ChaLEAN Extreme Success Story: Alicia

You must do the work.

It's a simple statement, but not always a simple task.

Alica, a wonderful friend who began her Beachbody journey as a Coach in order to insure that she be held accountable to "doing the work", recently won my 90 Day Challenge by conquering ChaLEAN Extreme. Assisting her was a hearty glass of Shakeology everyday.

As a prize, Alicia won a weight loss of 10 lbs and an incredible loss of inches and body fat. She also won a Turbo Jam "Fat Burning Express" to encourage her to keep going.

She's a busy woman. 3 kids. One of which would sit on her back while she did push-ups every once in a while. I have a photo to prove it.

She works outside the home.

She had every excuse not to do the work and to excuse herself from attempting to get back into shape. The same excuses we all have.

Only she didn't cave to their pressure.

You know these products. I've raved about them enough and don't need to further explain them to you.

How about hearing directly from her?  I can't add to her testimony, so I'll end here with her words - hoping that YOU can envision YOURSELF making the same claim in the next few months. Do the work. It's worth it.


Joline,
I need to tell you a huge thanks! It is hard to believe that just a few month ago I was in such a different place physically. I started out of near desperation. I had no idea what I needed, but you did. I loved ChaLEAN. I needed her cheerleading, I needed the strength, the diet change, and the support you gave. I didn't begin and honestly didn't go through this with winning a contest in mind. It was a happy accident. I won the most challenging contest-getting my booty moving! Thank you for helping me change my life!

Shakeology in "O" Magazine and GIVEAWAY!

O’s editor in chief travels to Peru to experience a trove of life-giving superfoods that just might revolutionize your view of nutrition.


The Superfoods That Could Change the Way You Eat, Feel, and Live

By Susan Casey 
Apr 05, 2011

Around 4 o’clock on any given morning, Darin Olien will walk into his Malibu, California, kitchen and make himself a smoothie. This will not be an ordinary drink. The other day, for example, he tossed the following into his blender: coconut water, fermented sprouted brown rice, maca, aloe vera juice, barley grass powder, kamut juice powder, almond butter, camu camu, avocado, goji, lucuma powder, noni juice, cacao nibs, MSM, maqui, bee pollen, sacha inchi oil, omega-3-DHA/EPA oil, Hawaiian deepwater salt, chia seeds, nopal, goat yogurt, luo han guo, and a powder called Shakeology.

If you’ve never heard of many of these ingredients, you’re not alone. But stay with me here, because they’re among the most powerful nutrients on Earth. Olien’s specialty is what’s known as “formulating,” taking wildly beneficial substances and combining them into something even more potent: a supplement, a snack, a tea, a medicine, a smoothie. Every food in nature contains a mix of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates, along with noncaloric vitamins, minerals, fibers-all of which fuel our cells-and each one has unique abilities that we really don’t understand, but it is now clear that some foods pack an extra biochemical punch. Camu camu fruit, for instance, provides the richest source of vitamin C known to exist. Maca, a hearty root that grows only in the high Andes, comes in yellow, red, and black varieties, boosts fertility, is said to balance hormones, and dispenses a day’s worth of kick-ass energy. Sacha inchi is another South American treasure, a protein-rich, metabolism-revving nut that delivers an omega-3 bonanza. Olien’s final ingredient, Shakeology, contains more than 70 components itself, a crazy cornucopia of good.

No one understands Shakeology better than Olien, who created it in 2008, after Carl Daikeler, CEO of the fitness company Beachbody, challenged him to come up with a supplement to match the tagline The Healthiest Meal of the Day. His customer was someone who wanted optimum wellness, wanted to lose weight, wanted cholesterol levels to drop-but had no intention of eating a platter of broccoli each day. Daikeler gave Olien no limits on quality, no cost/revenue restrictions; the goal was to shoot the moon, to seek out and combine the most extraordinary plants, fruits, nuts, herbs-nature’s secret weapons. And Olien found them: ashwagandha from China, cordyceps from Bhutan, yacon from Peru. An alphabet of vitamins and minerals from the purest sources. Prebiotics. Probiotics. Green tea and grapeseed extracts, chlorella and spirulina and hydrilla, a spectrum of enzymes. Since hitting the market in March 2009, more than 400,000 bags of Shakeology, at $119.95 each, have been sold.

For the rest of the article grab May's issue of "O" Magazine. Or read and watch more about Shakeology at www.shakewithjo.com

Until April 30th, order Shakeology on Home Direct (with 30-day money back guarantee) and receive a COMPLIMENTARY workout DVD. (Several varieties from which to choose!)  GET ON IT!

Pay Less for P90X!

Why order from a Team Beachbody Coach?

1. HALF-PRICE SHIPPING. That's right. Purchase that program from my site, www.teambeachbody.com/fitwithjo and PAY LESS in shipping.

2. FREE DVDS. Each Beachbody Program comes with free workout DVDS when they are purchased directly from a Coach. Extras like Turbofire Greatest HIIT Workouts, or Tony's Fountain of Youth Yoga. Each program has an "extra" waiting for you when you grab your next challenge directly from me at www.teambeachbody.com/fitwithjo.

3. SUPPORT YOUR HARD-WORKING COACH. I work hard. In the gym and out. If you are anything like me, you support businesses that give you the best service. I shop at Castle Toys and Games for the quality of the merchandise, the incredibly personal customer service I receive, and because I support local small business owners. Sure, my business is connected to a larger overall company, but get right down the nitty gritty and you are supporting moi. Thank you for shopping with me at www.teambeachbody.com.

Introducing Team Beachbody

WATCH and raise money for Raincatcher!!!!

"You're A Machine!"

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"You're a machine" was an email I received from a colleague yesterday.

And no, it wasn't from a fellow Beachbody Coach.

It was a compliment.

She knows me.

Those who know me personally, and have a true window into my life, are aware that I don't race through the day at a frenetic pace as I once did.

Where once there was no overall purpose or intention fueling my professional desires, or even my personal "goals", I have since done a major redesign in how I enter and execute the day God has given me.

And now, my day, which to others may seem crazy, frenetic, and chaotic, because of what I'm actually able to accomplish on a daily basis, is actually just the opposite.

Starting with my first action of the day, creating a daily to-do list, my day involves a meticulously thought out plan as to what I must attend to daily, when I will do so, and what tools I will use to be successful in that process.

I thought it might be interesting for you to be a fly on the wall of my morning - where it all begins.

1. Wake. I'm still struggling with waking early. Coffee.
2. Get kids off to school. Once they depart, the fun begins.
3. Craft my daily to-do list. Identify the "frog" - the item I LEAST desire to complete. Today, that is filling out a form to pay my local taxes - which I only recently learned I had to do. The actual federal and state taxes were done weeks ago.
4. Daily Devotions. Currently, I am reading "100 Days of Blessing" by Nancy Campbell and am both encouraged and deeply challenged by her daily readings.
5. Prayer.
6. Answer correspondance. email, FB messages, check in at the "office" (Beachbody)
7. Social Media Updates. Update Fit With Jo on FB, post video if feeling led, do a little social medial training - this is ALL related to business.
8. Workout. By now, you know I'm sold on THESE products. Beachbody all the way, baby!

That's my morning from 6:45 to about 9:30. Now, I realize many of you are all, "Well, I have a job, I can't do that!" Of course you can't. This is MY schedule.

I would challenge you on a few of the items, however. Waking? Check. Have kids? Get them off to school. To-Do list? Do it the night before. Daily Devotions/Prayer? Read before the kids get up. Correspondence and Social Media jazz - well that's my "office", so just as you are at work say at 8:30 or 9, so am I.

My day continues with phone appointments, contacting customers, blogging, housework, writing new pieces to clinch that next writing gig, prepping dinner, yada, yada, yada.

My day continues with actions and activities that directly reflect my personal priorities of FAITH, FAMILY, and MOTIVATING/ENCOURAGING MYSELF AND OTHERS TO EMBRACE A HEALTHIER LIFESTYLE (body, mind, and soul).

My point being?

I don't float through the day. My steps are very calculated to directly feed my priorities. Therefore, these "first fruits" that I conquer every morning are NON-NEGOTIABLE. These 8 must happen first. If they don't, they get bumped later and later into the day. Which is a shame, for they are my FUEL. When I miss one of these "stops" in the morning, my day is rocky and much more difficult to navigate.

It's really a matter of crafting a schedule built on YOUR priorities and to cease making excuses because your day is too full of "this" or "that". I choose to start with the 8 steps listed above.

Things will shift in a few weeks . . . and I'll need to adapt.

• I start rehearsal for a Lost in Yonkers.
• Myself and five friends from around the country will be launching a new online venture - a dream I've had for over a year - hush, can't say anything more just yet.
• I am praying to be chosen for a new, paid, writing gig with a site I've written for in the past (will you pray with me on this?)

Do I feel scattered? No. Overwhelmed? Sure, sometimes. But when I am, I return to my priority list and see if my actions actually line up with them. If not? Major purge. Time to say "no".

Within those priorities are housed my goals for the year - which I won't share with you here, for many of us fall into the trap of "goal-envy". You need to discover your own. Out of those goals I have a two PUSH Goals - which, going full-circle, directly feed my priorities.

So, am I a machine? Maybe! But my machine is crankin' out what is needs in order to focus on my priorities in life.

Do your daily tasks actually feed your personal priorities? Start with identifying PRIORITIES, then setting GOALS (do they match the priorities), and only then, choose 1 or 2 overall GOALS on which to attack that will help you reach all your smaller goals (again, they need to align with your priorities).

Thanks to Chalene Johnson for mentoring me on how to start my day!

P90X: And . . . Scene

January 3, 2011.

Day 1.

After successfully keeping my weight off from ChaLEAN Extreme and the various Beachbody workouts from July-December, all I gained was a bit of fluff in the mid-section. While nothing like it was when I first began my journey a year ago, make not mistake - I was looking a bit more round.

DAY 60.

1/3 of the way done. The muscle definition is CRAZY. Weight loss? Only 5 lbs. Inches lost? Only a tad. So how does one explain the difference between Day 1 and Day 60 without those numbers????  I don't know.  But, the pictures tell the truth.

Body under construction here.

April 3, 2011

DAY 90!

Done.

I COMPLETED P90X!!!!!

Huge difference between Day 60 and 90. Muscle definition still present, but I'm less puffy. More trim.

Total pounds lost? Only 5.

Total inches lost? Just around 5.

And yet, look how my body responded???? These results are very similar to my ChaLEAN Extreme results from July, but one step further. I'm stronger. I'm even leaner. My abs are more defined (they are the first to go when I fall off the wagon).

So, how am I planning to keep this up?

Turbo Jam and Turbo Fire for cardio, and P90X - albeit a shorter version. Rather than hitting each exercise twice, Ill be hitting them only once. I want to be able to continue doing an unassisted chin-up and build up to doing more. I want to increase the push-ups on my toes. I don't want to lose strength.

But I do want to continue working on my core and lose that last little top layer of fluff - and Chalene is my trainer for that.

I celebrated 1 year of being a coach with Beachbody on March 24th.
It has also been a year since I CHOSE to make exercise a regular part of my day.

The two ARE connected.

Thank you for following this journey. How about joining me on it.