Hey all,
This is what you’ve been waiting for! It’s the Vancouver Regional event this weekend. It’s going to be amazing. If you want to build your Visalus business and be crazy successful and earn yourself a BMW you really need to be there.

To register: http://events.arriveby25.com/events/0217-18-vancouver-ba-canada/

02/17-18 Vancouver, BC CANADA

Keynote Speakers:
Nick and Ashley Sarnicola, Jason O’Toole, Rachel Jackson, and Lorne Humenny and Tanis MacDonald

If you’re wondering why Visalus is becoming one of the most successful companies in the world you just need to watch this vid. Watch it then contact me and we can chat about how you can leverage the internet, from your home, to earn a great income….oh, and help people feel better and healthier too! BONUS.

January is a time when people think about weight loss. Everyone knows this. We all think that we’ll gorge over the holidays then pack it all in and “begin” in January.

This thinking is flawed. The notion that we deprive ourselves of things while we’re in “weight loss mode” and binge on things when we’ve hit our goals or given up is, in it’s own way, disordered eating.

Most people don’t realize that eating disorders are rampant in Western society. The numbers are staggering and if you’d like to learn more about ED and ED awareness you can visit No Numbers:Identity Beyond Measure. It’s a documentary film created by 2 Vancouver women that talks about recovery and an optimistic approach to getting through the disease.

It’s not often you’d read about ED on a weight loss blog but I find, more and more, that our society is pushing dieting as a lifestyle rather than promoting good health.

There’s a huge difference between the two.

“Dieting” suggests the removal of something but “good health” would indicate the addition of proper nutrition into your lifestyle.

I promote the Body By Vi Challenge because it adds a significant amount of nutrition to my diet. I would be unable to eat the amount of food required to get the same nutrition and I have to admit, I am dis-inclined to prepare that amount of food too.

I joke around a lot on this blog about being able to drink coffee on the BBVi Challenge but the truth is that these shakes have saved me from myself.

Here are a few examples of how my health is significantly better: I have not had indigestion since starting Visalus. All “peri-menopausal” symptoms have ceased since being on the plan. I work out within my target heart rate zone and see the benefits in everyday life. I have more energy. I have accomplished more in my career. I am focused and, most significantly to me, I was able to ski with the men for 6 straight hours without getting tired.

I have attained what I think is a healthy weight. 5’4″ and 137lbs. I feel fantastic and all of my clothes fit. I’m a size 8 (or 10 depending on the company) but I don’t really worry too much about it now.

Obsessing about anything is unhealthy. Obsessing about your waistline can lead to some very, very unhealthy habits.

Before you jump on the “diet” bandwagon ask yourself if you are supplying your body with the nutrition it needs. If so you may need to adjust portions. If not, do some research. Find out what you do need.

The trick is never to think about what you can take away for better health but rather what you can add.

If you’d like to discuss the Challenge you can ping me through Facebook or email.

If you live in BC, or Canada, or have been to Vancouver, or even have done a wee bit of research on Vancouver you would have come across 2 of the most daunting words in the English language; Grouse Grind.

For those of you not indoctrinated to this term Grouse is the name of one of Vancouver’s local mountains and Grind is the name given to the hike up it.

Yep, UP!

Some of the marketing gurus have coined the Grind “Nature’s stairclimber” but I think that term is a bit 80′s and doesn’t really begin to touch on the difficulty of this 2.9km (don’t be fooled by how short that sounds) ascends 2799 feet UP. At some points the Grind is 30 friggin degrees UP.

People who live in Vancouver (and crazy peeps who exercise when they travel) like to “do the Grind” as a form of extreme exercise. It plays in nicely to our BC lifestyle of fitness and weird fit things to do.

As a reward for all her hard work this month I took my grasshopper to “do the Grind”.

To be fair, it was actually her idea. I was keen to go but not entirely sure I was keen to listen to the whining that would, inevitably, go with climbing straight uphill for 90 minutes.

I’ve done the Grind quite a few times. I’ve done it while super fit, I’ve done it after months of no cardio, I’ve done it with no fitness at all. Let me tell you, how much heart a climber has has as much to do with making it to the top as strength.

The first quarter is brutal! No kidding. It seems straight up hill and when you finally do hit the 1/4 sign you feel like you really should be 3/4 of the way up there. It’s a bit disheartening.

Knowing this, I tried to warn my grasshopper. I’m pretty sure if she’d been able to form sentences at that point the comments would not be something I could cite here.

The thing with climbing is, it’s always tougher at the beginning. It’s hard to get your heart-rate in check, you feel like you ought to take big steps to get there faster etc. Experience plays a pretty strong roll here. For example, if you take short steps, keep your head down and get into a rhythm, you’ll lower your heart-rate and actually have a much easier time of it.

It took til the 1/2 mark to get this sentiment through to grasshopper but she got it.

The problem is, once she got it she was able to talk again. I think I preferred heavy breathing.

There were several “you will NEVER get me up here again” comments which made me laugh. Everyone says that when they’re climbing. Sheesh!

After an hour and 40 minutes we crested the top of the Grind. It was glorious. The day was so beautiful and the view from the top of Grouse Mountain rivals any I’ve ever seen, anywhere.

Sure you could ride the gondola up to get the same view but it wouldn’t be with that feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction, and pain. (the good pain

When we got down and into the car she was still on about how she’d never do it again but by Wednesday (we did it Sunday) she was planning her next ascent. Another Grind convert!

Tomorrow I’m taking my 8 year old to see if we can beat last week’s time. I’m pretty sure there will be less whinging.

Good job grasshopper! You’ve come so far in 3 weeks. Over 10lbs, tons of energy and the Grouse Grind under your belt. I’m proud of you.

Yesterday was Canadian Thanksgiving. (actually some people think that Sunday is the actual Thanksgiving but we had turkey yesterday so I’m just gonna stick with that. If you’d like to weigh in, pun intended, on which day it is please feel free to leave a comment

Ok, so yesterday was Canadian Thanksgiving. A day feared by everyone who is watching what they eat or trying to lose weight. I’m going to go ahead and lump myself into that category.

Without a doubt, turkey is my favourite meal. I love it. I could eat a whole roast turkey all by myself and wash it down with a good rosé. I loves me some turkey!!!

The thing is, even though turkey is widely thought to be pretty good for you, you have to make sure that you eat it in moderation. This site has a list of everything in a typical Thanksgiving dinner and lists portions and calories.

I think that, conservatively, I would estimate that I ate about half of what is listed on their site but if that’s true then I consumed over 2000 calories yesterday! Holy Crap! No wonder I was terrified of Thanksgiving.

While I did have a piece of pumpkin pie, I also showed quite a bit of restraint and, to be perfectly honest, I likely did not eat 2000 calories. Mostly because it’s unlikely that I could eat that much after a couple of months on the Body By Vi Challenge.

It’s funny because I simply did not feel like over-endulging and feeling like crap. Even with my portioned-controlled plate, I felt that I ate quite a bit more food than was strictly necessary for survival or satiation.

So my big tip? What you need to do is put some food on your plate. Put about 1/3 of what you would usually load up the plate with. Make it exactly the way you love it. If you love stuffing and gravy put them on there, don’t deny yourself the foods you love, just be smart.

Ok, so after you’ve eaten this plate of food, sit back for 10 minutes. Just don’t have anything for 10 min. I know, you see everyone at the table gorging themselves but you can do anything for 10 minutes. Right?

If, after 10 minutes, you feel like you absolutely positively must have some more, have a little more but don’t go over-board. And don’t bend to the comments of others. If they’re not on board with your plan then they’re mean and horrible people who are just jealous that you’re losing weight and getting healthy. Umm, not that I know anyone like that

It’s all about moderation on Thanksgiving. You American’s have your own turkey day next month and to stick with your goals you have to keep them in mind all the time.

You can do it! Besides, if you don’t eat tons of turkey on Thanksgiving you’ll have lots left for lunches!

So today is Day 4…morning 4 to be precise, of my Body By Vi Mentoring program.

My student was reluctant to weigh in this morning. I’ve made her wait til this morning to see the results of all of our hard work. I had a pretty good notion that there would be some sort of success today but I really wasn’t prepared for what I heard coming from the vicinity of the bathroom scales.

While I held my breath and let her enter the “weighing in” section of the house, I was forced to wait…for about 10 seconds. The screaming was almost deafening!

“I LOST 4 1/2 POUNDS! ARE YOU $HITTING ME? (expletive)(expletive)” and lots more in the same vernacular.

It was pretty cool actually. Until you spend a few days on the Challenge you really don’t believe the claims of significant weight loss in short periods of time.

I can’t take all the credit for this first step toward successful weight loss, after all the grasshopper has done everything I’ve asked with minimal complaint.

That’s not entirely true. On day 1 I said “you can have good cop and lose 10lbs or you can have mean cop and lose 20, pick now.” She choose mean cop and while I don’t think I’m that mean, I have illicited the same look on her face as is on the face of the girl in the photo above. (there’s a great deal of satisfaction that comes with that

High on her success, she has gone to the gym this morning without me! I warned her that we’ll be doing cardio on the local stairs this afternoon but she was determined.

We’ll see how tomorrow goes. So far we’re both having a great time!

Ok, so I figured that the best way to show people how amazing the Body By Vi 90 Day Challenge really is is to mentor someone to success.

I preach a lot about how I’m actually going to be there for the people on my team. How I’m going to help them figure out what workouts would work well with their challenge. I’ll be there to talk them out of making bad choices or slipping into old habits. I’m there to provide inspiration, motivation, perspiration and any other “ation” that’s required.

To that end I have taken on a student. Yes, I said “student”. I will be mentoring this student for the next 30 days to get her on the road to successful weight loss, nutritional health and financial freedom.

She’s moved into my house (I know, this is extreme but it’s going to be great and my kids love her) She’s moved into my 8 year old’s room. The 8 year old struggles with this because she loves the “student” but also loves her room. I feel bad but she’s going to benefit from having another adult in the house to manipulate.

My student started on October 1st. She’s young, 24 and has been struggling with her weight since she quit competitive swimming at 18. The pounds have steadily packed on through the intervening years and she has come to a point where it’s just too much. She needed a change.

Next month she will be moving to a new town and a whole new life. She wants to start that life in a new, svelte, fit bod that cause men to swoon. (she’s currently single but only because she wants to be)

I’m going to keep a diary of her progress. You can follow along on this blog or subscribe to the feed. I think it’s going to be fun.

For example, last night we went to a restaurant an ordered the same meal. I also ordered a soda water with lemon, so did she. Some guy at another table offered to buy us a drink but since we weren’t drinking we ended up with 3 pints of soda water. She drank them all. Her eyeballs were swimming.

There are lots of things to report but I’m saving some of the funnier expletives for the next post.

Keep reading!!!

For most people the notion of dieting is daunting. You know that you have to do something but you’re unwilling or, at least, unhappy to give up your routine.

Counting calories and watching every single morsel you eat is a big task, especially for busy people and, let’s face it, in this day in age, we’re all very, very busy!

That’s why shake diets have become so popular over the last few years.

A shake diet removes the guess work. You don’t have to weigh everything. You don’t have to stress about whether that piece of bacon you’re eating for b/fast is too many calories or not. And, best of all, you don’t have to use up a ton of time preparing a meal that you second guess.

Finding the right shake diet for you is likely going to be the biggest challenge you face if you’re looking to lose some weight.

My friend Melanie Milletics has written a great article on the difference between the Isagenix Cleanse and the Body By Vi Challenge.

Her findings support the position that the Body By Vi Shakes are lower in calories, sodium, cholesterol and sugar and higher in protein, carbs (good carbs and dietary fiber.

The BBV shake is also great tasting!

But one thing that Mel left out of her article that I think is the primary difference between Visalus and Isagenix is the “cleanse days” you’re meant to do on Iso.

Isagenix runs on a 7 day cycle. For 5 days you have 2 shakes/day, healthy snacks and a balanced dinner. On days 6 and 7 you “cleanse”.

These cleanse days consist of consuming 4oz of the Cleanse for Life juice (in tons of water) 4 times/day.

It’s not so bad on the first day but by day 2 of the cleanse you start to feel a bit spacey. I cannot argue with the results that the cleanse days bring. I was always lighter after 2 days of drinking juice only. However, I came to dread those days. I had to plan my entire week around what I would be doing on Monday and Tuesday (my cleanse days)

It’s also interesting to note that my 80 year old mom was unable to do the cleanse days.

She, unlike her daughters, had never had a weight problem until her late 60′s. Around that time her questionable snacking caught up with her. Mom’s lucky because mine caught up with me at 23!

Anyway, the late night cookies started having an adverse effect on her waist line.

She, like many of us, tried “everything”. When she turned to Isagenix for help she was unsuccessful because she could not complete the cleanse days.

When you’re looking for a shake diet make sure that you know your own limitations too. What will you be able to sustain? If you’re not sold on the cleanse days, the higher sodium and sugar etc you may want to consider the Body By Vi Challenge.

In addition to what I think is a superior product, the Body By Vi Challenge is more supportive of your goals than Isagenix. You get me, your coach and weight loss mentor. You get Mel, my coach and mentor. You get Vi-net, the Facebook of weight loss.

In fact you get an entire social network to support you in your goals. People who have been exactly where you are and know the struggles you’re going through.

To find out more fill in the form on this page or check out the Body By Vi Challenge info page here

Seriously! How come you’re still fat?

Haven’t you seen all the research on obesity and what it does to your body?

Haven’t you listened to the experts tell you that all you have to do to lose weight is diet and exercise, then you’ll be healthy and happy?

Haven’t you been watching The Biggest Loser. Don’t you see how easily all of those morbidly obese people lose the weight?

WHY AREN’T YOU LISTENING?

I think I know why.

You’re scared. You’re worried that you might fail. You’re afraid that you might have to give up those parts of your life that make you happy (or you think make you happy).

Any of this ringing true?

How about the fact that you have never been active and can’t even imagine going to a gym? You’re certainly not alone there. The number of people that are intimidated by the gym is staggering. While gyms advertise that they are for everyone, you’re most often given the same treatment regardless of your size or age, when you arrive at one.

When my mom turned 75 I bought her personal training. She went to the gym to meet the lycra-clad 20 something trainer. The trainer spent 30 minutes or so with my mom determining how active she was and what her goals were then promptly dropped her into a yoga class.

My mom was humiliated. She didn’t know how to do yoga. The women in the class had all been doing it for many years and she felt completely out of her element.

She never went back.

The trainer didn’t care because I had already paid her for 3 months. No refunds.

There is little chance my mom will ever set foot in a gym again.

My mom is afraid of the gym.

Now, you don’t need to be 75 to be terrified of the gym or of exercise or of changing your life. That honour is not reserved for any demographic. Everyone is afraid.

But here’s the rub. If you don’t try something you are 100% guaranteed to fail. If you never try to lose weight, you never will. Makes sense right?

I have struggled with my weight my entire adult life. In my early 20′s I was a rower in university. During that time I was svelte, lean, toned. I looked great! I could even drink trays of beer nightly and not gain an once. Possibly due to the 5am and 7pm practices daily!

After university I went traveling and when I got back my 117lbs had ballooned to 130! I don’t know what happened. I then steadily gained weight over the years til I hit 170lbs. What the hell?

I would have sworn to you that I had tried everything to lose the weight but, in hindsight, that would have been a lie.

I tried to watch what I ate but my nutrition was so bad that I felt like crap and craved carbs all the time. I gave up carbs but, again, lack of adequate nutrition caused some fairly significant issues including really stinky…nevermind.

It wasn’t until I found the Body By Vi 90 Day challenge that I not only got my nutrition under control, my weight began to drop off, my skin cleared up to the point that everyone noticed it (which now makes me wonder how bad it was before I put my own health first and now I feel amazing.

I’m at 140lbs now and still losing. My goal is to be 130lbs by November 11th. I’m going to make it. I’ve ditched all the excuses I used for staying overweight. I won’t even let my friends throw out lame excuses now. (they’re getting a bit annoyed with me showing up at the door for a run when they’re in their pj’s

Today is the day that you can stop with all the nonsense and get yourself healthy. Every single excuse you have is lame.

No time, bull. It takes less time to eat properly, not more.

Not feeling well. Stupid excuse. This is going to make you feel soooo much better!

Not ready. Why? What are you waiting for?

No money. Umm, have you even priced out a plan that’s right for you? Is less than $2/meal too expensive? What do you pay for a meal now? (cuz if it’s less than $2 I’d love to know about it)

Injured. So what. Start with nutrition then work with me to find something you CAN do to get moving and healthy.

Do you have any other excuses? Send them my way. I’ll show you that they are just in your head and it’s your fear talking. You can listen to it talk but it’s ruled your life long enough and, how’s that workin’ out for ya?

Just like Ricky Gervais humour, the Body By Vi Challenge is NOT for everyone.

This may come as a surprise to those of you who are used to every diet making the claim that it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread (not that you can eat bread on any of them for every single person.

I don’t think that’s true.

I don’t think that the Body By Vi Challenge is for EVERYONE.

In fact, I think that it really is a very specific type of person that will be successful on the Body By Vi 90 Day Challenge.

First of all, you have to want it. You have to want to succeed like you’ve never wanted to before. In fact, you have to want it as much as you want to breathe.

You have to be coachable. You have to be able to think “I got to this point through some bad habits and I need someone to help me change those habits”.

You have want to improve your health and be immune to the comments of others who are misinformed. For example, the Body by Vi-shake is packed full of vitamins and you get a massive dose of nutrition that you would not normally get if you were just eating an egg or 2 for breakfast.

In fact, if you were trying to get that much nutrition you would weigh a ton because of the shear volume of food necessary to contain all that goodness.

There will always be people in your life who judge your choices. In order to be successful at the Body By Vi Challenge you have to tune them out and believe in your own voice. Listen to your body. As you begin to feel stronger and healthier you won’t even have to dispel their comments, they’ll see your success all over your face, in the whites of your eyes, in your rapidly reducing waistline.

Once you learn that not everyone has your best interest in mind, that sometimes they have their own agenda, you’ll be ready for the challenge. But if you try to jump on before you’ve made that discovery, you will continue in your old habit of trying to please others before taking care of yourself.

The best Body By Vi candidates are the ones who genuinely want to help (not please) other people. I have never sold any product online or to my friends and family before. This is my first kick at network marketing can because I felt so strongly that Visalus Sciences provided an exceptional product.

I have other, offline, businesses. I don’t “need” to sell Body By Vi but once I started losing weight and people noticed my transformation, I wanted to help them. That’s when I jumped on board and every, single day, I feel awesome when someone else shares their story of weight loss, winning prizes or helping someone else join the challenge.

I am so strongly motivated by the philosophy at Visalus that I have started a free clinic called “I hate the gym” for people who, for one reason or another, are intimidated to go to the local gym to workout. They go through my program, learn about fitness, nutrition, movement, their bodies and why the body seems sometimes to be against our minds After a few months of working with me (notice I didn’t say “working out” with me they are confident enough to tackle the local gym and I help them get started there too.

Body By Vi has changed my life and my career. I earn a living from several businesses but the BBVi Challenge is, by far, the most rewarding both financially and for my soul.

So, to recap:

If you:
- are ready
- need help
- love helping others
- want to take care of yourself first for a change
- want to earn a living from home
- are teachable
- are motivated

…then I would like to speak with you.

Jacquie – 604.764.0990
jacquie@bodybyvi-canada.com