2.5 years ago I tried Beachbody because I wanted what my friend Toni had- energy, vitality, and happiness. I was sick and tired of being tired and knew I could use the tools from the 21 Day Fix to change my life and Corey's, too. Adding in Shakeology was awesome for me because I am very picky and don't like vegetables at all.
I never imagined that just by sharing my journey with others that I'd be inspiring them to start their own- or that it would become such a financial blessing for my family. It has paid for bills in a bind and also given us breathing room to have FUN and not be so stressed about money anymore.
If you've been watching my posts for any amount of time and have the tiniest bit of curiosity as to what it
is I DO as a coach, please comment or fill out this form at bit.ly/1flitlifegroup and I will contact you. I am hosting a free, no-strings attached informational group to give a peek into coaching that I'd love for you to be a part of.
Thanks to Facebook's Memories, I'm remembering 10 years ago today: August 27, 2006.
I was beginning my junior year at Northland College. This picture was taken while riding on a bus to a preseason soccer game in the UP of Michigan.
If I'm being honest, when I first saw the picture posted in 2006, my first reaction was "ooo you can see my hip bone sticking out when I lay like that" and I felt like I was doing something right to have that be my body shape. 😯 (I don't think I need to tell you that THAT is not a healthy thought/body aspiration.)
I worked so hard all summer to improve myself- working out in the company fitness room during my lunch break and having maybe half a sandwich or granola bar to refuel myself. All of that sweat and work, only to spend a couple days in the hospital to be diagnosed with endometriosis and essentially lose all of that progress.
Every month that school year I would often spend days in a row in bed curled up with a heating pad and take ibuprofen like it was candy, crying from the pain.
The end of August and early September was also when my Grandpa George and Grandmother (Fox) passed away. I remember visiting my Grandmother in the hospital after her heart surgery and passing out from low blood sugar.
That was the last time I ever saw her, and she was worrying about me from her hospital bed. To this day I cannot have plain vanilla milkshakes because of the memory associated with drinking part of hers to raise my blood sugar after passing out.
We didn't know at the time, but we only had 5 months left before my Grandpa Fox would pass away as well.
That year was so difficult and challenging for soccer, family, and school. Especially in 2nd semester, my grade dropped weekly in the hardest physics class I would ever take. I'd break down crying in my teacher's office, trying to manage my grief and stress while being unable to understand the material. 😪
If only I knew then what I know now...
That working out past exhaustion on no calories was not the way to lose weight or perform better on the soccer field. Food was not the enemy- food was FUEL.
That I didn't have to carry the burden of grief and stress alone. I didn't have to be mad at God- it only isolated me from His love even more.
All of these memories from a simple picture. I'm reminded of not only what I went through at that time but how far I've come since. ❤️
Good morning, everyone! I hope you're doing well this Tuesday.
I just posted a picture of Addie and I after my workout to Facebook and was typing
a caption and I felt like what I was typing was not enough to explain the story
behind the picture so I wanted to share all of my feelings here to the blog.
I'm emotional thinking about it right now as I type.
Addie sometimes just watches TV upstairs when I work out,
but lately she's been a downstairs with me. I think she likes Tony Horton and
22 Minute Hard Corps. Today she was with me for 2 of the 3 rounds and I ended
up taking a video on my phone of almost the entire workout of the both of us
just because I want to preserve that memory. That experience is something that
I never thought was possible for my life; something if you would have shown me
that video 3 years ago I would have laughed at you and I would have said:
·You're crazy, there's no way that is that that kind of
workout is fun.
·There's no way that that I could keep up with that.
·There's no way that I would be laughing and having fun with
it.
The fact that I would have this amazing, energetic,
strong daughter who loved doing it with me- I wouldn't have believed it. I realize
that a lot of the things I post might seem out of reach for people that follow
me, and I just want to tell you that it doesn't have to be out of reach. My
first goal was 5 pounds at a time, and I lost 5 pounds in my first 21 days! More
than 5 pounds, actually. The weight that I got down to, the energy I have, and
the things that I've accomplished never even crossed my mind as possible to
shoot for because it was so far removed from the life I was living.
For example, with what we eat: I never ate yogurt at all growing
up. I thought it was disgusting or sour. Do you know what my favorite treat is
now like if Corey and Addie make a s’more for dessert?? I have a vanilla greek
yogurt and sprinkle in maybe a couple chocolate chips or a handful of cinnamon
granola organic granola. That's my dessert! That's something that my body
craves which is wild, because I never would have touched the stuff 3 years ago.
The fact that I ran a 10k last fall is something that you
might think, “Oh I'd like to do that someday.” but you never really do anything
about trying to reach the goal. The fact that I can go out on any given day and
go for a 3-mile run and have it be no big deal…that is something that I never
thought was possible. When I was growing up I couldn't even finish the mile in
junior high without having a friend have to run into the school and get my
inhaler for me because I couldn't breathe. I was not in shape. I ate terribly.
Just recently I had a pear slice; I thought it was a green apple! I had never had
a pear that didn't come in like heavy cling syrup!
I've liked posting videos lately of my workouts to
Facebook to show that I like doing it when Addie does it with me. It's just so
much fun to look at and see the life that I live and what's possible with being
healthy and putting yourself first. I just want to let you know that if you're
intimidated at all by the things that I post and think that I'm drinking some
crazy happy juice, I totally know how you feel because that's how I felt, too.
Before I started, I could not last an entire day without taking a nap with
Addison. Everyday I would literally sleep in, lay in bed with her watching TV, get
up, come to the couch, turn the TV on and sit there all day. I would play with
her and do the absolute minimum, and there would be times when I would fall
asleep on the couch as she was playing because I just had no energy to do
anything.
For one thing, that’s not safe, and I felt incredibly
guilty every time that happened, but I just had nothing in me to give. It was
embarrassing and I hated myself for it. The first thing that I thought when a
friend of mine started showing these awesome changes in her life was that I
resented her for it, and I didn't want to see her posts because I was jealous
of her. I thought that there was no way that I could ever have what she had;
she must be super special or have something. But all she really had was better
tools than me, and a support system.
She shared that with me, and now I'm the one that posts
the annoying happy stuff all the time ;) and maybe you are the one that is
looking at that and thinks “Awesome, good for her. I could never do that.” But
I want to tell you that you can and I want to tell you that it's possible, and
I want to tell you that it's going to take work. It's going to be long term;
it's not going to be 3 weeks and you're gonna have your goal body and your life
is going to be perfect, because if you stop you're gonna go back to where you
were!
You have to get to the point where you want change so
desperately that you're willing to try something different and you're willing
to stick with it once you see it starting to work. If you would have told me 3
years ago that I would be earning money by sharing about my workouts or that I
would be earning money by working 1-2 hours a day and paying for things like
car repairs or vacations or this super-awesome surprise that I bought tickets
for last night (Disney on Ice!!) I wouldn’t have believed you.
Last night I saw the tickets on sale and I told Corey how
much fun it would be and asked if we should do it. He said yes, and I didn’t
have to think twice about how much it costs because I know that I'm bringing in
money for fun stuff like that. Corey's money is covering the bills most of the
time, and so my money can go to fun stuff like that we would have not had in
our lives before.
I'm so much more thankful for the life I have now because
I have known the complete opposite and I know that I never want that again. I
never want to feel like a medical diagnosis is defining who I am. I never want
to feel like I can't be enough or I can't keep up or have fun with my family. I
want this change for so many other people because it's so, so much more than
the size clothes that I wear; it's so much more than the silly selfies that I
post. I want you to have the same journey as I have had because it's been an
amazing ride.
I'm looking for people to join with me on that ride; so
there's space on my bus and I am moving forward. This post was to let you know
more of where I’ve been so if you identify
with that at all, you should know that it's
possible to change and I want to help you do that. Please follow me on Facebook
at www.facebook.com/boeknowscleanliving and
reach out to me there.
"Beachbody does not guarantee any level of success or income from the Team Beachbody Coach Opportunity. Each Coach's income depends on his or her own efforts, diligence, and skill. See our Statement of Independent Coach Earnings located in the Coach Online Office for the most recent information on our Coaches' actual incomes." In addition, please provide prospective and current Coaches with the link to the Statement of Independent Coach Earnings, http://tbbcoa.ch/TBB_SOICE"
I totally bombed at P90X3 in the spring and I thought Tony Horton wasn't for me. Then I discovered 22 Minute Hard Corps and I love it! I've got 3 weeks left and I know I can finish strong. 💪
If a program isn't working for you, let me help you troubleshoot! If it isn't fun for you, you won't want to do it or do it hard. Let me help you find something that makes fitness FUN for you- maybe it's Country Heat?
What is Country Heat, you ask? Message me to find out the details and how you can win money in September just for doing your workouts!
Good afternoon
everybody! Although it's not been
that good of a deal for me so far. LI don't know where you live but where I live last night we
had some prettystrong storms and I was woken up not only by the storms but
also by a couple thingsbeeping throughout the house because the power went off.
So this morning I got up kind of early and went to start
working on the computer and itstarted making some noises and gave me the dreaded rainbow pinwheel
and I thought “What's going on?” I had to hold down the power button for it to
restart and then it had this grey screen and wouldn't work. I started freaking
out and asked Corey “Can you get out of bed I don't know what happened!" He said
to go workout I'll take care of it. He is a Mac pro and he was gonna try to burn
the files off of there to hopefully recover it even though it wasn't starting
up. And then it stopped doing that before he could get anything
off. I took it into town and my hard drive is officially dead. Dead, dead, dead!!
The good news is that most
of my files for work are on Google drive so praise the Lord for the cloud. Another
great thing is that I keep a lot of things on my phone that I don't delete and I also backup my pictures to Shutterfly. But the bad
thing is that there were files on my computer that I did not have on my Google
Drive or Shutterfly or even my external hard drive. My external hard drive does
not do a real-time data transfer because it's not Mac-compatible so I have to try
every month to do it (but I don’t always remember)…but it's too late so there
are some things that are possibly gone forever.
When I was at the Radio Shack in town I was so down and even if I think about it
for too long right now, I get really depressed about it because so much of our
life is stored on our computers now. On the way home I was flipping through the
XM stations and heard Linkin Park’s “What I've done” and I thought “oh my gosh I
don't need that song”. I turned the channel and next I heard Taylor Swift's “Bad
Blood” and once again didn’t need that song, so I switched back to the Christian
radio station on XM and it wasn't my favorite song but it started to ease my anxiety
a little bit.
With change my anxiety gets out of control; with traveling
and then coming home and unpacking and trying to find a new routine my anxiety
is bad and we're trying to clean up and do a big de-clutter around the house
and get rid of things and sell things and so with that and now the computer, it's just too much.
Corey found a company that you send your hard drive to
them and they are super experts at recovering stuff so I'm really really hoping
that they're able to recover things.
My first inclination when the hard drive crashed I thought “Maybe I'll just get
a brand-new computer and file a claim through our home insurance because the
power surge/storm caused it to die." But then the Radio Shack person said they
would recommend to simply replace the hard drive and those are cheap- we
actually have a spare one in the closet right now. So at least for now we are saved that $500 deductible for
replacing the entire computer; that's a
blessing in this negativity. But we still have the issue of losing my files.
I titled this post that you can't control everything, but
that you can control your reaction. I used to listen to non-Christian music
and so when I would get down and be depressed and have anxiety and get
stomachaches over things, the music I would listen to what would perpetuate
that and make it worse. I’ve found that listening to Christian music really
helps and working out does too. I might need to have another workout later just
to get this frustration out it so I don't cry about it. Another thing I think a
lot of people do in stressful situations (because I know I do it too) is turn
to food. I initially thought “Oh gosh, I'm so frustrated. I need to go to
McDonald's and get a frappe right now.” A chocolate chip frappe is my ultimate indulgence- my
cheat. ;)
Why is it that the first thing that you do when you're
stressed is to reach for food?? Food is not gonna fix your problems; it's going
to make them worse, especially after the sugar high wears off. Reading
personal development can help get your mind right, and you can talk to God for
a while and He will ease your anxiety. I can't remember the exact Bible verse
right now but if you pray to God, “The peace of God, which transcends all
understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” That's like my
life Bible verse!!
I wanted to let you guys know about this crappy thing
that happened and the first things that I thought about were: money- how am I
gonna pay for this, and the yo-yo of just the last few hours with the stress of
possibly having to rebuild it. I encourage you to take these difficult
situations in bite-sized chunks and when you can't handle it go escape somehow.
Don't escape into food; escape into a workout, escape into a game with your
kids, find a more constructive outlet for your for your stress, meditate,
pray, journal, listen to uplifting music (not music that's gonna drag you down),
find a good book to read and just check out of that situation for a while!!
So often your anxiety can consume you and you just get
drug deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper and before you know it, the whole
day is gone and you're even more entrenched in this problem. I wanted to share
that message with you guys today that if something crappy is happening to not let
your initial reactions go make you go crazy. Right now my plan is to go play
with Addison and finish my Shakeology instead of going through the drive through
at McDonald’s to get a frappe.
You’ve got to stop yourself when you when you recognize
that you're going down paths that aren’t healthy for you to deal with, and know
that you have the power to control how you are affected by things. And you definitely don't have to deal with your anxiety alone- please tell someone if you are being burdened with anxiety and depression.
Hey everyone!
I wanted to share some things with you today. If you've been
following my blog at all you probably know that I have had a really busy July:
at the beginning of the month Addison and I took a one-week road trip to my best
friend's house and had a great time playing with her kids and Toni and I did a
lot of work for business together and it was great to collaborate. We came home
for a week and then we were right back for two more weeks over at my parents’
in Illinois and then I went to Summit in Nashville for Beachbody. Now I'm
finally home and unpacked with put everything away and I'm trying to get back
into a routine.
I’ve been
feeling off all of last month and some of that has been my nutrition; even
though I've been drinking Shakeology, my other meals are not on point when I'm
traveling. I've been doing awesome with my fitness, which (for me) once I get started
it is it is just a non-negotiable for me but I've recently realized that I
haven't been taking care of my whole self.
I’ve been doing
my workout which is great: I've been doing 22-Minute Hard Corps so it's just 20
minutes and I’m in and out and I'm done and I'm moving on with my day. I'm
drinking my shake every day, no issue. Well when I was traveling, we were
eating out a lot and my cravings got all messed up and my complexion is a
reflection of that right now. But another thing that was off for me was my
personal development: reading books!
My small
group this summer has been reading “Grace-Filled Marriage” and I got about
halfway through it and then with traveling and everything I stopped reading it.
I'm the type of person that when I read a book where you learn things and
implement them I really need to focus and take notes and highlight. I’m very
engaged when I read; otherwise it's just pointless. I could just be reading a
novel or some other fiction but I really like to make the books that I read “count”
and I haven't been doing that.
The other
book I've been reading is “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” because I want
to become a better person and a better leader for my team so that I can help
them to start achieving their goals for themselves. I'm a very scheduled person
and I thrive on that; so although it was nice to travel and see people, when I
got out of my schedule I wasn't reading before bed every night or taking notes
or listening to my podcasts regularly either.
I think that
so often people forget that your health is multifaceted! Even just missing one
Sunday at church makes me feel “off” because I'm not getting my cup filled. I
love getting daily devotional emails and I share them quite often on my
Facebook page if you if you look through it (bit.ly/1fitlife). Those quick
little nuggets fill my cup and make me feel more whole. Reading a book about
bettering my marriage, or reading a parenting book, or reading a business book,
or just a feel-good book help me “fill up” my tank in all areas of my life.
I think one
of the next books I'm going to be reading is called “The Energy Bus”; I've had
a lot of friends tell me that it's amazing and so that is in my cart on amazon
right now. I want to encourage you to not just focus on one area of your life;
you need to focus on all the areas of your life. Your fitness is important;
your nutrition is important; your spirituality is important. If spirituality
for you means your faith and your relationship with Jesus like it does for me, or
the energy of the universe, yoga, meditating, or other religions that's fine. But
it's taking care of your inner self that's really important to do, by taking
some time off for your mind to unplug. I just spent half an hour in the backyard
just picking through the grass at the clovers and just letting my mind be blank
for a while and letting my fingers look at a puzzle and not have to be focused
or figuring out anything else.
One of my
commitments this August (I'm not waiting until school starts up again) is that
I'm taking little little bits of time after Addie goes to bed or trying to get
up before she does to get plugged back into my personal development. I’d like
to share some of that with you, too. I've read so many amazing books recently
and since I mentioned I am a note-taker, and I want to share that with you. I'd
really like to start posting more things about personal development and
bettering yourself in all areas, so that’s where I'm at right now right now.
My fitness
is doing great, I love my program. My nutrition is getting back on track now
that I'm home: Corey and I have our monthly meal plan calendar out for dinner and
we went grocery shopping and we are staying on point with that. I’m also getting
back on track with my personal development now, too. If you are looking for a
good book to read please don't hesitate to reach out and ask; I’ve got a great
bookshelf that I'm filling up of books that I've read.
I love that
part of being a Beachbody Coach is taking care of your inner health as well as
your body. If you would like to read some of my takeaways from the books that I've
been reading because I hope that the information that has been blessing me can
be used to bless you as well, please follow me on Facebook: bit.ly/1fitlife
As a kid, you think that because you have Summer's off, so do your teachers. Reality- they don't! Especially in Iowa if you also coach a summer sport. Corey officially finished coaching baseball in mid-July and then I spent 2 weeks at my parents' and at Summit.
Now that Addie and I are home, we have 2 weeks to cram in summer fun with Corey before he starts school up again- and Addie too. 😱
I'm so grateful that MY JOB as a Beachbody coach allows me to have flexible working times so that we can take advantage of our limited time together as a family these next 2 weeks. I can't get this time back, so for now I'll be working after bedtime so that we can have more fun days like this. 🏌
Does your job let you plan your days around your fun or do you have do plan your fun around your work schedule?
Are YOU feeling that ache for something missing, something more? When I saw some amazingly positive changes in my best friend's life, my first response was not something I'm proud of. I HATED seeing her posts every day. I know people that unfriended/unfollowed her because they couldn't stand her positivity and success and happiness. I could have chosen to wallow in that bitterness too, but that ACHE inside of me WANTED what she had. So when she approached me and invited me to join her, I knew I had to give it a try. And now I am forever grateful to her for sharing this opportunity with me and I feel a calling to share it with others.
Consider this your official invitation to join me on my positive life journey.
Maybe you haven't seen my "before" pictures or been around long enough to hear bits of my story- but I have NOT always been healthy, happy, and confident. I have been through depression, anxiety (still daily!), finding my value in others' opinions of me, taking several prescription medications a day, and believing that nothing was ever going to get better. It wasn't until I took a chance on Beachbody that I found a way out of the shell of a life I was living. It's now my mission to help other people get out of the darkness and enjoy their lives again.
Let me help you- let me do it with you.
If you'd like to apply for a spot in my upcoming private health and fitness accountability group, please fill out this short application: bit.ly/1fitlifegroup
I would love to learn more about you & your goals so I can help you feel the BEST you ever have!! Have a beautiful day!
