June is here. Hooray! (Although you wouldn't know it if you were living in the Pacific Northwest. It
has been nothing but cold and cloudy since June arrived.)
But I have found a bright happy place despite all the gloom around me.....a REALLY BIG SALE. Oh how my inner retail manager is dancing for joy. Because one of the biggest joys of that job was getting a discount on all the stuff I really didn't need. I have never really been able to stop her....now my hauls from sales just tend to include workout gear more than anything else.
But today's super awesome sale includes some of my FAVORITE Beachbody programs. (Umm.....hello Les Mills Pump.) and I am super stoked to stock up on some I haven't gotten the chance to try.
So here is how it is going down. At 12 noon PST these items are going on sale and when they are gone they are gone. If there has been something you have been thinking about trying this is a great way to do it.
My personal recommendations? Les Mills Pump and ChaLEan Extreme. I LOVE both of these programs (and Pump comes with a barbell and two sets of weights. But extra weights are on sale too....a smart idea to add those on. I will be ;) )
A shake whose tagline is the "healthiest meal of the day." On youtube there are countless videos raving about how great it is. A quick google search will bring up pages and pages of blogs and websites that talk about how great this product is. It is actually hard to find anything that speaks against this product -- and that was what made me completely skeptical.
It was like Beachbody paid someone to delete every negative thing that could be said about this product (or bury it deep in the blogosphere.) I couldn't find anything negative about this product. I went through pages and pages of google results. And then I found I actually knew people who used it. And loved it. And raved about it on Facebook and on blogs. But before I can talk about how I got hooked on Shakeology there are a few things about me you have to understand.
Not so many years ago, I was a breakfast hater. I didn't want to eat when I was dragging myself out of bed. I wanted a gallon of coffee (intravenously if possible.) Caffeine and more caffeine. That was all I needed or wanted, sometimes until mid afternoon. I reached a point where I had read enough and heard enough about how important breakfast was and how to maintain a healthy weight it was necessary (the Special K commercials probably had something to do with that.) Just knowing that wasn't enough. I couldn't take my knowledge and use it to create an appetite. Smoothies were starting to gain popularity so I started throwing some juice and protein powder in the blender and calling it breakfast. And I was hungry. In like a half hour. So I started using juice that had more fiber and that helped a little.
Then I changed up my protein powder to one that was a little pricier but some of my family members had been using and they loved. It was super yummy and tasted like cake. (Yay cake!) It kept me full and I was obsessed. It was worth the price because it did what it was supposed to do. And then I started looking into the ingredients and was bummed with what I found -- artificial sweeteners and the like. I was at the point where I was trying to cut that stuff out. (I was seriously a Splenda addict. I could have my sweet tea and no calories too! Whoop!) I was at a place in my life where I was more concerned about health than weight. (So no more diet pills or crazy starvation diets. Because believe me I tried them all.) I had read enough books to really believe that food should be our fuel and our medicine -- that food should be something more than something that tastes good and ends the rumbling in our tummies. I was starting to expect more from my food.
So I was starting to educate myself on what nutrition meant and had started seeing some of my Facebook friends talk about this shake. Girls I had worked with in the past were posting recipes and talking about how it was nutritious and kept them full and tasted yummy and pretty much did everything except clean their bathrooms. So I thought I would give it a whirl. I did some searching in the land of google and found the price and almost fell off my stool. I remember this moment very clearly, sitting at the small high top table in the corner of my dining room that I have commandeered as my desk thinking, John will kill me.
But I figured if I love it and it does what it is supposed to do and all the crazy claims are right, it is worth it (and I could feasibly keep the cost a secret until the credit card bill came.) I can stop buying multi vitamins and other protein powders and expensive (yummy) fiber filled juices to mix with it. Plus it has a bottom of the bag guarantee (from Beachbody's FAQ page):
So I could return it - the company stands behind it and it seems like everyone who tries it stands behind it too. So I logged on and hit the confirm order button really quickly, possibly with my eyes shut (sometimes it seems less painful when I hit the button quickly with my eyes shut. Yes, this is how my brain works. Scary.)
It came. I tried it with water and ice (which was dumb) and I gagged. All I could taste was the wheat grass (which if you are unfamiliar it tastes kind of like what you would imagine lawn clippings to taste like.) I was sitting on my stool in the dining room again literally thinking, Well I will be sending this shit back and going right back to my yummy cake tasting deliciousness -- artificial sweeteners and all. This is so not going to work for me. But I had that bottom of the bag guarantee in my head and figured if I am going to send it back I am at least going to get everything out of it I can (I like to think of it as being frugal.) The rest of the day my tummy rumbled and I was sick. I thought I had the stomach flu. So I googled and read and there were a bunch of people out there with the same reaction. Their advice - cut your serving in half. Sometimes it takes your body time to adjust to all the "good stuff." (Again with the good stuff -- after researching my thoughts are that I was reacting to the probiotics and the Yacon Root which is known for promoting good digestion.) Plus I was regularly having tummy troubles due to the absence of one gall bladder which was taken that fall. My body was still getting used to digesting everything.
I continued trying the shakes. Day two I was really nervous about drinking it and it took me probably an hour and a half to consume it. I took teeny tiny sips (only using half the serving size) and it was better. No problems. It still didn't taste great. Tastes like a chocolate milkshake my ass.
After about a week, it didn't taste like lawn clippings anymore and I had been messing around with what else to add. A cup of almond milk, frozen strawberries and half a banana seemed to be my favorite. The banana cut some of the grittiness that comes with the vegan formula and the frozen fruit gave it that yummy, creamy texture I wanted in a shake. After one week I was hooked. (And I had lost 5 pounds - never to see it again as I continued on with my challenge group and clean eating journey.)
Before I knew it the month was up and I was hooked. I felt great. My digestive system was running in tip top shape (which is something I could never ever say before) and that whole helping with cravings thing -- so not a lie or a gimmick to get you to purchase. Maybe all those crazy people weren't just trying to bait me to buy from them. Maybe they actually believe in this product.
I went ahead with my order for a second month. By this time I had done a lot more research (and moved across the country.) I also found I could sign up as a discount coach and get this Shakeology stuff for 25% off (less the $15 monthly coach website fee.) Despite the fee, it would still save me a little less than $20 a month. So I jumped on board, because who doesn't want to save some money. (And I wish I would have written about Shakeology before I signed up to coach. The biggest reason I didn't trust it was because it was being endorsed by people selling it. There's a sucker born every day folks, but I am not one of them. I worked in sales. I am onto your shenanigans. Now I guess the shoe is on the other foot because here I am admitting to the blogosphere that I was wrong. (Ask John how I feel about being wrong and then how I feel about admitting it. To people. In writing.)
Shakeology has really changed my habits. It has kept me on track and I look forward to drinking it every day. My two year old also loves drinking "Mom's shake" (I make her a mini version with 1/4-1/3 a scoop of powder instead of a full scoop.) If we every get rid of Mom's shake in this house I may have a world class melt down on my hands, since she asks for it every day.
**UPDATE**
Last night Shakeology announced it's newest flavor, vanilla. This has been in the making for years. And while I am bummed it is a flavor only available in the whey protein (for now I hope!) and I know this won't work for me, the excitement behind it is contagious! I also am really geeked about the fact that they worked so hard to find the right flavors to make it without chemicals and additives. I am so impressed by the quality Beachbody strives for in its ingredients and products. This flavor has been asked for by customers for years. Beachbody could have taken (chemical) shortcuts to meet consumer demand, however they held off until they found ingredients that met the integrity of what Shakeology is all about. This video made me very proud to be a part of this company--And just as excited for the vanilla flavor as everyone else who is going to actually get to use it. (Fingers crossed vegan vanilla is next!)
For more information on Shakeology check out the link below:
Send me a message or an email (I would love to chat with you!)
Or do your own research. Information is powerful and it's up to you to gather it and make your own assessments. (And yes, that is the English teacher in me rising up and taking over. Remember all those research papers you had to write in school? All the note cards you had to make? Who said it would never come in handy...)
I always said that if I was an actress or model or *insert job that requires a hot body here* I would totally look that good too. I mean, it would be MY JOB. I am going to work hard for my job or not get paid. If the model doesn't look good, she doesn't book any jobs, she doesn't get paid. Well, it's time for me to put my money where my mouth is because I just made it my job. One of the best reasons I saw for signing up to be a Beachbody coach was that it was now my job to look good too. How am I supposed to motivate or help anyone reach their health goals while I am sitting on my ass eating popcorn all day? The answer is I'm not. So on those days where I just don't want to, please don't make me workout, it pushes me to do so. It keeps me accountable without having to go to a meeting to listen to people whine about how cake is the devil.
What I love about everything I have experienced so far is that there is no magic pill. No you aren't going to lose 60 lbs in 30 days (ok maybe someone somewhere has but the reality of that is super slim.) You aren't going to lose weight by sitting on the couch. It just doesn't work that way. You have to put the work in and you get out exactly what you put in. If I skip workouts and eat like poo, it is reflective in my performance and my results. I have literally given blood, sweat and tears to completing the Insanity program and worked my butt off for every single ounce I lost. And I didn't lose a ton of weight. I will not be the next infomercial star but I am so proud of myself for showing up and working hard.
I believe, as consumers, we are lied to every day and, as Americans (in one of the heaviest nation in the world) we are super sensitive to anything that promises to be an easy and quick fix when it comes to weight loss. Beachbody is not that. And I love that about this company. There are so many workout program options and they just ask you to push play and give everything you've got. That is something I can stand behind.
When I ordered Insanity, I had just done a month of bootcamp (with a Groupon) and was in love. I was getting up at 5 and busting my hump 5 days a week. My month with my Groupon was almost over (and I couldn't afford to stay without the discount) and I didn't want to lose the incentive or the good habits I had started. The infomercial for Insanity came on and I thought why not? I proved I could do more than I thought by taking a bootcamp class for a month, maybe this was step 2. Go big or go home.
And while my Insanity results weren't commercial worthy, they aren't anything to sneeze at either. I have tried so many programs, so many different diets, but nothing gave me results that came close to my Insanity results (even the bootcamp I loved so much.) One thing I really struggled with during Insanity (and I think I will with almost every Beachbody program going forward) was the meal plan. About a year ago, I gave up meat and dairy. Most of the eating guides are very meat (protein) heavy. I started searching the message boards and even asked in some of the Beachbody groups on Facebook. I found nothing. I really felt like there was a huge gap in the community. And when I found an "answer" it was to substitute tofu or other soy based protein product (which the jury is still out on how great these are for you too...) I don't mind tofu and I have actually grown to really enjoy it in some recipes (once I fumbled through a bunch of recipes learning how to cook it.) But I really didn't want to eat that much soy. I try to limit that to once a week not multiple times a day! Where is the help for someone looking for vegetarian or vegan nutrition? It just isn't there. I really want to be there to help people who are struggling with the meal plans, like I did.
Learning about plant based nutrition has lead me down this twisty turvy path that has me questioning
not only what is sold as food but what we are told about our food by manufacturers. We are generally given brightly colored boxes with nutritions claims and are virtually patted on the head and told we are good boys and girls for making the right decisions. The entire food industry treats us like we are children. No, honey, you don't really want to know how we put the fiber back in or how we made the fat free, healthy, death by chocolate cookie taste good or how we keep the bugs out of the corn. Those are messy, grown up things that you don't need to worry about. Now go eat your snack and stop asking silly questions.
I feel like my job as a Beachbody coach is not to get people to eat the way I do or get as fired up as I do about the food industry but to let everyone know it is ok to question what is in your food. Why do we have to add red dye to farm raised salmon? (and when I found out the answer to that I gagged and stopped eating farm raised salmon.) Why does Kraft make macaroni and cheese for European countries without artificial food dyes and will not do that same thing in America? (read more about that here. Thanks Foodbabe!) And that it is ok to decide that maybe you want to stop eating things with artificial dyes or sweeteners or even foods that are processed. As Beachbody coaches, I feel, that we need to get out there and encourage people to make their own decisions, to do their own research, to empower them to try things like clean eating and see first hand if it makes a difference in their lives. Our food is fuel for our life. I know I don't want to eat things that make me feel sluggish and tired and laying on the couch all day because I don't want to look back and see that I spent more of my days invested in the lives of fictional characters than I did invested in the lives of the people I care the most about.
And of course there was one more huge reason I bit the bullet and decided to become a Beachbody coach...
The discount! That was a huge incentive for me to become a Beachbody coach. I wanted the 25% discount. Even with the monthy website maintanance fee, it was still saving me around 15 bucks on my shakeology. That was a no brainer for me. Kind of like when I used to work retail. I loved getting the clothes on the cheap (and ended buying way more than I should have or needed.) I also get bored easily. I'm not the type who is going to keep doing the same workout over and over and over. Sure I might come back to a workout (maybe revisiting Insanity once a year or so) but I need to change it up. The discount gave me the ability to purchase more workouts (starting Turbofire next! Whoot!) and now that I am committed to exercising 6 days a week I need the variety. (And if I ever stop ordering "mom's shake" my toddler might never forgive me, as it has become her favorite snack.)
