Lets Lead Together

 

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I started my weight loss journey as a lone ranger. I’m not the type of person to ask for help, and I’m working on that. After a year of steady weight loss, I plateaued and became frustrated.

Fortunately, I found Venus Index and was able to understand true fat and weight loss principles geared for women, adapt them into my life, and change my lifestyle.

Along with the lifestyle change came a lot of things, positive and negative changes, but a happier healthier me.

The most important thing I came to understand was a newfound responsibility to help, as I know how hard it is to ask.

People came to me with questions, wanting and needing help and advice on how to conquer their own weight loss battles, and I began to grasp the privilege I had earned; to help and give back all that I had gained.

Where do you start?

My journey, lead me to the expansive fitness industry that is no longer just within a gym’s walls. You can find health and fitness information everywhere, but without a basic understanding of where to start it is overwhelming, contradicting, and confusing.

There are a million products, programs, gimmicks, work-from-home fitness companies, eating styles, eating plans, personal trainers, supplements, equipment, apparel and on, and on, and on.

So where do you start?

The basic principles in which we are taught through Venus Index, excess intake will lead to excess fat. Period. Monitor and balance your intake and outputs. Have a deficit to your surplus and you will lose the excess.

 

What about the food and the middle ground?

Since really delving into the industry over the   last few months, I see a lot of people who say they want to helpIMG_0994 others which is an amazing thing, but what I really see are pretty pictures and motivational quotes, offers for quick fixes, gimmick products, crash diets, and money pits.

The ones that bother me the most are the fitness models eating a vat of ice cream, or a dozen doughnuts, with quotes, “I promote eating” or “I love junk food.” I see these images and wonder what am I doing wrong?

I work HARD and I can’t eat junk everyday. If I did I’d be bloated, feel terrible, gain weight, and lose all my hard work.

Don’t get me wrong, I love ice cream and I have said on multiple occasions that I don’t eliminate things from my diet that I love.

However, what I DO say that they DON’T is that I budget for that ice cream. I plan for it. I allow for it.

There is no way I could maintain my results eating ice cream alone. There is no way I would be anywhere near healthy eating ice cream alone.

To me, these images imply “look at me, I’m so awesome that I can eat whatever I want and still be smoking hot” and they just continue to taint the industry, confuse and impede consumers.

It continues to turn away people who are interested in being healthy and fit; leaving them feeling as if they have done something wrong that they too, can’t eat ice cream every day and rock Miss Olympia.

Then we have the other extreme, the epidemic of obesity that is plaguing a generation of instant gratification with a sense of entitlement. A generation that doesn’t know how to engage will power, self-determination, self-control, and drive to make choices to change their lives.

I know, because I lived it. I was too self-involved “enjoying” my 20s and engaging in ridiculous unhealthy behaviors ignoring responsibilities, not only to myself, but also to my future.

There were many times I consumed more calories in junk food and alcohol than in any sort of nutrition and wondered why I was over weight. Then I decided I’d join the movement of acceptance and just be “fat and happy” except I WASN’T happy.

Finding the middle ground between “fat and happy” and “I’m so awesome I can eat all the things and still be smoking hot” has been hard.

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Let’s lead together

This lifestyle is doable, this lifestyle is maintainable, but it isn’t without sacrifice. It isn’t without self-control, self-discipline, determination, and drive.

You have to want to be better.

You have to want to change.

Once you make that determination find the will power to keep going.

Turn to like-minded people, turn to people who want to not only encourage you, but also engage in your success.

Thankfully, there are people who do truly want to and do help, often for free.

Let us help you, and then pay it forward.

Lets change this industry.

Lets impact society.

Let us regain ideals of health and fitness.

Lets promote life long habits that will allow our children to grow in the world we envisioned for them.

Lets show them how to take ownership, how to cook, how to work, how to use their body, and minds for good.

Lets do this together and promote a world of moderation with an ethic for hard work and success, not just acceptance.

Lets BE healthy and fit.

Lets BE the example in which we want them to follow.

Lets lead together

– Erin

Three Venus ladies TAKE IT TO THE STREET!

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One of our latest contest winners, Helen, travelled from Africa to visit us in California.

Helen lives in Africa but is here visiting family.  Pam lives in California near me, so we all got together at Pam’s house for a workout, good food, and some Venus chatting around the table.

We made a little video of the visit and wanted to share our struggles and victories with others.

 

We all had to change our habits

Each of us lost a lot of weight, Venus confirmed what we had been learning and took us to that upper bar we all searched for to be our own best.

Even though we are different heights and body types, we all struggle.

We all have stress.

We all wear different hats.

We all swim against the tide of too much food.

We all have to remind ourselves we need the awareness of food intake in order to stay healthy in modern society.

At first it feels sort of like too much work, but then you get in a groove.

Many habits feel like too much at first.

So give yourself TIME.

Riding a bike for the first time when we were young felt like it was too hard.

We fell and scraped our knees and got bruises.

But we got back up and pushed through.

Over time we got our balance and now we can just hop on and do it.  Even when it’s been years since we’ve been on a bike.  The muscle memory comes right back.

Well it’s the same thing with eating habits.

We all have to learn new ways to deal with stress.  It does not have to be about food.

 

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Oh we had such a blast working out together!

What if you don’t like to workout?

Working out is a great way to relieve stress.  Even those who never enjoyed workouts all their lives eventually find a way to see the value.

Changing your health with a workout, especially resistance training, is very empowering.  You end up moving with agility and a bounce in your step in all aspects of your life.

The combination of learning to ditch the excess unhealthy fat and building a powerhouse body for all you do in your life is an amazing way to build success in all areas of your life.

It changes your life in ways you would never have dreamed of.

The workouts themselves produce endorphin’s in your body and make you FEEL GOOD.

Luckily Pam’s neighbors didn’t mind us playing our music and flipping tires and running screaming with fire hoses;  They got a good chuckle out of it.

What about the food?

We all swim against the tide of too much food.  We just lost our awareness that it is too much intake that makes us store unhealthy fat.

Most of us can eat more than we need.  We are designed to eat when food is available.

Well, it’s always available.

So we simply have to learn to say no sometimes.

 

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Sometimes having new recipes helps.  It helps to have lower calorie foods with high protein for balancing out the high calorie higher fat/carb days.

It is all about balance.

Pam made Helen and I the protein custard recipe I came up with last year.  She added a peanut butter frosting.  Everything is better with frosting!

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Pam also made a spinach dip.  She sauteed raw spinach with coconut oil and added goat cheese and blended artichoke hearts.

We ate the dip with gluten free crackers because both Pam and Helen have Celiac disease.

I counted out 16 chips because even gluten free carbs can add up really fast.

We all learn that too much HEALTHY food is still too much food and can make you store extra fat.

Most of us will want MORE food.

We have to remind ourselves that we can have more next time!

We put together a fun homegrown video showing our workout and chatting about our struggles at the table.

We hope you enjoy it.

We realize not all everyone has time to watch a 12 minute video of us goofing off, so we also created an audio podcast of us sharing our struggles and giggling around the table.

Have a beautiful Friday and a great weekend!

It is full of opportunity to for healthy choices and changing habits!

 

Never Settle

Never Give Up

Live Your Dream

-Coach Roberta

You can SAVE the DAY at any moment.

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Ever get that “Rebellious” mindset with food?

Those days where you feel it’s just not fair!

It seems like for the moment you just don’t care. You are going to have whatever it is.  And you are going to have as much as you want!  Darn it.  You DESERVE it!

Dieting is just getting old!

But then you feel horrible afterwards.

And it does kinda set you back a bit from your weight loss goals.

We all have that happen.

You can feel doomed by the choices.  So why try anymore the rest of the day?  You might as well go ALL IN and just keep on that path the rest of the day and start anew tomorrow.

But that is not true!

You can decide to SAVE the DAY at any point.

Yes, you really can.

You are NOT DOOMED by it.

Every day does not have to be the same.

There are some days where I have had that happen too.  And I’ve learned that if I want I can actually SAVE the DAY.

Whatever I ate, even though it wasn’t part of “the plan”, left me feeling full.   I got to have whatever it was that I might have been depriving myself of.

So why not just prolong the time until next meal?  Most likely I can go all the way to bedtime not needing anything.

I can be kind to myself and drink lots of water and herbal tea, and maybe some broth.

I can decide not to beat myself up about it.

I can decide that it’s okay to be human.

But I don’t have to wait until tomorrow to fix it.

I can do it right now, this very minute.

Sometimes you do great the rest of the day with the liquids, and then you really need to have something right before bedtime and that’s okay too.

Hunger has these ebbs and flows.  It’s pretty complicated and has a lot to do with your stress, PH, intestinal flora, hormones, health, diet, and it’s all interconnected inside your body.

Just let it roll and do your best.

We just had September 11th come and go. That’s a big deal in the United States of America.  So many of us wish we could have saved the day.  But we can’t.  We can only remember.

But YOU have the chance to save the day in your own life.

It’s your choice.

Whenever you want.

Remember that going into this weekend.

That you CAN save the day!

You are never doomed by your choices.

Never Settle

Never Give Up

Live Your Dream.

-Coach Roberta

Are you the only one who can’t stop at one bowl of chips?

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After last weekend did you feel you were the only one who could not stop at the bowl of chips?

Or maybe it was some other snack food?

You had to have more!

You are not alone.

I’ve had several desperate messages from people who said they “blew it” completely on their diet last weekend.

Usually it was on packaged foods, chips, cookies, snacks, or what they called “junk food”.

They didn’t know what went wrong and they couldn’t stop.

THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU.

Have you not heard of the Bliss Point (food)?

Look it up on the internet.

“The bliss point for salt, sugar, or fat is a range within which perception is that there is neither too much nor too little, but the “just right” amount of saltiness, sweetness, or richness. The human body has evolved to favor foods delivering these tastes: the brain responds with a “reward” in the form of a jolt of endorphins, remembers what we did to get that reward, and makes us want to do it again, an effect run by the neurotransmitter, dopamine. Combinations of sugar, fat, and salt act synergistically, and are more rewarding than any one alone. In food product optimization, the goal is to include two or three of these nutrients at their bliss point.”

What makes you think you are not human?

What makes you think you override the brain from doing what it is designed to do?

Me, I choose to avoid the engineered foods entirely. None of us has willpower against it.

Seriously. Holiday weekends have their own built in emotional soup of stress with family, travel, lack of sleep, noise, and all kinds of things that already wear off what willpower you might have had.

Then add in foods that are SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED to defeat any ounce of willpower that might have been left.

You did not fail. But you did what the “designers” wanted you to do. And those companies would like you to keep buying that crap. That’s how they make their money.

No judgement. But it’s something to keep on mind as you make those little choices every day.

Some of us decide that we want some areas in our lives where we are not bombarded with engineered foods.

We can decide not to have them in the house.

We can still OWN what we put into our body.  We just might have to change our environment and make it one for success.

We all continue to evolve with diet as we try new things, and we roll with the seasons.

The main thing to remember is that there is certainly nothing wrong with you.

Go into this weekend knowing that.

And go into the weekend claiming your own victory.

Never give up
Never settle
Live your dream

-Coach Roberta

 

Pam learned you can’t outrun too much food!

 

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Like so many of us Pam used to be a long distance runner.  There is nothing wrong with distance running, but it may not be the best strategy for fat loss like most of us thought.

The excess endurance workouts make us fatigued, drive some of our needed hormones down, thus makes us extra hungry and then we overcompensate with extra food.  This hinders fat loss.

Pam has always loved working out, but when she switched her focus to resistance training and diet she found success.

 

Pam LAF gym

Pam has always loved working out! The right workouts and diet helped her succeed at what she loves most.

 

Pam was one of our Venus Transformation contest winners.  Here is her story in her own words:

Here I am a personal trainer who is supposed to be helping my clients get fit and I was not fit and a bit fat! I complained to my husband a lot about how horrible I felt. I just really didn’t know what to do and was feeling very low. I was at a high weight for me 159.8 and pulling my hair out.

Then I remembered Venus.

I had purchased ESE a while back and read it and it all made sense but it just wasn’t the right time in my life to implement it. I had listened to Venus podcasts before and thought the whole concept was nuts! I mean, I am a fitness professional- eating below 1000 calories and skipping meals is horrible for your metabolism!

Yes, I fell into so many of the fitness fallacies, it’s not even funny. I got every fitness magazine, email from too many health experts, books by the loads of people in the health field- I thought I knew it all. Well, obviously I didn’t.

So, I bought Venus in August and jumped in with both feet. The time was right for me and I needed to make a change. I kept the first month under wraps. I didn’t want to tell my husband and then have it not work. I remember finally telling him and being amazed at the results and happy to have finally found out what works for me.I feel like I have an advantage over a lot of the other girls in Venus. I have a lot of exercise experience, was familiar with all of the exercises, thrived on the weight workouts and have a bench and weights in my backyard so it was super easy to fit into my day.

Reading the blogs from newbies who haven’t really exercised or aren’t able to do more than a couple workouts a week made me feel like I was so far ahead of the game! And not only do I love working out, I really love the Venus workouts. I love how it’s hard work but not so crazy hard it leaves you wiped for the rest of the day. I was working for a women’s boot-camp style gym for the prior 3 years where we did a lot of box jumps, burpees, jump lunges etc and it was super fun but really exhausting.

 

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I never felt like that after a Venus workout. In fact my body felt so great that I lifted almost every day of the last 2 months. And felt better and stronger every single day. 1-2 times a week I even got in double days. My body has always thrived on movement and the Venus workouts really have made a huge difference in my world.

There are so many things I have learned along the way these last 12 weeks.  I was a holier than thou, super judgmental, food snob who needed to relax, stop reading everything regarding health and fitness and just make it happen. Venus put me on the right path. The one I’ve wanted now for so, so long. I finally feel like I’ve got the magic ticket to life long health and fitness. There were a few stumble forwards along the way just like I had heard on so many of the podcasts. But that is life- it’s never just all smooth sailing.

 

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On a final note, I cannot really believe how this year has turned out for me. The beginning was so horrible. Death, illness, depression, injury- I was just a huge mess. To have turned almost all aspects around and be in the best shape of my life at 47 is thrilling! Not only did I go through with it, I rocked it and had a hell of a time along the way.

Thank you for this amazing program.
The community is amazing.
The program is phenomenal.
It is life changing.

Pam

 

 

Pam is on the left and still enjoys the Venus Lifestyle.

Pam is on the left and still enjoys the Venus Lifestyle.

 

Pam still loves working out even more than ever now.  She enjoys summer vacations and time with her family.  We all have seasons of the year and seasons of our life.  We fluctuate a little as our bodies have these ebbs and flows and seasons.  But that is life.  Because of Venus we know what to do if we want to “work a little off”.   Sometimes we might get a little “off peak” after summer vacations, but it’s no big deal.  We slowly and patiently bring it back, and we KNOW it’s never the end of the world when we take the time to enjoy life a little.

 

Shampy Sherman-Boughner (the dog), and me with Pam couple of days ago when we recorded today's podcast.

Me and “Shampy Sherman” and Pam a couple days ago when we recorded today’s podcast.

 

You can find Pam active in our online community as an Ambassador, you can read her blog in there, and you can see her in a video interview.

 

Here’s the audio podcast where you can hear Pam tell her story:

Count each victory. Attitude is everything.

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We’ve all heard the saying “Attitude is Everything”.

It’s true.

95% of the fitness and fat loss game is staying in the positive.

We all make mistakes and we are always learning.

Some of you started the contest, some not.

But the process is still the same.

For LIFE.

We all have to continuously muster up the positive attitudes.

As you succeed others around you will have a hard time with the changes.

So you learn to tune out those others who try to bring you down.

You spend your days counting the victories.

I’ve had several today already.

They don’t all have to be announced.

Some can be private victories that you only share with your closest friends.

But what counts is the focus on the victory.

Whatever it is.

Count them every day.

And you count the day a victory.

We focus on each day as a victory, and we decide to ride it to the next.

Continuously.

And you too, will achieve your goal.

Believe it.

Know it.

Do it.

So as you go into this next weekend, for some of us this is the hardest part of the week to stay on track.

You are never doomed by previous choices.

Even for today.

You can DECIDE to SAVE THE DAY at any point.

KNOW, that you can do it.

It’s all about choices.

You can DECIDE.

To make it a victory.

You really can.

So have a great weekend!

 

Never Give Up

Never Settle

Live your Dream

-Coach Roberta

What’s in your HEART?

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Venus is in my HEART

This grape, Sangiovese, is the heart of Chianti wines which are Randy’s favorite.

I spent a day last weekend on my feet, pouring wine and serving people at a very classy winery (Naggiar). I bought the bottle after my shift to share with Randy while we sit and watch a beautiful sunset in our backyard sometime soon.

It will be a learning experience for me to read about the wine, the grapes, and take in the experience to help me help others learn about the wines at this beautiful vineyard and winery.

I love the place because it’s family run and everyone works together as a team. No one is better than another, we all just jump in and do what needs to be done. I love that.

I wasn’t even looking for a new job.  I went to my Venus friend Kerry‘s birthday party and while chatting with the employees there it came up that they needed someone with a flexible weekend schedule to help out.  All my friends there said I would be a perfect fit.  So it just happened like that.

They grow the grapes right there, and make the wine right there.  Everything is family owned and operated and I am now considered part of the family.  It feels good.

Next week they will start hand picking the grapes at night when it’s cool, they start with the white grapes.  I shall get to see the whole process and help with the bottling for a day if I want.  I think I just might roll up my sleeves and do it!

 

What was it about the successful people there?

Hard work and variety is the spice of life and the fountain of youth; I’m more convinced than ever as I spoke with many people sipping wine that day.

Many were successful retired people, living up life to the fullest. One thing they all had in common was the ability to face adversity and not let it stop them from enjoying life, being happy, and learning to not take themselves too seriously.

They all had passion. They all had things that they were involved in that keep them occupied all day long. They don’t spend a lot of time being idle. There is no such thing as the word “boring” because they MAKE IT HAPPEN.

They were all kind and respectful to others. The customers and the staff alike. This is another key to success. They didn’t spend time gossiping about others. There is not enough time to waste on that.

By making it happen, they are able to take time to enjoy their friends sipping wine and learning about wine pairings on the weekend.

They also did not have problems with being over weight.  They ate slowly and savored their food and sipped their wine.  They were active and healthy people, even those into their 80’s.

 

The day I interviewed for the vineyard tasting room job, they hired me on the spot!  It made me feel good so I enjoyed the moment.

The day I interviewed for the vineyard tasting room job, they hired me on the spot! It made me feel good so I enjoyed the moment.

 

 

Focus on the positive and trim out the negative

Life is too short to focus on the negative.  Life is too short to spend time with gossip about others or even listen to gossip about others.

Life is too short to spend time with anyone who is mean or negative or drags you down in any way.

We all have some adversity.  But we choose to find a way through it.

DECIDE to face adversity and kick it in the teeth.

Think of at least one positive thing, and especially think of one person who you can help. There is always someone and it helps give you purpose.

 

Continue to attack the process, the results come later

Focus on your passion, focus on the work and the nitty gritty.

The results always come later, so focus on the process instead. That’s where the real magic happens.

The time is now.

I picked a new passion to add to my list, learning about wines at this beautiful place with these beautiful people, because LIFE IS SHORT and THE TIME IS NOW.

There is not good cell phone reception there, so it’s a great excuse to get off the electronic devices and focus on people in person, face to face, while pursuing many of my personal goals and passion at the same time.

See this is how Venus changed my life. I did not have the confidence until I changed my physique to what I wanted.  Sure, when a person is over weight the same talent existed inside.  But part of what makes me who I am now is the ability to move with agility in all that I do.   It is not just vanity;  it is health, vibrancy, walking with a spring in my step and a sparkle in my eye. I can also easily carry a case of the wine to the customers car for then and turn heads while I’m at it.  It’s something to be proud of.

And yes, I can still turn some heads and it’s heck yeah FUN!  That will never get old.  I love having an excuse to dress up and work at the same time.

This is how we do it.

Venus is truly in my HEART

Never give up
Never settle
Live your dream
-Coach Roberta Our staff because it the end at all. Also, our custom writing styles, and protection of our service provides full confidentiality and understanding of your assignment immediately! We hire them. During the best! Our staff because it on your professor indifferent. WE GIVE 100% GUARANTEE If you can buy papers online; our . http://paperell.com/ We do it on your assignment. Our writers must pass through a Master’s or high level under any matter of writing service offers various types of scientific art that we will start working on the most demanding teachers! Attention, this to write a good price. Many students had already faced .

Your body is NOT the garbage can!

The Venus way is to treat our body with love.

The Venus way is to treat your body with love.

 

Your body is NOT the garbage can!

This is one of the things I had to learn on this journey.

I grew up with the influence of people who lived through the depression.

No waste.

Clean your plate.

But I had to learn that MY BODY IS NOT THE GARBAGE CAN!

On many levels.

Not just quality of food,

But the AMOUNT of food.

The Venus nutrition calculator will give you the RANGE you need to learn the correct amount of food for a sustained calorie deficit.

Then after you reach your goal, you can use the upper end of the range to learn how to maintain.

It’s still a learning process.

And I’ve learned to purchase smaller amounts of food so that I don’t waste, and yet I don’t EAT TOO MUCH.

Whether you want to face it or not, it’s too much food that makes us gain fat.

End of story.

I was at the peak of obesity eating 100% organic fanatic to the extreme, thinking I could “health” my way into losing the fat.

Sure, “clean” is best. And you will perform best with that.

On top of that though, the right amount is the key to controlling body fat level.

For years I got mad at my husband Randy because he would go all day outside working without eating. He said he wasn’t hungry and was happy to just eat a healthy dinner at night.

I thought it was hurting him.

He also always stops eating when he’s had enough and didn’t finish his plate, so I got mad then too.

But guess what?

He never gained the excess fat like I did.

Now I get it.

So, if he’s done and I end up scraping his plate into the garbage can I say “I’d better plan the right amount next time. I’m glad you didn’t eat this because YOUR BODY IS NOT THE GARBAGE CAN – scrape scrape scrape – THIS is the garbage can!”

So I’m better at planning.

Because I STILL don’t like to waste.

I plan it better now.

I can’t stand wasting precious food.

But because of Venus I’ll still be on track because I’m AWARE of amounts.

What about you?

What are the lessons you are learning?

Let’s hear it.

We love the good stories and lessons learned.

-Coach Roberta

Hold the rope! The final countdown to VT14

Hold the rope for the final countdown to VT14!

Hold the rope for the final countdown to VT14!

 

Don’t let go of the rope now!

Contest photo and data submissions for VT14 will be due no later than Monday August 3rd at midnight Eastern Standard Time.

For some motivation here are some beautiful pictures of previous Venus contest winners:

 

Deanne!

Deanne!

Learn about Deanne’s winning strategy; She kept it Simple.

 

Malissa!

Malissa!

Learn what Malissa did even working night shift.

 

Michelle!

Michelle!

Learn what kept Michelle motivated and committed.

 

Several times a year we have transformation contests in which 10 winners are recognized for their achievement in staying committed to their fitness goals.

All these contestants have one thing in common. No matter how tough it became throughout their transformation, they did one thing — they held the rope! What is “holding the rope?” Imagine that you are hanging on a rope like I did here a few days ago. There was only thing between myself and a fall to the floor, and that was hanging on!

For you hanging on is the Venus program. For many that includes our online community, our Venus Facebook group and friend connections there, as well as friendships with other Venus ladies on myfitnesspal and Instagram.

When the going gets tough, you can rest assured that friends are there to help you. Whether it is clarification with nutrition or a mental stumbling block, or encouragement, motivation, or Venus One on One Coaching. Rest assured, all you have to do is “Hold The Rope!”

The person that holds the rope when the going gets tough is a winner. When you’ve had a long day at work and choose to go to the gym afterwards that is a “winning” decision. If you are frustrated and have lost the willpower to track your calories come and visit with some friends in the various place in the online community where other successful Venus women hang out.

In a matter of speaking, they will tell you they have been where you are, just “hold the rope — let it burn but don’t let go!”

Win or lose, remember that your transformation is a personal achievement and you should be very proud of your accomplishment. Personally for me I know it is the Venus golden lifestyle that enabled me to climb up that rope for real, and never let go.

 

 

The Venus workouts are very empowering. You will learn you can eventually do things you never dreamed of. Just the other day I was at the gym doing my standard cardio when I saw a kid climbing this rope. I’ve never done it before so I thought I’d give it a shot. See there, at 54.5 years old Venus made me strong enough to do it!

Believe me, I was very scared at the top!  My heart was racing from the effort and I was shocked when I looked down and realized I can’t let go!  It took all of my focus to hang on until I got back down.

As for preparation for photos, there are many ways to do this. For the most part the work has already been done during the last 11 weeks. You can do some final last week “prep” but it not required to do anything special.

So hold onto that rope for life!

-Coach Roberta

PS if you have any trouble with submitting pictures or data you can email me:  roberta.saum@gmail.com

Ten days left to go in the Venus Transformation Contest VT14

With the deadline quickly approaching we thought you could use a little more motivation for the final stretch.

So here’s another tale of a successful and powerful Venus who started the program this year.

I first met Jonda in person on March 6 of this year.

I first met Jonda in person on March 6 of this year at the Firehouse in Old Sacramento

 

You have to be READY to make a change.

Jonda is a successful business woman with a busy career.  She had purchased the Venus program a while back but found she was not quite ready to start.  She had a number of health issues to sort out, so she found me and we connected on Facebook.

She lives on the East Coast in the USA and happened to be visiting a business partner in California where I live.  She contacted me on March 6th and we decided to meet for dinner.  It was a wonderful and elegant meeting at the Firehouse restaurant in Old Sacramento.  We talked about Venus and various diet strategies, but mostly just had a beautiful time with her business partner Julia.

What happened when Jonda was finally READY?

Jonda came back to California and "Kidnapped" me for an overnight Venus meeting.

Jonda came back to California and “Kidnapped” me for an overnight Venus meeting.

On April 20th Jonda Lowe came to California and “kidnapped” me for a Venus slumber party.

I reluctantly took a break from my normal busy life and allowed her and her business partner Julia to love on me and pray for me during the overnight capture.

 

We went for a nice long walk in the hills where the cows wandered nearby.

We went for a nice long walk in the hills where the cows wandered nearby.

 

During the visit we made my beloved homemade popcorn cooked in coconut oil and went for long walks in the hills where cows wander freely.

Jonda peppered me with questions over dinner, of which I of course did not mind.

It’s my passion. It’s what I write about every day.

She is vegetarian because of health needs and thus needed some help figuring out the holes in her diet in order to achieve her goals.

With the Venus workout and principles, along with supplements to fill the holes in her diet, we came up with a plan.

Jonda is one of those who really took it to heart and applied it. She is driven. She has passion. She has fire.

Not only that, she is genuine, loving, kind, and highly ethical and professional.  She is female POWER through and through, as she forges her own destiny with the gifts God has given her.

She takes action with guidance.

And she learns from mistakes. Has she made a few mistakes since April 20th until today?

Absolutely, but she knows how to regroup and keep forging ahead.

 

Did the strategy work?

Well here’s the data..

 

Calories over time

Calories over time

 

Jonda's meal plan on July 18th.

Jonda’s meal plan on July 18th.

 

Here’s what she says in her own words:

Messing around with the reports section on MFP. My only regret Roberta is that I didn’t take the 1000 cal with 100g of protein daily regimen more seriously at the beginning of my transformation. I convinced myself that the extra 150-200 cal/day wasn’t that big of a deal and what could an extra 20g of protein matter? Well I found out that cutting the 150-200 calories and adding in an extra 20+g of protein keeps me full and I am cruising toward my ideal Venus Index weight. I want to give a special shoutout to Will Grumke. When I first added the 1st Phorm’s Bliss Go Pack, I was getting hungry. Will encouraged me to eat closer to the 100g of protein per day to stay full. I’ll say it again, the Program works if you do!

 

But that’s just the diet side of the coin.

What about the workouts?

When we were together in April Jonda asked a lot of questions about the workouts and what her strategy should be for equipment. She decided to join a nearby gym.  Once she started there was no stopping.  She posted a lot of gym updates on her Facebook profile and posted questions on my timeline.  This kept her accountable and by posting the questions on my timeline others got the benefit of seeing the answers.  She inspired others the whole way.

 

Jonda at the gym on July 22 this past week!

Jonda at the gym on July 22 this past week!

 

Do you see how much she has changed since our walk in the hills with the cows in April?

She is amazing.  She is inspiring.  She is an example to all those around her.

She is going places. You might want to follow in her footsteps.

Pretty amazing what you can do when you:

Never give up
Never settle
Live your dream

 

What about the Venus Contest?

Clearly contest or no contest Jonda has already WON.

This is what Venus is all about.  Changing your life, Living your Dream.

But if you happen to be participating in the current Venus contest VT14, the deadline to submit your final pictures is August 3rd, 2015.  Make sure you get your final pictures in before then because the contest form closes at exactly midnight.

If you have any questions or problems entering your material into the contest contact me:  roberta.saum@gmail.com

Now, go WIN your LIFE BACK!

-Coach Roberta

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