Tag: transformation

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.

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!

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 :)

My Transformation

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#Throwback to the time when I weighed over 200 pounds and I avoided crowds at all costs, had zero confidence in myself, refrained from swimming for years because I couldn’t stand to see myself in a bathing suit, refused to have my picture taken because I didn’t want more proof that I was fat, and so many more side-effects to being overweight.

Enter Beachbody and the coaching system – My life changed. I found a great coach with an awesome team and a large support system on Facebook with people all over the world going through the exact same thing as me. Engaging with these people every day helped me keep my focus and stay motivated to continue when I had never been able to do that on my own before – not for lack of trying. Before Beachbody I had started and stopped with the gym and various workouts, never making it more than a few weeks. I had tried just about every weight loss pill, drink, wrap, diet, cleanse, etc. None of which gave me lasting results. I finally decided in May 2013 that I could not, and WOULD NOT let myself go through graduation year of university the way I went through my high school grad year – alone and miserable.

So I got to work with P90X, one of Beachbody’s awesome programs. This started me on a path that I will never forget. I’ve lost 55 pounds and counting. I now enjoy and look forward to the workouts that I used to have to force myself to do. I have a lot of fun, and I’ve gotten my life back. I have confidence in myself again. I have gone swimming in a bikini again. I finally had the courage to cross one of my dreams off of my bucket list this summer when I went backpacking through Europe.

Fitness isn’t just about losing weight. Fitness is about overall health and happiness, and when you are exercising and eating right you will start seeing progress that will make you feel great. That is what keeps you going, and the little milestones along the way that make you happy is what gradually starts to change your whole outlook on life. Before, I was grumpy and depressed all the time. Now, I am pretty content most of the time. Fitness and nutrition is a total mind and body transformation, and I owe this all to Beachbody for providing me with the tools that I needed to make this transformation happen.

Thank you #Beachbody

Rant: Prejudice toward fitness enthusiasts

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I apologize in advance for the rant that is about to take place, but this has me so FIRED UP. I first saw this picture and I was like “Wow, that’s awesome!”, then I saw all the comments that were shown underneath the post I was looking at.

1) A lot of people are judging her and claiming that she must be a bad mother, not spend any time with her kids, has a dirty house, etc. I would LOVE to know how anyone could possibly know that from looking at a picture. As a Beachbody coach I have had the privilege of coming into contact with a LOT of fitness enthusiasts, and many of them have children. My coaches, Chet and Natalie Nichols (Team Get Fit), for example: They have three kids and they now have ROCKING bodies, and they are awesome parents. So many other coaches and regular people just trying to get fit have children and yet they make time for workouts. Just because you choose to make working out a priority does not mean that you do not care about your kids, in fact, I would argue the opposite. If you are unhappy with your weight and you don’t do anything to change it, your insecurities and your health issues have the potential to negatively impact your children’s lives. Working out does not necessarily mean that you can’t watch your kids either, you can just wait for them to go to bed and do it then! People keep saying it isn’t realistic for single mothers: WRONG. If you make it a priority, just like you make your kids a priority, you CAN get the body you want. You just have to be willing to do whatever it takes, even if it means staying up a little later after the kids are in bed or getting up before they do and working out. You can even do what this woman did and take the kids to the park and workout while you are there, or even just go for long walks with your kids. You can say I don’t have kids so I don’t understand, sure, but I do know tons of people who DO have kids and who have done whatever it takes and gotten results.

2) People are saying she is not a REAL woman, because she has been in fitness competitions and pageants and whatnot. My question to the people saying this is: Who are you to say who is and isn’t real? Yeah so this woman was in fitness comps, pageants, etc. So what? She didn’t always have that body, she had to start somewhere, we all do. I have countless friends from my home town who have done fitness competitions, one of which actually won her last comp (Julie Carson)! They don’t start out competition ready, they work their ASSES off to get the results that they get. Julie did it while working a full time job and going to university with me full time. A friend of mine did it with a young child, a husband away a lot with the military, and going to university. It seriously makes my blood boil to see these comments about fitness enthusiasts, making them out to be “fake” or “unrealistic”. They put in the hard work, they stayed dedicated, and they did this consistently over a long period of time to get the bodies that they now have. You can look at a photo of a woman with a completely fit body, but until you know her story, you should not judge her. Unless you’ve read their story, and you’ve seen their before and after pictures, you have NO way of knowing where they were when they started and what/how long it took for them to get that body.

3) People are judging her because she has a website, and because she is a personal trainer so she must she be in it for the money. Guess what, most people these days have Facebook pages or websites for their businesses!! I have a website, every Beachbody coach I know has a website. I didn’t become a Beachbody coach just because of the money, I became a coach because I was seeing the results from the business and I wanted to help reach out to others and show them that the products work and that they can get great results too. It’s not always about the money, sometimes it is just about finding something that you are passionate about and deciding to make that your career.

4) People are criticizing the message. “What’s your excuse” is meant to be a motivator, it is meant to tell everyone out there all over the world “Look, I have 3 kids AND I have a great body, and you can too”. Myself, and tons of other fitness enthusiasts, all post pictures of stuff like that, or older people with great bodies, or people with missing limbs and great bodies, etc. with the caption of “What’s your excuse”. It’s not meant to call out all mothers, I don’t even think it was directed solely at mothers, I think it was just meant to show people that despite your circumstances you can make it happen. I was always one of the worst out there for making excuses, up until 5 months ago. I decided at the beginning of the summer that I was not going to let this grad year in University be like my high school grad year. I want to be able to ENJOY my grad year, and not be too self-conscious and uncomfortable in my own skin to even participate in the events. I made it a priority, and despite working full time over night shifts AND doing a pilot study for my thesis, this summer I managed to complete P90X. I then started my second round of P90X in September, and I have been balancing my workouts with going to class, doing assignments, studying, working on my thesis, and working on weekends! I don’t have a lot of time, and I am often exhausted, but this is something that is important to me so I MAKE time.

5) People are saying it would take a lot of money to pay a maid to clean her house for her, babysitters to watch her kids for her, a personal trainer, and a chef. WRONG. If you really don’t have the money for a Beachbody fitness program, a gym membership, etc., you can still see results from doing home workouts. Do crunches, sit ups, push ups, burpees, lunges, squats, jumping jacks, etc. There are TONS of things that you can do, it might take you a little longer to get that type of body, but if you do that consistently every day or most days of the week you will see results. So you see, fifteen minutes a day is doable! Do what you can, give up some Facebook time, give up one of your shows, or even do the exercises WHILE you watch your show! You don’t have to spend hours a day to get the results you want if you don’t have the time, but to say that you would need to hire a maid, a babysitter, AND a personal trainer is just ridiculous. You can find countless little 15 minute workout routines on Pinterest. Hell you can even ask me, and I can GIVE you some moves to do! Also, fitness is not just about exercise! Fitness has a LOT to do with nutrition, and the majority of your results are going to come from what you are putting into your body. Many fitness enthusiasts dedicate ONE day of the week to cooking, like Sunday for example. They will then cook a bunch of food that they will eat for the week. Here at my house we’ll make soups for the week, lean turkey chili, cook up a bunch of chicken, etc. Then it is all ready and you just have to heat it up and then chop up some veggies to throw on your plate as well.

Why is it that we judge first and ask questions later? Many of the people who made comments like the ones I addressed above clearly hadn’t read the woman’s story. And yes, she was never overweight to begin with, but that doesn’t make her results any less inspiring. She still had to put in a lot of work to get the muscle definition and toned body that she now has. As excited as I am to get results like she has gotten and make fitness my career, I am now nervous about all of the criticism that I am going to get along the way. I am a real person working my butt off for success, but once I achieve success, I worry that people are going to only see that and judge me in the same manner. It’s such a shame, because if people could get over their negativity and prejudice they may actually be able to get great results themselves!