I've Found My Magic Pill

Well not really, there is no magic pill for anything, though I wish there was.  What I have found is a solution to 2 problems that I've had for over 10 years.  First, I have Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) which all started in 2000 when I became pregnant with Novali.  For some reason, pregnancy triggered this condition which has plagued me ever since.  Having IBS is not fun.  It is very common in women.  Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a common disorder that affects the large intestine (colon). Irritable bowel syndrome commonly causes cramping, abdominal pain, bloating gas, diarrhea and constipation (The Mayo Clinic).  For so many years, I've learned to live with the pain, cramping, bloating, etc…  I've been given prescription meds that don't work, I've made changes to my diet, and nothing worked.  So I was resigned that this is just the way it would always be.

Another thing I was resigned to was having chronic fatigue.  I am ALWAYS tired.  I have very low energy.  My doctor has run every test in the book and I am healthy as a horse.  But I can't ever shake this slugging, exhausted feeling.  Another thing that I thought, "I'll just have to deal with this for the rest of my life."

But now… everything is changing.  See I was looking for a protein powder to supplement my workouts. I found this product called Shakeology. When I first heard about it, I was a skeptic.  What is it?  Oh just another protein shake with a fancy name.  And it costs HOW MUCH?  No way…  I'll just go to GNC and buy a $19 protein powder.  So I did that, I went to GNC, I spent 30 minutes talking to this guy about which of the 100 formulas that they have is best for me.  I made a purchase, and I walked out not knowing what the heck I had just bought.  I might as well have closed my eyes, spun around 3 times, and just pointed at a product to buy.  I couldn't even identify half of the ingredients in it.  But I used it, and it made me sick.  My doctor checked out the ingredients and gave me a lecture about putting crap in my body.  Not fun…

Around the same time, I was also looking for meal replacements.  I tried a couple, and they all tasted like chalk, and again were mostly fillers and artificial ingredients.  I still have some Atkins Shakes in my fridge that I have to throw out, cause I'll never drink them.

So I thought, what the heck, let me look at Shakeology again.  What I found was that first of all, it's all natural.  I don't have to guess what weird things are in it.  It's not loaded with sugar.  It's gluten free (very important for me), it's a multivitamin.  If I were to go into GNC and buy all the things that Shakeology does for me, I'd have to buy a protein powder, vitamins, a probiotic, a super food blend, the list goes on and on.  It would be 100s of dollars!  So I tried it, what did I have to lose.  What have I found?  OMG it's delicious!  It fills me up.  After a few weeks, I realized that I was alert!  Much more alert and energized than ever!  I felt amazing.  I stopped craving coffee, I still love my coffee, but I don't NEED it to function anymore.  And my IBS???  My morning painful cramps that I've had for 10 YEARS… GONE!!!  99.9% GONE.  It's like a miracle and I wake up every day THANKFUL that I'm not in pain!!!

So to me, Shakeology is MAGIC…  Magic, in the form of delicious chocolate goodness.  Worth every penny.  And who can't use a little more chocolate in their lives???

If you'd like to learn more about Shakeology, check out these short videos!

Nutrition Simplified: http://beachbodycoach.com/esuite/home/TamaraGomez?bctid=16664447001

100 Doctors Don't Lie:  http://beachbodycoach.com/esuite/home/TamaraGomez?bctid=82906800001

Shakeology From The Fields: http://beachbodycoach.com/esuite/home/TamaraGomez?bctid=637719395001

Please comment if you want more info or have questions, or email me at tamara.gomez18@gmail.com

 

Time for a Shakeology Cleanse!

Ok, so I have to admit, I've been bad, bad, bad this week...  I'm great with my fitness, I LOVE to exercise.  But food is still my weakness.  I try really hard but there are weeks when I find myself giving in to temptation more than I should.  Does this happen to you???  To top it off, today is my work holiday lunch at The Club House, followed by Syed's holiday party at Lou Malnati's.  Double trouble for me!  Probably like most women, when I eat too much my waist, butt, and thighs seem to expand immediately!

So this weekend I will be doing a 3 day Shakeology cleanse to get back on track, get rid of the bloat, and start the next week off right!  I will be posting before pics, eeek... plus my starting weight and waist measurement.  I will repost them at the end of the 3 days.  I'll be posting them on my Facebook LIKE page, you can find me at http://www.tamaragomez24.com and make sure to click LIKE to get my updates!
So what is a Shakeology cleanse you ask?  Well first of all, Shakeology is a premium health drink, meal replacement, protein shake, all your body needs in one 8 oz cup of chocolatey yumminess.

Here's what each day will consist of:

Breakfast:  1 cup of green tea, 1 serving of Shakeology with water and ice (1/2 cup of fruit optional)

Snack: 1 piece of fruit

Lunch: 1 serving of Shakeology with water and ice, follow with 1 cup of green tea

Snack: 1 serving of Shakeology with water and ice

Dinner: Salad-mixed greens, 3 servings of vegetables, 4 oz. white meat (chicken or seafood)

Additional snack if needed: 5-10 almonds or 1/2 banana
If you'd like to learn more about Shakeology, check out these short videos!

Nutrition Simplified: http://beachbodycoach.com/esuite/home/TamaraGomez?bctid=16664447001

100 Doctors Don't Lie: http://beachbodycoach.com/esuite/home/TamaraGomez?bctid=82906800001

Shakeology From The Fields: http://beachbodycoach.com/esuite/home/TamaraGomez?bctid=637719395001

Please comment if you want more info or have questions, or email me at tamara.gomez18@gmail.com

Eat More, Lose More. (Really?)

Courtesy of Team Beachbody http://teambeachbody.com/about/newsletters/-/nli/196#80867624

 

Eat More, Lose More. (Really?)

By Justine Holberg

 

You work out practically every day and you're feeling good because you've lost some weight. Until a week or so passes and you can't get the scale to budge. It's like an invisible wrench has been thrown into the works. Now what?

You start second-guessing everything you're doing:

·         Maybe I'm eating too much?

·         Should I work out harder?

·         Do I have to live on parsley and hot water?

So you restrategize. You slash calories and step up the intensity of your workouts. Unfortunately, after another week, you're still not losing. Now you want to give up altogether. But before you throw in the towel, ask yourself this:

Am I eating enough?

Contrary to popular belief, sometimes you have to eat more to lose weight. While that may sound counterintuitive, it often does the trick. Here's why:

1.     Metabolism is the key to weight loss. If you don't eat enough, or often enough, your metabolism slows to a crawl and weight loss becomes more difficult, especially when you're exercising. That's why skipping meals isn't a good idea if the goal is to shed pounds.

Tip: Always eat breakfast to kick-start metabolism and try eating mini-meals throughout the day to keep your metabolism fired up.

2.     To keep your metabolism up, you MUST eat. Conventional wisdom dictates that when you first start dieting, the less you eat, the better. While it's true that you often should eat less, eating too little can backfire over time. As your body composition changes, your body will think it's starving, which can make it hold on to fat. (The process actually has to do with excessive release of a hormone called cortisol, but you don't need to know the details, so we'll just call it fat.) To avoid this, most experts agree that over time, you shouldn't eat fewer than 1,200 calories per day for women, 1,500 for men. If your daily diet consists of fewer calories than that, consider eating more.

Tip: Keep a food diary to track calories.

3.     You need more calories when you work out. If you're exercising while following a low-calorie eating plan, you'll need to take into account the calories you're burning. That's because it's now easier to enter starvation mode. Let's say you're burning 400 calories and only eating 1,200 to 1,300 calories per day. This means you're really only taking in 800 to 900 calories per day before you begin to calculate how your body composition is changing. Muscle burns more calories at rest than fat does, so as your body changes, you need to eat more to keep the weight loss coming.

Tip: Drink an after-workout recovery drink like P90X Results and Recovery Formula^®. After hard workouts, its calories are utilized so quickly by your body, some people refer to them as "free calories." They really aren't, but those calories will ensure that your muscles (and metabolism) recover quickly.

 

And remember this:

Figuring out to what to eat, how much to eat, and when to eat isn't easy. That's why people often refer to losing weight as a journey. It takes a few different paths to get there. Sometimes you have to adjust your ratio of protein, fat, and carbs to start losing again. Or adjust your calorie level, which can include eating more to lose weight.

Tip: Use the Team Beachbody^® Meal Planner. It can make figuring out your calories much, much easier. You can personalize an eating plan that takes your workouts into consideration.

Finally, if you're still on the fence about needing to eat more to lose weight: You might be thinking, "How come I know some really skinny people who barely eat?"

The answer is this: You can eventually lose weight by not eating. It's called starving. Reduce calories enough and your body will start breaking down its muscle tissue, and this will result in weight loss. However, it makes your body increase its emergency hormonal responses, which also causes your body to be stressed and hang onto fat, making it.very easy to gain the weight back again.

So I hope you take this thought away with you today: The idea is to keep your metabolism revving and running. This will help you get healthy and stay strong. Eat the right amount of food to help your body continuously burn calories, and you're more likely to shed those unwanted pounds.

If you'd like to ask a question or comment on this newsletter article, just email us at mailbag@TeamBeachbody.com.