Let's Go - Starting with Core De Force

Today marks day one of my journey with Core De Force, and as I talked about last week I don't think I've been this excited to get started with a program in a long, long time!

I've spent the week test-driving the Core De Force workouts and I'm stoked to officially jump in with the full 30 day calendar today. This has been a tough year and my body is not where it was. To be completely honest, I'm feeling frustrated, sad and a bit embarassed about this. I am such a huge advocate for healthy living and loving your body, but that's something that's been really tough for me of late. I want to write more about this in the future, but I'm feeling optimistic and empowered today to be starting with this brand new program and really giving it 100%.

In anticipation of getting started today I've gotten ready by:

taking my measurements

snapping before photos

making a meal plan

doing some grocery shopping

prepping some meals

I did my meal plan and grocery shopping from Monday - Thursday by hand and then hit the grocery store yesterday!

The little colour coding system at the bottom of my meal plan refers to my allotted containers for the meal plan each day. This program follows a similar version of the 'Portion Fix' program that is used in 21 Day Fix, 21 Day Fix Extreme, Cize, and more. I'm in the 'A' category for the meal plan. I kept things fairly simple for the week and I'm also looking forward to sampling a few of the recipes from the Core De Force meal plan guide. 

I spent some time on Sunday doing a little meal prep (which included protein waffles and chilli) and made a couple of tweaks to my meal plan:

This is mostly based on the fact that a) the protein waffles didn't really turn out as planned (the first one was a COMPLETE disaster!) and b) I realized I was going to be eating out on Thursday night and needed to move things around a bit. In any case, I'm all set with meals!

I'll be getting up each morning to get my workouts done. The workouts are 30-47 minutes long, so I'll be up at 6-6:30 each day to get them done! I'm thankful for our November accountability group which is getting started tomorrow because I'll have an awesome group of challengers and coaches to help keep me accountable!!

You may be wondering why my meal plan only goes Monday-Thursday... well that's because I'll be in New York City Friday-Sunday! I'm thrilled to be spending a weekend in my very favourite city. It's been 2 years since I've been back (check out my last trip here for the food and the fun) and I've been missing it! I'll be drinking my Shakeology, carrying on with my workouts but visiting all sorts of restaurants and having great adventures. I can't wait!

Okay Core De Force, let's do this! 

Cruising for the very first time

That is the Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas compared to a regular cruise ship. When I signed up for the 2016 Success Club trip back in January 2015, I had no idea how much fun I would have aboard my very first cruise!!

Each year Beachbody hosts a trip for its coaches, and we get the opportunity to earn the trip by helping people - how awesome! I registered for my spot while waiting at the airport to board my flight back to Toronto. March 2016 seemed a million years away, but as time went on the trip got more real. I was lucky enough to be able to bring a guest - so obviously I picked Corbin! We've had the chance to travel together (to New York, Alberta and Halifax) and this seemed like another awesome adventure that we could take together. The cruise was the thing that helped get me through February, and before I knew it - it was here!

I took lots of photos and videos and I'm stoked to share them!! If you follow me on Facebook, you've probably gotten a bit of a sneak peek - but here is the full scoop!

Cruise Life

Having never been on a cruise before, I now understand why people enjoy cruises! There is literally everything you can possibly imagine at your fingertips. Restaurants, parties, nightlife, an endless itinerary of activities, shopping, pools, hot tubs, cozy nooks, a library, park - the list goes on!

I got into the habit of going through our daily itinerary and highlighting the things I wanted to do each day as a means to plan our days (I'm a nerd like that!) In addition to the normal cruise activities, Beachbody had also planned some awesome events for us including daily workouts with our favourite trainers, a panel with the trainers and a panel with the Top 10 Coaches from 2015. I did my best to take advantage of EVERYTHING that was offered and loved every minute.

The boat was so massive that it amazed me that a) it could float and b) I didn't feel it moving for the most part! I didn't experience any sort of seasickness and for that I felt very lucky! It was neat to have the mix of days at sea as well as our port days (in Jamaica and Bahamas)

Some of my favourite activities were ice-skating (so Canadian!), watching the live shows (including an amazing a cappella group from Florida called The Edge Effect), reading & napping in the solarium and nightly karaoke!! Yes, I got to sing my little heart out every night and made a bunch of new friends who loved doing the same.

Swimming with Dolphins

Swimming with dolphins in Jamaica was truly, truly magical. It was everything that I could have hoped for and was literally beaming the whole time.

We got to see a bit of Jamaica on the hour long drive to Ocho Rios and our sweet tour guide gave us a great rundown of history and fun facts about the places we were driving through. Once we arrived at Dolphin Cove, we got to enjoy a whole slew of other animals as we headed down to the dolphin zone. There were cats, love birds, iguanas, bunnies and sting rays that we got to make friends with along the way. So fun! I also added some sweet reggae dance moves to my repertoire.

Finally it was time for dolphins!! There was about 10 of us in with the trainer and 4 dolphins. Our dolphin's name was Stan and he was super sweet! He pulled each of us along in the water, gave us a smooch, we smooched him and then we got to touch him. It was unbelievable. I was BEAMING the whole time and maybe had some feelings in my eyeballs.

Eating

There was food everywhere. Like, everywhere.

I understand why people can go on cruises and gain weight - it's just so accessible! I was impressed with the gluten free options and the efforts to avoid cross contamination. Menus were labelled with gluten free / allergen friendly / vegetarian options and in one of the buffets there was even a gluten free corner. I learned quickly that I could ask for gluten free bread if it wasn't available, and one night I even convinced the pizza place to make me a gluten free, cheese free pizza.

We also learned that we could order room service, so that's what I did each morning! We would put our little card out with our requests the night before, and then in the morning after my workout, a platter of breakfast / snacks would arrive. There was fresh fruit available at all meals and room service, so I would usually snag a banana or apple to munch on later in the day.

The sit down meals were pretty incredible and we started going to the dining room for most meals to take advantage of everything that was available to us. Some days at meals we had couple time, we enjoyed a few team dinners and we also had the chance to sit with some awesome coaches who were total strangers when we sat down!

I definitely ate more than I normally would, but didn't go too crazy! I was working out every morning, walking a tonne  drinking lots of water and eating fruits & veggies. It felt like a vacation - but I didn't feel gross when it was done.

The Workouts

Ahhh the workouts were so much fun! 

You can see in the video that I decided to get up for the early workouts each morning. Because we arrived on the eve of daylight savings time, it was dark and windy each morning for the 6:30am workout! That didn't stop me - I just learned to bring a sweater with me!!

 I loved having the chance to workout with Autumn, Tony, Sagi, Joel & Jericho and it felt good to get my sweat on each morning. I found a great spot to workout with lots of space and made some lovely new friends every day. We were treated to a Shakeology bar after each workout and it was truly an awesome way to start the day. How incredible to be working out in the middle of the Caribbean, surrounded by other coaches while the sun was rising?! 

Inspiration

Most of all, it was so inspiring to be surrounded by some of my very favourite people, meet coaches and trainers that I admire and have the opportunity to be a little Beachbody sponge and soak it all in. I connected with some amazing new friends and took copious notes in our trainings. Having the chance to spend time with my coach, her coach and a bunch of kick-ass leaders was just the best. 

It was also really cool for Corbin to be there to meet all these people who I talk about all the time! So much of what I do is online, and I think it made it REAL for him. He's always been such a supportive partner in this journey, but I think he 'gets' this coaching thing + our wonderful community that much more now. 

It was truly an incredible trip for SO MANY reasons!! And I'm so thankful that I had the opportunity to go on my very first cruise, surrounded by so many awesome people and have so many experiences that I will cherish for a lifetime!!

2015 Year In Review

In getting ready to write this post, I peeked at my blog's archives of New Year's Eve posts. I can't believe I started writing this blog back in 2008, and my post preparing for 2009 tells the story of a very different gal in a very different place... But I digress.

All around 2015 was a pretty awesome year. While I did my best to live boldly, I don't think it was entirely in the ways I expected!

I got to take some amazing trips - to Florida, Nashville, Alberta and Halifax.

Both trips to the US found me hanging out with some incredible Beachbody coaches, working out with celebrity trainers (including Shaun T - ahhh!), exploring fun new-to-me cities, eating great food, enjoying warmer climates and generally having the best time.

My trip to Alberta was an adventure with Corbin's family to celebrate his Grandma (Dixie's) 80th birthday. It involved visits to Calgary, Canmore, Banff and a road trip to the village of Empress, Alberta where Corbin's dad grew up. It was my very first time seeing the mountains, and the sights in Alberta are absolutely beautiful. We enjoyed some really lovely day trips including an adventure to the Columbia Icefield, hiking in the Rockies, visits to Lake Louise and other beautiful glacial lakes and some great time spent in Canmore. It was an awesome trip and I was happy to expand my Canadian horizons to the west.

I also expanded them to the east! We were only back in Toronto for a couple weeks before we took off to Halifax for a wedding. We drove there and back (and by we I mean Corbin drove, and brought snacks and downloaded the entirety of Serial and The Mystery Show for us to listen to) which was quite the adventure in itself!! Once we got there, I fell in love with the Halifax! The weather was perfect and it was wonderful to be so close to the ocean. I visited with friends (old and new!), scoped out the farmer's market, ate yummy food and did all-things wedding related! It was a beautiful event and a really fun reason to take a trip out east!

In 2015, I continued with my fitness journey completing 2 rounds of Insanity Max:30, 21 Day Fix Extreme and getting started with The Master's Hammer and Chisel! This is the most consistent I've ever been with fitness and I attribute a lot of that success to my incredible challengers, coaches and monthly support and accountability groups. Without them, it's just me working out in my room and that just doesn't do it for me!! Today marks day 4 of Hammer and Chisel, and so far it is KICKING MY ASS. I'm so excited to share my journey with you and see the final result 56 days from now. Here goes nothing!

In the spring, I took a job with Meghan Telpner and it has been a great fit! I have the best time with our team, I love the work that we're doing, I get to use my full range of skills and I'm constantly learning. We were super busy with the launch of her second book and running the CNE Program for the Academy of Culinary Nutrition, but it's been a truly awesome ride.

I've also been growing my role as a health and fitness coach, and it's been so cool to see our team's growth and the progress our challengers have made. I've had the opportunity to help a lot of people work towards their health, fitness and business goals and look forward to continuing with this in 2016!! We have an awesome group of peeps ready to go for our January Group and I can't wait to see our team grow and thrive. I paid for all my Christmas gifts with my Beachbody income and I'm looking forward to pushing towards some really big goals in 2016!!

(Our next online support and accountability group starts on Monday and I would love for you to be a part of it so I can help you work towards YOUR 2016 goals!! Send me a message)

While both of my jobs keep me busy, I'm still finding ways to perform. I had the opportunity to be a part of the first 'intimate' Confidential Music Theatre Project show in April which was one of the scariest things I've done in my life to date! I'm grateful that I had the experience, and it certainly showed me what I'm capable of doing. I also love that each year I get to do a show with our Ashnaba group, and we had a really great show in May where I performed one of my very favourite songs.


I'm also having a lot of fun making videos that include singing and getting involved with other people's fun projects - like when I got to dress up as Posh Spice for a great project earlier this week (video of that will be up next week - stay tuned!!)

I read lots of great books, saw some incredible theatre and concerts, Fringed, watched the entirety of Orange is the New Black, Breaking Bad and House of Cards, spent great time with friends, rode Cecily all over the city, moved twice, made nourishing meals (including ones with meat again) and continued to be crazy in love.

Photo Credit: Michelle Doucette Photography 

Oh, and I chopped my hair off and dyed in dark brown.

It wasn't all rainbows and unicorns (I had a wicked flu in March that took me out for 10 days, moving twice in 5 months was less than ideal and with all of the changes that happened, I definitely had to sort out what a routine looked like for me!) but all in all, it was a very transformative year and a mostly enjoyable one at that!

Over the last few weeks, I've been setting intentions for 2016, making goal lists and vision boards while reminiscing on all that has happened in 2015. I'm looking forward to riding the momentum that I've built and striving for an even more awesome year. One of my goals includes blogging more regularly again, so be sure to watch this space.

2016, let's do this.

Happy New Year, friends - I hope 2016 brings you adventure, wonder and all kinds of awesome xo

Coach Summit 2015

This post about Beachbody Summit has been such a long time coming. Life got in the way of writing it and didn't want to half-ass it because it was such an incredible experience - so finally, months later, here is the full scoop!

The City

Nashville is an incredible city - unlike anywhere I've ever been! There is music EVERYWHERE. In every bar, every nook and cranny, even playing out of boxes on street corners. It is AMAZING. And somehow every band is better than the last band you saw. The quality of the musicians there is unreal and for me it didn't even really matter that I'm not a huge country music fan - I just loved being immersed in music everywhere I went.



Southern hospitality is REAL. I learned that during a short stay in Georgia a few years ago, but this was solidified for me while we were visiting. From the staff everywhere, servers, hotel concierge, uber drivers, men who asked me to dance while we were out to the various people that we met - southern hospitality is legit!

The night life is a lot of fun. We went to a number of different places (each with awesome music) but my very favourite was Acme. They had a beautiful rooftop patio and an awesome band on the main floor where we danced the night away.

The Community

Connecting with my team and all sorts of awesome coaches was a gift.

Being the token Canadian on my coach's team, I often feel disconnected all the way up here! I talk to these ladies every day, but I don't actually get to see them and hug them very often. It was so wonderful to hang out with them for 3 days straight and be surrounded by 24,000 other awesome coaches who are out there helping others and doing great things in their business.

The Event

Summit was nothing short of phenomenal. I was on cloud 9 from the minute I arrived to the second I got back to Toronto. We attended 2 awesome events in the stadium where the Tennessee Titans play and 2 others in the area where the Nashville Predators play - where else can you house 24,000 coaches?!

These events were full of inspiration, information and another awesome opportunity to connect with fellow coaches. We got to see some wonderful speakers including Simon Sinek, Chalene Johnson, Dewitt Jones and a whole slew of top Beachbody coaches and executives. I felt like a little sponge, furiously taking notes and photos trying to absorb as much information as I possibly could. During the closing ceremonies we got to witness some of the very best fireworks I've ever seen and it was a beautiful way to end our time there.

The Food

While we were at the conference a lot of the time, I did have a chance to try out some great Nashville restaurants in between sessions, on our evenings out and on my Nashville exploration day before I headed home! Some of the highlights included brunch at Biscuit Love, stellar peaches at the farmers' market, southern BBQ, iced tea and treats at Barista Parlor, vegan cupcakes at Khan's Desserts and an incredible meal at Avo,  Nashville's very first raw restaurant!

And what Beachbody event would be complete without a Shakeology bar? I even got to try out some of the new Shakeology Boosts when they launched at Summit.

The Workouts

We each got to pick 2 workouts while we were at Summit and of COURSE I wanted to work out with my love, Shaun T! Insanity is what started this whole coaching journey for me so that was the obvious choice, and Cize was actually coming out while we were in Nashville, so I thought that would be super fun!

My Insanity workout was nearly the first thing I did while I was in Nashville. After getting up at 3:30am a busy morning of travel and 2 flights, I arrived, dropped my things at the hotel, went to registration, stopped for a group photo and then busted my butt for Insanity. The program IS called Insanity so it seemed fitting for it to be under insane circumstances...

It was all sorts of amazing.

I also got to try out Cize the following day. The workout was PACKED because everyone was so stoked for the workout to launch! I absolutely LOVE Cize -- a workout that doesn't feel like work because you're dancing?!? YES!!

I am so thankful that I had the chance to take this trip. I earned my ticket to Summit by being a Success Starter (which means that I hit certain milestones in my first three months as a coach) which was so cool! I've already got my ticket for next summer's summit and am really looking forward to being back in Nashville with my team again!!

Do you want to join me in Nashville this summer? Become a coach on my team and let's talk about how you could earn your own free ticket to Nashville!