January Book Club

It's the first Wednesday of the month and you know what that brings...MONTHLY BOOK CLUB! YEA! I am so excited for these books. The first book is a positive uplifting book and the second book is written by the first announced guest speaker at the Beachbody huge coach annual convention this year. I have heard great things about Gary and the book so I wanted to give it a try this month! It is for helping to build your tribe or following on social media! Which book are you going to read this month? Comment below! 

Book 1: 

Dr. Norman Vincent Peale: The Power Of Positive Thinking

In this phenomenal bestseller, “written with the sole objective of helping the reader achieve a happy, satisfying, and worthwhile life,” Dr. Peale demonstrates the power of faith in action. With the practical techniques outlined in this book, you can energize your life—and give yourself the initiative needed to carry out your ambitions and hopes. You’ll learn how to:

· Believe in yourself and in everything you do
· Build new power and determination
· Develop the power to reach your goals
· Break the worry habit and achieve a relaxed life
· Improve your personal and professional relationships
· Assume control over your circumstances
· Be kind to yourself

Book 2: 

Gary Vaynerchuk: Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World

Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook is a blueprint to social media marketing strategies that really works. 

When managers and marketers outline their social media strategies, they plan for the “right hook”—their next sale or campaign that’s going to knock out the competition. Even companies committed to jabbing—patiently engaging with customers to build the relationships crucial to successful social media campaigns—want to land the punch that will take down their opponent or their customer’s resistance in one blow. Right hooks convert traffic to sales and easily show results. Except when they don’t.

Thanks to massive change and proliferation in social media platforms, the winning combination of jabs and right hooks is different now. Vaynerchuk shows that while communication is still key, context matters more than ever. It’s not just about developing high-quality content, but developing high-quality content perfectly adapted to specific social media platforms and mobile devices—content tailor-made for Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Tumblr.

Want more daily motivation and inspiration? Click here get free advice, support and encouragement + a free copy of my Clean Eating guide to help you get started on your health and fitness journey! 

5 Ways To Stick With Your Resolutions

Here we are 5 days into the new year! How is your resolution going so far? Are you working every single day to make you one step, (big or small) closer to your goal? You got this! Keep going. They are important to you or else you wouldn't have decided to make these changes in your life! And if "Losing Weight" made it on your list, it is the TOP resolution for the New Year! Followed closely by " exercise more" and "improve overall health" Maristpoll

Here are 5 ways to help you stick with those resolutions!

Set Real and obtainable goals: 

Be realistic in your goals. Start with smaller goals that are obtainable rather than larger daunting goals. Like, lose 10 pounds by March. instead of lose 100 pounds by March. It isn't going to happen safely or without medical intervention. You have to be realistic with yourself or else you are just setting yourself up to fail. And no one wants to do that. Another great goal to think about is to slowly increase how many days you are exercising. If on average you exercised 2 days a week, like clock work, bump it up to 3-4 for a challenge. But automatically jumping to 7 days a week might be too much of a leap and can lead to getting burned out pretty quickly. Be realistic in your goals.

Find the time. Or if you have to Make the time: 

If it is important to you, you will make the time for it or find the time in your day that you can fit it in. Make it fit into your schedule and if you have to wake up a little earlier in the morning to get the time you need into your life. You might have to sacrifice browsing Facebook or Instagram but what is going to make you feel better. Looking at people or being that person you want to become!

Share Your Journey:

One of the best things, and scariest things I have ever done, is starting to share my story with all of you. It scared the living daylights out of me for fear of judgement or ridicule. But you know what. I want to help people realize that they can change their lives too. That is what matters. And honestly it took me 17 months as a coach to share my actual weight on social media. I shared my before and after pictures but never, ever put a number to it, until last month and I came out with it. I am currently 235 pounds guys. And you know what is so funny. Now that it is out of the bag, I can't stop mentioning it. I feel like I am providing so many women out there who think they are too heavy or too out of shape or what not an opportunity to show them that NO THEY ARE NOT! We all start somewhere. Share your store. Inspire others. We have a real epidemic on our hands. Obesity. And it requires all of us to work hard to fight it. Be that example to your friends! Post your pictures. Share your story. Share your ups and downs. You never know who you will inspire.

Upgrade Your Eating Habits: 
It is so hard to cut something cold turkey. And often after a few days of no chocolate, chocolate ends up in the house and before you know it. It is GONE! (please tell me I am not the only one that this happens to!) Make small healthy, lasting changes to your diet. ask for veggies or a salad instead of fries. Drink water only with your dinner. Eat only one slice of toast in the morning, then slowly transition to eating oatmeal in the morning. Add more veggies to a smoothie. Or even just make a meatless meal once a week focusing on eating more greens in your diet! Try something new. You never know you might like it, and how it makes you feel!

Make It Exciting:
When you do go to exercise, make it fun and exciting! Start a new workout program. Doing the same old boring stuff means you can get bored sooner and more likely to stop. Try a new workout that challenges you. Hammer and Chisel, 21 Day Fix Extreme, a Cycle class, hot yoga! There are so many things out there to up the anti in your workouts! And make it fun! Also make an end goal for what you are doing to. Like sign up for a specific race that looks awesome, or be able to do 10 military style pushups. Challenge yourself but make it fun and exciting.

Sticking with your goals is only part of the battle. Go back and check out about SMART goals and making sure that each and every one of your goals matches all the categories in the acronym. Your goals are worth it. They matter! You matter! Stick with these and you will stick with your goals!

Want more daily motivation and inspiration? Click here get free advice, support and encouragement + a free copy of my Clean Eating guide to help you get started on your health and fitness journey! 

Happy January 4!

Today is the day that thousands will be flocking to the gym or starting a new workout routine at home. Are you one of them? Check out my tips for success this week!

This was the mess I dealt with in my basement before my workout this morning. I think I will take it over the first 2 weeks of craziness at the gym, personally!

Want more daily motivation and inspiration? Click here get free advice, support and encouragement + a free copy of my Clean Eating guide to help you get started on your health and fitness journey! 

Easy Meal Prep Containers

Meal prep, food prep, is the #1 way you are going to succeed with a healthy lifestyle. Why? Because when something is already done and ready to go you are going to grab for it. Easy. Imagine this:

Around 5pm start thinking about what to have for dinner. You have 2 kids asking when dinner is going to be ready. You have cleaned as much of the house as you can and then the kids just made a disaster zone of your house since their school work is done and they are HUNGRY! Go to the fridge and look in there and find:

Scenario #1:

Chicken still partially frozen that you put from the freezer to the fridge this morning and it will take more time to defrost.

Scenario #2:

Pre-packaged meals that are already done and ready to go just need to be heated up and that will take less than 5 minutes!

Scenario #3:

Nothing really in there is calling to you so it is an instant Pizza night or fast food because it is too late to start making something now!

I have been there with all 3 of these scenarios. At 6 I am beyond that point in my day of trying to think of things to do to make dinner. (I say 6 because 3 days a week I teach until 6pm.) And often for those days, if I don't have anything all ready to eat before 6 then it is a boxed Mac n Cheese, or a pizza night for us. Which neither of those things are good for us.

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. 

Sunday nights I make my rice in my rice cooker. Season it with fajita seasoning to give it some kick and a yummy taste. And I also just cook up some chicken on the stove. I am going to try this week to make a kind of stir fry with broccoli. Cook the chicken and then add some broccoli florets in the pan near the very end. And I just got these awesome Meal Prep Containers on Amazon to help me sort them out for each day. Dishwasher safe and microwave safe too, however, for personal reasons I don't really use my microwave.

I am going back into my stricter eating habits for the next 8 weeks. This is one of my resolutions. Challenge myself to eat a super clean, healthy lifestyle for 8 weeks, and honestly see what it does for me and my body. So for me, these containers will be perfect. Mine and my husband's meals will be done and ready each day of the week. Just heat it up and go!

Here is what I am planning for my week!

Meal 1 (Breakfast): Egg scramble with onion and bell peppers. Apple 1 slice of GF bread – 1.5 red, 1 green, 1 purple, 1 yellow

Meal 2 (Snack): Quinoa Berry Parfait – 1 purple, 1 red, 1 yellow,

Meal 3 (Lunch): Chocolate Shakeology with almond milk, peanut butter, 1 banana, 1 kale shot. – 1 red, 1 purple, 2 green, 1 tsp

Meal 4 (Snack M/W/F/Su): 3 tsp. peanut butter and an apple, cucumber – 1 purple, 3 tsp 1 green.

Meal 4 (Snack T/Th/Sa): carrots and bell peppers with hummus- 1 green, 1 blue, 1 orange

Meal 5 (Dinner M/W/F/Su): Chili Spiced Chicken Salad. zucchini sautéed with ground cumin and 1 tsp. olive oil, salad of black beans, quinoa, cilantro, tomatoes, cotija cheese, lime juice, and 1 tsp. olive oil – 1.5 red, 2 green, 2 yellow, 1 blue, 2 tsp 1 orange.

Meal 5 (Dinner: T/Th/Sa): Baked chicken breast, fajita seasoned brown rice, broccoli roasted with 1 tsp. olive oil, bell peppers and onions sautéed in 1 tsp. olive oil – 1.5 red, 2 green, 2 yellow, 2 tsp. 

Meal 6 (Snack M/W/F/Su): Cottage Cheese – 1 red

Meal 6 (Snack T/Th/Sa): Greek Yogurt with blueberries – 1 red, 1 purple.

Want more daily motivation and inspiration? Click here get free advice, support and encouragement + a free copy of my Clean Eating guide to help you get started on your health and fitness journey! 

Workout Quotes and Mantras

Starting a new workout routine is hard. And the beginning of the year a lot of us go diving into a new fitness adventure. It is going to be hard. It is going to be uncomfortable. It is going to push you and you are going to have moments that you are going to want to say, "SCREW THIS! I'm DONE!" But what gets you through a workout?

WILLPOWER! 

Sometimes during the workout your mind will say, "STOP! I don't want to do this!" That is the moment that if you push past that thought, those feelings where true development happens. Pushing past our quitting moment will define you and give you the best post workout feeling knowing that you stuck with it and you did it! So here are a few workout quotes or mantras to say to yourself when the tough gets hard and you are at that moment where you are about to give up.

Want more daily motivation and inspiration? Click here get free advice, support and encouragement + a free copy of my Clean Eating guide to help you get started on your health and fitness journey! 

Hammer And Chisel Health and Fitness Program Details

This past Monday I began my new adventure in working out. I have upped the anti and moved on to a harder workout, and harder being the right word. This is more challenging and requires more focus and determination to do it, but I have to say that every workout has been FUN! I am excited to do my workouts. I am excited to see what they have in store for me. I am excited to see how strong I am getting. I am excited that I don't have to modify as much as I thought I would. I am excited to go up in weight on my dumbbells. I am just so excited to be on what I am calling part 2 of my adventure.

What is The Master's Hammer and Chisel? 

For the very first time, trainers Sagi Kalev and Autumn Calabrese have teamed up to create an expert program designed to help you craft a powerful, perfectly defined body. The Master’s Hammer and Chisel is an innovative resistance training system that incorporates three muscle-sculpting phases—Stabilization, Strength, and Power—or SSP Training. This is how Sagi and Autumn help you efficiently build, chisel, and refine a masterpiece physique in just 60 days.

What makes Hammer and Chisel different? 

• It is built on the three phases of SSP Training— Stabilization, Strength, and Power. Other workouts only focus on one or two phases, which might give you decent results. But The Master’s Hammer and Chisel program incorporates all three methods to help you relentlessly chip away fat and carve every muscle for a strong, visually stunning body in 60 days.

• 12 brand-new, 30- to 40-minute workouts that combine Sagi and Autumn’s proven techniques for 60 days of hardcore resistance training. 

• Easy-to-follow and completely customizable nutrition plan, along with 7 portion-control containers that show you how to portion out the right amount of food to help you reach your unique fitness goals. Along with your daily does of nutrition and superfoods to help you reduce cravings for sweets, junk foods and fast foods. It has been my secret weapon in helping me to lose weight.

(From Chisel Balance. Last move of the day, kicked my trash but I did it and did not give up!)

• Flexible nutrition that allows you to lean out, sculpt and maintain, or build muscle.

•  Includes options to adapt certain exercises if you have limited access to equipment.

•  Includes a modifier who demonstrates some moves at a lower intensity.

Hammer and Chisel is still on SALE this month. So if you want to join my exclusive group with others just like you doing H&C for the first time you can GO HERE, or if you want to know if this workout is right for you, fill out THIS FORM and I will get back to you and we can chat! I would love to have you join the group and get amazing results with me! Oh and when you do order through me you get an EXTRA FREE WORKOUT. Yeah! I hook you up!

I am seriously loving this workout. I was excited about it when they announced it to the coaches back in July, but you guys, IT IS REALLY AWESOME! I am more excited about it now and I can not wait to see the kind of results I get with this program. I lost 20 pounds with 4 rounds of 21 day fix. This is the next step for me. This is my moment that I am going to rock it!

(outtake: Kids love the containers too! Doesn't hep when I am trying to take pictures of them!) 

Want more daily motivation and inspiration? Click here get free advice, support and encouragement + a free copy of my Clean Eating guide to help you get started on your health and fitness journey! 

Make SMART Goals for 2016

Be SMART when you are making your goals for the new year or really any time. Take the time to really sit down using this SMART formula to help you really focus on what you want to accomplish for this year.

S- Specific- Be super specific when making your goals. Write down what you really want to accomplish, not just the overall goal but if you want to lose 20 pounds then write it down, instead of just "lose weight".

M- Measurable- How are you going to measure your success? Do you have an app that you can put your info in and the app will keep track for you? Make a spread sheet or have some sort of way you can track and measure how you are progressing. (lose 20 pounds by using a scale and using my iHealth app on my phone.)

A- Attainable- Be realistic in your goals. 100 pounds in 2 months is not going to happen. Make real smart goals based on what you know you are capable of, and maybe push yourself just a little bit. Also don't under value yourself either. And how are you going to do it, being specific again. (lose 20 pounds by March 31st by eating clean, exercising 6 days a week and allowing myself 1 meal a week that is an indulgent meal.)

R- Relevant- Is is worthwhile? Does it fit in with your overall long term plans? (Double my daily page views on my blog by June 2016.) Find your why on why you want to accomplish it and make it worthwhile. This will help you stick with it more when you are having a hard time!

T- Timely- Your goal or objective should have a time limit! That is going to drive you everyday to work harder, and smarter on your goal. A goal without a deadline is just a dream!

And lastly, it doesn't go with SMART but WRITE DOWN YOUR GOAL! WRITE IT DOWN! If you don't then it will not happen. Write it down, place it in a place you see everyday. And strive each day to move yourself in the direction that will help to obtain that goal!

Want more daily motivation and inspiration? Click here get free advice, support and encouragement + a free copy of my Clean Eating guide to help you get started on your health and fitness journey! 

January 30 Day Plank-A-Day Challenge

It's another month and the holidays are NOW BEHIND US! Time to get busy! I thought it was the right time to do a 30 day Plank A Day challenge! Sounds great right?!?

Planks, oh planks! They kill me every time. Why? Because it is a full body exercise. It uses your whole mind and body to do them. Yes, mind! For me it is a mind over matter issue. If I just turn off my brain and keep it from thinking about how much my legs and core are shaking then I could just hang on a little bit longer. Let's engage our cores, and push our heels back and hold a strong plank. 

Here are the different level of planks you can do: Start as a level one and then you can progress from there as you get more comfortable and strong! 

Side Plank variations:

Each day that you participate, take a picture and post it on your Facebook and/or Instagram account with #PLANKADAY #SunKissedBecky #CTDG so I follow along your journey too! 

So let's go ladies! let's work our abs off! And get a strong core which will help us with all of our other daily things we do!

And, of course, be sure to like our FACEBOOK page and follow us on PINTEREST for motivation, clean eating tips, and healthy lifestyle resources.

Success in 2016: Plan Your Day

Hello New Year, in just a few days! Are you making your new year resolution list yet? I am still working on mine. But here is one that is on my list. To plan out my day and make sure that I have balance between my family, work, and everyday life stuff. Sadly when you say yes to one thing, you have to say no to something else. Like, if I say yes to working out, then I am saying no to sleeping in. Get it? 

Pick one day a week that you sit down and plan out your schedule, every hour of every day of the week. I am serious! 

1) Family always comes first so start with that. Schedule in any doctor appoints, kid drop offs and pickups, or any other family appointments that you have for the week, oh yeah and church activities.

2) Schedule in your workout just like a doctor appointment. It really is that important for me that I schedule it in secondary in my life. 

3) Next I schedule in my work time. Teaching and coaching. My goal in 2016 is to stick to my schedule. Do what I have to do in the time allotted. I have been crossing over way too much and that is not ok for me and my family. I will no longer sacrifice my family time. I have to become more efficient in my actual work time! 

4) Lastly I schedule my me time. I personally need some alone time for me to just unwind from my activities. I can usually get 30-45 minutes of this a day. I use this for reading or just turning off my brain. 

Here is how to stick with your schedule: 

Turn the sound off on my phone

Set alarms or timers for how long to do something

Close my laptop and put it away

Mute the notifications on Facebook

Only open the window you need to work in right now

Keep yourself focused on the goal in mind

Work from a to do list

Starting today you can plan to make 2016 more successful with these tips! Be sure to follow me on FACEBOOK and PINTEREST for more daily motivation and support!

Merry Christmas From The Allen's!

I hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas! I am late on getting our Christmas Cards out for the year to all my friends and family and you are my friends too, so I wanted to share it here so you can see it. I am so thankful for you watching my journey. That you are following me and I hope getting some good health, fitness and life tips. I really appreciate you always coming back! I am so excited for 2016 and the amazing things that are going to happen next year.

Merry Christmas everyone! Enjoy your day and make it healthy!