Happy Wednesday Ladies! I’m excited for another fitness related blog post.  I am in week 3 of my 4th round of my program.  If you’ve been following my blog for a while, then you’ll know that 6 weeks ago I announced I am now the ambassador for the program.  With there being so much talk about mental health lately and with the shock of Kate Spade’s suicide, I figured I would dedicate a post to how this fitness program has helped myself (and so many others) in getting stronger BOTH physically and mentally.

I believe one of the best parts about this program is the fact that is comes with an accountability group.  Yes, the diet guidelines, workouts and the structure of the program truly works, but it’s having the group that holds each of us accountable that I think really makes the difference on some ladies putting in the work and dedication it takes to get results and change their lifestyle.  Because let’s be honest, it is A LOT of work and old/bad habits can be HARD TO BREAK!  Each round there is a winner named in each accountability group (we now have multiple groups) for being super encouraging and supportive of everyone else in their group.  I have seen certain members go from being very doubtful and almost negative in the beginning to very upbeat, positive and slaying the game in just a few short weeks.  It’s really nice to have a place where we can all be ourselves with no filters required, share our struggles, celebrate our victories (non scale victories, mindset victories, etc), hold each other accountable with the program and our own goals.  I know it’s an uncomfortable topic to talk about, so I didn’t want to ask any of the girls in our group to share a few words with me about how and why they feel mentally stronger, but I keep seeing them post that they do!  I can speak from personal experience that I feel happier, more confident, I’m sleeping better, putting less pressure on myself, sharing positivity with others in the group because I know so many have joined based upon my recommendation, taking the time to celebrate all my small victories, allowing myself more grace, being happy to just be present over perfect more often and I think all of these things combined is why I feel mentally stronger.  That along with the fact that exercise causes endorphins and endorphins help to make you happy!  Happy people become more content with where they are and what they have rather than comparing themselves to someone else or always looking for something else to make them happy.  Self love is so important! You might as well grow to like and love yourself, because you’ve got forever to spend together! So many ladies (including myself) are feeling more confident and truly just better about themselves since starting this program.  Yes, it does take work to keep continuing this program, but once I get to feeling good I do not want to quit or throw in the towel on all the previous work I have put forth.  Rather, I want to keep working hard to keep getting stronger both physically and mentally.  I am not measuring my current or future fitness success on the scale, but rather on how I feel.  I will continue to do this program as a way of life.  The results I have seen in myself and many others truly fulfills me so much!

Up until this point, we have had a weigh in at the beginning of the program. After talking with Lindsay today on the mental health topic, we are getting rid of that and focusing even more on non scale victories. Having to face the scale and give a weigh in when starting a new program can be viewed as detrimental to client’s mental health and the scale is not a true representation of our progress on the program. Actually after prep week Lindsay has encouraged us to NOT weigh ourselves, so we are getting rid of the weight in altogether and will movie forward with checking in only with measurements. This is a much more accurate representation of progress.

When I announced that I was the ambassador 6 weeks ago, we did our first ever giveaway.  Our current giveaway winner (Amy Dieta) says she now weighs less than ever since her post college years (keep in mind she is now married with two beautiful children and she is on week 3 of her first ever round!), and I can see a new glow and spark about her each time she adds a photo!  I am so proud of her and so many others that are working hard to better themselves and their health.    The next program doesn’t start until July, but spots are filling up sooner and sooner as this program continues to grow.  But get excited because it is time for another GIVEAWAY ($200 value)!!!  The program is actually 7 weeks long if you include prep week! You’ll find the requirements to enter at the bottom of this blog post.

I am so excited to finally share some of my favorite fitness transformation photos that I took after 12 weeks of working out with my new coach.  The photographers were Glen and Tim Vigus of GT Studios and my hair and makeup was done by Versy Picone of Vixen Salon.  I am not showing these photos to make anybody feel less about their body, but rather to show the hard work and persistence that I put into mine over the past 4+ years, specifically the past 5 months.  Your body is NOT Amazon Prime, so it will not show up in 2 days.  You can read older blog posts from previous in my journey when I obtained all of my results on my own here: Ways to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain, My Fitness Journey Update Over a Year Ago, Healthy Go-To Snacks, Diet Overview from a Year Ago.  Newer blog posts since I’ve been working with them can be found here: Water Weight & RetentionMy Healthy Grocery List, and Top Reasons Why I Love This Program.

This shoot was a dream come true.  I love promoting strong and healthy, both physically and mentally, to my followers.  I believe a strong and healthy base is important to build upon.  Life is complex and aging is real, so I want to do all that I can to take care of my body and preserve it for many years to come.  Cheers to my first ever fitness shoot!  In Elle Woods voice, “We Did It!” because I really do feel having each of you to hold me accountable and to help cheer me along helped me to reach these results!

Yes, these images are edited, have been enhanced and we used some of the shadows to our effect in the gym photos as we tried to get them published in a health and fitness magazine, but were not successful.  I’m not going to think it couldn’t still happen, but I didn’t want to hold out from sharing them with y’all any longer.

“She believed she could, so she did!” You can do it, too!

Here were pics of me the day I started the program

In case you didn’t see my youtube video yesterday featuring my favorite strawberry protein pancakes and me filming mostly in no makeup, I’m adding it below. I have been listening to everyone crave more no makeup and messy hair real life from me, so here it is:

There’s so much talk about mental health and the illness is REAL! I am still shocked and heartbroken to know that Kate Spade committed suicide ???????????? I think we all have the power to help. Let’s be more positive rather than negative. Let’s be more present over perfect. Let’s compliment and encourage others. LET’S LIKE AND COMMENT POSITIVE WORDS ON PEOPLE’S SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS – what would it hurt??? Let’s be brave enough to share our authentic selves so those in the world hurting don’t feel like they will never compare. I’m guilty of only sharing my highlight reel before, but I hope you’ve seen a positive change showcasing more authenticity and transparency lately. Yes, I’m into health, fitness, skincare, fashion, all things beautiful, and trying to be my best self, but I’m also one to sleep in, roll out of bed late, not take an hour to get ready each day (sometimes I may hardly get ready all week ????), learn from my failures, and even share when I’m bloated (also a recent blog post). I’m still so far from having it altogether and I probably always will be!. . If you haven’t watched my newest YouTube video, you will see where half of it is filmed with me in no makeup and a messy bun (not a cute one either). In years past I would have felt that my no makeup posts might look unprofessional as a business owner, but my authentic insta story videos are what people love and crave the most. With so many struggling with mental help, I think we could all stand to take off the social media mask and just be ourselves. If you missed my no makeup video, the link is in my bio! ???????????????? #RealQueensFixEachOthersCrowns #RandaCarrabba

A post shared by Randa Yezak Carrabba ???????? (@randacarrabba) on

 

xo,

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