Getting back into my groove!

     I am always hesitant to share about myself on my blog. I felt that this needed to be said because maybe someone else out there is feeling the same way. I have always been a super motivated and driven person when it comes to working out. Especially when I have a program and nutrition guide I can follow. The food and nutrition part has been a complete learning experience along the way. I always do lots of research on how to eat healthy, etc. As many of you know I did the 21 Day Fix, felt great about myself, had tons of energy, woke up feeling good and not tired, etc.  Then when we got done with it the 21 Day Fix, I took a couple of days off! When I was going to get back into it I had some stresses enter my life. I seriously turned to food for comfort. Why? Because I am without a doubt the most emotional eater you will ever eat. Chocolate fixes everything, or so I told myself!

     I really let those life stresses take over. I worked out, but it was halfhearted. I ate out every day for about 3-4 weeks. I also consumed my fair share of junk food and candy. This is totally unlike me, I normally allow a little in moderation, but not like this! What is weird is that the more I moved away from my healthy lifestyle the more I started letting the unhealthy lifestyle take over. It is SO easy to backslide on eating healthy and not working out. I was looking for any excuse to get out of working out each day. Any excuse to eat whatever I wanted. I just couldn’t say NO!  Really strange behavior for me because I really never just quit or give up. I have goals, and one of those is some ABS!!!

     It took me a while to recognize what was happening! I had been feeling weak and not myself for a few days. I sat back one afternoon and realized that I had eaten out every day that week. No wonder I felt like crap, weak, and had a headache every day! What is totally ridiculous about this is that I spent $180 at the grocery store that week and then still ate out every day at $25-$30 a pop to feed my big family. What a waste of money and can we say DUMB?!!  When I realized that I had slowly let that unhealthy lifestyle take back over my life I set a date on when to start back on my journey to reach my goals for myself and my body. I am taking it seriously. I don’t want to fell miserable and out of sorts. I don’t want to let my feelings lead my nutrition any longer!

 


   I planned out my meals; for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. What I do most days is cook more at dinner so that I can have leftovers for lunch. Makes it super simple to figure lunch out and really easy to follow, and if it works why change it?

 


   It is super easy to let stresses pull you under when you are trying to get fit, lose weight, just be healthy, or all the other reasons why you want to eat healthy and lose weight. What matters most is that you just start or get started again. It is not easy to let junk food go, but you know what after a couple of days of not having it the cravings go away. The more you eat of it the more you want. Right?! So get started at it, it doesn’t matter if you are slow about it or can’t work out every day. Don’t let your emotional ties to food or the stresses in your life keep you from getting started or restarted! JUST DO IT! One thing that I LOVE about health, fitness, and nutrition is that the journey never ends! Experiment, find what works for you! It is not one size fits all. So research and get started!

     I have been back at it for 2 days now, and I am already feeling better about myself. It feels good to have a plan and actually stick to it. It makes it feel like all the chaos in your life is not going to take back over and knock you down! Does that make sense?

     I am always here to help you if you want it, reach out, send me a message, and let’s talk about YOUR goals. 

Nicole McDuffie

Independent Beachbody Coach

www.facebook.com/nicolemcduffiesfitness

Struggling to lose weight!

    Have you always been taught that you need to exercise more and eat less to lose weight? Has this left you struggling to follow a workout plan because all you can think about is food? This leaves you starving and then you binge. Then you think to yourself well I have blown my diet, so I will just eat what I want today and start over tomorrow. Then when tomorrow comes you say well I will just start over Monday, right? Monday comes and you just don't have the energy to do the whole diet over again!

     I KNOW how this feels. It does not have to be this way! You can eat and lose weight. I know this sounds crazy because we have always been told to keep our calories low to lose weight. As long as you are working out you can eat more calories. You don't have to eat a bunch of nontasty foods. Do you have to eat healthy? Yes of course! Does it have to be stuff you don't like? NO!!!

     When I started my journey 4 years ago I had NO idea about how to eat healthy. Honestly, I thought eating healthy was a no carb diet! Which was so popular at the time. I tried that and did lose a little weight, but because I was exercising I was SO tired. I quit that and went back to eating the junk I had always eaten. I didn't get the results that I had planned on getting, BUT what happened was that I didn't quit exercising. It made me feel good, it made me feel healthy. What happened next is that I plugged in to communities of healthy people and did tons of research. I have learned so much along the way. How to eat clean and unprocessed foods as much as possible. How to do this slowly over time, so that you won't fail this time. I have lost 30 pounds by eating healthy, working out, and drinking Shakeology. I feel healthier than I have ever felt. My passion is to help people feel the same!

Does this sound like something that would benefit you? Have you tried losing weight and exercising but failed because the "diet" was just to hard? I know that feeling all to well. I have overcome it though and I would love to help you overcome it too! My new group starts on Jan 1. If you want to be a part of that and get support to help you lose this weight fill out this challenger application:

Another Success Story, my sweet friend Tracy

     I met Tracy during a very rough spot in my life, and one in hers. We have become such great friends even though we have never met in person. She has been a person that I could pour my heart out to and she totally understand me and gets it! God certainly knew what he was doing when he crossed our paths. She was one of the very first people to support me in my Beachbody business. She saw that I truly believed in Beachbody products and decided to give it a try.

     She has now completed two Beachbody programs, Chalean Extreme and TurboFire, and she got some amazing results! She has had 4 kids and wasn't overweight, but she wasn't happy with the body she now had. Tracy's goal was to lose 10 pounds and to feel comfortable in her own skin again. When she looked at pictures of herself she saw a lady who was beautiful, but covered herself with baggy clothes. She was not comfortable wearing bathing suits when she took her kids swimming. 

    She completed Chalene Extreme first and saw some amazing results from this program. She started to lose weight like crazy which is what the program promises. She actually had to up her calories intake because her weight started to come off so fast. She gained lean muscle and her bicep muscle was out of this world! When she completed this program she loved Chalene Johnson so much that she decided to do TurboFire and she continued to get some amazing results even though she did not believe she would get anymore then she already had. 

     Tracy also had to workout at home because she has 4 kids. It was important that she do something that she could do at home while the kids were playing. It is so funny to see pictures of her kids flexing their muscles or to hear about her 2 year old saying she wants to go size (short for exercise). Not only is she making herself healthy, but she is an example for her kids. I can guarantee that that will carry over into their adulthoods. How awesome is that? Knowing that you provided that for your kids so they never have to struggle with the things that we have as far as weight loss or being healthy goes. It gives me goosebumps! 

     Her total weight lost is 17 pounds. Total inches lost 17 inches. Waist -4 inches, hips -1 in, abductors -3 in, chest -3 in, arms -1 in each, and thighs -2 in in each! Are these not amazing numbers! She got the inches lost in all the right spots, and she looks amazing and gorgeous! Tracy now feels comfortable in her own skin. She wears clothes that fit her and feels comfortable doing that as well. She loved the format of the challenge group because the members help you to be accountable, and when you feel down they pick you up. The support is out of this world. Tracy gives some great advice to our challenge group. I feel so blessed and honored that she trusted me to help her in this journey. She has given our group so much support and encouragement and it wouldn't be the same without her in it! 

    What does Tracy have to say now that she has completed two Beachbody Programs? "I am in better shape now at 41 then I have ever been in! And above all I love that I started paying more attention to eating. We aren't perfect and we still have our treats and pizza nights for sure. But I am making better choices for myself, and for what my family is putting in their bodies. And finally now, that I have surpassed any goal I set for myself and didn't even think was possible (I lost 10 lbs more than the goal I had set!!!) I am learning balance in my eating, learning to enjoy food and be smart about it, but also to not have as much guilt if I have a not so good day!"

Before 

 

After

 

 

 

 

 

If you have been wanting to lose weight by yourself and have failed maybe you should consider joining one of my weight loss challenge groups. We offer accountability, daily food ideas, and support. Shoot me a message today, fitnic13@aol.com or find me on facebook.com/nicolemcduffiesfitness and send me a message there. I can't wait to help you to your goals like I helped Tracy!

Nicole McDuffie

Independent Beachbody Coach

 

Jenny's transformation

   Good evening everyone! I have been wanting to sit down and share the progress of one my challenger's, Jenny. We started this group as the Focus T25 test group since it was a new program this past summer. This challenge group was so active and I am proud of each one of the ladies in my group! Most of them have finished T25 and have gone on to do other Beachbody workouts so we decided to keep the group open and going. I have come to care for these ladies and have so much respect for each one of them! Because of their commitment to the workouts and nutrition they are all getting amazing results! So I am sure that you will be reading more of these success stories!

   Jenny has two kids, a husband, works full time, and has many other responsibilities along with a very active family life. It would be so easy for her to skip out on her workout, or to pick up fast food for dinner. It would have been easy for her to make excuses. She doesn't though, this lady is the picture of dedication and even worked out in her camper while on vacation! She decided this past May that enough was enough and she has shown up each and every day.

   

   She put her whole self into this and because of that has gotten some serious results. With her program T25 she put in 25 minutes a day 5 days a week, that is the level of commitment for this program. No spending hours away from her family at the gym or getting up hours ahead of her family to go to the gym! I am so proud of Jenny for committing to this program and seeing it to the end.

   She trusted me when I told her that this program would work to help her lose weight and inches. I know you see these programs on infomercials and wonder if it really works, or if those before and afters are real. Well this one is real! You are scared to invest because maybe it won't work and it will just collect dust on the shelf right? I have to say that the a huge part of it collected dust or not is the support that you get out of these groups! The people in the group keep you accountable to the food you are eating, the workouts, they are there for you when you are having a down day, or when you are having a great day and the bond is irreplaceable! 

Jenny's results with T25:

Waist: 10"

Thighs: 3.5"/3"

Arms: 2.5" off of both

Hips: 9"

Neck: 2.7"

For a total of: 28.2 inches! Isn't that amazing? That is not all before T25, Jenny, did another Beachbody program called Turbojam. Between this program and T25 she has lost a total of 70.2 inches and 50lbs! That is some serious dedication and I can't begin to describe how inspiring this woman is to me! 

Weight loss support groups are unique and here is what Jenny had to say about ours:

Are you looking for that type of support? Join my next weight loss support/challenge group starting October 28th, and get a jump start on that New Year's resolution! 

Nicole McDuffie

Independent Beachbody Coach