Why Shakeology!?!

Shakeology has been and a huge tool in helping me in my weight-loss fitness journey. I drank green smoothies for a couple years. You know, the smoothies, full of delicious blended fruits and veges. I would blend my spinach and fruit and other things and take them everywhere. My friends used to make fun of me and my sludge-y drink that was browning in my mason jar. Sometimes they were delicious, sometimes not so delicious. I was always looking for healthy superfoods to add to my smoothies to get the healthiest drink possible. But some of those things are so expensive. I was so excited to find Shakeology because it had all these amazing ingredients I had read about that had amazing health benefits and it was all packaged in a drink that costs around $4.  And it was delicious. I am hooked. The benefits are amazing. More energy, healthy foods, more regularity, feel great. Now some people are not too excited about paying around $4 per drink, but let's be honest, most of those people are perfectly fine spending that kind of money on a drink from Starbucks! And this is way healthier than a drink from Starbucks. I am officially a Shakeology addict and proud of it!

Check out some of these great recipes for Shakeology that are not only shakes, but also delicious "treats".

Also, here are some links to other sites where you can find some treats

Vanilla Almond Energy Balls from Beachbody Blog

No Bake Shakeology Cookies from Spark Recipes

And these are my favorite Shakeology Breakfast bars from Autumn Calabrese

Hope you Enjoy!

My Progression

Today I took after pictures and before pictures.  These pictures marked the end of my P90X3 journey and the beginning of my Insanity Max 30 journey.  These pictures show my beginning on Sept 12, 2014 when I was starting the 21 day fix program. I learned so much from that program, the thing I am most thankful for is that I learned how to eat. I learned what the correct portions were and the right foods to eat to fuel my body and give it the nutrition it needs to be healthy. Shakeology helped me to overcome my unhealthy cravings. Shakeology is a delicious protein drink that is full of dense nutrition that helps you overcome those cravings.  I did 5 weeks of 21 Day fix and then started P90X3, starting Oct 13. I stuck with the meal plan in 21 Day Fix. P90X3 is a 90 day program, 7 days a week. It was tough and with the Holidays it was tough to stick with the eating plan, because of all the treats and parties, but I did not miss a day of working out. I love the 7 days a week workout plan because I was in such a routine of waking up at 5:30 am and getting my workout done before the kids were awake and it kept me consistent. Yesterday I finished my P90X3 and this morning I woke up and started my Insanity Max 30. It was a butt kicker. It is designed to push you to your max until you can't go any further. I thought that I would be doing pretty good, having done P90X3 for 90 days prior.  I started the workout full force and at 6 minutes and 38 seconds I was done. I had to take a break because I was going all out. It was brutal, but I can't wait until tomorrow!

On September 12, 2014 I started at 165 lbs

Today on January 5, 2015 I am at 148 lbs.

I have lost almost 16 inches.

On this journey the last few months, I am not as concerned with the scale. The scale is a good indicator on where I am at, but the best indicator is how I feel, how my clothes fit and how I am doing mentally. Those are my indicators.

Beginning my journey

I just want to start out by saying, I am not a fitness expert. I have had no formal training on "what" to do and how to do it to become fit. I am just sharing my journey and what I have done to get where I am mentally and physically.
Almost 7 years ago, I had just had my second child and was watching The Biggest Loser, which was one of my favorite shows. I loved watching these people transform their lives and see what they could become. At the end of the season, the contestants ran a marathon...A MARATHON!!! These people who a few weeks ago, were horribly over-weight ran/walked a marathon. After watching this episode, I thought, I can be a runner. I am not horribly over-weight. If these people can become runners, I can be a runner. So, I signed up for my first 10k that would be in about 12 weeks. And so I became a runner. My mindset was such that, as long as I was running a few times a week, I can still continue to eat what I want and my weight will stay down and then I will be healthy. I continued with this mindset the next few years until about 6 months ago.
6 months ago, I started noticing my a few friends posting on Facebook about a 21 Day Fix they were doing. The more I saw about it the more I became interested. I knew I needed to learn how to eat healthier. My baby was two and I had become a junk food junkie! So I messaged my friend about this and she gave some info and I thought, 3 weeks, I can try anything for 3 weeks. So I ordered it. The meal plan seemed easy to follow and the workouts were only 30 minutes. At the end of the 3 weeks, I had lost 7 lbs and 10 inches!!! I was so excited, I decided I wanted to become a Beachbody coach and help other people, who didn't know where to start and share my journey with them. I did another 3 weeks of 21 Day Fix and ended up losing another 8 lbs and 5 more inches. After that I did P90X3. I am a big fan of these 30 minute programs and starting in a week I am undertaking Insanity MAX:30.
So this is where I am at with my journey. I am helping others learn how to become fit. I am teaching them what I have learned through my experience and encouraging them along the way. I love this journey and this opportunity to help people.
If you are interested in any of the Beachbody programs, contact me at mmakelle@yahoo.com