, I have made so much progress with my business and myself! I'm eating better, exercising what I can, doing my personal development, getting my at least 2 exposures in a day, and staying on top of everything! I love how having someone there keeping me in check isn't a burden but a lift in my life! If you need someone to keep you accountable let me know! I'm starting a 30 day Summer Shakedown Challenge Monday and its all about accountability! I would love to have you join!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

depression

I have struggled off and on with depression since I was 16 years old. It started when my relationship with my daughter's father began and has haunted me since. I spent days in high school just sitting in an office with a counseler just crying. It was mostly due to the fact that her dad tore out every ounce of self confidence, trust, and worth I had in me. I got to my smallest weight in high school because I just stopped eating or sleeping, or the opposite I slept all the time. After Bailey was born I struggled with it again. Afraid I wasn't going to be able to provide for her, that I wasn't going to be able to find her a dad she could actually look up to etc., and again when my ex fiance started the process of leaving me and then when he left. Sometimes I store it up and then it just eats at me. I'm a firm believer that I don't have a reason to be depressed because other's have it much worse. This was instilled in me from an early age. So I'll just start crying out of the blue because I've let it build up in me. Then I feel bad for feeling the way I do. Well I learned to overcome this with exercise. When I'm sad, depressed, angry, etc I run, I clean, I do TurboFire, I kickbox the hell out of something...and I'm better. I've been stuck on a couch for a week, I can't walk let alone the things above. I'm in a house that isn't mine. I have no control over anything and that is a problem for me. Today I quit my hotel job permenantly, then 6 hours later got a call from the job I kept and was promised 30 hours at...telling me she only can give me 13. Now I am job hunting again. Other things are bothering me which I can't talk about on this page due to the readers who I know have atleast previously read this. Then there is men, I like a guy, one that isn't taken or I find out is severly overage for me, and yet I feel like I have no chance. I can't trust myself to go out there and see. My selfconfidence is something I'm still working on due to my recent re-weight gain. So I'm admitting...I'm not positive 100% of the time, I have my down days, like I think everyone is entitled too. So don't put a smile on 24/7 if what you really need is just a good cry. Cause that's what I'm doing tonight, I'm going to get out a good long cry...then wake up tomorrow with a smile because I dealt with it and I'm going to see the best in everything I can. Each day God gives us the chance to start over and wake up refreshed.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

PB2 and Fireworks

I have had many friends tell me about PB2 and the benefits of it but I thought it was going to be really expensive so I didn't pay much attention to it. Well today I realized that for every Shakeology I was making I was adding 190 extra calories to the shake. So I googled the PB2 to research it. It is a powdered peanut butter that can be mixed in to anything. It has 85% less calories and only packs 45 calories into 2 tablespoons instead of 190. Ok so that part sounded great but how much am I going to shell out for this? Enter the shop page. You get 4 of the one pound bags for just $30 dollars! Thats a lot of peanut butter! Considering most little jar of peanut butter is 5 dollars, that isn't that bad at all! So as soon as I can get the order in I'm getting it and I'm so excited! I won't feel as guilty about my shakes. Now, for the fun! Fourth of July weekend! Luckily I only have one party to go to this weekend so I won't have the temptations that I thought I would have. I managed to semi-stand on a scale and realized I hadn't gained a pound! yay! This is really exciting to me because I've not even really moved in the past 5 days. Today I probably got to work out some more calories because I got up, showered/bathed, dressed, put makeup on, crutched out the car, wheelchaired all around the church, and everything. I'm still going to stay on my 800-1000 calorie goal so that maybe I can start losing weight. Now I'm getting ready to crutch my way back to the church for games, food, socialization, and fireworks! It's going to be a hot one!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

The Boredum is Overtaking Me!

It's amazing how bored one can get sitting on the couch for four days straight. Movies don't entertain you anymore...books get old...facebook can only be updated so many times. So I'm taking this time to do some research...on diets, BB workouts, and more. I've learned alot. Most of the information I already knew but is refreshing to hear again. I have more confidence now that I can accomplish my goals and that it won't be as hard as it may have seemed at first. Before the surgery I was having issues with my diet. I knew the foods I needed to eat but I had problems with my calorie goal. I thought that I couldn't be full in the calorie goal that I set for myself. In the past four days I haven't gone over 1000 calories a day. Now that is no where close to the amount of calories I need to eat on a normal day where I am walking and working out. Not once in the four days have I been "hungry". So now if I added the 500-800 calories on a normal day there is no reason I should be starving at any point. The thing is finding foods that are low calorie but filling. Vegetables and fruits are key. Today I had a huge plate full of food...and only 250 calories on the plate. Why how? I had 3/4 of the plate full of green beans with spray butter and steak seasoning. The rest was 3 oz of salmon. It was so delicious, and filling. Eating slowly is another key to staying in calorie goals. If we eat fast our body doesn't have the time to process when you are full. So here is a way to make sure that happens. Drink one glass of water 30 minutes before a meal. Sip on the water in between every 1-2 bites during the meal. Then drink another glass after the meal. This way your body thinks it's full sooner and you can stop eating at the right time. Another way is to eat small meals several times a day. 6 meals at 200-300 calories each can keep you satisfied all day. This way you never are starving so you don't binge and go way over your calorie goal. The greatest tool I have found to help is the BodyBugg...I enter in my calories all day long, then about 6 I plug it in to see how many calories I've burned that day...if I'm not close to my 1000 calories deficit I'll go for a run, clean the house, or do TurboFire. If I have worked hard that day and I am there or above the deficit I'll treat myself to a movie or a hot bath as a reward. There are surprising ways I've been able to burn those extra calories as well! I'll turn on Barney and dance to the songs with my daughter, burns tons of calories and I get bonding time with her! Cleaning my bathroom, playing tag in the back yard, folding laundry at work...etc. There is never an excuse not to work out some. Trust me I'm sitting on a couch not able to walk but I'm still doing sit ups, arm curls, anything to keep my muscles in use! So get up and do something! It might not be a workout but moving burns calories!

Friday, July 1, 2011

Bonus Post

Ok so I know I posted today already about the Shakedown Challenge. I had this come up today though and thought it was super important to share. A big part of getting healthy for most people is working out and eating right, but that's not the only thing. I could know that is what is going to get me in shape but my attitude and personality will decide if I succeed. That is why I believe personal development is the biggest factor in your getting healthy success. Positive attitude is what attracts people to you and is what makes you feel good about your life and about your self. If you feel like crap and you are always down, you are less likely to push play and get up off the couch. I also use to think that I couldn't help being depressed and that it was just because of what I was handed. THAT IS THE OPPOSITE OF THE TRUTH. Perspective is everything. I could have sat there and been sad and not done anything. Truth is that my life is a lot better than some and I still have several blessings in my life. I call it "seeing the silver lining". I may have lost my fiance, but now that I look back on it the decision was one that had to be made and was a better choice for both of us. I lost my job, but I was able to find another with in a short period of time while others are still unemployed. I'm a single mother, but at least I have a family that supports me and my daughter is growing up knowing both her mother and father, when some kids don't grow up knowing their real parents at all. Being positive is a real struggle for me, but it's something I'm working on every day and getting better at. I'm not going to please everyone, but I can avoid hurting people. If you think the best of people you are giving them a chance til they prove you wrong. If you automatically judge you may miss out on something great with that person. Think of how much of a better place this world would be if people saw the glass half full and gave people a chance instead of dismissing them on presumptions. I can't change everyone but I can change my perspective on life.

30 Day Summer Shakedown Challenge

Ok so I'm writing this blog to explain something further that I'm doing on Facebook. It's a 30 day diet, exercise, and motivation challenge. I'm accepting 5 people to go through this with me. Each contestant gets a diet plan, picks out an exercise program, orders HD Shakeology, and gets daily motivation and accountability from me. At the beginning each person will send me their measurements and goals for the thirty days. I will give them a meal plan and they will commit to an exercise program. My upline Kristina Sullins will kick it off with a webinar next Thursday and the official challenge will start Monday July 11th. Each day the contestants will send me exactly what they ate and the exercises they did. I will text or call them with motivational quotes and words to get them through their day. I will help them tweak things along the way if I see red flags with any of their reports. At the end of each week they will send me new results and new goals for the next week. Those who reached their weekly goal will get a small prize. Then at the end of the thirty days the one with the most progress will get a bag of Shakeology or workout of their choice. On top of this, if for some reason they didn't like the Shakeology and it didn't help them they can return the empty bag and get their money back. I'm so excited so facebook me if you are interested!