Why I am a Beachbody Coach

I'm participating in a fabulous coach training right now with my upline coaches and one of our assignments was to share my "why", or my reason for becoming a coach.  I jotted down a bunch reasons that came to my mind, and it occurred to me, that this opportunity I have been given is just too great not to share with others.  Hopefully my "why" will hit home with some you and I will get the chance to share this opportunity with you.

When I reread all of the reasons I became a Beachbody Coach, I found that I could group my ideas into three big reasons: Helping others, Financial Freedom, and Flexibility.

Helping Others

I am a third generation teacher.  My great Aunt was a 5th grade teacher for her entire 30+ year career.  My mother is an elementary school teacher, currently 5th grade as well. I was an 8th grade teacher until the birth of my daughter.  Teaching, helping, and uplifting others is in my blood, and it is what I love to do.  I am very thankful I had the ability to stay home with my daughter after she was born, but I missed teaching.  I missed seeing the light bulbs going off when my students got it.  I missed celebrating the victories, big and small, when my students reached their goals.  I missed coming up with new ideas to engage and figuring out how to reach the tough kiddos.  I just missed teaching.  

I was given the opportunity to teach Zumba at a local gym a few months after my daughter was born, and I jumped on it.  I had taught Zumba as a second job before I was too pregnant to do so, and I welcomed the opportunity to teach again.  As a Zumba instructor, not only did I guide my students though an hour of fun, fabulous, dance fitness, but I was also able to help them with their health and fitness questions.  I would share the importance of stretching, proper warm-up and cool-downs, water consumption, perceived exertion, suggestions for cross-training, and many other topics that would come up in casual conversation before and after class.  I was back in my element and happy.  Then my husband's work schedule got more demanding.  I wasn't going to be able to continue teaching at the gym because I needed to be home with my daughter.  Family will always come first, and my job did not give me the flexibility I needed in order to keep doing it.  That's when I met my coach, Stacy, and she introduced me to the coaching opportunity.  I now help others reach their health and fitness goals as a coach, and I am able to reach many more people than I was ever able to as a fitness instructor or school teacher. 

Financial Freedom

I had always wanted to be a stay-at-home mother, but I didn't know if it would be financially possible for us to do.  After a stroke of luck with my husband's job, and researching the cost of daycare versus how much I was being paid as a teacher, it was a no brainer.  Daycare would have cost us half my paycheck, and knowing I wanted more than one kiddo, it didn't make sense for me to go back to work.  Our finances took a hit when I left and we had to do some creative budgeting to make ends meet, but I know it was the right decision.  We still have some debt, mostly student loans, but as my coach business is growing, I can see how quickly we will become debt free and it is exciting!  

Flexibility

I mentioned earlier that I had to leave my fitness instructor position because I was needed at home.  I needed a job that gave me flexibility.  I run my coaching business from home, at whatever time of day I have time, usually around my daughter's sleep schedule.  Nearly everything I do is through social media, so I can do it on my laptop, tablet, or phone, so I can work my business anytime, anywhere.  The flexibility is amazing!  It removes so much stress out of my life.  No traffic, no deadlines, no what the heck do I wear today? In fact, right now, I'm writing this blog post wearing flannel pj's and listening to Grey's Anatomy in the background while my daughter sleeps.  Sound nice?

Now that you have read about why I became a Beachbody Coach, are you at all intrigued? Wondering if this opportunity could be right for you too?  My team is holding a Sneak Peak into Coaching where we will be sharing what it means to be a coach, what we do everyday, and the benefits of becoming a coach, including the financial compensation plan. We will also answer any questions you have about coaching.  If you like what you hear and want to become a coach, we will help you do that, if you want to wait, or decide coaching isn't for you, no worries.  This is a no obligation, no risk, no stress opportunity to see what we do and see if its right for you!

Want to join our free Sneak Peak into Coaching? Fill out the form below, and I will be in touch!

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Recipe: Zucchini Noodles

The hubby is out of town on a business trip this week, so I've decided to experiment in the kitchen. Specifically I'm trying some pasta substitutes. If they turn out well, then I will add them into the dinner rotation. Tonight, I got to play with a new toy I received for my birthday earlier this month -- the spiral slicer.  The experiment: zucchini "noodles". 

Here is my amazing spiral slicer:

I like to leave the skin on my vegetables for the extra fiber, so I cut off the top and bottom of the zucchini and started spiralizing (pretty sure I just made up my own word).  This tool is really neat. You spin the zucchini in it like you are sharpening a pencil.  This is what it looked like when I was finished:

One cool result of using this tool is the center of the zucchini, where the seeds are located, stayed separate from the noodles. Can you see my sharpened zucchini pencil at the top of the picture?

Once the zucchini was cut, it was ready to cook. 

I sprayed a large pan with coconut oil cooking spray. It's important to use a large pan when you saute. If you over-crowd the pan, everything will turn out soggy. 

Once I got some color on the noodles, I added just enough water to cover the bottom of the pan and continued to cook on medium-high until the water boiled off.  This step introduces steam to the noodles and ensures they are cooked though. My finished noodles looked like this:

At this point the noodles are complete and you can serve them as is, or you can incorporate them into a dish.  I decided to make a skinny chicken Parmesan dish, so, at his point, I added about 1/4 cup of tomato sauce to the noodles and cooked until the sauce was warm through.  The amount of sauce you add is completely personal preference. I do not like a lot of sauce in my dishes, so the 1/4 cup was plenty.

I put the noodles on a plate and stacked a ground chicken burger on top and melted a slice of Swiss cheese over the dish. 

 Yum!  I liked the zucchini noodles in this dish.  They delivered on texture, and tasted great.  I would totally make this meal again!

What is Shakeology?

In my last post I shared what Beachbody is, the variety of programs they provide, and what my role is as a Beachbody coach.  In this post, I will explain what Shakeology is, and how it differs from the multitude of other shake products that are out there.

What is Shakeology?

Shakeology is a dense nutritional protein shake.  It contains over 70 high-quality ingredients that come from whole-food sources.  These ingredients include superfoods like: goji berry, chai seed, flax seed, and moringa.  The ingredients in Shakeology are all natural, which allows for better absorption and utilization of nutrients.  Shakeology is high in nutrients yet low in calories and can be used as a meal or snack replacement depending on your goals.  

What is in Shakeology?

Every serving of Shakeology contains 20 amino acids, including the 9 essential amino acids to help build muscle and reduce food cravings, prebiotics, probiotics, and digestive enzymes to aid in digestion and improve nutrient absorption and regularity, adaptogens to support a healthy immune system, increase energy, protect the body from stress, and balance hormones, antioxidants and phytonutrients to neutralize free radicals and reduce inflammation, and 23 vitamins and minerals essential for your body to function at it's best.

What can Shakeology do for you?

Beachbody recently conducted a clinical study, administered by a natural health product reasearch company, that included 50 participants and lasted 90 days to research how Shakeology effects the body when used as a meal replacement daily.  The results of the clinical study showed that drinking Shakeology daily can help you lose weight, increase energy, reduce cravings, decrease cholesterol, reduce blood sugar levels, and promote healthy digestion and regularity.


I have spent a ton of time researching various protein and nutrition shakes because I feel it is very important to know what I am putting into my body, and I have not found another shake on the market that contains even close to the same nutrient content as Shakeology does, from natural, whole-food sources.  That's the part that's most important to me, the fact that the ingredients are natural.  So many of the nutrients found in our vitamins, nutrition shakes, and fortified foods come from synthetically created sources, which our bodies simply cannot utilize fully.  If you are taking a daily multivitamin, chances are you are peeing out most of what was in the pills you took.  Our bodies have a far easier time absorbing nutrients from natural sources.  It just makes sense.  And really, what is the point of trying to eat clean if we then take a vitamin that is filled with synthetic, processed chemicals?

So what should you have gotten out of this post?  Here is a brief summary: Shakeology is not just a protein shake.  It is a protein nutrition shake that takes the place of your daily vitamin.  It is completely natural and clean eating friendly.  Drinking Shakeology daily will help you lose weight, increase energy, reduce cravings, and improve your overall health by lowering cholesterol and reducing blood sugar levels.  Oh and I forgot to add that it tastes great! There are 6 flavors to choose from: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, greenberry, vegan chocolate, and vegan tropical strawberry.  Did you catch that there are vegan options too?  The vegan flavors are great for vegans, of course, but also individuals who are lactose sensitive or intolerant.  My personal favorite is vegan chocolate.

For those of you who are still skeptical but interested enough to try it, Beachbody offers a bottom of the bag guarantee. If for some reason you are not happy with Shakeology, you can send it back for a full refund within 30 days, even if the bag is empty!  So the decision is risk free!  Are you hesitant to purchase because your not sure what flavors you will like? I've got you covered.  If you sign up for your free Beachbody account (using the link at the top of my blog) you can then order a taste sampler pack to try before you invest in a full month's supply.  The cost of Shakeology breaks down to around $4 a serving.  That's less than the Starbucks coffee you are drinking every morning or the drive-through breakfast you get on the way to work.  

Want to learn more or are you ready to dive in and buy your first bag of Shakeology?  It's only available through Team Beachbody or a Team Beachbody coach, like myself.  Click here to get to my coach website.  From there click on "Shop Team Beachbody" and you are good to go! Remember, if you are wanting to purchase a Taste Sampler Pack you must sign up for a free Team Beachbody account before you can buy it.  You can do that from my coach site as well by clicking on "Join".

I will leave you with my favorite Shakeology video of all time: Tony Horton, the cashier.

What exactly is Beachbody?

The last couple of days have been crazy hectic.  My husband's work schedule has been more demanding than normal, by toddler is sick, and I have my first two vendor events this week.  I've been running around like a crazy woman, staying up late, not taking care of myself.  I can proudly say that I have gotten my workouts in. I really do depend on my morning workouts to start my day off right. As far as the rest of the day has been concerned the past couple of days, all I can say is thank goodness I have my Shakeology. It really is the healthiest meal of the day, and lately its been one of the only meals I am consistently getting.  You know when you are so busy you just forget to eat? Yep, the last two days I have been guilty of that.  I try to eat six small meals a day, but the last couple days I have only been getting two or three meals in. Not good for my metabolism and certainly not good for my mood either. At least I know that I am getting the nutrients I need, and I have the energy to get through these crazy days.  And I can't forget to mention my amazing husband!
He is doing his best to be my fitness accountability partner in the mornings before work, devoted daddy when he gets home, and business assistant after the little one is in bed.  I am so thankful to have him in my life. 

I did my first vendor event last night.  It was a fun, and surprisingly, eye-opening experience.  I was surprised at how few people I spoke with had even heard of Beachbody or Shakeology.  Of the few people that had heard of either, even fewer actually knew anything about either.  I took this as an opportunity to share about how many programs Beachbody has to offer.  There really is a program for everyone.  If you are new to fitness, there's 21 Day Fix or P90.  If you love cardio, there's Insanity, T25, or Turbo Fire.  If you are trying to build and tone muscles, there's P90X, Body Beast or Chalene Extreme.  If you like to dance, there's Hip Hop Abs or Rockin Body.  Like low-impact? Try PiYo or Tai Cheng.  I could go on and on. Last I counted there were 24 Beachbody fitness programs, and I know of 2 more coming out in the next few months!  For anyone who says that Beachbody is not for them, or there is no way they could complete a program, I can tell you with complete confidence that they just haven't found the program for them.  That's where Beachbody coaches, like myself, come in.  We can help you find the program that fits your current fitness level, lifestyle, and goals best.  Don't have a coach yet? I would love for you to give me the opportunity to help you on your fitness journey.  At the top of this blog page, there is a "click here" button that will take you to the free sign-up.  Fill that out, hit submit, and bam! I'm your coach!  Super simple right?  So no more excuses, stop your dilly dallying and just do it!  I'm here to help, and my services are free!  The only thing holding you back is you!

My table set up at my first vendor event.  So much fun!

Stay tuned for an explanation of the awesomeness that is Shakeology.  I will be sharing with you how it really is the healthiest meal you can consume in your day.  We will talk about the ingredients, how it is made, how it is metabolized and what drinking Shakeology everyday can do to improve your health.  There is so much great info, that I just had to make it it's own post!

It is the start of the weekend, so I wanted to leave you with some inspiration to keep you on track through, what I consider to be, the hardest days to stay committed: Saturday and Sunday.  Remember, results take time.  If it doesn't feel like work, it won't work!  Stay focused, amazing results come to those the are persistent and consistent!