I received an email the other day that just THRILLED me.  One of the things I enjoy most in life is encouraging others to lead a healthy lifestyle.  Honestly, sometimes it can be frustrating.  People have more excuses when it comes to eating right and exercise than children have excuses for not doing their homework!

But then there are people like Andrea.  We met through Beachbody’s customer lead program.  Beachbody entrusts me with their customers, and my job is to support and encourage them (which we’ve already established that I LOVE).  I sent a welcome email to Andrea and also a voice mail welcoming her to Beachbody, and introducing myself as her personal coach.  We quickly started developing a relationship.

Andrea has had a lot of questions for me, but 90% of her emails are all about her “WHY”…playing in the park this summer with her two little children!  Since she has continually focused on WHY she wants to lose weight and get into shape, she’s sticking with her program, looking for answers, and changing her habits.

She’s had her share of challenges…including her little son deciding to get up VERY early in the morning and interrupting her workout time.  She worked through that, and kept losing weight.

Here’s the email Andrea sent me the other day:

Hi Judy:

Today I am wearing a pair of pants that I could not fit into around this time of year last year.  Last August when I tried these pants on I could not get them past my thighs.  I tried everything in my power to pull these pants up to fit and they would not go past my thighs without riping off a button.

Today I am wearing the same pants and Judy, beleive it or not, these pants are fitting me, they are extremely loose and I started to cry when I put these pants on because I thought about just last year when I put these same pants on and they wouldn’t go past my thighs I knew in my heart I would never get this weight off.

Judy, I am still crying as I am typing you this email because I can’t believe these pants are fitting me, not only fitting me but they are very loose.  When I see things like this happen when I never thought could it just makes me want to keep going.  Judy when I look back to my past DIET, I see myself eatting until I was full, eatting because I was stress or angry about something, eatting to take my mind off of things or eating just because a certain food was there.

Now when I look at myself today I don’t see me trying to lose weight because of a DIET.  I see my trying to lose weight to gain my strength back, good health, live longer for my children and a BETTER LIFE STYLE.  DIET is no longer in my vocabulary.  Judy now when I eat I spread my meals out to 5-6 small meals a day and the best part is that I don’t eat many snacks.  Instead of having 3 meals and 2  snacks I actually eat 5 meals and 1 snack (the snack is only if I am craving something).  I found out that replacing snacks with small meals will keep you fuller longer.  For instance for my mid morning snack I may have 1/2 peanut butter sandwich with an apple vs. cake or a candy bar etc..  I realize I don’t need bad junk fund to stop my cravings there are always alternatives out there and I use the internet and weight watchers to look for them.

Judy, I am so proud of myself that I can fit into these pants I don’t know how to act.  Now I have at least 25 pair of jeans in my closet, some of them I have not even worn yet because I gained so much weight.  My husband since last year told me to give all those jeans to the United Way and let them donate them to shelters etc.  Judy, by this summer I am going to fit in those jeans and tell him I will donate other clothing but I will get my sixe 8 back.  No rush but I will be in an 8 again.  Right now I went from a size 16 in pants and now I am wearing a 12 and the 8 is not  to far behind.

Sorry for the long email but I needed someone to share my good news with.

Now, is Andrea JUST excited about fitting into a pair of pants she hasn’t fit into in years?  Absolutely not!  She knows that it is just one step in her journey toward the REAL prize…effortlessly playing in the park with her children this summer.

Once she achieves that goal, I’m sure that she will be choosing another goal.  Andrea is just THAT type of woman…one that is determined to develop a healthy lifestyle…for herself AND her children!

To your health!

Judy

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So here are the final results!  I did the 3 day Shakeology Cleanse last week, and I weighed and measured myself on Saturday morning.  I lost a total of 4 pounds and 3 1/2 inches…2 of them from my waist. The inches lost really surprised me!  I had to keep remeasuring to make sure it was correct!

So all in all, I think that this was a success!  It was pretty easy to follow.  I was a little hungry, but not too bad.  Usually, when I was hungry, it was because it was time for another shakeology or my salad.  I think that there were two things that helped with my hunger…the green tea and drinking enough water.

Drink your water people!  It’s SO important to weight loss…cleanse or no cleanse!

So I think I’ll be repeating the cleanse again in the future, so stay tuned for that.  In the meantime, if you have any questions, feel free to comment here or contact me through my Shakeology website.

Together we’re better!

Judy

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Day 2 is in the books and day 3 is well underway!  I’ve been weighing myself every morning at the same time.  That’s crucial to getting the most accurate results.  I know that I can be 2-3 pounds different depending on what time of day I weigh myself.  By the way, just in case if may seem like I am obsessed with the scale…I’m NOT!  I usually don’t even weigh myself unless my pants are fitting me differently.  The only reason I’m weighing daily now is because it’s all part of this cleanse…just to see what’s going on with my body.

I’m also not kidding myself that this is fat loss.  It’s probably mostly water weight and maybe some “crud” my body has been hanging onto.  That’s what “detoxifying” is for anyway!  Getting rid of the “crud’!

Okay…so when I weighed myself this morning, I was down another 1.8 pounds for a total of 4 pounds in 2 days.  My energy level is fantastic today!  I didn’t even get that sleepy feeling this afternoon, and that’s rare for me!  I’ve been able to get through my workouts with no trouble (I’m doing P90X).

I’ve felt a little hungry at times, but usually when it’s almost time for another meal or snack.

So, all in all, I think things are going very well!  I’m very curious to see what the final results will be tomorrow morning!

If you’d like to know more about Shakeology, please feel free to visit my Shakeology website.  You can order from there, and if you any any questions, feel free to comment on this blog or click on the “contact me” button on the shakeology website!

Together we’re better!

Judy

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So day one went well!  I was a little hungry at times, but it was really close to the time I should be eating anyway.  I started too late yesterday (had my first Shakeology around 9:30AM), so I missed my second cup of green tea.  I also didn’t drink all 3 bottles of water (20 ounces in each).  There was about half of the 3rd bottle left.  I’m not worried about that because my Shakeology meals had plenty of water in them!

My energy level was pretty good.  I had a short nap around noon.  When I had my second Shakeology of the day (around 2PM) I got a nice burst of energy.  The same thing happened when I had my third Shakeology around 8:30PM…I felt energized.  That worried be a bit because it was getting close to bed time.  However, I fell asleep at around 10:30PM and slept through the night.  I woke up before the alarm clock at 5:30AM…mostly because all of that water I ingested the day before was looking to escape! 

I got on the scale this morning, and I was down 2.2 pounds.  I’m reserving my excitement about that until I see if what I lose stays off of me!    I plan on reporting daily while I’m doing the cleanse, and then one week later (to see if it “stuck”)!

My real hope for this is that it kick starts my weight loss by reducing my cravings for certain foods, so even if I gain a little of the weight back, it will be worth it in the long run.

Stay tuned for Day 2 results tomorrow!

Together we’re better!

Judy

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Listen up folks!  This is CRITICAL to your life, no matter what your goal is!  It could be losing weight, gaining muscle, succeeding at business…ANYTHING!

“A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes”.  ~ Mahatma Gandhi

I listened to a conference call yesterday morning.  A woman named Debbie was talking about how she lost a considerable amount of weight.  I missed the total number of pounds lost since I joined the call a little late, but I know it was a significant amount.

She mainly talked about how she got herself into the mindset for weight loss.

Her first big change happened one night while watching “The Biggest Loser”.  She said that she can relate to a lot of the stories of those people.  All of a sudden it hit her…if those people lost weight, then she could too.

All of a sudden she believed it was possible!

She’s a smart woman, she knew that she would not be able to lose it as fast as the people on “The Biggest Loser” because there was no way she was going to work out 8 hours per day like they do.

That was her epiphany moment…that moment when she made a decision to make a change no matter what!

She sought out help. She had tried those weight loss centers with the “packaged” foods before, but she knew they weren’t for her.  She wanted REAL food.  She found a place that emphasized unprocessed, real food.  Sorry, but I forget the name of it…Slim something…but that doesn’t matter.  What DOES matter is that she searched for a place that didn’t just promise quick results.  She wanted LASTING results.  She wanted a lifestyle change!

Anyway, she paid these people hard earned money to help her, and she decided she was going to do what they told her.  She knew the basics of the diet made sense to her, so she put her trust in her coaches there.  She met with them 3 times a week.

At first, some of the things they told her to do, she would say “REALLY”?  Some things sounded so silly to her.  BUT…she had paid them, and they knew better than her at this point, so she would eventually come around.

One thing they told her to do was to write AFFIRMATIONS on index cards (one on each).  Then she was to carry them with her everywhere, and read them several times per day.  These became her weight loss affirmations.

Debbie’s initial response was…“REALLY”?    But she reminded herself “I paid these people and right now, they know more than I do”.  So she did it.

They told her that these weight loss affirmations were not things that she CURRENTLY believed, but that she WANTED to believe.

At first, she had no idea what to write down, so she went to the internet and googled “affirmations”.  That gave her a starting point.

Here are a few of her weight loss affirmations:
1) I will do whatever it takes.
2) I am grateful and proud of how great I look today.
3) I deserve to be healthy and super fit.
4) I am developing clean eating and consistent exercise habits that are so ingrained into my lifestyle that they stay with me for the rest of my life.
5) It is exhilarating to work out first thing every morning.
6) I don’t perform strength training to maintain, but to improve. And if I want to improve today, I must beat my previous workout and do something I’ve never done before.

Remember, Debbie didn’t believe this would work at first.  She went on BLIND FAITH that it would.  And guess what?  It DID!

She was asked “How does your mindset differ NOW from when you first started”?

She said “I used to look for external motivation…watching the biggest loser…looking to others to motivate me.  There’s nothing wrong with that, but now I think my motivation mostly comes from within.  I didn’t like myself when I first started.  Now I truly love myself, and I WANT to take care of myself.”

WOW!!!  Now THAT’S a change in mindset!!!

Everyone should be using affirmations!  Figure out what you WANT and then figure out what you would need to believe for that to come into your life.  Write them one by one on index cards, and read them with BELIEF several times per day!

Do YOU have any weight loss affirmations (even if you don’t CALL them that)?  Please share them so that we all can benefit!  How about affirmations for business success?  Thanks in advance for sharing!

Together, we’re better!

Judy

P.S.  I almost forgot one of the main ideas she touched on!  SHE took personal responsibility for herself and all of her problems!  She started off the call with this quote…

“Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure.” ~ Don Wilder

She had a lot excuses that most people would say are good ones, including her husband dying during this process.  But she was determined to make a change NO MATTER WHAT, and she did…no matter WHAT obstacle was in her path.

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Melissa needed to make a change!  This Mom of 5 had no energy to keep up with her children, and she became depressed.  All she did every day was watch TV and eat.  She knew that if she didn’t change, she wouldn’t be around to care for her children.

She asked her doctors for medication, but they told her that she needed to take better care of herself  and “get her mind right”.  She hired a personal trainer, and got no results.

Then she heard that a workout group was being formed at her church.  The class was doing Chalene Johnson’s Turbo Jam home workout routines, and Melissa was immediately hooked!  She found that it was easy to pick up.

“Chalene was so full of energy, and her cast was so fun! I remember doing other workouts at home, and it’d be the same thing—day after day after day—so when I knew there was not only one Turbo Jam, but there’s a whole line of ‘em, and every day I could do something different. I knew that it was really something for me.”

When Chalene Johnson came out with a new program called ChaLEAN Extreme, Melissa decided to give that a try too.  For accountability, she used the Beachbody message boards and kept in close contact with her coach.

“Not only am I fitter, I’m healthier, but I don’t have that depression any more. I’m happier than I’ve ever been . . . I’m full of energy, my marriage is happy and fulfilled because I’m happy and fulfilled. A year ago I never would have thought that fitness would be the key to me being so happy.”

After dropping 60 pounds with Beachbody home workout routines, Melissa transformed not only physically, but mentally as well.  Because of the inspiration of her Beachbody coach, Melissa decided to become a Beachbody coach too!  Now she’s “passing it on” and helping others just as her coach helped her!

THAT is why I’m a Beachbody coach!  I was helped by my coach (Traci), and now I’m passing it on!  If you need help, feel free to contact me!  This is the way we are going to fight the obesity crisis in America, by one person helping another and then passing it on!

Together we’re better!  SO TRUE!

Judy

P.S.  All of the success stories I’m posting have won $1,000 in a Beachbody transformation contest.  Some of them are in the running for a quarterly $10,000 prize.  If you would like access to all of the success stories to look through, you can create a free Team Beachbody Account by clicking here.

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WOW!  This success story just blew me away!  At only 33 years old, Jeremy tipped the scales at 370 pounds, was on medication for his dangerously high blood pressure, and walked with a limp due to severe arthritis.

Jeremy had no energy and that was a problem because he had two young active sons.  All Jeremy ever wanted to do was sit on the couch.  Life was passing him by, but he was complacent about his weight.

I’m always fascinated by that “moment”…that thing that flips the switch in a person’s mind and all of a sudden, they HAVE to make changes.  When you get to that point, the solution will show up!

Well, Jeremy had a good friend who was willing to tell him the hard truth.

“He asked me how I would feel if another man had to replace me and raise my sons, um, I was speechless . . . It made the situation really real for me. It forced me to think of the real events that would occur if I didn’t change my ways.”

Ouch!  I could see how that would motivate Jeremy!  We’ll do things for our children we would NEVER do for ourselves!

A high school athlete, Jeremy started asking buddies what they were doing to get in shape and found that many were doing the P90X^® home workout routine.  When he saw the way their eyes lit up when describing P90X, Jeremy knew the program was for him.

The most appealing characteristic of P90X that Jeremy’s friends described was the variety. The home workout routines in P90X included strength training days, cardio days, and days when they did stretching.

Jeremy loved the workouts, but there were major obstacles in his quest to get fit. He continually faced the temptation to eat poorly, and the arthritis in his ankle caused him intense pain.

“When I first started P90X, I swear I used every modification that Tony could throw at me. Whether it was from being so out of shape or physically being too big for my ankle, I had to modify everything. I really struggled. But around every corner there was Tony saying, ‘Do your best, and forget the rest.’ So many times I felt like he was personally talking to me.”

Jeremy probably felt like quitting many times, but I’m sure that when those times occurred, he heard his friend’s voice inside his head saying “Do you want another man to replace you to raise your sons”?  He pushed through the difficulties, and completely changed his life!  He’s no longer the Dad who just sits on the couch while his sons are playing.  He’s right in there playing with them!

P90X is a great program, but it IS intense!  Sure there are ways to modify it, but what few people actually know is that Tony Horton (the trainer who developed the P90X home workout routines) also developed some programs which are meant to ease you into P90X.

The Power90 home workout routine is a great place to start!  The workouts are shorter and much less intense.  Tony also developed the Power90 Master Series of home workout routines.  Those are somewhere between Power90 and P90X.

The important point to remember from Jeremy’s story is that he first made the decision to no longer be complacent about his weight.  He discovered his “WHY”, and it was a very powerful one…so that HE could be the one to raise his boys…not some other man.

What is YOUR why?  If you ever want to change your life, finding your why and keeping it at the forefront of your mind is essential to your success!

Together we’re better!

Judy

P.S.  Jeremy won $1,000 for his transformation story using Beachbody products, and now he is in the running to win $10,000.  If you’d like a free Team Beachbody account so that you can vote for the man and woman who will each win $10,000, just click here!

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This next success story is great because she is like so many other busy Moms I know.  As a mother, it’s tempting to put the needs of everyone else above your own.  But Amy Tupper realized one VERY important fact…she was a role model for her children.  Like it or not, they were going to model her behavior.

But Amy had been overweight most of her life, and she wasn’t sure what to do. Amy said…

“I was not happy with the way that I looked, and yet I wasn’t sure what to do about it. I wanted to be able to do things without feeling self-conscious about the way I looked doing it.”

I know so many people who can relate to that.  Why let something that you can change (like your weight) hold you back from living life the way you want to live it?

Amy then found Beachbody home workout routines.  She was first introduced to Kathy Smith’s Project You home workouts.

“It looked like a great program. It was varied. It had cardio, weights, yoga, pilates—also came with a nutrition portion, which clearly I needed as well. I decided to order it. It came in the mail. I sat down, looked through it, and decided, ‘I’m going to do it.’”

It wasn’t a walk through the park for Amy.  With two little children at home, she had to get creative about incorporating a home workout routine into her life.  She would workout when the kids were sleeping, or with a baby in the playpen next to her.  If they needed her when she was in the middle of her workout, she would pause the DVD and then continue with it a few minutes later.

I always recommend to anyone who has problems finding the time to do their workout…GET CREATIVE!  Especially if you have little children.  Maybe have a special toy that they ONLY get to play with when you are working out.

If you have any tips, PLEASE leave them in the comments!

Amy was rewarded for her patience, persistence, and creativity!  She became a Beachbody raving fan (I can relate) after completing the Project You Type 2 home workout routine.  She went on to do several other programs, including: Power90, Slim in 6, and ChaLEAN Extreme and ended up losing an amazing 102 pounds!!!  She’s now working her way up to Shaun T’s Insanity home workout routine.  Go Amy! 

If you ever wondered if home workout routines worked, it’s stories like Amy’s that prove that YES…they do work…IF you do the work involved!

Together we’re better!
Judy

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Beachbody is a company that markets home workout routines that actually work!  How do I know that?  I’ve experienced it for myself.  But don’t take my word for it, over the next several days, I’ll be profiling some of the success stories who have used Beachbody products to lose fat and build muscle in a way that will blow your mind!

First, meet Carson Sanders!  Carson is a 39 year old firefigher and paramedic from Sarasota Florida who used to be a gym rat.  But he was finding that his typical weight lifting workout at the gym just wasn’t giving him the results that he wanted anymore.  He saw the infomercial for the P90X home workout routine and was skeptical at first.  How could a home workout routine give him better results than the gym?  Pushing aside his doubts, he decided to give it a shot.  He purchased P90X and committed to 90 days of workouts at home.

Carson never looked back!  He ended up losing 59 pounds and went from 21% body fat to 6% body fat.  He ended up canceling his gym membership.  Now that he is able to workout at home, Carson is able to spend more time with his family, get the results he wants, and be a role model for his children.

That’s one of the things I love most about committing to a home workout routine!  Your family members see you working out, and I hear many people saying that their kids actually take part in the workouts with them!  What could be better than that?  In fact, if you watch Carson’s video, you’ll see his two young sons doing the workout right along with him! 

I’ll have another inspiring success story to share with you tomorrow!

Together we’re better!

Judy

P.S.  All of the people in the success stories I’ll be featuring over the next several days won $1,000 for submitting their transformation story after using a Beachbody home workout routine, and now they are in the running for $10,000 in the quarterly prize.  If you want to see all of the success stories, you can get a Free Team Beachbody account by clicking here.

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Do you remember a time when you were motivated to lose weight?  All of a sudden, you hit a point where staying as you were was much more painful than the changes you needed to make to change.  Maybe you saw a picture you were in and didn’t even recognize yourself. Maybe someone made a rude comment to you about your weight, or maybe you couldn’t play with your kids without getting out of breath.

Whatever it was that got you thinking “I MUST lose this weight”, embrace it!  It’s in our moments of frustration that real growth appears!

But let’s face it, weight loss isn’t easy.  If it was, everyone would be at their perfect weight. You need a continual stream of motivation to continue.  I always tell the people I coach that they need to develop their “WHY” and envision themselves achieving that lifestyle.  You need to just close your eyes and think about what it will be like to be at your perfect weight.  What will you look like?  How will you feel?  What will you be able to do?  And you need to do that daily!  Doing it several times a day is even BETTER!

It doesn’t need to take a long time, but you need to make it feel REAL!  Believe it or not, your mind cannot distinguish between what is real and what is vividly imagined!

This is the first step in successful and lasting weight loss!

What’s the second step?  Belief!  Even if you’ve tried a thousand times in the past, you have to believe that this time will be different.  How do you do that?  Well, one way of doing it is to find others who have done what you have done and realizing that if they did it, then so can you!

One of the reasons I was drawn to Beachbody is because the community is full of people who have done just that!  Right now, they are starting the process of voting for one woman and one man who will each win the quarterly transformation contest (and $10,000)!

These people have all worked hard and have changed their lives!  Now if that isn’t motivation, I don’t know what is!

Starting tomorrow, I’ll be posting a few transformation stories and videos every day.  I hope you can find someone you can relate to and who will motivate you to make the changes you need to make to be a healthier YOU! 

If you just can’t wait to view all of the success stories who are in the running for this $10,000, then you can get a free Beachbody account by clicking here!

Judy

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