Happy New Year!!! First off I just want to say THANK YOU for an amazing year!!! You have inspired me and motivated me more than you'll ever know. It's been a pretty amazing year for Scott and I, and I hope you had a great year, too! 

Every January 1st I do a free online 30-day program by Chalene Johnson (the trainer from TurboFire and PiYo) that focuses on goal setting. The first year I did this was 2013 and it literally has changed my life! It's totally not fitness related (unless your goals are) and can be used in ALL areas of your life. This year I challenge YOU to join me in doing it! The program comes in short videos to your email daily, they take about 4-8 minutes a day and you can do them on your time, and also revisit them throughout the year when you need a little extra clarity with your goals. You can find Chalene's 30-Day Push HERE! 

One of my (many!) goals this year is to read one book a week for the year (which is A LOT for me!) Yesterday I found a really cool website called Oyster Books where you get unlimited downloads for only $9.95/year. Perfect for my challenge! 

And I wanted to give you an update on Day 6 of the 21-Day Fix! This round my husband, Scott, is doing it with me... workouts, meal plan and all... and he's realizing that these little 30 minute workouts might be more of a workout than he thought! He's been walking around sore all week, even trying to blame it on "detoxing" from following the meal plan, even though it's EXACTLY what he's used to eating. (He's actually really surprised with the amount of food he's able to have and how easy it is to follow!)

Today was his first experience with Dirty Thirty. Yesterday I did a facebook poll to see if I should tell him what it was like... and everyone said to let him sweat it out. haha The first words out of his mouth today when the workout started were, "She's wearing an armband, that means this is serious. Sh*t."

No matter how many times I've told him that I've gotten better ab results from just 21 days of the 21-Day Fix than doing 90 days of Body Beast, he never believed me... until today. My validation came at the end of the workout when he said, "Now I know why your abs and shoulders were so ripped when you did this!" 

And in true Scott fashion... it only took him 6 days to be able to fully quote Autumn in every workout, even ones that he's never done before. (Seriously, if you ever see him in person, start quoting Tony Horton from the original P90X and he'll know every. single. line.) 

If YOU are ready to crush some big goals in 2015 and do the 21-Day Fix with us, it's on sale for the entire month of January! Also, if you've been thinking of joining our growing coaching team, you can save even more with this sale when you get the 21-Day Fix and become a coach!  Feel free to reach out for more details and with any questions you may have. 

This year for New Year's we're going to a friend's party, and I'm making a dairy free, vegan, gluten free spinach and artichoke dip. (I promise it's MUCH better and much easier to make than it sounds!) If you're not afraid of grocery shopping on New Year's Eve (I'm warning you... it wasn't fun lol) you can find that recipe HERE! I also like to add in some Daiya mozzarella shreds to mine when I make it. :) 

From both Scott and myself, we want to sincerely thank you for an amazing year and we can't wait to help you reach your goals in 2015! 

Years ago I lost weight eating baked Cheetos, deli meats and diet Mountain Dew while counting points. I was starving myself of nutrients. I had NO CLUE how to read food labels or what clean eating was. My thought process (like I'm sure a lot of you can relate to) was "calories in, calories out", I bought into the low-carb craze, and even bought those prepackaged meal systems once (which ended up sitting in my cupboards for months, Yuck!) Some of this helped me lose weight... but it didn't make me healthy. BIG difference. 

Now more than ever, marketing companies are hitting everyone with the latest buzz words... low carb, low fat, gluten free, sugar free, whole grain, Paleo, vegan... but none of that actually means HEALTHY. (Ahem, Oreos are vegan!)  

It's been a REALLY long time since I've done a free clean eating group, and what better time than just after the holidays after everyone's been over-indulging (myself included!) so I'm going to be running another one starting Jan. 5th!! You'll learn how to read past the marketing BS on the front of the label (you can read more about that here) and find out just how AMAZING you were designed to feel! 

If you're ready to join my next free 5-day clean eating group, please fill out this form to reserve your spot and get more info! And be sure to invite your friends so you can support each other along the way! 

Let's rock out some CRAZY goals in 2015!! xoxo 

Holy crap, is it really New Year's NEXT WEEK!!?? I honestly have no clue where this year went! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and is getting ready for the New Year!! 

This is also the PERFECT time to start setting some big, hairy, scary goals for 2015! Below you'll find some great goal setting links and tips.

• Chalene's 30-Day Push
• Oprah's Dream Board 

I first did Chalene's free 30-day Push in January 2013, I've done it a few times since, and it has seriously changed just about every aspect of my life. You can use it to set some big fitness goals, business goals, family goals, anything! And it's super eye opening, you're really going to find out what your priorities are and if what you're doing is moving you closer to or farther away from those priorities. 

Oprah's Dream Board is a great tool to visualize those goals and see them happen right in front of your eyes. Something powerful happens when you get your goals down on paper! 

Today, Scott and I started a new round of the 21-Day Fix. Scott's seen me do it before, and seen my results, but this will be the first time he's doing it with me, workouts, meal plan and all! Last night while figuring out his color containers, his eyes lit up when he found out Shakeology was one read and kale was one green...

"You mean I can have 6 green smoothies a day!!??"

lol YES, yes you can. :) I'm not only excited to see how he does with the program, but I'm also curious to see what the meal plan is like for a color blind guy. Should be interesting, and we'll be sure to keep you updated! 

I will also be putting together a new FREE 5-day clean eating group starting in January, so be sure to stay tuned for that! 

As always, please reach out if you need any help crushing your 2015 goals!! 

I struggle, too. 

Really, I do! Despite what was an AMAZING year so far, I've had a lot of ups and downs alone the way. 

January started off great, I got in the BEST SHAPE OF MY LIFE in February and March doing the 21-Day Fix, went on an amazing all expenses paid Caribbean cruise with Beachbody in March... and I've really struggled ever since then. I've struggled with my nutrition, my workouts, stress, getting down on myself, and over time all those "little" things added up to me feeling like crap on the inside, not loving how I had let myself go on the outside, and gaining more weight than I'd like to admit. (Maybe once I lose it I'll let you know the exact #. Not a proud moment!) 

I've had more than enough pity parties for myself, and I'm well aware that I have COMPLETE CONTROL over everything. I control what I eat, if I skip my workouts or not, and even though I may not be able to control certain situations, I CAN control how I respond, and that ownership is HUGE in fighting excuses. (And trust me, excuses are EASY to come up with!) 

As you many know, I'm hosting my first ever Diet Bet challenge this month (which you are more than welcome to join!), and I was thinking about what I want to accomplish in these next 4 weeks. What are my goals... how much do I want to lose, how do I want to feel, and most importantly WHY. I was also started thinking back to when I was in the best shape of my life and what I was doing differently then... and then it dawned on me.... I had ACCOUNTABILITY. Not only was I sharing what I was doing on my facebook wall to hold myself accountable, but I was sharing it with YOU! I was writing my weekly meal plans out with my workouts and sharing them to help you succeed. I knew that what ever I did (or didn't do!) would have to end up on that paper (or blog or email) and that was enough to keep me motivated. 

Lack of accountability is why so many people start new diets and workouts and fail. 

Picture a chair with 4 legs, pretty sturdy, right? Now take one of those legs away, 3 legs is still going to work. What happens if you take another leg away? You're left with a chair with 2 legs. Have you ever seen one of those? Of course not! It wouldn't be able to stand! Your health is the same. One leg is your workouts, another leg is your nutrition, a third leg is your personal development (which I'll get into in a second) and the forth leg is accountability. To have a strong, sturdy chair, and get LIFELONG results, you need all four legs. 

Personal development is probably the most overlooked leg in health and weight loss. I think we've all heard someone say or have said to ourselves, "If I only lose x amount of weight I'll be happy." Unfortunately, most of the time that's not true! We lose the weight, but we're still the same people on the INSIDE. We need to constantly be working on ourself... our beliefs about ourselves, our confidence, our self esteem, the way we talk to ourselves on a daily basis... or we'll never be able to truly grow as a person. I talk a lot about personal development with the coaches I work with and train, but rarely with YOU, and I'm sorry! From now on I promise to share more about that. 

So what does this all mean?

It means be on the lookout for my meal plans again in the upcoming weeks (hold me to it!) It means I'm going to be sharing more of my struggles with you so you can relate to what I'm going through and it can help you if you're going through the same things (and prove that I am in fact human!) And it means I'm also going to be sharing the personal development I'm doing so you can grow yourself as a person as well. Exciting stuff, right!? 

This month I'm reading the book You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero... and I kind of feel like that last person I know to read it. Everyone's been raving about it! 

You may be asking yourself, "So where do I begin?" Easy! Don't wait for New Years, or Monday, or "soon", pick up that book, get signed up for my Diet Bet challenge, and let's rock out December!!! 

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot... ;) I know how much you loved the workout Insanity with Shaun T, but had a hard time fitting in the workouts because some where an hour long.... well,  just because I love you, Christmas comes early... as in a BRAND NEW 30 minute Insanity... how's TODAY sound? Keep your eye on your emails, I'll let you know as soon as it drops this afternoon!!