21 Day Fix Extreme: Preparation, What to Expect, My Results So Far!

Results at the half-way mark

I’m a little over a week and a half into 21 Day Fix Extreme and I am shocked by how much I’m loving it so far. I wanted to give you a run-down of why I am enjoying it so much and how it’s helped me in the hopes that this may give inspiration to anyone out there looking to make some healthy changes, especially because I was someone who was *terrified* to start it (I’ll explain why below)!

My starting point and why I chose to do the competition plan:

Going into this, I didn’t have a whole lot of weight that I wanted to lose. The 3 Day Refresh that I did in January took care of the few pounds that snuck on over the holidays and I had been feeling great ever since (http://katelynlesk.blogspot.com/2015/02/3-day-refresh-results-feeling-amazing.html). My weight was actually down a smidge since then. 

With the 21 Day Fix Extreme, there’s 2 meal plans you can choose from: the competition plan or the extreme plan. The extreme plan is similar to the original 21 Day Fix (minus the treats and some of the bottom-of-the-list stuff) so it's clean eating but well-rounded. The competition plan cycles between 2 days of a high-protein, low-carb diet and 1 day of the extreme plan. Both utilize the color-coded containers for portion control. So with the competition plan, you just get way more red containers (protein) and less yellow containers (carbs). Fruits and nuts are also excluded on these days.

Your food servings and number of containers are based on a calorie calculation in the guidebook. My allotment per day worked out to be as follows:

Competition days: 3 green (veggies), 0 purple (fruits), 6 red (proteins), 1 yellow (carbs), 0 blue (healthy fats), 0 orange (nuts/seeds), 3 spoons (oils and nut butters)

{Example of my competition average day food is pictured later in this blog}

Extreme days: 3 green (veggies), 2 purple (fruits), 4 red (proteins), 2 yellow (carbs), 1 blue (healthy fats), 1 orange (nuts/seeds), 2 spoons (oils and nut butters)

To reiterate: competition plan you alternate 2 days of the competition diet with 1 day of the extreme diet; for the extreme plan, you would just have the extreme diet every day.

I decided to do the competition plan for several reasons:

1. I like to be a guinea pig for my customers. The extreme plan was similar enough to the original 21 Day Fix, which I’ve done, so I felt like I already had a pretty good idea of that plan. The competition plan was different than anything I’ve ever done. It definitely seemed like the more challenging plan so I wanted to see how do-able it was for the average person so I could give my customers accurate recommendations.
2. I was curious as to how lean it would actually make me and figured why not give it a shot once! As Autumn would say, “you can do anything for 21 days!”
3. Autumn has explained (and the guidebook says this too) that both plans are interchangeable if you change your mind. So I knew that if the competition plan was too difficult, I could switch to the extreme plan instead

Why I was so scared to start:

The competition plan requires me to eat 6 servings of protein a day. That’s a LOT for me!! I don’t eat a lot of meat or animal products normally so a lot of my protein usually comes from plant-based sources. But since things like rice and beans, quinoa, etc count as carbs on this plan, I was very limited in my options. So I knew I’d have to suck it up and start eating more chicken, eggs, fish, and red meat… more meat in 3 wks than I normally eat in 3 months! Fortunately Shakeology counts as a protein serving on this plan. But I was terrified about having to eat all of the meat and animal proteins… it just didn’t seem appealing to me AT ALL! Fortunately, it turned out to not be so bad. I thought I’d be sick of all of it by the second day but that didn’t happen. The recipes that I tried were AMAZING (described below) so that helped a lot. And the necessity of variety in order to eat 6 protein servings/day forced me to try a bunch of the new recipes that I ended up loving!

How I keep track!

My list of options for competition days

Program preparation and initial food prep:

The grocery shopping and the initial food planning was probably the hardest part of the entire program (mainly because I try to avoid going to the grocery store more than I have to). I had to sit down and plan out what I wanted my average competition day food to include so that I could extrapolate that for a week or more and buy what I needed. This also required me to plan what new meals I wanted to try for variety so I would know what food to buy for those. Here’s a list of the foods I decided to make and prep for so that hopefully this makes this step easier for you.

As for groceries, the big things I ended up getting in my initial trip were 30 frozen chicken breasts (5 bags of 6 chicken breasts each), 5 dozen eggs, and 7 yams (I decided yams would be my go-to carb on competition days). I knew I would be able to store these things through the duration of the 21 days so I was able to purchase them all in advance. Weekly, I bought the veggies I would need for that week, 1.5 lbs of lean beef stew meat (I made the beef stew each week), and 1-2 serving of fresh fish to bake. I think I ended up doing a pretty good job in my estimations except for the chicken, which I probably only needed about 3 bags of to get through the program. At least it’s frozen- I’ll definitely use it eventually.

The kitchen counter of a girl who was SUPER prepared for the next 3 wks :)

Delicious food I’ve whipped up:

ALL the recipes from the book were phenomenal and I will be incorporating them into my regular meal rotation. I have been cooking up a storm with this plan, trying new things left and right! Cooking out of my normal comfort zone has been really empowering! Here are a few of the good ones:

Amaaaaazing beef stew!! I'm super proud of myself because I *never* cook with red meat- it's always been way beyond what I consider my cooking skills to be (with the exception of the hamburger helper I used to make in college haha). If I say it's easy, it's SUPER easy!!!

My very first poached eggs!!! Man, do I feel like a champ!!!!! Bonus: it looked just like the guidebook said it would!!

Baked sole with himalayan sea salt, pepper, garlic powder, a little bit of dill, a lot of thyme, fresh-squeezed lemon juice, with lemons baked right on top. I ate this baby right out of the dish. 

I love my shakeology any way it’s mixed but trying this new “recipe” turned out to be a delicious treat!

Unexpected fun surprises:

- There is a different workout each day of the week so you repeat the schedule 3 times. That means that by week 2 you realize that each workout you’re doing, you only have one more time you have to do it! WIN!

- I learned a fun fact about eggs while I was watching youtube videos to learn how to poach an egg. Did you know that if you want to know how fresh your eggs actually are, the 3-digit code represents the number of days into that calendar year that the eggs were packed on? So 040 means these eggs were packed on Feb 9. How cool is that?? Props to Whole Foods for keeping fresh foods in stock because I bought these on Feb 11th!

- Mashing up a yam that has been cooked in the microwave and melting some coconut oil on it is the most delicious tropical treat! Tastes similar to fried plantains. I needed 1 yellow and 1 spoon servings when I decided to try this. So glad I did!! 

What the day-to-day looks like:

Right off the bat, I made a beef stew, crock pot chicken, and egg cups. None of this was hard and only took me about 2 hours. The food I prepped here lasted me most of the first week.

Once I got the initial prep out of the way, it was SMOOTH SAILING! All my food is cooked and ready to go. Each day I know what I’m going to eat since I basically eat the same things every day so I just heat it up when I’m hungry and that’s that! I’ve made another batch of crock-pot chicken and beef stew since I started and some fish along the way but that’s all been SUPER easy to keep up with.

The competition days were tougher to get variety (although trying new recipes REALLY helped), but in general, the competition days actually turned out to be easier because I was eating all day long and never hungry! It also felt easier to get into a routine than the extreme days because you basically know you’re going to be eating meat and veggies all day and that’s all you really have to think about. It's surprisingly simple! Here’s a sample of my average competition day:

Mental aspect:

The thing I love/sometimes hate/but appreciate most about 21 Day Fix and 21DF Extreme is that it doesn't leave room for excuses. With no rest days, I can't swap out workouts and rest days like I do with some of the other programs; I can't put it off until tomorrow. I can't indulge in a cheat weekend and tell myself I'll get my nutrition on track next week. And I don't *waste emotional energy* debating about it because I don't question it, I just know I have to do it. So while that may seem like a tough thing, it actually gets me out of my head and forces me to just get to it. I'm all about long-term, sustainable changes, but I also appreciate a program like this that's going to give me the kick in the butt that I know I need and get me back in full-force action (and I can count on it because I know it's going to work!). I love that. I love that I can go into this program each time with total trust and KNOWING that all of that is going to happen. Talk about motivation!

What I don’t like about it:

The only thing I really don’t like about the program is the pilates workout. For some reason, I really struggle to use the resistance bands in some of the exercises where you’re on your hands and knees. I don’t think the band or the exercise is the problem, I just don’t think I have the strength to get the full range of motion I’m supposed to be getting so I find it really frustrating. But I ended up just abandoning the band for the moves where I didn’t feel like I could stay in proper form while using it. I know a lot of other people doing this program, some seem ok with the band for these moves and some seem to struggle with it like I do.

Restaurants:

I find it easier to avoid restaurants altogether while I’m on this program, but I’ve had several occasions that plans have required me to be at restaurants while on the fix so here’s what I did:

- Eat N Park for a family brunch: There was stuff that I technically could have eaten here that would have fit with the plan (like a salad or hard boiled eggs) but at this particular restaurant, that just didn’t seem appealing to me so I ate before I went and just got coffee while I was there so I could still sit and talk with my family

- Pamela’s with a friend (breakfast foods, heavy on the butter): I felt like there was hardly anything I could trust here so I just took my own lunch. My friend was getting a side dish of potatoes so she let me order that for her so I wouldn’t have to tell the waitress “nothing for me” then I busted out my secret meal hehe. The waitress definitely noticed but I don’t think she cared at all. If she had asked, I would have just politely said I had food sensitivities (which I do anyway).

- Going away party for a friend at a local bar (bar food and alcohol): This was in the evening so it was easy for me to eat before I went then drink water with lemon the whole night.

- Kiku Japanese Restaurant: This one worked out GREAT! I was able to get sashimi, which helped me get 2 of the protein servings I needed for the day! I also ate a few of fish that come on top of rice since I hadn’t had my yellow/carb serving of the day.

What the people in our challenge group are saying:

We have a facebook group for our customers and other coaches who are doing this program so we all can support and encourage each other, compare notes, make suggestions for struggles, and celebrate successes. Everyone is LOVING it so far!!!

My results so far:

I am blown away in so many ways.

- Weight-wise, I have lost about 3 pounds by the halfway point and I have been feeling leaner and tighter all over.

- My friends at the going-away party that I mentioned were all noticing and complimenting me. My clothes were fitting much better and I was able to break out my tighter jeans and a slightly more risque’ going-out tank top from college years for the party, which was fun :)

- I’m feeling great on the inside too. I seem to be digesting better than ever (which is a huge deal for someone who has a lot of food sensitivities)! I honestly can’t believe how good I feel! Somebody in our facebook group described it perfectly- “our insides are feeling cleaner and lighter!” They sure are!

- I was feeling a lot stronger even by then end of week 1. Check out my surprise bicep muscle that popped up along the way!

- I am VERY happy with how fit I look and feel. Feeling amazing!!

"Before" pictures (I try not to smile for these but I can't help it)!

Progress so far. Feeling great!!

My final results can be found here: http://katelynlesk.blogspot.com/2015/06/21-day-fix-extreme-final-review-weight.html

Hope this helps!! Contact me if you have any questions or would like some support and motivation through this program!! Have a great week!

More info on the programs:

21 Day Fix Extreme Challenge Pack:
http://www.teambeachbody.com/shop/-/shopping/BCP21E160?referringRepId=183908

21 Day Fix Extreme Base program:
http://www.teambeachbody.com/shop/-/shopping/21DFEXTREME?referringRepId=183908

21 Day Fix (original) Challenge Pack:
http://www.teambeachbody.com/shop/-/shopping/BCP21D160?referringRepId=183908

21 Day Fix (original) Base program:
http://www.teambeachbody.com/shop/-/shopping/21DayFix?referringRepId=183908

*Note that for the 21 Day Fix original and Extreme programs, I recommend the challenge packs that come with the shakeology. For me, I felt like Shakeology was essential for getting through the programs in terms of energy, fuel, keeping me satiated, and to get enough servings of protein in!

Disclaimer Copy: Katelyn Lesk is an Independent Beachbody Coach.

By far the scariest post I have ever written

Today I wrote a Facebook post about something that was INCREDIBLY hard for me to share. I was absolutely overwhelmed with the outpouring of love and support in response. I never in a million years imagined myself sharing this (especially on this level) but a lot of what I have learned over the last couple years has really taught me to be open and to be as ME as I can be. I've also been blessed to have even more super authentic and caring people come into my life who have inspired me with their openness.  I wanted to pass that favor along :) The final push came from an interview I watched with Teal Swan ("A candid conversation with Teal Swan" with Stephanie Fleitas). She gave me the following reminders (loosely quoted from my notes from the video): there's absolutely no such thing as a secret in this universe; if you are trying to maintain a secret, you are wasting valuable energy; putting your secrets out there gives others permission to do the same; there is a huge freedom in that and it also ironically makes you feel safer; when you’re very open, people are tender with what you give them; the person who can be themselves the most when they walk into a room, that’s the person that holds the most energy. She also gave some empowering examples of how she has made it her own mission to put her story and what would normally be kept hidden out there as much as possible.

Other messages I’ve been receiving lately have been all about facing fears. While this is a message I’ve heard my whole life, this was in the context of how it applies to emotion. If we’re afraid of feeling a certain way (sadness, pain, discomfort, etc), often the best thing to do is just allow ourselves to feel that way and then realize it’s not as bad as we imagined or that at least we have nothing to fear now. That was very true for me. The fear of people finding out about my disorder was way worse than the disorder itself. No better way to shoot that down then to just face the worst, put it out there, and now have nothing to fear! If we desire freedom, the fastest way to get it is to walk right into the eye of the storm!!

I hope my story helps you deal with any of your own fears you may be trying to face!

Here is the post that I wrote:

*By far the scariest post I have ever written*

But written with a lot of love in the hopes that we can inspire a radical revolution of openness, authenticity, acceptance, and compassion.

I believe that we are moving towards a world where we can one day share all of the deepest darkest sides of ourselves and feel completely loved and accepted for it.

In my 2.5 years of being a coach, I’ve had the honor and pleasure of working with some of the strongest, most loving, compassionate, open people I know, both customers and coaches, and also others that I have formed even deeper relationships with just because my work naturally allows me the privilege of deep and authentic conversations with a lot of different people. What I’ve come to realize is that despite what our lives may look like on the outside, we ALL have our struggles within; something about ourselves we’re embarrassed about or ashamed of, a secret from our past, a bad childhood that we try to keep hidden, something that we are self-conscious of, anxieties, fears, sadness, you name it. Feeling like there is a part of ourselves that we need to keep hidden is the source of a lot of pain and problems in this world. All along we go about our lives not realizing that it may be possible that we can be loved unconditionally for WHO WE ARE, not what affects us. My problems may look drastically different than yours on the surface but can we not all relate on the common ground of feeling ashamed, not worthy, or not enough with something in our lives?

I take my role as a coach very seriously. I believe that I cannot inspire others to do what I am not doing myself. I believe that change starts with me and my example. I believe this is true for all of us but I also realize how “out there” my life is in the social media world because of my job as a coach and I REFUSE to ever let anyone feel like I don’t go through the same struggles as everyone else. YOU ARE NOT ALONE. I value my life and all of the people in it. There is so much about my life that I love and appreciate. But just like anyone else, there is pain in my past and fear in my present. **Working towards a better future means building compassion and love NOW** at the heart of all that we do.

Two things that I believe at the CORE of my being:

1. OUR STRENGTH LIES IN OUR VULNERABILITY

2. CONNECTION LIES IN AUTHENTICITY

So here is another step along my path of being as open and honest as I can with all of you in the hopes that anyone reading this may in some way feel like they are not alone. I also do it for my own liberation. I truly believe that which we keep hidden destroys us; that which we bring to light saves us. I believe that in freeing ourselves, we are freeing the world.

What I would like to share with all of you is that I have a disorder that causes me to compulsively pull out my eyelashes and eyebrows. I’ve struggled with this since middle school and it has been a MASSIVE source of shame, guilt, and fear/paranoia in my life. You may be thinking this sounds really weird, or you may be struggling to understand why this is a big deal. This post is not about my specific issue, per say, but more about the *emotions* associated with it so that it can be relatable to whatever struggle you may be going through.

It took me a long time to understand this disorder myself and it is still something I don’t like about myself and is hard for me to accept. I am grateful for it for all of the compassion it has given me for anyone struggling through their own issues. Most people don’t realize I can relate as well as I can until I tell them this story. It was always something I was terrified of people noticing. The panic that rises internally if I think someone is looking at me in a way that is even close to noticing is indescribable. The source of a lot of my fears is that it’s not something that’s easy for me to explain so it’s not that I fear so much that people know (although I used to fear that; it took me a lot of years to stop caring about that part), but it is SUCH a hard thing for me to explain. They don’t just fall out, this is something that I do to myself. And it’s nearly impossible to explain to someone why it’s something I can’t “just stop”. This disorder used to be in the same category as OCD but I believe more recent research about the areas of the brain that this stems from have turned it into an “impulse-control disorder” classification similar to Tourettes. I’ve been to therapy for it. Sometimes that seems to help, sometimes not. I think it’s hard for people to understand that this isn’t just some “bad habit” like biting your nails, but an actual brain issue that I can’t help. Trust me, if I could “just stop”- I would! One of the big sources of shame that stems from it for me is that there are times when it seems to be easier to control than others. That sounds like a good thing, but in actuality, during the times when it’s impossible to control (because there are times when you literally canNOT control it), it makes me feel weak and like a failure and guilty. And on top of that, I then have physical damage and signs of my “weakness” that can last for months. It makes all social interactions harder because I have that underlying fear of “what if somebody notices”. I have become an expert at hiding it with makeup but I resent the fact that it takes about 4 times as long to do my makeup when I’m trying to cover this up. Travel and sleeping in the same room as somebody else makes it more likely that they will notice and therefore more difficult. There is always a sense of fear leading up to any trip related to this.

There have been times where people have noticed and asked me about it. Some of these interactions, especially in my younger years, still make me shudder to remember the conversations. I remember being in a group one time when I was young where the girls I was talking to were trying to force the issue. I remember being so red and flustered. I remember the raised eyebrows and the looks on their faces that communicated to me that they were super weirded out by what I was telling them. I don’t blame them; I may have reacted the same way if someone had told me something I couldn’t relate to or understand. In my adult life, the reactions I get from people who have noticed and asked me about it are typically really understanding, reassuring, and supportive. But honestly, even with the people who I know will love me unconditionally, there is this internal panic that rises up the instant it gets brought up. This is not saying that I don’t invite dialogue about it. I would much rather someone ask me questions and give me the opportunity to explain why I can’t help it rather than just silently thinking I’m weird or the whole thing is bizarre (honestly, I wouldn’t blame them- I think that too)! Once it’s out in the open, I’m usually ok. It’s just that initial conversation that terrifies me so I literally never bring it up. A lot of my closest friends and family don’t even know. My worst fear is being called out in front of a group. Not only is there the initial panic, but then the quick decision of, do I make up a lie or do I divulge my deepest darkest secret, the thing that I’m most scared/self-conscious about, to people I may not even know that well? With the people I am close with, it’s not that I care that they know, but how do I bring up something like this to people who have known me for years and have never known? That thought is SO uncomfortable to me.

I’ve gotten better at telling my story in more recent years, mainly because through coaching, I’ve had a lot of people that come to me and are very open about their own struggles such as eating disorders, compulsive overeating, OCD, anxiety, etc. It is easy for me to share when I know that my story will not only benefit them, but they will also understand. I even had an amazing conversation with a friend recently where we could totally relate to each other because my fears about this were very similar to how he feels when he feels like he’s being judged or “under the microscope” because of his sexual orientation. Not only was the conversation very insightful in so many ways but it was also reinforcement of how SO many people can relate, if not on the issue, but on the FEELINGS associated and it was added inspiration for me to want to share with all of you.

I’ve only shared this story from behind the safety of a computer screen and I have yet to be able to share this story in person openly without wanting to curl up into my 12-year-old panic-ridden self. I have often said that I wish people just knew so that I wouldn’t have to be afraid any more. And there is still enough ingrained fear in me associated with this to wonder if people will no longer view me as just katelyn, but as katelyn-with-this-new-stigma-attached. But this is me taking a stand against my fears. **When we face our worst fears, it can no longer damage us internally, control us, or have power over us.**

I do not at all want anyone to feel sorry for me. I want to bring light to the fact that we all have something that we feel makes us different or judged. I want us all to be able to openly explore life in all of its weirdness and glory!!!

No matter what you are going through, I hope you feel like you are not alone. At least one person in the world (and probably way more than we realize or allow ourselves to believe) understands and accepts and loves you just the way you are.

Thank you for reading and I hope this benefited you in some way.

My wish for us all:

May we all learn to be more of ourselves.

May we all learn to love and accept ALL of ourselves.

May we learn to allow and accept all of the the “wanted” and “unwanted” aspects of ourselves and our lives and mold it into a perfect creation of our destiny. May we be at peace with the world by seeing all things as a gift.

May we feel safe and supported, loved and connected.

May we feel open to be our true, authentic selves.

May we give permission for others to do the same through our own openness and compassion and acceptance towards all.

May we live our lives in our own truth.

May we live fearlessly!

I love you all.

Katelyn

Disclaimer Copy: Katelyn Lesk is an Independent Beachbody Coach.

3 Day Refresh results- feeling AMAZING!

I posted this on facebook last month but I thought I would share here in case anyone was searching for more information about the 3 Day Refresh! Feel free to get in touch with me if you have questions or would like to know more about it!!

Here's what I originally wrote:

Earlier this week, I had one of those "oh crap!" moments when several of the dresses I was considering wearing to my cousin's wedding this weekend were way too tight. *I'm pretty sure every girl can relate.* Meanwhile, I had decided to do the 3-Day Refresh, not for the sake of the dress situation (I had other options), but because I've been feeling kinda crappy ever since the holidays.

I was shocked when this morning (beginning of day 3- not even my final results yet!) I was down 4 pounds and NOT feeling bloated for the first time since before Christmas! So low and behold, when I tried on my dresses again, they fit!! And I feel great (my body seems to have finally released the bloat and I feel like a rockstar in my dresses).

PLUS, the food cravings that seemed to be kicked into high gear with the holiday treats, have finally dissipated (yay for eating real, unprocessed, whole, satisfying foods!). I haven't been tempted to snack out of boredom (well, I can't while on the Refresh, but the desire hasn't been there either). And at least for me, going to a wedding while in food-craving, snacky, sweet-tooth mode is about as dangerous as going to the grocery store starving. It ALWAYS leads to me over-eating and feeling like crap by the end of the night. So I'm glad to have solved that problem before the weekend too!

Feeling great and feeling *refreshed* :)

For more information on this program:

3 Day Refresh Challenge pack with Shakeology (full supply, best deal): http://www.teambeachbody.com/shop/-/shopping/BCP3D160?referringRepId=183908

3 Day Refresh (3 days of shakeology servings): http://www.teambeachbody.com/shop/-/shopping/3DayRefresh?referringRepId=183908

Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions!!

Disclaimer Copy: Katelyn Lesk is an Independent Beachbody Coach.

Some of my philosophies as a coach (and a person)

Some of my philosophies as a coach (and a person):

1. For well-being: slow and steady long-term, sustainable lifestyle changes in relation to health, how we move our bodies, our thoughts, what we're grateful for, our awareness. Be in a state of allowing. Be gentle on ourselves. Practice self-love and acceptance.

2. I take a low-pressure approach to my coaching. I ALWAYS want to be able to help anyone I can in even the smallest ways. Not that you aren't capable of change yourself, but it's always easier with support (and more fun!). I don't want anyone to ever feel afraid to talk to me or worry that I'm going to "push" something on them (and if I ever come across that way, feel free to yell at me!). While I do get excited, I never want to push you (or anyone) into anything that is not in alignment with your current needs or wants or that you're not ready for. The focus should always be on improvement, one step at a time

3. My main goal is to leave everyone I come in contact with better in some way and to use every experience to better myself and to raise my level of awareness and compassion. We create our best life by taking what we perceive as "good" and "wanted" as well as the circumstances that come into our life that we perceive as "bad" and "unwanted" and using it all for our greater good and the good of those around us. So in my mind, doing things to help myself and those around me feel refreshed, lighter, more connected to their joy, more aligneed with their true selves (and do the same for myself) is all I really care about. *Connection. *Authenticity. *Alignment. *Support. That's what it's all about. Raising the consciousness of the world with our own thoughts, actions, and energy.

Break the rules. Be fearless. Live your authentic truth. Be your authentic self.

Disclaimer Copy: Katelyn Lesk is an Independent Beachbody Coach.

My theme for 2015, How I want to FEEL

I started this practice back in November of 2014 and I've already been seeing the wonderful effects of this. I wrote out a statement about how I want to FEEL (I actually wrote a few versions of this). I have it in the front of my binder and I read it regularly. It immediately makes me feel reassured and at ease. The first paragraph on this page is one of the versions:

When I originally wrote this statement, I had trouble saying "I *am* someone who trusts the universe completely." I know affirmations are "supposed" to be written in the present tense but if something doesn't resonate as truth to me, I scrap it and rephrase it to be something more believable. But the interesting part is, the more I read this, the more I really feel like I AM someone who trusts the universe completely and doesn't get hung up on disappointments, and smiles knowing they are all part of the plan. If I can see these kind of changes in 2 months of this practice, I can only imagine what an entire year can do!

I made a video explaining more about this process with examples of other things I wrote. There are 2 parts (my memory card maxed out during the first one). I hope these are helpful! Here's to 2015 being an incredible year full of things more amazing than we ever could have conceived of!!! 

Part 1:

Part 2:

Happy 2015!!

Love,

Katelyn

Holiday Stress and Overwhelm

I’ve been WAY stressed out this month. It’s all been good stuff so I feel a little guilty even complaining (add guilt to the series of emotions making me feel overwhelmed). I’ve been away a lot (great trips and amazing times spent with friends), have some family in town for the holidays (loving that), Beachbody coaching is great and keeping me busy (can’t complain about good business), so like I said- all good stuff, but the sheer amount of busyness this month caught me way off guard and I’ve been feeling really overwhelmed! For me, when I get overwhelmed, I tend to not want to tackle ANYTHING and eventually the overwhelm gets so bad that I have no choice but to crawl my way out of the ditch and get back in action. Fortunately, it’s happened to me enough times that I know the ways that work best for me to dig myself out. I’ve been having to employ all of them, BUT, they’ve been working!

This list may seem like a lot but actually, even doing JUST ONE of these things instantly reduces the overwhelm for me! All of these things are just a matter of getting BACK TO BASICS!

A HEALTHY MEAL. I swear, getting some greens in me makes me feel better immediately. The healthier I eat in general, the more I notice how much my mood and energy are affected by eating the not-so-healthy stuff. So needless to say, holiday treats, large portions at restaurants, and just being away from my normal set of food has taken its toll on how I feel. But the good news is that one little healthy snack already helps me turn it around!

GETTING OUT IN NATURE. It’s cold here in Pittsburgh at this time of year but the fresh air does wonders for my mental clarity and my soul.

A GOOD WORKOUT. Anything that gets my heart rate up!! Insanity Max:30 has DEFINITELY been doing the trick for me. And at 30 minutes/workout I can definitely squeeze that in. But often times when I’m super overwhelmed, it’s hard to give up precious “work catch-up time” to get a workout in so sometimes I have to start with just doing SOMETHING each day (even if that just means some jumping jacks, a quick walk, running the stairs a few times, or turning on some good tunes and dancing around my apartment). Getting back into the routine helps me feel motivated to do more.

“CHUNKING” MY WORK. My to-do list lately has been so overwhelming to look at lately that it makes me just want to stay in bed! The kicker is, 70% of the things on it are not really even all that important to my success and happiness. But they are things that would make me feel better to get done (mostly work tracking/organizational stuff). They’ve been nagging me for a while and I want to get them off of my to-do list once and for all. SOME of these things, I’ve just got to recognize that they won’t make much difference in my life and I’ve got to wave the white flag and surrender. Sure, they’d be nice to get done, but tasks like organizing my old pictures won’t really affect my life and for my own sanity, I need to just call it quits on trying to get these things done. For the rest of the stuff that I decide DOES need to get done, my go-to strategy is to CHUNK. This means I need to break it down into the smallest possible actionable steps to reduce the overwhelm. For example, I’ve been meaning to set up my website for months but “set up website” will forever get glazed over on my to-do list if I don’t make it more manageable. So simpler steps like “log into website account to see what makes sense and what doesn’t,” “ask Nikki for suggestions on setting up website email,” “make list of most basic social media accounts to link to,” “write 1 paragraph website intro,” etc make it way more manageable. I can do those little things! And checking them off gives me pride and momentum!

It also helps to just DECIDE. Trying to mentally balance all the things I need to get done is way too much. So I just need to pick SOMETHING to start with. It may not be the most productive or effective thing or the “eat that frog” task if you’ve read Brian Tracy’s great book. But I can’t waste any more precious energy trying to decide what is. So I’m just going to pick something and in that moment forget about everything else that I need to do and just do it. If nothing else, at least I accomplished 1 thing off of my to-do list!

STRESS-RELIEVING PRACTICES. In addition to the ones above, I love making GRATITUDE LISTS to remind me of what’s really important (even if it’s just a quick mental list). Saying a quick prayer or asking God, the universe, and my angels for help makes me feel like I don’t have to do this on my own! Thinking about who in my life I can ask for help makes me feel a whole lot better too. Why muddle through something on my own when I know a bunch of people who are much more proficient at things like setting up a website? And let’s not forget that youtube and google are my friends in terms of teaching me how to do things that seem overwhelming too. I also have printed sheets of quotes that inspire me. Taking 30 seconds to read over some INSTANTLY makes me feel more inspired. Saying mantras, meditation, a quick 2-minute yoga session, visualizing my big goals, thanking God for my struggles (which automatically seems to remind me that my struggles aren’t that bad and that there’s a bigger purpose at work here), reading a book, listening to Joel Osteen or my favorite Hay House authors online (youtube, Hay House Radio, their websites, etc) make me feel more grounded because I know I have my own personal “spiritual team” rooting me on, all of these things have so much power! Even a cup of hot tea can remind me of what’s really important and bring me back to the present moment.

MOST IMPORTANTLY- REMEMBERING I AM NOT ALONE! Like I said above, I have lots of help (from the people in my life and from God and the spirit world), I am supported. But it also helps to remember that we ALL feel overwhelmed at times- especially during the holidays. We need to give ourselves a break! There’s a lot more on our plate than usual (in terms of our to-do list and our actual plate haha!) plus we’re out of our normal routine, our sleeping patterns are off, that’s a lot for anyone to handle!! I heard a talk from one of my favorite authors recently who reminded me of this. If someone who I consider a teacher when it comes to all things spiritual, who embodies zen, is feeling stressed, then that definitely gives me permission to feel OK about feeling stressed myself. It was a great reminder that I can hang onto it, or I can just let it pass through me. It is up to me whether I want to feel stressed or not. It is all energy, I can allow it to flow :)

Any of these things above makes doing the other things so much easier. And the more of them I do, the more momentum it creates. More importantly, I’ve learned to enjoy this process and have fun in these “rebuilding” phases. OVERWHELM HAPPENS. IT’S OK. It gives us a chance to take inventory of our lives, re-evaluate, and course-correct. Then we can get back on track in a more meaningful and intentional way and continue to live our lives better than ever!!

I hope these tips/tools that help me are able to help you in some way! If you have other techniques that help you, please feel free to share below!

Much love!

Katelyn

Disclaimer Copy: Katelyn Lesk is an Independent Beachbody Coach.

Hope for anyone going through a rough time

*This post is for anyone who has ever dealt with any kind of anxiety, depression, or general feeling of feeling down or lost or not like themselves. Sorry it turned into such a long one but I didn’t want to leave out any details that may help someone who needed to hear that specific thing. I hope the story I am about to share with you helps!

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Hi everyone! I wanted to fill you in on some things that have played an important role in my life over the past couple of years in shaping the person I am today. I know a lot of you probably know a lot of the pieces of this story but I didn’t realize until I was in Gatlinburg, TN a few weeks ago sharing my story at our coach retreat that probably not many people know the full story and how it’s all kind of come full circle and I wanted to share it for anyone who can possibly relate and maybe give some hope to anyone who is struggling or going through a tough time in their life.

So as many of you know, I was VERY stressed back in 2011/2012 when I was doing a lot of traveling for work but you may not know how down it had me and I may not have let on how deeply it affected me. I generally live my life as an open book (as many of my beachbody customers and coaches know, I am NOT afraid to share when I am struggling, when I’ve missed workouts, when I’m behind on my business and messages- like right now- or when I’m just plain in a little bit of a funk). But in this situation, it was a little different. It was very tough for me to talk about without getting very emotional and quite frankly, I often times didn’t WANT to think about it more often than I already was. And it’s not like anything terrible was actually happening to me so I think there was a self-imposed guilt factor in terms of complaining about an opportunity that most people would be grateful for. Plus my anxiety was so bad at times that I wasn’t necessarily thinking rationally about the support I know I could have had all along if I had been more open about how stressed I was.

On the surface, I felt like I had a dream job. I always always loved working for my company (I was an engineer was a medical device start-up company). I loved my coworkers, I loved and believed so strongly in our product, and I was excited that my role within the company changed frequently enough to give me a lot of experience in a lot of different areas. So when my boss asked me if I’d be willing to take a role traveling internationally to Germany, Austria, and a few other places in Europe to help with our clinical trials, surgeon training, and product launch, I jumped at the opportunity. I was also told in this role that I may even be moving to Germany temporarily (6 months to a year) if the need arose. They knew I loved to travel (I was infamous at my company for always paying to extend my trips during conferences to take advantage of the sightseeing) so everyone, including me, thought this would be a great fit for me.

It only took me a few trips to realize that this was not at all what I had expected. The stress of navigating foreign countries alone; figuring out language barriers, train systems, and driving rules; and having limited to no contact with my family and friends at home (limited internet, expensive phone charges, and even the time difference made it all hard to feel connected or supported) made it stressful as-is. But there were so many ways I felt like I was being pulled out of who I was as a person and my normal personality, like having to deal with sleazy sales guys essentially trying to throw me at the surgeons for their own business benefit was awful. Can I handle myself in situations like that? Yes, absolutely. I learned very quickly the importance of setting clear boundaries even in situations where a normal person would assume they should not be necessary (thank you Michael Nilo- I will never forget our convo about this and the advice you gave me). I also learned how to be very authoritative when a distributor we were working with over there continued to make it very difficult to get our job done because of his own ego and need to appear one way in front of the surgeons and another way behind the scenes.

Long story short, this all made me feel completely out of my element. I need MEANING and CONNECTION and AUTHENTICITY and the whole world of this job felt so fake and icky and disconnected and unawakened.

The more I did this, the more I fell into a deeper depressive state. I was constantly having to be away from my friends and family. And for what? To be in this world where I didn’t feel good at all? Even when I was at home, I could never really enjoy it because I was always either trying to gain a grip after the last trip or prepping for the next one. I felt lost and I definitely did NOT feel like myself. Every morning when I would brush my teeth, I almost always cried when I looked in the mirror. I didn’t recognize myself. I didn’t recognize the hollow, blank look in my eyes. I didn’t recognize the stress I was carrying in my forehead lines. I didn’t recognize the lost, empty look of a face void of a smile for months. I could see pain written into every feature on my face.

It was hard for me to want to be around friends and family because I just felt sad all of the time. Even when the traveling finally started to dissipate, the anxieties I had picked up during that time lingered on. I all of a sudden had weird social anxieties that had developed somewhere along the way- for example, if I was going to go out with friends, I had to have a way to leave whenever I wanted in case I started to feel sad. I ended up telling a lot of my friends this and I was SO GRATEFUL for all of their support during this time. But it was still hard. I didn’t enjoy a lot of the things I used to (which made me feel worse because it made me feel like something was WRONG with me). I still to this day carry on a lot of the control factors I developed while traveling- I ALWAYS need to be the one to book my flight, to pick the location/duration of layovers, I never check a bag (one less thing I have to rely on someone else for). Don’t get me wrong, a lot of these travel habits serve me well but at the time when they formed, it wasn’t just for travel efficiency- it was for a desperate sense of control in a life where I felt like I had none.

The crazy part is, there was SO MUCH GOOD that came out of this. It was what led me into so many of the personal development books and spiritual development that have made me a happier and more positive person than ever (eventually). It was during this time that I read “Conversations with God” by Neale Donald Walsh, Wayne Dyer’s “Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life” (Hay House is now one of my favorite publishing companies, which has led me to majority of my favorite authors), a simple but extremely uplifting book called “The Energy Bus” by Jon Gordon, “New Psycho-Cybernetics” by Maxwell Maltz, and was led to a website called High Existence by my always enlightening friend, Diego Andrade, which opened up a pandora’s box for other self-help and self-empowerment internet resources. This new awareness finally started to break me of my automatic negative thought cycles and gave me a new focus and goals and purpose. I became mildly obsessed with doing my best to improve my thought pattern.

I also had spent a TON of time while in the midst of this depression thinking about what I would want to do if the stress became too much and I had to quit my job. I made a TON of lists about what had made me the happiest in life, what I felt most passionate about, times in my life when I felt the most satisfied and effective, etc. I thought about starting my own charity (only thing that stopped me was that I didn’t have a specific cause that I could focus on). I started volunteering a lot. I LOVED my time spent tutoring and helping with the family program at Light of LIfe. And this all eventually led me to discover the Beachbody coaching opportunity, which was absolutely PERFECT for me. Looking back, it incorporated every single one of the things that I had written down on my lists and completely nailed all of the things that made me happiest (helping people, health and fitness, showing people their self-worth, helping people work through their own fears and blocks). AND, I could do it while traveling if need be since it was all online (there wasn’t much else I could commit to at that time because I never knew when I’d have to go away again). AND, if I had been upset that day and maybe it was a day where I had been crying or wouldn’t have wanted to venture out into public, it didn’t stop me from going on facebook (nobody can see a puffy face through a computer screen!) and doing my best to help the people I was working with or create even more meaningful relationships with them.

The coaching was actually the first thing that started to bring me out of my year and a half long depression. I finally started to feel like ME again. I felt good. I felt like I was making a difference. Additionally, I felt a sense of CONNECTION again. A connection to the people I was helping, a connection to my true self again, a connection to the universe and all the people and wonderful things in it, a connection to a higher power.

Fast forward to our Fit Family Network Coach Retreat a few weeks ago in Gatlinburg, TN. I was sitting with 50 of the most amazing, open, caring, accepting, supportive, encouraging, positive, incredible people I have ever met. Talk about feeling CONNECTED!! :) :)  I was sitting on a panel with fellow my fellow 1-star diamond coaches, Kelly Grignon, Sarah Roberson, and Sandy Tocci. Scottie Hobbs asked me a question about why I do what I do. He said I’m smiling all the time, bubbly- what makes me so happy about what I do? I told the story that I wrote about above of a time and place when I wasn’t so happy and how it got me to where I am today. Deciding to become a Beachbody coach has honestly been one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’ve grown so much as a person and it has increased my spiritual expansion, self-belief, and belief that all things are working out for the best and for our greatest good beyond anything that I could have ever dreamed of. It sounds cliche’ when I say it, but the last 2.5 years of coaching have truly been life-changing.

An interesting thing happened when I got home from the retreat though. I realized that with all of the AMAZING stuff in my life (I am seriously BURSTING with happiness everyday), I remembered that I still have my emergency stash of Klonopin (anti-anxiety meds) in my purse. Even though I’ve probably only taken about 5 in the entire 2 years this all was going on, I’ve still kept them as a security blanket just in case I were to have some kind of awful panic attack. I realized that it’s finally time to let them go. I don’t need my security blanket anymore. I have a TON of people supporting me. I have never felt more connected and supported in my entire life. Not gonna lie, I did feel some mild resistance when I pulled them out of my purse but that’s just old habits and old brain patterns kicking in. There is no better drug than the love and support of my friends, family, fellow coaches, my beachbody customers, and all of the wonderful people in my life.

I wish I could tag all of my wonderful friends and family who have supported me through all of this; who have always supported me and who continue to support me with everything I do. You are all amazing. I feel SO LUCKY to have so many wonderful people in my life and I definitely would not be the person I am without your influence and support in my life. Not to mention, through all of this struggle, I have found within me the ability to feel connected no matter what, even when I am by myself. As Wayne Dyer would say, “you can never be lonely if you like the person you’re with when you’re alone!” And I do :)  My tool chest for feeling connected has grown exponentially: from Hay House conferences, to walks by the river, to a chat with Nikki, to a yoga class with Chelsea, to a call with my amazing life coach, to convos with my challengers, to laughing and joking with friends, to quality time with my family and playing with my sister’s puppy, to an incredible coach retreat in the beautiful smoky mountains with our fit fam, to dancing in my room by myself, I can ALWAYS get connected any time I choose to be. I’m pretty sure that is one of the greatest skills and lessons I could learn in life.

For anyone who can relate to this story in any way, please please PLEASE don’t hesitate to reach out to me for love and support. Now, more than ever, I believe that ANYTHING can be worked through with love and support. Sending love to all of you, always.

Love,

Katelyn

Disclaimer Copy: Katelyn Lesk is an Independent Beachbody Coach.