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I Can’t Join Your Accountability Group Because… _____

As a health and fitness coach I literally hear every EXCUSE ever about why someone cannot join my accountability groups to help themselves get healthy and fit.

Some of my top favorites (I’m saying this with sarcasm):

  • I have children
  • I don’t have time
  • I can’t afford it
  • That lifestyle just isn’t for me
  • It’s too hard

These are just some of the reasons that I hear from my friends and family about why they won’t join, but really all I hear is:

  • I don’t put myself first
  • I don’t know how to start
  • I would rather spend $4 a day at Starbucks
  • I am intimidated by working out
  • Excuses! White lies (still lies)! And Fear

Why do we as a society allow ourselves to lie, hold ourselves back from happiness, or believe that having children is the end of the world? These misconceptions stop HERE!

Let’s address each one of these excuses in order.
Children: Having children is difficult and exhausting, there is no denying that; however, they should not be limiting your ability to accomplish a 30 min workout or a healthy eating lifestyle. Stop using your children as a cover. Instead, use them as weights! There are so many play activities that you can do with your children and get in a workout at the same time. You don’t have to compromise your quality time. BONUS you have a continually increasing weight so that you don’t become stagnant. Here are some easy moves you can do with your children until they become big enough to workout with you.

  • “Kettle-bell” squats. Great for legs and for core and arms.
  • The old, toss the baby in the air (safely) and catching them is a great arm workout.
  • Walking lunges-  holding your child safely in both arms and evenly distributing the weight between both sides of your body (can also be used in backpack style carrier)
  • Sitting planks
  • Dancing with/ holding your childDo you see where I’m going with this? Make them a part of your exercise and then when they get big enough show them what you are doing and let them try it on their own (as long as it’s safe- no gym equipment). Not only will you be getting in your workout, but you will be setting the example for your children as well.

Time: We all have the same 24 hours in the day. Let’s be honest here. It’s not that you don’t have time, it’s that you don’t put a priority on yourself. 30 min a day is all it takes!!!

Cost: Let me ask you a question.. how much do you spend annually on over the counter medicines, multivitamins, antibiotics, joint health, oh and one meal a day (lets say breakfast)? $4 a day is NOTHING compared to the cost of all of the things you are buying as an after fact to issues that could have been prevented.

Lifestyle: Being healthy is not a lifestyle for you? REALLY? You want to be sick, over weight, on the Type 2 list, and unhappy? Proper nutrition and exercise doesn’t have to be extreme, if your goal is to be healthy you don’t have to aim for 130 lbs (as a woman) be happy at 150, but be capable and confident!!! You don’t have to run an Iron Man, do 30 minutes of Piyo, cardio, stretching, MOVING. You will keep your body from aging and help prevent muscle loss as you age.

It’s Hard: Yes, sometimes making the correct choice is hard. Sometimes it’s confusing and you don’t know where to start. Guess what? That’s where I come in. I can help you make small choices and small changes over a period of time to help you transition into this new lifestyle you are aiming for. I didn’t start gung-ho out the gate. I made small changes. I started walking more and eating less processed foods. I made easy switches like ground turkey for ground beef, plain greek yogurt for sour cream. Now it’s almost second nature to go for the better options, but I started somewhere and I started small so that each small change would add up. It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon!

 

Are you ready to start? Over your excuses? Navigate to the Coach Consult page and get started. I want to discuss your health and fitness and find a program that works for your needs! This journey isn’t about me, it’s about YOU!

5 Reasons You May Not be Losing Weight

You’ve been trying everything you can think of to lose weight. You have read posts, journals, switched foods and you still don’t see any movement on the scale. What the heck is going on?!? Each month I host clean eating based, health and fitness, accountability groups. In my groups people are following their eating plans, participating in physical activity and sometimes the scale is not moving as quickly as they would like. Here are the top 5 reasons that I have seen for why this is happening.

  1. The Scale is Not Moving Because the Inches Are! – Many participants in my monthly challenges are familiar with weight loss reality shows that will remain nameless. The people on TV are losing 5-15lbs a week and are just melting away… The sad truth is, that these shows may be called reality TV but they are not 100% reality. I find in my groups that although the scale is not moving the body is. I always encourage for people to not only weigh themselves but to also measure themselves in key areas of their body. See the image below. Often times when we are eating healthy foods and exercising we are burning fat tissue and building muscle simultaneously. Our body weight doesn’t change, but because one pound of fat takes up more space in the body than one pound of muscle we are losing inches off the body without realizing it.
    Measurement Chart
  2. Your Food Diet is Close, but No Cigar. – You can eat clean till you are blue in the face, but if your diet isn’t in alignment with your needs you will plateau and stop losing weight. For example, when I first began my journey in clean eating I didn’t understand the difference between vegetable carbs and starchy carbs. I was eating a TON of the wrong carbs!!! I can’t help it, my body thinks it’s Italian- I just want the pasta! It wasn’t until I began using the 21 Day Fix (order here) that I realized that I wasn’t eating enough vegetables. Because of this diet crashing misunderstanding, I was not losing any more weight. The scale was not moving!
  3. You Are Not Getting Enough Food. – To lose weight, you have to feed your body healthy food, and plenty of it. If you begin drastically cutting your calories your body will go into starvation mode. What does that mean? Think of a bear preparing for hibernation! Every calorie that you eat, your body will hoard and store away because it is preparing to preserve and sustain existence for as long as possible. Is there a magic number range that you should be in to lose weight, yes. Is it under 1,200 calories? NO!!!
  4. You Assume That ALL Calories (and Foods) Are Created Equal. – I’m sorry to tell you this, but you are misinformed. There is more to eating than looking at calories. You should be considering sodium, sugar and INGREDIENTS (and keeping them to a minimum) and you should be looking at nutritional values such as protein, fiber, and vitamin content (higher values are better). If the label has words that you cannot pronounce, let alone identify as an edible food source you may want to consider a healthier alternative. You should try to avoid foods with main ingredients (the closer to the top of the list, the more there is in the food) that include syrup (processed sugar), aspartame (fake sweetener that has been linked with serious side effects), and enriched flours (nutritional values were lost in processing and added back in during further processing). Instead look for short ingredient lists that include organic food sources, minimal processing, and things that you can identify!!
  5. You Are Not Hydrated. – Your body is composed of 70% water. If you don’t keep it properly hydrated, much like eating (above) your body will bloat and hoard the most sacred thing you can give it. Aim to drink no less than half your body weight in ounces of water. For example, if you weighed 150lbs you should be drinking 75oz of water a day.

    If you need help getting started Click Here for a free coach consultation!

Thank you!

Thank you! That needed to be said!

I have received numerous emails from friends and acquaintances and they all usually end with “thank you for your help and for understanding and not judging me.”

But really I want to say thank you to all of you!  Thank you for trusting me,  for taking the time to message me, for believing in me, and for supporting me.  I am honored that you feel comfortable asking me for help when you are at a place where you feel uncomfortable.  It truly means the world to me that you open up to me with your struggles and allow me to help you create a plan to get you back to being who you want to be.  That is the most rewarding part of my job, and makes me love what I do so much: I get a chance to help the people that I care about.  ♡

Always know that what is communicated to me is private and free of judgment. 

Happy Monday friends!

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If not now, when?

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Love love love this quote. 

As a kid growing up I was the typical girl watching princess movies and accepting the ideal that my prince would come and save me from some terrible fate.

Guess what, the only terrible fate I encountered was adulthood. .. I don’t think anyone can avoid that fate. ..

Reality set in, I got a job that paid the bills and I became an adult.  Not much to avoid there. 

Big problem- I hated my job! It was not fun, I was sitting on my butt all day draining energy and gaining weight. 

I had to make a change!  If I wasn’t willing to save myself,  who else would be?  If I didn’t make a change right then,  when would I?

I joined a 7 day clean eating and shakeology challenge group.  It was GREAT!  I was being held accountable for my food intake,  I was drinking this awesome shake every morning that was keeping me full for hours without feeling bloated or sick (if you have tried other shake products you know what I am talking about). And I was working out- sick as it sounds,  it was FUN!

The 7 days passed and I was feeling great,  but I was out of shakes! That’s when I really felt how much of a change the shakes had made.  I went back to being exhausted and hungry before noon… that’s when I knew that I wanted to stick with Shakeology and that if I had this amazing experience,  my friends and family would want to try it too… I knew that I had to be a coach. After all, everyone around me was already telling me that I should be a leader.. so I went for it and I am not going back.

My number one goal is my own personal happiness.  Next is helping others reach their goals and find their happiness too.

My questions for you are:
If you don’t plan on making a change,  who do you think is going to do it for you?

If you are not doing it now, then when?  When will it EVER be the right time?

No one can control your happiness except you. It’s up to you- make it happen!