New Year New Me, Week 4

That's right friends...I've finished a full month (28days actually while I'm writing this) of my positive change, healthy living, Beachbody Insanity Shakeology challenge.

After last week's challenges, I have to say that this week was so much better, and largely in part due to having an amazingly supportive coach. Last week was a +2lb change on the scale, premenstruration, and just an overall feeling of being  failure. I hadn't taken stock in just how much I have accomplished, and how many of you I have inspired and changed just in being open and honest.

I chatted with Dara about the weight gain and she suggested that I start tracking my input and output in an app. I have Map My Run on my phone from a while back, and it's been a sanity saver over the past week. Each morning, I wake up and start fresh. I log in my Shakeology and whatever additions {more on that below!}, log in snacks, water in take, and then log in my workout and how long it took me to do it. Thankfully, it has Insanity in their system so it knows just how many calories I am burning, based on my weight, height and age.

It has given me so much peace of mind and power to log my foods into the app. It was such a fantastic coaching moment in my journey, and I am really thankful to have Dara right there at my finger tips on Facebook to connect with when I'm struggling.

Now that i know what my caloric expenditure is, I see that I was actually not fueling my body enough. Sure, I was putting amazingly healthy nutrition in with Shakeology every morning, but then I wasn't drinking enough water and I wasn't eating enough to burn all of the calories and keep my body going. Lesson learned! Eat more, but eat well!

Now, I have two weeks of Shakeology under my belt and I have been experimenting with my recipes. I have to say, they're all pretty amazing!

Chocolate coconut - 1/2 cup almond milk, 1 cup water, 1 scoop Chocolate ShakeO, 2-3 drops coconut extract
Chocolate mint - 1/2 cup almond milk, 1 cup water, 1 scoop Chocolate ShakeO, 2 drops of peppermint extract
Chocolate covered strawberry - 1/2 cup almond milk, 1 cup water, 1 scoop Chocolate ShakeO, 1/2 to 1cup frozen strawberries
Chocolate covered cherry - 1/2 cup almond milk, 1 cup water, 1 scoop Chocolate ShakeO, 1/2 cup frozen cherries
Peanut Butter Cup - 1/2 cup almond milk, 1 cup water, 1 scoop Chocolate ShakeO, 1 heaping tbsp fat free peanut butter

I absolutely love starting my day and getting out of bed is now something I enjoy. Within about five minutes of drinking my shake, my energy level goes through the roof, I have more focus and I am actually feeling in control. Knowing that I'm starting my day with healthy nutrition give me alot of power to avoid overindulging later on the in the day; my cravings have dwindled to almost nothing, especially my carb craving.

Now...it's been a full month since I've been on this whole journey; I bet you're wondering what the results are.

No joke
Same mirror {and the one in our little condo that makes me look wider than I am}
Pure determination and results

Are you on your own journey? Link it up in the comments so I can give you a virtual high five!

Beachbody Coach, Dara Distel

*Disclaimer: I am provided the Shakeology shakes by my Beachbody coach Dara Distel for the purposes of getting healthy, and blogging about the product.