Turkey Chili

This turkey chili from the 21 Day Fix meal plan is a family favorite. Instead of cooking it on the stovetop, I prefer to put all of the ingredients into my crockpot and cook on low for 8 hrs or on high for 4 hrs. I also like to add some avocado on top!


Turkey Chili:

(Makes 6 servings, 1 cup each)

1 tsp. olive oil

1 1/2 lbs. ground turkey

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1 Tbsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (to taste; optional)

2 (15 oz) cans black beans (or pinto beans) drained, rinsed

1 (15 oz) can all-natural diced tomatoes, no sugar added

12 fresh cilantro sprigs, finely chopped (for garnish; optional)

Directions

1. Heat oil in large sauce pan over medium-high heat.
2. Add turkey, onion, bell pepper, and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 8 minutes or until turkey is no longer pink.
3. Add cumin, chili powder, salt, and cayenne pepper; cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.
4. Add beans and tomatoes (with liquid). Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low; gently bio, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes, or until thickened.
5. Serve warm, sprinkle with cilantro.

Container Equivalents

1/2 Green

1 Red

1/2 Yellow

1 Blue if adding avocado

Substitute ground turkey with diced chicken or turkey breast. Add garbanzo beans and organic corn for additional texture and flavor.

No More Credit Cards!

Guess what?  As of an hour ago, I am officially credit card debt free!  Why is this SUCH a big deal?  Well let's go back a few years...

August 2009, my boyfriend Syed, who I'd been with for 4 years and who was living with me and my daughter Novali, had decided that he wasn't happy anymore in our relationship.  We broke up and he moved out.  I was heartbroken, devastated.  I thought this was the man I would spend the rest of my life with!  I suddenly found myself alone with my 8 year old daughter, with rent and bills to pay on my own.  I had a job, a good career in fact.  But I also had LOADS of credit card debt.  I'm talking 10s of thousands of dollars, which I hate admitting.  I hadn't been the most financially responsible person in my 20s and I'd racked up charges on close to 10 credit cards.  I also had an expensive car loan and about $90K in student loans.  See I used to take out the max allowable in student loans every year in undergrad to help pay my parent's bills and mortgage.  Then I went to a private college for my Master's degree.  So I had a lot of debt.   I'd been working super hard the previous 2 years, making sure I didn't have any late payments and I'd almost improved my credit score enough to qualify for a home loan!  Then, like I said, I found myself alone and I couldn't make ends meet.  The credit cards were the first thing I stopped paying.  I suddenly had bill collectors calling, I fell behind on my car loan.  I was a mess.

A mess in more ways than one, I was depressed.  Before Syed and broke up I had been struggling with some anxiety and insomnia and I was on both sleeping pills and anti-anxiety meds.  Now suddenly I could barely hold it together.  It took everything in me to drag myself out of bed to get Novali ready for school and myself to work.  I didn't eat for about a week after the breakup.  Somehow, I managed to survive the days when I really wanted to crawl under a rock and die.  In the previous years I had also gained 20 lbs sitting at a desk job and eating junk all the time.  I felt awful about myself, sluggish, fatigued.  I hated taking pictures.  My self-confidence was at an all time low, and this certainly didn't help. I had always been the super skinny girl that could eat everything in sight, even after I had my daughter at 21 I went back down to being thin, but over the years that had changed.  I would go to the gym here and there and then reward myself with tacos on the way home.  I was fat, depressed, broke and alone...

In those days right after the breakup, several of which I stayed home from work because I couldn't stop crying long enough to focus, I started to pop in some exercise DVDs into the DVD player.  Specifically I had Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred and The Biggest Loser Weight Loss Yoga.  I started doing them just to preoccupy myself and keep busy.  Soon I realized that while I was working out, that 30-60 min. a day was the only time when I could focus only on the task at hand and not think about my problems.  It made me, dare I say, happy?  I became addicted.  Exercise became my drug of choice and honestly, it saved me!  A month went by and in September for my birthday, all my friends were commenting on how great I looked!  I felt the changes too.  Was I still depressed and broke?  Yes.  But there was a little piece of me that was starting to find a glimmer of self-confidence and strength.  That I could do this on my own and I would be OK.  So I kept at it.  

Come New Years I'd lost about 10 lbs and I was ready for a new challenge.  My best friend Grisel said to me, "Hey I saw this workout on TV called ChaLEAN Extreme, we should do it."  So we did.  She bought it for me as a gift and we started doing it, checking in every day.  90 days later, I'd lost a total of 20 lbs and was feeling great!  Still broke, but much stronger as a person, physically and emotionally.  Then Grisel said to me, "Hey I saw this OTHER program on TV called Insanity, what do you think, let's do it!"  I took a look and said NO WAY.  That looks way too hard, I can't do that.  But I thought about it and said, why not?  Let's take on the challenge.  So we did.  60 days later I was in the best shape of my life!  Through it all I was actively tweeting about Insanity and I had all these "coaches" asking me if I wanted to be a coach.  I didn't know what the heck they were talking about, I thought they were all weird, and I ignored them.

In the meantime, I had not given up on my feelings and strong belief that Syed and I belonged together.  We were slowly starting to reconnect and I was realizing that I had lost myself in the relationship over the years.  Breaking up had forced me to rediscover myself and my own capabilities and strength.  He said that I had come alive again, I was healthy and secure in myself, there was a light in me again.  

But... I was still BROKE and falling further behind.  My car had been repossessed.  How was I going to fix this problem?  I had started following Chalene Johnson on social media because she's the creator of ChaLEAN Extreme.  One day she posted a picture of a Beachbody Coach, Christine Dwyer, holding a quarterly bonus check for over $100K (if memory serves me right, it was about $120K).  Well THAT caught my eye for sure!  I made the connection between that picture and the coaches that had been approaching me online.  So I started to do my research.  I saw that Beachbody was a legit company and that many normal, every day people, like me, were having success inspiring and helping others AND getting out of debt.  I had also heard about this thing called Shakeology and I wanted to try it, so a 25% discount didn't hurt the deal either.  

One day I met this super nice girl on Twitter, Nichole.  She and I got to chatting about random things and after a week or so she asked, "Have you ever thought about being a coach?"  Why yes, yes I had!  So I talked it over with Syed, yes we were spending more and more time together, and he said "go for it, I haven't seen you so excited about something in... maybe EVER."  So I jumped in head first, not knowing what the heck I was doing or what to expect. 

Fast forward 3.5 years later, Syed and are happily married.  Our beautiful son Jacob was born 3 weeks ago.  I no longer worry about bills.  I am a 2 Star Diamond Beachbody Coach, I'm earning a full time income that pays all my bills and I'm doing it on a very part time basis.  Beachbody has allowed me the freedom to leave my full time job to Coach full time if I so choose.  I have a team of amazing coaches that have joined me all across the U.S. and they are also changing their lives and achieving their goals.  I get to help people everyday feel better about themselves by sharing the things that made me feel better about MYSELF.  Shakeology has completely changed my health, I've gotten off meds for anxiety, insomnia, and irritable bowel syndrome and I never get sick anymore (I used to always catch every nasty bug out there).  I've made amazing friends, Beachbody has sent my family to the Bahamas and Disney World and I earned a Carribean cruise for this year in March, but I'm passing on that because Jacob will still be too little.  

On top of that, because I took a chance at doing something different and becoming a Beachbody Coach, I've paid off almost $25K in credit card debt. 

My life is a completely different picture than it was 4 years ago.

I'm healthy.

I'm happy.

And I'm credit card debt free!!!

Vegetarian Kids in a Carnivorous Home

I'm a meat eater. Always have been. About a year ago I read the book Skinny Bitch and Syed read the counter part, Skinny Bastard (yes there's a version for the guys). It really opened our eyes to the implications of eating animal products. For a little while Syed attempted a vegan lifestyle. I, on the other hand, while I felt more educated, it wasn't enough to make me want to change my ways. Right or wrong, it's just how I felt. And probably because of that, Syed's efforts tapered off.

Now a week ago, Novali has decided that she wants to be a vegetarian, for ethical reasons. I support her, but want to make sure that she's healthy and getting the proper nutrition. She's very picky and I've made it clear that this doesn't mean she has free reign to eat cheese pizza exclusively for the rest of her years.

We've been experimenting with foods and vegetables the past 2 days, and we're headed to the bookstore to look at some cookbooks. She's also getting her blood checked today just to make sure she's not anemic.

Anyone out there with vegetarian kids? I'd love to hear your experiences and tips!

Motivation Has Nothing To Do With It...

“Motion creates emotion”

As usual I came home tonight and worked out.  But it wasn’t just a regular workout.  For the first time I did the Strength workout from Insanity The Asylum, all the way through, no breaks.  I did every single rep, even when I thought I couldn’t keep going I pushed through and got it done.  I love the sense of accomplishment when I can beat my own record, when I can achieve what my body tells me is impossible.  Always in competition with myself!  

Do you think I was motivated to workout when I got home from work?  Heck no!  All I wanted to do was sit on the couch, stuff my face, and watch The Walking Dead (which rocks by the way)!  I was drained from another long day at work.  If I had let myself be led by emotions, I would not have accomplished what was one of the best workouts I’ve ever completed.  

A lot of people ask me how I stay so motivated.  They tell me that they WANT to lose weight, they WANT more energy, they WANT to feel better.  They’ve bought workout programs, joined gyms.  They’re just not motivated to do the work.

What I do has nothing to do with motivation in my opinion.  I’m rarely motivated to exercise.  It’s about commitment.  I have a full time job and I own my own business, I’m a mom and a wife.  I’m busy and tired, all the time!  I come home drained, exhausted from work thinking about all the other things I could be doing.  I don’t really WANT Shaun T to make me want to cry or Chalene Johnson to make me want to puke.  But I’ve made a commitment to myself to be as healthy as I can be.  To be a healthy mom and wife.  It makes me feel good about myself, confident and strong.  I treat my workouts like a business appointment.  As soon as I get home from work I put my workout clothes on and press play no matter how tired I might be, and I ALWAYS feel 100x better and accomplished when I’m done!

Here’s what I’ve learned about motivation...  if you sit around and wait for it to slap you upside your head, it’s never going to happen!  Motivation does not come before action, action comes before motivation.  Once I get moving I feel better, the adrenaline kicks in, and THAT’S when motivation strikes.  Not the other way around.  As my hubby Syed likes to say, “motion creates emotion.”  The only workouts I’ve ever regretted are the ones I DIDN’T do.  

So the next time you think to yourself “I just don’t feel like it”, “I’m too tired”, “too busy”...  “I’m not motivated today”... cut the excuse and just do it already.  You’ll feel better when you’re done, I promise.

Ultimate Reset Day 13

So I’m catching up here, I forgot to post all last week! Shame on me! Quick recap, day 6-8 were awful for me. I felt drained, crabby, exhausted, and my cravings were out of control. Syed was even worried about me and thought that maybe I should quit the reset. But I held on, and on day 9 I woke up feeling fabulous again! I got past the hump! My energy was back and I have felt great ever since.

I admit the one thing I’ve continued to struggle with is my cravings. I’ve been craving meat (I’m still dreaming of a burrito bowl from Chipotle). So I have to confess I was weak this weekend. On Saturday I took my mom to the movies where she ordered a burger and fries and I stole a few fries off of her plate. Then, since I was at the movies during the time that I would normally have had dinner, I was starving and Syed made hearty miso soup, our dinner for the day. While it tasted good it was not satisfying. We were both itching to press speed dial on our phones for our favorite pizza place. But we decided to just sleep through the craving.

I woke up at 4 am and I swear my stomach was eating itself. OMG I was so hungry! And then I didn’t even sleep in with it being Mother’s Day because I had to eat. I’d had it, I wanted comfort food! I used the Mother’s Day excuse, I admit it, and I just lost all willpower. So we went to brunch. I had French toast and a little coffee and a bite of grilled cheese and a slice of bacon. Ugh. Then dinner time came and I did not want roasted beets! So we ordered that pizza. Was it good? It was ok. Was it satisfying? YES. Was it worth it? NO.

I have IBS and one thing this process has taught me is that my symptoms are food related. I have not had any stomach issues, cramps, nothing, since day 1 of the cleanse. This morning I was in SO MUCH ridiculous pain. What was the trigger? Hard to pinpoint, maybe it was the grease, the spiciness (I love everything extra spicy), the sodium, the dairy??? Who knows, but I did not feel good. Lesson learned.

Have I set myself back? I don’t know, but I will not dwell on it, I will continue on and finish this out. As of Saturday I’d lost 6.4 lb. I gained 2 back which I completely expected. We will see what the next 8 days brings. I’m recommitted cause as much as I like my food, I like feeling good that much more. The ultimate lesson that I want to learn from this process is that yes I CAN eat healthy the majority of the time, cooking fresh foods and enjoying them, and that I can allow myself a cheat meal once a week (maybe not pizza anymore). I tend to not do well with all or nothing, as this has shown.

I’m a slave, for you…

A slave to my kitchen that is! Its day 7 of the Ultimate Reset. I’m almost done with phase one which was the reclaim phase. Its only noon so there are a lot of hours left but I am confident I will make it through. At the moment I’m having lunch… micro green salad and zucchini cashew soup (which is making me gag actually)…

So first things first, I feel like I’m living in the kitchen these days. It’s kind of cool that all of our meals have to be freshly prepared; we’re definitely learning new things and bonding over the food prep process! The downside is that it takes A LOT of time! And a LOT of cleanup! We’re definitely getting our money’s worth out of the dishwasher. Sunday I spent a full 2 hours standing in the kitchen making dinner, prepping Monday’s breakfast and making Monday’s lunch. I know it was 2 hours cause we watched a movie from start to finish at the same time.

Yesterday, day 6 I felt like crap! It was warned that day 3-5 or so would be difficult. So I was fully prepared to have the weekend to get over that slump but since I felt great on those days I was hoping I skipped that part all together and was in the clear. Not the case! I woke up yesterday, Monday of all days, feeling incredibly exhausted and crabby. Mostly exhausted. I was drained and miserable the whole day at work. And I was very, VERY angry at my micro green salad. See the salad, which is very good, is on the menu for lunch just about every day, and I’m already SICK of it. Yesterday all I wanted was to toss it and run to Chipotle for a steak burrito bowl, extra steak! I was a bit over emotional. My job passed out chocolates to all the employees and I just about cried because I wanted to eat them! All I wanted to do was get home and sleep. After work I went to whole foods and treated myself to a snack, a handful of almonds with coconut and sweetened with organic pure maple syrup. All allowable ingredients this week so I thought why not? It was just a handful and it felt like a small cheat, had those with some fresh strawberries and it made me smile.

Today, day 7, I woke up very drained again but I’m in a better mood overall. I just need to get past the slump; I know I will feel great again very soon. And back to today’s lunch, the DREADED micro green salad which I am making myself eat, and soup, which we had for dinner and it was good but today I’m just not feeling it.

I’m holding steady at 4.2 lbs lost. I actually was at a little over 5 lbs but I gained 1 back and it’s been the same for 2 days. We’ll see what happens when I start the next phase, phase 2 is the colon cleanse… eek… As long as we are on that topic, I haven’t had any stomach cramps since day 1 which makes me VERY happy and shows me that my IBS is really diet related! For someone who’s dealt with IBS and almost DAILY painful cramping for 9 years, this is very eye-opening.

Still craving steak… Till next time!

Ultimate Reset Day 4

Ok so lots of people said that day 3-5 are the hardest and to be prepared to feel like crap, tired, sore, crabby, etc.  I will say that aside from the headaches on day 1 and 2 I feel amazing!  I'm following the meal plan just as it's laid out and I'm down 5.4 lbs in 3 days.  I've lost more than Syed at this point which is a little weird cause I way a lot less than he does.  We're thinking it might be the fact that I've accidentally been drinking almost 2x as much water as it calls for.  Oops, but it seems to be working!

I feel very much alert, not hungry, if anything I can't even eat all the food that the plan calls for.  It's so much food!!!  I woke up today at 7 am (exactly the 8 hour mark) wide awake and wanting to get out of bed.  But I thought, who am I?  I love to sleep and I don't have to be anywhere so why not take advantage of this.  I made myself go back to sleep until 10:30 when Novali came and got me.

Syed and I did some stretching with Insanity Asylum's Relief dvd, that felt great.  Afterwards and for the rest of the day my legs were very achy so that was a little uncomfortable.  We spent all day relaxing, watching movies, cooking, and just feeling very content.

That's the one thing, there's so much cooking involved!  All meals need to be prepared fresh, so our kitchen and dishwasher have been getting A LOT of use.  The hard part will be continuing with this AFTER the 21 days are up!  I'm feeling so good I've had NO cravings and when I even think about the things I usually eat as take out, it doesn't even sound appealing.  No Cinco de Mayo indulgences for us!

Here's to good health!

Ultimate Reset Day 3

So I must say, for the first time since I can remember, I don't have the Friday afternoon drained "just want to get home and lay on the couch" feeling. And we have a standing joke in the office that come 3 pm I start yawning quite loudly. 3 pm came and went and I said to myself, "guess what self? I'm wide awake!"

I feel great today. Woke up clear headed (although I'm not jumping out bed quite yet in the morning). I feel energized, full, happy, alert. No headache today.

I did have some thoughts about wanting a burrito bowl and chocolate, but they passed. And there was a spread of Cinco De Mayo chips, guacamole, and salsa at work that I bravely ignored. Chips and salsa are my biggest addiction so I was proud of myself. :)

Lunch was a microgreen salad and an interesting lentil salad. I'm not a fan of beans but I sucked it up and ate it anyway (with a little fresh salsa I snuck, hey it's allowed, it's veggies).

Oh and I'm down 3.4 lbs in 2 days which I'm sure is water weight but I'll take it! Also no stomach cramps for 2 days woohoo!

I'm all smiles! Time to go home and attempt to make veggie Maki rolls. We'll see how that turns out.

Headaches and Day 2

They say the first 5 days of the reset can be rough, with the biggest complaints being headaches. Especially for caffeine drinkers. I am a coffee drinker but I usually only have 1 cup in the mornings. I stopped drinking coffee as of this past Sunday. After yesterday’s lunch I almost immediately developed a ginormous headache, and it lasted pretty much until I went to sleep. At times it was pounding! But I know it’s a part of the process and I expected it, so I sucked it up and tried to keep a smile on my face as best as I could. I tried hard to keep my patience and not take it out on any innocent bystanders ;)

Went home and made dinner, well Syed made dinner, I kind of putzed around trying to pretend I was being useful (he had a headache too). Novali made herself the most amazing smelling burger, temptation central.

Dinner was really good, salmon, asparagus, potatoes (side note: why does the smallest bit of asparagus make your pee stink within minutes?) But I couldn’t really enjoy it; all I was thinking about was getting to bed. We managed to get to sleep about an hour earlier than usual.

I slept well, almost 8 hours and when I got up I had a mild headache and was slightly nauseous. Breakfast was oatmeal, blueberries, and yogurt. Except I don’t like oatmeal, and I’m not used to eating so much solid food so early o_O (although had it been a Starbucks morning bun I may not have complained). I managed to get down about a quarter of it all, brought it to work, force fed myself a few more bites… Come to think of it, I don’t think I’m a big fan of blueberries either.

Now I have a huge report due at work and the numbers are sort of floating around.

Miss my coffee…

Must… focus…

Ultimate Reset Day 1

It's day 1 and so far so good! Syed and I got up a little extra early, well I got up a little extra early, I usually sleep in longer than him and have to be dragged kicking and screaming from bed. But I did, because I knew we had to take our supplements, Oxygenize, Mineralize, and Optimize with an ungodly amount of water, which has now replaced our coffee. Then we had to actually cook breakfast. I'm not really a breakfast eater, and since I'm usually running around late like a chicken with my head cut off, I just make a quick Shakeology and drink it on my way to work. Today we cooked and actually sat down, watched each other eat, and GASP, talked!!! This is helping our relationship already. ;)

Breakfast was scrambled eggs, steamed kale (which I've never had before) and a slice of dry whole wheat toast. I don't like whole wheat bread in general but this one was actually good, it was a Whole Foods brand that I picked using the eenie-meenie-miney-moe method. Pat on the back for me. And I ate it without choking on it, oh because we're not allowed to drink water while we eat. Did you know it messes with digestion? I didn't, learned something new today.

Now it's lunchtime and I'm considering moving my computer into the bathroom cause I'm peeing every 10 minutes. 54 oz. of water and my second round of supplements down. I feel good and ready for lunch, a very colorful salad with jicama, something else I've never had before.

So it's only 12:30 and I've learned new things, expanded my palate, drank more water than I usually do in a day, got Novali to school with time to spare, and had a conversation with Syed that didn't involve passing each other in the hall. I'm feeling pretty accomplished! More to come...

Oh so what is this I'm doing anyway? It's called the Beachbody Ultimate Reset and it's a 21 day gentle cleanse, detox where we wean ourselves off animal products, eat vegan for 2 weeks, turn into fish drinking lots of water, and take a special blend of supplements to remove toxins from our body. I'm really excited about the next 3 weeks cause lately I've been slipping into some old habits, eating out too much, feeling sluggish and my IBS is flaring up. So my goals are to refocus, reenergize, sooth my angry tummy, and lower my body fat % to a reasonable level (see last post).

Here's to a healthier lifestyle. Gotta go pee again!

My Body Fat % is WHAT???

For 2 years now I have worked really hard at getting myself healthy, fit, I’ve lost 20 lb and kept it off with regular exercise. My diet is moderate, like many people that’s where I admittedly struggle. I have good days and not so good days. I try to make the good days be much more frequent than the bad. I try to make more good choices than bad choices. I’m not super strict but I think I’m pretty well balanced. I’ve come a long way and I’m really proud of that! I’m just aiming to be healthy, happy, and well balanced, not super restrictive.

So here’s what's bothering me. I really don’t weigh myself often, I go by how I feel and how my clothes fit. I don’t put too much importance on the # on the scale. Where I DO want to focus however is my body fat %. It seems no matter what I do, that toned physique tends to elude me. I know it’s my diet. Maybe I’m not eating enough protein, maybe I indulge a little TOO often. I haven’t gotten it down to a science yet.

I went to get a body fat caliper test yesterday at the UIC Human Performance Lab. Now I take this with a grain of salt because caliper testing is only as good as the person performing the test and it has a 4-5% error ratio. I really wanted to do the hydrostatic body fat testing which is the most accurate, UIC is the only location in Chicago that offers it to my knowledge, but they were having issues with their equipment. Anyway, the guy said he’s been doing this for 6 years, yadda yadda, he seemed to know what he was doing… And the result… 28% body fat. Say what? When the printer spit out that piece of paper and I saw the result, I wanted to puke. On paper, that’s borderline unhealthy. The healthy range for my height and age is 21-29%. I wear a size 0 for goodness sakes (and yes at 5’0” that is a perfectly healthy size). Size 0 and 28% body fat shouldn’t even go together in the same sentence. I guess this is what my friend Eva so appropriately calls “skinny fat”. Thin but yet not enough lean muscle. I know where it is too, mostly in my stomach. The scale at home gives me a BF% of 25.6. This is more consistent with a measurement that was done at work last month using some bioelectrical contraption that they have.

Regardless, I have some work to do. That little sheet of paper said I need to aim for 21% and lose about 6-10 lb. Really I’d like to be closer to 18%. Right now I’m comfortable, but I’m not at my best physically as I have been at certain points in the past 2 years. Comfortable isn’t good enough, if I ever want to achieve those 6 pack abs, and I will get there, I’ve gotta step outside of my comfort zone. I’ve gotta buckle down and be more disciplined with my diet. But I don’t even want to call it a diet, it has to be a lifestyle. And that doesn’t mean restrictive either. I can eat well and often, I just have to more consistently make good choices and not give in so much to cravings and temptation. They say you are what you eat and I want to be broccoli, not a walking slice of pizza ;) Good thing I’m starting the 21 Day Ultimate Reset tomorrow to cleanse my body of toxins and junk and reset it to an optimal level. They say it takes 21 days to learn a new habit and I have some habits I need to break and new ones to put in their place.

Are You Ready To Take The Beachbody Challenge?

I'll be forming groups of 5 people every month, providing support and accountability to help YOU reach your fitness goals! Contact me for details... tamara.gomez18@gmail.com

The Next X: What's New About P90X2™

Courtesy of Team Beachbody Newsletter Issue: #235, September 09, 2011

by Steve Edwards

"How can you improve on the world's number one fitness program?" is a reasonable question that I'm often asked when I tell people I've been working on its successor, P90X2. As Hollywood has quite clearly shown, sequels rarely live up to the original. But once in a while something bucks the trend, and we're fairly certain we've made The Godfather: Part II and not Staying Alive. In this series of articles, we'll be giving you a rundown on what to expect from the next P90X^®.

MC2

The working title of this project was MC2. That's for Muscle Confusion^™ 2, and of course, there's going to be more of what made the original so special. But this time around, we're taking Muscle Confusion to a whole new level, maybe even times two. To understand why requires a little bit of history.

P90X was developed to answer customer requests for a program more challenging than Power 90^® and Slim in 6^®, Beachbody's original blockbusters. So we set out to make the type of training program that an athlete would use to prepare for a season, except the sport we chose was life in general. Combining the theories of cross-training, progressive overload, periodization, and the specificity of adaptation, we began a series of test groups to try and estimate the tolerance of difficulty that the general public could handle, or more appropriately, would want to.

Turns out this was more than we knew at the time—though the fact that we cast test group subjects because they outperformed professional fitness trainers should have given us a clue. The program was so advanced that many professional athletes began using P90X instead of their own team trainers. This we hadn't anticipated. We knew we had a solid program, absolutely, but we didn't count on athletes who make millions of dollars a year ignoring highly paid professionals and working out to a video. If we had, we might have done things a little differently.

Knowing that the world was watching, we began P90X2 development searching for a consultant. We traveled as high up the food chain as possible, where we found Dr. Marcus Elliott. His training facility, P3 (Peak Performance Project), is at the absolute cutting edge of sport. Using the latest in equipment and applied science, P3's client list reads like, well, the front page of the sports section. Dr. Elliott signed on as head of our Scientific Advisory Board, ensuring we had the means to raise the bar.

That's not to say we weren't already succeeding. Anyone who ordered the P90X ONE on ONE^® workouts could see we'd been experimenting with many new training modalities. Tony's newfound love of training on unstable platforms, honed by his relationship with functional trainer Steve Holmson, became, literally, the foundation of P90X2.

Access to P3 and Dr. Elliott also provided challenges. Because our customers are not primarily athletes, we needed to do a lot of homework to determine how to best integrate P3's elite systems into our demographic. Research was done, numbers crunched, theories were applied and tested, and test pilots (often yours truly) were beaten into submission. In the end, the collaboration resulted in a program that we think improved on our wildest expectations.

The program

While it's still based around the periodizational principles of P90X, X2 has a broader scope. In short, it's more versatile, which is saying something, considering that P90X is by far the most versatile training program on the market today. Here are the three training phases of P90X2 and what you can expect from them.

1. Foundation. The first training phase is about your foundation, as in your base, or more specifically your attachment to the ground. What we mean here is not just your legs but your entire kinetic chain. There's a saying that goes, "You can't shoot a cannon from a canoe" that relates to your base, meaning that if it's not solid, you're going to wobble like the visual this saying evokes when you attempt to do anything explosive. The goal of the Foundation phase is to help you create a solid attachment to the earth so you do all other movements without compromising your form. When this happens, you'll look better, feel better, perform better, and be much more resistant to injuries.
2. Strength. Next, we take your strong foundation and strengthen it big time. This training phase will be most familiar to P90Xers because it's similar in structure to what you're used to. However, the individual workouts have evolved. You'll continue to work from instability or athletic positions, because this will help you integrate your strength gains more seamlessly into your real-world movements.
3. Performance. Finally, we take all the physiological changes we've been making with your body and focus them on pure performance. The key to this phase is something called Post-Activation Potentiation or P.A.P. (which we'll explain next time), and doing repeat series of movements called complexes. These workouts will destroy you in an oh-so-beautiful way. After a few weeks of P.A.P., your body can feel more springy, loose, and young. It almost feels as if, to borrow a phrase from King Arthur of Camelot, "You don't age. You youthen."

In conclusion, we think we've created an "Oscar winner." P90X2 is a training program anyone with a decent fitness base can succeed at. It can be done by someone who has only completed one round of Power 90 and still be challenging to the world's best athletes. It's versatile enough so anyone who sees it through to its end can achieve major increases in performance. And while it won't replace P90X (or make it feel as dated as The Godfather), it should absolutely take your results to the next level.

Pre-order P90X2 NOW for guaranteed delivery before Christmas!! P90X2

Questions, email me at tamara.gomez18@gmail.com or find me on Facebook.

I'm The Most Motivated LAZY Person Ever... And Here's My Secret...

The other day someone said to me, in reply to one of my Facebook posts, "I want to be like you one day."  This person was referring to my motivation and dedication to the lifestyle that I've chosen to lead, which is basically just to be healthier in general.  People tell me that I motivate them and inspire them and it kind of makes me chuckle, cause I don't think I view myself the way others see me.  Do we ever?  We are our own biggest critics; we can never see ourselves objectively.


Here's the truth about me (in my eye) and I would take a guess that the people closest to me would agree...


If you're at all familiar with the book Personality Plus, I am a Peaceful Phlegmatic.  If you're 
not familiar with it, READ IT, it's great!  Here's the description of a Peaceful Phlegmatic:


Phlegmatic: This is the flat-type. They are easy going, laid back, nonchalant, unexcitable and relaxed. Desiring a peaceful environment above all else. 


A peaceful phlegmatic is neutral - they tend not to actively upset people, but their indifference may frustrate people. They try not to make decisions, and generally go for the status quo. They care about people and harmony. 

This describes me to a T, I think.  I'm super laid-back; I just go with the flow.  I take things in stride; in fact my favorite saying is "It is what it is".  And that will soon be a tattoo…  I'm lazy, I don't like to exert more energy or effort than is necessary.  My moods are pretty flat; I don't get overly excited one way or the other.  I'm just calm and steady.  I love to sleep, I HATE waking up early.  Anytime before noon is early in my book.  I love to eat bad foods, I would eat tacos all day every day, and I have at times.  I love to watch TV.  I often tell Syed that in my next life I want to be a cat, so I could sleep all day (a pampered cat, not an alley cat.  Just putting that out to the universe so there's no confusion).  ;-)


So how do you reconcile all of this with the person I have become more recently?  It was a choice.  All of the above mentioned, the eating and watching TV and being generally lazy, coupled with having a desk job where all that moves for 8 hours a day is my fingers, type, type, typing away, let to me being FAT, unhappy, unconfident, sluggish, sick all the time… generally just miserable.  Was I obese? No.  Was I unhealthy, YES!  And 20 extra pounds on a 5'0" frame is a lot of weight.


I made the decision that in SPITE of the above traits, enough was enough and something had to change.  I work through the barriers.  I push past the doubts.  I tell myself that I have NO limitations.  The motivation that I have comes from simply taking action and CREATING motivation.  It does not come naturally.  Do I curse every morning when my alarm goes off and I know I have to get up and work out?  Heck yes!  I do it because I HAVE to.  It's non-negotiable.  And when I'm done, the feeling of accomplishment is worth it.  I tell myself that I have worked my a$$ off for the past 2 years and there is NO WAY I'm going back to where I was.  I have created healthy habits.  That's all it is, a habit.  ANYONE can create a new habit.  Am I perfect?  No way!  I try my best to be consistent and balanced.  I get lazy, tired, worn out; there are days when I don't want to eat right or exercise.  Sometimes I give in and that's ok, we all deserve a break, and this is a work in progress.  But for the most part I do it anyway, because it's important to me.  I don't sit around waiting for motivation and inspiration, I make it happen, cause it's not going to come along and smack me in the head.


I read personal development to keep my mind filled with positivity.  I surround myself with positive people that encourage me.  People that have what I already want and so it gives me something to strive for.  And I keep myself accountable by helping others, which has become my passion and my drive in life.  For once I AM excited about something!  And on the days that I want to just be lazy… I remind myself that I have put myself out there, people are watching, and if I were to suddenly come back 20 pounds heavier again, I would be letting people down, including myself.  That thought keeps me going.  Sometimes the best motivation is knowing that others are counting on you.


So for the person that wants to be like me…  I do what I do, not just for me and for my family, but to show YOU that you can do it too… but don't try to be like me, just be the best version of YOURSELF possible.  Quit with the excuses and just get started, now!  And if you need help and a little motivation, I'm here for you… :)

Do I Take The New Job... Even If It Doesn't Include A Raise?

In the past year I have dedicated myself to personal development, to learning new concepts from experts on topics such as leadership, motivation, confidence, personalities…  It has truly changed my mindset and the way I live my life.  One of my favorite authors has been John C. Maxwell and I recently purchased his book, The Maxwell Daily Reader.  It's a compilation from many of his different works and you read one passage every single day.  This one really spoke to me, especially his very last line.  I have recently been contemplating a job change, within my company, but it may not involve a raise.  My first instinct was no raise, no move.  But now this makes me think… if the job will teach me new skills and make me better and more marketable, isn't that worth MORE than a slight pay increase in the long run??? 

What are your thoughts?

Becoming Better and Better

By John C. Maxwell

There is nothing noble in being superior to someone else; progress is becoming superior to your previous self.  Is that something you strive for?  Do you try to become better than you were last year, last month, or last week?  George Knox was right: "When you cease to be better, you cease to be good."

                To become self-improving…

                Become highly teachable.  Pride is a serious enemy of self-improvement.  For a month, put yourself in learning roles whenever possible.  Instead of talking in meetings when people ask for advice, listen.  Tackle a new discipline, even if it makes you feel inadequate.  And ask questions anytime you don't understand something.  Adopt the attitude of a learner, not an expert.

                Plan your progress.  Determine how you will learn on two levels.  First, pick an area where you want to improve.  Plan what books you will read, conferences you will attend, and experts you will interview for the next six months.  Second, find learning moments wherever you can every day so that not a day passes without your experiencing improvement of some kind.

                Value self-improvement above self-promotion.  King Solomon of ancient Israel said, "Let instruction and knowledge mean more to you than silver or the finest gold.  Wisdom is worth much more than precious jewels or anything else you desire."  Make your next career move based on how it will improve you personally rather than how it will enhance you financially.

-          The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player

WHAT SPECIFICALLY ARE YOU DOING TO CONTINUALLY GET BETTER?

Isn't Cardio The Best Way For A Woman To Lose Weight?

I found this old Q&A from Jillian Michaels and wanted to share :)

 

Why does my online workout program consist of just one day of pure cardio and four days of weight training? Although I love weight training, I've always thought it's the cardio that really helps a woman like me lose the weight. Why so little pure cardio?
 

ASK JILLIAN: Okay — I love dispelling this myth. Resistance training when done in circuits with cardio intervals is the best way to lose weight for the following reasons:

1. Resistance training will help burn intramuscular fat and create lean muscle tissue, but you can't build muscle mass unless you are lifting extremely heavy weights and eating more calories than you are burning in a day. Additionally, it is VERY difficult for a woman to gain muscle mass because we simply don't have the testosterone needed to build muscle tissue the way men do.

2. Resistance circuit training burns more calories than straight cardio both during the workout and after. This is because you are getting the benefits of a resistance-training workout and a cardio workout all in one. Additionally, you will burn more calories for up to 24 hours after weight lifting than you would with cardio alone because your body has to work hard to return your muscles to a pre-lactate state (the state before training).

Here is what cardio is good for: weight-loss extra credit. In other words, you can only train your muscles so many times in a week without overtraining them, which is counterproductive. Your muscles need adequate rest and recovery time for best results, but you can do as much cardio as you want. I mean, you can't run a marathon every day, but you can jog, bike, use the elliptical machine, or swim pretty much as often as you want.

 

Long Distance Parenting - How Do You Deal?

This is Novali's 2nd year spending the summer with her dad, Sam.  At least I think it's her second, maybe third, after a while it's hard to keep track.  She typically goes to stay with him in Indiana as soon as the school year lets out and then I get her for the weekend every 2-3 weeks.  She then comes back when school is ready to start up again.  Granted it's a short summer, it really flies by.  But for a kid, it's an eternity without mom!  She was here for the long  4th of July weekend, now it will be almost 3 weeks from then until she will be back home for another weekend.  She is starting to get homesick and it breaks my heart when she says she misses me and doesn't want to wait so long to see me.  I talk to her just about every day and Skype a few times a week, so that we can at least see each other (the beauty of technology).  So when she says she misses me, I have to be strong and reassure her that while I miss her a ton too, it's good for her to be spending this time with her dad, stepmom, and new little brother! 

 

For those that don't know the background, the relationship has always been long distance.  When I met Sam we were in college, he was living in Michigan where he grew up and I was and always have been in Chicago.  So when she was born it was long drives every other weekend or so.  It's all she's ever known.  Sam is a great dad and very involved in her life, from day one he has made the effort to see her as often as possible.  So it's been a lot of miles in the past 10 years.  I am grateful that we have a good relationship, all of the adults involved are very respectful of each other, we work well together, and we put her needs first, always!  So we make it work well.  A few years ago Sam moved closer, he is in Indiana now, he bought a home with his wife and they have a son, so Novali is excited to have a little brother.  Every 2 weeks, on Friday nights we drive to a meeting place half way between Chicago and South Bend, she goes with him for the weekend, and on Sundays we meet up again and she comes home.  Now for the summer it's pretty much the reverse.  So I tell her it's only fair, during most of the year she does 2, ocassionally 3 weeks, without seeing him, now the summer is his time to spend with her.  He has her enrolled in some great summer programs and she is having fun.

 

Of course, and nothing at all against dads, but nobody can replace mami when you are homesick, not feeling well, nervous, hurt, have a tummy ache... it's when we want our moms. It's a natural instinct.

 

Do any of you have similar experiences where the other parent lives in another state, and your child goes between homes?  Did you have that experience growing up?  How do you deal with the transitions, the questions or objections as they get older?  I'd love to hear your stories and tips. 

 

 

Why I'm Earning A Presidential Active Lifestyle Award

I thought this was super cool, and wanted to share! (yes I just said super cool) :P

Beachbody^® Joins President's Challenge

Beachbody has been recognized as an advocate of the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award (PALA), created by the Presidential Council on Fitness.

How it works:
Between July 15th and August 17th, the Presidential Council will recognize:

• All customers who buy a Beachbody fitness program or order Shakeology^® 
• All current Coaches
• All new Coach signups

Each of these Coaches and customers will receive a Presidential Active Lifestyle Award issued by the Presidential Council.

We hope you'll join the mission by spreading the news and inspiring as many people as you can to get healthy and fit. Stay tuned for more info to come over the next couple of weeks.

Let's do our part to get America moving!

---

P.S. To learn more about the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award, go to www.millionpalachallenge.org. Please note that you're not required to follow their sign-up instructions. Beachbody will be taking care of everything for you.

Getting Our Parents Healthy, 10 Minutes At A Time

Syed and I have been talking a lot about our parent's health.  They are getting older, they are overweight, and are having the health issues that come along with that.  Coming from Hispanic/Indian backgrounds, our food is not the healthiest.  The foods that our parents traditionally eat are very rich, fatty, fried.  Case in point, the first thing Syed's mom asked was if she can still have her empanadas...

So Syed decided to order 10 Minute Trainer for his parents.  It's a program developed by Tony Horton of P90X fame and it's awesome because it's broken up into 10 minute segments that work all your major body parts.  For someone that has no time to workout, or has to start off really slow, 10 minutes may be more than enough!  But for someone that is more advanced, you can stack the workouts and do 20-30 minutes.  

We went to their house on Tuesday to get them started.  We did the first 10 minutes with his mom and man did she struggle.  But she got through it and we were really proud.  It gave me an appreciation for how blessed I am to be able to do what I do.  I do very intense workouts regularly and I think I take it for granted.  If I want to help others, I have to remember that for many people just doing a few jumping jacks may be a HUGE struggle.  I have to take myself back to when I could barely do a push up, on my knees!  Or when my knees used to hurt soooo bad because I was weak and out of shape.  

The next day she attempted the whole body workout and couldn't do it, but instead of giving up she did a lower body workout.  Proud of her!  We are going to support her and push her to see that as long as she is consistent and tries her best every day, she will get better at it, healthier and stronger!!!

As Tony says, "DO YOUR BEST AND FORGET THE REST"

All of this has made me decide that I want to start a 10 Minute Trainer Group on August 1, for anyone that wants to join in and we will keep each other accountable.  The biggest struggle that I hear in terms of exercise is "I have no time".  Well we all have 10 minutes.  That's one less snooze on your alarm, 2 commercial breaks, 10 minutes less spent browsing Facebook.   If our parents can do it, anyone can!

If you're interested in joining in, hit me up at www.facebook.com/tamaragomez18 or tamara.gomez18@gmail.com.