Month: August 2014

Diving into Discovery Mode: USANA

As part of my continuing discovery journey for the Health Fitness Beauty Quest, I am in Salt Lake City, UT to attend the USANA International Convention. I have used their nutritional supplements for almost a year. In that time I have shared my improved health and energy with you. Now I am putting my detective hat on so I can learn more about why these nutritional supplements have had such an impact to my health. I also want to get to the heart of what makes this company so different.

Join me for daily video interviews on my USTREAM channel and YouTube channel or follow me on Twitter and Facebook using the hashtags: #HFBQ and #USANA14.

New Adventures

Today, I am embarking on a new adventure. If you have spent any time at all on the Health Fitness Beauty Quest site or following me on Twitter or Facebook then you will know a bit about the nutritional supplements I have been taking since September 2013. I have shared the changes I have seen in my health and the improvements I have experienced in my cycling. In my book, both have been quite noteworthy.

Perhaps, it will not come as a surprise to you that I decided to join the company who makes the nutritional products that have helped to transform my life into the healthiest and most active version of me I have ever known. Both my sons are also taking the nutritional supplements and have seen improvements in their health. My mom is the newest nearest and dearest person to me to begin taking nutritional supplements from this company. Heck, even our 13 year old dog is taking supplements. As I’ve said before, when you know something works you share it with the people (and dogs) you love.

Although, I consider myself a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda gal, it did take me almost a year to make the decision to go from a consumer of their products to becoming part of the company. I thought about this decision a lot over the past few months. The longer I took the products and the more I saw the benefits in my life and the lives of those I love, I knew there was only one direction I could go and that was forward.

usana logoTomorrow, I am flying to Utah to attend the USANA convention  Since the company is located in Salt Lake City, you could say, I am going straight to the source. I am ready to drink from the USANA firehose to learn everything I can about the company that developed the products which have made such an impact to my health.

However, I won’t just be attending the convention, I will also be hosting a Social Media Lounge. Follow all the video interviews this week on the Health Fitness Beauty Quest streaming channel.  I will also post random musings and the occasional audio interview on SoundCloud. You can be sure there will be Twitter and Facebook posts as well. Be on the lookout for the #HFBQ and #USANA14 to follow all the action.

 

I Joined a Gym!

I joined a gymPerhaps you saw this coming from a mile away. For me it was a surprise. I prefer being in the great outdoors walking, running, kayaking and cycling.  I am not a “gym person” or at least I didn’t think I was until June when I won two 6 month free membership to Gold’s Gym (Thank you Krista and Michael). I volunteered my mom to be my fellow workout partner during my new fitness adventure.

So far, I have taken cycling, body flow and ab classes. When I took the Zumba class I learned that I am even less coordinated than I previously thought. In Zumba you move your hands, hips and feet all at the same time and usually in different directions. The most I could do was two of those things at a single moment. The instructor was fabulous and I really did have fun which means I will definitely go back again. Hopefully, I will be more coordinated next time.

One of the things I really liked about the gym was a private ladies-only workout area. The whole “see and be seen” thing has never been my style. Having an area I can go to workout quietly has really been a confidence booster. The fact is, I have no idea how most of those gym machines work. The ladies-only workout area gives me chance to fumble around, figure stuff out and ask fellow ladies how machines work. Which means I am more likely to keep going back for more.

I’ll share my fumbling around story: I could not figure out how to get the elliptical machine to power up. I pushed all manner of buttons. I checked to see if it was plugged in. I went to 3 different machines and was puzzled. I finally asked the lady working out on the elliptical next to me how they worked. She told me the only way they power up is if you start working out. I jumped on started moving and the screens flashed on so I stopped to enter my data which is exactly the moment the screen went blank. I did it again with the same result. The kind lady then said, “You have to keep working out or it turns off.” Okay. Remember my Zumba experience? I am glad only 2 other women were in the private workout room to see me try and balance myself on the elliptical while entering my data on the screen. I eventually did manage to balance myself, enter my data and ended up with a challenging 30 minute workout. I was bummed when I realized the time I spent working out while entering in my data did not count towards my overall workout numbers. Surely, I should get extra credit for that, right?

Are you a gym rat or gym noob? I would like to hear your story. Drop me a line in the comments or via email: jennifer@healthfitnessbeautyquest.com