Tuesday, February 25, 2014

So what's the big deal?

For someone who has been involved in some part of fitness for my entire life, I think I have tried every single way to lose weight. 

I did competitive cheerleading for 13 years and then collegiate cheerleading for 3. 

I didn't care what I ate when I cheered all star- but everything changed when I went to college. 

I gained freshman 15 in NO time, and I remember the guys on the team telling us that we needed to stop eating pizza every time we went to the "rot" (what we called our cafe). So when other people started noticing, I knew I had to do something about it.

For the first time in my life, I had to be conscious of what I put in my body. 

So I began to run, and that was my love for a very long time. I was addicted to it. Morning, noon and night I ran. 

I loved conditioning at practice when everyone else would groan. I knew my body needed it. I was not one of those that always remained skinny... I had to work for it. And all the time. 

Soon, my body started changing and I could tell it was paying off-- but it was overkill. I found myself working out and then a few hours later working out again. 

People started saying I was "addicted". And even though I'd brush off that comment, deep down I knew I was. 

Fast forward 7 years to right after I had my son. It was Sept. and cold outside- So I decided to give Insanity a go again. This time, I was going to try the meal replacement shake that I saw on all the Insanity videos called Shakeology. 

Now, if there was a protein shake, protein bar, meal replacement shake or weight loss shake... I had tried it. My husband is very into body building, so we have tried MANY of them. I can't even tell you how much money we have spent over the years trying to stay fit and see what worked.

But one thing I can tell you is that I needed help in the eating healthy department. It does NOT come easy for me. But you can workout till your blue in the face, and if you aren't eating right your hard work is all in vain. I did NOT want that. (plus I had 30 lbs of baby weight to lose).

Why I decided to give Shakeology a chance..

Now, I'm not going to name all 70 of the superfoods that are in Shakeology, nor tell you the name of every country these ingredients came from, but I will tell you what was the MOST interesting to me...

(for those that like to know the ingredients, you can find that list here.) 


  • it is a meal REPLACEMENT not a protein shake (unlike juicing or protein shakes)
  • Trained professionals searched all over the world for these NATURAL ingredients that were grown on soil that did not contain pesticides or chemicals (so 100% natural)
  • it was not made in a factory, but a lab in the US
  • they are NOT packed with sugars, which is VERY hard to find in a meal replacement (because they all try and achieve these insane flavors like peanut butter and cake batter.)
For those of you that like to see comparisons, here is a graph showing you the difference between Shakeology and other shakes...
What Shakeology has personally done for me:

Gives me more energy (seriously. I have a kid who doesn't sleep at night, so this was the FIRST thing I noticed.)
Curbs my cravings for sweets
Stopped pulling handfuls of hair out of my head when I brushed it
Gave me great looking skin (no acne)
My nails grow like weeds
It helps with digestion
It keeps me full for a LONG time
I love that I can make it quick and be on my way (very busy lifestyle for our family)
helped me lose weight!!!!!



These shakes come in 4 flavors:


chocolate (and chocolate vegan)
vanilla
Strawberry (and vegan strawberry)
greenberry

It has only 140 calories for the base mix and 16-17g of protein per serving. 

The nutritional value of food today is NOT what it was when our great grandparents were alive. Time Magazine has done study after study showing this to be true. 

What they put into the ground to make things grow faster and quicker has depreciated the value of our food. It means more money for them, but less nutritional value for us. 

But the price!?

The problem I get with most people is that they say they can't afford it. I KNOW how that is to feel strapped and trust me, before I started coaching, things were VERY TIGHT in my house too. 

But, 

for most of you, you CAN afford it. You just might have to switch some things around like we did. Even when things were "tight" for me, I still had money to buy Starbucks almost every.single.day. OR, I would go to the cafe at work and spend $7 on a salad. Or even the sad trips to the fast food chains when you are in a hurry. <--- and let's not EVEN try and compare the nutritional value to these vs. Shakeology. 

But the money that I am saving from NOT having to go to the Dr for heart disease, or diabetes, or refilling my medications all the time faaaaaaar outweighs the $4 a day I spend on drinking a shake LOADED with dense nutrition. I don't have an argument then. 

It saddens me when people want SO desperately to lose weight, but they don't change a THING about the way they eat. This is one meal you don't have to worry about. 

Just think about one thing you might be able to give up for 30 days in order to try this for yourself. I know that I gave up a FEW things to afford it (even started coaching so I could get the discount) and I will NEVER regret that decision for me and my family as long as I live. 



Will I lose weight right away? 

I love that saying, one clean meal won't make you skinny like one unhealthy meal won't make you fat. You didn't gain that weight overnight, and this shake will not help you to lose it overnight. But I noticed a HUGE different in 5 days of drinking Shakeology once a day. If you would like to try it before you buy it I do have single servings in most every flavor!

How do I make it? 

Some people can mix it with water and put it in a shaker and be on their way. Not me. I prefer making it in a blender with Almond Milk (lower calories than regular milk), PB, a banana, 8-10 ice cubes, and 1 scoop of chocolate or vanilla Shakeology. There are a bajillion recipes you can choose from! Beachbody gives you an entire calendar full of them when you order through me so you can try a new one each day. This shake, when made right, is AMAZING. I think frosty from Wendys :).

How do I order?

It's easy. 
Pick out your flavor.
Pick out bag or box (30 days comes with the bag, 24 servings comes in a box, but you can do 2 or 3 flavors in a box)
Choose Autoship. This is important, because it allows you $2 shipping instead of $13. You can cancel at ANY TIME with no hassle. 

Dedicated to your success, Jessica








Monday, February 17, 2014

Well.... Here we go again!


I've wanted to start a blog for a LOOOOOOONG time! 

Mainly because I have had so many exciting things happen to me that I wanted to share then with everyone.... and I was getting writers cramp trying to jot them all down in my journal. 

But this blog is starting WAY sooner than I thought because... well, we are PREGNANT. 

Yep. Pregnant. 

And this time... it was a surprise!

If you are close to us, you may know our looooong journey with infertility. 

Trying to have a baby for 5 years... getting pregnant 3 times... losing them... then our miracle came, who is now 16 months old. 

I can't tell you how many tears we've cried, sleepless nights Ive had, prayers I've prayed BEGGING God to let us be parents... and ALL in his timing. Which sometimes I want to hit people when they say "It's all in God's timing." 

Of course, I know that... but it doesn't take the pain away. 

Well, we have had our HANDS full with our son, Kyson. He hasn't slept through the night in... well, ever! 

We have tried every trick in the book- I've read every book- I've stood on my head.. and still can't get him to have a good night sleep. (thought thank you JESUS is it getting better.)

So, Matt and I joked that we wanted at least a year of sleeping through the night for ourselves before we even THOUGHT about trying for another one. 

And well, we steered CLEAR of that little ovulation day. Even to the point where I downloaded a tracker so that I could make sure we weren't going to have ANY surprises... 

LOL.

We are SO EXCITED God has decided it's time for us to be parents again. When I got over the shock, I was truly moved to tears that we weren't going to have to travel the road of infertility again. 

I cry EVERY time a girl tells me that she can't get pregnant. I don't understand it and it's just not fair. I KNOW... because I was her. ---> I'll share our complete story on another blog. 

But I am READY to share my journey with the world...

The GOOD--- the BAD-- and the ugly...

My goal this time around is to be as FIT as I possibly can. I was NOT the first go-round. Gained 60 lbs and was a walking whale towards the end. I was miserable. 

I have to be honest, I haven't started off great. I was SICK AS A DOG the first trimester. Throwing up and nauseous as can be. Eating anything that I could keep down... so at this point I've gained 10 lbs (gasp!) but I'm in a good place and ready to SLOW this train down a little. 

So glad you are here to follow! And if you know of anyone (mom or mom to be) that would benefit from this blog then PLEASE share with them <3 



^^^This was around 12 weeks. I'm almost 15 weeks now. 

(goodbye abs... at least for 6 more months)