My Mom and the Fix

When I became a Team Beachbody Coach nearly five years ago, I had grand plans to help hundreds of people kick butt and take names by doing P90X. And also become a Beachbody millionaire, pay off our mortgage, and take the family to Hawaii for Christmas.

Yeah, so...most of that stuff hasn't happened. We did take a fabulous and memorable vacation to Disney World, but the rest of my Team Beachbody success has been marginal at best, not because of the company or its products by any means, but because of my own effort (or lack thereof) when it came to working the business side of things.

One thing that has remained constant in five years though (aside from drinking Shakeology), is that we use these workout programs on a daily basis. And when a new one comes out, we try it so that we can recommend (or not recommend) it to people.

In Spring of 2014 I finally got my hands on the 21 Day Fix (after a long wait due to back order), and Zach and I dove in. We figured out the containers, made spreadsheets, and followed the program to a "T."

I was blown away. It is the real deal, and to this day it is the only program that I recommend without any hesitation because if you follow the program exactly, you will SUCCEED. The reason is because The 21 Day Fix is the whole package: it's solid workouts paired with a solid eating plan. If you follow the plan, you cannot screw up. You are going to see results.

It was fresh off completing the Fix that I told my Mom she ought to try the Fix. My Mom is someone who has struggled with food and weight for most of her life. She got trapped in "cut calories to lose weight" mindset, and although she successfully lost weight at several points in her life, it inevitably came back once she started eating regular portions again. This wreaked havoc on her metabolism, as that's what happens when you don't eat enough: your body freaks out and starts holding on to weight because it thinks it's starving.

When her Fix package came in the mail, she looked through the materials, and then put the whole thing away. Then she looked at it again, and put it away. After letting the system marinate in her mind for a few weeks, she decided to start in May 2014.

My Mom is someone who loves lists and organization. She loves to plan, and prepare, and think, and measure, obsess for a bit, and then think about it some more. Little did she know that the Fix fits PERFECTLY with someone of that mindset.

The weeks went by, and she started getting used to this new way of eating...and I mean EATING! She said she'd never eaten so much in her life when she was on a "diet," and was also getting used to eating more protein and less carbs than usual.

The pounds starting falling off. And off. And off some more.

I remember her delight, shock, and elated text messages after morning weigh ins: "I lost three more pounds!" "I fit in some pants I haven't worn in years!" "I just bought 'skinny jeans!"

She couldn't believe that this plan...this plan where you eat five times a day, where you measure out your portions in containers, where you manage your food intake but can eat REAL FOOD on a regular basis, where she was NOT HUNGRY, was actually WORKING!

It was an easy, workable plan that allowed her to go out to eat and still make sensible choices. She could enjoy life and eat a slice of pizza occasionally without going off the rails. Her metabolism picked up, and plateau after plateau was busted. Just when she thought she'd leveled off, a few more pounds would be incinerated.

After more than a year, she has lost 30 pounds! And more than that, her doctor has told her that she can stop taking blood pressure medication that she has been on for 30 YEARS. And even more than that, she has so much pride in her accomplishment and feels so good. It's easier to garden, it's easier to walk several miles a day. She has energy. She is radiant!

If you ask her, she will say that she takes comfort in the plan. She still writes down what she eats every day, and if she goes on vacation and is forced to stray from the plan, she is eager to get back to it. And her body has responded in kind, maintaining the weight loss and keeping her metabolism humming.

Maybe my expectations for financial success in Team Beachbody have fallen short, but as for helping people? If I never help another person, becoming a Team Beachbody Coach will have been worth it because of helping just this one person. Seeing my Mom find success through The 21 Day Fix has been the most gratifying "help" I have ever given. All I did was hand her the tool, but she built the house. She decided to do it, committed to the plan, and succeeded. I am so proud of her!



Workout of the Day

Body Beast: Build Legs

The Beast wants to kill your legs! Done and done.

Camper Chronicles, parts 2 and 3

Oh man, where is the summer going? It seems that I look up and it's Saturday again...and again...and again. My home school planning (yes, I thought I'd try planning this year, as opposed to my strategy from last year which was: SURVIVE. And read books) is ramping up, and I'm getting excited for fall. But I hope it doesn't come too fast, because we have a camper that we need to reassemble in time for fall camping trips!

So, when we left off, the camper had no floor and the walls were precariously perched on a redneck car lift (read: cinder blocks and railroad ties). If OSHA were to have come by, there would have been, um, violations. And if they saw what it took to get that floor back under the camper, there probably would  have been jail time. Kidding! At least the children weren't involved.

Here's what we were dealing with. We purchased, painted, and installed new wood onto the trailer to serve as the sub-floor. Relatively easy process, which was taken care of one weeknight evening. But to get the walls put back on, you had to slide the trailer back under the camper, and then feed a thin piece of sheet metal through the space between the floor and the trailer frame. Does that make sense? Here's a picture of the metal that needed to go between the floor and frame:

In the picture below, Zach is preparing to lower the walls.

It was ugly. We just started pulling out the railroad ties and letting the jack down on the back, and then lowered the front. The tricky part was making sure the walls and floor lined up relatively well.

Shortly after the picture above, it was done. That was (I think) the hardest bit of this whole project (well, unless you count "sewing curtains," which may prove to be my personal Mount Everest. I use quotation marks in "sewing" because, well, you haven't seen my "sewing"). There was some wiggling and an attempt to move the entire camper about 1/4 inch backward, but in the end we figured close enough is close enough.

Then Zach removed all the curtains and hardware and painted the ceiling. 

Some guy on Craigslist had free countertop he wanted to get rid of, and we were headed down past his house on the way to some friends' house for dinner, so we picked it up. I was not anticipating that it would have a bunch of paint and stuff on it, but I think I'll be able to clean it up fairly easily. 

Last weekend we installed some vinyl flooring. I know, vinyl flooring is cheap and yucky, but let's keep in mind that this is a 20-year-old trailer where devil rodents routinely invade and poop on the floor. We're not going for high dollar. Besides, I think it turned out pretty nice.

We have purchased paneling, and that's the next step in the process. Zach will panel the walls, frame out the cabinets, and build some cabinet doors. Actually, now that I think about it, I bet the electrical and plumbing will come next, as holes will need to be drilled for those.

Now that the floor is back on, we're all breathing much easier. Now it's the fun part of reassembling, decorating, and focusing on making a tiny space as functional as possible. Where should we go for our first trip out in the refurbished camper?

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Workout of the Day

Tony Horton One on One, Vol. 1 - Just Arms

A classic! Biceps, forearms, triceps. 

For some odd reason both Zach and I are having trouble with our left shoulders. His started as a knot from driving home 13 hours straight from New Mexico, and has just not gotten better. I noticed a tweak in mine after doing Game Day from Asylum right before New Mexico, and it has gotten worse, not better. I'm icing and trying to rest it, but it's hard to rest a shoulder when you're a boot camp instructor and also when you like to show your kids how to do cartwheels.