So I had mentioned previously that I had decided back in December that I had stepped back from being an independent fitness coach/consultant for Beachbody.

The reasons for this decision are both simple but complex.

Though before getting into my reasons: I should also mention that Beachbody doesn’t guarantee that coaches will automatically earn money–you have to put the time and effort into the process.

So the first reason is that I’m not the biggest sharer of personal things on social media (though I had shared some of my progress pictures in the past)–therefore I wasn’t doing one of the main caveats of coaching–sharing my story.

This is because in part over the past couple of years, my weight has swayed back up and I have regained the weight I had lost prior to becoming a coach/consultant.

The weight gain was in part due to me dealing with a moderate level of depression the past few years (2018 was the capstone year for depression), and pretty much went into survival mode. One mistake I had made was not reaching out for help from other coaches that I knew. I didn’t want to share my issues, I didn’t want to burden others–I’ve learned over the past year or so–there is no shame is asking someone if they can listen, or if they can give you some advice on something.

That is one key take away I’m trying to take forward with me–that it is okay to ask for help when you need it, and it isn’t a sign of weakness asking for help–but a sign of strength.

But, since I wasn’t sharing my story, I wasn’t gaining customers–and without customers purchasing Beachbody products and improving their lives through my pages–I wasn’t earning any money. I was actually losing a little money monthly.

The second reason–is that I’m trying not mend my relationship with food. While proper nutrition is important for weight loss/management–neither of their nutrition programs seem to to be the right fit for me. I’m tired of trying to always count my calories/macros/colored containers, and while I’m trying to drink more water throughout the day–I don’t like being told when I should be drinking water and that half my plate is suppose to be veggies.

The third reason–is that I have never bought into the whole organic, non-GMO, gluten-free diet/nutrition mindset. True, I have bought (and do still occasionally buy) items that are labeld non-GMO or organic, but I usually just shake my head at the marketing strategy.

The list of GMO plants (as of 2019) include:

Maize (corn)–15 varieties

Soybean–8 varieties

Cotton–10 varieties

Canola–3 varieties

Cowpea–1 variety

Arctic Fuji Apples–1 variety

Sugarcane–2 varieties

The time and effort that go into producing GMO plants is extremely long–we’re talking at a minimum of 2 to 4 years, but usually much longer (depending on the flowering/germination rate of the plant).

Therefore, scientists put a lot of time and effort into generating a crop that has a single change in a gene that will extend it’s life, improve the crop, or help to start reducing the amount of water needed for it.

So truthfully–labeling items ‘non-GMO’ is a marketing scheme. Companies realize that we’re willing to part with more money for ‘organic’ or ‘non-modified’ items. Hate to break to everyone–humans have been ‘modifying’ plants and animals since we started doing agriculture (that is the very basis of getting better crops and animals). ‘Organic’ food is actually worse for the environment than GMO plants because it takes more land to grow the same amount of food.

So while I don’t buy into the reasons for ‘non-GMO’/’organic’ labeling and pushes, I will probably still end up purchasing products labeled that way because there may not be any other options on the market.

So to sum up my leaving independent coaching/consulting–while I share on social media I don’t share much, and therefore it isn’t easy to build a large fitness following. I was tired of losing the little money monthly (and currently need that money elsewhere). I’m mending my relationship with food, and I don’t want to be measuring, counting, or weighting anything (and that includes myself). Finally–I just got tired of seeing so much ‘non-GMO’/’organic’/’all-natural’/lets cut calories/need to do this to burn that off crap throughout my various social media channels.

I’m still a Beachbody customer–I’m keeping my on-demand subscription to have access to all the workouts. I’ve actually been a Beachbody customer for decades, and have nothing bad to say about them–these were my reasons/decisions for stepping away from the coaching side of their company.

Everyone’s fitness and nutrition journey is different–some don’t mind sharing their ups and downs with the world. I’m a little more private, which at times makes it a little harder to build up a consistent following.

While I will probably still be sharing my fitness/nutrition journey, it may just be a little more sporadic with very few pictures or measurements or things like that.

Reference for list of GMO plants: news.agropages.com/News/NewsDetails—34089.htm