You can always break bad habits!

Hi loves!

This has been my life for the past 6 months!! I don't regret it but I'm starting to see how it can spiral out of control and put me right back where I started. I was almost 200 lbs., plump and unhappy, finding attention and love in all the wrong places....

So I'm challenging myself to 21 days of no cheating, regimen and dedication to myself! ‪#‎icandoit‬ ‪#‎again‬

Challenge yourself daily, it's a part of growing and developing who you truly are!

Bad habits are hard to break, what is even harder is knowing exactly what you need to do to get yourself to your goals but you are not doing! 

My tips to you:

>> Make it conscious, don't only figure out what it is but WHY you are doing it. 

>> Put it in WRITING so it sinks in and post it up somewhere where you will see it everyday.

>> Switch you bad habit with a good habit, something that will help distract you from your bad habit!

So now I am going to truly challenge myself (and encourage you too do the same) and close out 2015 strong!

Who is with me!? Send me an email so that I can help get you started before the New Year!

Be a goof with me!

Hey gorgeous!

Ahhhh I'm a three legged monster, just kidding just kidding! :D 

Haha so silly! I love this new trend of mirror imaging your photos and i love connecting my limbs like you see here ‪#‎goofball‬

Anyways getting AMPED on our upcoming challenge with my fellow coaches!

If you want to join us, you don't have to guess what is involved! Check it out:

✳ at home workout program to guide you through all the moves
✳ 30 days of superfoods that taste like heaven
✳ bootycamp challenge as the cherry on top
✳ meal plans that WORK and let you eat real food
✳ and ME as your coach, working with you throughout your journey

So if your looking for a sign... My MORPHED leg in the picture is it!! haha

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Email me or comment below so we can get you started. I cannot wait to have you join me on this journey

You have to work for it!

Sometimes, this is harder to do then to realize. I know exactly what I need to do to get the body, mind, and soul that I want. It's just getting past my own excuses to actually achieve it.

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I go through waves, intense waves of extreme self-control with my eye on the prize. And then boom, life hits, and every excuse in the book seems valid! The true balance is to find that middle point between the two extremes. Find the point that you can balance consistently, without wavering to one extreme or the other. This will be different for every person, that's what I found in my coaching and personal experience.

So my advice to you, is to really assess some goals that are not only a little bit scary but also attainable. And be accountable to those goals. Find a community that will uplift you and support you while you find your balance.

Remember that nobody's perfect, and were all going on her own health and fitness journey. You can do it, I know you can!

5 Tips for Breaking Through Your Weight Loss Plateau

PLATEAUS, how I despise you!

I'm watching my portions, making healthy choices, working out HARD everyday and then BOOM in my face the scale refuses to move! The thought crosses your mind, "have I hit a plateau? What am I doing wrong? What is wrong with me!? Maybe I have a thryoid issue, or maybe I am allergic to gluten..... yeah that's got to be it, blame it on the gluten!

So don't be like this blubbering dork who jumps to conclusions (aka me!!). Instead of seeing this as a setback or a problem, assess your situation and take it on as a challenge! It is NORMAL to hit a snag in your fitness journey, but DO NOT let this set you back or derail you. I always tell my challengers, "It doesn't matter if you fall off track, it matters how long it takes you to BUCK UP and get back on the train." << CHEESY? Yes. Completely RIGHT? Yes.

So don't cry and whine about how its not working while you shove pizza, cookies, and wine down your throat (I can neither confirm or deny that I have done this more than once.). INSTEAD be strong and start getting back on the weight-loss and healthy train, WOOT WOOT!!

Here are five important things to know about hydration, exercise, and BUSTING through that plateau:

1. Zigzag your daily calorie intake.

In theory, you've got to eat less to lose more, right? But this isn't always the case, and well it isn't always easy! 

TIP from Justine Holberg at Beachbody -- "Here's one way to do it: If your average daily intake is 1,400 calories, try dropping to 1,200 one day, going up to 1,800 the next day, and then dropping back to 1,400. The idea is to keep your metabolism guessing! There's no magic number that works for everyone, so you'll have to experiment until you find the right calorie levels for you."

According to Beachbody Director of Results Steve Edwards, what happens when you zigzag is that you force your body to choose how many calories it needs to recover from the rigors of your exercise program. "Most people who hit a plateau are UNDEREATING."

OMG is this real life? You can eat TOO LITTLE? Yes. 

"If you are indeed undereating, adding calories for a few days, then lowering them again, will help you force your body into a hormonal response that will not only help you break out of a plateau, but—as you learn to recognize the signals—will teach you how much food you should be eating."

This is why I LOVE the 21 Day Fix portion control containers. You do not focus in on eating an EXACT calorie count, you are focusing on the PORTIONS for your weight loss bracket. So one day I could eat 1200 calories and the next eat 1500 and I would not even realize it! Each day I am still eating healthy, and still following the portions but it all adds up a little different.

2. Switch up your exercise routine.

If you do the same workout each day, WAIT do you?? My a.d.h.d. brain is IMPRESSED. If you are doing the same routine every single day, eventually it can start to become less challenging for you, and (the worst part) less effective. You NEED to push yourself to new levels, set weekly goals to challenge your strength, flexibility, or exhaustion. YOU WILL SEE A SHIFT.

Here are some ways you can challenge your body:
>> SWAP your jog for a bike ride; you will be using some different muscles and challenging your body in a different way!
>> ADD weights with your cardio routine. OH BOY, let me tell you right now these will really challenge you. (21 Day Fix or P90X3 can help you do this.)
>> HIIT -- add high intensity interval training to the mix to really make you SWEAT BABY. (INSANITY MAX 30® will surely help you sweat)
>> DROP to the floor for 20 push-ups right now! :) just kidding, no really why are you not doing push ups right now I can see you!

The idea is to try something DIFFERENT, step outside your box and go to new levels. According to Edwards, "The better you get at something, the easier it becomes. That's why we're always telling you to add more weight as you get stronger, and to move faster and jump higher as our programs progress. But it's also why all of our programs have phases of training. As your body adapts to stimulus, you need to change that stimulus in order to keep results happening." 

It does not get easier, you get stronger.

3. Eat some almonds.

Almonds are a great snack, would you agree? Guess what? There is actually research that indicates that they can help you burn fat! NOBODY told me that! 

That's because they contain fiber and fatty acids—the good kind of fat that helps you lose weight. So next time you grab a snack, try a small handful of almonds, or as Edwards says, "Any nut, really. While almonds are one of the better nuts, all of them have a similar nutritional profile and make excellent snacks. That research probably would have turned out similarly if they'd used walnuts or filberts or whatever."

4. Get more sleep.

I may be contradicting myself in #2, but sometimes your workouts are pushing your body a little too hard. LISTEN TO YOUR BODY! Training too hard is one of the quickest ways to hit a weight loss plateau, because an over-trained body holds on to weight as if it were starving to death. Test this theory out by sleeping more and see if that helps your body recover. The reason is that your body recovers much more quickly from exercise while it's asleep, and if you're burning the midnight oil while trying to do INSANITY, you could easily plateau from lack of recovery time. BOOM, now that is balance. 

"There's a good reason why five-time Tour de France winner Eddy Merckx said, 'The Tour is won in bed,'" says Edwards. "Your body's recovery response during deep sleep is only rivaled by performance-enhancing drugs. When you're on the borderline of overtraining, getting more sleep is the first thing anyone should try."

5. Relax.

Stress is a killer of dreams and joy. The end. I am just kidding, but really stress will steal your joy from everything in life. Coming from a stressor herself, I KNOW how much stress can affect your health and fitness. 

One of the big things besides diet and exercise that can put you at a plateau is your stress levels. When you're stressed, your body sends out higher levels of the hormone cortisol that, as stated in number 4, can encourage your body to hang on to fat.  WHO WANTS THAT? Not I, not I! "Cortisol is actually a performance-enhancing hormone," says Edwards. "But it's gotten a bad rap because we've begun living our lives at too high a volume. Cortisol is released at times when the body is in an emergency state. It increases performance, but only over a short period of time. When cortisol is released and forced into action at regular intervals, it causes your body to wear down and switch to more drastic means of survival, like holding on to excess amounts of body fat. Your life shouldn't feel like one big emergency."

We get stressed for many reasons, most of which are connected to the environment and community around us. Alone time is a great way to disconnect from the go-go-go and reconnect to your "chill place." If you are hyper active and JUST CANNOT STOP,  force yourself to! Your body needs that time to just relax, and let go! Try yoga, meditation, reading a calming book, napping, or just go sit in a park and smell the fresh air! There's something SO special about the mind/body experience of yoga that forces a relaxed state even from the most stressed of us.

If you feel you need help figuring this all out, reach out to me to create a relationship so we can discuss YOUR journey.  OR if you just need that community of like minded people, I am here! I would love to connect you with an amazing program that can compliment your life and help you achieve you goals. 

Credit and appreciation for the ideas to Justine Holberg http://www.teambeachbody.com/get-fit/fitness-tip/-/ftip/140026045/all/0/5

Enjoy every step in your journey!

I want to take a moment just to appreciate my body, my hard work, and love every inch and every moment of this journey!

Even though I've come a really long way, losing about 40 pounds over the past five years, I still struggle with the same psychological and emotional setbacks as I did when I was almost 200 pounds! This journey is so much more than the physical. You have to get inside your head, rearrange some things, and realize your worth!

Whenever I connect with someone to help them reach their goals, I always like to focus on a balanced life. You should never become obsessed or overwhelmed or completely focused on the physical aspect of your journey. Trust me this happens to me all the time.

Get out of your head and into your heart and start loving yourself. You'll make this journey so much easier if you PRAISE yourself and give yourself a high-five for all the little victories along the way rather than focusing on your end goal and how hard it is to get there.

Remember, that you are on this journey for you and you alone. 

xoxo,

How Beachbody paid my bills in 2014!

So tax season is right around the corner.... and normally I DREAD THIS TIME OF YEAR. Taxes are just not my strong suit, and that is fine by me smile emoticon

Coach Apprenticeship App!
http://bit.ly/ZSQvqE

BUT this year I am happy to say I got ALL my W2's EARLY (yes more than 1, oh and definitely more than 3 haha).

The best thing is.... what I made with my "little" health and wellness business blew me away!! I calculated it all out to find that with Beachbody income ALONE I paid my UCSB school loan payments, RENT, car insurance, and all my house bills.... THAT IS A SHIZA TON!


-- ONE MORE -- From 2013 to 2014 I gave myself a 57% RAISE... what?? Now that is my kind of raise wink emoticon

It is amazing to have this WEIGHT lifted from my shoulders. I grew up in a single income family with three kids. I NEVER asked my mom for anything because I knew she would do her best to make it happen, blood-sweat-and-tears make it happen! I could never let my mom go through that. SO I either earned it myself or just got over the fact that it was not meant for me to have or do..... Being able to get all of these bills and life necessities paid for by my Beachbody business is the biggest blessing of 2014 for me.... next year my goal is to be DEBT FREE and buy a new car with cash -- NO payments baby! wink emoticon

BUT the BETTER part is -- every dollar I make is a direct reflection of how many people I get to help and due to the hard work of my TEAM!
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I feel really blessed to be living such a purpose driven life. heart emoticon
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If you were ever curious as to what this whole Beachbody coaching thing is, reach out to me! I don't bite! tongue emoticon I would love to talk to you about the possibilities of making a small to 6 figure income while HELPING people change their lives for the better. Apply for my upcoming Coach Apprenticeship  HERE! 
OR If you need someone as an accountability partner in your journey to health and fitness, I would love to be your coach! Reach out to me for guidance and access to my AMAZING health community.

xoxo,

Buckeye Bars: Raw Dessert!

Loving it raw!

So these bad boys are RICH, I could not believe how delicious they are... but I should have known when the recipe called for a small jar of peanut butter, HALLELUJAH! haha

So I get emails from lovingitraw.com and I love getting great recipes and information about going raw in everyday life!

****I would like to forewarn that "healthy" is subjective when it comes to this precious delicious bites. As far as ingredients go, this is a great all natural dessert that is simple and only 6 ingredients! As far as SUGAR goes, PLEASE limit yourself to one small square because these are loaded with natural sugar and healthy fats <3 

SO HOW DO WE MAKE THESE DELICIOUS TREATS?!

Ingredients: Base

1 small jar Peanut Butter (10 oz. and organic all natural preferred!)
1/2 cup Coconut Flour
1/2 cup of Agave or Maple Syrup
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Ingredients: Chocolate Topping

1/2 cup Coconut Oil

2 Tbsp. Cacao Powder

1/3 cup of organic Honey

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Method: 

>> In a bowl or food processor, mix the peanut butter, coconut flour, and agave syrup and mix until it starts to form a big ball!

>> Smooth this deliciousness out onto a pan or pie dish and place win the freezer while you work on the topping!

>> Melt the coconut oil (what makes this dish 80% raw) - I placed in a measuring cup and put in a pot with boiling water! 

>> Pour the melted coconut oil into a bowl or food processor with cacao powder and honey.

>> Taste test this to make sure it is sweet enough, you might need to add more honey!

>> Pour over the top of the peanut butter base and place back in the freezer.

>> Allow this to set for about an hour, then remove from freezer and cut into slices. Return it to freezer and keep it there until you ENJOY!

**These are best when straight out of the freezer because they get gooey when they melt!

**Makes 8 large bars <3

xoxo,

Thank you to lovingitraw.com for the amazing recipe! Definitely get on that email list for more amazing recipes :)