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Don’t Be Like ME!

Apr_help_wantedIt took me 4 years to jump into coaching…WHY WHY WHY did I wait so long?! If I only I could have told myself THEN, what I know now…it would go something like this:

 

Dear Old Me,
You should not wait another minute! You know that thing you’ve been considering, that looks too good to be true. It’s not. You will be SO passionate about being a coach, that you would do it for FREE…but you’ll make money anyway! Actually, you’ll make enough money in just a year and a half, to help your family take 2 vacations and open up some additional college savings accounts!
Earnings_April13-14
What could you do with an extra $1,400/month!?
Also, you know that Facebook profile picture that you’ve had up since Facebook was invented, because you HATE having your picture taken and you don’t have any others to choose from? Well, you’ll have SO much more self-confidence that you’ll not only allow pictures of yourself taken, you won’t delete them from the camera anymore, and you’ll FINALLY change that profile picture….SEVERAL times! (Also, you’ll have an entire Facebook page where you post pictures of yourself almost daily!…sometimes in just a pair of shorts and a bra top!!!)
– Somebody get the smelling salts…’Old Me’ just passed out!! –
Get this…you know those pounds that you keep packing on and can’t seem to figure out WHY? Even though you’ve run 5 marathons, you’re still not seeing the results you want to see. There are programs that will work better than anything you’ve ever tried. AND you can do them at home, and ask your friends and family members to do them with you! Your friends will workout with you, and your family members will all get RIDICULOUSLY fit! Your husband will lose like 40 pounds, because he sees you getting fit and healthy and he wants to join you! 
Remember how you were nervous you wouldn’t know what to do, or how to do it? PSH! You’ll meet such a cool bunch of people that will help you and encourage you along the way! You’ll meet new friends and have a BLAST!
Oh and by the way…you know that friend who warned you that it was a pyramid scheme…it’s NOT!!! P.S….ALL corporations are structured like pyramids!
pyramid_scheme
The only difference here, is that YOU get the opportunity to be a the top of your own pyramid! And you’ll get there by HELPING others succeed! *A little different than a traditional corporation!
Don’t wait 4 more years to jump on this opportunity! Do it today and you’ll be amazed at the many positive changes that will come from it! You’ll lose 24 pounds, gain killer confidence and help hundreds of people get fit and confident, too! It’s the most rewarding thing you’ll ever do!
What are you waiting for? There’s NO risk…if you don’t love it, you can quit, any time!! (But you WILL love it! I KNOW!!!)
Love,
The NEW Me!

I’m excited to announce another 30 Day NEW Coach Training group!

One of the reasons people hesitate to sign up is that they fear they won’t know what to do, or how to do it (I had that fear)! That’s why I run these groups for new coaches! I am going to walk you through EVERYTHING you need to go to get you up and running; building and growing your own successful coaching business!

*Sorry, not available to coaches, or anyone already working with a coach.

My next group will start on Monday, May 12.  Deadline to get signed up is Sunday, May 4. 

With consistent work, growing and building your business, you can expect your income to double every 6-12 months.

I sat on the fence for 4 years! My only regret about coaching is that I didn’t start sooner! Don’t make my mistake. If you’ve been on the fence…get OFF! If you’re ready, or just want more information, fill in the form below and we’ll talk about how you can get started, too. 🙂

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Dressed for SUCCESS!

It’s well documented that I am in love with making my own salad dressing! It’s SO easy, clean, and delicious! It really just takes a few ingredients, as opposed to the bottled dressings that list a PARAGRAPH of ingredients that almost entirely unrecognizable! This is my latest, greatest, bestest, most favoritest homemade salad dressing! This is yet another recipe from the popular 21 Day FIX program. I just modified a few of the ingredients to my taste. 🙂

 

Dijon Vinaigrette

(Makes 8 servings)

3 T. red wine vinegar

2 T. fresh lemon juice

3 T. Dijon mustard

1 T. honey

2 cloves garlic chopped

¼ t. Sea salt (I like to substitute 1/2 t. Mrs. Dash or Spike no-salt seasonings)

¼ t. ground black pepper

6 T. extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:

  1. Combine vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, honey, garlic, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl; whisk to blend.
  2. Slowly add oil while whisking; mix well

Tip: Store leftover dressing in a covered container (I like to use Ball jars) in the fridge. I often double this recipe, because my husband likes to take some of it to work. If dressing thickens when cold, hold at room temp. for 30 minutes and stir before serving.

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Things I ❤! Thursday

Today I am LOVING our CSA farm! Do you know what CSA is? I’ve talked about it on my little blog here before, but it stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and I am a BIG fan!

stone_coop

I found out about this whole concept a few years ago and I was immediately interested! When we moved to Michigan a few years back, I was on a mission to find a farm near us where I could get involved. I found Stone Coop Farm in Brighton, Michigan – run by the 2 smartest, friendliest farmers you’ll ever know! It is clear, from the second you meet Joannée and Shannon that they are truly working their life’s passion. All of the produce, and eggs are certified organic and non-gmo. Which is becoming more and more important as we learn about the less than stellar sources for the foods we’ve been eating.

As a CSA member, you pay for a share of the farm’s harvest. So for us, that means that every week, we go to the farm and pick up our weekly share. Depending on the season, we get anywhere from 5-10 different veggies. I have been introduced to some new and exciting produce that I had never tried before. It’s kind of fun actually to cook based on what I get in my share each week. It forces me to look up new recipes and try new things! We are now hooked on kale and kohlrabi as a result of our farm share.

Of course, I’m totally spoiled too…I can hardly stand to eat a store tomato anymore! The colors and varieties of veggies are astounding! I never knew there were purple peppers and beans! Or purple and yellow carrots! Tomatoes come in so many shapes, sizes and colors, but sadly…we usually only ever see 2-3 varieties in our grocery stores. In the grocery store, we get red and round tomatoes, because they pack, stack and keep longer than the farm fresh varieties. The produce we get from grocery stores are genetically modified to look the same, keep longer for shipping and be uniformly sized and shaped so that they can be boxed and displayed efficiently. And guess what they DON’T have…TASTE!

This is going to be my third year as a ‘helping share’ member. That means that I actually work a little for the farm and in exchange, I get a discount on my share! Cool right! My “job” is to work at the local farmers’ market on the weekends and sell our beautiful produce. I like talking to the customers and ask them what they’re making to eat with the goodies they buy! I’ve gotten some pretty good ideas!

And I’ve LEARNED so much! Joannee and Shannon are a wealth of information! Our kids have gotten involved, too. We’ve taken them out to the farm to help out quite a bit. They like to hang out with the chickens and squish tomato worms – the nastiest, fattest, green caterpillar – things you’ve ever seen! And we’ve discovered that when you step on them, they pop like a tomato juice-filled water balloon! YUCK!

Anyway…I’m excited because summer is just around the corner. I just got my first of 5 spring shares that will have a lot of nice green leafy veggies that they grow in hoop houses in the dead of winter in Michigan! I’m in awe of everything they do, and I’m so proud to be a part of it! I love knowing that our food is fresh, clean, local, organic, and non-gmo. . I highly suggest supporting your local farms! If you can find a CSA – GREAT! If not, make sure you check out your local farmers markets, but ask a lot of questions! Not all booths at a farmers markets, are actual farmers…or selling food from actual farms! Get involved, and be informed!

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Need a Chocolate FIX?

I didn’t know what else to call these. I could have gone with: “Super-food, Chocolaty Nut Balls”, or “Balls of Chocolate Goodness” (nah!), or maybe “Super-food Nutrition & Protein in One Delicious Little Bite of Nutty Chocolate”? Whatever you like to call them, they’re a hit at my house!

*TIP: Hide them if you want to keep them around for more than a day!

Chocolate Nutty Bites! 

  • 1 Cup old-fashioned oatschocolate_nutty_bites
  • 1/3 C. raw walnuts
  • 1/3 C. raw almonds
  • 1 Scoop Chocolate Shakeology
  • 1/4 t. cinnamon
  • pinch of sea salt
  • 1 t. vanilla
  • 1/4 C. honey
  • 1/4 C. applesauce

 

Directions

  1. Place dry ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend or pulse just until a course meal is formed.
  2. Transfer to a bowl. Add wet ingredients and stir.
  3. Wet hands and roll into rounded teaspoon-sized balls. You should get around 16 with this recipe.
  4. Put into the freezer to firm-up (about 10 minutes). Transfer to a Ziploc bag or air-tight container. I keep mine in the freezer and pop one out when I need a little something sweet.

 

78 calories & 4 grams protein

 

 

 

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FREE – Five Day – SHAPE-UP!

spring_shape-up

Yep! It’s FREE!

Next week:

March 17-21

Give me 5 days and here’s what I’ll give you!

  • A FREE 5 – day meal plan with recipes AND a shopping list!
  • Daily Support
  • Daily Motivation
  • Daily Tips
  • Daily Accountability

We’ll have a private group on Facebook for daily communications and accountability. You will be amazed what you can accomplish in 5 days! We’ll all commit to exercising a minimum of 30 minutes each day. Combine that with the daily meal plan, support, accountability and your TOTAL dedication and you might just knock your own socks off! The last time I did this plan…I lost 4 pounds, in just 5 days! It’s not uncommon to lose 5-7 pounds! You won’t be starving either. I am not a fan of starving myself! EVER!

*This group is for NON-coaches only, and for those who are not currently working with a coach.

Interested?

Fill in the information below to get ready to SHAPE-UP! 🙂

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CONGRATULATIONS WINNERS!

Giveaway

I wanted to congratulate the 2 winners of the Shakeology samples and shaker cups!

Michelle Granzow and Heather Beech – ENJOY!

 

If you’re interested in trying a sample of Shakeology yourself, or just want more information about it, please send me an email, or go HERE to read more!

 

 

 

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Whatcha Eatin’ Wednesday

FREE Salad (& Dressing ) Recipes!

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receip_button

Oh. Em. Gee! This dressing is MONEY! I’m looking all over my house for things to put it on! Celery, carrots, spoons, bowls! I don’t buy dressing of any kind anymore, I just find it so much easier and healthier to make my own. Not to mention the artistic freedom I have, creating works of salad-topping art! Typically, I work in oils and vinegars…until my latest discovery…

Creamy Avocado “Ranch” Dressing!

avocado_ranch

*This recipe was inspired by a dressing recipe from “The 21 Day Fix”. I just had to tweak a few amounts and ingredients for my taste!
 
 

WHAT IS THE 21 DAY FIX?!

 Ingredients

  • 1 medium avocado (cut into chunks)
  • 1 C. non-fat Greek yogurt
  • 4 T. finely chopped herbs (I used dill, chives and parsley)
  • 2 garlic cloves (minced)
  • 3 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 1/4 C. low-fat buttermilk (more to adjust consistency if desired)
  • Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste (lots of pepper for me!)
  • 1/3 C. extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

  1. Place avocado, yogurt, herbs, lemon juice, buttermilk, garlic, salt and pepper in a blender; cover (duh!). Blend until smooth.
  2. Continue blending avocado mixture, slowly adding oil until well-blended. *Use more buttermilk if you prefer a thinner consistency.
  3. Store in the frig, tightly covered, until ready for use. I filled a pint Ball jar to the top!

*This is tasty on salads, but also a great dip for raw veggies – and spoons! 😉

Best News: There are only 34 calories in 1 Tablespoon of this dressing…so go ahead and have 2!

Bestest News!: All of the ingredients are SUPER clean and healthy. I bet you can pronounce EVERY one of them! Well…”herbs” can be a little tricky. The “H” is silent! 😉

Unlike THIS chemical ____ storm ingredient list! YIKES! What the heck is disodium inosinate? My spell-checker doesn’t even recognize those as words, let alone FOOD! Blech!

HVR_OrgLht_8oz_71100-00576

EAT REAL FOOD!!! 

What’s on SALE this month?!

 

 

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Time for a GIVEAWAY!

Giveaway

Who doesn’t love a giveaway? I’m excited to share 3 flavor samples: (chocolate, strawberry and vanilla)

plus a handy shaker cup with 2 lucky winners!

Just enter below to win!

You have until midnight on Sunday to enter. Winners will be announced on Tuesday.

*Offer not available to coaches, or anyone working with another coach.

So, IF you’re not a coach, and don’t currently have a coach, you’re eligible to win! 🙂

Just click the link below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Yes YOU!

21 Days, COMPLETE fitness and nutrition plan, AMAZING results!

*UPDATE: Limited Supply! Base kits have sold out until the end of March! Challenge Packs still available…read below!

Now there’s a program that makes losing weight so simple and easy to follow, you’ll never have to diet again! Counting calories and points can be a PAIN! You won’t need to do any counting with this program! And the workouts are just 30 minutes/day! Everyone can find 30 minutes!

Watch this video:

What about results?

21Results-Collage

Order HERE!

 

What is the 21-Day Fix?

A total body reset with ‘normal foods’! 🙂 The 21 Day Fix was designed to be tough and effective. But it’s also a program that takes the guesswork out of weight loss. It’s a unique portion-control system combined with easy-to-follow workouts that fit into anyone’s busy schedule.

The program’s trainer, Autumn Calabrese, has designed a plan that is the key focal point in this 21  day program. As you may know already, the Beachbody Ultimate Reset is a power 21-day total body cleanse that will give you insane results! However, the menu and foods can be quite intense and over-whelming. Well…good news. Autumn took the 21-Day Reset philosophy and broke it down using more traditional foods and meal planning. Also, unlike the Ultimate Reset, you are still able to workout with the 21 Day Fix! YAY!

The Meal Plan

When you purchase the 21 Day Fix, you will get portion-controlled containers to measure all of your food. Furthermore, Autumn outlines everything so you don’t have to do any kind of counting. If it fits into the container, you can eat it! Just fix, go and eat! What I like about the program is that she realizes that the ideals behind the program are not short-term. This has to work in real life! So she allows you to have things like chocolate and wine! You will develop behaviors during the 21 days that will become habits that will turn into a healthy lifestyle! Anyone can do this program! And you can do it again and again. As long as you want results, or whenever you need a short re-boot, this is your go-to program!

 

The Workouts

The program consists of 7 different workouts. Each workout lasts just 30 minutes and they are mixed up over the 3 weeks. The workouts can be done anywhere with very little equipment. Many of the moves are done with just body-weight. You’ll want a couple of hand-weights, and that’s about it. You’ll do a little of everything: yoga, pilates, strength-training, plyometrics, etc! The workouts are basic enough for beginners and challenging enough for more advanced users.

 

Test Groups

Initial test group participants, with people who stuck with the program, lost up to 10-15 pounds! And the weight loss won’t come from starving or depriving yourself! You’ll eat healthy, balanced meals, with plenty of calories. This is Beachbody’s first program to place equal emphasis on the nutrition AND fitness components…together!

I have a test group slated to start February 17! There’s still time to get your program and join the group for support, accountability and motivation! As of yesterday, base kits have sold out and are expected to begin shipping again at the end of March. BUT, challenge packs (with Shakeology) are ON SALE in February only, and still available for $140, which is like getting the program for $11! And you can order yours HERE!

To sign up for the Test Group, please provide your information below.

 

 

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Open Letter to….

open-letter

This is a letter I was asked to write to a group of people in another coach’s challenge group who are struggling with self-confidence, body image issues and other feelings of negativity about themselves. They are either starting, re-starting or continuing on a journey of health and fitness. I was happy to share my story with them, and thought that it was worth sharing here, too.

“Dear Challengers,

I was honored when _____ asked me to write to you about my experiences and my personal journey with health and fitness.  I applaud you all for either getting started, or continuing on your own personal journeys. It’s not always an easy path, but it’s so rewarding…you’ll begin to WANT to keep going!

Even though I had always considered myself a fairly ‘healthy’ person, I didn’t realize that I had a lot of work to do! I have been pretty active my entire life, and enjoyed eating healthy foods, but as I approached my 40’s…it just wasn’t enough. I was slowly gaining weight, month by month, pound by pound. I was doing the same workouts, and eating the same kinds of food, but it just wasn’t working anymore! I tried to convince myself that it’s just what was meant to be. I couldn’t do anything more about it than I already was. I was kidding myself.

In the process, I was also becoming more unhappy and depressed by the day. I wasn’t happy with the way that I looked or felt. I wouldn’t allow a single picture of myself to be taken, and if there was…I would delete them! Isn’t that awful? Can you relate?

So I did something weird…I decided to put the cart before the horse, in a sense, and signed up to be a Beachbody coach in order to START my journey, and be accountable along the way. I started with Chalean Extreme and TurboFire, and lost 16 pounds and 20 inches! But I wasn’t done yet. Then I did Les Mills Pump, and then Insanity…and lost a grand total of 24 pounds within about 6-8 months! I’ve done several other programs since, to maintain and continue to get stronger each day.

I’m not done with my journey! I will never be done. This is a new lifestyle for me and my family. Seeing my success, my husband has now lost 25 pounds and looks and feels better than ever! We are both healthier and fitter than we were when we got married 20 years ago. We’ve made so many changes in our daily lives. We eat much healthier foods. We’ve eliminated most processed foods entirely. Working out is a priority, and we often do it together, which is so fantastic! It didn’t happen overnight. This all took time, persistence, failures, re-boots, etc…but I was committed no matter how long it took me.

As a result, my confidence is better than ever. I actually allow pictures of myself to be taken now, so there’s evidence that I am part of my family! I’m a happier, healthier mom for my four kids, and they’re all learning how to eat healthier, and be healthier, too!

My message to you is to keep going! Whether you stumble, or fall – just pick yourself back up and keep going. Make small changes every day, and celebrate your successes! Set small, achievable goals every day. Plan, schedule and prioritize! Once you start to see results, you’ll be addicted to the process!

Surround yourself with positive people, books, etc. Learn as much as you can about making healthy choices you can live with every day! Share your journey – ask a friend or loved one to join you. Keep a journal and document your thoughts, troubles, joys and achievements. Take monthly progress pictures to refer back to – trust me on this one! You’ll be glad you did it! Find exercises, workouts and physical activities that you LOVE! You might have to try a hundred things before you find your ‘soul-mate’ workout, but it’s out there! Try hiking, biking, walking, jogging, a new exercise dvd, etc….You might find SEVERAL! And that’s even better!  But whatever you do, never stop trying. You are worth this journey, your family is worth it, life is worth it! Consider the alternative! I know I want to age with as little pain and illness as possible, and there’s only ONE way to do that! You can’t control everything, but you can control your health. You owe it to yourself to be as healthy and happy as you can be!

When you struggle, remember WHY you started. Write down your goals, today! Write down your WHY, too! WHY are you trying to be healthier? When you have a ‘why’, you have a reason to commit, and recommit if you need to, every single day.

I wish you all the very best, and believe that you can all achieve anything you set your minds to! Go ahead and blow your own mind!

-Angie”