Dynamic Duo

Today I want to talk about the IMPORTANCE of having or being a supportive spouse.

When I tell people my story about starting with Beachbody & I say that I NEEDED to sign up as a discount coach because I NEEDED the discount so that my husband & I could both drink Shakeology, they are in shock. Shock, because most people I talk to do not have a supportive spouse or partner. When I say supportive I mean, that when they decided they wanted to get healthy or lose weight or start exercising, their spouse does not want to make the same effort to get the same results. I see this a lot. I have customers tell me that they cooked a healthy dinner of say, chicken, brown rice & veggies & that their spouse went & ordered a pizza. Whaaaaaaat???? This makes me want to scream! How can people be so mean? Or a spouse who mocks them while they are trying to work out? Do they really want their loved one to FAIL? I don't think so, I think they are afraid of change. That's my opinion anyway. Do they realize that this is going to only make things worse? They are really hurting the partner who is making the effort, emotionally. It makes me want to help even more & show them that not only are they wrong & hurting loved ones in the process but also that it is o.k. for them to start making the changes as well. Most men, yes men, are afraid of their buddies making fun of them for eating "rabbit food" or exercising at home. Yet, these people are just as unhappy, probably overweight & most likely have health issues caused from being overweight.

Even though I wanted Shakeology for both me & my husband he wasn't all about the eating healthier part. He didn't have an issue with working out, but there were foods he just refused to give up or try. I took this in stride because I knew that baby steps were the key to success. It was just a matter of time. In fact I clearly remember when the Ultimate Reset was first released & my coach & several other coaches were doing it, I was telling Tom all about it & I mentioned that you basically became Vegan for the last 2 weeks of the plan. He looked me dead in the eye & said, "I will NEVER be Vegan"! I really believed him too.

Well, a few weeks later when all these people were getting these insane crazy results with the Ultimate Reset & lowering their cholesterol, I still talked about it & showed him the foods etc. He was very resistant. It took some time & A LOT of dedication on both of our parts to do it. I did most all the prep work so he could pack his food with him to work. He was working graveyard shift & addicted to 2-3 energy drinks per night. He lost 20 pounds & knocked 76 points off his Cholesterol. It was hard. We struggled with some of the foods. But we did it, together. We even had company come & stay with us & Tom cooked them pancakes from scratch for breakfast & resisted. This opened up a whole new door for us. Since then he has been able to slowly keep changing his eating habits. We just finished round 2 & at his suggestion, keeping most of the foods in our meal plan for the next few weeks. I couldn't be more proud of him.

My next big move with him was taking him to Summit. Beachbody's BIGGEST pow-wow of the year. I wanted him to experience first hand all of the great things I had been hearing. He attended some of the training seminars with me. Others he didn't & I was fine with that. After all, he wasn't really into working the business like I was. He has a great career that he loves already. But having him there by my side made things much better for me. It told me that no matter where we end up or what we or I decide to do, he will always be by my side. We talked several times about what our goals were for our health, fitness, finances & for our family. It hasn't been easy but if you don;t sit down with your spouse or partner or family & clearly define your goals how do you expect them to support you or even make the same changes?

We have really started to find our common ground on reaching out to others & opening new doors. We have become stronger in our marriage & in our roles in life. I have found that we both have something to add to the mix & it's been proving to explode lately.

I have been trying to figure out my strong skills & really develop them. I was having a conversation with my coach the other day about figuring that out. The more we talked the more I realized the way Tom & I have discovered to work together is it! Then I looked back & thought about other conversations I have had where people tell me that they wished they had what Tom & I had. I never actually knew what they meant by that until now. Our marriage comes naturally to me & I don't really feel like it is work. Don't get me wrong, we have our differences but in the big picture we are now so in tune it kinda blows me away!

Moral of this story: Always support your spouse or partner or family. Just because you may not share the same opinion does not mean that the other person is wrong. You NEVER know where that road will take you!

#TeamUnstoppable

This morning I am compelled to talk about my Team! I have been a coach for about 21 months. When I joined (for the discount) I had no intentions on making this a full time income. I sat back, made the time EVERY DAY to get my workout in & made better nutritional choices. I watched all these other coaches work the business side & I thought that I could NEVER do what they do. I don't know why, but I just didn't believe that I could. When I was placed in a private group of coaches on Facebook there were about 200 coaches in there. TODAY there are almost 1200 coaches in there!! Talk about EXPLOSIVE growth. The bug eventually bit me & I started to focus on helping others reach their goals. It didn't take long for me to realize that I could reach any goal I put my mind to & that I could help others do the same. That has brought a greater pleasure into my life on a daily basis.

We have Lawyers, Doctor's, Nurses, Insurance agents, Retailers, Law Enforcement, Military, Bookkeepers, Stay at home Mom's, Stay at home Dad's, single parents, grandma's, Personal Trainers. You name it, we have one on the team. It doesn't matter what your goals are, what matters is that you GO AFTER THEM!
I have seen countless coaches be able to LEAVE CORPORATE AMERICA in as little as 1 year, just by working part-time on their Beachbody business. That is INCREDIBLE! I cannot express how happy it makes me to see my coaches get their Shakeology for FREE every month. They are earning extra income for things they could not afford before. Like putting their kids in sports, going on a family vacation, a car payment or even a house payment. I know for me personally we have paid of THOUSANDS in debt & were still able to live our lives the way we wanted. No more sacrificing so much to get ahead. We took family trips without worry & it will only continue to get better. Oh and the trips, did I mention the trips? The trips that Beachbody sets you up with are just PHENOMENAL. I mean what other employer do you know who takes over the BIGGEST CRUISE SHIP in the WORLD?? Yeah, none other than BEACHBODY! That's right we are taking over Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas! The ENTIRE ship! How bad ass is that??? Oh & I earned that trip for FREE. Next year we get an entire All Inclusive Resort in CABO!


The year is 2014! This is going to be an EPIC year! There is no better time than NOW to join. The investment that you will make into a business & your health will pay you back ten fold! Anyone can earn an extra income, anyone can build their own business, anyone can be a BEACHBODY COACH!

I am starting a New Coach training group on February 1st. If you are interested in getting to know more please do not hesitate to contact me with questions.

How becoming a Beachbody Coach has changed my life!

I became a Beachbody coach on April 20th, 2012. I signed up just for the discount on Shakeology, since my husband & I would both be drinking it. I had purchased one bag to try & within 10 days of drinking it for breakfast everyday, I asked my husband what his take was on it. Of course, like most men, he said he didn't really notice a difference. When I asked him if he was craving a cheeseburger, he said "No". This was very unusual for him, as he could eat a cheeseburger at any given time. They were his favorite food. I instantly noticed my sugar cravings were just about gone. I mean not 100% because I still want & enjoy sweets but prior to trying Shakeology I would just hear someone say chocolate & I would run to the store & get some brownies or chocolate ice cream. I also noticed that my IBS symptoms were reduced. I had been seeing my doctor for about 3 years regarding my IBS issues & she always recommended I go buy expensive OTC Pro-biotics & add in a fiber laxative. Well that didn't help me either & frankly I was really tired of dealing with it. I became "regular" & this helped me tremendously. I also noticed I was starting to have more energy. I don't mean that I spent all day cleaning because I had so much energy, I mean I wasn't dragging ass in the afternoons. I was keeping up with the kiddos all day & sleeping better at night. I am sure that this can also be attributed to my efforts in daily exercise & eating cleaner. It's a combination of efforts that gave me the result.

About 30 days after I started drinking Shakeology & doing P90X, my coach told me to be sure & take my pics & measurement so I could compare & see my progress. Well, I had a very noticeable change so I posted them on Facebook. I got a lot of responses, praise & questions to what I was doing. I had NO intentions of "Working the Business", mind you. I started just telling people what I was doing & answering questions & it dawned on me that there really was something to be had with this coaching stuff. So I started to ask questions & do my research & learn. Slowly but surely I began Coaching. It started with my friends & some family at first. I got the hang of how to help others just by showing them what I was doing. In all my attempts in life to lose weight, I never had the motivational support as this has provided me. As I carried on & spent all my extra time trying to learn everything I could, I came to realize that I had started to grow as a person myself. I had heard the recommendation of reading Personal Development books a few times & honestly I thought, "I don't need that. That is for people who are not like me". Um, boy was I WRONG!! I started reading & it dawned on me that you are never too old or young or smart or educated to keep learning. I was starting to really get that Beachbody wants people to be successful. They stand true to the motto of helping others live happy & fulfilling lives. No matter if you are a coach or a customer.

To now reflect on what I accomplished as a person & coach in 2013 just blows me away. My marriage has truly become stronger. I feel more confident as a mother & wife & woman. Not just because of my physical transformation, but because I have grown on the inside as well. My husband & I worked very hard to eliminate a hindering credit card debt that had been following us for 6 years. When I signed up to be a coach, we could NOT afford it. We had one income, a brand new baby & a lot of debt. When I made that final payment in October of 2013, I was in tears. It was as if a chapter of our lives was over. The struggles we had that lead us to that point were gone. No longer present in our lives. Just a distant memory. I built a solid foundation to my team. I went to my first Summit & walked on stage in front of 3,000+ coaches as a 1 Start Diamond Coach. That was AMAZING!!! I got to meet other Top Coaches & Beachbody Challenge winners. I got to meet coaches from my team that I had gotten to know over the previous year via Facebook. It was the most surreal feeling. Having my husband by my side topped it off. I have continued on the path of helping people lose weight, get in shape, eliminate debt, earn extra income for many reasons & it has to be the most rewarding thing I have every experienced.

There are days that I wake up so excited & anxious to log into my challenge groups to see what is going on. Who ate what, who needs help, who crushed a goal. I want people to experience the same things that I did when I started. Nobody should have to do it alone. It took me time to really get fitness embedded into my day, my head, my life. I was never athletic so the thought of working out EVERYDAY was not an easy pill for me to swallow. I still get lazy, I still try to get out of a workout but a key factor for me is finding the workouts that I enjoy. Then I look forward to it & I feel on top of the world when I am done. And YES, I still splurge on my eating, I am human & female after all.

At this point in my Coaching career, if that is what you want to call it, which is 21 months, I have created an income that has allowed us to not only pay off debt but it has allowed me to stay home. Although I was a SAHM prior to Beachbody, I was to the point where I was looking for work, just before I had my daughter, to line up for after her birth. I was scouring the want ads & applying for jobs I new I would hate. I even ventured into looking at Direct Sales, but to be completely honest, I did not want to work the hours that were convenient for OTHER people, the people hosting the parties. I did not want to be selling the same make up, jewelry, candles or kitchen ware to my friends & family over & over again. I knew that wasn't a good road for me to go down. So to say that I am now in Direct Sales is funny to me, because it sure as hell doesn't feel like it. Stumbling upon this opportunity has been a complete blessing. It has changed the course of my life in so many ways. I cannot be more thankful for this opportunity. If it's knockin', you should probably open the damn door!

I finally have a BLOG!!

Well, here I am after months & months of talking about starting a Blog. It's official, I now have one. Yay me!

Anyway, I have been wanting to start a blog for a long time because I do a ton of research on a lot of different things & would like to store & share that information & I have A LOT of stuff going on upstairs.

So here I sit, thinking, "what in the world should I even write for my first post"? I guess I can start with a basic rundown of me. Makes sense right?

I am 33 years old, married to my BEST friend & man of my dreams. I have 2 beautiful daughters who keep me on my toes.
Let's go back to what actually brought me to create this blog & that is being a Beachbody Coach! Had I never taken that step, I would not be writing this blog today.

Ok, now let's go back a bit further to my teen years. I grew up in a small town. I was a bit of a wild child. Got into my share of trouble. Grew up in a household that didn't have the greatest of habits. Got into the bar scene in my early twenties. Fluctuated with my weight & never held a single healthy habit. I lived on Burger King, Taco Bell & Denny's, especially after a night of drinking. I wasn't unhappy with my self or my body at that time. I went through the break up diet a few times & got pretty thin, but always gained it back. When I met my now husband in 2003, at the bar (go figure), we were at the bar 5 -6 nights a week! We dated for about 4 months & then he had a job transfer to a town about 3 hours away. I decided on a whim that I would pack up & go with him. I started going to school for Medical Assisting & working part time at a drug store. We lived in a TINY one bedroom duplex. We shopped at Costco for CHEAP foods in bulk & we ate out fast food frequently. After living together for a few months I vividly remember one day we went to Old Navy to buy some clothes for work. I walked in, confidently, & walked out in tears. I grabbed a size 12, since that was the size I had been wearing for as long as I could remember & went to the dressing room. I couldn't even pull the pants up over my butt. I figured it was just their sizing that ran small. So I grabbed a size 14, I got them on but they were snug. Refusing to try on a bigger pair, I got in line to pay. A moment later my husband joined me in line & asked what I had gotten. I turned to answer & show him the pants & it hit me, I WAS FAT, & I burst into tears! I put the pants on the counter & ran out of the store. He followed not knowing what the heck was going on. I told him about the sizes & he just hugged me.
After that I just couldn't figure out how it happened. I didn't see anything WRONG with the burritos, corn dogs, mac & cheese, sodium laden deli meats or any other of the boxed processed foods that we had filling our freezer & cupboards. So, for the next year we just continued on. Both of our families had a history of illnesses & bad eating habits. Now that I look back the writing was on the wall for sure, but we were blind. I really don't know how much weight I actually gained. On Christmas day of 2004, he proposed! 8 months later we got married. I knew I needed to lose weight. I started weight watchers & Curves after Christmas. At some point in there we decided to join a gym. We paid about $1600 for 2 memberships for a year, in advance. I went to that gym exactly ONE TIME!!
I ordered my wedding dress online & I remember ordering in a size 14 knowing that I could have it taken in. On my wedding day, according to the seamstress, my dress was a size 10. I was beyond happy!

Just 2 months after we were married we went on our honeymoon. I have no idea how much weight I gained in that 2 months but when I compared these pictures, I was speechless.

We got back into WW & it helped a bit. About a year later we moved away & lived with family for a few months while we looked for a home to buy. Living with family did not work out well. We ate out constantly. Eventually I found a job at a Weight Management Physician's office working the front desk. I started with their laid out meal plan full of medical grade, high quality protein foods. When I took my before picture, I didn't even recognize myself. (I wish I had the picture to show.) I weighed in at about 210 lbs & I am 5' 6". In all honesty I am not sure if this was my highest weight at that time. I never owned a scale or bought clothing in fear of the truth. I lost about 40lbs just following a low calorie diet with these (processed) foods, in about 10 months. I hit got down to 170 lbs & hit a plateau, so I thought. Turns out, I was PREGNANT. This, in my head, meant I could shove my face with whatever I wanted! I recall my mother in law talking about how it was entertaining to take me out to eat because I would eat all my food & then finish hubby's plate as well. I gained 70 lbs with that pregnancy. I was UNBELIEVABLY MISERABLE weighing in at 250 lbs!

After the birth of our first baby girl, Mackenzie, I hoped right back on that plan I was so successful with before. I shed a whopping 96 lbs in the next year!! 

This picture was taken 13 months after I gave birth. I weighed about 155 lbs here. Did I mention that I NEVER once did any form of exercise other than occasionally a few sit ups, girl push ups & some walking. I did not think that under any circumstances I NEEDED to exercise. I mean after all I shed 96 lbs without it, WHY in the world should I start now. Exercise SUCKED!

In late 2009, Tom, had a career change & we had to pack up & move away. I went from working to being in a TINY apartment in a tiny town up in the mountains in the middle of winter, with a toddler. I didn't know anyone. I didn't drive in the snow. We didn't go outside for more than 15 minutes because it was so cold. All I did was cook. I started doing a lot of research online for low fat, low calorie, fat free etc etc etc. recipes. I had already made the switch from white flour to whole wheat flour & I had removed refined white sugar from the house in whole form & replaced it with splenda. I was a splenda-holic! I did everything with splenda! Over the course of 2 years I gained about 20 lbs back. We had a lot of late nights watching LOST on netflix with a 24 pack of Pumpkin Ale & each our own package of Oreo's. Good times. Tom slowly got me to start running, (well, if that's what you want to call it). The first time we tried it, I couldn't even make it around a 1/4 mile track at a slow jog. We decided to start this in the middle of winter mind you, in the snow! We made a goal to run 3 times per week & go just a 1/4 mile farther each time. Eventually I was up to 3 miles, 3 times per week. I do not remember what my times were. We took a trip to visit some friends & while we were there another couple was telling us how they just ordered P90X & were going to be starting it. On the drive home we decided that we should do the same. So I got online & ordered it. We received the box a few days later. Opened it up, looked at the fitness guide, chose our plan then looked at the nutrition guide & calculated our calories. I told my husband that there was NO WAY I was going to eat that many calories! So we started the program & continued to eat the same way. We had a cruise booked for the summer & wanted to look good for that. We completed 60 days before we went on that cruise. When we returned home, we never picked it back up. Then summer was all about Beers & BBQ. Eventually we moved into a bigger house & one day decided to give P90X another shot. We stuck with if for a week then slacked then back to it etc etc. We scored a FREE treadmill & I tried to stick with that. Then we got word that we could transfer back to the first town we lived in together. So we decided to move back to the mother in laws house to save up money to move. We joined the local gym & started attending classes 3 mornings per week & taking my daughter to the day care there. I didn't lose any weight but I really enjoyed the classes. In May 2011, I found out I was pregnant with baby #2. This time I was the exact same weight I was when I found out with my first pregnancy, but I was more aware of my eating & only gained 50 lbs. This pregnancy was different. Post partum depression hit me like a ton of bricks before I gave birth. I recognized what was going on & sought out help. I saw an MFT for 3 months before giving birth. I remember days that my husband couldn't even look at me with me starting to cry. I was miserable. This continued for about 2 months. I slowly got better as I continued to see my MFT. One day I was browsing Facebook & saw a friend of mine post how she just starting P90X. I literally laughed out loud because this friend was like me in school & neither of us had an athletic bone in our bodies. So I messaged her saying that I already owned it & that I wanted to lose my baby weight as soon as the doctor released me. She encouraged me to join her challenge group & to try Shakeology. And that was the very beginning to my Beachbody story. I'll post that in my next blog post.