Decide. Commit. Succeed.

A couple of months ago I decided to take the plunge and started my own business as a fitness and wellness coach! While the business aspect has been a bit slow starting for me I have made incredible improvements in my health, fitness, personal growth and development and have made some amazing friends. To deter feelings of discouragement and defeat I have to keep reminding myself that, as with any start-up business, it takes time to start and grow your business. It doesn't all happen at once.

I chose this line of work because there are so many benefits and an infinite amount of learning criteria. The potential to earn is an incredible opportunity especially since I am a stay at home mom, but that is not the only benefit nor is it my main goal. Yes of course I want to create an income. I would love to be able to contribute financially for our family; help pay off the house, work our way to purchasing our second home, stay current and up to-date with our bills, be able to take our family on vacations, have financial freedom and comfort. Yes, with this business it is possible and it's definitely a motivator but it's not my main motivator. 

My motivation stems from the fact that I want to be my best self, to live my fullest and most wholesome life. To live healthy and strong, fit and confident. To gain experience, to continue learning and have the opportunity to help others find a way to live their lives fulfilled.

I long felt that I just didn't know what my purpose in life was. I was afraid to go to college because I was afraid it would end up being wasted money in a degree I would most likely never use. That was something I took note of growing up that happened to people around me and I didn't want that to happen to me. I didn't want a job where I was stuck behind a desk or a a career that I spent 80% of my day working. I was afraid to be tied down, suffocated and unhappy in a job I didn't feel passionate about. What job could I do that would actually mean something in my life? Not to say that any of the jobs my readers are working aren't good jobs, you may be very fulfilled with your career choices and that is fantastic and I am so glad for you. But for me I never felt a passion for anything I've really done. Until now.  

Looking back now, I see that it all has worked out the way it was meant to so far. The one thing I knew I wanted to be in my life was a mother. I had always looked forward to being a mom. Today I am blessed to say that I am a mother of two and I have the opportunity to stay home with them. During the frustrating moments I may take it for granted, but overall I would never want it to be any other way. One of the deciding factors of transitioning to staying home was my medical issues. When we first made the decision that I would officially quit my job I was severely sick with IBS, irritable bowel syndrome. It was the longest year of my life, longest two years until finally receiving an official diagnosis of Crohn's Disease. When I put the recent events of the last 5 years into perspective with my adult life, and lack of a career choice, I am extremely grateful for the way things have worked out. If I had made a career choice in my past I probably would have lost all of my success in whatever that career was after having kids and getting sick. If it had been a job I loved I would have been dealing with even more stress than I already was. I have been stuck in a tug-o-war between having to leave my job I loved and staying home with the kids to be a full-time mom and get my health back. I know parents, especially moms, have been there and it's not a decision I would want anyone to have to make.

My journey to live a healthier life began when I got sick. It allowed me to change my perspective and I learned that I need to take care of myself. I realized that the most important aspect of my life, the one that needs to be treated with respect, is ME. How can I live my best possible life if I am not taking care of me? You are the creator of your own happiness and that includes your health. This was one the biggest things I've realized in the past 2 years and it has led me to where I am now. 

I am finding the ways to live healthy, in as many aspects as I can. I am taking action and make changes to my daily life that will enable me to live everyday full and healthy. Yes, of course, I have my bad days. We all do. And this is only the beginning; this career choice, becoming a fitness and health coach, learning more about my self and how to live my best life. From this I have committed myself to my life and my journey. I have made a commitment with myself to use everyday as a new step to living a healthy life. And I am committing myself to my business and helping others along the way. That is my favorite part of this business, besides the required personal development. 

As a part of my commitment, I entered myself in the Beachbody Challenge for the program PiYo. My challenge started February 1st.  This challenge is a 60 day commitment to myself; my body and fitness, my nutrition and my self-discipline. As a part of this challenge I need to follow the program schedule and workout everyday. I also need to follow the PiYo Lean Eating guide, this is the part I slacked on the first time around using this program. The workouts aren't a biggy for me, I mean they are tough and they work you. But I've been doing them almost everyday for the last two months and they are my favorite workout. It is a combination of pilates, yoga, and cardio. The hardest part of this challenge is the eating! I really need to create stricter eating habits, which is ironic considering nutrition was the aspect of this whole wellness path that got me started. But I really needed to put my foot down and take action. Finishing this challenge will not only help me get, and stay, fit and active, it will also help me create better eating habits AND I'll get a free t-shirt and entered into a $$ prize drawing! 

During my prep-week the week before my challenge I had to really sit down and plan my first week! I needed to come up with a way to make sure I ate the proper amounts of everything and was eating the right foods! The eating guide simplifies this for you by giving you a calorie target plan and the number of servings you should be eating each day, of each food group per plan. That was the simple part. The hard part was making sure I actually was eating the right things, I wasn't skipping meals or binge eating at night. Carbs! Carbs have been the hardest part! I'm limited to two tiny servings of carbs. This is hard for a potato girl! However, I knew that this was my weakness so I had to figure out something to eliminate this hurdle. 

Enter in Food Prep Fridays! I scoured Pinterest for hours trying to find the perfect meal plan printable, however I ended up making one myself so that I could start my meal week on Friday. That's weird I know, but our payday is Thursday so that is the day we grocery shop and Friday's are also my "rest day". It just made sense to me to start the "weekly menu" on a Friday. It worked very well during week 1 and it even helped me stay on track with my eating over the weekend. Which I'm sure we can all agree that weekends are when our habits slack the most! I even created a little "portion tracker sheet" so that I can track my servings of each food category throughout the day! This has been really helpful because I have a clear visual of whether or not I am meeting the required amount of servings and foods. 

I have officially fallen in love with meal prep and having a designated "make ahead" day! I couldn't believe how much time I saved throughout the week by making my lunches ahead of time! This week my little man and I prepared our breakfasts and my lunches for the coming week. I decided in an attempt to cut down those carbs I would have salads for lunch everyday, this also is helping me get in those five servings of [fresh] vegetables. A big thank you to Pinterest and the infamous Mason Jar Salads!! I love mason jars! I use them for everything you could think of throughout the house as well as their original purpose, canning. But oh the inspiration I received from all of those Pinterest photos of mason jar salads! Ah-May-Zing! Seriously though, these things are fantastic! I did not once have to wonder this week "what am I going to eat for lunch?" I did not have to dirty any extra dishes during the week or take 15-30 minutes out of each day trying to come up with something healthy and then executing it. Grab a mason jar salad out of the fridge, empty contents into bowl or plate. Wah-la. Badabing. It's done! Keepin' It Simple.

My other big make ahead time saver for the week... Egg Muffins! Freaking genius! I eat eggs every single morning. No joke. Every morning its either two over-easy eggs or a two egg omelette with veggies. First things I consume everyday are coffee and then protein. Protein. Picture a zombie in the morning moaning "protein... must. have. protein." This is me, actually I'm not too zombie-ish, I'm one of those annoying "Good morning the sun is shining and you're beautiful" type of people. Just don't talk to me before I've had my coffee and protein, okay?! Anyway, back to the eggs! So if you're an egg eater that means you are standing over the stove every morning, dirtying a pan and a spatula and whatever else you need for your eggs...every day. I'm trying to be efficient here and get the most out of my day... cooking eggs is wasting my time. Again thank you Pinterest, for the inspiration to make egg muffins! So simple! My little man and I prepared 12 egg muffins with tomato, orange peppers and spinach. Each muffin is about 1 egg, so two of these adorable and tasty egg muffins is my serving of protein for the morning. Little man loves them too! Now all we have to do for breakfast the next 4 or 5 days is pop these muffins into the microwave and again Wah-la! Badabing! Time saved, nutrition granted! 

I told you, I am committed to this challenge! Yeah, I had to make some changes in my routine and habits to make this challenge work for me. But they weren't the end of the world and it wasn't that hard! It's not hard to make changes or commit yourself to something. It's a decision to make lifestyle change. Why wait until something our of your control comes around and changes things for you? Make those decisions to change something in your life, even something as simple as making a "Meal Prep Day." If you fully commit yourself to the things you want in life you will achieve them! 

This is about it for my week 1 take-away! I really enjoyed going back to the first couple of workouts in the program this week. I was able to put a little more focus on my form and I noticed A LOT  of changes in my strength, balance and flexibility than when I first started the program [back in March of 2015 and again consistently starting in November 2015.] So that was something I found really exciting this week! And of course the biggest take away from this week was the development of some new eating habits and planning habits that will be of extreme use to me for, gee I dunno, maybe the rest of my days! ;)

Decide! Decide to do something for yourself, to better you and your life. 

Commit! Create a plan of action and commit every bit of yourself to the decision you made. Challenge yourself and be your own cheerleader! Root yourself on along the way. You're opinion of yourself is the only one that matters.

Succeed! Stay consistent in your commitments! Persist and persevere. Give it time, stay on course and you will see results and you will have succeeded.

Are you ready to make a decision to change your life today? Head on over to and follow my Facebook Page. I would be honored to help you reach your goals in fitness, health and/or this amazing career opportunity. 

 
P.S. This is my little accountability partner lately. My kitty Garfield. He visits me everyday while I am on my yoga mat, watches while I work out and always jumps in my lap when I sit down at the computer to work! :)