What's to come...

I know that right now you are all feeling this huge feeling of relief because, FINALLY, I am doing another post about my blog. Now, now...I know I temporarily left it behind but don't get all dramatic. Just calm the crap down. All will be well.

I did have to take a little break. I needed to organize my life. When you take on a business in your home it doesn't take you too long to notice that because you can work whenever you want you tend to, well I tend to, not work as much. I think to myself, "Eh, I can just do that later." So, life got crazy and I wasn't prioritizing and then a bunch of crap happened and here we are!

The point of this post is just to tell you what is ahead. First, a little update:

• I am only 1 workout away from completing PiYo! I'm so excited to be done with a workout and about ready to start another. It's like a new start and ever so exciting.
• I am starting Insanity on Monday. It's been a while since I've done it but I'm super excited about it.
• I did injure my knee and was not able to run for about a month. So, I will not but doing a FULL marathon in January but did switch to the HALF marathon instead. Still awesome, so no poo pooing it.
• Michael just completed another Tough Mudder and did awesome. One of his team mates is one of my awesome friends and she has somehow convinced me to do it with her in North Carolina next year. It should be way fun.
• I just recently started my newest 30 day challenge.
• I am about to start my FREE sugar free challenge with a fellow coach!
• After many many months I finally made it back to Disneyland. This is the most important news of all. I know you were all deeply worried.

Overall, very exciting stuff happening.

NOW, I'm going to talk about what is to come. I am very excited to lead up to the end of the year. I know that holidays are a time when "calories don't count" and it's easy to get caught up into the idea of just waiting until January. I am here to help with those things. Yay Luanne you have saved the day. I know. I know.

Blog post wise be looking out for:

• My newest "afters" pictures. Are they still afters?
• Recipes (my cleanest ones) This was by special request!
• Surviving the Holidays...this links in with one my challenges (see below)
• Why I am a coach and how it helps me stay happy.
• What is a challenge group. I know a lot of you have heard me talk about one but has no idea what it is.
• How to set proper and realistic goals. For me this one is huge. I'm big on PROPER goal setting. Perfect for the New Year
• Finding support for your hard times.

Challenge Groups Coming:

• 3- Day Refresh- This one is going to come around right after Thanksgiving. It's a cheaper challenge and offers you a refreshing 3 days after stuffing your face with awesome Thanksgiving food. More on that later.
•  My December Challenge Group- I already have two people ready to hit go....who else wants to join? More on that later.
• A BIG start on a GREAT New Year Challenge-This one is key for me. All of you know how much I hate the year 2014 and all the crap it dealt out to me. So I am starting out 2015 with a bang! More on that later.

Um, are you excited? I am. What's up ahead is awesome. However, you don't need to wait for anything. Start now...

Because there is NO better time than NOW!

And the winner is...

Thank you all so much for entering the contest! It was so great to hear why you haven't yet met your goals. Why was it great? It helped me understand how I can help you. The two main reasons were:

1. Don't have the time/ It's hard giving it priority
2. It's hard for me to know how to eat right

Now I know where I need to focus my blog and ways to reach out to people to help them meet their goal.

Now the winner of Hip Hop Abs....

 

This picture is here only because I didn't want to give it away so soon.

Congratulations.....

Sarah Pope!!!

 

Sarah, be sure to email me your address so I can get your copy of Hip Hop Abs over to you ASAP!!

Now, for the rest of you. Just remember that you can still get the body you want. All it takes is proper nutrition and the right type of exercise. I can help. I'm super good at helping find a way to get you to the you that you want to be. So, contact me...

Because there is NO better time than NOW!!

1,000 Pageviews = An AWESOME Giveaway

This is so exciting! I have officially reached 1,000 pageviews on my blog. I started this blog on September 2nd so that is a lot of views for just one month.

I want to celebrate this with everyone! How shall we celebrate?

A GIVEAWAY!!!

I have Hip Hop Abs that is just dying to be given away. I know you all have seen the commercials and have secretly wished that you would just buy it. You think this because either:

• It looks like fun.
• Shaun T. is hot and has no shirt on during the video. Ladies, you know.
• You want abs like in the video.
• Or, all of the above.

So, how do you get involved in this giveaway. (P.S You don't need to know me personally to be involved. If you don't know me add me on Facebook for tons of workout tips!) All you need to do 3 easy things:

1- Like my post on Facebook about my blog.
2- Share my post.
3- PM me on why you have not meet your fitness goals in the past.

That's it. Sounds easy, right? On Sunday, October 12th, I will pick the winner. I will pick randomly. I promise. I will announce the winner on my blog on Monday, October 13th. Be on the lookout for my post of announcing the winner.

What a great way to get moving on your fitness.

Because there is NO better time than NOW!

Week 5 Update: Always Progress to be Had

These last 5 weeks have been amazing. I've pushed myself to limits I didn't think I could and have had results like I couldn't believe.

This last week was filled with moments, over and over again, of me amazing myself in a whole new way. PiYo has brought out the flexibility in me that I never knew I even could have. When I first started I would look up #piyo on Instagram just to see what people were posting. I saw so many pictures of people's before and afters but of their flexibility. I thought that I would never have results like that so I never took a before.

THIS IS A LESSON:
ALWAYS TAKE A BEFORE. Even if you get no after because you will regret when you do get that after.

So I don't have any befores but here is some awesome progress I have made.

This is the pose Warrior 3. You do this a lot in PiYo. Chalene suggests that you do it with a chair until you get stable enough to do it without one. I did it with a chair for a while. Then I did it without a chair and would fall often. Now I can stand like this for quite a while. Also, my calf muscles are looking nice.

This is me touching my toes with my legs straight. This was a never before done thing. Even when I was running a lot. Oh running how I miss you. The day that I did this I wasn't planning on it. My workout had just finished and it had ended with a cool down that included bending in half. I wanted to do it just one more time because the stretch felt good. So I bent over and grabbed my toes. I almost didn't believe that I could do it and did it several more times that day. I still do a check from time to time. This is a "trick" I don't ever want to lose. My new goal is to have my hands flat on the floor.

This move is called a PiYo Flip. It is advanced. It might look easy to you (maybe not) but it is not. I still don't have perfect form but I am working on it. This move literally requires almost every muscle in your body. I had to gain a strong core before I could even attempt it.

This is a side plank. This took me ages to master. A PiYo Flip is harder but for some reason this was hard for me. I actually had to force myself to do it when I hurt my knee. The modified version of it is resting on your knee. Since I can't do that right now I had to go into a full half plank. *silver lining*

It is hard to totally tell but I am rocking a Tricep Push-Up here. This one I can only do after a good workout because my arms are always the last to catch up to the rest of my body. However, I can do it.  I couldn't before!

So, that's my progress. My favorite part about all of it? My sweet Douglas in the background sleeping. Isn't he just so cute? You can't see his face too well. Just trust me, he's cute.

Ok, for reals now people....
I seriously see something new everyday that I couldn't see or do the day before. I'm sure my next week's update I will be more advanced in ways I didn't even think were possible.

Seeing progress is a great gift that gets you to where you want to be. Let's find your limits and exceed those...

Because there is NO better time than NOW!

Challenge Yourself

What did everyone think of those afters? Pretty cool, right? I feel great. Like freaken great. Those pictures motivated me in more ways then I thought they could.

If you have been following my blog since day 1 then you know why I am doing this. For those that missed it and maybe because the others need a reminder I will give a bullet point overview:

• I was feeling down because of the adoption falling through.
• I needed a change and a fresh start.
• I wanted to feel great in my own body.
• I wanted to lose those last few pounds.
• I wanted a challenge.

When I say I wanted a challenge I don't mean like all the challenges I have faced this year. How many times can I say that I really just freaken want 2014 to be over? I mean like a challenge that I can control and feel good about. I wanted a healthy way to channel my feelings of depression. I wanted to feel like I had control over something that was hard.

My workouts are challenging. I sweat each day. Some days I fall down flat because my arms, legs, shoulders, whatever just won't hold me up anymore. What is great, though... What keeps me together and helps me realize that I can do anything. Yes anything. Is when my body gives out and I am laying on my floor flat and feeling defeated I am able to take a deep breath, wipe my sweat, and get back up on my shaky limbs and finish my workout. Even if it means I only do one more push up, I take control. I decide that I can get through it because I am strong. Because I control me and what happens not the other way around.

Somehow, when you feel those feelings in your workout and conquer something hard it transfers into your life. You suddenly realize what it's like to conquer something that is hard.

You might all be sick of hearing about it but it's me and my life and my reality. Not being able to have a kid when it's something that you expect you should just be able to do is super hard. It's frustrating. It sucks. Most days are just neutral. Where I just accept that this is my life and there isn't anything I can do to change it. Then there are some days that are so easy. Like I have complete faith that there is this huge plan for me that is perfect. I know exactly what I need to do to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Then there are THOSE days. The ones where I'm so distraught. I sit on my bed and cry and cry and cry and wonder why I can't just get pregnant. I get mad. I get overwhelmed with grief. It's horrible.  It is truly a day from hell. Those days are fewer and far between but they still come. I actually am quite sure I will have those days either until I get pregnant, I die, or the second coming comes. I will never get over the fact that I can't get pregnant. I know that even after adopting a child and feeling the overwhelmingly feelings of gratitude of being a mother I will still grieve that I can't get pregnant. My mother-in-law once told me that she thinks it's equal to the lost of a child. It's like I am losing all these children I made up in my head my whole life. I think she's right.
Now let's talk about a different thing you are all sick of hearing about. This adoption falling through. We had the room set up. I had just organized all his little clothes and shoes and socks preparing for my baby shower. I couldn't wait to bring him home. But he never came home. At least not to me. It feels like a part of me is missing. How insane is that? How can you miss and feel empty for something that was never really yours? However, I do. I really do feel like he is missing. I'm super afraid that the whole in my heart that little boy left will never be filled by anything. I'm afraid it will always be empty. A person, who is very close to me and I will keep their identity safe, told me that she once waited for a missionary. When he got home she was ready to jump into his arms and marry him. However, he kicked her to the curb pretty fast and blunt. She said she was afraid she would never fill that spot that he left. She is now married to a GREAT guy and has 5 amazing children. It is safe to say that the spot got filled by the person it was meant to be filled by. Her telling me that story makes me think that this hole will be filled by the baby it is supposed to be filled by. However, right now that seems impossible.

Let's draw this all together now.

These two trials in my life are real. And hard. They consume my life. Most days I feel great in it all and like I can handle it. Then some days it's like all my limbs gave out and I'm laying flat on the floor. I feel tired and defeated. However, because of me working out and understanding what I can overcome, I just take a deep breath, wipe my sweat, get back up on my shaky limbs and finish the workout. Because I can. Because I'm strong.

Honestly. Honestly. Me working out reminds me how much it's mind over matter. How I can conquer anything if I just set my mind to it. Anything. I just have to challenge myself. Challenge myself to be the person I want to be.

What do you need to do to challenge yourself? What trials are in your life that overwhelm you and bring out your weaknesses? Don't you want to conquer them? Working out is a great step to do so. I believe that. I live that. So, challenge yourself to be strong. Because you are strong. Contact me to get your workout started. Do it now...

Because there is NO better time than NOW!