My Why

Often, as soon as you make a goal or a decision, you have a reason for doing so...

In the Beachbody world we call this your "Why". What is your why? Why are you doing this? Why are you choosing to spend time every evening/all day/in the morning dedicating yourself to wellness, health, and fitness, and changing people's lives? Once you sign up as a coach, you'll be asked your why. (sidenote: I think this is a practice we should do FOR EVERYTHING.)

In the beginning, my "why" was a standard one. I wanted to be healthy and fit. But recently, I was asked again about what my "why" was and I thought about it, I dug deeper, and I got to the heart of the matter.

My WHY was rooted with the fact that I'd be helping people change their lives and I knew that in helping people, I would be challenged to do the same thing for myself. I would be challenged to eat healthy, to workout every day, to look for new ways to take care of myself, to remain positive, to be an example. When I became a leader, a coach, it meant that I had to walk this same journey with you all and it meant there was no backing down.

 Rereading that paragraph, it looks a bit selfish - but it's truthful! My why is personal, it's my reasoning, and it makes sense to me.

 

It meant that on those days that I didn't want to work out, on those days that I didn't want to eat healthy - I was going to! I was going to do it for you guys because maybe those days you felt the same and you needed an example.

This brings me back to my coach, Jessica. Jessica and I met when I was a practicum teaching student in her classroom. We clicked instantly. After pulling a few strings, we were able to get paired up and she was my cooperating teacher while I taught in her Kindergarten classroom. SHE IS AN AMAZING TEACHER, someone I aspire to be daily. I loved every minute with her and her class and we both cried on my last day at the end of February. I remember her saying, " I feel like I'm breaking up with someone.." hahahaha! I can't believe it's been a year that I've been in that wonderful room and been with Jessica!

Anyways, Jessica became someone I came to with teaching questions, life advice, and someone I trusted. I remember talking to her about how crazy similar our lives were - both the oldest of three girls, OCD and organization to the max, etc. I trusted her completely (and still do!) After I left her classroom, I started seeing some of her posts on Facebook around April. Apparently she had started a workout program in March and was seeing amazing results. In fact, I got to celebrate with her a couple of months ago when she reached 30 pounds lost! I must've commented on one of her things about getting ready for my upcoming wedding. Immediately she messaged me! She was starting a challenge group and she wanted me in. She answered all of my crazy questions and I joined.

BEST TEN WEEKS EVER! I lost 13 inches on my body, gained amazing friendships from my fellow challenge group ladies, and I felt empowered. I felt strong, I felt able. I had a new energy and a new positive outlook. She asked if I wanted to coach...what?! me?! One more thing to had to my newly married, just graduated, don't have a job yet, plate?

I said yes. :) (After some conversation with Jared of course) I remember telling Jared..."If I am encouraging people to workout, it'll make me workout too!" I guess that must've worked, or maybe it was my incessant whining, but he let me join!

So, recap: Shout out to Jessica - the best woman out there. We are in contact every day! And without her, I wouldn't have established my why.

Recently, I've been even more empowered. As some of you are seeing my successes and my progress, you've been messaging me, commenting, asking me questions -and this is what spurs me on! That fact that my life is making a difference in others, challenging others, making you think, making you question...making you change :) My WHY is because I'm changed by leading you all just as much as you are changed by being led.

The 21 Day Fix - Week 2

So, Jared wanted a little more variety throughout this second week, especially as we started getting the hang of our eating plan and figuring out how it works. So, during week 1 (after he voiced these concerns to me) I set straight to planning, pinteresting, and researching. AS IT TURNS OUT, Pinterest has a crazy amount of 21 day fix meals that ARE AMAZING AND AWESOME. It just takes some preparation and planning in order to figure out what containers you are using during that meal. So this week - my goal is to cook a delicious meal each night (that's different!) and that utilizes our containers differently. We are also going to try to switch up our snacks and lunches to make things better too. (I'm fine with the same thing every day, Jared is not...ay ay ay. ) Below is a new sampling of my weekly eating plan - with the new foods added!

Meal	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Breakfast	Shakeology	Shakeology	Shakeology	Shakeology	Shakeology
Snack	Eggs 10 Olives Green Peppers	Eggs 10 Olives Green Peppers	Eggs 10 Olives Green Peppers	Eggs 10 Olives Green Peppers	Eggs 10 Olives Green Peppers
Lunch	1 Tortilla Lettuce Cheese Fruit	1 Tortilla Lettuce Meat ½ Cheese Fruit	1 Tortilla Lettuce Meat Fruit	1 Tortilla Lettuce Meat Fruit ½ Cheese	1 Tortilla Lettuce Meat Fruit
Snack	Cinnamon Chips Fruit	Cinnamon Chips Fruit	Cinnamon Chips Fruit	Cinnamon Chips Fruit	Cinnamon Chips Fruit
Dinner	ENCHILADA SOUP 2 green 2 Reds 1 Purple 1 Yellow	STUFFED PEPPERS (1 each) 2 green 1 red ½ yellow ½ blue	QUINOA TACO BAKE 1 Red 1 Yellow 1 Green 1 Blue	STUFFED PEPPERS (1 each) 2 green 1 red ½ yellow ½ blue	QUINOA TACO BAKE 1 Red 1 Yellow 1 Green 1 Blue
Snack		Fruit	Fruit Vegetable	Fruit	Fruit Vegetable

Day 8
Feelings: We are beginning week 2, not hungry, and we approached the day! After successfully handling a church meal, a birthday party, and the Super Bowl, we approached today like it was easy peasy lemon squeezy! We are super excited.

Body Update: Today was Total Body Cardio! Jared and I both think we were wayy wayy wayy better at the workout this time around. We feel stronger! (But we might be sorer tomorrow...we got new weights...) In other news, I'm trying new 21 day fix recipes (see calendar above!) that are more Supper friendly. Tonight is Chicken Enchilada Soup which can be done in a slow cooker for you busy moms!
Jared Quote: "I'm not a quote machine..."

Day 9
Feelings: Today was upper fix and our arms are jello! Thanks new weights :) We don't even think about food anymore, it's become normal! I'm hoping that after these 21 days it will be so habitual we won't even think about it that much at all and we'll be able to see the weight continue to drop! Tonight I made Quinoa Taco Bake (on the recipe page - 21 day fix approved..duh!) AND IT WAS DELICIOUS! I'm so glad we'll get another dinner out of this because it honestly was so yummy! And filling! I also got my new book, "You are a Badass" and I'm super excited to start reading it. My goal is to really focus on personal development in multiple areas of my life!

Body Update: Jared has seen an 11.5 lb weight loss so far! HOLY COW! I've seen about 6 pounds gone! We aren't hungry anymore so we barely finish our extra snacks that we are supposed to eat. I need to drink more water...I'm not drinking enough and it's not flushing my system out as well.
Jared Quote...."Anyone could do pushups for a minute if they weighed 90 lbs." (talking to the tiny, fit lady on the screen.. ;) )

Day 10
Feelings: I AM FEELING FABULOUS! I haven't been not bloated in a long time and to be not bloated and not heavy feeling for the past 10 days has been amazing. Jared and I can feel our bodies training themselves to eat less, we aren't even hungry and we can barely finish/sometimes don't finish at all what we are supposed to eat daily. It's insanity!
Body Update: We upped our weights, but we aren't sore! Good news! Drinking more water, peeing more often, and flushing our systems out has helped ALOT. I recommend water! At this point yesterday, I was upset because the scale didn't move and I had been so used to it moving at least a smidge. This morning it moved 2 pounds - 2 more pounds down! Making my total 8 pounds gone in 10 days! AHHHHH. (I say this for two reasons. 1) Just because you don't see it on the scale, doesn't mean it's happening. and 2) don't let the scale determine your motivation)
Jared Quote: Autumn (the 21 day fix lady who wears crop tops) was telling to us to keep in mind that clean eating is just as important as exercise. "Well you can keep in mind it's okay to wear a normal shirt."

Day 11
Feelings: My headaches have finally left - after 11 days of headaches around lunch time, I was headacheless today! I'm hoping that was the sugar and processed stuff all leaving my body and my body trying to deal with a new diet and new system. My body is going to do amazing things, I just have to give it time! I feel more energized during the evenings after school. Just like some of my teacher friends and I said today, "Teaching is hard." and it makes us SO tired.
Body Update: We feel normal and feel pretty good as far as bodies go. We are definitely getting stronger! I'm just DYING for Day 21 - not to eat, but so I can see my amazing results! Jared is seeing some phenomenal results too and I can tell he's liking it.
Jared Quote: "Pilates makes me sleepy."

Day 12
Feelings: I'm not hungry at all and I can say that I haven't been bloated since we started this. For the first time in a long long time, I feel good, my stomach isn't upset, and I'm full of energy. (Thanks Shakeology!)
Body Update: I'm down another pound this morning! Who knew?! :) Jared is probably losing a lot of weight too,  but we'll find out for sure at our weigh in on Sunday! AHH. So pumped for everything - but mainly excited for our total results.
Jared Quote: talking to Zeus..."If you're going to get back to that sleek 8 pound body Zeus, you're going to have to work."... Zeus is currently 10 pounds.





Day 13
Feelings: Today was hard and busy and stressful as our youth group was hosting a Valentine's dinner and I had to get ready for that AND prep our meals since we couldn't eat there. It's getting easier and easier to say no to things, and Jared and I are barely eating our snacks anymore because we AREN'T hungry.. I can't believe I just said that, but it's true! I think I'm starting to crave water.
Body Update: I'm down another few tenths of a pound putting me closer to my goal and allowing me to cross off another number on my weight chart!!! YAY FOR SUCCESS AND YAY FOR PROGRESS! We did our Dirty 30 workout today and we felt great. It went fast and we were able to do WAY more than I thought we'd ever be able too. This means two things, we are improving! and next week will be amazing! Jared and I decided we want to keep doing this...just be able to make it a lifestyle change. I almost want to purchase the Extreme version because it's so awesome! We might do that before we go to the beach this summer :)
Jared Quote: (talking to Autumn, our fitness lady.) "No you push harder, Fall. Get it? I call her Fall cause her name is Autumn."

Day 14
Feelings: Yoga today. We hate Yoga....it feels like we aren't doing anything but stretching for a whole 30 minutes and that IS NOT FUN! hah.
Body Update: feeling great :)
Jared Quote: (on finding out I tried to edit his quotes) "You can't censor me, don't tread on me!" -.- this man.

Stats:
Alyssa: Down 4 pounds and 3.75 inches...Totals so far: 9.4 pounds and 7.5 inches!
Jared: Down 8.2 pounds and 4 inches...... Totals so far: 15 pounds!!!!! and 11. 5 inches!

Setting those Goals!

 A super duper large part of being a Coach is working on goals and personal development. I'm not gonna lie, in the beginning when my upline coaches were encouraging me to personally develop myself I was annoyed. I didn't want to spend the time each day, this was stupid. Wasn't I already a good person? Wasn't I already developed to where I wanted to be? (*Note in advance, this page will be spammed with awesome picture quotes about personal development and setting goals, there were so many good ones I couldn't decide)

hahahaha, I just laugh at the me that thought those things. I'll be touching more on the aspect of personal development in a later post, but I really really really wanted to talk about setting goals. I made a youtube video a while back about setting goals and how's it's important!  You can see that in the movie clip below :)

 

That video talks about setting goals in regards to weight loss. Which I totally support! But becoming a better person, personally developing myself,  and balancing ALL areas of my life (marriage, teaching, coaching, cleaning, health and fitness) involves goals that stretch far beyond those weight loss walls. And this is something that personal development is, understanding that you can always be better and working towards that each and every day! It exudes such positivity to personally develop yourself!  I feel amazing when I'm setting goals, when I'm trying to reach them, and when I'm helping other people set goals too. My team is reading The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy and he talks about physically writing down your goals. THEN he says, write down the roadblocks that would get in the way of those goals. So for example, maybe one of my goals is to better communicate with my husband. Something that would get in the way, could be my incessant need to be on my phone and social media all the time. I need to write that down. (Just an example, not real life... ;)) THEN, we have to write down the things that will help us maintain those goals. Keeping up with my previous example, it could be how we spend time eating each meal together at the table without the TV on. The author even mentions that without writing this stuff out, our goals are only fantasies and fantasies don't come true. 

AHHHHH. This book is powerful stuff! Anyways, my goals are so many, so big, so different, but I'm so excited for the road ahead because I have clearly defined goals to make me a better person, a better wife, a better teacher, a better coach, a better daughter, a better friend, and a better sister. 

"What you get by achieving your goals, isn't as important as what you become by achieving your goals." - Zig Ziglar

Below is one of my favorite quotes that I've read so far. I love it so much I read it like 12,000 times. AND I typed it here. and then I read it again :) Enjoy!

Taken from The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. "When you define your goals, you give your brain something new to look for and focus on. It's as if you're giving your mind a new set of eyes from which to see all the people, circumstances, conversations, resources, ideas, and creativity surrounding you. With this new perspective (an inner itinerary),your mind proceeds to match up on the outside what you most want on the inside - your goal. It's that simple. The difference in how you experience the world and draw ideas, people, and opportunities into your life after you have clearly defined your goals is profound!"

 

 I hope this inspires you, I hope this encourages you, I hope you truly truly want to set goals for yourself - in all areas and aspects of your life. Gain a new perspective, create an inner itinerary, and go out and get those dreams!

I'm addicted to food.....

I realized this addiction when I started my 21 day fix last week. I mean, I always knew I loved food.

The Mennonite in me knows that apple dumplings are amazing when warmed and topped with ice cream, a good chicken or macaroni salad makes a great summer day sandwich, and the carbs...oh the carbs. Mashed, baked, cheesy, goodie (these shredded cheesy potato things) - you name the type of potato dish and I was ready to consume it.

I grew up on home cooked food and home made everything. We FEASTED at supper time, every night, and I still love my mama's cooking that she'll send home with me and Jared sometimes. Our Mennonite religion is a culture and it's food life has taken over and gotten me addicted. ( I want to write a book on this as some point - I'm not kidding. Like, how to eat like a Mennonite and train like a beast. ..or something...the title needs work...)

Anyways - back to my addiction. I realized it..on day 1 of the 21 day fix. When my every.single.thought. became about food. When can I eat next? How much do I get? That's not going to enough. I really want a McDonald's meal right now. Who cares about this stupid diet? I'm hungry. My stomach is going to eat itself. When can I eat again? That's too long.

I think that night I even dreamed of food.

Let's be real people, I'm a teacher. So during the day, my brain should be on like 5,000 other things rather than food, but once I was restricted, once I couldn't have it, it consumed my being.

Starting off on this 21 day fix thing, was literally as if my body was going through withdrawal. I had (and still kinda have) headaches. I was tired, exhausted, and cranky. I was shaky.

WHAT THE HECK. The food I was eating wasn't a drug, so why did I feel so addicted, why did I feel so ashamed for missing my old food, and why was I going through all of this withdrawal?!?


Because...my body was loaded down with processed foods, carbohydrates, and heavy heavy meats. I was eating until I couldn't move anymore (at each meal!) and I was slowly destroying my body.

So...I'm still addicted to food, let's be real, that's something that will never leave. But it's a different kind of food...

 - a food that fuels my body instead of fattens it
 - a food that comes from the ground instead of a drivethru window
 - a food that has no "extras" instead of being covered in salt.

That's right kiddos - I'm addicted to organic food and I hope it can stay this way! I'm going to be honest, sometimes I still want salt, and potatoes, and amazingness of a FEAST. Those things are all okay, in moderation. I'm just hoping that I can become addicted to portioning my food and eating more organic and clean eating then ever before. My new mission: Make my husband love this too! :) It's a slow but steady start.... one foot in front of the other...

The 21 Day Fix - Week 1

I wrote a small snippet for each day of this week to describe how Jared and I were feeling. Please take into account that this was a DRASTIC change from our typical lifestyle food and that we are feeling the affects pretty greatly. Normally, we have a starch and meat heavy dinner. Now, we don't - and this has left us cranky. But here's a day to day breakdown of  the week!

Day 1
Feelings: WE ARE SO HUNGRY - we want to eat anything we can get our hands. But this is great - because we are doing it together so we are keeping each other accountable. Jared and I both agree that we are starving and we don't feel full. However, we are trying to remember that we need to drink water and that we don't need to be full all of the time - which is how society makes us feel. The workout today (we accidentally did Day 2's) was Upper Fix. Not too bad...but we do need to get higher weights than 3 pounds. (heehee.)
Body Update: We've been pooping ALOT. I'm assuming it's cause we are getting rid of all our junk and cleaning our bodies out. We both have headaches and feel tired. It's like a withdrawal from sugar and processed foods.
Jared Quote: "If there was a cow nearby, I would just start biting it."


Day 2

Feelings: We are definitely less hungry, but it's still hard getting used too not being full. I have WAY more energy today, I got up 20 minutes before my alarm! WHAT. and I "feel" healthy and not bloated. If that makes sense? Jared hates veggies because he feels like he's chewing water. Our veggie and fruit intake is SO HIGH because we have to eat more of organic foods in place of the processed foods we used to eat. Today we did what was supposed to be yesterday's workout - Total Body Fix. HOLY HANNAH THAT WAS DEATH! I haven't sweated like that in a long time and my body is so very very tired. We are thankful for our nighttime snack.
Body Update: Less poop! Jared says our body can use the nutrients. And he wants to keep working out far past this 21 day thing. Which makes me happy :)
Jared Quote: "Just think, maybe in 21 days we'll be able to stand really close without touching each other." #skinnythoughts

Day 3
Feelings: We snuck a weigh in on the scale to see if there was any progress at all after going through what feels like starvation. WE ARE BOTH DOWN FOUR POUNDS as of this morning! YAY YAY YAY! It's less hard, I feel more full, and the less I think about it the better. My days are busy so it's easy for me to move through my day not being hungry. Jared just keeps drinking water because he's so hungry that he pees like 4 times a night. It's hilarious.  By now, our eating is getting easier and Jared is getting more experimental. Although, he has been to the grocery store 3 times this week. We need to figure out a better plan that costs less and is less the same thing every day.
Body Update: We. Can't. Move. Our bodies are so sore. Jared and I were snuggled in bed and he said, "Even cuddling hurts." We did Lower Fix today as our workout - focusing all on legs, which we couldn't move anyways...so it's been torture. We are both so sore, but hoping for amazing results!
Jared Quote: "My Body is Fire!"

Day 4

Feelings: (I weighed myself again, heehee, and I saw .8 of a pound gone! I bet with more and more water I can keep flushing out my system!) I am so excited for the final results I kinda want day 21 to be here. I also keep researching and pinning awesome dinner ideas that I'm excited to try for next week.
Body Update: I can move better today! I feel looser and ready to take on the world! Today was Pilates Day and although Jared and I weren't as flexible and we were having a hard time doing the moves, this stretched us out today and it FELT AWESOME. and also Jared is a ham and Zeus did what he always does..
Jared Quote: "I'd rather have a mocha latte than a PAHlatte."  Pilates day.

Day 5
Feelings: This whole "diet" thing doesn't even feel like a diet anymore. We eat ALL the time, six small meals a day. And while at first it was torture, because we were only eating veggies. Now, I kinda like working out. It relieves stress. Although, I've been dealing with headaches each day (these started before the 21 day fix) it still however makes eating right difficult. This weekend is the SuperBowl and a huge fellowship meal at church so Jared and I have to bring our A-Game! I'm planning, planning, planning and prepping our meals so we don't have to think about it at all. It's going to be hard but I think it will make us stronger.
Body Update: We aren't sore at all! We are a little fatigued and tired but I'm sure we'll perk up soon and our body will start being awesome! We don't poop that much at all anymore (which is good cause that means our body is using all these nutrients. Today, I researched recipes even more and found some delicious ones that I'll post on next weeks blog about week 2 :)
Jared Quote: "My butt be like ooohhh, ahhhhhh, ooohhhhh...."

Day 6
Feelings: I'm not hungry anymore and we both get completely full. The only thing we don't like is we just want to snack..and Jared would preferably like to eat cow. (which he can, just not alot). And we'd both like to go out - and this kind of restricts us...
Body Update: Now, we feel like we are building up our bodies! We can feel ourselves getting stronger. and like Jared said, instead of feeling like we were killing ourselves during the first workouts, we now feel like we can complete the workouts! YAY! Today was Dirty 30 - which was definitely dirty.
Jared Quote: "When I heard Dirty 30, I got excited. But I was sorely mistaken...."

Day 7
Feelings: TODAY is going to be so hard. We have an amazing church fundraiser called the "SouperBowl" with so much delicious soup that we can't eat, we have a birthday party, we have a Super Bowl party at our house. TALK ABOUT TEMPTATION! But Jared and I have a game plan - and I'm not really craving those things anymore, so we are going to crush it!
Body Update: I'm feeling strong and not hungry. Jared says he's feeling "okay". He's really descriptive :) But - we are still losing weight! And ITS FREAKIN' AWESOME!
Jared Quote (about Yoga): This sucks.

Stats: Jared lost 6.8 lbs and 7.5
Alyssa lost 5.4 pounds and 3.75 inches!! IN WEEK 1!