LOVE ALWAYS WINS.

We may not be perfect parents, but we are loving parents; let this encourage you today!

In Relentless Pursuit of Excellence….NOT perfection!

TRACI

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When I’m doing a program, I like to look ahead to see what I’ll do next. Considering another round with Insanity The Asylum. (check it out here)

Here’s a snippet of my first go-around with it!

Always…In Relentless Pursuit of Excellence,

TRACI

The post Insanity is Tough – but What About Insanity The Asylum? TRACI MORROW Shares appeared first on Traci Morrow Fitness.

So IF YOU’RE READY, here are steps to take:

1. Get Accountability! As your FREE Team Beachbody Coach I can help you stay on track if you’ll let me!
I have a private facebook group that I can add you to when you COMMIT to your personal decision to Live Healthy!

2. Pick your Program! Plans fail for lack of counsel. I have a Challenge Pack that you can choose to fit your personal goals, which include – your workout, your personalized menu plan, our meal replacement shake Shakeology. It tastes like dessert, but every 8 oz serving of this meal replacement shake is like going to the salad bar and filling your plate 6 1/2 times!

3. Press Play. Schedule it, and just do it. Every day. One day stacked on top of another day, and with a plan in place, and with faithful execution of the plan – YOUR BODY WILL CHANGE!

So let’s go! Why not you? Why not now? I CAN HELP! Say yes,  give me a high five – and let’s get started TODAY!

In Relentless Pursuit of Excellence!

TRACI

The post I Want To Get Fit, But I’m A Tired Mom! ~Team Beachbody Top Coach & Mom of 6 TRACI MORROW Shares appeared first on Traci Morrow Fitness.

A couple years ago I did a video that seems appropriate to share here, now. It’s kind of funny, but my advice still stands! (be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel and Follow Me on InstaGram: @TraciMorrow

In Relentless Pursuit of Excellence….as an Insanity Mom!

TRACI

The post Why You Shouldn’t Do As Shaun T Does – Whaaaat? ~TRACI MORROW Clarifies appeared first on Traci Morrow Fitness.

I’d love for you to join me if you have an interest! I think we’re going to have a blast, as we embark on a journey many begin, but not as many finish. Well, we will. We’re taking this across the goal line! I was telling Shaun T that this reminds me of when I was in the P90Xplorers Test Group with Carl Daikeler and several other Tony Horton fanatics; trying a new program, along with the CEO of Beachbody. (Carl, for those of you who don’t know) Now, to go through Insanity with its Creator Shaun T is such a great experience and its only Day One! He’s a good friend, and I’m so thankful for his nudge to join this Birthday Challenge.

So here are my Fit Test Results for March 4, 2013:

Switch Kicks: 114

Power Jacks: 58

Power Knees: L: 116 R: 115 (rats!! irritates me that they’re not even-lol)

Power Jumps: 60

Globe Jumps: 13

Suicide Jumps: 25

Push-Up Jacks: 34

Low Plank Oblique: 52

Stretch & Cool Down

Join me! It’s not too late!

In Relentless Pursuit of Excellence…..in the ShaunTourage

TRACI

The post Insanity Day One – Team Beachbody Top Coach TRACI MORROW Joins The “ShaunTourage” appeared first on Traci Morrow Fitness.

to start with him & a huge group of others who are doing it with Shaun! They’re calling themselves the ShaunTourage and you can follow along on the “how to”‘s at Shaun T’s FB Like page.

But like Shaun T invited me, I’m inviting YOU to join ME! If you hit any of the links above you can purchase your Challenge Pack – I’ll add you to my Private Facebook Group where I coach people through their weight loss journey for free! You’ll be a part of a great group of people wanting to LIVE HEALTHY – and I CAN HELP! I know life is full – I’m a busy mom – a mom of 6 – but life is too short to not join the fun and live a healthy, active lifestyle! No matter your age! There’s no time like the present!!!

I hope you’ll choose to join me, and when you do – shoot me an email so I can add you to my private, exclusive group! We’re going to get you fit, and earn you an INSANITY GRAD t-shirt!!

Always - In Relentless Pursuit of Excellence!

TRACI

The post I Start Insanity Tomorrow – So Does Shaun T – Want To Join Us? :D appeared first on Traci Morrow Fitness.

And so…..I’m bringin’ it back! I’m telling you, after 10 years of home fitness programs, participating in new workout series, running fit club, running a marathon & several half marathons, leading a test group, training people out of my home, and in their homes, appearing on QVC several times in a 24 hour period, month after month, year after year, it took its toll. Falling off my horse was a blessing thinly disguised to me. I needed the time off and I realized it quickly. It was a wake up call to say “BE STILL”. And so I was. Oh at first I tried a few workouts with weights, but my tailbone, at the base of my core, would throb and ache and I couldnt sleep that night without prescription strength Advil. No, this rest time was going to be a FULL REST. (are you reading this thinking “oh I could NEVER do that!!”? if so, keep reading) I was going to listen to my body, listen to my doctor, and ignore the voice in my head (which sounds suspiciously like Tony Horton sometimes ) that told me I needed to find *some way* to work out and just HEAL.

Because I was taking the time off my body was naturally less hungry, so I ate less, though still healthy. I enjoyed the foods of the holidays but didnt overdo, so my weight went down (loss of muscle) and maybe put on a little bit of body fat but not enough that it showed up in the way my clothes fit. I was injured on Nov. 15 so this was through all the holidays. I say this not to brag (shudder at the thought) but to show that IT CAN BE DONE. And without bitterness, or grumpiness. It was A NICE BREAK for my body and for my mind. I suddenly had an hour more a day, and I enjoyed books and movies and healing the slow, unrushed way. It was heavenly!

And then……I was ready to move. I dont know what day, or what it was that suddenly clicked, but I was ready to move again. Looked forward to it, like a kid waiting for a birthday party or special event. I missed how I felt after a workout and how my body feels when I’m whooped post workout, and yes, even the sore. As the tailbone continued to heal and the anticipation grew, my first workout back at it approached. I opened my Private Challenge Group on Facebook (I invited other people into my comeback!) and the participants started commenting on the programs they were picking and how they were waiting for Day One. My people. My program. My plan. The perfect trifecta.

I will go back to coaching my friends and teammates to take a week off at the close of one program and before starting another. I have found it to be the PERFECT way to maintain focus and commitment and love of “the game”. When does YOUR rest week start?

I’m back with a vengeance; well rested, and always…..In Relentless Pursuit of Excellence,

TRACI

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Bears lining a wall outside of Sandy Hook Elementary. One for each sweet victim.

The Connecticut shooting has been shocking, disillusioning, and many of us have been left grieving for children and adults we don’t know, with the emotion one might expect to feel if the same thing were to happen to a dear friend or family member. I, and the members of my family, are no different. We randomly tear up at the thought of little 6 & 7 year old children dying such a scary, horrific death while at their safe school with their friends and teacher. We are interested in the news of the gunman and are left just as confused as everyone as to how this happens.

Like many others, I pray those families are being comforted in the deepest part of their beings in a way that only God can meet in a grief that’s too deep to fathom. We want to help them, in some way; extend our compassion in a tangible way. Well, there IS a way.

A former student at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, and the gunman’s former babysitter Ryan Kraft has set up a NPO Victim’s Relief Fund. Please read up on it, and if you’re looking for a way to reach out with love to strangers this may be what you’re looking for!

May we all reach out to the God of love, as we try to comprehend the depth of evil that’s a direct result of the absence of God’s love.

In Relentless Pursuit of Excellence in the midst of evil events,
TRACI

The post Finding Balance In The Midst of Grief and Tragedy – A Tangible Way To Help The Sandy Hook Families appeared first on Traci Morrow Fitness.

When I first learned how to eat healthy with Beachbody, and while I was losing the weight, making exercise more of a consistent effort by following the lead of Tony Horton, my personal trainer on my vhs tapes (pre dvd) I felt like I was a bit obsessed with finding more information. I felt like the blinders had been taken off and a whole new world was open to me, and I was hungry to learn as much as I could! About that time, the internet was exploding – still pre-facebook – but information was more and more readily available. But with all things, as I learned more, my “obsession” changed from learning something new, to the battle to create personal accountability by helping others and putting it out there as much as I could that this was how I was choosing to live. No as much ‘obsessed’ with my personal fitness, I’d learned the bulk of new information, it now was about applying it consistently and inviting others to do it too. FUN!

The struggle tends to ebb and flow as it pertains to my enthusiasm level. I WANT to be healthy and feel fit. It feels good. But so does my bed in the early, cool, dark of morning when my alarm goes off. There is often an internal struggle to let myself off the hook, but I chose long ago to not allow my self in the moment to make a decision contrary to my self who made the commitment outside of temptation to excuse myself. Read that sentence again if you need to so you really get what I’m saying. (I read and re-read it many times to make sure I was adequately stating it) But after that workout, my day is off and running as I talk to people, answer their questions, and make personal connections with people. And though I am talking about exercise, I am NOT exercising or obsessing over exercise and my new routines anymore. Because exercise is meant to ENHANCE my life, not BECOME my life. I have a husband, a family, a community where I am active, and exercise just makes me better in all those roles.

I think a big struggle with people, as I’ve seen plenty of times over the years, is a trading of one obsession for another, or even trading of a bad habit or addiction for the addiction of exercise. And while it may feel good at first, addiction by nature is not a good thing, and it can begin to feel like a trap, a cell; something you HAVE to do (and for many, its a certain length of time each day that it MUST be done or it somehow doesn’t count). Only you can be honest enough with yourself to say whether or not fitness & healthy eating has become an addiction, but here are some things to look for:

Do you not allow yourself to eat certain things if you haven’t exercised?
If you work out for less than an hour, do you not feel like it ‘counts’?
Does your food intake consist predominantly of egg whites and protein shakes?
If you want to eat a certain food, do you make yourself work out extra to “earn” it?
Do you feel guilt or shame if you miss a workout?
If you go for a bike ride or a run or work out in the yard all day, do you still feel like you must do a dvd workout?

There are many more, but these are a few that I’ve found to be shockingly common with the people I’ve worked with over the years. For many, they ended up falling back to old patterns and addictions because the exercise/healthy eating ‘addiction’ wasn’t sustainable, or they got injured from over training, or both. If you notice any of these things in you, I recommend googling eating disorders and exercise addictions and if you fit the description, to get some help from a trained professional.

Life is about BALANCE, but some people have a harder time finding it. The comforting news is, you’re not alone. Let your coach know that you’re getting help and stay with the group for accountability, but by all means get some help. You’re worth it.

In Relentless Pursuit of Excellence~
TRACI

The post Exercise Obsession: Healthy Regiment or Unhealthy Addiction? appeared first on Traci Morrow Fitness.

Its funny – healthy foods have such a black eye with many people who think eating healthily means we give up tastes and the “good things” in order to be healthy. I actually just had that conversation with my own son this morning. He looked in the cupboards this morning and asked what the choices were for breakfast. I listed it off; steel cut or rolled oats, eggs and toast, Shakeology – any flavor, Greek yogurt with granola and maple syrup, or if he was feeling adventurous, he could make his own whole grain pancakes. My 19 year old son shuddered and said “I dont know why you guys dont eat the good stuff”. He’s not alone in that thinking. I talk to lots of people who hear the words “healthy food” or “vegan” (again, I’m not vegan) and think it must immediately be some weird food or something that tastes like liquid vitamin, or that its only a select group of people who “eat like that”; not your average person. And if you happen to be a person who thinks like that, I encourage you to give yourself permission to explore a new way of thinking about food. REAL food.
Healthy food.

We live in a time and country unlike any other; where our stores are filled to heights only reached by ladder with foods packaged in brightly colored boxes made to taste good, but where it takes a chemist to help us decipher the ingredients list. These food “products” dont even really resemble real food in most instances – colorful rolls, bright colored gel stuffed pastries, little rainbow drops of goo with our kids’ favorite characters on the front, boxes of “add water meals” that expand in the pan as you watch it heat up, and cans filled with chemical liquid that we guzzle in the heat of the summer sun to quench our thirst. These have become our new norm slowly, over a number of years and brilliant marketing strategies, and we somehow bought in that we were feeding our kids (and ourselves!) healthy nutritious foods. ?? I can barely believe I bought into that when I type it up like that, but I did. In fact, I would load up on said goodies at Costco in bulk! And then I started educating myself, sort of unknowingly.

You see, I bought my first Beachbody program thinking I was going to try the newest fad that promised results. And then I read the little piece of literature that came with Power90 on how to get the “best results” and I was intrigued. I wanted “best results” and was willing to try eating a new way for 90 days. But those 90 days have now turned into 9 1/2 years of healthy eating. Because Beachbody has a marketing plan too, except this one is even more brilliant. Its honesty…in stages. Change – big change freaks people out. Well, it does me anyway. Tell me I “cant” eat something anymore makes my rebellious side say “I cant have that? Um…then I want that right now.” That stubborn thinking works great if someone tells me I cant do something positive and I commit to prove I can. When its denying myself food, my thoughts suddenly rebel against my greater desire for myself and rears its ugly head: “dont tell ME I cant have those doughnuts – I will think of nothing else until I’ve had one – or two – or three! Take that!”

Rather than say “Change the way you eat forever!” which would probably scare 98% of the population of Americans, because we change our phones almost as fast as we change our shoes or hairstyles – its a 90 day commitment. You can commit to anything for 90 days. And in those 90 days, while connecting with the accountability of a Coach and the Beachbody community of folks trying this healthy living for 90 days also – something happens in the process. We want more. And we’re willing to pay a higher cost (exercising regularly and re-learning how to feed our families) to get it. The cost of our time and sweat. Our bodies respond to good, clean food; fruits, vegetables, lean protein, whole grains & healthy fats. We lose weight. We have more energy. We FEEL better. We sleep better. We think more clearly. We feel in charge of our bodies again and our health. Some peoples Dr’s take them off their medicines as they drop the excess weight. And the cravings for neon rainbow colored snacks and food products diminishes. For some it goes away altogether. Our bodies respond to REAL FOOD rather than the processed, chemical foods we’d been living on for years. Its like putting clean fuel into your car rather than sewer water. We ‘taste’ what it feels like to really thrive.

Our bodies were MADE to run on the very nutrients found in the natural foods of the earth. Why did we ever start putting anything else in it? Whatever the reason, give yourself 90 days of clean eating and see how you feel. I guarantee you will FEEL differently – better!

In Relentless Pursuit of Excellence!
TRACI

JOIN ME HERE!

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