Tag: get fit

Do fit people discourage you?

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I have actually had people message me on my page tell me that I shouldn’t be posting pictures of all of these people with super fit bodies on my business page because it is “fat-shaming” and makes people feel bad about themselves. My response is always this. I do NOT, nor will I ever, post something on business page for the purpose of shaming someone or making them feel bad. I post those photos to inspire, and to show people that those kinds of results ARE possible.

Sometimes I have people say things like “well those aren’t real/normal people”, or “yeah but they never struggled with weight in the first place”. My answer is always this. How do YOU know what that person has been through, and what makes YOU the judge of who is real and/or normal in this world? You cannot look at a fit person and say definitively that they have never struggled with weight issues. A lot of people look at me and say that they wouldn’t believe I had ever been classified by a doctor as obese, but I was.

When you see success stories, I don’t want you to think of it as shaming. I want you to let that be motivation for you to achieve your own success story! Try not to let those pictures of progress discourage you by thinking that they are so far ahead of you, because chances are, they started way before you and worked hard for months or even years to get the results that they have achieved.

I want you to focus on what you want to look like. I want you to imagine yourself fitting back into your old favorite pair of jeans. For me, the proverbial pair of jeans was my high school grad ring. I got it early and by the middle of my graduating year, it would no longer fit on my finger. When I started this fitness journey, I promised myself that one day I WOULD get back into that ring. I tried the ring on pretty much every week during my journey until I finally slipped it on, and it felt SO GOOD when I finally hit that goal.

I want you to feel as good as I felt getting my high school grad ring back on my finger. Click Here if you are ready to embark on your own journey.

Don’t strive to be SKINNY

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Sometimes I get responses to my invitations saying “No thanks, I’m already skinny”.

Well, let me tell you, it’s not always about getting skinny! I don’t want to be “skinny”, I want to be FIT and HEALTHY. You should never strive to JUST be skinny. There are even “skinny” people who have fat on their bodies and cellulite, and all of that unwanted stuff.

In addition, I have talked with countless “skinny” people who also have body image issues. People that are naturally super thin have these issues with their bodies just like those who are overweight, they just have issues with different things. For example, I can think of a couple of people right off the bat who have admitted that they can’t stand the fact that their butt is so flat that it doesn’t fill out their jeans. There is also that “thigh gap” goal circulating, but I know multiple people who HAVE that gap naturally and they can’t stand it.

My point is this: Strive to get fit, strive to be healthy, and strive to be toned. You can do it, and I can help you!

Click Here if you’re ready to step out of your comfort zone to change your life for the better.

Believe in yourself!

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So many people see the previews for Beachbody fitness programs and think “I could never do that”. Well guess what, you would be absolutely right. You probably couldn’t do what they can do right out of the gate. I couldn’t, and I bet no beginner could!

What you can do is give it all you’ve got, try your best, and stick with it. If you have to follow the modifier in the beginning, so be it. If you have to skip a move entirely because you simply don’t have the strength, so be it. If you have to pause the DVD 20 times to get a drink, SO BE IT. Just get through it!

Over time you will get stronger and stronger and you will be able to do more and more! If you modified moves before you’ll find you can do the move the way the others do it. If you had to skip a move entirely, you’ll find you can do it modified. If you had to pause the tape 20 times for a drink, you’ll find you only have to do it 5 times. You need to forget about the people in the video that are super fit and have the bodies that you are striving for. They’ve already been through the program, you haven’t!

Believe in yourself, because you CAN do this. The question is, WILL YOU?

Click Here if you are ready to take the next step to a healthier lifestyle.

Diet VS Exercise

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I both agree AND disagree with this image.

This is not ALWAYS going to be true because everyone is different in body type. However, it is definitely true that dieting will only get you so far. You can diet all you want, but you aren’t going to get the tight and toned body that you may want just by dieting.

You need to pair the diet with exercise, which is already arranged for you with Beachbody programs! When you purchase a Beachbody program you receive the fitness routine, the meal plan, AND access online to all kinds of information about health and fitness. In addition to all of that, you also get me as your coach and a team full of like minded individuals for support and accountability.

All you’ve got to do is commit! Are you ready? If so, Click Here.

Stop thinking – Start doing!

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It’s one thing to KNOW the steps that need to be taken to reach your fitness goals, to think about it, to want it, and to set a date.. It’s another thing to actually DO what you set out to do. Get out of your head about it, and JUST DO IT!

You can learn all you want about nutrition, exercising, what to do and what not to do, etc. If you don’t put what you learn to use and actually practice that which you have learned, you will never see results.

Let me ask you this: Less than 90 days from now when I post my new results photos, are you going to wish you had started sooner? Message me, and let’s talk!

Click Here if you are ready to take action now!

Lacking Motivation?

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This is true to an extent, but I just want to make a small adjustment. In reality a lot of us don’t start out with motivation, we start out with DETERMINATION!

This means that we have a reason for wanting to change, and we force ourselves to work out and eat right even when we really don’t want to.Let’s call this reason our “WHY”. Each of us has some reason that we want to live healthier and change our habits. For many, that reason is to be healthier for their children so that they can live longer and experience more. For me, it was to regain confidence and take charge of my life. A lot of people that are overweight and obese struggle with depression and self-hate, and I fell into that category when I started this journey.The “why” for those in that category would be to eliminate those negative feelings so that they can finally be happy.

There are so many more reasons why one would choose this new path, and no matter the reason, you just have to hold on to it! Remind yourself each and every day of why you chose to do this and why you not only want to do this, but NEED to do this. Just think about where you want to be, and tell yourself that you can get there, but you have to keep going. The time is going to pass no matter what, so it is better to keep at it than give up because it will mean the difference between either reaching your goals at the end of a given timeframe and NOT reaching your goals.

That first few weeks of your journey will be the toughest because it is a MENTAL battle, and that part can actually be harder than the physical battle in some ways. Over time you will start seeing results, and that is when motivation really kicks in. You’ll be like “Hey, look at me, I feel GREAT!”, you will start to see people take notice of your progress, and you will fall in love with the feeling you get from these experiences. It is at this point that you become really motivated to continue, because you will want to continue having those experiences.

Once you start to enjoy what you are doing, and you realize that clean eating and regular exercise really DOES make a difference, those life choices turn into habits. To help you get there, I have a little exercise for you to do!

I want you to really start to think about your “WHY”. Then I want you to create a vision board based on your own personal why. You can do this on your computer as a collage if you want, you can do it by printing things off, you can even do it by cutting from magazines. Whatever you prefer, go with that. I want you to put the things that motivates you to want to be healthier and fit on this vision board where you will see them EVERY DAY. 

For example, if I were to do a vision board based on what motivated me when I started out it would feature things like beaches, bikinis, women smiling and laughing, confident ladies, wearing cute skirts and dresses again, being confident in social situations, traveling the world, stuff like that. Those are things that motivated me to want to change my life for the better, so I want you to think about, and find photos of, the things that do this for you.

If it is a paper copy, hang it somewhere you visit often. If it is a computer copy, use it as a desktop! This will remind you of why you are working for this, and will hopefully help keep you motivated. Feel free to send me your vision boards to hfmxj@stu.ca, I would love to see them! I may even choose my favorite to feature on my blog ;)

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Magic Weight Loss

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Have you wasted HUNDREDS of dollars on pills, drinks, supplements, wraps, fad diets, and more and simply not lost the weight? I have. Before Beachbody I had tried so many different weight loss remedies and fad diets, wasting money that I didn’t really have in a desperate attempt to lose the weight.

Let me let you in on a secret.. there is no magical weight loss remedy. What will ALWAYS work is eating nutritious foods, working out, and sticking to it! If you commit yourself to a workout program and eating healthy, not dieting, just eating healthy, you will lose the weight!

Let me help you reach your goals the healthy way, and send me a message detailing where you are at currently as well as your goals (whether it be losing 10 pounds, or losing over 100 pounds!) so that I can help figure out what program would work best for you.

Click Here if you would like to take me on as your coach!

Core/Ab exercises you can do from home!

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This is a list of some simple core/ab moves, as well as some moves straight out of various Beachbody workouts. Keep checking back for a bigger list, because I will add more over time.

-Hold weights in each hand straight down beside your thighs, and then shift your body from left and right bringing the weight down toward the floor. This works your obliques.

-Leg lifts; lie down flat on the mat with your hands on the mat for balance, and then raise your legs up into the air at a 90 degree angle. Then you’ll lift your butt off the floor and push your legs into the air as high as you can, come back down slowly, and then repeat as many times as you want.

-Crunchy frog (P90X): Sit on the mat and lean back at an angle. Lift your legs up off the floor and bend your knees up to your chest as you wrap your arms around your knees, then your legs go straight outand arms go out to the sides. Repeat.

-Sit at an angle with your legs off the floor and knees bent, then reach from side to side and touch the floor. This move can be done just by linking your hands to tap, or you can use a light weight.

-Leg extensions: Start this move on your knees and put your hands down on the floor for balance. Then you will just lift one leg up so that it is parallel to the floor, let it come down but not hit the floor, and repeat. If you want to make the move harder you can extend the leg and raise one arm out also parallel to the floor, then bring the knee up to your chest and pull the arm in at the same time.

-Leg extensions standing up: This time you balance on one leg with your hands on your hips, and then just raise the leg out to the side as high as you can. Starting out you can tap the floor between reps, but over time try to do them without touching your toe to the floor.

-Scissors: Lie down and start with both legs up straight in the air at a 90 degree angle and your arms down on the mat for balance. Then you will bring one leg down parallel to the floor, but not touching. As you bring that leg back up, the other one comes down.

-Cross crawl (Les Mills): Lie down on the mat with your hands behind your head and start by just bringing one knee up but bend it so that only the bottom half of your leg is parallel to the floor. Then switch back and forth a couple of times to get used to the movement. Once you’ve got it, (let’s say you are doing the right leg) you’ll add the crunch and then turn your body to the right, bringing your left elbow close to your right knee. Do this again several times on each side.

-Bridge: Start in a sitting position and put your hands on the ground behind you, then bend your knees and plant your feet on the ground. You will then lift yourself up until your body is parallel to the floor. Hold as long as you can.

-Plank: Start by lying face down and then resting your toes on the mat. Plant your hands in a pushup position, and then lift yourself up parallel to the floor. Hold as long as you can. This can be done on your hands or on your elbows if holding on your hands is too difficult starting out.

-Modified plank (Les Mills): Start the same way as plank, hands and feet planted body parallel to the floor. Then come down off of your right hand and onto your elbow, then the other hand, and then lift back up onto your right hand, then the other hand. Repeat. This one buuuurns when you do it enough times.

-Banana rolls (P90X): This sounds silly, but you will look just like the shape of a banana. It is probably easiest to start lying face down. You’ll want to do this at the end of your mat because then you will have more range of movement, and the mat should be positioned under your hips and butt. You’ll want to have your legs lifted off the floor as high as you can get them, and the arms straight out in front of you also lifted as high as you can get them. Hold for 10 seconds, then turn onto your side and position your arms and legs in the same manner just to the side. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat on your back, and this one will be tough so you can bring your legs a little higher if you have to. Then do the other side.

-Superman (P90X): This is exactly the same as the first part of banana roll. Keep your arms straight out, legs straight out, both as high as you can get them. Hold for as long as you can, give yourself a break, repeat as many times as you want.

-Cobra: Lie down on the mat with your hands straight out in front of you, then lift your chest as high off the ground as you can manage while bringing your arms out to the sides and pushing them as far back as you can. Repeat this as many times as you want.

-Lunge and reach (P90X): With this one you’ll want to be standing with wide legs, and then you lunge down to one side and reach for the ground. Then you will start to stand up and as you get halfway up you’ll start turning your body to the opposite side and reaching your arms up into the air. It will feel like you are picking something up off the ground, and putting it up on a high shelf on the other side. Repeat on the same side, then do the other side separately. You can do this with or without weights. If you want to add weight but you don’t have dumbbells you can even use something as simple as a can of soup.

-Stand up crunches: Can be done with a light weight or without. Just stand in a wide leg position for better balance. Then you’ll hold the weight or grip your hands together and crunch down from side to side. Do not lean forward, make sure that you have good posture and your back is straight. It should be like your back is up against a wall and all you’re doing is moving side to side.

Figure eights (Turbo Fire): Can be done with a light weight or without. Again you’ll stand in a wide leg position for balance, and then reach your arms straight out and bring it down to one side, then up, back down as you cross in front of your body to the other side, back up, etc. This literally is a figure eight, and the wider you make them and the further out your hands are the harder the move will be.

-(Les Mills) Start this move by lying down with your legs straight out but not touching the floor, and then bend your knees up toward your chest as you crunch up and reach your arms toward your toes. Then you’ll lie back and bring your legs out straight in a hover again, then lift the legs up straight in the air at a 90 degree angle while crunching up and again reaching your arms toward your toes. This counts as one full rep.

-Mountain climber: With this one you plant your hands on the floor, and then bring one knee up close to your chest. Once you put that leg back down you just switch to the other leg, and repeat. The faster you go, the harder this gets.

-Spider: Here you will start in a plank position, and then lift one leg up and bring the knee up to the side and crunch it toward your upper body. Do this on both sides repeatedly.

-Burpees: With this one you start standing up, plant your hands down on the floor quickly, jump your feet back to a plank position, jump them back forward, stand up. That is one rep. If you get good at these and you want to get a little crazy and make it harder you can add a knee tuck jump in between reps, you can jump your feet out wide after the plank before jumping them back in and standing up, or you can do both.

-X press (P90X): This one is done standing up, and you’ll want a wide stance with your toes pointing out toward the sides of the room. This one is best done with light weight, so if you don’t have those just grab a couple cans of soup. You start by squatting down and your arms just hang in between your legs, then as you come up out of the squat you reach your hands up overhead into an X. Repeat.

-Lying toe-touch: Start this move lying down with your legs straight out and your arms up behind your head. Crunch up and reach your arm across your body and touch it to the floor on the opposite side, then come back down slowly before doing the other side. Repeat as many times as you want. You can also do this with your legs crossed if you want a bigger challenge.

-Steam engine (P90X): Start standing up with your hands behind your head. Then you will bring one knee up as high as you can, and turn your body toward the knee so the opposite elbow almost touches. Then you’ll switch back and forth repeatedly.

-Another one to do standing up is to hold weight on one leg and lunge back with the other, your arms and upper body turns in the opposite direction of the lunge. Then you bring your knee up as high as you can, and your arms and upper body turns to the other side toward the knee. Repeat on this side as many times as you want before doing the other leg. You can also do this move by reaching your arms into the air straight up as you lunge, and then crunching your arms and upper body down as you bring the knee up.

-Running man (P90X): This one is done with most of your weight on the front leg, and the other leg in a bit of a lunge backward. Then you just move your arms back and forth as though you are running. The faster you go, the harder the move gets. You can also do this with light weights to make it harder.

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Motivation Myth

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A lot of people that I have talked to have said that their main problem with weight loss and fitness is that they lack the motivation. The truth of the matter is, motivation is just a myth – you have to CREATE the motivation. First what you need to do is sit down and really think about your current body and weight, and how it affects your life and the lives of those around you. If you have children in your life, think about how your weight and current fitness level effects them and think about the kind of example that you want to set for them. Think about any bad experiences you may have had in the past related to your weight, any negative feelings it has caused, stuff like that. Think about WHY you want to lose weight, get in shape, tone, add muscle, etc. In order to keep you going your reason has to be more powerful than just “Because I want to look good”. Take some time to really think about this, and then write ALL of your reasons down. As you progress through your fitness program you will need to use these reasons as fuel to keep you going. Any time that you feel your motivation slipping, return to those notes that you took in the very beginning and think about why you started in the first place.

Sometimes thinking about your why isn’t enough, for example, it is also important to have goals. If you have long term goals, that is great, but the short term goals are the most important. If you just say I want to lose 30 pounds and then a month later you still aren’t close to hitting that goal, you will probably get frustrated and slip up. Instead, focus on setting smaller goals and reward yourself as you reach them. Keep a record of your goals, both long term and short term, and cross them off as you reach them. Writing them down helps to solidify it in your mind as something that you CAN and WILL achieve. In addition, it helps to voice your goals to others because it gives you a sense of accountability. If other people know about your goals, you won’t want to give up and admit defeat as easily. Keep sticky notes somewhere you can see them daily, like a mirror in your room or something, and write some of your favorite motivational quotes on them alongside your most recent short term goal. This is kind of the “eye on the prize” philosophy, it keeps your goal on your mind at all times and helps to keep you focused.

Here is my example: When I started P90X last May (2013), I honestly didn’t think I would make it all the way through the program. I’ve since completed two rounds of P90X and a round each of Turbo Fire and Les Mills PUMP, and lost a total of 55 pounds. Before that I had tried P90X and the gym MANY times before, and I always failed to make it to the second month. I would start and stop, binge on junk food for a bit, then start and stop again. It got to a point where I realized that I was over 200 pounds and I didn’t think that I could work out, so I started trying all of those crazy weight loss money grabs out there like Visalus shakes, Body wraps, weight loss pills, fad diets, juice cleanses, etc. I wasted hundreds of dollars on all of these crazy products that would either not work at all, or work in the first week as I lost the water weight and then the weight would come right back on. I decided last April that I did not want to spend my University grad year the same way I spent my high school grad year; stuck on the sidelines hiding because of my weight. I decided that I needed to take CHARGE of my life, and that in order to get the body that I wanted that I would have to WORK for it. So that is exactly what I started doing. Last May I found myself a coach, and a great group of like-minded individuals going through Beachbody programs as well. Having a support group is definitely important, and was instrumental to my success. In addition to that were all of my reasons for REALLY wanting it. I thought back to any kid who ever called me fat in school, to all of those parties and school events that I skipped because I was ashamed of how I looked, to all of the summers I spent hiding in my house avoiding the heat and the beaches or pools because I was too embarassed about my weight to show up in those places in summer clothes or bathing suits, and most of all, I thought about my grad year of high school and first three years of university where I completely isolated myself and lived with depression and self loathing for how far I had let myself go. THOSE were my reasons for continuing, and I used all of the negative feelings and experiences to act as fuel and motivation to keep going whenever I wanted to give up. I won’t lie to you, it isn’t easy at first, but once you start noticing the benefits of regular exercise and your mood starts to improve you won’t WANT to stop.

I hope these tips help! If you are ready to start your own fitness journey, shoot me a message and we can talk about your goals and figure out the best program for you. You’ll have my support along the way, as well as a whole team of like-minded individuals in a private Facebook group with over a thousand members.

Click Here if you’re ready to join my team and take a challenge!

How/Why I became a Beachbody Coac

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I am often asked about my story, and I finally took the time to write it all out to share it with all of you!

My name is Jessica, and I am now a Beachbody Coach. I was never a really thin girl, but I was happy and confident in size 5 jeans until about grade 10. I then got the birth control needle (DEPO) and had major complications, including weight gain. That was just the tip of the iceberg, because as I continued to gain weight I dropped further and further in confidence and self-esteem. I then began comforting myself with foods. The bad foods caused me to continue to gain weight through to grade 12, which made me isolate myself from others in school. Grade 12 was a very lonely year, so I just focused on doing the best that I could in my classes.

I went to university thinking that would be my big break and I would make new friends and have a fresh start, but I soon realized that I isolated myself there as well. I didn’t know anyone, so I skipped all of the frosh week activities because I lacked the confidence to go alone. I skipped out on events and parties because I didn’t feel pretty or skinny enough. I avoided dating because I couldn’t stand to see myself without clothes, let alone let anyone else see me. And worst of all, I avoided the beach and going swimming in pools all of those years because I hated the way I looked in a bikini. It wasn’t until the end of my third year in university, at over 200lbs, that I decided that I needed to make a change.

For about six years I had been through a never ending cycle of feeling down about myself, comforting myself with food, and then gaining more weight and feeling even worse. I had gone through pretty much every diet out there, a few juice cleanses, a bunch of different diet pills or drinks, even body wraps; nothing worked. I was finally fed up with wasting money on the next magic diet or weight loss item that was supposed to make you skinny with zero effort. I decided to take charge of my own life, and to work for what I wanted: Enter Beachbody.

I dug out P90X, which my mom had bought me back in high school, and decided to give that a go. It was hard at first, but I got better day by day. I kept a food journal on MyFitnessPal to track my food intake and make sure my macros lined up, and I started getting shakeology and drinking that daily. I also found a great coach, and he and his wife/teammate helped me along the three months and put me in an amazing challenge group full of likeminded people struggling to achieve their own goals. I realized that it isn’t about having the motivation to work out, it is about WANTING the results and forcing yourself to do what is required to get them. At least in the beginning anyway! Once I started seeing a difference in my body it was very exciting, and it made me WANT to go down to the basement gym and do my workouts.

Three months passed and I had come a long way, but I had a long way to go. I decided to become a coach for two primary reasons. First, I knew at this point that there were so many more people out there who were feeling the exact same way about themselves that I had been feeling about myself all of those years, and I wanted to be able to provide them with the gift that I had received and help them achieve their goals. Second, I knew if I was a coach and I had other people relying on me, it would help me stay accountable and keep up with my own workouts!

I started coaching, but I continued doing my workouts. I did two rounds of P90X, a round of Turbo Fire, a round of LES Mills Pump, and a round of ChaLEAN Extreme with some LES Mills Combat thrown in. I gained muscle definition, and went from plus sizes down to a size 10 jeans and size medium in dresses. For me, that was HUGE! I started to gain my confidence back throughout this process, and I took more and more pictures (which was something I had avoided for years). I started going out with friends and having fun at parties. I was in a relationship for a while, and a few months after that ended I started dating a bit. I even went backpacking through Europe this past summer, and yes, I went to the beach in a BIKINI! I am very happy to say that I did not end my university career the same way that I ended my high school years. I lost 55lbs, I made some friends in that last year, and I actually had fun.

Beachbody truly changed my life, because I could never have done it on my own. There are so many programs to pick from, so I honestly believe that there is something for everyone! I am still working toward MY ideal body, and I may not know exactly what that is until I achieve it, but I do know that I will be achieving it with Beachbody.

I am so excited to be a part of a community of individuals working toward a healthier and stronger life, while having the opportunity to share that lifestyle with those who desperately need some positive changes in their own lives. It is such a great feeling to watch someone reach their goals as you coach them through this wonderful journey. We are all blessed as coaches to be able to call this our job!

Click Here if you are ready to embark on your own health and fitness journey! I would love to coach you through this amazing process :)