So what is in Shakeology?

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook I am sure you have read any number of posts about Shakeology. You know I think it tastes great, that I have lost weight using it and I am selling it. . When I went to Beachbody Headquarters on June 25, 2011 I was able to see the Shakeology wall.

On this wall is every ingredient that is put into Shakeology to create the delicious shake that takes us only 5 minutes to mix up.There are so many up there and some like Acaci berry, goji berry, and green tea are now names that you hear everywhere, but other names such as Camu-Camu, Reishi Mushroom, or hydrilla are not talked about and can be a little scary because we are unsure of what they do. Well you are not alone, only through research an abundance of reading and documentary viewing did I learn what these ingredients help with. Now I am not saying in starting this adventure I knew all of these ingredient's and their benefits, actually the one I investigated today I just assumed it was a flour that was used to make children's cookies.

Starting with the Proteins and Amino Acids I wanted to share the ingredients so lets kick this off with Amaranth.
 Amaranth is a grain that was used by the Aztecs and was recently rediscovered by westerners. Amaranth is not technically a grain but rather a fruit that has a sweet but peppery taste. Since it is a fruit it contains a more complete protein and more of  it than traditional grains.

Amaranth is very beneficial if you are cutting down your meat intake because it offers a near-complete protein and is also a rich source of iron, magnesium and calcium more than other grains. This means that it can help combat anemia and osteoporsis.  It is also a source of insoluble fiber which has been found to aid in fighting heart disease, certain cancers and digestive -tract conditions.

Camu -Camu
Camu -Camu is definietly not something that I have  heard much about, but with a little online research I was able to find out that, this is a fruit that is found in the Amazon rainforest and is a deep red or purple in color.  It is fast being considered a  superfruit because it contains nutrients such as Calcium, Vitamin C, niacin, phosporous, Leucine, serine Iron, flavanols, Riboflavin, valene, thiamin and amino acids. 
Some ways that Camu- Camu is said to benefit the body is as an anti-depressant, improves circulation, lowers blood pressure, is an antioxidant, and helps to balance and strengthen the immune system. 


These are just two of the ingredients that are found in Shakeology and I am blown away by the amount of nutrition that these have. I will be continuing this post tomorrow with two new ingredients, but if you are interested in a sample in the mean time email me at balancinglifeandlove@gmail.com or find me on Facebook here. 

Have a fabulous evening and I will see you tomorrow. 

Losing 80lbs by June 2012

Goals, resolutions, plans for the future, aim, plan of action, ambition, intent, intention... I could really go on forever with words that we use when trying to express what we want to do in the future, but when it comes down to it the words we use to express our future desire really means nothing if we do not write them down, share them, create a plan of action or act on those plans.
Websters Dictioanry defines goal as: the end toward which effort is directed

Goals can often feel like we have bitten off more than we can chew and that like at any minute that chicken could decide to step up and crush us before we even realize what has happened. So what do we do to accomplish the goals that we feel are a nessecity to creating a better quality of life. 

To help so that these goals do not become overwhelming there are several steps that can be taken so that you will see them through to the end and reach whatever reward you may be seeking. 

 The first step is to write down your goals.Write down 10 goals that you want to accomplish in the next year. Then you can go through the goals and see which goals directly correlate to another larger goal on the list. For example one of my goals is to be debt free and another is to pay off my car.  These are two goals that are directly related and can be made into bullet points under the larger goal of being debt free. Another goal I have is to lose 80lbs, but I also have other fitness goals of completing Turbo Fire/Chalean Extereme hybrid program, running a 5k, Completing the Tough Mudder and Camp Pendelton challange. So my list looks something like this. 

1. Lose 80 Lbs. 

• Complete Turbo Fire/Chalean extreme Hybrid
• Complete Rev Abs
• Complete P90x
• Run 5k
• Complete Tough Mudder
• Complete Camp Pendleton Mud Run

2. Be Debt Free

• Pay off Car
• Pay off Credit Cards
• Attend Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University. 

You will notice that these are not necessarily in order of how they will be completed, but hopefully you get the idea. Though I have these on my computer I will also be hand writing them and placing them where I will be able to 

Now that I have the goals down I need to get together with my superhero team and create a plan of action. Any goal worth achieving is worth sharing. By sharing something like this you are being held accountable by that person. They may not realize that you have put them in that position, but they are. During sometime in the upcoming months they will ask you how you are doing on xyz and knowing this is generally good motivation to follow through with your goals so you can proudly answer, " I am down 5 lbs this month" or " I have save 500 of the 1,000 dollars towards my emergency fund."  Whatever your goals might be it is always more rewarding to tell a friend something positive rather than something negative.

So my friends you here are my accountability. I will be writing to you weekly on how my eating/exercise went.   If you are interested in embarking on this Journey with me I am more than happy to be of any assitance and would love for you to be my workout buddy on Team Beachbody where I am an Independent Beachbody Coach. 

What are your goals?

Wishing you tons of success in whatever dreams you dream, 

Wordless Wednesday

Pictures were taken at Salvation Mountain in Southern California near the Salton City.

I hope you are having a great week and I will be back later this week. 

Penny Lane

Working out on Vacation

Hello, I hope everyone has had a pleasant weekend so far, I have had a relaxing Saturday. I woke up 2 hours later then I generally do and then after doing some chores I decided to follow a friend out to Salvation Mountain and was pleasantly surprised by the beauty that was in the middle of the desert. I have some cell phone pictures that I will share tomorrow.  But I have been working on this video for a little while and wanted to finally share it with you. I have had some trouble uploading it, but I figured it out and am now able to share it with you.



So if you follow me on Twitter you know that for Memorial Weekend we went to Arizona. Well I was a little disappointed because I didn't see any weights in the Hotel gym which meant that I didn't have equipment to complete my Chalean Extreme workout for the day. Then I had an Epiphany, If you can use water bottles, soup cans, or other household items for weight bearing activities why not use Gallon water jugs.  I tried it and videoed it to share with you that even when you think you don't have what you need to do your scheduled workout you can find it. The "weights" cost me 2 dollars, the cheapest weights I have ever purchased.