It's no secret by now that I am a loyal Beachbody customer.
Whose Beachbody? They are the company that produces those nifty workouts that you see on late night infomercials:
P90x, Brazil Butt Lift, TurboJam, Slim in 6, Insanity...
My loyalty began when I purchased TurboJam for some extra cardio. Then it I got Chalean Extreme for strength training. Now I'm feeling the burn with TurboFire. After I'm done with TurboFire I will move on to P90x, Insanity, Brazil Butt Lift, and RevAbs (can't wait!). Yes that's almost a year and half of preplanned workouts.
Now I'm hooked on Shakeology (awesome stuff)!
So here I am hooked to their workouts and now this wonderful milk shake but dang this addiction is a little expensive. So a friend introduced me to the coaching opportunity. All she had to say was 25% off discount and I signed right up.
So I became a Beachbody coach customer. That means I was in it for the discount and not the business. Slowly but surely people started noticing my weight loss and my muscles peeking through. They asked "What are you doing?", "Why do you look thinner every time I see you?" , "Wow look at your biceps!" (ok that last one is just me admiring myself in the mirror) . I was talking about the products because I was a product of the product. It was so easy! "This is what I'm doing and here's my website" that was my answer. No selling just telling.
What became "just a discount" became a passion. I love helping people. I love telling you what worked for me and what didn't. I love hearing about your successes and setbacks.
Not only was I able to channel my desire to help others but I was given guidance to help myself. I became motivated to read more books like the "Slight Edge", "The Power", "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People". I also got turned on to books on audio like "Eat that Frog!". All of these have helped me become more organized, more accountable, more aware of my actions and more motivated to become a better me.
The business and discount are secondary. The $15 per month for my own website is a bonus but the person that I've grown into is priceless!
This is why I do what I do.
Shop for products @ www.teambeachbody.com/benjiville
Sign up to be a coach (free to join until 12/31/10) @ https://teambeachbody.com/signup/-/signup/coach?referringRepId=45591
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
2nd Step to Weight Loss
The 2nd step to weight loss is much easier than the first step:
Set yourself up for Success!
You're probably thinking "Well duh" but don't you dare "duh" me!
The truth is that often we go into a diet and workout plan spontaneously. We have a bad weekend of self loathing and depression and suddenly decide that Monday is the day our life will change. We're motivated, we're pumped, we're ready to lose our first five pounds and then we open the fridge and find nothing good. Then we feel let down. We start to think how we really wanted to start but life slapped us in the face once again.
Well guess what. It wasn't life that slapped us in the face it was our own unpreparedness. Often times the biggest battle in losing weight is breaking bad eating habits. The only way to break a bad habit and to deal with the withdrawal of it is to arm ourselves with the proper tools.
First thing first:
I'm not going to tell you what to eat but I will give you some clues.
1) If you look on the package and it has 100 ingredients in it - don't eat it. For example:
Hostess Cupcake - (I had one a couple of weeks ago so I know this and I was grossed out). Has a million and 3 ingredients (I didn't really count) and one of those ingredients was "vegetable and or ANIMAL shortening". Come on people!!! If I wanted bacon with my cupcake I would have made some.
2) If you look at the food and can identify every ingredient in it just by looking at it - eat it. For example:
Apples, Oranges, Pears, Rice, Celery, peanuts...catch my drift?
3) Try to go Organic as much as possible. I could go on and on and on about how our food is grown but you're better off watching a movie such as "Food Inc". I'd guarantee you it'll open up your eyes and you'll demand better quality food for your body.
4) If you're unsure how to make these great foods pick up some recipe books. Or just Google some low calorie recipes. Here's my favorite website www.calorie-count.com. It will tell you the calorie content of a bunch of foods, it has recipes, you can sign up for the community so you can talk to people and get advice, you can read about transformation stories. Awesome Awesome and Awesome!
Now that you know what food to buy and how you're going to make it go out and get a food scale. It has been so invaluable in my weight loss journey and it's cheap! I think I got "The Biggest Loser" scale for $20...maybe even less at Bed Bath and Beyond (they send coupons - I bet you can print one online!).
Now plan out some meals for a couple of days so you know what to expect. Figure out how many calories you should be eating (www.calorie-count.com, click on Tools, click on calorie target). Try to make 5 small meals - Breakfast, snack, Lunch, snack, Dinner.
Last but maybe THE MOST IMPORTANT thing is a food journal. Make it pretty, make it special, or manly ( I don't know gentlemen ...I just know I'm a girl and I love pretty notebooks), make it your best friend. This is going to be the mirror that you hold up to yourself everyday that keeps you focused on your goals. You're going to tell your food journal your deepest darkest secrets, desires, complaints, frustrations - OK maybe not all that but at least tell it what your eating, how much, and the # of calories. This will keep you true to Step #1 (I'll wait till you page through my blog so you can find it...waiting....waiting...really people??? you can't jump to step 2 without looking at step 1 - fine I'll tell you) HONESTY!
This doesn't have to be difficult. It just takes some planning. You don't need a food scale right away, you don't have to buy hundreds of dollars of food to pack your house with. All you have to do is plan. Plan for the first week and by Friday plan for the next week. Remember my blog "Small Steps Bring Huge Change"? (You really should have read it) - It's the small steps that we can do everyday that will lead to huge changes in our future. If you just plan a meal a day in advance and keep doing that every day, in 2 weeks you will see the weight come off!
Set yourself up for Success!
You're probably thinking "Well duh" but don't you dare "duh" me!
The truth is that often we go into a diet and workout plan spontaneously. We have a bad weekend of self loathing and depression and suddenly decide that Monday is the day our life will change. We're motivated, we're pumped, we're ready to lose our first five pounds and then we open the fridge and find nothing good. Then we feel let down. We start to think how we really wanted to start but life slapped us in the face once again.
Well guess what. It wasn't life that slapped us in the face it was our own unpreparedness. Often times the biggest battle in losing weight is breaking bad eating habits. The only way to break a bad habit and to deal with the withdrawal of it is to arm ourselves with the proper tools.
First thing first:
I'm not going to tell you what to eat but I will give you some clues.
1) If you look on the package and it has 100 ingredients in it - don't eat it. For example:
Hostess Cupcake - (I had one a couple of weeks ago so I know this and I was grossed out). Has a million and 3 ingredients (I didn't really count) and one of those ingredients was "vegetable and or ANIMAL shortening". Come on people!!! If I wanted bacon with my cupcake I would have made some.
2) If you look at the food and can identify every ingredient in it just by looking at it - eat it. For example:
Apples, Oranges, Pears, Rice, Celery, peanuts...catch my drift?
3) Try to go Organic as much as possible. I could go on and on and on about how our food is grown but you're better off watching a movie such as "Food Inc". I'd guarantee you it'll open up your eyes and you'll demand better quality food for your body.
4) If you're unsure how to make these great foods pick up some recipe books. Or just Google some low calorie recipes. Here's my favorite website www.calorie-count.com. It will tell you the calorie content of a bunch of foods, it has recipes, you can sign up for the community so you can talk to people and get advice, you can read about transformation stories. Awesome Awesome and Awesome!
Now that you know what food to buy and how you're going to make it go out and get a food scale. It has been so invaluable in my weight loss journey and it's cheap! I think I got "The Biggest Loser" scale for $20...maybe even less at Bed Bath and Beyond (they send coupons - I bet you can print one online!).
Now plan out some meals for a couple of days so you know what to expect. Figure out how many calories you should be eating (www.calorie-count.com, click on Tools, click on calorie target). Try to make 5 small meals - Breakfast, snack, Lunch, snack, Dinner.
Last but maybe THE MOST IMPORTANT thing is a food journal. Make it pretty, make it special, or manly ( I don't know gentlemen ...I just know I'm a girl and I love pretty notebooks), make it your best friend. This is going to be the mirror that you hold up to yourself everyday that keeps you focused on your goals. You're going to tell your food journal your deepest darkest secrets, desires, complaints, frustrations - OK maybe not all that but at least tell it what your eating, how much, and the # of calories. This will keep you true to Step #1 (I'll wait till you page through my blog so you can find it...waiting....waiting...really people??? you can't jump to step 2 without looking at step 1 - fine I'll tell you) HONESTY!
This doesn't have to be difficult. It just takes some planning. You don't need a food scale right away, you don't have to buy hundreds of dollars of food to pack your house with. All you have to do is plan. Plan for the first week and by Friday plan for the next week. Remember my blog "Small Steps Bring Huge Change"? (You really should have read it) - It's the small steps that we can do everyday that will lead to huge changes in our future. If you just plan a meal a day in advance and keep doing that every day, in 2 weeks you will see the weight come off!
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Step 1 for Weight Loss
The first step to losing weight is not a magic pill, it's not a crazy workout, or a special diet. It's simple in theory but most of us don't do it:
Honesty.
Be honest with yourself. It can be difficult. It can make you sad. So just be prepared. Here's what happened to me (you knew I was just going to talk about myself didn't you?):
I was about 23 and started Weight Watchers. I decided this was going to be my ticket to success. I wrote down my points each day and spent a lot of time in my room away from the kitchen to hold back the temptation. The first couple of days I did awesome! I was excited, I was motivated, I couldn't wait to weigh myself. Then the 3rd day rolls in and the anxiety starts tugging at my stomach. This was the first time that I actually sat through it and thought about why I was feeling this way. I thought about why I wanted to eat when I was clearly not hungry. It brought up sad thoughts about past events but the most prevalent reason was boredom. I was bored. Then something this guy said (I don't remember who it was) punched me in the brain, "bored people are boring people" and I decided I didn't want to be boring. So I started reading. I read and read and read. I became so addicted to books that I would read until I was starving and I STILL didn't want to get up. But of course I did because starving doesn't work.
Whatever reason you eat or hold yourself back from working out - you have to push that reason to the front of your brain and deal with it. Do you eat crap because you don't know that it's crap? Well if you wrote it down and looked it up at www.calorie-count.com then you will see that it's crap and you can make a decision not to eat it so often. Did you're dad tell you that you were worthless? Well if he did that means that someone told him that HE was worthless...you can't believe everything you hear AND it's not going to serve you anyway. So let the past judgments go, they serve no purpose. Were you abused as a kid and feeding yourself to get over the fear, depression, and anger? Ask yourself, is this behavior making me happy? Do you want to relive the past with every cookie you eat and every pound you gain? Or do you want to work towards a healthier happier future?
Honesty will get you there. When you're honest with yourself you're better able to make a choice. Make a choice to stay exactly the same or to make a tiny change to feel better. You have the choice to be sad or to make yourself happy. I always choose to make myself happy because no one else has the ability to.
It's up to you!
Honesty.
Be honest with yourself. It can be difficult. It can make you sad. So just be prepared. Here's what happened to me (you knew I was just going to talk about myself didn't you?):
I was about 23 and started Weight Watchers. I decided this was going to be my ticket to success. I wrote down my points each day and spent a lot of time in my room away from the kitchen to hold back the temptation. The first couple of days I did awesome! I was excited, I was motivated, I couldn't wait to weigh myself. Then the 3rd day rolls in and the anxiety starts tugging at my stomach. This was the first time that I actually sat through it and thought about why I was feeling this way. I thought about why I wanted to eat when I was clearly not hungry. It brought up sad thoughts about past events but the most prevalent reason was boredom. I was bored. Then something this guy said (I don't remember who it was) punched me in the brain, "bored people are boring people" and I decided I didn't want to be boring. So I started reading. I read and read and read. I became so addicted to books that I would read until I was starving and I STILL didn't want to get up. But of course I did because starving doesn't work.
Whatever reason you eat or hold yourself back from working out - you have to push that reason to the front of your brain and deal with it. Do you eat crap because you don't know that it's crap? Well if you wrote it down and looked it up at www.calorie-count.com then you will see that it's crap and you can make a decision not to eat it so often. Did you're dad tell you that you were worthless? Well if he did that means that someone told him that HE was worthless...you can't believe everything you hear AND it's not going to serve you anyway. So let the past judgments go, they serve no purpose. Were you abused as a kid and feeding yourself to get over the fear, depression, and anger? Ask yourself, is this behavior making me happy? Do you want to relive the past with every cookie you eat and every pound you gain? Or do you want to work towards a healthier happier future?
Honesty will get you there. When you're honest with yourself you're better able to make a choice. Make a choice to stay exactly the same or to make a tiny change to feel better. You have the choice to be sad or to make yourself happy. I always choose to make myself happy because no one else has the ability to.
It's up to you!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Small Steps bring HUGE CHANGE
I was inspired to write this due to a comment that was posted about my HIIT 15 YouTube video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Qqfcmb-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07Qqfcmb-8Y andhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyi9b7rdZNI
A young lady said "Wow I could never workout like that!" and I said "Hell yeah you can!" Ok well I didn't actually say those words. What I said was that I didn't start on my fitness path jumping crazy high, or doing jump lunges and sumo burpees. I started with baby steps. Those baby steps got me to where I am today.
I'm reading a book by Joel Osten called "The Slight Edge". It's an awesome book that shows you that you're big huge success stories didn't happen out of "luck" or in one day they actually happened out of mundane things done every single day. He talks about that those every day "simple" steps to success are so easy to do but they are also easy NOT to do. What separates those that succeed and those that fail is the choice TO DO or NOT TO DO those things that will lead to success.
So lets say with fitness. It's very easy to do 2o minutes of walking on a treadmill, around your neighborhood or up and down your hallway. The first day you attempt it you may not notice anything different about your shape. You may not see a change in your body for a couple of weeks. Then BAM the third week comes along and your suddenly 3 inches thinner and 2 lbs lighter. It wasn't some big miracle that happened to you on that day you measured yourself. It was actually the accumulation of three weeks of walking 20 minutes per day that made that change in your body.
So as easy as it is to just get up and walk around for 20 minutes it's also easy NOT to do it. Unfortunately for those who don't do the easy things everyday they won't see the change that they most desire. What will happen is that instead of seeing your shape change for the better you'll see it change for the worst. You'll gain ten more pounds each year. You're doctor will put you on cholesterol medication, your blood pressure will continue to rise, and your arteries will begin to harden. The "Slight Edge" works both ways. You can do the small healthy steps to improve your life or you can continue the unhealthy steps to worsen your life. It's up to you :) Either one is easy to do and easy NOT to do.
I started off with a promise to myself that I will do something physical each day. At first it was walking on the treadmill for 20 minutes. Then I started to challenge myself a little more and started jogging for 2 minutes and walking for 5 minutes. Then I wanted more and started doing light strength training. Then I felt stronger and wanted even more and did Chalean Extreme. THEN I FELT LIKE SUPERWOMAN and moved onto TurboFire. Now I'm unstoppable!!!
So yes you can get to this point but you just have to take baby steps towards it. It's the little tiny simple actions that we do each day that will determine our breakthrough success in the future. Be one of the success stories and start taking those baby steps!
Cya!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
TurboFire
FEEL THE BURN!!!!
Just wanted to do a quick review of my favoritist (not a real word) workout in the whole wide world. You've probably read this before but this workout is off the hook! Here are the top five things I love about it:
1) The music is hot!!!! I've never worked out to a video that gets the songs stuck in my head afterwards...like right now "I'm a bad girl break me like the law..." LOVE IT!!!
2) The moves are hot!!! (do you see a theme here?) No for real the moves are awesome. So you're not dancing around like a ballerina. You're throwing punches, your doing round house kicks, you're jabbing, you're doing cross punches. You can channel Mike Tyson's energy and kick some ass! (Or at least pretend to be kicking ass like I do everyday)
3) Chalene is hot!!! She has the personality and attitude that makes her entertaining and motivating. As a heterosexual woman even I think she's smokin'. The woman has 2 kids and abs to die for.
4) It burns the time away! (I love my puns) Any 55 minute workout that feels like it took 10 minutes to do is a life savor for me. I've always gotten bored with other workouts too quickly but this one is so entertaining and there are so many DVDs included in this set that there's no possible way you can get bored.
5) Last but not least...IT GAVE ME ABS!!!! (Yes it's all about me again) In 30 years I've never had abs ...Chalene revealed them for me :)
Give it a try!!!!
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