Challenge Workouts

Guest Post from Andrew Beatty

“Andrew, oh my god Andrew…I’ve lost 17 pounds”.  Holy crap I screamed, she gave me a high five and told me “I’m not going to stop until I’ve all this weight off me”.  I was so happy, just getting this girl to turn up the first day was a struggle.  Oh, by the way, I never saw her again.  I called, I text, I emailed, I Facebook messaged her.  I tried absolutely every form of contact you can think of and got NOTHING back.  What gives?  What happened?  I mean she did sign a 12 month contract.

Unfortunately for me I’m a really nice guy and cancelled her subscription so she wouldn’t be billed going forward.  Maybe I should have kept billing her?  It might have helped to get her back.  Who knows?  I doubt it though.

OK so what happened?  What is it that stopped this girl from keeping that feeling of elation, staying with us, losing the extra 100 pounds that she needed to lose and transforming her life?  That’s an easy one.  Her support structure; it didn’t exist.  Seriously, it was literally non-existent.  Not one single person in her life outside of me was supporting her.  How do I know this?  She pretty much told me.

“My partner needs to lose so much weight.  She doesn’t care though and she doesn’t help me get to the gym or with my diet or anything.  I mean, she eats junk in front of me all the time”

That’s the sort of life she was dealing with at home.  I felt like crying for her, or at least going to her house and smacking some sense into her partner.  Hey, don’t be silly I would never smack someone, I’m a grown boy.:P

A support structure is so important for you in any walk of life.  If you want something and those people around you don’t support you, I promise you one thing; you might get it but you’re gonna have a mighty hard time getting it.  Take me for example; I’m in my second year of business.  I had so many great intentions for my first year.  I thought this and that were going to happen and i was going to take over the world. I’m afraid it didn’t quite happen like that.  I’ve made more money in the past four months that in my entire first 14 months in business.  What gives?  That’s easy.  My support structure sucked.  Nobody understood what I wanted and nobody supported me to help me get what I wanted.  What’s changed?  My support network.  I hang out with like minded people now.  I’ve banished the leeches from my life and I’ve never looked back.

The same goes for you.  Have you got people holding you back in your life?  Are they standing in the way of the body of your dreams?  I’ll be you do.  I’ll bet that you’ve got so many people standing in your way, telling you that you can’t do it or that you shouldn’t do it that is sounds normal at this stage.

You probably even believe them a little, right?

Anyway, that girl I told you about?  I checked her out on Facebook yesterday and by the looks of things she’s up at least another 50 pounds.  That’s in just 9 weeks.  Crazy eh?  Upsetting too.  I reached out to her again, hopefully it works out this time.

Make a decision on what you want.  Tell everyone around you that you need their support to achieve this.  If you think someone is going to be super negative about it then don’t tell them and start shutting them out of your life.

Make baby steps.  If you think getting to a gym or a boot camp is too tough right now, that’s OK.  Just do 4-5 minutes of exercise at home.  You don’t even have to do it everyday.  Every other day will do just fine for now.  Commit to this.  Do it for the next few weeks.  Guess what’s going to happen?  After about 6 or 7 workouts you’ll be hooked.  You’ll love working out.  You’ll want to work out harder.  You’ll want to get to bed earlier at night so you can get up and work out in the morning.  All these subconscious decisions are bound to happen.  It’s just a matter of how soon.  Forget the thought that you need to spend hours at the gym.  Forget the thought that you need to eat 6 or 7 meals a day and you can never eat a piece of cake again.  Hell, I polished off a full tub of Ben n’ Jerry’s last night.  I’m still looking pretty good.  Fat loss isn’t about deprivation.  Fat loss isn’t about saying no all the time.  Fat loss isn’t about taking over your life and going to the gym every spare moment.  It’s meant to be enjoyable.  It’s meant to fit into your life.  It’s not meant to take over.  Burning fat and getting in great shape is so simple when you know how.  You can read about that here.

Here, try this workout.  

1. Body weight Squat
2. Total Body Extension
3. Push Up
4. Jumping Jacks
5. Reverse Lunge
6. Crucifix Squat Hold

Do each exercise for 20 seconds with no rest between exercises and repeat it one more time for a total of 4 minutes.  This is a great workout to start with.  Best part?  It will just take 4 minutes.

Think you can do this?  Do you think that you can stick to some form of exercise for the next 30 days?  Do you think that you can do more than my client?  I’ll be you can.  I’ll bet the only thing standing in your way at this point in time is your own head.

6 Steps to Change Your Life Today

Here are 6 tips that will dramatically improve your life, your weight and your health over the next 30 days too.  These are the exact steps a client of mine has been following over the past 30 days to finally give her the confidence to collect her own child from school.  Tell me you’re not upset by that?

1. She cut out the bottle of wine before bed.  This allowed her to succeed at step 2.
2. She got up twenty minutes before her kids to make a breakfast for herself.  A breakfast that would keep her full for the morning, reduce her stress levels and make her morning routine with the kids a hell of a lot easier.
3. She started making dinner at home for her family every other day.  Not every day just yet, she did this slowly and after about 5 days she found herself eager to get home from work to cook dinner for her kids and herself.
4. She made extra food at dinner and brought it to work the next day for lunch.
5. Oh, and she went to bed an hour earlier.  How?  Easy, she scrapped the TV at night, scurried up to bed, read a book.  After about 8 years she’s finally sleeping well through the night and waking up refreshed for probably the first time in her life.
6. Did I forget to say that she worked out for JUST 4 MINUTES per day in the second week and every other day in the first week.  We’ve increased that since and she’s actually coming to my boot camp which is a huge achievement.

That’s it.  That’s the 6 step process to changing your entire life starting TODAY.  Let me know how it goes for you.  I get super excited about your success stories.

For more on transforming your life check out Fat Loss For Busy Parents here.

Committed to Your Success

Andrew Beatty

It’s easier that you may think to lose a little flub…more on that in a moment.

Today I’m hitting the road to drive west to go help my Dad move into a retirement home. He’s doing pretty well recovering from his stroke in January. He’s tired of cooking and cleaning for himself though and I think this will be a good move for him.

Back to the flub…Losing it requires just a little ‘thinking’. That is, you need to put some effort into your nutrition if you want to be healthy. ‘Failing to plan is planning to fail’ where your fat loss is concerned.

Here are a few simple tips to get you started. Don’t be concerned that it’s not the beginning of the month or a Monday.

Seriously, JUST START, even on a Saturday…

I hear so many people say they’re overwhelmed and don’t know where to begin where their nutrition is concerned.

So, just begin somewhere.

Maybe it’s only with ONE tip. That’s fine. Implement it, then you can slowly improve your eating by adding more of these suggestions later on.

Here are a few tips (just pick one to start if that’s all you can handle):

* Don’t throw in the towel – If you have a bad meal or snack, don’t sabotage the entire day, just make the next meal or snack better. So if/when you fall into a vat of ice cream (or pasta or ‘fill in the blank’), don’t continue to dwell there. Just hit the reset button.

*Plan your menu. To make your life easy, pick one day to organize your nutrition for the week so you know what you’ll eat when. It makes all the difference and things fall into place much better this way. You can choose a few recipes and plan out your basic meals. When making a recipe, plan to double it so that you’ll have left overs for lunches.

*Stock up. Buy groceries based on your plan. Don’t go to the store hungry and stick with your list.

*Prep. Take an hour or two to get your kitchen organized and food ready to prepare. It’s so much easier to choose veggies in your lunches, for salads and stir fries if they’re pre-chopped.  You’ll save money and time while contributing to your health. A Sunday is a perfect day to do this if you have a traditional type week.

*Treat? Stick to the 80/20 rule where you’ll eat clean 80% of the time but you’ll also allow yourself a PLANNED treat. It’s important to take a mental break and relax your eating ‘rules’ to simply enjoy a treat every week. By planning when you’ll treat yourself, it helps you ‘stay the course’ when temptation hits you.

Here’s a bit more direction:

*Include protein.

You’ll want protein with every meal or snack for it’s stabilizing effect on blood sugar. You may want to consider a quality protein powder as well as any of these choices:

-chicken  21 Da
-turkey
-fish
-lean red meat
-tempeh
-edamame
-black beans, red beans, navy beans, white beans
-protein powder

-eggs

-hemp seeds

*Eat a ton of veggies.

You pretty much can eat an unlimited amount of veggies. Variety is the spice of life so eat to your heart’s content.

-kale

-swiss chard
-spinach
-collard greens
-dandelion greens
-parsley, mint, basil or other fresh herbs
-cucumber, celery, sugar snaps or other crunchy veggies
-tomatoes
-carrots
-mushrooms
-sugar snap peas
-onions
-garlic
-broccoli

*Eat fat to get lean

Don’t be afraid to eat healthy fats.

-avocado

-nuts
-chia seeds
-coconut oil
-coconut milk
-olive oil
-olives

*Carbs are not the devil

Choose low glycemic carbs in moderation.

-Fruit: apples, oranges, bananas, apricots, peaches, pears, grapes, kiwi, mango, watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, rhubarb, plum, pineapple, papaya, grapefruit, grapes, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, cranberries, cherries

-Plain Greek Yogurt

-Sprouted grain bread (Ezekiel bread), rice bread, spelt bread)

-Other Grains: barley, basmati, quinoa, sprouted grain tortilla wraps 
(Ezekiel wraps), Oatmeal, oat bran, Wild rice, brown rice, Pasta – Spelt pasta, rice pasta, or sprouted grain pasta (Ezekiel brand)
If you need more direction, check out the 21 Day Challenge Diet plan.

When you grab my ‘21 Day Challenge Diet plan‘  you’ll get direction on what to eat at home and a ‘Choose It and Lose It‘ restaurant guide so you know what to eat on the go.

It’s all part of my ’21 Day Challenge Diet’ plan that will have you dropping up to 14 pounds sensibly in 21 days.

My beta test group participants got fantastic results in a short time, take a look at Cris and Katherine:

Grab the ’21 Day Challenge Diet’ today and get the BONUS ‘Choose It and Lose It’ restaurant guide too.

Get the best 21-day plan EVER

Okay, time to hit the road…have a great day.

PS. Use the coupon code JustStart to get 30% off.

29 days from now you could be down at least one pant size…

Right now it’s the beginning of May as I write this, so by the first weekend in June, you could be feeling more confident getting into your summer clothes…

I have more on that and a cool workout I wanted to share with you (below), but before I do that, I wanted to do a ‘check up from the neck up’…

How are YOU doing?

For me, I’ve had a lot on my plate in the last few weeks and I’m reminded that attitude goes a long way when it comes to life.

A few things have happened recently that could easily let me spiral into a bit of a pit. It takes quite a bit of mental gymnastics to keep from going into a tail spin, but the extra mental effort is well worth it.

Instead of focusing on the few things that AREN’T going well, I’d prefer to focus on the multitude of things that ARE going well.

For me, being grateful and counting my blessings are the ONLY ways to counter negative thoughts.

I know that a strong mind that overcomes negative thoughts will make for a happier ‘ME’.

Here are 3 tips to improving your mind set.

In addition to a strong mind, here are a few other very practical things that help me from losing my sh*t when it hits the fan:

1. Sleep – Under rated in today’s fast paced culture – I know if I’m rested I can conquer the world. Simply put, protect your sleep by having a regular routine – there are a multitude of benefits of sleep beyond just coping with stress.

2. Nutrition – Clearly I can cope best when my body is fueled properly and when I’m feeling strong. How can I expect myself to go to battle riding with a flat tire or trying to use a faulty spear? Seriously, sometimes life is just a battle, when I’m prepared, I’m far more likely to be successful at whatever challenge I take on. Pay close attention to how you fuel your body.

3. Support – Don’t be an island – Everyone needs a shoulder or someone to talk to. Lean on a friend, discuss your issues and possible solutions. Don’t just focus on all the bad stuff though, make sure that after you’ve had a chance to vent and strategize, focus on gratitude.

Being positive and seeing blessings in all things helps so much more than you may think – positive thinking is a learned and worthwhile habit to get into.

(Just so you know, I’m writing these things as reminders to myself as much as to you.)

4. Training – A solid workout goes a long way to help reduce stress. I know that you may not always have time or access to equipment so short workouts like the one that follows are a perfect solution.

If you’ve done any of my Challenge Workouts you know that short does NOT mean easy. We’re looking for efficient workouts that boost the ‘fountain of youth’ hormone.

Here’s an example:

Lean in 10 Workout

Format: 20-10 (20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest = 1 round)

• Jumping Jacks – 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off x 4 rounds
• Side to Side Pushups – 20 seconds on, 10 off x 4 rounds
• Bodywgt Squats – 20 seconds on, 10 off x 6 rounds
• Total Body Extensions or burpees – 20 seconds on, 10 off x 6 rounds

This sort of workout will help your body produce HGH or growth hormone, otherwise known as the “Fountain of Youth” hormone. When your body produces the MAXIMUM amount of this fat-burning hormone through exercise, it literally attaches to your fat cells and shrinks them.

So in addition to being a stress reducer – this workout will help you drop a pant size in 29 days.

If you love the thought of having quick and effective workouts at your finger tips, check out the done-for-you workouts at the link below.

==>Drop a pant size in 29 days

And the best part is, this cutting-edge NEW routine includes follow along workout videos. so you don’t have to worry about reading a manual, or checking your timer every few seconds in the middle of each exercise.

All you have to do is press play and you’ll be done in 10-minutes.

Flatten Your Stomach in 10-Minutes per Day – no joke =)

Use these tips to do a check up from the neck up AND Drop a pants size by the first week in June if you start right now.

Shawna K.

Winter is tough for a number of reasons…

Today I sit in my window seat that overlooks my snow covered back yard. While it’s quite beautiful to look at, if you venture out, it doesn’t ‘feel beautiful’ 😉

Sev and I feel a little cooped up – it’s currently -25C with the wind. Ug.

Now the good thing about Calgary is the weather changes on a dime so it could be prime dog walking weather in a day – I keep telling this to Sev, but he just looks at me, shakes his head and continues to chase my feet (we have an ongoing battle for my sheepskin slippers that he sleeps with).

Given the season, I’m quite frustrated with the quality of produce (or lack there of) that I’ve been able to buy. Organic or not, it’s sad and wilty when it comes to any sort of lettuce, spinach, kale – anything I try to get my hands on to create my signature dish – salad 😉 (I’m not a great cook, but I can make a mean salad).

(I fully realized my salad making talent when my Dad was here helping to renovate my kitchen. The poor man worked from morning till night and all I could ‘cook’ for dinner was a salad – it was like he was at ‘fat camp’, but he still raves about my salads.)

The key to awesome and satisfying salad making is to have fresh ingredients, ensure that you have a quality protein source involved and add different flavors and textures. I always include some kind of nut or seed, a fruit like sliced grapes or mandarin oranges and I top it off with a healthy balsamic dressing (2 parts olive oil, 1 part balsamic vinegar). There you have it, throw in all manner of fresh veggies and you’ll have a winner.

With the shortage of quality fresh veggies in my area due to winter, I still want the nutrition that my salads provide so I get a little insurance in the form of a ‘greens’ product.

The best one I’ve come across is ‘Athletic Greens‘.

What’s awesome about Athletic Greens is that is covers all of your micro-nutrient needs in one serving. Athletic Greens is sourced from plants, fruits, herbs and mushrooms in their natural form, it’s whole food sourced, in whole food ratios.

And it gets even better.

Each serving provides the antioxidant equivalent of between 10 – 12 servings of fruit and vegetables (ORAC 5000): A nutrient dense punch from real food, the way nature intended.

It also contains a plethora of digestive enzymes and probiotics (7 billion per serving) that helps me improve the absorption of micro-nutrients. It’s improved my digestion because it contains prebiotics and probiotics that all work together to improve gastrointestinal function.

Sadly, even when veggies are fresh, modern farming methods strip much of the nutrients out, which in turn makes you more prone to having a chronic deficiency of one or many nutrients.

The solution is in restoring the body’s basic levels of key micro-nutrients (vitamins, minerals, and co-factors) by eating nutrient dense whole foods.

Athletic Greens is packed full of micro-nutrients, Super Foods, and extracts designed to ensure that nutrient deficiencies never happen.

The result: much more energy, better immunity and recovery from workouts (and even weight loss).

To top it all off, it tastes pretty yummy when I throw it in my morning smoothie making it something that I really look forward to drinking to start my day.

If you want to fortify your body, health and immunity I strongly suggest checking out Athletic Greens.

Try it out yourself and let me know how it makes you feel and perform better. With their 60 day no questions asked, money back guarantee, it’s a simple no brainer.

And oh by the way, in January, you’ll get 50% off – a great way to get started on something that will improve your overall health.

Go here to try Athletic Greens.

This supplement will never completely replace my delish salads, but I’m guaranteed that I’ll get all the nutrients my body needs to perform better and stay lean.