Who just want to have a healthy LIFESTYLE?!

It is the last week of my 60 day PiYo journey. Wow, I can not believe how fast the time has gone! I will write the overall results and feelings about the program next week (almost there!--- but PS: this has been an incredible experience.

My post tonight is about some thoughts I had when getting out of the shower tonight. Yea, I know, random.

I thought to myself "how many people just want to have a healthy lifestyle?  No crossfit junkies, no bodybuilding-steriod pumping lovers, no hungry-angry dieters! But people who genuinely want to lose weight, be HAPPY AND HEALTHY, but do not want the time constraint of spending 5 hours at the gym and endless amounts of money on supplements and personal trainers." I bet a lot of us do!

I know I do! I want to do the minimal amount of work possible to feel and look incredible. Call me "efficient" but I want to be smart with MY time and MY life. I have spent countless hours and YEARS at the gym, trying to sculpt my body. With little to no changes. Like how frustrating!!! After doing PiYO, drinking Shakeology and following the PiYo eating plan, I feel stronger in 2 months than I have in 7 years. WHAT!!! I also eat MORE than I have EVER and I am losing weight. WHAT! (Does anyone else hear Lil John yelling "what!" or is that just me...)

I have not been to the gym once (yay no gym membership fees!) No supplements. No calorie counting. Is it too a hoax? But this is MY chance to have a personal trainer, AT MY HOME, telling me what to eat and how to workout...and it has never felt so good!

Earlier, say around 3 months ago, when I really started thinking about strengthening my body, I reached out to a old high school friend. She is a professional fitness competitor. I said to her "Hey! I am thinking about competing, could I get more information from you." Her response " This is not for everyone...it is really expensive...it takes up a lot of your time and is really tough...you can talk to my trainer if you want..." HARD PASS. Like what is that? It is expensive, takes a lot of your time and money... I mean what is that!

This is why I love Beachbody. I have only been with the company for a little over 3 months...but I am head-over-heels about EVERYTHING this company represents--the products and the profession. As a coach, I work day after day just TALKING TO PEOPLE AND SUPPORTING PEOPLE. That's right... I have an opportunity for an insane amount of income to talk to people about living a healthy and happy life through fitness. LIKE HOW CRAZY IS THAT! WHAT A BLESSING!!!!


If you want to change your LIFESTYLE, please connect with me or a coach that you know. This is an amazing feeling to have and you want to feel this way <3

email me @  andrealyss@beachbodycoach.com

Halloween edition: why is eating clean so terrifying?

Halloween is nearing, the candy is lining the aisles of the grocery store, caramel apples are dropping from the trees and pumpkin donuts are lining the stomachs of every human in America (Gosh, I love this time of year!!)  

Inspired by this seasonal time of year, I want to address something that people find scary... it is called...eating clean (cue spooky music now!)

A few people have voiced their concerns regarding my clean-eating and fitness journey. They say things like "brussels sprouts? Is that all you are going to eat?" or "you aren't going to get too skinny, are you? You are already tiny" along with "you probably can't work out like you used to with your new eating plan." They almost have a nervous, cautious, righteous, scared sound in their voice yet also sound supportive at the same time. Most people bring up an after-thought that goes something like this " I have just heard that when people do these types of things, they do not eat and become really unhealthy..."

I am prone to the super-sarcastic and reactive statement "ohh that fatty hamburger? Is that all you are going to eat?!??!?!" but that is not what I am here to do. I am not here to judge people or condescend their lifestyles. I am here to inspire, motivate and educate! 

I use this as an opening to speak about what I am doing. People, I am not starving myself! That can not be farther from the point. I probably eat more often than most! I do not have the "starved" feeling. I am actually putting more nutrients in my body than EVER BEFORE. And it feels incredible!!!! My body is loving this. I am not depriving myself of anything that is not beneficial to my body. Am I depriving myself from chocolate chip cookies. Hmm, yes! But really, think the next time you indulge in a 500 calorie brownie...how do you feel afterwards? Do you feel good? Did that brownie fill that empty hole in your stomach or that anxiety about that test? 

Before this journey, I ate fairly healthy. But every Friday, I allowed myself to eat a Big Mac. Honestly, after stuffing my face with a Big Mac, Diet Coke and fries, I really did not feel that great. I actually felt pretty let down that it did not taste as good as I thought it would. 

It is not my goal to become stick-thin (hello, that is disgusting. And this girl likes to eat and loves her butt!!) My goal is to gain muscle and tone it up! I am working my butt off (literally..it is not so flabby anymore but still has that bubble) to be stronger.

And this journey is not going to last just 60 days. I already plan on doing P90x after this! I may not be as "hardcore" after these 60 days (I am almost up to the half way point... what what!!)  Disclaimer: I will eat what I want on Thanksgiving (but remember PORTIONS people! Eating a whole turkey and half a pie is not on my list) and you KNOW I will be enjoying some wine when these 60 days are up  (I will admit, I miss wine every once in a while). 

If you do not want to change your fitness program, ok! It does not hurt my feelings.
 If you do not want to eat healthier, ok!  I am going to keep sharing my journey and living a healthy and happy life. 

But I believe that we can always improve ourselves. It may be the ADHD in me but I love new challenges!!! 

**I will always be strengthening my relationship with Jesus.
* I will always be growing and renovating my body, my mind and my soul. 
* I will always be a devoted wife and work every single day on my marriage with my amazing and loving husband. 

I encourage you to reach out to me to find out exactly what I am doing! Beachbody gives resources upon resources to me so that I can do this in a healthy and inspiring way!! 

My only regret.... I wish I would have done this sooner.

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My next blog will be a deeper look into my fitness program (Piyo).
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Let me just point out that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! WHEN PEOPLE APPROACH ME TO TALK ABOUT HEALTH AND FITNESS. ( I can not say this enough about how blessed I am to have the opportunity from God to be a Beachbody coach. It is simply amazing, but is very, very hard work that just comes naturally to me! ) But honestly, the reason why I am doing what I do is to educate/inspire/motivate and hold people accountable for the positive changes in their lives. It is insanely  addicting and truly makes my soul smile.  

You have no idea how disgusting Taco Bell smells while you exercise.

I reached the 21st day of my journey yesterday.

It is so insanely crazy how fast time goes. I feel great. I feel challenged. I also feel that there is a long way to go in my fitness journey. And that is the exciting thing about fitness... I can ALWAYS improve. I can ALWAYS develop and strive to reach my goals!!!

There are a few things that I have learned throughout my journey that I would like to share with you---

1. Just because other people eat poorly, does not mean you have to eat poorly as well.
    I was doing my Piyo workout on Saturday morning when my lovely husband comes home with "fresh" Taco Bell... and I almost vomited. You would think that it would upset me that he came home and rubbed this fast food feast in front of my face. Just the contrary, it made me happy that I was not putting that *hit in my mouth. Literally, it made our apartment smell like a dirty, sweaty Mexican rice bowl ( I am not knocking Taco Bell...but the mix of it and my sweat from working out just did not please my senses)

 There are two positives to this story:
1. He did not bring any home for me.
2. He called me first to make sure it was okay that he brought some home for himself.  He knows that I am doing this clean eating challenge so he wanted to make sure that I approved of this delivery. I can handle the temptation, but I was not thrilled that he was eating it.

I am dedicated enough to this challenge that I will not stray from it. I am stronger than someone else's temptations. Do not let other people tempt you with their non-nutritional food--- you tempt them with enjoying your nutritious food. If you want to be different... eat a salad for lunch, not a Big Mac. 


2. Stay motivated and inspired
1. Our motivation must come from inside ourselves (see my video on Youtube titled "My Story")
2. You must have a big enough reason "why"
3. You need to believe your goal is attainable.
4. Your environment is a BIG influence on motivation. Surround yourself with support!
5. Inspire others, and they, in turn, will inspire you. (THIS IS FACT AND IT IS HAPPENING TO ME NOW!)

Let me clarify... I am NOT doing this for people's approval. This is alllll me! This is my desire to take my body where it has never been before (yikes... did not see quotations about space coming into play tonight but let's just roll with it, shall we?)  But it is pretty incredible to know that I am strong enough to do this.

And people are supporting me. My amazing husband understands what I am going through and gives a lot of positive reinforcement for me! What is even better is that people are changing their lives because of something I said, posted, or talked to them about. (Eating a healthier lunch is a big step people so do not down play the little things you do!)

3. Portion control is a shocking revelation
This is the biggest part of my eating plan and holy smokes is it important!!!! My portions are very specific regarding lean protein, healthy fats, veggies and fruits.

Look at this interesting graph about obesity and large portion sizes (www.nature.com):

4. Take photos

If it was not for my stomach, I would not be able to tell any difference in my body. I just do not see it! It is probably because I am not nearly as chiseled as I want to be. But I took "Day 1 vs Day 14" photos and it really motivated me! I also took my measurements in the beginning on my journey so that I can see specifically how my body was influenced by my dedication.



I have loved this journey so far. I love having a blog and being able to share my story. Thank you all for your love and support! <3

Inspiration---my coach's personal story of how her life was changed!

It's Friday night. I am happily sitting in our home office,drinking some coffee, working and listening to Carrie Underwood's "Something in the Water" on repeat. 

I am so incredibly moved by this song. Like "driving home in the car, crying, goosebumps all over the place, could not wait to listen to this song again."  This blog is not to preach or to sway you in any sort of way towards what or who you believe in. But I will openly tell you that I believe in The Lord...and He is GREAT!!!! 

....

      I am a new coach with Beachbody. But tonight, this blog is not about me...this blog tonight is about the woman who the Lord used to bring this amazing opportunity to me... Her name is Tammy Glann.       Tammy and I have not known each other for long. But she has known my husband for most of his life. Tammy is married to Jeff Glann (our officiant at the wedding!) and their son is Jeremy (our best man!). These are some incredible people!
....


This is Tammy's story about how Beachbody has changed her life:

"I used to weigh 330 pounds. I was a diabetic for 20 years, had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and had severe IBS. I was on heavy doses of med’s for all of these conditions. My diabetes was out of control and my diabetic medicine was not working any longer. The doctor wanted to put me on insulin.

Then, a friend introduced me to Shakeology. I started drinking Shakeology and I lost 22 pounds my first month. After just 30 days, my doctor took me off all the med’s except for the diabetic meds. 

After 6 months of drinking Shakeology, I am no longer a diabetic and am med-free.I have more energy than when I was in my 20’s! I am not skinny yet….but I will be! And it’s all due to Shakeology, the various Beachbody workouts, and the amazing support that I have from other Beachbody Team members.

Because of what Shakeology did for me, I decided to become a full time Beachbody Coach. I am now helping others to overcome the bondage of obesity. I am helping people become healthier, more fit, and even helping them with their goals to be debt free. I am very passionate about Shakeology and what it has done for me. I tell people, “Jesus saved my soul….but Shakeology saved my life!”

...

If you are moved because of this story, GOOD! Message me, comment on my page, send a text to me, mail a letter to me...whatever you want to do!!!  If you do not really know what to feel or if this is not the right time for you.. you are wrong. This is the perfect time <3

Maybe you want to be more active? Maybe you want to lose baby weight? Maybe you are "fit" but you want to take it to another level? Maybe you want to be a Beachbody coach yourself?? Maybe you just need some support and love in your life...

Not everyone has the same story. Actually, no one has the same story. That is why YOUR story is the most important on your life.  " Do not waste the life that the Good Lord gave you"