I Drank the Kool-Aid & It Tasted Like a Chocolate Shake

I gave myself a birthday gift this month. 21 days of taking care of yours truly. Eating the way I’m supposed to, exercising more than I ever have, and learning more about myself than I ever imagined.

I drank the Beachbody kool-aid, y’all. And it tasted like a vegan chocolate shake and it was awesome.

Disclaimer: there are no affiliate links in this post. I’m not going to try to sell you anything. I don’t want you to run out and purchase Insanity or Brazilian Butt Lift (yeah I tried it. No I don’t recommend it.). It’s just my story and what God did in my heart over the last month. If the links in this post ever change to affiliate links and I become a coach, I will make it very clear. Okay? Ok.

Several years ago Matt & I did our own healthy eating/working out program that helped me lose 20 pounds. It was in our first years of marriage and before I had Madi. My body actually responded quite well to everything we tried. And then I started working like crazy, had a kiddo, and got a few years older.

Things don’t respond like they used to.

I’ve been doing Zumba for a few years now, which I love so much. And I do PiYo once a week, which is an amazing workout. But I wasn’t doing anything about how I was eating, and I wasn’t doing anything about how I was talking to myself. I’d go workout and then eat a bowl of ice cream and then berate myself in the mirror the next morning.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

If I’m honest, I’ve avoided anything associated with BeachBody for a very long time. Every time I’d mention having a smoothie on Twitter, some crazy coach would send me messages about buying Shakeology. I lumped them in the same category as pushy used car salesmen. AVOID.

But PiYo is a BeachBody program, and I was seeing great toning results. And then two friends I’ve known a long time posted on the same day about the 21 Day Fix. I asked a lot of questions. An annoying amount of questions. Matt and I prayed about it, because it would be a change for our whole family (and not an insignificant amount of money). If I was going to do it, I had to be all in.

I was all in.

For the last 21 days I’ve figured out meal planning, Shakeology, and how to fit a 30 minute workout in every day. Every. Day. I’ve done PiYo in hotel rooms and had a shake at an airport. I’ve done yoga in my living room while Madi watched Disney Junior on the iPad. I spent the first three days hating every minute of it and wondering what in the world I’d gotten myself into. I was starving, I was grumpy, I had a crazy headache, I thought the gal on the workouts was too peppy and the meal plans required a level of math that simply does not come naturally to me.

But there was grace. So much grace. And with encouragement from Eryn, help from Matt, and my Zumba/PiYo girls, I stuck with it. I let go of doing it perfectly (I traveled 4 days of the program and definitely enjoyed some amazing almond ice cream and a few pieces of Madi’s Easter candy) and I embraced doing it well, with my whole heart.

When I stopped focusing on what the scale was telling me about my worth and realized it was only telling me about my weight, I started to enjoy the journey. God started to reveal little non-scale victories along the way.

• I have more energy and actually want to play outside with Madi.
• I’m stronger than I’ve ever been before.
• I’ve started to accept compliments without jokingly brushing them off.
• I see myself as the woman God intended for me to be in this stage of life, and she’s pretty great.
• I stopped giving up when it got hard and did things I never thought I could do (and I genuinely love the workouts now, even if I do think nasty thoughts at the screen on cardio days).
• My whole family has changed how we eat and Madi has seen her mama take care of herself – a lesson I hope she holds on to as she grows up.

Were there scale victories? Of course. Any time you workout for 21 days straight and eat right you’re going to see those. But I didn’t meet my personal goal for weight loss – and that’s ok. Because what I gained is so much greater than any amount of weight I could have lost.

I’m healthier, happier, and here for my family as the best me. I’d say it was worth it.

Let’s Chat: What are you doing for yourself today?