A Little Obsessed . . . okay maybe a lot obsessed.

80 Day Obsession

I can't help it. In the last few years, I have finally found a piece of myself that was missing. I had searched for a long time before I found Beachbody. Well, really Beachbody found me. I remember the last round of Weight Watchers I did and how incredibly frustrated I was getting. I had been working out once a week. Every time I added a workout, I would gain on the scale that week. See, Weight Watchers really only cared about the number on the scale. They encouraged taking measurements, but the measurements didn't count toward the overall goal of weight loss. They didn't look at what kind of weight I was losing. They just cared that the scale went down. And if it went up, well, that was okay as long as it didn't keep going in that direction. So, I learned that if I worked out, I would gain weight that week. If I didn't work out, I would lose. Sounds healthy right? I knew that this was not what was supposed to be happening. (Weight Watchers was a great place for me to start and I am not discounting it as a useful program, I had just outgrown the program and needed something else.)

When I was introduced to Beachbody, I didn't follow the meal plans for the programs. I would calculate my calorie intake for whichever program, and then use MyFitnessPal to track my calories. This worked for a little bit. I went down two pants sizes. I still wasn't really getting this whole healthy thing figured out. I decided to really try out one of the meal plans. I did 21 Day Fix. I followed the containers, read everything that was available to me through the program and followed it religiously for 2 and a half weeks. I lost steam at the end and did the workouts but cheated on the meal plan a little bit. I still had great results and it was enough for me to continue with it. When I signed on for the All-Access Pass to Beachbody On Demand, I had so many choices that I just started to pick and choose programs and do them. I'd get great results but I knew it could be better. I started reading everything I could about health and fitness. I learned a lot in a short amount of time. Toward the beginning of 2017, I was in the midst of a pretty bad episode of Seasonal Depression. It didn't matter what I tried, nothing was helping. I continued to exercise but could feel myself giving up with the fatigue that set in around 1 or 2 PM each day. My students started to notice. I was relying on caffeine to keep me going in the afternoons. Finally, I made a decision that helped me find that missing piece. I signed on as Beachbody Coach. I didn't sign on to sell a product. I signed on to get a discount on that product. I watched a video about Shakeology and what the ingredients can do for your body. It's all about gut health. I had already started reading other things that said that everything dealing with our health starts in our gut. If your gut is messed up, your body can't absorb the nutrients it needs. It didn't matter that I was taking extra vitamin D and Vitamin B and Fermented Cod Liver oil. While those things helped my depression and fatigue temporarily, they didn't do everything I needed them to do. After listening to one of the creators of Shakeology discuss the purpose of the shake, I knew that I needed to try it. So, I committed to three months. If it did absolutely nothing for me, I would cancel the orders and go back to the supplements that had kind of been helping me. That was at the end of February 2017. It's now January of 2018 and I'm coming up on a full year of drinking Shakeology.

Each year, it was probably about April when I would be able to keep my energy levels up and I would come out of the fatigue and fog. When I started drinking Shakeology, it was within the first few days of drinking it that I started to see a difference. And this winter, when I normally would be having these symptoms, well I'm still waiting for them to show up. They usually start right before Christmas. I'm still watching and waiting, but I'm still drinking my shake every day. I have not gone one day without it since February of 2017.

Healthiest Meal of the Day

I worried that the fatigue would set in back in October when I joined Autumn Calabrese's Prepare to Be Obsessed group. But it didn't. I have never felt stronger than I do now after doing 21 Day Fix, 21 Day Fix Extreme, 30-Day Chisel, and a hybrid of the three. Then she released A Little Obsessed. I have found that I enjoy pushing myself to do better, lift heavier, and not modify the moves as much as possible. I even asked for heavier weights for Christmas so that I'm ready for the next level while I'm doing 80 Day Obsession.

So, am I a little obsessed? No. I'm definitely a lot obsessed. People ask me what I enjoy doing. The answer . . . I love following a Beachbody program from start to finish. I enjoy meal planning and prepping for the week. I love posting about my experiences and journey. I love taking selfies after my workout and saying a little something about how I felt about a workout or what struggles I am or was having. Do I expect everyone to follow and do what I am doing? No. Everyone is different and different things work for different people. Maybe you enjoy working out with a group of people in person. Maybe you love Boot Camp and wouldn't think of missing it. That is awesome and amazing and I cheer you on! Maybe, like my husband, you prefer to do your own thing at the gym and run obstacle course races and half marathons. Awesome! You are doing a great thing for yourself.

But maybe, just maybe, there is someone out there that felt a lot like I did when I was yo-yo dieting. When I was so worried about the number on the scale that it was throwing me into a horrible mental state every week when it just would not go down. Maybe there is someone who always starts out the new year with another gym membership and swears that this time it will stick. Maybe, like me, that dwindles quickly because life, responsibility, kids, work, and whatever else gets in the way of keeping that insane schedule of leaving the house to fit in a workout. Maybe, there is someone out there that feels defeated and just doesn't know how to fit in time for themselves. That is one reason that I choose to post.

My living room has become my gym. I don't have a special space to workout. It's a part of my every day life. It's right there for everyone to see. In fact, when we have people over, my workout bench functions as seating. I don't have to leave my house to workout. In fact, most days, I don't need more than 30 minutes to get in a workout. I don't have to drive anywhere. I don't have to pack a bag. I don't have to shower in a strange place. I don't have to worry about equipment being available.

I'll tell you what I had to do. I had to commit to myself. I had to invest $99 for a year of access to thousands of at home workouts. I had to buy weights over the past few years. As I get stronger, I buy the next weight. The first time I did 21 Day Fix, I used 3 and 5lb weights, and those 5lb weights felt impossibly heavy. If I do it now, I use 8lbs as my lightest and go up to 20lbs on leg days. I own up to 25lb dumbbells. It took me a year. I asked for weights for Christmas and birthdays, even Mother's Day. And I'm not the only one that uses them. They are available for my family to use and as my boys get older and get to the age that they are able to lift weights, I hope that they will use them as well. Isaac has already agreed to do Double Time with me in April when I finish 80 Day Obsession! I can't wait.

So, I guess my point is that I know I post a lot of workout pictures. I mostly do it for myself. I do it because I have found something I love and want to share that happiness with my friends and family. But I also do it because there might be someone out there that can relate to my story. They might be feeling like they don't know what to do. Maybe they see what I am doing and think, that can't be that hard. If she can do it with a full time job, a home to take care of, a husband and two boys, why can't I?

My Coach Site

I need some structure in my life.

First and foremost in my life, I am a wife and mother. I am also a teacher. I love my schedule. Yes, I have to take work home on a regular basis. I am also a Beachbody Coach, which is something that I can do anytime. Why am I telling you this information that most of you already know? Because this lack of a schedule in the summer is throwing off my life! Please know that this is not a complaint about having summers off. It is more a statement about what I need in my life to go with MY schedule. I'm sure that others, who officially work year-round have times when their routine has to change. Whether that's a vacation, change in hours, job changes, promotions, no matter what it is, it is important to have a plan for many of us.

I had jury duty this week. It was so stressful, and I didn't even have to report once! It's the not knowing what I will need to be doing from morning to afternoon. It was such a relief when the jurors were released for the week as of yesterday!

I also don't have a real routine in the summer. It makes me crazy. I need a routine. The month of June was great. The kids had camp. I would drop them off, eat breakfast, workout, and get ready for whatever else the day would bring. The month of July is a little bit more broken up with different camps and vacation.

I tend to do a lot of planning and personal education in the summer. This summer I'm working on two classes. They are due in November but my hope is to get them done before August! We'll see how that goes. I need to make myself a schedule and include some work time for my classes.

This tells me that I really need to sit down and take the time to plan out what my week will look like each weekend. It is so much easier for me when I don't have to decide what I will be doing!

Beachbody makes the working out and meal planning pretty easy. I have access to all kinds of programs that include a calendar for the different workouts within the programs, and meal plans that are easy to follow and allow me to keep some of my favorite meals in my life.

It will all work out. Knowing what we need as individuals is one of the first steps to success. What do you need?

Finding the Motivation

Being a teacher in May is a struggle. Not only are students ready for summer, I am also ready for a break. This means coming home after work burned out and tired!

I am not a morning person. I don't like to move or even pretend to function when I first get out of bed. It takes me a good 30 minutes to feel human. Can I workout in the morning? Sure. Have I done it before? Definitely. Do I prefer it? NOT. AT. ALL.

So, that leaves working out when I get home from work. I am blessed with a babysitter that doesn't mind keeping my kiddos for one more hour while I run home and get my workout in. The boys prefer to stay and play with their friends while I work out. It's a win-win for me and for them. We are extremely thankful for Ann.

When I get home from work, I'm tired. I feel like sitting on the couch, messing around on my phone and social media, or reading on my Kindle.

Sometimes, there is nothing remotely motivating about changing into workout clothes and getting sweaty and tired.

Sometimes, the motivation actually comes after I push myself to just go through the motions. About halfway through a workout, I am both thankful that I did it, and wishing it were over!

So, if the motivation isn't there, and I have to force myself to do this everyday, why do I do it?

Because I've been on the other side. I know what it's like to absolutely hate my body. I know what it's like to think I'm worthless and disgusting. I know what it's like to feel hopeless. Like there is nothing I can really do to change my situation.

Even after losing 50+ pounds, I still feel that way at times. What I have gained from Beachbody is priceless. I pay around $100.00 a year to access over 500 workouts with calendars.  That means I get to change things up constantly. I never get bored and I can workout at whatever time works for me. Daily motivation becomes a non-issue. AND I feel 1,000 times better about myself.

My happy hour is what I make it!

Then and Now

This week has been rough. I was about to start my forth week of 22 Minute Hard Corps on Beachbody on Demand. During my workout on Sunday morning, I went down into a squat to jump back up and didn't come back up. I pulled something on the left side of my lower back. I couldn't move. Monday morning, I called my chiropractor and got in for Tuesday afternoon. It has taken two visits to the manual therapist and chiropractor to feel like I was starting to heal. It just so happens that I was not stretching enough after my workouts. I was neglecting my muscles. My hips were completely crooked. When I laid down on my stomach, my left hip was visibly higher than my right hip. I'm all untwisted and even now. My muscles are healing and I'm taking it easy. It has been six days.

Here's the really cool thing about my experience with my injury. I have another story from about five years ago.

This was me:

I was miserable. I didn't even know how miserable. I actually thought I looked okay. I had decided that I was going to accept myself for who I was and be okay with my body. I was in deep denial. Not only that, I was unhealthy. I didn't take care of myself. Nutrition was the last thing on my mind. I tried to go back to working out a little bit before this was taken. About six months before that I was in a wedding and needed to fit into a dress I had ordered before I was pregnant. I barely fit in my dress but I was proud of myself for getting into that dress. I was overweight before that and had purchased the dress in a bigger size than I was at the time just to make sure. I figured I could always take it in. I ended up having to take it out a little bit, but I got into it.

Shortly after that wedding, I injured my shoulder. I had problems with my shoulder before my second pregnancy but didn't do much besides muscle relaxers and ice. It would come and go. This time, I hurt it bad enough to venture into the chiropractor for the first time. It took two years to get my shoulders to a point where they didn't hurt anymore. I went every week, then every two weeks, then every three, every month, every five weeks. Then I would stop going for awhile but didn't do much to fix it.

In April of 2015, a friend introduced me to Beachbody. Now, I didn't have to go to a gym and do things that I wasn't comfortable doing in front of strangers in my current size. I worked out in my living room. I could use my little weights to start out with and not feel like people were laughing at me. I had 3lbs for my light weights and 5s for my heavy weights. I was excited to try something new. I signed up for the limited version of Beachbody on Demand when they first started streaming their programs. I did Brazil Butt Lift! It was fun and dance based but there were a lot of really great moves and it was a major learning experience for me. I think I was still doing Weight Watchers at the time but I can't remember anymore. I had lost quite a bit of weight but still wasn't anywhere near healthy. I moved on from there and did the 21 Day Fix and a few other programs I had access to. That's when I started to really look at the foods I was putting into my body.

It took until the summer of 2015 to fix my shoulders to a point where I could workout and lift weights without re-injuring myself.

Do you see the difference?
3 years of recovery and chiropractor visits. My shoulder injury did not feel worse than my back did this time around. My back is recovering after 6 days. I'm taking care of myself because of everything I've learned through these amazing programs.

Now, with Shakeology, I'm putting so much good stuff in my body that my muscles are able to recover and heal so much faster. I have to put in the work, stay on top of my meals, and plan to succeed. Because I do that, I'm in a much better place in my life.

This is me:

The major difference is not my size, though it is a huge difference. The biggest difference is my determination, confidence, and knowledge. I'm a better version of myself. I love myself enough to make my health a priority. Shakeology is expensive. Coach purses, daily trips to Starbucks, ordering pizza, hair color, 50 pairs of shoes, and all those other things that we think we need are expensive too. For me, those other things that I thought I wanted don't even come close to the benefits I see with Shakeology, Beachbody on Demand, and the effort of meal planning.

I'd love to help and guide anyone who wants to feel this good. Just send me a message and I'll help you get started.

My 3 Day Refresh Experience

Over the last few months, I've started to notice that my clothes are not fitting as comfortably as they used to and that a lot of my cravings have been for sugary treats and chocolate. Having a sensitivity to chocolate, this put me in a weird place for my health. I decided that with Spring Break coming up and having some time to chill and focus on my health, I would try out the 3 Day Refresh from Beachbody and see if I could get my healthier cravings back.

Disclaimer: Yes, I am a Beachbody coach. No I will not be dishonest about this product to get sales.

I received my Refresh a few days before I was ready to start and read over everything in the program guide. It looked pretty straight forward but I knew that I needed a plan. I mapped out my meals and made a shopping list.

I had planned to start on Monday of Spring Break, but thinking through what my week was going to entail, it made more sense to start on Sunday and finish on Tuesday.

I already drink Shakeology every day, but the guide also suggested that I eat salad for a few days leading up to the refresh to get my system ready for the amount of veggies I would be putting into my body. I did this and I think it helped.

DAY 1:

I had my Shakeology for breakfast with 12 strawberries. I put 5 in the shakeo and ate 7 of them. Shakeology always keeps me full for a long time. It was easy to wait a couple of hours to drink the fiber sweep. The fiber sweep is somewhat filling, but not the most pleasant thing to drink. It's only 8 ounces and has a slight lemon flavor. If you can ignore the texture and drink it quickly it's not completely horrible!

Lunch on the first day was cucumbers with hummus, the vanilla fresh protein shake with frozen cherries. This was actually highly satisfying and filling.  My afternoon snack was celery and almond butter. For dinner, I ate the veggie stir fry from the recipes in the program guide. It was actually amazing. I drank my vanilla fresh and also had a cup of vegetable broth that I had heated with some fresh basil. I learned that I needed to drink my shake a little bit after dinner instead of with it so that I would not get hungry before bed. I had some herbal tea about an hour before bed to combat a little bit of hunger.

Here are some examples of the meals that I had.
This does not include my afternoon snack.

DAY 2:

Ok. I promised to be honest. Day 2 sucked. I had my shakeology with frozen blueberries in the morning. I drank green tea since I did not want a headache from no caffeine. I drank the fiber sweep a couple hours later and this time it didn't do much to satisfy my hunger.  I suffered through trying not to think about food. --This is also a mental thing for me. I normally eat small snacks throughout the day and try to keep them healthy. When I finally ate lunch, I put peaches and cinnamon in my vanilla fresh shake and had a tomato, avocado, and basil leaves for lunch. This might not have been the best choice for staying power. I was almost ready to give up. I was full but needed my afternoon snack a lot sooner than I should have. So again, I had celery and almond butter.  It helped quite a bit and I was determined to get through the days I had left. Since I needed the snack so much earlier, I was hungry again before dinner.

This is the one thing I did that I do not regret. I ate about 10 almonds. It got me through to dinner and I was able to cook for my family and make myself a spinach salad from the dinner recipes. I ate the salad and saved my vanilla fresh shake for about 30 to 45 minutes later. I went to bed without hunger that night.

I stopped taking pictures of my meals.

Day 3:

Surprisingly, this 3rd day was a little easier to get through. I went to a play with my boys, niece, and mom. She wanted to go out for lunch afterward. Here I had to be very organized. I got up about 7AM and drank my water and had my tea. (This is backwards from the way the program tells you to do the AM.) After I drank the tea, I had my Shakeology with frozen cherries. This was about 830AM. I packed my lunch which was a small red pepper, hummus and a fruit. I also brought a blender bottle to mix my vanilla fresh shake with water. I also packed a smaller blender bottle with water and the fiber sweep packet. When we got to the theater at about 930AM, I mixed and drank the fiber sweep in the parking lot before we went in. It worked out perfectly.  When we went to the restaurant, everyone ordered some food and I ate the lunch I brought. No one bothered me about it and everything worked out fine.

I did the celery and almond butter for my snack as late as I could. It was hard in the afternoon and I did end up eating a few almonds to tide me over to dinner.

I ate a cucumber tomato salad from the dinner recipes for dinner and waited to drink my shake for about 30 minutes.

And that was it!

My results:

-4.1 pounds

-1 inch in the waist

I actually did not expect to see a difference but it's there. The change in my mentality is what I was really looking for. I thought that I would wake up the day after doing this and just want FOOD!! I didn't. I had my shakeology with almond milk, cherries, and spinach. I will probably have a snack mid-morning but not a fiber drink! I was also worried that I would destroy all progress the next day and not be able to keep off the weight I lost. To be honest, I did not expect to lose as much as I did. My mind will not let me sabotage myself. I am looking forward to this refocus on my health. My new goal is to focus on tracking my food again. I do the best when I do that. I will also be starting 22Minute Hard Corps soon!

Why Shakeology?

"When it's this good, you have to get every drop!"

If you do Beachbody programs, you have heard of Shakeology. All of the trainers use it, and they mention it at the end of most of the workouts. Some of the videos even end on a Shakeology commercial. The coaches swear by it. It took me two years to buy-in and I wish I had found a way to get it into my life sooner.

I used every excuse in the book. I already had a protein powder that I liked . . . it's so expensive . . . how can a powdered drink mix be worth that much money?

The number one thing that most coaches will tell you to try and convince you to buy it is that it's no more expensive than a drink at Starbucks. Just $4 per day.

My response? I don't go to Starbucks everyday. There really wasn't a cost that I thought I could eliminate to make room for the shakes.

Another reason to get it . . . It reduces cravings. I didn't think I had many cravings.

And of course, "It's the healthiest meal of the day!" Well, I didn't really have a comeback for that one but I felt I already ate healthy foods so it couldn't be that big of a deal.

What convinced me? My energy levels and a struggle with seasonal depression. My symptoms were an overall lack of physical and mental energy. I would feel like I was going to fall asleep in my desk chair by 2:00 PM. I'm a teacher. I can't be that tired. Everything that happened, good or bad was amplified. I fought with my husband, I lost patience with my children, and I wasn't the best teacher I could be in the afternoons.

My students took notice. They started asking me what was wrong in the afternoon. Finally, I was honest with them. I told them that I struggle with my energy levels in the afternoon but that I was working on a solution and hoping that it would start getting better. (I teach 6th grade.)

At that point, I had to do what I said I was going to do and come up with a solution. I had listened to the hype and every single person that used shakeology tell me how great it is. I started asking questions. My coach put me into a coaches training group to help me make a decision about being a Beachbody coach and I saw a video that convinced me that this is what I needed to do.

See, what I had been doing was loading my body with supplements that were supposed to help with my energy levels. The problem is that after years of abuse and not eating clean, my body was no longer able to absorb the good stuff I was putting into it.

I discussed this all with my husband. We decided that I would try it out for 2 or 3 months and see if it helped. If it did, we would figure something out and make it work financially.

Here's what happened . . .

I got my first bag in the mail and started it right away. For the first week, I could tell that it was cleaning out my system. It wasn't a horrible feeling, just a discomfort in my stomach and a little gas. (sorry, but it's true) My coach and others who use Shakeology told me that I would feel a burst of energy on the 5th or 6th day. I was skeptical. How could that happen for everyone that uses it? Aren't our bodies all different? Well, it happened. By the 5th day, there was no way I was giving this stuff up. I started talking to my husband about it and letting him know how good I was feeling. By the third week, I had him convinced that it was definitely the right thing to do.

One of the biggest concerns for him was financial. Two teachers don't make a huge amount of money. We realized something in the three weeks that I had been drinking the shakes for breakfast. I had more energy at night. There weren't any days that I drove home thinking that I would not have the physical or mental capacity to cook dinner. I can clean up the living room at night, do a load of laundry, help clear the table after dinner. These are all things that I would struggle with before Shakeology. This also meant that we didn't order food or go out as often.

We had been ordering a pizza ($25) every week. There's my shakeology cost. I'd much rather make a pizza and know that the ingredients I'm using are clean and healthy . . . that my family is putting great food in their bodies than eat takeout pizza every week. As soon as I mentioned this to my husband, he actually visibly relaxed a little bit. I could see that he was starting to think about these benefits and what it meant for the family.

If I could, I would buy four bags every month and feed this to each family member once a day. Someday, I hope that I'll be able to get to that point. For right now, I'm going to keep drinking my Shakeology and taking care of my family the best way I know how. By taking care of me so that I can cook great meals and encourage them to stay active. I was one of the biggest skeptics. It took me 2 years to buy-in and now I'm so glad that I finally did.

If you want in on this awesomeness or just want more information, send me an email or comment on this post.

Gina Kupfer
Beachbody Coach
gkup25fit@gmail.com

New Beachbody Coach

My journey to be the best version of myself has a lot of twists and turns, ups and downs. From gaining weight in college, losing weight before my wedding, and gaining it all back again, I have tried a lot of different programs and diets. The best thing to happen to me was finding Beachbody.

After I had my second child, I weighed 215 pounds. I knew I could lose the weight if I went back to one of those diet programs. That's exactly what I did. I even worked out once or twice a week and thought I was doing everything right. Then I got stuck. I needed more. Instead of following a diet, I needed to change my lifestyle and mindset.

A friend introduced me to Beachbody about two years ago. I started with a 21 Day Fix Challenge pack. The best part about Beachbody is that it isn't just a bunch of workout programs. Between the information about clean eating, proper nutrition, and fitness, I was able to make changes to my life that have made me a better mom, teacher, and wife. The best part is that I do it all from home. No traipsing to the gym or running outside in bad weather.

Having this amazing experience has changed my life and now I want to pay it forward and hopefully help other people achieve what I have over the last two years with Beachbody. I made the decision to become a Beachbody Coach. If you would like to know more about what I do or join me on this amazing journey, please send me a message at gkup25fit@gmail.com.

Find me on Instagram: GKup25