Eating clean is a lifestyle, not a diet.

Hello everyone, my goodness I cannot believe it has been a little over a month since my last blog post! Time is sure flying this summer. I have been busy between working and enjoying my new hardcore healthy lifestyle! From what started out as gradually cutting out junk food and enjoying my Vi- Shakes has turned into full on eating clean while still enjoying my Vi- Shakes. For those that don't understand what eating clean is then you need to check out this website! http://www.eatcleandiet.com/  It is what turned my eating lifestyle right around. The author of the books is Tosca Reno and she a best selling series that consists of 12 amazing books. My roommates mom had left one of her books while she was out visiting, The Eat-Clean Diet Recharged. I had come across it and couldn't put the book down! It was full of everything you need to know about eating healthy. There is so much helpful and interesting information that it made it very easy to start.

My excuse for not eating healthy before was I didn't know where to start and I had always thought about eating healthy as dieting and that was the first mistake I made. Eating clean is a lifestyle, not a diet. This is one of my favorite sayings because I used to be all about diets until I came across an interesting article where I read this  "Diets do not work. Diets are temporary. When you change your dietary lifestyle, however, you’re changing your habits – and you’re putting yourself on track for long-term / continued success and weight maintenance." Chris Pirillo.

This picture makes me giggle. I used to be the first girl that would offer sweets or junk food to a friend who always ate healthy and passed up on it. Now I am the other one and cannot stand it when someone judges me because I chose to eat healthy and have no interest in eating bad processed foods that have no nutrional value whatsoever. Some days this still amazes me because looking back to a year ago, I was the most unhealthy eater! I rarely ate fruit and vegetables and as bad as this sounds, about 75% of my diet was full of processed foods. Gives me the chills just thinking about it.

It makes me feel great about my new choices and I feel amazing since turning my diet around. As a young adult with Rheumatoid Arthitis, I would highly recommend turning to eating clean and cutting out all processed foods if you have any health issues or to just be a healthier person altogether. It is amazing how much of a difference it has done for me. I had to rely on my medication strongly to help the pain or else my arthritis would flare up if I missed a day and was very painful. Now I if I miss a day or two ( Yes I am very forgetful sometimes when it comes to taking medication) it is not as noticeable. Best choice I could have made for my body. You only have one so you might as well be good to it.

So in the last month I have started cooking a lot more due to the fact that my new job has way better hours and allows for more time to cook and still eat at a decent time. Which means I have become obsessed, and I mean OBSESSED with looking through recipes that are healthy and deliscious. I have an app on my Iphone called FoodGawker and it is simply amazing! There are thousands of great recipes on there and I spend about an hour browsing through them almost every night before bed. I just have to share a couple of my new favorite go-to websites for recipes because they are awesome and you will be thanking me! Here they are:

http://ohsheglows.com/

http://www.heandsheeatclean.com/

http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/

Now these three websites are also blogs and they are great. So much great information and all the recipes are healthy and sound amazing. And there are sooo many to go through! You can thank me later after you see how amazing they are. :)

Hope you are all having a wonderful week and are ready for the weekend! If you would to see updates for some great advice for being healthy, check out my Fan page on Facebook. There is some very helpful and interesting information, as well as lots of great healthy recipes you might enjoy! Also is the link to my Visalus website if you are interested in learning more about the great shakes!

mardellryckman.bodybyvi.com

facebook.com/visalusmardellryckman - "LIKE" this page to see updates and posts daily with great information and weight loss tips

Cheers,

Mardell

Beach Babes Inspiration

Yesterday was officially the first day of summer and boy did it feel like it here in Belleville, ON. It was the perfect way to start off what is going to be a wonderful summer. Who is excited?? I know I am! So many fun and exciting plans to look forward to!

To start off the summer, I made a trip to Cobourg yesterday and visited a friend. We ended up going to the beach to check it out and took a walk along the water. This is my first time going to the beach this year and wow did i feel uncomfortable. Its been a long time since I have been to a beach and was this ever a kick in the butt for me. I thought I was already pretty motivated in my weight loss, I most definitely am at a high motivation now! Everyone there looked so hot. And no I don't mean just from the sun. There was so many fit men and women that if I had been there to lounge on the beach I probably wouldn't have been confident enough to lay there in just my bathing suit. :s However, I am glad that I had gotten that feeling. Because now it is stuck in mind and I am full on geared to reaching my goal weight. I cant stop seeing how great everyone looked and have a strong WANT to look that great as well.

My update to how Ive been doing up until now has not been too bad. I can honestly say I am the healthiest now that I have been in a long time. I started this blog in May, just a couple weeks after I made the decision to start eating healthy and getting more active. Clean eating is seriously a great way to go! I barely eat anything that is processed and try to eat as much whole real food as I can. I cannot even remember the last time I felt sick to my stomach from something I ate. It was quite often I would get a stomach ache before when I was eating so much junk and badly processed foods.

Drinking tons of water is helping a ton as well. The trick to actually drinking a lot of water a day is to keep a water bottle with you at all times. While I was at Wal Mart one day I bought a water bottle that I could take everywhere with me. Since then, I made it a habit to keep it on me at all times. I swear I fill it up at least 5 times a day. Its a good habit that I am happy I started. Even though it is quite annoying how often I have to go to the washroom. Haha.

A lot of my credit goes to Visalus. I cannot tell people enough how much I love them. The energy and boost they give me is simply amazing. Even if I didn't have weight to lose I would still drink the shakes and I plan on keeping with them after I am at my goal weight. I recently just went two weeks without them because I had run out and needed to get some more and wow, it was a long two weeks. I could feel the difference in energy and I could NOT wait to get more. I just love them so much! I`ve lost 6 lbs in total so far and have 10 more lbs to go.


Having people you know tell you that you look like you have lost weight is the best feeling and the ultimate motivator. Once you hear that, you know that your hard work is paying off and you keep you butt moving. I have had several people compliment me in the last week and it felt awesome. If you feel you still need more to motivate you then I strongly urge you to go to the beach. That was more than enough motivation to get me going strong. :)

A healthy diet and exercise is very important for your body all the time, even more so when wanting to lose some weight. However sometimes that isn't enough for weight loss, for some people its harder to lose weight then others. If you would like some help, check out my website for Visalus or my Fan page on Facebook. There is some very helpful and interesting information, as well as lots of great healthy recipes you might enjoy!

mardellryckman.bodybyvi.com

facebook.com/visalusmardellryckman - "LIKE" this page to see updates and posts daily with great information and weight loss tips

Have a great weekend everyone and keep motivated!

Mardell

Summer is here! Get your caboose in gear!

Good morning everyone and happy Friday. Our favorite day of the week is here and now we get to enjoy a great weekend. I figured I would get in here and get the motivation all revved up so your all set and behave yourself. ;) I hope you are all doing well in getting ready for summer and achieving your health and weight loss goals. If not then I hope this post helps because its going to help with whatever you may be doing wrong.

First off, the first thing you need to know, which I know you already do but im going to tell you anyways because I think we all forget this somewhere along the line. You need to eat right and exercise! Its really that simple. All you need to do is watch what you eat and expend more energy then you consume. It looks as if a lot of people forget this these days and expect to lose weight without exercising and want to rely on a pill or live completely off on meal replacement shakes. Bad bad bad idea. Its doing more harm to your body and will screw up your metabolism and insides.

Next thing, stop calling it a diet. If you are changing the way you eat to be healthier and get in shape then consider it a lifestyle.You are changing your dietary habits and putting yourself on long term continued success and weight maintenence. Plus diets dont last, they are temporary and no one sticks to them and you just gain all the weight back. Make eating healthy a lifestyle, not a diet.

When commiting yourself to a weight loss goal, you are not going to want to go through it alone. And you shouldnt. Support is how we reach our goals and remember to stay committed so we achieve them. Its tough to do it alone, you need motivation and inspiration. So join a support group online, or read this blog, or tell all your close friends and family. Make sure to be serious with your friends and family and let them know how important this goal is to you and that you need their full support. Some will tell you that "you dont need to lose any weight" and that "you are great the way you are", ignore that. Some will just not want to see you succeed if they have failed. Fact of the matter is, if YOU don’t like the way that YOU are – then YOU are going to have to do something about it, no matter what anybody says. They still love you, though (in theory).     

Always remind yourself about your goal and believe in it. You will succeed and reach it at the end. Hard work and determination get you far and YOU can do it. Its all about positivity and keeping yourself in a good state of mind. Stear clear of negativity, you dont want it and you dont need it.

Also if you need a weight loss plan to follow or need some guidance then I highly recommend checking out the ebook, The Plan, that is on the top right side of this blog. It was written by a good friend of mine, Jody Zarn, and its amazing. Very inspirational and it will help you with achieving your weight loss goals. She speaks from the heart and has gone through the same weight loss struggles we all have.

The Challenge by Body By Vi is another great tool for achieving your weight loss goal and boosting your nutrition. I am loving the Vi Life and doing great on my Challenge. Its going to feel so great once I reach my goal. Eating healthier and exercising daily has been making me feel the best I ever have. And I owe it all to the shakes, they give me so much energy and keep me full and from craving all the bad foods I did before. If you want to learn more about Visalus and The Challenge and what it can do for you then visit my website:

mardellryckman.bodybyvi.com

Or check out my FB page:

facebook.com/VisalusMardellRyckman

Thats all for today, I hope this gears up your motivation to get you through the weekend and help you to behave yourself. Of course you can still misbehave a little bit. What fun would the weekend be then. Just hold onto the wagon and dont fall off! :) Have a great weekend!

Mardell

Hold on tight! Dont fall off the wagon!

Hello everyone!

Well the weekend is here and I hope you all had a great week. I know mine was pretty wonderful, but its still nice when the weekend gets here. You get to see your friends and family and relax and have some fun. Its all great except for that feeling of guilt you feel when you go totally overboard with the food and drinks. By the time Sunday rolls around you feel as if your whole week of eating well and working out has gone to waste and now you have to start over to make up for the weekend of pigging out. Have you ever stopped to think about how much you consume in calories in your drinks alone? After I started my Challenge with Visalus, I started to watch my daily calorie intake. If you have a smart phone and would like an easy way to keep track of your calories daily, I highly recommend the myfitnesspal app. It is so easy and doesn't feel like work at all to keep track. It even scans bar codes so you don't have to look up what you want to add to your diary. I absolutely love it! Anyways, back to what I was getting at with the amount of calories in your drinks. I was sitting outside one afternoon, it was hot and sunny and one of those days where you just feel like having an ice cold beer and enjoying the weather. Well I was updating my diary of what I had to eat that day and what I did for exercise and then I thought I better add my beer to it. I never knew how many calories were in a beer, I just knew it wouldn't be a good number. Lol. Well I was right, I scanned the bar code on my can of Stella and it was about 187 or somewhere around there. I was like "What?!". Ya that is a lot of calories when you have about 3 or 4 when you are socializing with friends and end up drinking all evening. So I thought to myself I better start drinking smarter if I want to lose weight to get to my goal. And yes it is possible to drink smarter, not all alcoholic drinks are bad when it comes to calories. I have actually switched to either vodka and water with a wedge of lime or vodka and water with a splash of cranberry juice. You would think it would be gross with the water but you know what? It really isn't bad. Of course I still have an occasional beer but just when I know I am only going to have one. You have to still live a little right? Do you have any of your own suggestions to drinking smarter?

This past week I have been helping out a friend of mine. She is quite over weight and has been struggling to lose weight for quite a long time. Since I have been learning a ton about healthy eating and weight loss since I have joined Visalus as a promoter, she asked if I could help her by giving her advice about what foods to eat and exercise and is even interested in joining the Challenge as well. Its been a great feeling to help her out and I want to see her succeed. She shared with me a few of her struggles and its something that is so common, it happens to us all. I know its happened to me many times. Starting a diet and then crashing hard and falling off the wagon. So bad that you pig out and stuff your face as if you haven't eaten in a wk. She was telling me she was doing so well with her eating and exercise that she had lost some weight, and then out of nowhere had crashed and ate almost an entire bag of oreo cookies. Perfect example of falling off the wagon. I know that its happened to me, you have one bad meal or a bad weekend and feel so bad for it that you give up because you feel like a failure. And instead of getting right back up and continuing where you left off, you don't. You give up for awhile and then sometime down the line you try again. After doing this so many times myself, I finally thought to myself, why do I just give up after I've fallen off the wagon? I should just get back up and continue. So this is what I talked to my friend about. I told her if she has a bad day and feels like she failed and wants to give up on her diet, not too. To just start fresh the next day and keep at it. Otherwise she will never get where she wants and lose the weight and feel good about herself. I'm pretty sure I got through to her and that was a good feeling. It always helps when you have someone there to motivate you. :)

 So if you find yourself struggling with your diet and have fallen off the wagon, don't let the feeling of failure get you down and cause you to give up. That will just end up leaving you down and disappointed in yourself and obviously no closer to your goal. Just forget about it and act like it never happened and go on with your day. Trust me it feels much better then pigging out for a week after because you feel angry with yourself and then even more angry with yourself because you gained a few more lbs as a result of how you reacted to it.

That's all I have for you this evening, time for me to go make myself a yummy shake. Hope you all have a great evening and a wonderful weekend. If you would like receive news about Visalus or would like to check out my Visalus Facebook page check it out and "Like" my page. :) And if you are having any thoughts about joining me in the Challenge then check out my website at mardellryckman.bodybyvi.com. Its so much better not having to do it alone!

Mardell

Do you have a Plan? Try this Plan!

Good evening everyone!

I am very excited to tell you all about my good friend, Jody Zarns, latest accomplishment. She has recently released her very own ebook called THE PLAN. And I want to tell you all how great it is. I just finished my copy last wk and it was amazing. Very personal, from the heart, and of course funny. You will always get a laugh from anything you read of hers. Amazing woman. The ebook is a weight loss strategy. It doesnt just tell you step by step what to do to lose the weight we all want to lose, but it goes farther indept and right down to the core of where everything happens. Why we gain weight in the first place. That is really what matters the most, right? I mean how can we expect to keep the weight off if we dont understand why we are putting it on in the first place. The Plan goes into detail the areas and different aspects in your life that you need to focus on to figure out where your weight gain comes from. Its amazing and makes so much sense. It even comes with a daily renewal journal and more to help you with your weight loss. There is a link under the picture of the book where you can purchase your own copy of the ebook for $21.95. Check it out!

So since I have started the Challenge and commited to eating healthier I have become obsessed with what I eat and looking at the nutritional value of everything when I go grocery shopping. I went yesterday and avoided all the middle isles because as we all know those are the worst. Once I learned that, I have tried my best to avoid all the middle isles of grocery stores. If I dont see bad food then I wont buy it, just like if you dont have bad foods in your house, you wont eat it. Very good to follow! I definitely suggest it if you want to start eating better.

All this motivation has led to me to clean eating. Which means not eating processed foods and foods full of chemicals and bad things that we cant even pronounce the names to, that do a lot of damage to our insides. But mainly just real foods, whole foods, its the best thing for you. Since I have been clean eating I have been feeling amazing. Not bloated and feling so full that I want to lay around. I actually broke yesterday and had a cheeseburger and french fries and started feeling so gross after. Which was the best way to motivate me more to continue eating clean. Never in a million years did I think I would be able to cut out junk food and greasy fried foods and all of the stuff I used to think was soo good. I just never thought about how bad it is for you. For those of you who want to learn more about eating clean then I suggest you also pick up a copy of The Eat-Clean Diet..Recharged. It is amazing and you learn so much about all the foods you should be eating and why.

I owe so much to ViSalus for my big lifestlye change. Bodybyvi has helped me to understand how badly i was eating before and what it was doing to my body and I am so excited to get to my goal weight and to feel as wonderful as I do long term. Starting the Challenge and combining that with my new ebook, The Plan, I am feeling very confident about myself and my goals. Its a wonderful feeling. So if you need some motivation then I suggest trying it out for yourself. Are you ready for the Challenge?

Time for me to get some things done around the house so I hope you all have a fantastic long weekend and have fun! Toodles!

Mardell

Vitamin D gives you wings! Thats how it goes, right?

Hello all!
Well its late and you are all probably laying in bed cuddled up in your blankets and sound asleep as I write this. Its late and unfortunately my body hasn't realized its time to shut down and catch some sleep as I am feeling so restless and twitchy (Yes I am aware this isn't a word but I'm going to ignore that). I have been having a hard time getting to sleep the last few nights and haven't been able to figure out why. And all I can narrow it down to is how active I have been the last few days. I made the decision to buckle down and really get into the exercise mode and that officially started on Sunday. The weather was beautiful and I was done work early in the afternoon so I decided to take advantage of it and go for a power walk. I was taking in the sun and it felt amazing! I didn't want to waste any minute of it, so when I got backed to my house I wasn't ready to go inside yet. Behind the house, the yard slopes down so I ran up and down for a good workout. Let me tell you, since Sunday, I have not been able to stop moving. I don't know if its the amazing weather or if its the Vi-shakes, but I feel great and so full of energy!

You know that feeling, when you are on a roll, there is no stopping you? That is how I feel right now. Aside from feeling super sore because I have been giving er for the past 3 days, its not enough to slow me down. The motivation just keeps getting stronger and stronger as I start seeing results. I guess after being stuck inside for so much of the winter all this energy just comes popping out when summer hits. Gotta love Vitamin D! It gives you wings! Or so it feels anyways. But the feeling of having so much energy, man I missed it. I have gone through a rut of feeling exhausted and wiped and tired and I wasn't even doing anything to tire me out. It was frustrating. So now I don't want to lose this feeling. I'm going to keep going and going and going like the energizer bunny, and hope the battery doesn't run out. Lol. Ill just have another Vi-shake to fuel me back up. I think I'm picking up an addiction to those. They are just so yummy. I think this is the most healthiest I have ever been. Never have I continued to consume so much fruit. I pack those shakes up. Love it! But it also makes it so easy for me to eat well. I am still not craving bad crap. Ok, that's a lie. I had a craving for ice cream today but its natural to still have cravings. Its just much easier to control those cravings now. I settled for an apple and some peanut butter instead :)

In case any of you are wondering exactly how my results are since I started the Challenge. It has been 15 days since I started. I have lost 6 lbs as of Sat, that was the last time I weighed myself. But I have started working out as of Sunday so I am going to keep it up and then weight myself again on Fri. I don't like to weight myself everyday like some do. I have always gone by how I feel about myself then about the number. But because I am doing the 90 day Challenge, I would like an idea of how much I lose and how much more until my goal weight. But the most important thing to me is how great I am feeling. That means more then the number of lbs I lose.

Its feeling like my body is coming to terms with what time it is now, so its time to call it a night and catch some sleep. Then back at er again in the morning for a work out. Woo! Bring it! Have a good night!

Mardell

Kickstart the motivation!

A couple weeks have gone by since I started The Challenge so I will give you an update on how things have been going for me. I am not only going to tell you that I have lost 5 lbs, but I will tell you about how my health and well being is feeling the benefits. Stress doesn't seem to be as overwhelming, as I am more relaxed and calm. (Thank god!) No one likes to be super stressed and being set off by the smallest things. Not eating junk food and processed foods has been making a ton of difference in how I feel. I feel more energy and don't feel bloated and so full. It has been very surprising how well I am doing with the healthy diet. I have tried eating healthy and dieting time and time again and usually fall off the wagon and give up after a cpl days. It just felt too hard and made me feel like a failure every time. To tell you the truth, I always felt like I was gaining weight when I made the decision to try and lose weight. Because all I would think about is all the food I wanted and couldn't have. Which was the worsts food, the greasiest, saltiest, creamiest, fattiest. And for some reason, I wouldn't crave it as much when I wasn't "dieting". Its just that mentality of wanting what you cant have. Well all I can say is these Vi-shakes were made for me, and everyone like me who struggle with the same problems. I have my two vi-shakes a day and eat healthy snacks in between and then my healthy dinner and I feel satisfied. I am loving that i am not craving all the bad things that I shouldn't have, because I know I shouldn't be eating it anyways. Its all processed crap that is full of bad things doing harm to your insides. No one needs that. We only have one body, so we need to take care of it if we want to stick around for a good long time. :)

So its been a couple of weeks and I am feeling confident enough in myself now to know I can do this and keep up the good work and keep eating healthy. Now its time for me to buckle down with the exercise. It was a beautiful day yesterday and I love being out in the sun and feeling the heat so I decided to go for a walk when I got home from work. Thankfully (well sort of), there are hills by my place, so when I go for a walk its more like a hike in some areas. But I know its better for me so ill take it. I'm not really a morning person so waking up really early is very hard for me. Its at that time that i need a personal trainer or a robot or someone pulling me out of bed, literally. I was laying in bed this morning and I swear it probably took me a half hour of convincing myself to get up and do a workout. That's pretty bad, I know. I'm working on it. Normally I wouldn't end up actually doing a workout, so I was proud of myself. Gave myself a good ol pat on the back and told myself how much better I felt after working out. I absolutely felt amazing. No wonder why people who work out regularly are such happy people.Its good for your health and keeps you feeling great.
From now on, what I am going to tell myself first thing when I wake up is "I want to start the day feeling great." Because I know it isn't easy, but in the end, it will all be worth it. To feel great and know what you accomplished through hard work is always worth it. So if you are like me and struggle to get the motivation to work out or just doing something active, then tell yourself how great it will feel after and that it will be worth it. Visual reminders always help as well. Put up a poster or a picture of a healthy person who looks like how you picture yourself at your goal weight. Or who just looks healthy, if  that is what your goal is.

If you would like to learn more about Bodybyvi and The Challenge or would like to try it out, then check out my website.

mardellryckman.bodybyvi.com

Have a great weekend and I will keep you updated!

Mardell

My Challenge By Bodybyvi!

Here it is, yet again. Another weightloss solution that promises to help you lose weight through shakes. We have all heard and tried (or maybe just myself) so many different products that claim they are the number one go to for weightloss and that all you have to do is replace your meal with these shakes or pop these pills. Well when i heard about Bodybyvi, all i could think was not again. Ive had enough of being let down and getting my hopes up that this was finally what was going to help. So instead of signing up right away and joining into what all of North America is raving about I decided I wasnt going to be one of them. Well here it been quite awhile and Bodybyvi is only growing and you see more and more pictures of transformations and success stories. So it was getting to me. All I could think when I heard Bodybyvi was, Is this really it? I never knew anyone personally that was on The Challenge so I couldnt ask how they liked it. Until one day, I saw on my newsfeed page that my High school history teacher had jumped aboard the Bodybyvi train and was keeping everyone updated with her results and success. After keeping up with her for some time, I was really enjoying what I was hearing. It all sounds much better when someone you know and trust tells you it really is great. And thats all it took for me to get the guts to jump in and follow what everyone else has been getting excited and raving about.

Ive created this blog so I could help out and be an inspiration and a motivator for all of you out there, wherever you are, who also want to lose weight or just live a healthier lifestyle. I want to share my results and success with bodybyvi and why I wanted to join as a promoter and help others reach there goals of losing weight or just getting healthier. I know how tough it is to struggle with weight and to feel self conscious of your body, as well as many of you do, and its important to me to help others not to feel the same way. There are solutions to these feelings and its great to get motivation to overcome them.

It was only a week ago that I got my big box of bodybyvi product delivered to me. After hearing so much about it from Jody, my high school teacher and now bodybyvi team leader, I was so excited! It felt like christmas and I ripped into the box and pulled everything out to check it all out. I dont even think I waited 15 minutes to try my first shake. I kept hearing ppl say "Its the shake mix that tastes like cake mix" and wow, does it ever! As soon as i opened the bag and got a whiff of the mix, the first thing I thought of was "It smells like cake mix!".  For my first shake I decided to use almond milk, because it has way fewer calories then 1% milk. I also added a banana and some strawberries and some ice. Oh and the shake mix, cant forget that! Lol. I took my first sip and it was like heaven. I literally look forward to my 2 shakes a day. No other protien shake I have ever tried has ever tasted this good and been so effective. I would still be hungry with the walmart brand names and other types and didnt feel any results. They always just ended up in the garbage just like the money I had spent on them. But with the bodybyvi shakes, I can say in all honesty that I am sooo happy I decided to cave in and try it. I no longer crave bad foods, junk food, fast food. I feel so satisfied! The weight isnt coming off as fast for me as it is with others, mainly become I am focusing on just my diet right now. I havent been exercising like I should be mostly because I have a very active job so I get my caleries burned there. I can feel some results in the one week that I have been on The Challenge though and am very motivated to keep up with the good work and plan on starting a work out regimen so I see better results. By the way, summer is just about here.

Well that is all ive got for today. I hope you enjoyed my first ever blog post and I am looking forward to sharing my experience with you and hoping to help get you motivated in helping yourself lead a healthier lifestyle and lose weight or tone up, whatever it is that your looking for. Have a good one and enjoy your day! We only live once!

Mardell