Join my team! Earn additional income working part time. Want a manicure? An occasional pair of shoes? maybe save for a vacation? I can help! Email me: jennyabeauregard@gmail.com or find me on facebook!
Gosh. How far we come in life. Truly everything happens for a reason. I remember this month of May back in 2010. I had a complete hatred for myself. Lacking in self confidence, hated my body, was sick ALL THE TIME, felt I was good at NOTHING. On top of it, I was sick. I was in and out of chemotherapy treatments for ovarian cancer, and in COMPLETE denial. I hid everything as much as I possible could, and crept into a little hole of despair. One afternoon I remember looking in the mirror at myself for the the first time in a while. I really wouldn't allow myself to look very long back then. But this moment I did. I didn't understand how my life had reached this point. I didn't understand why it was so unfair and out to get me. I had an obsession with fast food and I blamed everything on the fact that I had depression, anxiety and cancer. It become a ridiculous crutch for which I used as an excuse for everything. It was the reason for my failures and the reasons I couldn't function as a normal adult. My mind was poisoned with negativity, self loathing and I hated the world and it seemed to hate me. It was an ultimate low and I had finally hit a rock bottom enough to make a change.
Have you ever heard of the compound effect? It is the principle of
reaping huge rewards from a series of small, smart choices. Our present
reality is an outcome of the little, seemingly innocuous decisions that
have added up to your current bank balance, waist line, business
success, relationship status, etc."
This compound effect can change your life for the better or for the worst. The first half of my life I let the latter take over. But around this time in 2010 I began to change my thoughts. It was a SLOW SLOW SLOW process. You get to the point where you just cannot live a certain way any longer. You are forced to change or continue to disappoint yourself. It began with my physical appearance. I began to realize that I could not function at the weight I was at and I hated myself for it. But I slowly changed my thoughts to decide that I indeed was WORTH a change. That I COULD be that success story. And so I changed my thoughts. I began to realize that WHAT I put in my body and what I did with it affected the way it functioned (DUH!). So I began to workout and slowly change my nutrition and I allowed myself to grow mentally to be disciplined enough to change. But after all that I still disliked myself. I did not think I was enough. You see, I had always envisioned that I would do something GREAT. I was not near living up to that. I was still "a failed singer", and negativity surrounded my thoughts day after day. I remember slowly making decisions to knock it off. It took YEARS. I began to focus on that physical transformation. My cancer went in and out and ironically coming during times of deep negativity on my part. With cancer came the anxiety and depression. However, my weight was coming off, and I was for the first time, becoming consistent with diet and exercise.
And i began to change. Slowly over YEARS I lost weight and suddenly I looked in the mirror and saw someone I could get on board with. In that SAME month I was pronounced in remission from Ovarian cancer. The SAME month that my thoughts about myself began to change. The same month that I began to see a glimpse of what I knew I could be. It was still a long road. and it wasn't until I started coaching others on their goals that I began reading personal development. I read them every day. They have made me powerful, and I realized that I HAVE THE POWER TO CONTROL MY THOUGHTS AND MY LIFE! I get to choose happiness. I get to choose LIFE or depression and anxiety. I had made the choice to let me life become what it had become. It was all on ME. I am posting this workout video from this morning, it is called Friday FIght from Insanity Max 30. The workout is ridiculous, one of the hardest I've ever done. I did this workout this morning with very little sleep and a million things happening in my life that could have pulled me away. But the goal of the workout is to have your MIND take control over your body. When your body wants to stop, it is up to your mind to feed it life and tell it to keep going. You can see at the end of this video that my mind was fighting it. FIGHTING my body that wanted to quit. I realized today that this workout is a lot like my life. I got to choose my fate. It is not always easy, but I have to get up and push and CHOOSE success and happiness.
Now I am powerful. My mind is full of love, and I see people as good and full of life. I see hope, and I feel alive. I am trying things I would never try before. I have proved to myself that I am capable of anything. This credit goes to me. I am finally standing up and claiming my self worth. I am standing up and claiming that I have VALUE, and I can choose my fate. I choose to not let anxiety effect me. I choose to be the best version of myself. I can look at myself in the mirror and be accepting of ME (though we always have more things to work on). The compound effect rewarded me greatly. Those little steps over time have saved my mind and my life. So change your mindset. Start small and see the fruitful rewards you can reap from loving yourself.
Be a part of something amazing. Be a part of my team of Beachbody coaches that change lives including your own. We are ranked 304 out of 300,000 coaches in the company. We have passion, drive, and we are going to the top.
About 6 years ago when we were living in Tucson, I was at my heaviest
weight. I had gone from 112 pounds in undergrad to 175-180 pounds (and that is only when I actually weighed myself). The funny thing is, I didn't even notice I had gained the weight. I knew I was a bit chunkier than usual, but when I looked in the mirror, my mind played tricks on me, and I was somehow convinced that I wasn't that far off from the 112 pound frame I once carried. I think that I chose to ignore it. I pushed the weight gain so deep within me because I was utterly convinced it didn't matter to me how I looked, and how I felt. I pretended to be ok with it, and I think after so long of telling myself "I am not overweight", "I am healthy", or "size doesn't matter to me, I actually believed it. It didn't matter how much more weight I had to gain.
I could insert a paragraph here about how looks do not matter and it is about the INSIDE etc, but I am not going to and pretend that I do not care about the way I look. I care now, and I cared then, but chose not to admit it to ANYONE, especially myself. We all care. I think we care so much because when we are ACTUALLY confident in our outside appearance, it REALLY DOES HELP with the inside (for me anyways). My mother would tell me she admired me for my confidence even through the weight gain. But inside I was not. Far from it.
Here is what an average day would look like for me: I would wake up
in the morning and look forward only to the food in my day. I would plan out where I
would eat and WHAT I would eat and that was the only thing that got me
out of bed. I would drive to McDonald's and stop for lunch,
order a Coke or a Milkshake (or both) Fries and Chicken Nuggets (the 10
piece). I would eat it in the car in the parking lot before my classes
started. Then I would throw away the evidence and pop in a breath mint,
and go to school.
Then the whole day I would look forward to what I would eat for dinner.
On the way home, I would stop at Wendy's for dinner, get a double
cheeseburger and french fries and another coke and then the same
routine. I wouldn't want my Boyfriend to know, so I would throw away the
packaging, spray an air freshener, and pop another breath mint. AND THEN I would go home and eat dinner WITH my boyfriend.
Not to mention the bagels, the sammy's the ice cream trips etc etc etc. YUCK. Do you think I just ate away my insecurities? I do, but I also think I wasn't well rounded enough in my life to have anything else to look forward to.
My insecurities stemmed from unpleasantness I felt physically and mentally. I remember being so extremely uncomfortable especially because
it was HOT in Arizona. I had to wear shorts under my dresses so that my thighs
didn't chafe and get raw. Even though it was hot, I had to wear Spanx
under my clothes to suck in my love handles just to fit into them, as I
couldn't really afford to keeping buying new clothes from the weight I
was gaining. I was hot all the time. I remember once someone very close to me suggested "maybe if you lost some weight, you wouldn't feel so hot all the time." That STUNG. At the time, I had a wild temper, and I retorted back with something about not being fat and stormed off.
In another instance, a good friend (and now a best friend) pointed out something to me that was completely embarrassing. I cringe as I write this...I was SO UNAWARE of my body growing and of my size, that I neglected to adequately adjust specific articles of clothing...in this case, my bra size. Having gained some boobs (YAY!) from the weight gain, my friend said to me" girl, you are wearing the wrong bra size. It is way too small. You need to go get remeasured." I was COMPLETELY MORTIFIED. I was angry at her, and angry with the world. So, I reluctantly went with her to the mall to get remeasured. The size I was presently wearing was a 34 A and I measured at a 36 D!!! This completely shocked me and I believe it was the first step towards accepting my weight gain. I cannot thank my friend enough for her frankness.
Even though I hid it from the world and from myself, I felt completely unattractive. I didn't even bother to dress up because I thought, "what is the point?". I would counter that by thinking "I am not really that big. Everything is fine". It was a CONSTANT mind game. I would trick myself into thinking I was fine and then ALL the signs would point to unhealthiness and weight gain. I ignored all the signs that my body was failing me: -constant low energy -napping 2-3 hours a day -fainting spells -low blood sugar levels and hypoglycemia -dizziness every day -nauseousness every day -vomiting most days for no reason -high levels of anxiety -feeling overheated -my skin on my arms began breaking out into rashes
HELLLLLLLOOOO?????? Wake up Jenny!!! I went to the doc searching for any solution. But it was right in front of me. After taking in these clues from family, friends, and how I was feeling I began to accept the weight gain. It took a CANCER DIAGNOSIS for me to really sit down and look at my life, my habits and really truly SEE myself. It all came into focus after a round of chemo where I had lost 10 pounds. I saw a picture of myself 10 pounds heavier and I became overcome with realization of what I had been doing to my body. I
had gained 60-70 pounds in 3-4 years, and I sat there with all those symptoms listed above and possible death sentence. So one day at a time, I changed. A simple change from soda to water allotted me a 10 pound loss. A slow implementation of physical activity (when I could with chemo), was integrated. I began to research and started learning how to cook and make healthier choices. Now those pounds are gone. The low energy, fainting, dizziness, vomiting, rashes, napping and feelings of insecurity are gone. The CANCER is gone.
I am a better person now because I love who I am. I had to feel confident, and my body needed to be healthy to have the energy to even feel confidence, and yes, I needed to feel attractive on the outside to begin working on the inside. Yes, I will be judged for saying this, but I am only saying what I truly feel. I am telling you this now because I know others out their can relate. It
IS possible to change your life. You CAN break through this! You CAN be
healthy, happy and feel good about yourself. It starts with ONE SMALL
change.
If I can help you in any way, write to me at jennyabeauregard@gmail.com or find me on FB and send me a message.
It is a Sunday night and you have ordered a pizza, curled up on your couch with your family and are watching TV. You have told yourself over and over that TOMORROW you will do something about your weight, and your health. Countless Sunday's you have spent saying that Monday begins a new week and you will get on track then. You want to do this because you feel low in energy, are lacking in confidence, maybe your clothes are not fitting the same as they used to. Every Monday you wake up with the same determination to do it and stick to it this time! You get up, and make a healthy breakfast and head out the door and are positive this will be the day!!!....and that is where it stops. You get to work and your colleagues invite you to dine with them, or it is girl scout cookie time of year and those adorable girls are looking up at you with puppy dog eyes wanting to feed you endless boxes of thin mints, or someone has a birthday and the office is celebrating with soda and cake. So you feel overwhelmed and you give in.
Then you get upset with yourself for not being able to commit once again and you come home and order Chinese food and think of every excuse in the book to not continue: "It is ok, I am not that unhealthy. This is a busy time in my life and I'll start again when things calm down. This isn't THAT bad for me. I have had a hard day and I deserve to eat this." So you just binge eat and continue to feel self conscious and out of control. The problem is probably that you are OVERWHELMED. You decide to commit to a diet and just like most people, you try to change too much all at once. You decide to workout AND cut carbs, fats and eat low calorie foods. You are not going to eat past 7pm, and instead of going out to eat you are going to pack your lunch.
The key for me, was committing to a new lifestyle and making slow changes that you can STICK to. Here are 5 steps to take to get you started this Monday without the overwhelmed feeling: 1. REASONABLE WORKOUT GOALS Commit to a workout of some sort 3 days a week for 30 minutes. A big mistake that is often made is that we over commit and decide we will go to the gym every day for hours on end. How sustainable is this in the long term? No wonder so many quit after the first week or even the first few days. No one has time for that. Do some research and find an effective workout with a REASONABLE goal. SOOOO many times I have seen people go in full force with nothing but good intentions, but end up stopping all together from not being able to commit so quickly to unrealistic gym goals. So do 30 minutes, 3 days a week for the first month. When this is mastered, move on. 2. CUT OUT SOMETHING. Pick ONE food group to work on. If you are like me and tend to overdo the carbs, dial it in for a month. stick to 3 or 4 healthy carb options in a day. If dessert and junk food is your problem, vow to cut out something for the month. 3. ADD SOMETHING IN. When you cut out something, you must find a replacement. There is nothing worse than cutting out something like soda and not succeeding because you need a replacement drink to help you get through the cravings. So...cutting out soda? Add in more water and drink sparkling water with lemon. Cutting out dessert? Research recipes that are natural ingredients and can satisfy your need for sweets. 4. WRITE DOWN your goals. You are 80% more likely to achieve them if you write them down. Do not try to go overboard. Make the changes written above, write them down, and just focus on those. Let your body adjust and then continue to make more changes. 5. COMMUNICATE It is important when start your journey to communicate your new goals and reasons to those closest to you and those you spend most of your time with. You cannot expect them to read your mind. Sit down anyone you live with and express that you are going to make some changes and let them know what they are. Ask them to support you in your decision and to help you to stick with it. Do the same with friends, co-workers etc. When you communicate your needs, you can be more successful. 6. ACCOUNTABILITY Find someone you like and trust to hold you accountable in your new journey. This should be someone that you know, but that is not too close to you. An acquaintance or co-worker that you can check in with each day to talk about your progress. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP!! Accountability is one of the biggest keys to your success.
Most of all, believe in yourself. Tell yourself everyday "I can, I will". Don't try too much at once. Change your lifestyle and slowly, overtime, a healthy lifestyle will just be automatic.
Patience A recent injury to my intercostal muscles (the muscles in between your ribs) has really been a lesson in patience for me. I have spent nearly 2 months doing the hardest workout program in my entire life. I have pushed, cried, sweat, grunted and had to talk myself through several times of thinking I could not continue. I have broadcast my journey all over facebook so that I could keep myself accountable and finish this program. This injury (though not a big deal) is extremely painful and has caused me to discontinue my workouts for the past 3 days. This frustrates my to no end, especially after all the work I have put in to get myself in amazing shape. Normally, I would be extremely stubborn and continue to workout regardless of the injury and I would not listen to my body. I would not have enough patience to just lie on the couch all day waiting for my body to heal. But I realize that I will only further my injury if I am not patient. And so I am learning patience. It's ok to Make Mistakes I am gonna be real with you. I have accepted that I cannot workout and pushed through that disappointment, however I went off course with my nutrition when I should have been eating even more strictly. I tell the people that I coach, "Nutrition is 80% of your progress. Get that under control first and foremost" and here I am eating a cupcake and way too much sushi. So I've decided to listen to my own advice, because well, it is good advice. Just because I have a slight setback towards my goals doesn't mean it all has to come crashing down. I let myself off the hook briefly, but I am catching myself before it gets bad. I am on track today with my nutrition, drinking my Shakeology, and eating whole foods in moderate proportions. I open a show tonight in which I am singing the lead, and it is all the more important that I eat foods that will help me heal and give me the energy I need to be my best, even with this injury. I am living proof that what you put in your body can make or break you, and hey, I am far far far from perfect and even though I believe that proper nutrition aided my eventually remission from Ovarian Cancer, I sometimes slip up and forget that powerful effect. And so, I make mistakes, but I learn from them and grow. Character Growth Comes from the Inside So instead of wallowing in self pity over losing all the work I have put into my fitness regime, I have had some down time to reflect and do personal development. I have been able to work on myself from the inside, and really remind myself of the bigger picture. Success in any form means building yourself from the inside AHEAD of your outside so that in times of need, you can withstand the situation with grace and a strong foundation. I have reminded myself in this reflection time that character growth is more important than the physical physique I have goaled myself to reach. In these 3 days I have been able to re-focus my attention. Vanity: wanting to look good is natural, but it isn't everything So let me be real with you again. I care about how I look. It is what motivated my journey to weight loss from the beginning. It is what prompted my to buy the 21 Day Fix and get me in shape for my wedding. I am not going to sit here and pretend that I am not motivated by the idea of what I want my body to look like. But everything happens for a reason, and in these days of no exercise and I have had time to really look deep within myself and realize that I am much more than the body I want to have. This 3 days of reflection has reminded me that I need to eat well NOT because I have a fear of weight gain, but because my body needs it to function and because I am worth it. I owe it to the cast of La Femme Boheme, to my husband who has bent over backwards to support me in my health journey, and to the people whom I coach and speak to daily about their goals. This is NOT about my body. It is about my overall health and happiness and about helping as many others as possible to have the same. Though I will always care about my physique, I need to remember what really matters. So I re-adjust my journey. It happens. I will rest until I feel my body is ready and here is what I will do until then and even when I am back to working out: 1. Drink a ton of water 2. Read personal development and keep my mind fresh, positive and engaged 3. Dive in and really reach out and help more people 4. Eat as clean as possible 5. Re-evaluate my deep down reason "why" for ever aspect of my life 6. Focus on loving my husband and appreciating more openly all that he does for me In my next entry, I'll let you know of my progress with these goals.
This past weekend at the Beachbody Super Saturday event, the CEO of Beachbody announced the biggest news since Shakeology: Beachbody is FINALLY going Digital!! This means if you are a club member, you can stream workouts from a digital link ANYWHERE without those pesky DVD's skipping and scratching. Forgot your dvd's??? No problem, just use your digital version. Apple laptop doesn't have a DVD drive? PROBLEM SOLVED! This ill be a better experience for customers AND coaches. Watch the announcements here!
Step 1: Look at your schedule Decipher your schedule for the week and decide when you are busiest and going to be out of the house. You need to figure out what meals and snacks you need to have planned and ready to take wth you. Mark those in your calendar. Step 2: Research recipes on Pinterest. Type in 21 Day Fix and explore the endless amounts of recipes available to you. There are several blogs with great options. Make sure your look at your schedule and figure out how many simple "go-to" meals you need. Make sure your recipes include simple recipes with minimal ingredients that you can make quickly, as well as a few recipes that are fun, and tasty but would take more time to make. TIP: Every meal does not have to be different. Make double to amount to have leftovers for the next day. Step 3: Look at your Fix booklet and make sure you have a balanced mix of all the containers and food groups. Step 4: Make a list From the recipes you've picked out for each meal, make a grocery list of everything you need. Step 5: SHOP Step 6: Prep what you can. Make rice, quinoa, etc and dice and wash fruits and veggies. Also prep anything that you can have in advance and store in the freezer until you are ready. Do this as SOON as you are home from the grocery store. Then this will be done and off your mind. ENJOY! You got this!
BONUS: Here is a video about how much you will actually eat!
