It's not a Secret!!

I get asked by friends, family and even total strangers, What kind of program are you doing? I correct them politely letting them know it is not a program but a lifestyle change. This is generally how a random conversation will go...

“How do you do it”?

Do what?

“Well you must be taking some sort of diet pill right”?

Nope I’m not taking diet pills.

“So what’s your secret”?.....(now what I want to say is “Ancient Chinese secret” OR “If I tell you I have to kill you” but I don’t. I simply say..)

I eat right, I exercise and I use Beautyfit Products.

“So you take diet pills then!”

NO! First of all they are not diet pills and second I dare you to slam that BeautyBum cream on your tongue and see what happens!! I have encountered first hand what putting it on and THEN putting face cream on feels like :) ( FYI... It doesn't burn you it just makes you all warm, tingly and red. It's supposed to do that.. read the label ) I don’t just use the products and then magically I lose a whole crap-ton of weight. I watch what I eat, I work out regularly and I struggle just like everyone else out there. I highly recommend for more detailed information on the products you can either read all about them online at the website or you can contact Sandra ( You will find her on my FB friends list ). 

Oh and for the record I would never just send you blindly to try something out if I didn't fully believe in it. I'm not one of those paid actors. I don't get any kind of kick back for sending you to the website. But what I do get is a phone call, text message, BBM or FB wall post that says I LOVE MY Beauty_____ (fill in the blank of what product you are using). And for that right there, I feel accomplished!

Then the questions about BootCamp start. This is my favourite part of the conversation ( can I get a woot woot ) no really it is!! I tell them all about it! How there are some nights that all you can smell in the room is BeautyBum, how I got my ass served to me on a silver platter or how I swore she was a little twisted that night or maybe she took her BeautyFuel a little later in the afternoon than normal. But I have never once told ANY of my friends... don’t do it! Just the opposite actually. I tell them when all the free drop camps are and when the pay per drop classes are. I encourage them to at least try it. There is always a bit of hesitation at first but once I reel them in, they get hooked! And then they totally understand why I do it. It’s not just about the 1 hour butt kick, the fact that I just sweat through my clothes being  pretty sure my deodorant kicked off about 6.2 minutes in or that I just threw up a little in my mouth swallowed and kept on going.... but it’s about the room of women all there to cheer you on and to sweat and swear next to you the whole time. There are laughs, and tears and sometimes a little bit of booty slappin happenin’ but we all come together as a single unit to get it done.... and then we come back for more. For me it quickly went from an “I am going to do this and last the whole 6 weeks because I would like to finish something I started”  to “Hey lady when is the next one starting?”. That doesn’t make me twisted at all, it makes me dedicated to a better healthy life.

But while we are on the topic of twisted adventures, let me tell you about what I have decided would be a great day of fun! Somehow I agreed to doing the warrior run with Sandra  (www.warriordash.com  watch the video and you’ll see where I’m going with this). It went a little like this. I will break it down it point form for you...

1.       Sandra posts warrior dash info and says bucket list!!

2.       I say hellz ya let’s do it I’m in!

3.       Sandra sends my confirmation email saying "wave time 8am....SHOW TIME?!!!"

So here we are 4 days out and we are both so excited! I am scared for the fact that this is new and also HOLY CRAP!! What a challenge eh?! And honestly who better to have by my side than her. She has believed in me enough to never let me fall without helping me back up and saying YOU GOT THIS!!!

I have a super busy week ahead of me but I KNOW you can’t wait to see the pictures and to hear all about it when we are done. Even if I don’t fully survive the hills, mud, fires and barbed wire don’t worry Sandra will blog after she’s done her GINORMUS Turkey leg.

A Side Road

In my life, things come up and I get thrown totally off track! Today was one of those days for me. We went to the lake today to ease the sweltering heat so I had lots of time to think in the almost 2 hour drive. I had my blog all planned out for what I was going to write about because I was once again on a road trip.
Road trips for me have always been an adventure, but I quit smoking 9 days ago so I find myself going a little stir crazy not knowing exactly what to do with myself now. I talk my poor husband's ear off for the first 45 min and then after that ... uhm nothing! Well not really... I grab my cell phone and I start taking silly pictures and then send them to my friends. It looks a little like this.........

This was 7 days ago. I am much better now :)

Ok, so back to where everything went in a totally different direction.. What are some of the main things we grab when heading to the beach? Lotion, towels, chairs, cooler, a camera and of course the children. We take random pictures of ourselves and of the kids or of total strangers. Whichever are more interesting at the moment. Oh, and the standard, "I was here" picture with my husband is always taken for the memory book. Who knew when the shutter clicked it would make such an impact this year?!

The first "bathing suit" pictures of the year are scary for lots of us. Mostly because we are casper white and we glow like a beacon with a flashing sign above our heads that say "LOOK AT ME". But this was much more scary than the norm for me. This was my 6 month check point. How much of a difference have I made to my body since January? "Clothes hide everything if worn correctly" is one of my favourite lines. All I was hiding behind today... was SPF4. Thank goodness where we decided to park it for the day was a quiet little cove with no crowds of onlookers.

On the way home I sent the picture to Sandra. I get a response of,  "WOW... seriously WOW!" That was an awesome response right?! She wasn't done yet. She wanted to REALLY let me know how WOW it truly was and I needed to see it. I get an email with encouraging words and an attachment.... She posted my pictures side by side. Tears of joy? Tears of WOW? How about tears of HOLY CRAP?! I had them all at that moment. I got to see what people now see, and what people saw then. It was right there in front of my face side by side. I'm human of course, and I immediately tried to pick the flaws out of some saggy skin here or some fatty spots there. That's my way of coping with an uncomfortable situation.

But isn't that what changing your life is all about? Getting our of your comfort zone? Why was I uncomfortable?? It's because I didn't recognize either of those women in that one combined photo. I was shown that I have accomplished so much and to be proud!

NONE of this came easy. NO ONE held my hand. I did it myself. I made a conscious decision to never go back. Is there pain involved? Heck ya there is. Physical, Emotional and Spiritual pain are what I deal with. Have I lost friends along the way? Yes I have. Do I have bad days? Yup! Sure do. And I also have TONS of fabulous days. What I have now, are people in my life that love me, support me and who PUSH me to be a better and healthier version of what I already am. To Be Beautiful.. and to be ME!

Thank you for opening my eyes tonight. I GET IT!!

Reality Bites Back

I didn't have these shoulda-woulda-coulda moments that brought me to where I am today. I had one life changing moment that made me wake up and realize that I was not who I wanted or needed to be. My husband and I go with our children yearly to Florida for family vacation. We do all the fun things that families do. Go to Disney, to the beach, swim at the pool and play mini golf. We also get family pictures done at that time so we can look back and see how much the kids have changed.


Lets go back to Feb 2006 as I stood there at the waters edge in Daytona Beach with the wind whipping thru us at a balmy 82F. A picture is taken with my husband and I like usual and then we go on with our day. 5 days later I uploaded all the pictures off the camera and started flipping through them. That's when it hit me like a TON-O-BRICKS!! Who is that woman standing there with my husband? Sadly enough it was me. I sat there staring at that picture for hours crying, thinking how did I ever let my weight get so out of control? I thought of every excuse in the book. I had children, I was a wife, I worked too hard to take time to eat right and I was tired all the time and my favourite was.... I was comfortable! The next day I called our benefit provider to see if the Dr. Bernstein program was covered under the plan and it was 100%. So I made the appointment and I started the program the next week. I weighed in at 250lbs and I almost passed out..

I struggled through the first few weeks until I got my bearings and then I was off to the races. 7 months later (Labour day weekend) I stepped on the scale for the last time and I was 165lbs. I thought I was done. I maintained my weight with a bit of fluctuation for 3 years and then I felt I failed because I put on 25lbs. It was that vicious cycle that we go through in our lives, so I called again. I went back on to the program and took the weight back off only this time it was harder. I felt like my body was fighting me and I didn't understand why. It took 5 months and then I gave up, stopping at 169lbs. Long story short I bounced again back and forth for 2 more years. I kept eating the way I was taught to, had my nights out with the girls for dinner, drinking and dancing ( because that made the calories stay away RIGHT??!?! ) and going to the gym a few days a week but not on a regular schedule.


So here we are Summer of 2010 and I am an active member at the gym I go to. I get a flyer saying they are opening a new one just down the street from my house and my excitement was through the roof! Little things make me happy :)  That was when I met Sandra Compton. She was an angel in workout clothes hiding behind the biggest smile I have EVER seen! We met, we talked, she did a "where are you" analysis of me. I was in a rut and I couldn't get out of it. She asked me a little bit of my background and I laid it out like the red carpet for her and I cried A LOT. Being as professional as she could be, she cried with me because she GOT IT! She knew where I was and where my struggles were and where I was right at the moment.


Months go by and I go on with my life never letting her out of my mind. I kept her business card with me all the time with my gym card (and I still do to this day). Fear of what would happen if I contacted her and fear of what would happen if I didn't is what held me back. The day finally came and I jumped for the first time and sent an email. That is where it all started.... January 2011, I started Beautyfit BootCamp and my life has NEVER been the same since then. My life didn't end....  it BEGAN!!

I left this woman behind in the parking lot at Tim Hortons December 31, 2010. Wait till you see her now!

When Does it Begin?

I heard one day if you never jump, how will you know if you can do it. It's called a Leap of Faith and lately I have been dong a lot of those leaps. I started my permanent life changing jump Jan 2011 and I haven't landed yet. I'm not sure I want to land either because this is one amazing ride! I decided it was time for me to put myself first. My physical, emotional and mental health needed to be taken care of. So my adventure began. 

How many times have we said to ourselves, "Tomorrow I will start" or "I'm going out for dinner and drinks with the girls, so Monday it is" ?? Really? Will you? What will it take to make you step out of your comfort zone? And do we truly know what our comfort zone is? I thought I knew mine until I was guided to try something new. And then again and again. Now I have no idea where the line is :) And that is Fabulous! 

Most of us are mothers, wives, sisters, friends, employees etc.. pick your title but under that badge it is still you. We all say we lead busy lives yet how many of us take the time to get our hair cut/coloured/highlighted or to get a mani/pedi or sit for 45 min to get our nails done? I am guilty as charged! But I also take 1 hour a day for myself as well to get to the gym or go to Beautyfit Bootcamp to make the rest of me as pretty as my hair and nails. Because I am worth it!! And you are too....

I'm not a rockstar or a glamour model. What I am is, an everyday woman. I'm the one at the grocery store with my bedhead hair in a bun on the top of my head getting milk and lunch meat at 7am in my slippers. Or driving my teenage son to Co-op placement at 5am and then heading to work. I am also the one you see sweating and watching my hour long show at the gym on the cross trainer ignoring the world around me and taking time for me. All of the changes that I've made didn't happen overnight and I bet you're wondering just how I did it. No worries, I'll let you know when come back and read in a few days.

Take inventory of your day. How much time did you schedule just for you?