Fit & Faithful Ain't No Joke

I've spent the past few months rebuilding my body, developing more strength and fitting back into my jeans.

I recently purchased a program called Body Gospel largely out of curiosity. I figured it may not be a particularly challenging workout, but I've always enjoyed the uplifting feeling of gospel music. I was curious to see if I could experience that same feeling while working out.

Yesterday I thought I'd try the core workout just to see what it was all about. So, yeah, um Donna Richardson Joyner ain't no joke. I'm feeling my abs today and REALLY enjoyed the workout yesterday. Loved using the cool resistance bands with the foot strappy thingies. I plan to start working this program into my other programs on a regular basis.

Anyone that wants to try bringing their faith into their fitness should try this program. It truly is a good workout and is uplifting at the same time.

Starting September 30th, I will guide you through this program in my Fit & Faithful Facebook group. Email me today or message me on Facebook for more information.

Some of the songs that will get you moving include:

• Hallelujah (The Highest Praise)

• Again I Say Rejoice

• Friend of God

• Going to Another Level

• Testify

• We Win

• The Presence of the Lord

 

...and many more

 

Just Do What You Love

"Don't aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally." - David Frost

"The beauty of direct selling is that you join a team of people who have similar interests and dreams to do and be more." - David Bach

A few months ago, I made a decision that would change the course of my life. (Yes, I'm getting dramatic here. Let me have my moment.) I chose to invest $180 to purchase what's called a Challenge Pack. It included a workout program that helped me transform my body and a meal replacement shake that helped me transform my eating habits.

*Disclaimer - This is where I tell you I have never been truly overweight. And while I used to joke about wanting to be called Big Momma when I finally become a grandmother (a loooooong time from now), I'm not sure that my body is made to ever really be obese. So, yeah, sorry about that. It is what it is.

My body is, however, fully capable of getting flabby and unhealthy and no longer fitting into the jeans I have owned for years and can't afford to replace. This is where I was back in March, 2013. The Challenge Pack I purchased (ChaLEAN Extreme for those who don't obsessively follow my every blog and Facebook post) helped me shed the flab and tone some serious muscle.

Yeah, I look amazing. It's true. (I have no time for modesty, people. I'm a Leo.)

The other thing purchasing that Challenge Pack allowed me to do was enter the world of Beachbody coaching. It's part of my plan to improve my financial situation. I am tired of living paycheck to paycheck. I am tired of deciding which bills get paid this month. I am tired of talking to Joe at the bank. (Joe's nice and all, but he keeps asking me for things I don't have, like money.)

So, I invested in myself which also allowed me to become an independent Beachbody Coach as an added source of income. Here's the deal. Not everyone will get rich doing this. MOST people won't get rich doing this. And while it would be nice to get rich doing this, that's not the point. I don't need to be rich. I just want to be able to pay off my debt and give back to my children and community. I want to be able to save for retirement and donate to charities regularly. And dangit, I want to be able to go to the store every now and then and just buy something pretty.

That's the benefit of direct selling. I keep my day job, which is my mostly secure source of income, while also building a business on the side to bring in additional income. An extra $500-$1000 a month would make life much more livable.

It has taken time and it has and will continue to take hard work. But it's doable and I love it. There are a lot of opportunities out there and I say find one that reflects your goals and priorities and go for it. You will find a whole new group of friends that share your interests and goals. You will develop yourself beyond who and what you are today. And you will get the opportunity to add to your income by doing something you enjoy. You may even be able to fire your current bosses someday!

The bonus of Beachbody, incidentally, is that I get to watch the people around me become healthier and happier. It's a powerful feeling.

So, this is not me saying "Join my team so I can make more money!" This is me saying I never realized direct selling could be fun and inspiring and didn't have to involve me booking parties and trying to pretend I knew anything about cooking or makeup; which I don't. Clearly. There are opportunities out there that don't require you to make a heavy up-front investment or maintain inventory. There are opportunities out there that don't require you to host parties if you're not comfortable doing so. There are opportunities that you can have fun with and fully believe in. I have friends and family involved in several different businesses that they truly enjoy and I'm sure they'd be happy to talk to you about them.

However, if you want to know more about Beachbody, I am more than happy to share with you what I have learned. You can send me a quick email at sunshinestrongbb@gmail.com or message my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/SunShineStrongNow.

Want to see one of the websites Beachbody created for me? Check out www.BeachBodyCoach.com/SunShineStrong.

Kia Kaha!

Kia Kaha! Don't quote me on this, but I think it means stay with the fight. Dan and Rach like to say it a lot during my Les Mills Combat workouts. So, now I like to say it in response to pretty much anything anyone says to me. And you can't just say it. You have to yell it and throw up a quick front kick as you're yelling it. It's a thing. Yeah.

I've tried a lot of at-home fitness programs. I've enjoyed many of them. If you know me, you know I have a thing for Chalene Johnson and Shaun T workouts. But nothing ever in the history of at-home fitness ever compares to Les Mills Combat. Nothing. Ever. Never ever.

In all seriousness, I think it's a great intro into various styles of martial arts and boxing for anyone that has ever dreamed of having a black belt...in something. And it's a great way to feel like a total badass at least once a day.

Contact me for more information.

sunshinestrongbb@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/SunShineStrongNow

http://www.teambeachbody.com/shop/-/shopping/LMCBase?referringRepId=228212

TurboFire is HOT this August!

This is a great program, lots of fun, and highly effective. Order now and I'll provide you personalized support throughout the program. We've got great support groups on Facebook, so make the decision to change today! Click on the link below to get started!

https://www.teambeachbody.com/checkout/-/bbcheckout/challengepack?referringRepId=228212

Excuse Me While I Slip Into A Sugar Coma

Let me start this post by saying, I'M FREE!!!

My Beachbody Ultimate Reset is over and I am free to once again eat and drink whatever I want. It's an exhilarating and oddly liberating feeling. I can literally go to the store and buy whatever I want and eat it. I think I recall reading something in the booklet about easing back into various types of foods like sugar and dairy. Not sure. But here's what I do know.

I suck at transitioning slowly back into normal eating patterns while still retaining some semblance of the healthy eating habits I learned on this program.

For the past two weeks, folks have been asking what my first meal would be after finishing my Ultimate Reset. I wanted to say that it would be something all healthy and noble, like whole grain pasta and peanut sauce made from natural peanut butter (which actually sounds good, but takes way too much time to make). You see, my issue with the Ultimate Reset diet isn't so much the lack of Doritos and beer on the menu, it is the extensive ingredient lists, cooking time, and dishwashing involved. It. was. exhausting. At a certain point I just didn't even want to eat anymore. It was too much work.

So, my first day post-UR may have involved a quick trip to the grocery store shopping all of the interior aisles. You know, the aisles where all the unhealthy processed foods are? My cart may have been filled with two pints of Cherry Garcia ice cream, a bag of Doritos, a block of cream cheese, a box of Entenmann's donuts, and a Hungry Man frozen dinner.

Therefore, I may have gained back whatever fat I lost during my 3-week Ultimate Reset all in one day. *sigh*

Here is who might benefit from this program: people with decent will power who don't live with a bunch of teenagers bringing chips and cookies and candy into the house all the time and waiving it around in front of your face. That, I believe, is what kicked off the cravings. And people who have the time and desire to cook. People who enjoy cooking. People who are good at it. Because the program had tons of delicious-looking recipes, but I lacked the skill and motivation to actually make them. Or maybe people with cooks and maids to do all the hard work for them, because quite honestly, all I really wanted to do by the time week 2 hit was nap.

Whatever. What I've learned is that I might just survive the zombie apocalypse because I can go without food for much longer than I thought. And now that I've moved onto Les Mills Combat and Turbo Fire, I will be better equipped to engage the zombies in hand-to-hand combat. I am much happier to return to my lifestyle of eating relatively healthy 80% of the time and working off the bad stuff every morning with a kick-ass workout and long run.

Now if you'll excuse me, I must slip into my sugar coma now...

Bring on Turbo Fire!

My Ultimate Reset is almost over and I must say, not a day too soon. I miss my workouts. In fact, I miss my workouts so much that I've actually been doing them even though I'm not supposed to. Yes, I'm a bad Beachbody Coach. But in my defense, I've only done 3 of them and only this week and it's only so I won't hurt all the people. I NEED the workouts to not hurt all the people.

So, Monday morning marks the start of our Turbo Fire Challenge Group on Facebook and you best believe I'll be pushing play first thing when I roll out of bed at 4am. I. can't. wait.

Turbo Fire is fun. It's exciting. It's powerful. And it burns some serious fat, which is good cause I'm having some Doritos and beer after three weeks of black beans and brown rice. Want to burn some fat of your own? Click here to email me and I'll let you know how you can join us!

I do have some closing thoughts on my Ultimate Reset experience and I will share those tomorrow. Yeah, you're just gonna have to wait.

BB Ultimate Reset: End of Week Two

You might have noticed a lack of posts over the past few days. Life has been, ummmm, temperamental of late. Actually, she's been a straight B-word. My bosses have gotten together in an effort to force me onto mood-regulating medication. My pursuit of a PhD has been halted by my inability to speak French. My air conditioning has stopped working. Not for the entire house, mind you. Only for the upstairs portion where my bedroom, bathroom, and office are. Whatever. These are not insurmountable or tragic issues. But I can't go for a nice long run or engage in an intense workout to relieve my stress.

So, I am admitting here and now that I fell off the clean eating wagon yesterday. Ok. I didn't just fall off. I jumped off, rolled over a cliff, bounced off several rocks, and landed at the bottom of a ravine. It was bad.

Here's what happened, just so you know that it wasn't all my fault. It started with a friend who had tickets to a wine festival. Well, you can't go to a festival without eating festival food and you can't go to a wine festival without drinking wine. Following those rules, I ordered a corn dog and fries. Let me tell you that the corn dog did not comply with standard corn dog dimensions. In fact, when it came out of the fryer (oh yes, fresh fried corn dog - super healthy), it looked very much like fried fish on a stick. I was starving, so I went for it anyway. Result? I felt dirty. And not just "I need to wash my hands and face" dirty, but "I NEED to shower twice and wash my hair" dirty. So, I did what anyone in my situation would have done. I drank wine. Not in huge amounts, but enough to bring on a swift headache and a desire to lie in bed for a week. But the festival supports animal rescue in our area, so really I was eating and drinking to support an important cause.

Later that evening, my mother and I went to a play to benefit Bedford Domestic Violence Services where they laid out an appetizer spread that was impossible to resist. I did well, initially. However, this play was so gut-wrenchingly devastating that I had no choice but to fill my plate full of meatballs, pigs in blankets, and chocolate-covered strawberries in an effort to eat my emotions. An excellent performance, but I was already in an emotionally fragile state. Oh, and there was wine. But again, I was eating and drinking to support an important cause.

So, if you think about it, is was really my altruism that forced me off of the wagon. What can I say? I'm a giver.

So, here I am at the end of week two and feeling a bit guilty. But, all is not lost. I managed to climb my way out of the ravine, chase down the clean eating wagon, and climb back on board. Only one week left of my Ultimate Reset and then I can get back to a higher calorie intake and more intense workouts. Turbo Fire is calling my name.

Turbo Fire Challenge Group starts 7/22! Contact me for more information!