Hold the rope! The final countdown to VT15

Hold the rope for the final countdown to VT15!

Hold the rope for the final countdown to VT15!

 

Don’t let go of the rope now!

Contest photo and data submissions for VT15 will be due no later than Monday November 23rd at midnight Eastern Time.

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

 

Vegetarian Venus

Jonda!

Jonda!

Learn how a Venus Vegetarian did it with Jonda.

 

You can do this in your 50’s!

Therese!

Therese!

Learn how Therese did this at age 5o against all odds!

 

You can keep on living the dream!

Pam, Helen, and Roberta

Pam, Helen, and Roberta

 

See how three Venus winners take it to the streets and keep on living the dream!

 

The success of the contest winners!

Pam and Roberta!

Pam and Roberta!

 

Learn the success secrets in the Tale of Two Venuses!

 

 The Venus Transformation contest!

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!

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 picking your own coach in the 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.

 

Get empowered!

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!

Never Settle!

Never Give Up!

Live Your Dream!

-Coach Roberta

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

How do you BUILD your own MOTIVATION?

Gold Run Sunset Sept 23 2015 FRAMED

Motivation happens when you STEP into it and then feed it.

You can’t feed your own momentum with negative thoughts.

And you can’t feed it with positive thoughts without ACTION first.

The other persons success that you might admire does not give it enough fuel.

You must create your own momentum.

By taking steps.

By taking action.

And the focus on your own process and your own momentum with those positive thoughts.

You have to have the end goal in sight, but even it is not enough.

You have to EMBRACE the process.

You have to BUILD the constant reminders in your mind, the mnemonics, of why you make those hard little choices throughout each day.

Make those choices your daily victories.

Make each day a victory in your mind then.

Have a string of daily victories.

And ride each victory to the next.

Constantly tuning out the negative from yourself and others.

What action will you take today?
What step will you take today?

To build your own motivation.

BOOM!

Never give up
Never settle
Live your dream

-Coach Roberta

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

As a Venus you learn to be the BEST YOU possible

Roberta the colors of fall FRAMED

The colors of fall!

I love all the seasons.

Some seasons of life are harder than others.

Just be yourself.

Whatever that is.

Sometimes it can be a disaster trying to copy someone else.

We all learn by trial and error.

We all have out own unique qualities.

None are necessarily better than the other.

Just different and unique.

And for each of us our time will come.

If we work hard and patiently wait our turn.

No need to tear others down when they succeed whilst you wait.

But others will misunderstand you as you progress and try things. And sometimes they are mean about it.

So just motor on anyway and you certainly don’t have to be a doormat for the mean people.

Just move on and bide your time.

Nice and polite and professional without being a doormat.

‘Cuz for each of us our time will come.

And in this world of so much fakary and back stabbing.

People crave realness and honesty.

So just be you.

The nice real version of YOU.

BOOM!

PS It’s been over a year since my Super Hero Photo shoot, and almost 4 years since the photo shoots for VT3 and VT4.  During that time I also have done magazine photo shoots at age 54 and a fitness competition at age 53. Some people will tell you you can’t maintain this year round.  That is not true. YOU can do it too!  If you need help, that’s what we are all here for.  Don’t let your fears and doubts stop you.

Have a beautiful weekend!

Go forth and know that you can SAVE THE DAY and every day is a glorious day to make good choices.

Never Settle.

Never Give Up.

Live Your Dream.

-Coach Roberta

Therese found she REALLY COULD LOSE WEIGHT in her 50’s!

Therese-BnA-

Therese finally found she could lose the weight. She had lost hope.  She really and truly believed it could not be done.

She found Venus and decided it would be her last ditch effort.

Sound familiar?

So many of us in mid life and even younger have felt hopeless.

But don’t believe that!

Yes, it requires some effort, but in the end we find it’s kind of simple in a way.  But we have to learn the process.

And we have to give ourselves a bit of time to learn.

But it doesn’t take long.

Soon we find our groove with it.

And we are a constant work in progress.

Because it truly is a lifestyle.

 

The shorts I am in I bought in the beginning of the summer. They fit perfectly, size 10. They are my smallest shorts as I don’t want to waste money on clothes I am going to be too small for to wear in the near future. Now, they are too big. The swim suits I am in I have had for 20 years and have not put them on for the last 15 years.

The shorts in the middle picture I bought in the beginning of the summer.
Now, they are too big. I now have swim suits that I have had for 20 years and have not put them on for the last 15 years!

 

 

Here’s what Therese wrote in her own words:

The Venus Factor Program has been life changing. It has not only changed my weight but my body shape and mental attitude. I am nearly 54 years old and thought I was stuck as a fat, tired, old person until I did the research that brought me to the Venus Factor Program.

I started this research in Jan. 2014 when I weighed 204 pounds. As I was spending the time to make the best choice possible I continued to work on my weight loss with the vast knowledge I had gained over the many years of using every diet I came across from fad, Weight Watchers, injections, specialty foods etc. only to become an expert on loosing and gaining weight.

Even having a degree in Family and Consumer Education with an emphasis in nutrition wasn’t enough. This time I needed to make it my last time so in June of 2014 I started with Venus Factor weighing 193 pounds.

I had only lost 10 pounds during the 6 months prior. This contest has only been a process in my journey.

Yes, and what a journey it has been! I have changed habits that I thought were impossible to change.

I no longer eat in the evening–a childhood habit that I have had all my life. I now exercise every week at least three times per week. I have not done this since high school–36 years ago–WOW.

I also believed I could not loose weight during the school year as being a school counselor is too stressful and has many evening obligations.

I have proved that wrong.

The pictures I have included really show my journey.

The shorts I am in I bought in the beginning of the summer. They fit perfectly, size 10. They are my smallest shorts as I don’t want to waste money on clothes I am going to be too small for to wear in the near future.

Now, they are too big. The swim suits I am in I have had for 20 years and have not put them on for the last 15 years.

The pictures showing my before Venus pictures and were I was during the journey before this contest show where I have come from and the direction I am going.

This contest is not the end but just one more step in my journey.

Today, I challenged my husband to who can get abs first–me or him. It is going to be me!!!

Since I have been doing the Venus Factor my husband has lost 30 pounds and two of my four children who are home for the summer have both lost weight.

The journey I am on has no finish line.

I will continue the weight loss with maintenance process until I reach my Venus Factor figure and then I will continue to strengthen my body and maintain the weight loss.

 

Here is Therese giving her very own video testimonial:

 

And I had the opportunity to interview Therese over skype: Игровые автоматы бесплатно и без дополнительной загрузки. Игровые автоматы абсолютно бесплатно и без регистрации, запустить их можно онлайн без регистрации, запустить их можно онлайн казино Вулкан на интерес каждому предоставлены на интерес каждому предоставлены на интерес каждому предоставлены на интерес каждому предоставлены на интерес каждому предоставлены на выбор виды бесплатных . игры онлайн бесплатно автоматы Выбираем сначала платформу автоматов, потом — сам аппарат. Вы можете попробовать игровые автоматы бесплатно абсолютно бесплатно абсолютно каждый посетитель нашего игрового зала, без регистрации и без регистрации, запустить их можно онлайн может себе это позволить, подобраны залы с наивысшими показателями всех важных параметров достойного азартного клуба. Игровые автоматы абсолютно каждый .

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.

 

Pam-Helen-Roberta-Workout-Collage

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.

 

FRAME-pumpkin custard with PB2 frosting

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!

FRAME-Pam's Spinach Dip

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

Helen takes the Venus program around the globe.

Helen took the community with her to Luanda and Angola in Africa.

Helen took the community with her to Luanda and Angola in Africa.

 

Helen is 49 years old and has struggled with her weight since her teens.

Sound familiar?

It seems like all the diets want to make you believe you can eat an unlimited amount of certain foods.

It feels like a mystery sometimes as to why the weight comes off.

And then you revert back to your “normal” foods and it all comes back.

So really there are no secret foods.  The secret is the AMOUNT of food; the correct energy balance for your own self.

That is what the Venus program teaches you.  How to find your own energy balance.

There is no one size fits all.  There is no magic formula.  But there are tools to help you find your own balance.

The transformation is just a small snapshot in time.  12 weeks is not very long.  But during that 12 weeks Helen started learning her balance.  She lost 13 pounds in 12 weeks, 2.3 inches in her waist, 3 inches in her shoulders, and 4 inches in her hips.

But more than that she gained confidence and finally showed the muscle tone she wanted.

 

Here is what Helen said about the 12 weeks in her own words:

 

I have struggled with my weight since my teens. I have always loved to work out, I was a runner, then did triathlons, but never looked like I did those things.

Then two years ago I had a total knee replacement and thought that I would bounce right back because I was athletic. I did recover functionally, though I do not have full extension in my right leg, but I can do quite a bit.

My weight has gone up and down since I can remember. It seems as if I was always trying something, vegetarian, Paleo, and all. I wanted something that basically told me I could eat an unlimited amount of food. I would lose some weight, but I tried not to get on the scale because it really was a mental issue with me.

I live overseas in Luanda, Angola in Africa and the food choices are very different from what is in the states. I do bring some things back when we come home, but I needed a program that did not rely on special meals. Being gluten free in a third world country is tough enough, but not being able to find other food was frustrating as well.

Also being a doctoral student , a stay at home mom, online instructor, and homeschooling my youngest son makes life a bit hectic as well, but working out has always been “my time”.

I found Venus while on the internet, downloading one more “thing” that would be a quick fix. I downloaded it, but just the basic program, I wanted to start with just that. I had started and stopped so many different things, and each time I switched, it was a day to “start anew” and give myself one more day of thinking I could eat what I wanted. I had started another 12 week program, but the food suggestions were impossible to acquire in Africa. I read the Venus program and thought this makes sense, you can eat what you want, you just have to account for it.

I kept thinking of all the people I knew who were thin, they didn’t eat like I did, they ate less. It just made sense. You have to eat less, and the only way you are going to do that is to track what you are putting in your mouth. I decided to start the 12 week protocol, and never thought about the contest.

Then the miracle of the Venus community happened, and all these amazing ladies, some who had already achieved amazing results, some who had quite a way to go, and some that were just like me, needing to lose, but not far from Venus numbers. I loved listening to their advice, their triumphs, their questions, and respected their challenges. It took me awhile to start blogging.

I kept thinking who is gonna want to hear my issues, I am a nurse, and it has always been my job to take care of others. But you start and you feel this connection and it’s a really great feeling. There was a group of ladies that were going to commit to the contest, and I thought why not.

I am committed to the program no matter what, so let’s see what I can do in 12 weeks. It is interesting because the timing comes right as we travel back to the US and usually I start focusing on all those foods that you haven’t had for 6 months.

This time I said to myself, you can have that food, but every bite that goes in your mouth will be tracked. I had a serious “coming to Jesus” moment realizing all the calories in some of the foods I thought I was so “good” in eating. I still decided to see it through, and there were days that I was not perfect, but I wouldn’t give up.

To me being a Venus means the process is a journey of learning and Venus fits in my lifestyle. Just as it was said in the beginning, the program is simple, but not always easy, but neither is life, and I feel such a connection to so many ladies on the forum, that my greatest hope is that one day I can meet them.

I will continue on this journey, and I am not where I want to be, but I much better than where I started.

Thank you everyone at Venus.

Helen

 

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Helen found the online community to be a huge part of her success. She made friends. With her travels around the world she was able to take her friends with her where ever she went.  She found a very nice group of ladies who listened and answered her questions and supported her.  And now she helps others.  Because that’s what we do at Venus.  We learn and we pay it forward.  But we also all still need the support of our friends and it’s an awesome thing.  That’s how friendships work isn’t it?

 

You can find Helen in the online community and read her blog there, and you can listen to her tell her story in our audio podcast:

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

Venus Taught Julie Health after a Lifetime of Struggle

JulieFrontBeforeandAfter

Julie placed in our recent VT14 Venus Transformation Contest.

She did a phenomenal job and her results display the hard work she put in. Her transformation stretches out further than this 12 week period though, she has lost over 70 lbs using Venus in the past 15 months!

Julie before Venus and after, unbelievable!

Julie at one of her heaviest weights before Venus and after, unbelievable!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JulieSideBeforeandAfter

 

 

 

 

 

Here is what Julie had to say in her own words

My name is Julie; I’m a 35 year old wife and mother of 2. My whole life has always been about food, size, weight and all those terrible things that get stuck in your head when that is all you hear all the time. I remember my mother always on some kind of diet or trying the new diet pills. I started to be concerned my weight starting around 12 years old. I remember my sister telling me to “suck it in” when others were around or to cover up my big booty. I ended up with eating disorders and low self-esteem by the age of 15. By 16 I was a full time binge and purger and when I could control it all I would turn anorexic until I had to eat or someone said something, then it was back to binging and purging. It is still a constant reminder in the back of my head how easily all this could end up right back there where it all began and hurt the worst. I struggled with this even after I had my first child. Not long after my second child I needed a hysterectomy and most of my hormones were taken. I gained so much more weight and I could not control it. For the past 7 years I have just tripled in size. I looked in the mirror and I did not even know who I was anymore. I decided to do something about it. I have been a member of the local YMCA for years and have never utilized it before, only the kids have. So my friend and I started out with a HITT class and step aerobics and even some kick boxing 4 days a week and was trying for 5 days a week when I noticed my scrubs pants were getting even more tighter, I then decided to weigh myself…I had gained 15 more pounds, 223 lbs. was hard to carry around. I just cried and cried, I was doing so much, my body was so sore and now my self-esteem was totally gone once again. I just wanted to eat and eat, but I didn’t. I spoke with another lady about my struggle and she suggested lifting more weight and keeping my heart rate down to burn the fat. She suggested Venus! I noticed our YMCA offered a class so I tried it. I noticed the class was at a crazy time, so I worked it out with my boss to be able to go to these classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The first week was very different in how my body felt after a good lifting workout rather than a cardio workout. I was just a sweaty, out of breath and sore as I was with a cardio class but the difference was I was not starving after class. I wanted to know more about Venus, so I got measured and weighed and I was entered in to a nutrition guide and received my calorie count and protein goals and my VI. This is where things started to change. In a weeks’ time from this I was losing and I could feel it. I was feeling amazing. After a couple of months one of the contests ended and one of the ladies in my class placed! It was so exciting to see her transformation. I decided to enter the next one. I entered that next contest to see what it was all about. I wanted the nutrition side as well as the exercise. So I took my first photos and cried and cried and entered the Venus contest. I could not believe I let myself get that heavy. I did 12 weeks of exactly what it said for me to do. Even when I was nearing the end of the contest I felt like had so much more energy I was able to start doing more active things with the family like going to the park or play basketball with my son. The contest came and went and I did not place…I still continued with my journey though. I worked out and ate my deficit calories when I should and my maintenance when I should and kept on with my habits of not over eating. The next contest came and went and I had plateaued for most of those 12 weeks. Again one of my co-workout buddies placed in the contest. I re-evaluated my nutrition and calories and why was I stuck? So I decided to try the contest again. I was stuck in a plateau for a while now so I was really trying to get even getting a pound off that would have given me hope. Then I thought, “I need to fast, this will be what my body needs for sure.” Sure enough I broke through the plateau and managed to start losing again. I did a few things different this time around. I worked out hard and if I did extra it was Venus exercises always. I also made sure I hit my protein goal and had a very fiber rich diet. My goal of course was to lose weight but to gain muscle definition. I did not want to be skinny where my bones stuck out and you can see my ribs, but to be strong and defined in my muscle contour. I want to look like I work out as hard as I do. I wanted people to ask me what I did to change. (They do!) I have learned so much from the last year of learning to life a healthy lifestyle and learning to love myself once again. I could not do anything more for my family than to be here in the present with them and able to participate in life with them. I have given myself a new future, a healthy future. A future I am excited to move forward in. I know that if I go back to my old lifestyle, I will be right back to that girl that is struggling with an eating disorder. This was not easy or everyone would be doing it. It is easier than being big and prettier than an eating disorder. Venus has given me the tools to succeed and has also given me a whole community of Venus ladies to swap stories with, get advice on nutrition or even advice on a modified move. I am so blessed to have found exactly what I needed for me, my body and my journey. This will always be the life style I choose to live. I hope my children grow and learn from all of this and never have to struggle with obesity. Thank you Venus, you saved my life.

Julie at one of her heaviest weights before finding Venus and after, WOW!

Julie at one of her heaviest weights before finding Venus and after, WOW!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JulieBackBeforeandAfter

 

 

 

 

 

 

Julie’s Metrics

Weight Height Waist Shoulders Hips
Before 170 lb 63.3 in 31.8 in 43.5 in 43 in
After 157 lb 63.3 in 29.2 in 40.3 in 41 in
Deltas -13 lb -0 in -2.5 in -3.2 in -2 in

 

Julie is a beautiful Venus!

Julie is a beautiful Venus!

 

Listen to Julie’s interview with Liss below, or download it for later:

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

FRAME Venus-article-food-tempation-iStock_000043502118_Large

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

 

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