Thursday, October 27, 2016

True Transformation

One of the most amazing parts of my journey has occurred over the last 90 days, and I didn't even realize how profound it's been until this morning. Beachbody has this thing called the "Four Vital Behaviors" and one of them is personal development. Since I started coaching at the beginning of August, personal development has become part of my daily routine. And it's been a game changer.

It actually started in June or July when I started listening to podcasts in my car every day. It started out with The Chalene Show and The Ketovangelist Podcast. I think I listened to every single episode of the Ketovangelist podcast on the way to and from Georgia to drop off my nephew in July. But eventually I added Keto Talk with Jimmy Moore & The Doc, Build Your Tribe, Team Beachbody Coach Podcast, The Model Health Show and MLM Nation after I committed to being a coach at the end of July. Now my car is sort of a mobile university, lol. I learn something new almost daily. I've now graduated to audio books from Audible and have listened to several that have literally had me pulling over and taking notes. So far my favorite has been the 10x Rule by Grant Cardone and Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. I just got Be Obsessed or Be Average by Grant Cardone and I'm excited to start reading/listening to it this week.

So, this morning I was listening to a fairly new-to-me podcast called The Model Health Show and the subject was on TRANSFORMATION so you know that my ears perked up in happiness. Because, you know, I'm in the midst of a MAJOR transformation this year. But Shawn was talking about Five Steps for Transformation. They were:
1. A trigger that leads to transformation
2. A model of someone who is doing what you want to do or where you want to be
3. Getting out of your comfort zone
4. Staying the course despite obstacles (falling off the wagon)
5. OWNING your GREATNESS (this is the one that punched me in the gut)

As I was still driving along, savoring the information that was given and thinking about it's practical application to what is going on in my real life, another podcast came on that is also new to me called Achieve Your Goals with Hal Elrod. And damned if THIS one was talking about having morning rituals and how by doing so you can achieve so much more than you realize. One quote that stood out at me is, "You can not fail when you act in alignment with your strengths and priorities. You can only learn, grow, and riterate." I can't wait to listen to the rest of this one later.

During my one hour drive this morning, I really received some confirmation that I need to get back on my early morning routines and rituals. I was doing so well for a while with waking up early to exercise and read, but lately... no. First excuse... it's SO DARK OUT. It's literally not daylight until I'm approaching work at 7:30 a.m. That makes getting up at 4:30 a.m. seem like the middle of the night. My body wants to sleep! I do go to bed fairly early (around 9-9:30 p.m.) but waking up is hard. My clock is set for 5 a.m. and I usually hit snooze 50 times.

But I must do better. Because from here on out, I need to be on my A-game. Seriously.

I have a huge announcement to make soon, but just know that I have something major in the works. Not with Beachbody, but something else. Yes, something else besides my job as a teacher, my life as a mom, and my Beachbody business (which is doing very well!). OH, and don't forget that I am still making my diet and exercise routine a priority no matter what.

So, I've decided that the next phase of my own transformation will finally address my own spirit.

See, I've got a pretty good handle on body and mind. I've been nourishing my body all year, and the constant reading and personal develop is definitely growing my mind. But my spirit is lacking. I know it is.

I'm not religious. I don't go to church. I don't read the Bible or anything like that. But for several years I've been really interested in practicing meditation. But I've never been consistent with it... not ever past a few days. But I want to be. Because I REALLY need to clear my mind of all the windows that are constantly open. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed about the future even though it's something that I'm totally in charge of designing and I'm happy with the direction my life is going in. But I need to be... centered? Balanced? I think meditation will help me. My personal development (podcasts and books) always recommends the practice and I know of so many that love it.

So I'm going to commit. I think I will start with a guided meditation of some sort... I haven't had much success with the other kind where you sit in silence. I have no practice with shutting my brain off like that, lol. Any tips? Suggestions on how to get started?

I am also going to commit to writing more. It's so therapeutic for me. To be honest, I don't know how many people actually read blogs anymore. But I'll do it for me.

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Staying the course...

Good Sunday morning!

I wanted to share what's been going on in my world, but this is way too long for a social media post!

Two weeks ago I made the decision to deviate from my low carb, high fat way of eating. I had just completed my Diet Bet challenge group and was about to start my 21-Day Fix Challenge, and after researching and reading up on the eating plan that goes with this program, I decided to do it with my challenge group. The plan is based on clean eating and portion control for 21 days. The reason that I wanted to change up was just impatience and frustration at the scale.

You see, my September challengers ROCKED it. They all lost 12-20 lbs and while SUPER excited about their progress, I was a little envious! I "only" lost 4 lbs (but I did lost almost 10 inches). So, I thought, hey... I'll do the plan they are doing and see if that helps!

I had listened to a few podcasts about metobolic resistance and how your body adjusts to whatever you're doing to lose weight, and sometimes you need to switch up to start seeing progress again. Makes sense, right? So I thought it wouldn't hurt to try a clean eating/paleo-ish approach for a few weeks to see if that would help.

Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

I've been on a downhill slide for two weeks.

The first few days weren't so bad. I only added sweet potato to my diet and it was delish. I've missed sweet potato! But by the weekend, the cravings were back. Even with my Shakeology (which usually helps with cravings for me...). I also noticed that my constipation was back (again, even with my Shakeology that has made me very regular). I noticed that I would have little cheats here and there, because why not? I don't have to be THAT strict anymore, right? The decrease in dietary fat made me feel unsatisfied so I was constantly hungry... something I forgot all about. With low carb, high fat I'm NEVER hungry and always satisfied.

So let's add STRESS to this past week and OMG... my eating has been terrible. My refrigerator went out on Monday and all of my prepped meals for the week went bad. All week, we haven't had a working fridge and only had coolers full of ice as sort of a bandaid for the problem. Dealing with the property management company and no way to feed my family of five except for eating out... STRESS. I noticed that I was melting down and crying over stupid stuff (like my 10-year old being her usual bratty self) mid-week and KNEW something was off! I don't even take my happy pills anymore since being LCHF... so why am I suddenly an emotional wreck?

Because my diet is allllll off. My body isn't used to this food anymore. I felt so out of control... mentally and physically.

By Thursday, the joint pain started again. My foot pain flared up and I've been limping ever since. I'm not sleeping well, either, which probably explains a lot of the emotional feelings.

So, I'm cutting this little "experiment" short. I'm back on plan starting TODAY. I went to the grocery last night and got my staples... bacon, eggs, avocado, butter, cream cheese. I already had a delicious breakfast and I've planned my meals for the next day or so (since the refrigerator situation still hasn't been resolved, I can't plan out too far). I plan on storing my food in my fridge at work until I know mine is fixed.

Bottom line... my metabolism is damaged. I've been on a diet for 30+ years and have wrecked my body. I am also dealing with food addiction. What works for everyone else just doesn't work for me anymore. Ketogenic and LCHF doesn't just help with weight loss, it's a way of eating that helps me mentally and physically as well. My body thrives with healthy fat and minimal carbs. With the addition of Shakeology, I've felt sooooo good and have lost a lot of inches. SO screw the scale. I will get back into ketosis and just stay the course. At this point, I would rather FEEL good than see the numbers move. (and because someone will ask, YES, I am able to keep my carbs under 25g with the Shakeology. It's only 13g net carbs -I drink vegan chocolate- and by monitoring my blood sugar while on it the first week I know that those carbs do NOT cause me to spike. Email me if you have more questions about Shakeology.)

Lesson learned.

I'm glad this happened, though. Now I know. I have to do what's best for ME.

I will always advocate clean eating and portion control to anyone who hasn't tried it. Just eat real food, ya'll! Cut out the crappy processed food and added sugar. Don't be afraid of good fat. Eliminate as much dairy as you can. Start there!

But if that doesn't work after at least 90 days of trying WITH NO CHEATS, keto or LCHF might be for you.