April Specials Are Here!!

I love when a new month is upon us because that means new challenge pack specials for the month! So here are your April specials and they are great ones!

All challenge packs include Shakeology. If you have been following me at all - you know how much I love Shakeology and how much it's changed my health. Click here to learn more about it.

PiYo & Shakeology: $140 (regular price $160)
PiYo Kickstart & Shakeology which includes the 3 Day Refresh Program: $180 (regular price $205)

::::PIYO::::

This was the second program I did after I finished T25 and let me tell you - it really works. Coming from an intense & fast workout routine to this was really good for me because it forced me to slow down and to work on my strength, flexibility, and balance.  Not to mention, it was extremely good for my mind and helped to relax me.  The thing I loved about it the most - you didn't need any weights and it was low impact.  So many people have problems with high-impact workouts and this one just fit so many people's needs.  With PiYo you use your body to shape your body!

First of all - I love Chalene Johnson!! Not only is she an awesome trainer, but she's an incredible motivator and I've become a huge fan of hers since I did PiYo back in July.

So a little facts - what exactly is PiYo??

• PiYo is a low-impact, high intensity body-transformation program that uses the most effective Pilates and Yoga inspired moves to sculpt long, lean muscles and burn fat
• Trainer Chalene Johnson uses fluid movements, keeping you in constant motion to give you a dynamic cardio workout that typical Pilates or Yoga workouts lack
• It is low impact so you won't have to jump around or strain your joints
• It's high intensity so you get the fat-burning results of a more extreme program
• It's designed to help you get an intensely defined, long and lean physique

Who is PiYo for??

Women and men who:

• Want to lose weight and burn fat without the high-impact jumps or complex choreography found in some cardio programs
• Want to build lean muscle but don't want to lift heavy weights or bulk up
• Want to get the results of an extreme program without straining their joints
• Like the benefits of Pilates and Yoga, but also want the calorie burn of a cardio workout
• Don't have time to go from class to class to do separate cardio, strength, and flexibility workouts
• Want a workout that doesn't require a lot of equipment
• Want to give their body a break from extreme programs but keep getting results and improve their performance in other sports by restoring their flexibility and core strength

3 Day Refresh

The 3 Day Refresh is a 3 day program of specially formulated shakes, healthy snacks, and delicious, easy to prepare meals that have been scientifically designed to help you lose weight and break the cycle of bad eating while dramatically improving the way you feel

Unlike juice fasts or liquid cleanses that are high in sugar and low in protein (which can leave you feeling weak and sluggish), the 3 Day Refresh is scientifically designed to help support your metabolism while nourishing your vital organs  Plus you actually get to eat delicious, real food during this program.

Some reasons to do the 3 Day Refresh:

• You need a clean break from a period of unhealthy eating (like a holiday or vacation!)
• You used to eat pretty well but you have recently fall off the wagon a bit and need some help getting back on.
• You want to jump-start healthy eating habits for a new workout program (like PiYo above!)
• You want to quickly lose a few pounds for an upcoming event
• You've never been a healthy eater, but you are ready to kick-start better nutrition for the first time
• You want your clothes to fit better and you want more energy
• You love food and want to feel satisfied while you lose weight and get healthier

Some of my personal results with the 3 Day Refresh...

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P90X3 & Shakeology: $160 (regular price $205)

I'm actually doing this program for the first time and I absolutely love it! I've heard a lot of feedback from some of my challengers who have completed the program and I was urged to definitely try this one! Most people know what P90X is - or have at least heard of it - so here is a little bit of info on what P90X3 is!

First of all - the awesome thing about P90X 3 is that it's only 30 minutes a day, 6 days a week. That is completely doable and anyone can find 30 minutes in their day to get a workout in!

Many P90X fans were hooked on the science of muscle confusion - which introduced variety to the workouts and prevented plateauing. P90X3 takes a hint from that success and from studies showing that the most dramatic body transformations happen within the first 30 minutes of exercise. Enter muscle acceleration, a Tony Horton-approvd highly structured schedule with an incredibly high level of intensity and an unprecendeted variety of moves. The gurus behing P90X3 combined exercises and added some twists to maximize your time and keep every muscle engaged for a full 30 minutes.

The base kit includes 16 workouts so you are never going to get bored. You'll get everything from cardio to strength, pilates, yoga, and MMX. There is definitely something for everyone!

Who is this program for? Everyone! It's for anyone looking for leaner muscles, tighter abs, and to get super toned. But fitness novces and experts need not be afraid by P90X's come-one-come all invitiation. You don't have to have any previous P90X experience in order to get some killer results. For the beginner, the variety of workouts in the program is the perfect start to discover your fitness style. If the move can be modified, there is a cast member showing you exactly how to do that. But don't expect to be an expert on day 1 - I certainly am not! I would consider myself a fitness veteran by now after doing so many programs, but I'm still very challenged so far starting this program! Tony says "You won't get off easy, you just get to finish faster!"

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To take advantage of these April specials - send me a message on facebook or email me and I'll get you hooked up. The best part is - I'll be your personal coach through your whole program and you will get all the support and accountability you need by joining my next health and fitness challenge group! By purchasing your program & Shakeology through me - you get an extra bonus workout DVD with your package.

If you know which challenge pack you want already - here are the links to purchase right away!

PiYo Challenge Pack: click here
PiYo Kickstart Challenge Pack: click here
P90X3 Challenge Pack: click here

To join my next challenge group - fill out this application and we can chat more! Not sure exactly what a challenge group is? Click here to learn more!

Post-Easter Candy Refresh

Easter is right around the corner. As much as we try to limit the excess of candy - it always ends up finding it's way into our house through different gifts from family members. And I do have very little Easter tins prepared for the girls. I'm talking small. :) But there's still candy involved! And family get togethers with yummy food?

Sometimes everything just comes to a point where you over-indulge and end up feeling bloated and ready for a new start or a REFRESH! Or you've been telling yourself that you want to start making changes in your life but just haven't figured out where to start?

And as Easter means Spring - we also know that SUMMER is right around the corner. Can you even believe that Memorial Day is only 2 months away?? I want to focus on doing the right things now so that when I put on the bathing suit for the first time this summer, I'm going to feel great in it! You with me? 

So I've decided to start a 30 Day Clean Eating & Shakeology group on Monday, April 6th and I'm opening it up to ONLY 10 people because I want to be able to really dedicate my time to this group and to the challengers.

What's extra special about this group? Wellllll, we are all going to start with doing the 3 Day Refresh together! I'm going to be doing it right along with you. To read more about what the 3 Day Refresh is - please click here for the juicy details.

For this special group of people who commit to do this 30 day group with me, I'm going to offer the 3 Day Refresh program ($69.95 to buy) completely free to you with the purchase of your Shakeology. Doesn't get much better than that!

Or does it? Well - when you order your challenge pack - you'll also get a FREE 30 day access to our Beachbody On Demand library of workout programs. So you can pick a workout program (or several) to do during the group too! Wherever you have internet access - you can access the workouts.

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~3 Day Refresh
~Shakeology
~Workout Program

~30 Day Accountability Group with me as your coach - going through lots of clean eating / fitness related topics with you and holding you accountable all along the way. ALL for just the price of your Shakeology! 

I personally love the 3 Day Refresh and have done it several times. Here are some of my images from a two of the refreshes I've done.

And why Shakeology??

Well - it can help you lose weight, especially if you replace one of your meals with Shakeology every day. It reduces junk food cravings, increases your energy levels and it can improve your digestion and regularity. There is a proprietary blend of prebiotics and probiotics that help create a healthy intestinal tract with aids in digestion. A healthier digestive system makes it easier to absorb key nutrtients. Also - the fiber and probiotics help you with regularity so you can eliminate toxins built up in your digestive system. And it's loaded with super-foods - making it very unique!

I drink Shakeology every day, not for weight loss, but because it plays a KEY role in my healthy lifestyle. It is NOT just a weight loss shake or a protein shake. This is a HEALTH shake that is a complete meal replacement that includes your dense super-food nutrition, daily vitamins, and and many nutrients your body needs to function at its prime! One of my favorite parts is that there are no artificial ingredients! Oh - and it tastes like dessert - so that's a huge benefit too, right? :)

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If you want to claim one of the TEN spots, please email me or send me a facebook message to get in on the fun. This is going to be SO fun!

Being Enough

This is an area that I feel conflicted on a lot. In my heart of hearts, I do know that I am enough. I know that I was made fearfully and wonderfully by God and I know that He sees me as more than enough.

But the reality is - sometimes it's just really hard. Especially when I've always been a people pleaser. A fixer. A peace maker. The strong one when I felt anything but that at times in my life. You get the point.

I have made huge strides in the area of pleasing other people. I am much more comfortable just being myself without worrying what people think of me...and that's incredibly freeing. But I still feel like I have a lot of work to do in the area of feeling like I'm doing good enough.

Am I a good enough wife?
Am I a good enough mom?
Am I a good enough Christian?
Am I a good enough daughter?
Am I a good enough sister?
Am I a good enough friend?
Am I a good enough coach?

My brain never shuts off and I'm constantly thinking about how I could do things better. How I can have more patience with my kids and with myself. How I can pray more and read my bible more. How I can call my parents and siblings more and spend more time with them. How I can make an effort to make plans with friends once in a while. How I can be there for my challengers and coaches on my team more to help them be successful in reaching their goals.

And I'm always just hoping that I'm doing enough. Can you relate?

I am a perfectionist so that's part of it. But I think the biggest part of it is that I put my whole heart into everything I do...but I have trouble just letting go of the things that aren't in my control.

But I also know that nobody is perfect. There will be people I disappoint. There will be people that won't like me. But I'm trying my very best to do good in the world....one decision at a time. One person at a time. And I think it's a good thing for us to keep striving to be better.  Striving to be better doesn't mean that you're not good enough now. We should always be striving for progress (work in progress, right?)

I AM enough! Because I think the whole point of this life is to do your best to leave the world better....no matter how big or small the impact is. Treating people with kindness. Loving your neighbor.

21 Day Fix Extreme Review & Results

My first round with the 21 Day Fix Extreme program ended this past Sunday. I've been meaning to get this blog up to talk about my thoughts and my results but life has been busy especially with Chad gone on a golf trip (so glad he's home!!)- so here I finally am!

First of all - I LOVE the workouts. They are my new favorite next to the original 21 Day Fix workouts! Autumn Calabrese really stepped her game up here and intensified the workouts with great new moves. I generally burn calories pretty low because I have a really low resting heart rate - so I was very shocked most times when I would get done with one of these workouts to see how may calories I torched. And not only was I torching calories - I was building muscle at the same time. I feel stronger than I've ever been! :)

If I could rate the workouts in order....first one being the one I love the most....I would have to say it goes in this order. Lower Fix Extreme, Cardio Fix Extreme, Plyo Fix Extreme, Upper Fix Extreme, Pilates Fix Extreme, Yoga Fix Extreme. Even the day for upper body is totally killer! And Pilates Fix works my body in ways that it's just not used to so it's great. But I'm a sucker for leg day and cardio - so I'm not surprised I fell in love with lower, cardio and plyo! I would recommend the workouts for sure!

Now on to the food plan. Things did not go as I fully intended in this department. My initial plan was to do week with following the Extreme Meal Plan. I did that. Then I was planning to follow the Countdown to Competition Plan for weeks 2 and 3. I started to follow it for a bit but it was so incredibly strict and then the carb depletion days were just too much for me. It was so strict, that it started to backfire and made me want to eat things I normally don't because I was playing mind games with myself. So I decided to go back to just following the Extreme Meal Plan. I do love the nutrition plan because I definitely feel the best when I'm following it because it ensures that I'm eating the right amount of the right foods every day! And naturally, my body responds very well to that. However - my brain plays tricks on me and tells me I want more healthy fats or carbs just because I know I already had my allotment for the day of those. :) So it's all about balance and learning what works for you!

I didn't stick to it 100% like I wanted to and I know if I had been completely committed, that my results would have been a little different. But it is what it is, and I'm most certainly not perfect. I did only have one 4 oz glass of wine over the entire 21 days so I'm really proud of myself there because there were many days where I was tempted...like family get togethers with everyone else drinking wine! But there were some days where I had snacks at night that were not 21 Day Fix Extreme approved and I didn't follow the plan. I would say I followed the 80/20 rule more often. When it comes to food - I think it's important to be very careful about not over thinking it to the point where you self-sabotage. You have to allow yourself to still enjoy food and not obsess over it. Once you start to obsess over it - the whole idea of the "healthy lifestyle" can start to go out the window. Everything in moderation - just be mindful!

With that being said - I'm still very happy with the program and with the results. I lost the 5 pounds I had gained the previous month from being too lax with my nutrition (as I mentioned in a previous post). My measurements didn't change a whole lot besides an inch lost in my waist and hips and then some muscle gains in my legs and arms and then definitely worked the abs a lot in this program. So I'm happy with that because I was looking to gain some muscle. I wasn't looking for earth shattering changes and I can't expect earth shattering if I don't follow the nutrition plan to the T like it recommends. But you always have to examine your goals when you're working towards something. I've been working really, really hard since May of last year. It's not realistic to work towards losing weight the whole time. My goal right now is to maintain and to try to lean out a little bit but to build more muscle!

Life isn't about being perfect. It's about doing your best. I am proud of myself for doing my workouts every single day and sometimes doing double days. I am proud of myself for being conscious of what I eat and making sure 80% of the time it's healthy and clean! I feel great and I have learned so much along the way that life is about balance and about just trying your best! I can notice a lot of change in my muscle just from this 21 days and I'll take that progress for sure.

What's next? As much as I would enjoy another round of the 21 Day Fix Extreme, I've committed to starting P90X3 with one of my challengers and friends! So this week I'm picking and choosing workouts as I get prepared for starting that next program on Monday March 16th! Looking forward to a new challenge and can't wait to see what Tony Horton has in store for me. I've always wanted to try a P90X program but honestly was a little scared at first when I started as a beginner. And I definitely didn't want to have to devote 60 minutes to a workout a day. 30 minutes seems so much more manageable in my head so I figured this program would be perfect!