Boy, was I wrong.

So as most of you know, Lindsay has been a Team Beachbody coach for a few years now. For the majority of those years, I have been extremely skeptical of that whole process. I had the same reaction that most people have to a multi-level marketing company. Some of those reactions included: “That’s just another pyramid scheme!” “That’s too gimmicky!” However, over the last few months, I’ve changed my mind about this company. 

My mindset started to shift when I found Bodybeast, which is an at  home bodybuilding type program from Beachbody. Before this workout program, I was never a real DVD workout fan. I started that program and did it in totality. I loved it. During this time, I also started to be much more diligent about having Shakeology daily. It not only tastes amazing but it is all natural and its ingredients are sourced from  high quality verified farms. It has a whole host of benefits but the main reason I drink it, is to ensure that I’m getting what I am missing from my normal diet. It is like drinking a multi-vitamin. So, the products started to sell me on the company. I went ahead and signed up as a coach because we were killing some Shakeology each month and wanted the discount. And so it begins....

Each year, Beachbody has what they call their Coach Summit. Lindsay had wanted to go for a couple of years but it was never really been close to us. Last year, they announced it was coming to Nashville so she signed us up. We drove to Nashville to attend this summit and it was a truly amazing experience. From beginning to end, it is clear that Beachbody truly cares about their coaches. The whole weekend was spent giving back to them. This wasn’t the biggest selling point for me though. It was being around 25,000 other like-minded individuals who truly cared about the people they are helping. The overall theme of the weekend was Every One Matters. They lived that slogan throughout the weekend and its clear that everyone in the company from top to bottom believe in that motto daily. The other thing that blows me away about this company is that they truly exist to help people. Each of their products is designed to lead somebody to a healthier life. They offer a vast array of products and you’d be hard pressed to not find a product that works for you. After this weekend, I am completely blown away by this company and can't wait to have others share this company with me.

After listening to Dewitt Jones speak at Summit, it is clear to me that my passion for helping others needs to be rerouted. I have spent the last 10 years in public safety, which is a reactive line of work. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy doing public safety, but I feel like my passion is helping others before their life becomes a crisis. I am committed to helping others find their best self and maximizing their potential. Beachbody will be one of the main vehicles I use in helping people achieve their best. Please reach out to me if you need help on your journey. I am here to help.

In health,

Tim

Motivation: Where to Find It

Motivation is something that everyone seems to struggle with at some point in their lives. I am no different and find myself looking for external motivation when I can't seem to muster my own internal motivation. Before I get too carried away talking about motivation, let's define it. Dictionary.com defines it as providing a reason to act a certain way. Pretty simple, right? There's one word in there that causes some issues, REASON. Why is reason such a big deal? In order to find your motivation toward a goal, you have to have a reason. This is your WHY. WHY are you looking to achieve this goal? Your why is so very important to the success of whatever you are trying to achieve. If you have a strong why, then your motivation candle will burn that much stronger. The most important thing about your why is that it has to be YOUR why. You can't achieve your goals living on somebody else's why. It has to be for you.

So, once you have your why, you can look to find that motivation. Motivation comes in two forms: internal and external. Internal motivation is simply doing whatever it is because you find it rewarding.  It can be a hobby like painting that you find rewarding. You may start working out and find it rewarding because you feel great after it's done. Internal motivation does not come from anybody else, it is simply yours. Your health is often a strong internal motivator. Knowing that if you workout and improve your eating, your health will improve is often enough for people to flip the switch. Other times, people need external motivation from their doctors to achieve their health goals. An example would be exactly how I started my fitness and health journey. My doctor told me, after he checked my blood pressure, I need you to track your blood pressure for two weeks and come back to visit me. If at the end of that two weeks your numbers haven't improved, then I will put you on blood pressure medicine. My external motivation was avoiding medicine while my internal motivation was to not be a out of shape, unhealthy twenty year old.

As noted above, external motivation is doing an activity for a reward or to avoid some sort of punishment. Our challenge groups provide external motivation. It is rewarding to be patted on the back by your peers for a job well done and you tend to stick to your goals when somebody is going to call you out for not showing up. External motivation also comes from compliments you receive on how well you're doing with your health and fitness. Workout buddies provide external motivation in the same ways that our challenge groups do. If you leave your workout buddy hanging, I'm pretty sure you're going to hear about it. The idea of an accountability partner, in your journey towards a healthier you is a tremendous way to maintain your motivation without slip-ups. Our journeys are best traveled with both types of motivation helping us along as opposed to us trying to go it alone. If you don't have that accountability partner, join one of our challenge groups and let's get after it together. We love helping people find their why's and sharing the journey towards their goals. We'd love to have you. Thanks for reading and go help keep someone else accountable this week even if you don't quite have your stuff figured out. Find out more about our challenge groups (a new one every month) by following us HERE. Also on Instagram, Twitter, and will be reviving our YouTube channel soon.

In Health,

Tim

Review of Shakeology Boost Supplements

Beachbody has released a new line of supplements designed specifically to boost your Shakeology. They had been asked by their consumers to add some additional things to Shakeology. They played with the formula for Shakeology and found that adding directly to the formula was too much and changed the flavor profile of the shake too much. However, they persisted and now released three separate boosts for your daily Shakeology. Lindsay and I bought each of these at the Coach Summit last weekend so that we could give them all a try and let you know how they were. The first boost I will write about, is my personal favorite, Focused Energy.

The coach summit was a very rewarding experience but it was also a very long weekend. We got up Sunday morning to head back to Buckingham and I told Lindsay that I was going to give Focused Energy a try in my morning shake. I wanted to try it and see if I could use it in place of coffee and ditch coffee completely. If any of you know me, you know how much coffee I drink. So, we were up early Sunday morning and made a quick shake with Vegan Chocolate Shakeology, 2% Milk, and a scoop of Focused Energy. We packed up our stuff and hit the road. We stopped for gas about forty five minutes into the trip. As was routine for me, I grabbed a small cup of coffee since I was in the convenience store and off we went. I probably drank a few sips of coffee and realized that the Focused Energy was keeping my energy and focus up. I also didn’t notice the crash on the 8 hour trip home that I normally get with coffee. This was completely different than the trip down where our stops centered around Dunkin Donuts shops for a refill. Fast forward to today, I have not had a cup of coffee since that small cup Sunday morning. My energy level has been even all day and my focus has been awesome. I also used to take a supplement called Alpha Brain from Onnit(GREAT PRODUCT by the way), but don't feel that it is necessary with Focused Energy coupled with Shakeology. If you are a current Shakeology drinker, I can not recommend Focused Energy enough. It is an awesome product and kudos to the team at Beachbody for this formula.

I’ll next talk about the Digestive Health boost. One of the things that Beachbody has heard since 2006 was that there should be more fiber in Shakeology. I’ve never felt that way about Shakeology and have always thought that was a perk of drinking it(Increased Gastric Motility). However, Digestive Health is here to save the day for fiber lovers. Digestive Health boasts 7 grams of fiber, with 2 grams from soluble and 5 grams from insoluble sources. So what does that mean? Soluble fiber attracts water and forms a gel which slows stomach emptying and helps with feeling full longer and can also help lower “bad” cholesterol by interfering with the absorption of dietary cholesterol. Insoluble fiber does not dissolve in water and adds bulk to your diet. Insoluble fiber acts as a “street sweeper” of your GI tract and speeds up elimination of waste from your gut. Enough about fiber, does this stuff work? I have had it in my shakes every morning since returning from Nashville to help eliminate some of the junk in my system. It has proven remarkable. It has definitely increased my gastric motility around a 2 hour window of drinking the shake. It also makes your shake thicker which I love and tastes great. If you drink Shakeology and are still searching the shelves for more fiber, Digestive Health is your answer. Most americans only get half of their recommended daily intake of fiber, so if you think you’re deficient, give Shakeology and Digestive Health a try.

Speaking of something Americans don’t get enough of, GREENS! The last Boost that Beachbody released is Power Greens! According to the National Institute of Health, fewer than 1 in 10 americans get their recommended daily servings of Fruits and Vegetables. Most of you I know, don’t have trouble with the fruits but can’t stomach the amount of greens. Shakeology, by itself, provides some greens but in a small concentration. So, enter Power Greens. One scoop of Power Greens is like eating 2/3 cup of leafy greens, 1/3 cup of cucumber and 1/3 large celery stalk. This is a great addition to your Shakeology that gives you a great dose of greens in a great tasting shake. I eat a fair amount of greens and still feel like I could eat more. Power Greens is the best way for me to add greens to my diet without putting extra burden on my stomach. When adding this boost to chocolate Shakeology, it will make your shake green and little bit denser but I barely notice it’s in there.

All of these boosts add great value to an already phenomenal shake. If you are already a serious Shakeology drinker, give these boosts a try. If you don't drink Shakeology on a regular basis or never tried it, I’d urge you to get started today. Lindsay and I have been daily consumers for years - it's the best part of our healthy lifestyle.

In Health,

Tim