Free 5-Day Clean Eating Challenge!

We recently just wrapped up a free, 5-day online clean eating group. I LOVE hearing the feedback of happier, healthier clients like this (I especially love the comments that show that people are proud of themselves, empowered, and on board with a healthier lifestyle!!!):

In this group, we provided meal plan guides (plenty of recipe options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner) but we also allowed participants who didn’t want to go full-throttle for the week to just pick one or two things that they eat regularly and could, for the week, replace with something healthier. I gave some suggestions in a “This over that” series (posted below for your convenience)!

I also give plenty of guidelines and suggestions for my own personal tips for healthy eating, weight loss, what “clean eating” really means, and more in this video:

Clean eating video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKrNQGqz7zw

Feel free to follow along with your own challenge to yourself for the next 5 days! You are WORTH it!! If you’d like additional support, you’re welcome to sign up for free coaching with me or check out info on our upcoming groups!

I would be honored to help you with your fitness journey :)  Here is a link to sign up for a free account with me as your coach: https://www.teambeachbody.com/signup/-/signup/free?referringRepId=183908. Or you can go to www.teambeachbody.com, sign up for a free account, and enter any of my info in when it asks if a coach referred you: screen name: KatelynLesk, coach ID: 183908

Visit https://www.facebook.com/CoachKatelynLesk and http://beachbodycoach.com/katelynlesk for more info!

THIS OVER THAT Series:

"This over that" day 1!

Salads are always a great option for clean, healthy eating but dressing can be a big downfall of this. Lots of dressings pack a lot of sugars, artificial flavorings/colorings, and partially hydrogenated oils. Even "light" dressings have a lot of not-so-healthy stuff in them.

Making dressings yourself is a great way to take back the power and control exactly what is going into them!

If anyone is interested in specific dressing recipes, I have some super-healthy cookbooks that have a LOT of great options for every type of dressing you might like and I'd be happy to share. Beachbody's Ultimate Reset (a 21 day super healthy food program) also includes some dressing recipes that I LOVE and use regularly!

More info on the Ultimate Reset can be found here:

Ultimate Reset: http://teambeachbody.com/shop/-/shopping/URComplete?referringRepId=183908

Ultimate Reset Challenge Pack: http://teambeachbody.com/shop/-/shopping/BCPCLN305?referringRepId=183908

But I find that the more convenient healthy foods are, the more likely I am to use them! So I posted all of my easy, super simple dressing replacement options below. These are also great things to ask for at a restaurant (every restaurant has the olive oil and vinegar option and if you're at a place with any kind of Mexican food, why not shake things up with a little salsa? also super easy to ask for lemon wedges)! My favorites to put on a salad:

- lemon juice and olive oil (this is my daily go-to- very easy, adds some healthy fat and vitamin c, and the vitamin c also helps with iron absorption from the spinach)

- seasoned olive oil- this Tuscan herb one is delicious

- olive oil and red wine vinegar

- salsa (regular or a peach or mango salsa is fun to mix it up!)

- pesto (be sure to check the ingredients to make sure they are all healthy unless you are making your own)

- not pictured: hummus (I also have a super easy to make hummus recipe if anyone is interested)!

"This over that" day 2!

I LOVE making my own yogurt parfaits! It saves you the added sugar (and/or artificial sweetener), flavorings, and colorings that come in regular yogurt and it's so much more filling and satisfying! My favorite combo is plain organic yogurt with strawberries, raisins, and walnuts. Other fruits, nuts, and coconut are also good toppings. Have fun experimenting!!

“This over that” day 3!

It is very difficult to find a pasta sauce without added sugar. For the longest time, I never considered making my own because I always assumed it was a complicated process! Turns out- it’s not!! Majority of the time it takes to make it is just letting it simmer on the stove. And this recipe is DELICIOUS- I like it so much better than jarred pasta sauce!! It is seriously so simple and easy!!

AND, you get a 2-for-1 today because this recipe also includes my recipe for zucchini noodles!!

Recipes here: http://katelynlesk.blogspot.com/2015/11/zucchini-pasta-with-homemade-sauce.html

Here’s my full demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY5w3dHoyL0

“This over that” day 4!

Better carbs!

Again, here is where single ingredient whole foods win out over things like bread, noodles, and canned baked beans that have a variety of additives and are highly processed. I checked the label on a can of baked beans recently- on top of a lot of added sugar, there is also caramel coloring- why is that necessary?? And why should we be putting that in our body?

My own personal favorite carbs are rice, oatmeal, quinoa, and beans. I much prefer zucchini pasta over regular noodles. And a great alternative for things like pancake mixes are to make your own (if anyone is interested, I have a great recipe using coconut flour)!

These are all things we can control :)

“This over that” day 5: YOU PICK IT!

Since today is the last day of our group, we’d love to be able to help out with anything you’d like to replace with a healthier version but are struggling to find a good substitute! Let’s hear it!!

And in the meantime, let me leave you with this quote from Tosca Reno’s “The Eat-Clean Diet Recharged” book. I hope it inspires you to continue incorporating what you learned and implemented in this group!

Disclaimer Copy: Katelyn Lesk is an Independent Beachbody Coach.

Country Heat Day 1

Can you relate to this? The past couple months, I've been feeling like I just can't get ahead. I've been fairly consistent with my workouts, but the summer brings a LOT of parties, get-togethers, and trips and I find that just when I start to feel like I'm getting back to normal, something comes up to derail my progress. Don't get me wrong, I am ALL FOR living life to the fullest and enjoying fun dinners with friends, some wine, and sharing in the joy of life that social activities bring, but sometimes it can be really hard to keep your health and fitness on track at the same time! This summer my clothes have been fitting tighter, my digestive system has felt off, and I just haven't been feeling as good as I normally do. It's hard to feel your best in LIFE when you don't feel physically as good!

Just to be clear, I am ALL about loving myself at every point in the journey. Even when my weight creeps up and my clothes are fitting tighter, I love myself for all that my body is capable of doing, I appreciate my health, and I remind myself that sometimes with all we have going on in life, it's just not possible to do it all (but I AM proud of what I AM doing)! But you know when you just feel yourself needing to reel it in a bit? Yep, that's where I am. I can still love myself and be gentle with myself, while DECIDING to focus more diligently on my fitness and nutrition. It's time to course-correct and improve in that area of my life. I was talking to my friend and coach, Nicole, yesterday and I told her I am feeling FOCUSED and DETERMINED! I'm ready to take this next 30 days by storm!!

Now some of you might think that a program like Country Heat may not be the best way to really crack down on your fitness and/or lose weight (that's what I thought at first too). WRONG! I have been seeing the test group results as they've become available and have been BLOWN AWAY! My coach, Jennifer, was in the test group and I got to see her go through her 30 day transformation. Not having a lot of weight to lose in the first place, I was amazed by how she still lost 7.5 lbs in the 30 day program! Then I just kept seeing result after result from the people I knew in the test group: 10 lbs, 18 lbs, 5 lbs, 17 lbs, 16 lbs, 7 lbs, 9 lbs, 13 lbs and the before/after pics looked amazing!! Autumn said there were even 3 or 4 people from the test group that continued on with 2 more rounds of the program and lost 60 lbs!!! 

The other thing I LOVE about this program is that it's FUN! There's no equipment, no burpees, no extreme workout. I can work up the motivation to do just about any workout but I didn't have to go through that mental process this morning when I geared up to do it because I was actually looking FORWARD to it!! I tried 2 of the sneak peeks recently and already knew how much the music in the program motivated me to go all-out with the moves (and I would all of a sudden notice I had been SMILING the whole time)!!

Here's my day 1 "before" picture! I am ready to rock and roll and see what I can do over the next 30 days! More importantly, I'm excited to get back to feeling GOOD and have FUN in the process!! I will keep you posted- you'll certainly be along for the ride with me! Clip from my first workout will be posted shortly :) AND, if you'd like to join too, I would love to have you in on the action!! We have a Country Heat group starting next MONDAY!! 

Visit https://www.facebook.com/CoachKatelynLesk and http://beachbodycoach.com/katelynlesk for more info!

I would be honored to help you with your fitness journey :)  Here is a link to sign up for a free account with me as your coach: https://www.teambeachbody.com/signup/-/signup/free?referringRepId=183908. Or you can go to www.teambeachbody.com, sign up for a free account, and enter any of my info in when it asks if a coach referred you: screen name: KatelynLesk, coach ID: 183908

Disclaimer Copy: Katelyn Lesk is an Independent Beachbody Coach.

Be one of the brave ones

The Biggest Loser article has sparked a lot of conversation on drastic weight loss and the after-effects of that. In my almost 4 years of coaching, I have seen a lot of people take drastic measures time and time again then fall off the wagon. I'm sure we have all done that at some point! It's EASY to be motivated by a short-term vision and taking extreme measures in any area of our lives gives us a sense of control. It's actually HARDER in any area of our lives (health, relationships, business, finances, etc) to stay motivated by a long-term vision. In terms of quick-fixes with health, I PROMISE that long-term, slow and steady, SUSTAINABLE lifestyle changes will get you to your goal (and keep you there!) much more effectively than short-term drastic measures.

For me and all of my clients who I have seen successfully transform their health, it took patience. It took work. It took time. And it took a shift in PERSPECTIVE. We MUST learn to love ourselves in the process. That is the only way we can stay on the long-term track.

I rarely workout at 100%. I'm usually somewhere around 80%. And that's what I promote. Why? Because I'd rather get a decent workout in and want to come back tomorrow than kill myself in a workout and not want to do it ever again and/or associate dread with moving my body. When it comes to nutrition, I focus on getting lots of healthy foods that I love in my body rather than being terrified of tempting junk food. I focus on what I APPRECIATE about my body and all that it can do for me.

Have patience. Love yourself or at least TRY to start finding things about your body and your health that you appreciate. Turn the conversation around. It starts with US. Let us be one of the brave ones that takes the hard path and really truly focuses on health.

I believe that as we all increase our self-confidence and belief in ourselves, we are better able to lift others up! There is more room for love and kindness when we love and are kind to ourselves. We literally MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE! Don't we all want that?? Don't we all want to FEEL GOOD?? Don't we all want to know that we are ENOUGH?? We have that in our power! We are more than enough. We are doing enough. Let's all try to love ourselves a little more!!

Be one of the brave ones. Turn the conversation around. BREAK the cycle!!!!

Visit https://www.facebook.com/CoachKatelynLesk and http://beachbodycoach.com/katelynlesk for more info!

I would be honored to help you with your fitness journey :)  Here is a link to sign up for a free account with me as your coach: https://www.teambeachbody.com/signup/-/signup/free?referringRepId=183908. Or you can go to www.teambeachbody.com, sign up for a free account, and enter any of my info in when it asks if a coach referred you: screen name: KatelynLesk, coach ID: 183908

Disclaimer Copy: Katelyn Lesk is an Independent Beachbody Coach.

Healthy Shakeology Ice Cream!!!

I’m on vacation in Myrtle Beach with my parents. There’s something about being at the beach and on vacation with the fam that makes me want ice cream. It could be the fact that it’s everywhere you look around here (there was even a family with GIANT bowls of it in the elevator) or it could just be habit since we always used to go on a special family outing for ice cream at the end of every vacation as kids. I will most likely indulge in a treat as this vacation nears its end but in the meantime, I found a SUPER healthy alternative that actually might be even better than REAL ice cream (plus I feel GREAT after eating it- not bloated or on a sugar high)!

Here’s how to make it!

• 1 scoop Vegan Chocolate Shakeology (more info/can be purchased here: http://www.teambeachbody.com/shop/-/shopping/MDSUSH311G?referringRepId=183908 )
• ½ cup water
• Approximately 10 ice cubes (use more or less based on desired consistency)
• ½ cup frozen blueberries
• Toppings of your choice! I highly recommend fresh strawberries and blueberries- DELICIOUS!

I blended all of the above together (except the toppings, of course) but in retrospect, I would have added the ice progressively. I think that would have made it easier to blend (I had to keep mixing it up with a spoon to get the ice to get down near the blades since the mixture was so thick). UPDATE: That method did work better when I made it the next night!

All in all, this turned out GREAT! Totally satisfied my ice cream craving!! BONUS: it’s HEALTHY! No added sugars, no artificial flavorings/colorings- all good stuff! One scoop of Vegan Chocolate Shakeology is 170 calories and the frozen blueberries I added were about 30 calories. I got this HUGE bowl out of it! Most commercial ice cream is between 200 and 300 calories for a teeny tiny ½ cup serving (plus you get a boat load of sugar and fat with that)!!

I feel great and my body and digestive system are very happy with my healthy decision! I might not need that treat at the end of vacation after all :)

My personal story of the benefits I’ve seen with shakeology can be found here:

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease*

Similar healthy treats using Shakeology can be found here: http://katelynlesk.blogspot.com/2016/10/healthy-chocolate-shakeology-candy-and.html!

Enjoy!!!

Purchasing info: http://www.teambeachbody.com/shop/-/shopping/MDSUSH311G?referringRepId=183908

UPDATE: My mom and I made our Shakeology treats for the 2nd night in a row- I think I am now addicted! :-D

Visit https://www.facebook.com/CoachKatelynLesk and http://beachbodycoach.com/katelynlesk for more info!

I would be honored to help you with your fitness journey :)  Here is a link to sign up for a free account with me as your coach: https://www.teambeachbody.com/signup/-/signup/free?referringRepId=183908.

Disclaimer Copy: Katelyn Lesk is an Independent Beachbody Coach.

REAL TALK about loving ourselves and weight fluctuations.

REAL TALK.

As a follow-up to my recent post about loving ourselves and quitting the negative self talk (if you missed it, you can find it here: http://katelynlesk.blogspot.com/2016/03/self-inflicted-body-shaming-and-losing.html), I realize that the picture I used might not have been the best to exemplify my point. I wrote that blog post late at night and quickly pulled a workout picture from my phone to use for the quote. While it was a recent picture, it was also taken at a very flattering angle on one of those days where for the first time in a while, my digestive system was not acting up, I was not feeling bloated, and in general I just happened to be feeling great that day. I can assure you that it doesn't exactly reflect my current fitness level! My weight can fluctuate a lot even within a few days. I questioned using this flattering workout picture at the time for fear it would defeat the purpose of the message and after being teased about the contradiction of it by a very good friend, I decided I REALLY needed to set the record straight :)

So here is a more accurate picture, taken less than a week apart - this is what I was talking about in the post about my jeans fitting snugly. I am not in my best shape right now (I've been eating out frequently and the busyness of the past month has caused a few slips in my workout routine as well) but I REFUSE to love myself or my body any less :)

I stand by my original point in the blog:

"In the big scheme of all the problems in the world, having pants that fit a little tightly is an incredibly privileged problem to have. We have clothes, we have seemingly unlimited access to food, we have money to buy pants, and even that picture of yourself that you criticized was taken by a phone or camera that a large population of the world will never even be lucky enough to own."

Who else is committed to loving themselves a little bit more each day??

Visit https://www.facebook.com/CoachKatelynLesk and http://beachbodycoach.com/katelynlesk for more info!

I would be honored to help you with your fitness journey :)  Here is a link to sign up for a free account with me as your coach: https://www.teambeachbody.com/signup/-/signup/free?referringRepId=183908. Or you can go to www.teambeachbody.com, sign up for a free account, and enter any of my info in when it asks if a coach referred you: screen name: KatelynLesk, coach ID: 183908

Disclaimer Copy: Katelyn Lesk is an Independent Beachbody Coach.

Self-inflicted body shaming and losing weight before a vacation or event

Ladies (and gents): This self-inflicted body shaming has GOT to stop.

I am getting ready to go on a Beachbody-chartered cruise with 6000 of my fellow coaches and my newsfeed has been FILLED with last-minute workouts, vacation eating plans, and other last-ditch efforts to get into “vacation shape”. This isn’t just coaches- I see this frequently when any friends are getting ready to go on a vacation that will include more pictures and less clothing.

I get it! Of course we want to feel our best while on vacation and I also understand the healthy food decisions leading up to a vacation (especially knowing that eating while away is rarely as healthy as being at home and in routine)!

Where it crosses the line in my mind (and only each person individually can know if they fall into this pattern) is when it becomes so make-or-break that it completely sucks the joy out of the vacation. I want all my friends to know that if we are ever on a trip together- I am happy to see YOU! Just you! I don’t care how you look or how you’re fitting into your jeans at that point in time! I’d hate to see any of you incredible souls using any form of self-punishment, deprivation, or negative self-talk. *I* know how special you are. And because I care about you, I want you to see that too!

We have become so fixated on how the external world views us (of course social media picture sharing has compounded that) that we’ve forgotten how to love ourselves and our bodies no matter where we are at!! If you want to get in last-minute workouts or make healthy choices leading up to a trip, GO FOR IT! But whether you succeed at losing those few pounds or not, you should ALWAYS be able to look into a mirror and tell yourself you’re awesome.

Because you ARE.

No matter what, you are beautiful and worthwhile!!!

I am not at all trying to criticize anyone in this pattern- trust me, it is VERY easy to get sucked into! Perfectionism in any form often manifests while we are under stress. For me that often comes out in the form of feeling like I need to get 5 million things that have been lingering on my to-do list done before I go away (are these really life-or-death tasks, Katelyn? Of course not). And on the fitness side of things, trust me I am NOT at my best right now. I GET what it feels like to feel a little frustrated when the clothes you were planning on wearing fit a little snug.

It’s NORMAL for our weight to fluctuate a little bit. And yes it’d be nice if those points where we were feeling our best always aligned with the times we had to fit into a favorite outfit, have our picture taken frequently on vacation, or zip up that fancy dress to go to a wedding. But we HAVE to be ok when that doesn’t happen. We HAVE to know our own self-worth so clearly that NOTHING else can break us. Adding negative self talk in the mix only perpetuates the unhealthy cycles. Loving ourselves no matter what leads us to actualizing our highest potential in life!

So for all you amazing people out there who have been where I’m describing, for all of you, I vow to do this:

- Even though I am not at my best currently, I promise I will not be taking any last-minute drastic measures before vacation. I will be doing my best to make healthy choices but that should be our focus *all the time*!!! And on cruise day, I’m going to love myself so fiercely that nothing is going to shake my soul!

- I vow to have fun on my trip no matter what! I will be grateful for the time I have with people who are incredibly special to me. I will appreciate the opportunity and the amazing places I will be getting to see. I will love every conversation I have and every new adventure. I will keep the things that REALLY matter in the forefront of my mind.
- I will remind myself that in the big scheme of all the problems in the world, having pants that fit a little tightly is an incredibly privileged problem to have. We have clothes, we have seemingly unlimited access to food, we have money to buy pants, and even that picture of yourself that you criticized was taken by a phone or camera that a large population of the world will never even be lucky enough to own.

Let’s stop working out and dieting because we hate our bodies and start making healthy choices because we LOVE OURSELVES! Same actions. COMPLETELY different energy, intentions, and results!!!

LOVE TO YOU ALL!!

UPDATE: Follow-up to this post can be found here: http://katelynlesk.blogspot.com/2016/03/real-talk-about-loving-ourselves-and.html 

Visit https://www.facebook.com/CoachKatelynLesk and http://beachbodycoach.com/katelynlesk for more info!

I would be honored to help you with your fitness journey :)  Here is a link to sign up for a free account with me as your coach: https://www.teambeachbody.com/signup/-/signup/free?referringRepId=183908. Or you can go to www.teambeachbody.com, sign up for a free account, and enter any of my info in when it asks if a coach referred you: screen name: KatelynLesk, coach ID: 183908

Disclaimer Copy: Katelyn Lesk is an Independent Beachbody Coach.

What’s a “beach body”?

While I LOVE working for Beachbody, the term “beachbody” is such a small portion of what we actually do. We help people CREATE bodies that they feel good in everyDAY! These are feel-good-in-your-jeans bodies, jumping-into-the-center-of-the-dance-floor bodies, confident-at-the-work-meeting bodies, stronger-healthier-energized bodies, loving-and-embracing yourself bodies, chase-after-your-kids bodies, and empowered-while-walking-down-the-street bodies!! And a HUGE part of that goes WAY BEYOND physical appearance!! What I love most about what we do is that we work together as a TEAM! My clients inspire ME as much (if not more!) as I inspire THEM! We create the habits and motivations to KNOW that even though life gets in the way sometimes (as it always inevitably does!) that we can get back on track and we can do it TOGETHER and have FUN while doing it! This is not about being perfect; these are healthy LIFESTYLE changes. And that INCLUDES dealing with things that may be stressing us out or keeping us stuck. We work through our fears and blocks together and take slow and steady steps towards improving our whole lives! And WITH THAT comes the confidence, the empowerment, and the belief to know that we can do ANYTHING! Feeling great at the beach is an awesome bonus, but it’s the rest of this that creates and incredible LIFE!!!!!

Visit https://www.facebook.com/CoachKatelynLesk and http://beachbodycoach.com/katelynlesk for more info!

I would be honored to help you with your fitness journey :)  Here is a link to sign up for a free account with me as your coach: https://www.teambeachbody.com/signup/-/signup/free?referringRepId=183908. Or you can go to www.teambeachbody.com, sign up for a free account, and enter any of my info in when it asks if a coach referred you: screen name: KatelynLesk, coach ID: 183908

Disclaimer Copy: Katelyn Lesk is an Independent Beachbody Coach.

Juicing vs Shakeology

I wrote this post on my health and fitness page (www.facebook.com/coachkatelynlesk) back in October of 2013 but I’ve had a lot of people asking me about this topic lately, so I decided to repost it on my blog! Here’s my update: I rarely make my green juice anymore- it became too time-consuming and costly and I had a tough time keeping up with it the process of going to the grocery store every 4-5 days, cleaning my veggies immediately (so I’d be more likely to make my juice) and using them all before they went bad. I still enjoy it when I do but I’m more likely to pay a premium for the convenience of buying it from time to time at a local cafe’ (which isn’t cheap- my favorite “clean green” juice is $11 per glass)! So Shakeology is even more of a hands-down winner these days (especially at about $4 per glass)!! If you’re interested in trying it out for yourself, you can check it out here: http://www.teambeachbody.com/shop/-/shopping/MDSUSH311G?referringRepId=183908 OR, I recommend going with this Beachbody on Demand Challenge pack for $10 more (http://www.teambeachbody.com/shop/-/shopping/DigitalCPUS?referringRepId=183908) which also gives you 3 months of access to our online streaming workout programs, which lets you try out any of the fitness programs in our collection!

My original post:

GREEN JUICE VS. SHAKEOLOGY. This is long but I get a LOT of questions on this so I tried to spell out all the details and things to consider.

One of the most common things I get asked about is how Shakeology compares to juicing (or other do-it-yourself versions). It’s actually the only thing I’ll ever use to make a direct comparison with shakeology because it’s the only thing I know does not contain any artificial ingredients b/c you’re in control of what goes into your blender (assuming you’re buying organic).

If you’ve been following my recent posts, you know that I’m now doing both. I’ve been making green juice each week to drink in the mornings and still drinking my shakeology every afternoon. So, as for the most important thing (HEALTH!) I think both drinks have an extraordinary amount of value. I think the shakeology is more complete- it has such a wide variety of plants, roots, fruits, PLUS pre- and pro-biotics; it’s paired to help give you the best absorption of all of the nutrients; the ingredients come from all over the world and are included in shakeology because they’re known to have incredible anti-inflammatory/anti-cancer/cholesterol lowering properties (and more!), they’re also known to have such a dense concentration of nutrients and are grown in soil that I believe to be more nutrient-rich than what we have here; etc. But I think variety is good for you (which is why I wanted to give the green juice a try), they both taste delicious, and they’ve become an important part of my day and wellness routine.

So anyways, in the big picture, I think they’re both FANTASTIC, but I’ll break down some of the other logistics involved (a lot of which I didn’t know until trying it out myself) just to give you an idea of the pros and cons of both.

- HEALTH PERKS. I have KNOWN experience of the incredible benefits of shakeology. I have customers whose blood sugars have been reduced, my own personal cholesterol was drastically reduced in the first 4 months I was on it (watch this video here https://youtu.be/ndsvEcPP7XU or check out the picture section of www.facebook.com/coachkatelynlesk for my results), weight loss, increased energy, etc. But I also don’t think anyone is going to argue that drinking a green juice full of leafy greens, veggies, lemon, and apple wouldn’t be extraordinarily beneficial to your health as well.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease*

- CONVENIENCE. Shakeology is the hands-down winner here. Dear God, that green juice is a pain in the butt. It requires me going to the grocery store every week (and not just any grocery store- a store that has all my ingredients in organic form) AND it was a 2+ hour project until I invested mucho dinero $$$ into a top-of-the-line Vitamix blender and even then there’s still a lot of prep time (washing and cutting veggies) and clean-up time. Shakeology is super easy to make: powder + liquid (usually I just use water), mix in a glass and drink. It’s easy to travel with (we even have individual serving-size packets). I can make it at work without annoying the crap out of my coworkers (literally got yelled at when I turned my Vitamix on at work yesterday- had to take it into the lab haha)

- TASTE. Both are great (granted, I do think my green juice tastes like a lemony flavored salad, but I find it extremely refreshing for some reason). If you don’t like either of them, pinch your nose and choke it down anyway b/c you know it’s good for you wink emoticon

- COST. We all know the price tag on shakeology can be a little bit of a shocker at first ($130 for 30 meals/servings). I’ve used it long enough to know it is worth every penny and more but still, I can understand why people gasp a little when they think of paying all that money at once. However, the good news is that it actually breaks down to ~$4 per shake, which isn’t too bad, and we frequently have sales/discounts if purchased with one of our workout programs, which makes it much more justifiable. BUT, if you think that’s bad, wait until I tell you how much I’ve spent on my green juice over the past 2 wks. Here’s the breakdown:

- $60.50 at Whole Foods last week and $66.20 at Giant Eagle this week and this was only enough for my WORK-week (about 5 shakes- not every day). That means I’ll be averaging about $250 per month just in ingredients. And remember, I’m not adding flax, chia, protein powder, or any other supplements. There’s also the risk of wasted money if your produce goes bad before you can use it

- $427.99 on my Vitamix blender (and that includes a 20% off coupon). Yes, I know this is exorbitant, but trust me, it only takes one time of fighting with a normal blender for hours to purée your kale and you can see the value in a blender of this quality. I knew that either my blender would break or I would be too frustrated to ever actually make it because realistically, how often do we have a 2+ hour chunk of time that we can dedicate to shake making??

- Not to mention the value of my time in making these shakes, trips to the grocery store, etc (and we all know our time is valuable, right?!)

So all in all, based on cost and convenience, if I had to pick one, my winner would without a doubt be shakeology. I love it. And I’m so grateful for finding it (I know that sounds weird, but it’s true). But I also enjoy my green juice too! I like the feeling of making something so healthful myself and like I said, it’s already become an important part of my wellness routine. The bottom line is that healthy foods aren’t always cheap. But I can’t think of a better thing to spend your money on than an investment in your long-term health and happiness and quality of LIFE!! Whatever you choose (and remember- you don’t have to choose! or you can mix it up! whatever is best for YOU!), CHEERS TO GOOD HEALTH!!!!

Bottoms up, friends!!!

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease*

Visit http://beachbodycoach.com/katelynlesk for more info!

I would be honored to help you with your fitness journey :)  Here is a link to sign up for a free account with me as your coach: https://www.teambeachbody.com/signup/-/signup/free?referringRepId=183908. Or you can go to www.teambeachbody.com, sign up for a free account, and enter any of my info in when it asks if a coach referred you: screen name: KatelynLesk, coach ID: 183908

Disclaimer Copy: Katelyn Lesk is an Independent Beachbody Coach.