YOU'RE SO VAIN!

Why are you striving for a beach-body? You live in Montana...

Yup. 

I thought it was weird, too. Honestly, I was introduced to the company through the Insanity workout... I came home from school one day to see a CRAZY expensive charge on our poor newly-wed account. When my husband told me that it was a payment and that same amount would come out of our account in two more separate transactions, I had a mini-heart attack. My husband reassured me, however, that this would be life-changing for him, so I obliged to letting him keep the program. 

Then I cried with him when he completed the first workout...

Okay, okay... so maybe we didn't cry, but I thought that I had married a crazy-man... I mean, who would ever want to do a workout called "Insanity"...? Especially after seeing the infomercial for it? I thought my husband was a goon, but I watched him suffer through the first week of the program... then some how, it got lost. I never saw him put the DVD back in after that first week, and it was lost until we moved from Idaho to northern Montana a year later.

When we got settled into our new home, Insanity sat on our shelf for about a year, until a girl from my home-town asked me if I'd like to join her in an online health and fitness challenge. That was the first time that I made the connection... "Beachbody"...what a weird, vain name for a company...but I was sick and tired and tired of being sick and tired, so, despite the fact that she tried to get me to try a new program, I ordered a bag of this crazy healthy meal replacement to save my spot in her group, and told her I'd stick with the program that'd been sitting on our shelf collecting dust.

The rest is history! I lost 20 pounds in just under two months and I felt healthier than I'd been in my life! It was amazing! I may not have had a 'beach body' but I definitely saw changes take place in my life!

Then, I started hearing stories about how people were getting PAID to share these programs with their friends, and I thought, no way?!?! "I just got 40 'likes' on my results photo that I posted to Facebook! I'll bet those 40 people would LOVE to join me!"

Needless to say, it didn't quite work out that way. I don't think anyone who initially 'liked' my transformation photo bought any Beachbody merchandise through my coach account. That's Okay with me, though, because I don't need people to pay me to show that they support me!

As time went on, however, I had this internal struggle going on... 

I grew up in what some people have told me is 'hick-ville'. I love my small-town roots, but there have been times that I feel I am betraying them. Often, people think you need to be what my family refers to as 'granola' to be a successful fitness junkie. I didn't want to turn into a granola and betray my farming/ranching heritage!

Also, there was the inital 'vanity' that I felt came with the title I now carried: Beacbody Coach... What exactly was I promoting? Was I exploiting 'fat' women by telling them that they were not attractive, or that curvy people aren't equal to skinny people?

This really bothered me, and it slowed me down in my business. I was struggling with the idea of what I was promoting by working for a company that seems to push that wash-board abs and thigh-gap were the only way a girl could look HOT!

Then, I met the CEO of the company, and all of those bricks that I had been stacking against myself came tumbling down!

Carl Daikeler, the CEO of Beachbody, is NOT into vanity. This guy wears sneakers and a plaid shirt with blue jeans to our corporate events for crying out loud! His wife, Isabelle is a strikingly beautiful french woman, but she is FAR from vain or high-maintenance. And sitting down with them, listening to what their dream is for this business and feeling their integrity... that opened my eyes to what this company is about! It was life-changing for me, and it is the reason that Beachbody has created a lifestyle change for me. It's not just a fad that I'm hanging onto, or a quick-fix. Through the use of Beachbody's tools, I have CHANGED MY LIFE on the inside. I am happier, now. More driven and inspired to help people find their dreams and FEEL GREAT while doing it!

Beachbody has taught me how to create goals and achieve them. Their slogan is "Decide. Commit. Succeed." and I have used that in SO MANY areas of my life. I LOVE the people I have met through coaching, and the changes I have seen in my life. The money I have made is just an added bonus because it allows me to aspire to do something I love and enjoy doing, which is helping people!

So, if you still think I'm vain, well... good for you. That's your business, not mine.

However, I'll just add that my goal is not fat-shaming... hey, I used to be a fatty! You can't knock it till you've tried it, right? I just want women (and men) to know that, yes, bigger people are beautiful, too, but carrying all that extra weight around is not HEALTHY and giving yourself permission to let it go is the most liberating thing you'll ever do! I'm still on my journey, but, honestly, I think all of life is a journey for each and everyone of us! We never really stop learning, do we?