Tag: nutrition

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.

Water Tip!

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I found this image on pinterest, and it is a FANTASTIC idea for those of us (*ME* lol) who struggle to get enough water into them each day!

Drinking water and keeping your body hydrated is super important regardless of whether or not you are working out. However, if you ARE exercising regularly; it then becomes extremely important. You sweat when you work out and lose a lot of water, so you need to replenish that in order to have the energy you need. It is also a super important factor for people trying to lose weight, because the more you drink, the more you’ll flush out!

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 ;)

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

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What are Doctors saying about Shakeology?

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Have you heard of Shakeology?

I was super skeptical to try it for the first time because I had tried so many different shakes in the past that never actually had any lasting effects. My coach at the time sent me some samples, and I actually really liked it so I decided to give it a shot. I have been drinking shakeology ever since, and I truly believe that it is without a doubt the healthiest meal of the day!

Check out what doctors have to say about it Here!

Click Here to visit my website and purchase Shakeology today.

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!

My Fitness Pal

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Hey Everyone! I have had a couple of people in the group approach me about meal plans, so I wanted to write a blog post for everyone in case anyone else had the same issues with nutrition. I am going to do you one better than simply give you a meal plan. I am going to do for you what my coach did for me when I started getting into fitness – show you how to use myfitnesspal. This is an AMAZING tool because it takes all of guesswork out of counting calories and macronutrients (carb/protein/fat). I strongly advise each of you to create an account at www.myfitnesspal.com because it will be super helpful for you to keep track of your nutrition and make sure you’re on track. After I explain a bit about myfitnesspal and how to use the features, I will then discuss macronutrients and the levels you should be focused on depending on your goals, and then I will get into some healthy meals and snacks that you can use on your plans. Honestly, this method works SO much better than anyone simply providing you with a basic meal plan to follow day after day. Anyone can give you a meal plan, but you are GOING to get sick of the foods on the plan and you are most likely going to give up. With MFP, YOU are in charge of what you are eating and are able to change it up from day to day as long as you stay within the calorie and macro limits. You’ll fluctuate a bit in macros from day to day as you change things up, and that’s okay, as long as you are around the numbers you are supposed to be using.

Okay so how do you get started? Like I said above just go to the link, and create an account by either signing up through facebook or email. I believe it will ask you some information about your current weight and stuff like that just to help determine a calorie level. Once you’re logged in, you’ll see the “My Home” page automatically. This is where you can track your progress and see how many calories have yet to be consumed each day. Honestly though, I recommend filling out your meal plan for the day the night before. This way you can shift things around a bit to make the macros match up, that way you get them closer to the goal than if you were doing it as you ate your meals. Under the Home tab you can also visit Goals, which is where you update your calorie limit if you want it changed as well as how many workouts you do and your macro targets. If you want to change anything you just hit change goals, and then go to the Custom option to set your own fitness goals. If you have lost some weight or seen a decrease in measurements, you can track that under the Check In tab. The rest of the subtabs for home are all self-explanatory, so I’ll move on to the Food tab. This is where you do all the work! You just click the day you want to prepare, and it automatically has 3 meals and 3 snacks set out for you to update with foods. You just click “add food” and it brings up a database where you enter the food you want, click the right food and the proper amount, and click “add checked” to add it to that meal option. Once you’ve been using it for a bit there will be a bunch of foods listed under the tabs “recent and frequent” to make it easier for you to use. You can also save meals if you plan to be eating the same kinds of meals more frequently to make it easier, instead of having to repeatedly search for those ingredients or items every time you make it. If you’re making something completely original, you can visit the Recipes tab to log in all of the ingredients. This works AWESOME if you are making soups or chili or anything like that with multiple servings because all you do is put in the ingredients used and the amount of servings it makes, and MFP calculates how many calories and macros are in each serving!! Lastly, the only other thing you really need to know about MFP is the Exercise tab. This is completely optional, and I honestly don’t care if you use it or not! It is totally up to you, but if you are running or walking or doing some kind of physical activity and you want recognition for it – by all means, log it in!

Now that you know how to use MFP, let’s focus on calories and macros. This is going to differ depending on weight and size, and if you are doing workouts on a regular basis. However, as a ballpark number for those of you not doing fitness programs, I would say somewhere between 1300-1500 calories. You DO NOT want to go below 1200 calories a day. If you do, your body can enter what is called “starvation mode” and it will be completely counter-productive. A lot of people seem to believe that if you just don’t eat that much you will lose weight, but in reality your body will start storing the foods you do eat as fat because it will think it isn’t being fed enough to function properly. If you’re working out on a regular basis you will want to add 400-500 calories to that calorie range to create a deficit for the calories burned off in your workouts. Again, this will depend on your size and weight. As for macro nutrients, if you want to be on a fat burner diet I would aim for 25% carbs 25% fat and 50% protein. Everybody is different though, so if you are finding that you are sluggish and totally grouchy on that plan, you may need to modify. If that happens to you it is just because your body needs more carbs, so just bump it up in increments. So start the next day at 30% carbs and 20% fat with protein staying at 50%. If that still isn’t working for you, and it may not be when you’re just starting out, modify it again to 40% carb 40% protein and 20% fat. Once you’ve been doing your plan for a few weeks I would suggest bumping it back down and seeing how you fare. It could be that the first method was too drastic of a change starting out, but once you’re used to eating better it may be easier for you to manage the other level.

Okay so now that you know how to use myfitnesspal and you know what kind of a range you should be focused on macro- and calorie-wise, I am going to give you a list of meals and snacks that I like to have on my own plan to help you figure out some healthy foods you can be eating yourself. Keep in mind that you will want to measure everything out with measuring cups or count the chips or whatever you have to do to make sure you’re getting the amount you’re putting in to MFP – otherwise, the calculations will be off.

Meals:

-Homemade soups: You can throw in just about any vegetable you want with spices and bouillon cubes for flavor. Just try to pick something with a lower sodium content. Add some chicken if you want for a better protein source.

-Homemade chili: Throw in tomato paste and diced tomatoes with lean ground hamburger, kidney beans, chili powder and any spice you want for flavor, and whatever else you like in your chili.

-Omelet: cook a couple eggs with some egg whites (you can buy little cartons with egg white so you don’t have to waste your eggs getting the whites) and throw on chopped veggies when it is cooked.

-For meats I prefer lean ground beef and boneless skinless chicken breast. Lean ground turkey is also an option, as well as haddock and some other fish. You can add your choice of vegetable to this with white rice, sweet potato, or regular potato. Good veggie options include carrots, celery (really good for a snack if you have the munchies – people into fitness comps eat a lot of this when trying to lean down), asparagus, cucumber, peppers (any color really), and broccoli.

-Greek yogurt with fruit mixed in. I prefer to chop up strawberries, but you’re welcome to add whatever you like. Plain yogurt is better, but I can’t stand the taste so I use vanilla and just measure it to make sure the calories are the same. If you want to use plain yogurt and don’t like the taste, you can skip the fruit and add a serving of peanut butter or Nutella for flavor.

-Cheerios with almond milk.

-Shakeology with almond milk. I personally like the chocolate shakeology with vanilla flavored almond milk. I also mix in some frozen strawberries for flavor, and if I am using vanilla shakeology I mix in a teaspoon of Nutella.

-Ezekiel bread with a serving of peanut butter or Nutella.

-Stir fry: Dice up some boneless skinless chicken breasts and throw the pieces in the frying pan. You can add whatever veggies you want, some rice, and seasoning or soya sauce for flavor.

Some meals I like to have ONCE a week as a cheat meal:

-Nachos: Organic nachos (Kirkland brand, comes in a big brown paper bag at Costco), salsa, and tex mex cheese.

-Homemade pizza: You can find healthier pizza crusts at the grocery stores so you just have to go searching for one. I add pizza sauce to mine (measured out), pepperoni, pineapple, and tex mex cheese.

Snacks:

-Fruit: apple, banana, strawberries, blueberries, grapes. Try to limit yourself to 1-2 servings of fruit because they are high in natural sugars. I personally just have an apple a day and then have the strawberries in my shakeology.

-Greek yogurt as a bedtime snack.

-Plain rice cake with a serving of peanut butter or Nutella.

-Protein shake: I prefer Gold Standard chocolate whey protein from GNC. You can get cheaper stuff at Costco and other places though I am sure.

-GoGo Quinoa chocolate chip cookies: These are vegan and gluten-free, and you can purchase them at Costco.

-Skinny pop popcorn: You can find this at Costco and it is a great alternative to chips. I would recommend just having this on weekends if you are craving junk food. Measure out the proper amount. It is only 39 calories a cup, but you still want to measure so you know how much you’re eating. Trust me lol I know from experience that it is easy to eat way more than you’re supposed to with this stuff if you don’t measure :P

-Almond and unsalted roasted cashews are good in moderation, but you don’t want to have too many.

There you go! Now with the snacks I would recommend having 2-3 snacks a day that are between 100-200 calories and then your meals in between. To make it easier on yourself for on the go snacks, you can get little Ziploc baggies and measure out those amounts in whatever snack item you want and put them in a basket on the counter so that you can easily grab and go on the fly! There are tons of other healthy foods out there as well, but this is just a template to get you started from my own personal diet. I hope you find this useful. Please feel free to comment on this thread with any questions that you may have or if you need clarification on anything. I stopped using MFP for a while because when you’re eating the same foods all the time you kind of get used to the macros lol, but I will be starting up again soon. You’re welcome to add me as a friend on there if you want (handle is jsajm) to review my food journals in the days to come once I start using it again. If you’re not sure you’re on track, you can also just tell me to visit your page and check out your food diary.

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

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 :)