How to stop craving sweets and junk food...easy! Drink this!

< This is what kept me from stuffing my face with those yummy St. Patrick's Day cupcakes that I made with the kids yesterday! They've been staring me down and this is the hardest time of day for me to keep from snacking on junk (between lunch and dinner), so instead I drank my chocolate Shakeology. I got in my daily vitamins, antioxidants, some fruit and veggies... fulfilled my chocolate craving and now I'm on an energy rush! I seriously love this stuff and what it does for me each day! I usually use it to replace breakfast, but today it came in handy just in time to hold me over until dinner (and save me from a tummy ache, which I know I would have had if I had given into those cupcakes!) 

RECIPE:

-1 scoop/packet of Chocolate Shakeology

- 2/3 cup Coconut Milk

-1/2 cup Milk

- 5 ice cubes

- 4-5 strawberries

- 4-5 frozen chunks of pineapple

BLEND and ENJOY!

So what I want to know now, is what are some of your favorite healthy snacks to hold you over during that gap between lunch and dinner?! Is that 2 or 3 o' clock time right around that time when you find yourself pretty exhausted? I'd love to hear some other people's suggestions and struggles with this!

The 40 Day Challenge -- Lent Edition!

So, as a Christian and Catholic, today is a significant day! Today is Ash Wednesday, which marks the first day or the start of Lent.  Lent is the 40 days (excluding Sundays) before Easter, where Christians prepare to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ through fasting, repentance, prayer and spiritual discipline. 

Not only are you supposed to give up meat on Fridays throughout these 40 days, but many people find something else in their life to "give up" for the next 40 days. Usually people choose something like drinking soda, eating sweets or cursing.  Kind of like a short-term new year's resolution...

Well, while quitting something is great and I totally encourage it, I wanted to give you guys another option for the next 40 days!  How about rather than quitting something, you do something positive for someone else or even yourself each day for the next 40 days!?  How about doing a random act of kindness for someone everyday and in return, maybe just asking them to do the same for someone else?  There are 2 ways you can use the chart that I made, below. 

Option #1: You can fill it out with 40 positive things that you want to complete over the course of the next 40 days and cross them off as you go (no particular order)

OR

Option #2: You can decide what it is you would like to do each day and write it down once you've completed that act of kindness for the day.  

If you'd like some ideas, here is a list of over 100 random acts of kindness that you could do for others! 

If you have some that you would like to add to the list, feel free to comment below and I can add it to my list!

And lastly, please feel free to share with everyone as you go through the next 40 days! Simply use hash-tag #LentFor40 to share on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter! Pass on this message, tag your friends and watch your small act of kindness touch others and spread the love!

FREE Online Shakeology Tasting Party!

What can SHAKEOLOGY do for you?

RSVP to get your FREE Sample to participate in the Online Shakeology Tasting Party! 
(while supplies last)

Pregnancy & Nursing with Shakeology -- is it safe?

*Want to try a sample for FREE? Fill out this form and email me at Crystal.Laiti@yahoo.com.

Since becoming a Beachbody Coach, especially since becoming pregnant again, I've had a lot of people ask me if it’s safe to drink Shakeology when they are pregnant or nursing.  And the answer is YES!!  *(although I always advise women to show the list of ingredients to your doctor first and get the clearance from them first)

I do take an extra 400mg of folic acid each day with my Shakeology (which only has 200mg of folic acid), since pregnant women do need between 600-800mg in their daily diet.

Personally, just drinking one shake a day throughout my pregnancy, has seriously helped out with a lot of the not-so-pleasant side effects of pregnancy, such as:

- Nausea

- Constipation (sorry TMI)

- lack of appetite

- it curbs my cravings when I want sweets or caffeine, which I
know isn't good for me or baby

- I have so much more energy this pregnancy (even though I'm also chasing 3 other little ones around)

- This is my first pregnancy drinking the Shakes AND my first pregnancy where I am NOT ANEMIC! (coincidence?)

- I'm right on track with my pregnancy weight gain so far

I also drank Shakeology while nursing my older daughter, and it seemed like it actually helped increase my milk supply as well as keep me energized and able to take in those extra needed calories in a healthy way each day!

I know I have a lot of fellow pregnant and nursing mommy friends on here, so just thought I would post this video so you can hear it straight from the creators of Shakeology themselves, in case you were interested in giving it a try.

I do have free samples that I can give to you to try, so feel free to send me an email if you have any personal questions about it or are interested in giving it a try.

Have you checked out the rest of my blog?

See how I lost the baby weight so fast!

I've shared some of my favorite healthy recipes too: Just click here for more of my favorite recipes, including stuffed portabella mushrooms, skinny crock pot enchilada soup and honey dijon and garlic salmon... just to name a few! ;)

xoxo,

Crystal

Find me here, also:

Facebook: Crystal Laiti: The Motivating Fit Mom

Instagram: @Motivating_Fitmom  and @Crystal_Chelle

Beachbody Coach: Want to join my Online Coach Apprenticeship or Bikini Body Bootcamp?

 

Work from Home Opportunity!

I'm looking for a few new people who want the opportunity to make some extra income from home, just by getting healthy, fit and paying it forward to help others achieve their own health and fitness goals along the way. It's awesome, because unlike most multi-level marketing opportunities, Beachbody doesn't require you to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars to stock up on your own inventory. 

Everything is directly shipped from them to your customer and they provide you with everything that you'll need to run your very own, successful business from home.  I will provide you with 1:1 mentoring and add you to our online coach basics training.  Everything can be done from your computer or phone and you will not only be changing your life along the way, but touching so many other lives as well!  

And did I mention, you're your own BOSS!? You work when you want. Whether it's early in the morning or late at night... when the kids are napping... it's totally up to you.  You have no one to answer to but yourself. Such an amazing feeling!  I have many people on my team who have been able to make enough money to quit their full time jobs and stay at home with their kids and make a career out of this.

So whether you have a passion for health, fitness or just a passion for helping other people, this could be an amazing, life-changing opportunity for you.  For more information on the coaching opportunity, be sure to check out my tab on Being a Coach or you can email me directly at crystal.Laiti@yahoo.com with any questions.

I've only got a limited number of available spots for our next coach training, so be sure to contact me as soon as possible if you're interested.  I look forward to hearing from you and can't wait to help you get your own business started! :)

~Crystal

Fill out Coach Application below and I will contact you with more details.

Gender Reveal!!! Is it a boy or a girl!!??

So the other night, I made this post on facebook about how my oldest son told me how he thought that the new baby would be a girl, because he had been praying to God everyday for another little sister:

How absolutely precious is that? I was so happy when I heard him say this... it even brought little tears to my eyes, but I was afraid of how he was going to feel if in fact, we went to our appointment later this week and found out that it was going to be a boy.  I know he would be excited either way, but he was so sure that it was going to be a girl.  There was absolutely no doubt about it, because he had been asking God everyday!  And I love that at the young age of 5, he has a relationship where he talks to God everyday.  To me, it has always been important to raise my family with faith and good morals.  I am so proud of my babies and grateful to have been blessed with such an amazing family.

So, anyways... today was the big day!!  We had our 20 week sonogram appointment to check up on baby #4 and make sure all is well and find out whether we will be adding another girl or another boy to the family. I want to start off by saying that baby looks perfectly healthy.  Organs are good, length and weight are right on track, heart rate is right around 138 and there was plenty of movement going on during the sonogram.  

Okay, so the the exciting news that you are all waiting to hear!! 

It's another GIRL!!!!  ... Pete's prayers were answered! :)

We are so excited to add another baby girl to the family.  I was kind of hoping for another girl, just so my daughter could have the experience of growing up with a sister.  I have 2 sisters and wouldn't trade it for the world!! It's definitely a bond like no other!! So the fact that all of my children will know what it's like to have a brother and a sister, is really neat to me! I never knew what it was like to have brothers, until my sister got married and I joined the Laiti family.  I now have 4 brother-in-laws, who I consider to be my brothers! 

Such an exciting day!!!!

~Crystal

  

Are You Living Your Dream or Just Going Through the Motions?

 

Are you one of those people whose just going through the motions everyday to get by in life? You go to work Monday through Friday so you can get a paycheck at the end of the week to pay your bills and then in the blink of an eye, your weekend is over and you're forced to do it all over again the next week? Well, unfortunately if you said yes, you're not alone! So many people today fall into this depressing cycle.

Now I want you to just take a second and think.  Think about how short this life really is.  Think about when this life is over... if you were to look back at your life and what you did with it... would you be satisfied?!  Would you look at it and say, WOW, I really enjoyed my life and did what I WANTED TO DO with MY LIFE!  Or would you look back at a broken record... the same miserable days at work... counting down the minutes until you could leave and come home to your family, only to be too exhausted to really do anything that you truly wanted to do once you got home?  What if I told you that you are the only one who can change this... and it is possible!

It makes me sad, because I know so many people who are stuck in this repetitive cycle of unhappiness.  They think it's too late to make dramatic changes in their life or that they can't afford to just up and quit their miserable job because they need the money... but the truth is, you can change anything and everything about your life that doesn't make you happy!  Now maybe you really can't afford to just go quit your job and move to the beach because you have a family to support and bills to pay, but surely there are dreams that you have and goals that you would still someday love to accomplish... but you just haven't had the belief in yourself or the motivation to start working towards it!  I've even felt this way before... I know some of us have big dreams and they can seem impossible or seem like too much work to get there, but often times we give up before we even begin.  So the hardest part is digging deep within yourself and deciding that YOU are worth believing in!!  

The only difference between you and Steve Jobs, or you and Walt Disney or whoever you think lived out their dreams and was successful and happy doing it... the only difference between you and them is that they decided to follow their passion and believe in themselves no matter who doubted them or how many times they heard that they would never be able to accomplish their dreams... they made a decision to stray off this path where everyone thinks you have to go to college, get your degree, get a nice job in an office somewhere, get your work done, get paid, pay bills, repeat next week.  They took risks and they failed many times in the process of finding success, but they never gave up and they lived lives that some of us will only dream of.  

So think about it.  What is your true passion.  When you were a kid... where did you see yourself by this point in your life?  Are you doing exactly what you hoped you'd be doing?  If so, then that is amazing and I am so happy for you!  But if you're one of those people who is wondering where the time has gone and what you've really accomplished so far... it's time to throw out the "Rule Book" and start making changes each day (no matter how big or small), that will lead you in the direction of your dreams!  And I'm going to share this website with you, that has really helped me a lot in recognizing what exactly my dreams are and how I could even begin to start moving in the direction towards achieving these dreams. It's called The 30 Day Push!  This challenge was made by Chalene Johnson, who has been super-successful at accomplishing many of her own goals and has turned her passion into an amazing career, while also helping others find ways to accomplish their own dreams and goals in life!

As many of you know, I have found a way to turn some of my own passions into a career, by becoming a Beachbody Coach. Now I'm sure most of you probably don't know much about being a coach, but long story short... I'm able to combine my passions for being the healthiest, most fit version of myself while making an income to help support my family simply by helping others lead a healthier, more active lifestyle and even providing them with the opportunity to become a part of my growing team and start building their very own business from home. This job provides people with the potential to someday quit their day jobs and stay at home with their children or even future children.  

This business has been a serious eye-opener for me in so many ways! I have met so many amazing new people, who bring so much positive energy into my life, everyday! There are so many men and women in this business who have accomplished SO MUCH in quite a short period of time and it really shows me the amazing opportunity that this business provides for it's coaches.  One day (mark my words), I am going to be able to take my family on trips to places that some people only dream of.  I am going to change people's lives and help some of my fellow mom's out there quit their full time office jobs so that they can stay at home with their kids and spend more quality time with them. I'm going to leave my mark here on this Earth, even when I'm gone and I'm going to live this life to the very fullest, with NO REGRETS!!! Whose with me?