Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Investing in Dreams {Stewarding My Health}

What are the top five things that come to mind when you think of what you want to do in life? 
Don't think about it too hard, just the first five that come to mind. 

Mine are:
1. Teach my kids to surf
2. Be an awesome soccer mom
3. Connect with friends over good food and good conversation in our home
4. Always be learning something new myself and passing on my knowledge to others
5. Travel and experience new places and cultures with my husband

The one thing common to all things {and I am willing to bet most of the things on your list too} is basic health and fitness are required and assumed.

Beyond my fun little list of things off-the-top-of-my-head that I want to do in life, I am most passionate about pursuing the purpose for which I was created. While I can surmise pieces of that purpose based on my design and desires and the investments God has made in me over my life, I do not know the fullness of that purpose. But I do want to be prepared spiritually, emotionally, financially, and certainly physically when opportunity arises.

I look at my parent's generation and see how age and poor choices often result in physical ailments for some that limit them from doing the things they want to do in life. Obviously, everyone ages and there is only so much we can do to keep time from taking it's inevitable effect on our bodies, but I do wonder if fitness and proper nutrition over a lifetime might help all of us to continue doing the things we want to do, and the things we were created to do for longer.

To me, fitness and nutrition isn't about looking like a super model {though I wouldn't complain if that were a side-effect}, but it is about stewardship of the precious gift of my health, which is something most of us take for granted until it is threatened. Fitness and nutrition help me to be my best self today and are an investment in my dreams for tomorrow. 

A key to my success in these areas in the past two years has been the programs and products offered by Beachbody. I use to be a group-exercise-gym-addict and I still love the atmosphere of group exercise classes, but as a mom, working my whole day and my kids nap schedules around the particular class I wanted to take was nearly impossible. When I became a working mom with a deployed spouse, it became completely impossible. I quickly got sick of my treadmill and was frustrated because, as a lifelong athlete, the DVD workouts you find at Target or the magazine workouts, just weren't challenging enough for me. That is when I found Beachbody and decided to give it a try because I had taken TurboKick classes in the gym and enjoyed them, and their product TurboFire was created by the same trainer. It was love at first workout! Since then I have also done BodyPump, BodyCombat, PiYo, Insanity:Max30, 21DayFixExtreme, and Cize and have loved them all and continue to use workouts from all of them. More recently I have also gotten into Shakeology, which is a completely natural protein shake mix full of super foods and antioxidants. It fills me up, gives me plenty of energy, and drastically reduces cravings. I also love it because it is literally the only thing I can eat before an intense workout or run without feeling sick. Most of all, because it is made from completely natural ingredients proven to provide vast benefits to my body, I know I am doing something great for my health by drinking it daily.

Never in a million years did I think I would ever join any sort of business selling something because it is just uncomfortable to me, but Beachbody programs and products have proven to be such a benefit to my life that I want to be a part of helping other people invest in their health and steward their bodies well so that they can be their best self today and for many years to come.

If this resonates with you, I would love to hear from you! I will be starting a new challenge group in a few weeks to offer support and accountability and would love for you to be a part of it!

*If you are just wanting to check out the programs and products for yourself, you can check them out here.

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