Fitness Archives

Don’t Accept Defeat (7 Ways I was Able to Get Stronger)

How many challenges do we face every single week of the month? Real life contains emotional tests like disappointments, tragedy, societal issues, stress, injury, divorce, death, unemployment and even choices we make with an unknown future. So how do we keep moving forward without being totally defeated with life?

There are several ways we can do this that are truly effective if we are determined to move forward and intentional about facing the issue. By intentionally facing the issue, it builds on our strengths and makes us even more resilient for the next challenge. If we don’t face it, it weakens our capacity for the next time.

Boy did I learn these lessons the hard way…

Despite my hand injury and pain slowing me down, past abuse, and the huge commitment of raising my grandson full time (some days I feel too old for this!), I refuse to let myself get defeated. Through my emotional fitness journey, I found some strategies that I put into practise that really helped me to learn to experience the inevitable challenges, have normal feelings about them, yet find a way to move past them quicker so that they have less impact on my life.

Here is what I learned…

I learned to enjoy my life as it is, instead of wishing it was different. I learned to be present in my current life, enjoy what life has to offer now and not constantly be feeling like I need something different. Having those feelings of wanting something different than what you have now is a huge stress, worry and constantly gets you down. This is a hard habit to get out of, and I need to remind myself of this at times, but it is worth the work!
I learned to be thankful. Wow, this made a huge difference in my life. It is so easy to count our troubles instead of counting our blessings, but focusing on trouble completely eliminates our ability to experience the good we have been given in life. A change in my perspective here made all the difference. I learned to recognize the good and to be very thankful about it.
I learned to slow down. I was constantly in a rush every minute of every day. By being in this state of mind, I was constantly making mistakes, cutting corners, getting ahead of myself and missing out on so many important moments in life. Not to mention that being in a rush all the time was driving my kids crazy! I learned to slow down and remembered what my mom always told me…”slow and steady wins the race”…dang it she was right! Slowing down and being intentional about what I was doing improved my state of mind, I was more relaxed and my life was less stressful and (no surprise), my relationships improved!
I learned to face the truth and the real emotional issues. It was always easier to turn away from life challenges instead of facing them. I was a master avoider!! The fact is, these emotions and truths will catch up to us eventually! I learned that when I faced reality, I was much more capable of dealing with life effectively. Seriously, when you do this, what once seemed difficult, now seems so much easier! Things that seemed scary, now feel more comfortable and familiar. I felt the difference this made in my strength and it helped me to build a much deeper confidence in myself. Feeling capable is a great feeling! ….and once on this path, you just keep getting stronger all the time!
Further to facing the truth, I found that NOT pushing emotions away or packing them away in the “little black pandora’s box” of my mind was the best idea! Seriously, I have learned that we need those feelings in order to have satisfaction, meaning and absolute pleasure in our life. Packing away those feelings in the black box actually drained my energy and had unconcious impact on my personality! Sounds scary, but its very true. We need to experience our real emotions to have satisfaction and joy in our lives!
Another thing I learned is that things cannot be perfect all of the time. I had to really believe the fact that no one is perfect and no one gets things right every time. If we have too unreasonable of expectations of ourselves, there is a constant feeling of failure and inadequacy. This is NOT a good feeling, but had become a bad habit for me. Perfectionism actually leads to anger and lack of confidence and has a negative impact on relationships. This is a tough one to get over since I have had this issue since childhood, but it is an essential one to work through in order to be happy with yourself. I learned that I was able to gain confidence through the process of trying, succeeding, failing and trying again…It built my power, resilience and confidence over time.
The last thing I learned that was a critical shift for me to avoid defeat in life was to realize that relationships in our life need to be nurtured and cared for. This includes coworkers, intimate partner, kids, family…all of these relationships need to be given attention and commitment to keep them alive and positive…and not just occasionally…this is something to work on consistently. The other thing I had to learn was that I am 100% responsible for my contribution to the relationships and for my happiness. No one else was responsible for any of this. Forgiveness, making amends, accepting forgiveness, being open and vulnerable about love and talking about concerns were essential to realize and to apply to my life.

There was a lot of things to talk about today! These were all things I learned by being committed to personal development, being determined to deal with past issues of abuse, focusing on becoming a better person… Ultimately, developing personal strengths in multiple areas of life and thinking bigger like this really does make accepting any kind of defeat in life totally optional. We have the choice and we don’t have to let life’s challenges get us down!

I am feeling happy, successful and accomplished right now since I got day 13 of my 30 day Fitness Challenge DONE! I hope you have a fabulous day!!

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The Benefits of Core Work (and How You Can Improve Your Life Too)

Working the core can be SUPER fun if you find the right program

There are many benefits that I have noticed from working on my core strength. I used to have intermittent severe back pain that would incapacitate me for days, back aches, hip soreness, and even knee and neck pain.

If you have experienced this you will know what I mean here… Lower back issues that are acutely flaring up can cause the pain and muscle tightness to spread all over the back and body even leading to neck issues, headaches and more! In addition, having pain issues even intermittent, can lead to decreased mood, frustration and the use of pain killers which come with their own wonderful side effects to endure.

So what can be done about this?

Core strengthening leads to greater stability of the muscles surrounding the spine, hips and abdomen. By having greater stability here, it reduces movement within the spine that can lead to inflammation and pain.

I am currently on round 3, day 12 of this core blasting program and I notice a huge change in how I feel, my core feels super strong and agile and having no more back pain! What a relief this is! Being without pain is totally life changing!

Why strengthen Core?

The “core” is a term used to describe just about everything on your body that isn’t your legs and arms. This means you can think of your glutes, hips, abdominal muscles, inner abdominal muscles, pelvic floor, and scapula as your core. Your core is where your power is generated in order to carry out any movement. While abdominal and inner abdominal muscles do play a large roll in core stability, they don’t make up the core all by themselves.

Beyond the management of pain and disability, working the core can really improve our performance in other activities as well.. with a strong core, we will be a better runner, horse back rider, jumper, court sports performer, hockey player plus have more stability in every-day activities such as picking things off the floor, lifting children or grandchildren, hauling in groceries, cleaning the house and so much more! To be able to do all of these functional activities with power, confidence and without injury is what we want, isnt it?

Tips to Strengthen your Core…

If a person is just a beginner with core work, the exercises should look a little different and please don’t focus only on the ab muscles in the front with crunches. Only doing crunches in the setting of an already weak core can have a negative impact on your spine!

It is important to start gentle if you are a beginner with core work. Timothy Bell does a good job giving you 5 exercises to start with to get your core muscles working for you…Check out the 4 minute video below that explains each exercise for you. Perform each exercise back to back for the below prescribed time and reps and do this every day for the most benefit

Bird Dog – 10-second holds, 8 reps per side
Band Anti Rotation – 10-second holds, 8 reps per side
Dead Bugs – 8 reps per side, alternating sides each rep
Clam Shell – 10-second holds, 10 reps per side
Tummy Vacuums – 5-second holds, 8 reps

Once you have built the strength of your core and you would like to consider more advanced core training, you may want to consider joining a Core Blasting Fitness Challenge with me. CONTACT ME once you are feeling ready for this.

Working on and optimizing your core strength can totally change your life. It has for me and to no longer be suffering with pain, or use of medications is a much better existence overall!

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Please COMMENT on this post!

Essential Hydration Tips (and Why I Need Help With This One Today)

It took everything I had to get my dynamic strength workout done this morning.. My muscles kept powering out, had a nauseating sweat going, felt weak and slightly dizzy. After the workout, I did not have my usual energy, and had to lay on the cool floor afterwards totally spent. I was thinking to myself…what the HECK is wrong with me!?

I took a minute to think about it and realized something! During my whole clinic shift yesterday, I was quite cold, so instead of drinking water, I turned to hot drinks instead…and it was coffee! This created a problem in more than one way. Firstly, I normally only have one cup in the morning, so all of that extra caffeine affected my sleep, plus I most likely got dehydrated as well with the large amount of caffeine and not enough water! A double whammy! ?

I certainly felt the awful effects of the dehydration and lack of sleep this morning with the fatigue, muscle heaviness and no energy!

Time to remind myself (and you) of the critical importance of proper hydration and why our body needs it!

Our body is composed of 75% of water for good reason! Why is adequate water so important?

Water helps to convert our food to energy and helps body to absorb nutrients and carry the nutrients and oxygen to our body’s cells.

Every cell in our body is constantly producing waste products and toxins that need to be flushed out and without adequate water, buildup can occur. Water helps our body to get rid of waste. It also helps our digestive system to move properly

Water regulates our body temperature…even mild dehydration can affect this.

Water boosts energy, makes brain feel clearer and boosts productivity

Water reduces risk of cancer by getting rid of (flushing out) oxidizing materials and more.

Water can help us lose weight and promote better hormone signalling in the body and better transportation to various organs.

Dehydration can result in headaches, depression, memory loss, chronic fatigue and muscle weakness….and loss of energy to exercise!!

I have learned my lesson today. I need to stay hydrated!

OK, so how much water should we be drinking each day? Take your body weight in pounds and divide by 2. That number tells you how many ounces of water you need each day. So, for example, if you are 150 lb, you will need 75 oz of water daily which works out to 2.25 litres! BUT, if you drink coffee or take in other caffeine sources or alcohol, water intake needs to be even higher!

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Believe in Yourself (and Why Nothing Will Work if you Don’t)

Having a strong belief in myself and my vision is what keeps me going every day!

Having trouble staying motivated on your health or goals journey?

Having a true belief in yourself and your goals is essential since nothing will work if you don’t believe in it. Do you find yourself saying to advice..”I don’t believe these ideas will work for me”? A lack of belief in ourselves will limit us no matter how great the ideas or opportunities are that we are exposed to.

So what to do then?

People who are successful are determined to make situations work for them rather than playing the role of victim and searching for reasons why a situation will not work.

If we believe that change is possible for ourselves, we will be willing to test, experiment, and try new things even when we feel uncertain. If we don’t believe it is possible to make new things work, then it’s hard to make any progress. I don’t care how good the ideas are, nothing will work for you if you don’t believe in it. And more importantly, nothing will work if you don’t believe in yourself.

True belief in yourself leads to more positive energy, drive and motivation… Put pen to paper and write down what you would like to achieve and develop a vision for yourself to develop that inner power to build your belief in what is possible.

Once you develop the belief that “anything is possible” and that you can “do anything you set your mind to”, and believe in your vision …you will be amazed at the change in yourself and the incredible motivation and action that comes from it!

The honest truth…. I feel like I am losing belief in myself today, so I needed to hear this post more than anyone! Despite this, I made myself complete day 10 of my current 30 day fitness challenge (at least I have accomplished this!) …I am going to put pen to paper today and follow my own advice!

Please COMMENT on this post with your ideas about how to improve motivation and belief in ourselves

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How to Change Your Fitness Mindset (And How You Will Succeed Once You Do)

Ever started on the path to fitness and then gave up?

We all have.

As a Nurse Practitioner and health coach, I see it happen all the time.

Most of the time, it has everything to do with a person’s mindset.

Our limiting beliefs about ourselves are, well, limiting. Even if we decide to get fit and pursue health, we will fail if deep down we don’t really believe we could be fit or strong. Despite our determination, our negative beliefs will undermine our efforts, and we’ll sabotage our own efforts.

Good news though! What we believe about ourselves can be changed. Our brains are capable of creating new neural pathways and changing not only our beliefs but also behavioral patterns. It just takes work.

We have it backwards. The path to fitness doesn’t start with a strategy of when and where and how to work out. It doesn’t even start with a nutrition plan. It starts with a correct mindset – one that believes we can accomplish the health and fitness we desire.

Only once we believe we are capable of change, is it sensible to work toward that goal.

How to Change Your Mindset

First, don’t expect instant results. This thing takes time. In order to develop a fitness mindset one of the first things we have to understand is that whatever physical shape we are in today, it is the result of hundreds of small habitual actions performed throughout our life.

And we have to understand that just as we don’t get out of shape and overweight overnight, we won’t get in shape overnight either. We need to truly understand that “instant gratification” is not possible.
Most importantly, we have to understand that a fitness mindset sees life as a journey rather than a destination.

That means every failure and setback is an opportunity for growth – focus on that. We are not eating salad to fill a quota. We are not even working out to build muscles. At least, those aren’t the thing to focus on. Think of them as a byproduct of your patience, consistency, and resilience. And those qualities are grown in the face of difficulty. Embrace that, and the tough days – when you’re physically spent or emotionally worn, or all your drive and desire has dissipated like a mist – those days will seem less like drudgery and more like opportunity.

Practically, changing your mindset is the training of your thoughts every day. Sometimes, especially at the beginning, it’s a minute-by-minute work.

Steps to Changing Your Mindset

Identify the Thought You Want to Change
We can’t change something we don’t know about. Be honest with yourself about what you really believe. Do you really, deep down, believe you can eat clean as a lifestyle for the rest of your life? Do you really, deep down, believe you can one day become consistent at working out? What do you believe about yourself? Do you feel that you are worth it?
Recognize When You’re Thinking the Thought
This is where you spy on your own brain, catching it red handed as it lies to you. Listen closely for that negative self talk. When you’re vacuuming and your mind wanders, do you hear those negative thoughts? For example, if you don’t believe that you can ever stop snacking on sweets in the evenings, you might catch yourself thinking, “I’m an emotional eater.” The more you think these thoughts, the more they become true. Catch them in the act.
Replace the Thought
Once you catch the negative self-talk in the act, stop. Stop yourself from thinking it. Refuse to indulge that lie one more time. That’s what it is – it’s a lie. Replace it with a truth – even if it’s not necessarily true right now, make your mind identify it as a truth. It is possible, to some degree, to speak things into being. If you tell your brain something over and over, it will begin to believe you. Once you believe it, your behaviour will follow. Because we act on our beliefs. We can’t help it. Putting pen to paper and writing these beliefs and belief replacements down has been proven to be most effective.

Positive Replacement Thoughts

There are loads of ideas of positive replacement thoughts, or mantras as some call them. Here’s a list to kick-start your brainstorming.

My most recent ones are, “I am a gladiator!” or “I am a chiseled badass granny!” The more I say it, the more I believe it. And the more I believe it, the more I act like it. It’s the coolest thing to be able to train our brain.

What limiting thoughts are keeping you from growing in health and fitness?
What positive declaration can you replace it with? (Share in the comments so I can cheer you on!)

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Working Out for Beginners (and Grandmas), and the surprising way it will change your life.

...to be healthy and fit feels fabulous! — …to be healthy and fit feels great and is worth the work!

Thinking of working out, but you’re a little afraid?

Or maybe you’re afraid of getting bulging muscles. (Don’t worry ladies, that’s highly unlikely.)

Think you’re too weak or too old or too lazy, but you want to at least give it a try?

Good.

Then I want to quickly tell you how it’s going to change your life. I mean even in your everyday stuff. I’d also like to give you a bit of direction about how to start.

How Working Out Will Change Your Life

The first thing many want when they start on their fitness journey is to look different. Thinner, smaller, tougher, lean. And that may happen, but you need to know right at the start, you’ll get much more out of it than just looks.

Your energy will increase. Assuming you’re eating clean and getting enough calories, the adrenaline and other hormones released into your body by exercise will affect your energy.

Your body will work better. Exercise affects you even at a cellular level. When you’re active, the body will use food more efficiently, and many parts – like the thyroid, endocrine system, pancreas, digestive system – will all signal and function better as a result. It’s pretty amazing how movement (or non-movement) affects the body.

You’ll feel better. Client after client has reported feeling more positive, less depressed or lethargic, more motivated and a feeling of being more capable. Exercise improves mental and emotional health, not just physical.

You can do more normal stuff. I’ve noticed this in my own body. Since I began working out, I can do a lot more on my own. I can bring in all the bags of groceries by myself without huffing and puffing afterward. I can shovel snow without pulling a muscle. My joints are stronger. And, if I need to move the couch or fridge, I can do it easily on my own – all important things for a single grandma!

Working Out – Where to Start

It’s a bit tough to say where to start, because it really depends on where your body is at.

A person recovering from back surgery or a teenager will need a whole different routine than an overweight mid-forties woman who’s otherwise healthy.

It’s always best to get the personalized advice from a coach who can advise you based on your specific needs and fitness level. (I can help with that) So please take the following not as specific personal advice for you to follow, but more as a general guideline.

That said, it’s often best to start slow. For a few reasons. If you’ve been especially sedentary or have health issues, this is especially true. A good beginning for you might be to stretch daily or every other day, and go for a walk or bike ride. Keep it light to start – pushing too hard right off will only destroy your motivation and invite injuries.

The next stage would be to increase intensity by either lengthening the time of your walk or bike ride, or increasing the difficulty, perhaps by traveling uphill or going faster for portions of the workout. A person could also add a cardio workout routine or consider joining an accountability group! Click HERE to ask how!

The (Most Important) Thing Beginners Forget About

Most people stop there, forgetting to add the vital element of weight lifting (resistance training).

Wait ladies – before you envision giant barbells and bulging muscles – that’s not what I mean. Not at all.

Here’s the truth about muscles. If you don’t make them work, they weaken. They weaken a lot and actually shrink (atrophy), becoming nearly useless. A lack of exercise leads to atrophy of skeletal muscle, which essentially leads to a smaller number and size of the muscle cells!

Lifting is Easier Than You Think

Just so you know, lifting doesn’t have to be this big, demanding ordeal. I’ve been working out for years, and only lift 2-3 times a week. The rest is cardio. It doesn’t take huge amounts of time to get results.

It may suit you best to start out with smaller weights (3-5 lbs) even once a week, and work up to 10 or 15 as you gain strength.

The bottom line: if you don’t use your muscles, they’re going to leave you.
You need them. Work them. Even just a little at first. Starting small is okay.
The important thing is that you start.

To get tips about getting started on clean eating, click HERE.

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Energy and Youth, in only one shake a day

Perfect time for an icy shake...post-workout while red-faced and hot! yumm :) — Perfect time for an icy shake…post-workout while red-faced and sweaty! yumm 🙂

I call this stuff my youth and energy potion. ? Seriously though, over two years of drinking this superfood every single day has changed my life!! Cripe, it even has me bright-eyed and bushy tailed at 5 am in the morning!!

The things superfood has done for me is hard to fully describe, but I will do my best to give you a good idea of what it could do for you by giving you details of my experience 🙂

1. My energy is so amazing despite sleep deprivation and working full time (and raising baby grandson)

2. An indescribable level of well-being which then gives me a high level of positivity and has improved all of my relationships.

3. Has given me incredible mental clarity...feels great to be sharp, clearer thinking, and to be on my toes!

4. Has made it MUCH easier to maintain a long term clean eating lifestyle by cutting cravings (and with good energy, you don’t feel as hungry!!)…and it is so delicious, I feel like I am getting a treat every day!

5. My hair, skin and nails are more soft, supple and younger looking and with a healthy glow! (Youth!)

6. The combination of phytonutrients, cellular nutrition, and antioxidants is giving my body the high level of nutrition it needs to fight illness and prevent disease! It makes me feel good to know that I am doing the best I can to prevent disease connected to oxidative stress such as cancer! …not to mention preventative power against obesity & nutrition-related disease like gallbladder and liver disease, heart attack and strokes and more!

I can tell you with absolute certainty that I will NOT be without my daily superfood…EVER!

To get more detailed information on what superfood will do for you, please comment below or send me a message

The Real Truth about Women and Bulky Muscles

As women, we’re afraid of getting big, bulky muscles.

We want to be sleek and toned – small, not big.

So the idea of working out can make us fear we’re on our way to looking like the Hulk. Or worse, his lopsided half-sister. For some, having bulging, rippled muscles is the goal. From most women though, I hear their dread of that happening to them.

Good news: big muscles don’t accidentally happen.

The truth is, bulking up is really hard for women to do.

Sure, our bodies are different, and some gain easier than others. And there are those examples of women who , ‘in just two years’ made massive gains and ended up tanned and flexing on a stage somewhere. But there’s something you don’t know about those women. They didn’t accidentally get that way and decide to go with the flow. “Oh well… I guess I’ll just have to accept my new muscly body”. No. They aimed for those results, pursuing them with determination and focus. They worked hard for multiple hours daily. Daily! Their rest days were a good hard cardio that still left them drenched. And they made sure to limit carbs and get in a lot of protein powders designed to pack on muscle.

We don’t bulk up with muscle accidentally.

Most of the time, we misunderstand muscles completely

After 2 years of heavy lifting (up to 30 lb dumbells), no increase size, only sculpting achieved!

Here’s the real truth about women and the risk of bulky muscles

Muscles become more compact when they are conditioned and strong.

That means the more you work them, and the stronger they become, the more firm and toned and smaller in size they become.

I know it seems counterintuitive – even false, when all we see in media is the kind of muscles that bulge. But we know we shouldn’t always believe what the media tells us, right? This is one of those things we shouldn’t believe. Muscles are small. Sleek. Compact.

Just ask my clients who, as soon as they began developing their muscles, shrank. They shrank while they were getting stronger. That’s not just because of fat loss, either. It’s also because muscles are leaner, the stronger they are.

Sometimes ‘Bulk’ is Actually Just Fat

Especially in the beginning of one’s weight training journey, a woman may feel like she’s getting bigger. If that’s happening, it usually means that either their caloric intake is too high or they’re retaining water (a temporary issue generally), or both.

This doesn’t happen often with my clients, but when it does, it’s not because of a sudden increase in muscle mass. Good news – water retention and excess caloric intake are simple fixes.

You Can Work Out to Maintain, Not Just to Gain

Working out is not an eternal upward slant. Goals do get reached.

Once you’ve achieved your goal weight or strength or fitness level, you can change your fitness and nutrition plan to maintain. There’s no reason to continue building and strengthening beyond what you want to. It’s your body – you get to choose how you want it to look.

Kicking into maintenance mode will definitely keep you from building muscle beyond what you want. No risk of bulking up here.

The bottom line is, if you’re eating clean and working out, you’ll burn fat (which is bulky) and strengthen muscle (which is compact) – expect to get smaller.

Need some help with clean eating? Join my Facebook group The Clean Eatery for tips, community, and motivation. Also, sign up here for 7 tips about how to improve your self-discipline.

The 100% rule completely changed my life (and it can change yours too!)

The 100% rule has completely changed my life!! 100% is easier than 99%.

Say what?

Yes!! When we stick to something 100% it’s far easier than if we give in to even 1%. If we decide to quit smoking and allow even a few puffs here and there, how hard would it be to stay quit? Or have you truly even “quit” if you still dabble in it?

The same goes with eating sugar or junk food! If we stay away from it 100%, it becomes solid in our mind and is actually easy! If you give in and even have one chocolate or a few chips, then how HARD does it become not to have more?

The same rule applies to exercise. If we allow our exercise to slide even 1%, how hard does it become to get back or stay on track after that? I am currently away from home at a conference in Florida for a week with very long days and minimal sleep. But this is no excuse not to be 100% with exercise and superfood. No way was I going to let my health slip because of travel … I know how hard it would be to get back on track if I allowed even 1% slip! I digitally streamed my workouts on laptop and got my early morning MMA workout in, in a very small 6×6′ space and had a delicious superfood shake afterwards. Once you have decided to commit 100%, then no excuses will be valid, and it will be much easier!

It is true that our well-meaning 99% effort actually becomes exhausting since it consumes more energy without producing results! It is actually stressful! It makes us feel like a failure when we are not — we just haven’t fully committed to something. Putting only 99% effort into things that really matter in life means we are constantly falling short of our potential — and feeling bad about it.

It boils down to decision and commitment. If you quit smoking, then in your mind, you need to 100% not touch cigarettes…then you can identify powerfully and with certainty as a ‘non-smoker’. Because even 1% use still means you are a smoker!

Jack Canfield puts it in this way “99% is a b*tch, and 100% is a breeze”. If something is tugging at you, then you likely have been “99-per centing” too long!

Comment below about some habits that you need to change? What have you been 99% on that feels so difficult? Give 100% a try, you may find that it will change your life as it changed mine!

CLICK HERE to get a free download about how to get started with a clean eating lifestyle

COMPLETE THIS FORM, to join the upcoming “love-yourself” fitness challenge group for February 2017! To get some idea what a challenge group is about first before you sign up, watch the video HERE.

New Year, New You, Now is the time to Get Started!

The New Year is here (can you believe it is 2017… wow!) and Summer is right around the corner, seriously, it is! That is how fast time flies. But the good news is… you are in the drivers seat of your life! There is no time better than right now to start your journey. But in order to tackle these crazy tough Beachbody workout routines, you need to arm yourself with the right tools to guarantee your success. Not going to lie to you, whatever program you are attempting, the work is hard and the commitment is relentless but the rewards that follow are so amazing, so grand, so epic! The time to start is now and I am here to help you achieve that success you desire and those results you absolutely deserve!

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT MY JOURNEY

My name is Diane Gudmundson and I am a Team Beachbody Coach. My journey started two years back when I was 45 years old. I had just topped the scale at 196 lbs. for my 5’8″ frame. Being out of shape was only the tip of the iceberg. I was unhealthy and was on medications for anxiety, body pain and sleeping issues. My hair was falling out, my skin was dry and flaky, and my nails were cracking and peeling. My gut was not functioning properly, I was having pain when trying to use the bathroom with bleeding and even was having difficulty peeing! I was a mess!

My doctor gave me a good physical examination, arranged numerous blood tests and a colonoscopy. It was found that my blood results were normal, the colon was 100% normal The worst part, through all of this, was that I had lost all my self-esteem and confidence. All this at 45 years of age! So, if all my tests and examinations were normal, what did this mean?

This definitely was an aha moment!

The first step of my journey was to find a nutrition plan (not a diet) that was going to work for me and work for the rest of my life. I love to eat all kinds of food, and I was not going to deny myself one of life’s most pleasurable experiences. Avoidance was not an option, limitation and moderation was how I would succeed. I studied clean eating and portion control and with a simple weekly plan implemented clean eating into my life.

I also knew I needed to incorporate an exercise routine. I choose P90x as my first program. Now let me just reiterate how out of shape I was. I couldn’t even go up a flight of stairs without getting winded, I could only do a couple pushups on my knees (barely) and could not last more than a few minutes when trying to do jumping jacks! I had aches and pains constantly, back and knee pain, and really was poorly motivated to do any physical activity. When I went horseback riding, my back pain got even worse, so I lost my motivation to go riding as as result!

I was not going to give up hope!

When I popped in that first workout DVD in on Day 1, I barely was able to do any of it. But I knew if I just made tiny improvements each day, just little baby steps, I was putting myself on the right path towards success.

I could sit here and tell you that it was easy, and that all it takes is a bit of willpower and go for it. Well, it doesn’t work that way and it has absolutely nothing to do with willpower. Changing your lifestyle, changing your body, changing your mind and the way you think, changing almost everything about yourself (including limiting beliefs and emotional issues) in order to reach your goals is going to be the toughest thing you will ever attempt in your life. I struggled, I failed, I hit obstacles, but these difficulties are all required, this is what makes it the greatest journey in the world. If a path is easy, it does not build our strength and capacity!

Support and Accountability works!

I could not have done it alone though and needed all the support that I could find. I found a Beachbody Coach and then participated in an online Accountability Group. I can honestly say that if I hadn’t done this important step, I would never have succeeded! Since completing that first then second round of p90x, I went on to complete Focus T25, 21 Day Fix and 21 DF Extreme, PiYo, Insanity Max 30, Body Beast, P90, 22 min hard corps, and Core de Force! I am loving this because I never get bored and, by switching up my fitness programs regularly, I am getting optimal results! Currently I am doing a mix of Core De Force and The Master’s Hammer and Chisel which has now become my all-time favorite program combination!

before-and-after — Much Happier and now 42 pounds less!!

Currently I am 154 lbs. and I am now in the best shape of my life! Even though I love looking toned and muscular, the way I feel emotionally and physically and my ultimate health is what is most important! I am healthier now at 47 then when I was 25! Oh, and I am happier now than I have ever been in my entire life too! (I am one happy Granny! LOL)

Healthy, Happy and energized for life are three ways to explain how I now live. Now, I want to give back, pay it forward, and share that experience with you and share all that I have learned.

Are you ready to make a change?

If you are ready, ready to make that change, ready to learn, ready to arm yourself for battle, ready to be motivated, ready to be inspired, ready to be accountable, ready to own it and earn it, then I will do everything in my power to ensure you cross that finish line and find success in all your goals.

Take a minute to consider BOTH of these options!

To join an online accountability group with me as your coach, please take a few minutes to fill out the application here.

2. To receive a free PDF download about how to get started with a clean eating lifestyle, CLICK HERE

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