New Website

A few people have messaged me to say that my blog looks a bit like a scam website... I assure you that it is not and everything put on here is 100% honest. Due to this I now have an official website under construction - so stay tuned for that!

Day 20

The last week or so I've been slacking, my girlfriend was visiting from Canada and I was way too busy doing stuff to keep my blog up to date! I have still been doing my challenge but not as strictly. I am now back on track and will do my best to keep doing daily posts. Sorry!

Great news though! The first two people I enrolled shortly after starting my own challenge have just told me they've lost 6lbs in their first 10 days! That's awesome! 

Day 10

This morning my executive promoter package came. Soooooo much stuff!! This is really going to help me promote and also means I'm now part or the bimmer club! 

This morning I had a frappuccino coffee shake with breakfast - had hockey training last night and was feeling a bit drained. 

Day 9

Today I had a normal breakfast and dinner, but made a chocolate and peanut butter shake! This is my absolute favourite! It's just chocolate soya milk instead of regular milk and half a teaspoon of peanut butter. I had a Chinese takeaway for dinner... but I don't think it's going to matter!

Weigh In 16/05/13

It's been a week since I started my 90 day challenge and the results so far are pretty good! I'm going to change up how I'm using the shakes a little to attempt to gain some more muscle whilst losing some fat! My starting numbers were: 

Weight: 13st 8.4lbs

Muscle Mass: 10st 12.4lbs

Body Fat %: 15.2%

This week they are: 

Weight: 13st 3.2lbs

Muscle Mass: 10st 10.6lbs

Body Fat %: 14.5%

So as you can see I've lost 5.2lbs total! Dropped 0.7% body fat but unfortunately lost 1.8lbs of muscle along the way... Going to try something slightly different next week to pick that muscle back up! 

This weeks pictures:

Day 8

This morning I had my shake with coffee but also some frozen fruit; was definitely different... Think I prefer them separately though! Last night I had a shake with mixed fruit in but was feeling a bit peckish so had some left over chicken stir fry as well. I then went out and ran about 7km. This morning I've felt pretty hungry, mainly I think due to the running last night and not sleeping very well over night. 

The weigh in will be done tonight so will find out the results from my first week of the challenge! Excited!!!   

Can't Afford The Challenge? How Does A Full Money Back Guarantee Sound?

Body by Vi are so confident in their product that they offer a full money back guarantee if you are not 100% satisfied with the results. With that on offer, how can you afford not to take on the challenge?

Click here to see the flyer

Day 7

I had a homemade frappuccino (as advised by Kate) for breakfast this morning! I just added a tea spoon of instant coffee to my shake and it tasted awesome!!   

I've got my weekly weigh in tomorrow night... Which I'm nervous for but also really excited! I can feel the results already but I'm looking forward to getting the actual numbers! 

Success!

Sharing is Caring

The main point to note about the Body by Vi 90 day challenge is that, even though it involves shakes, promoting is more about sharing the Challenge rather than just selling shakes to people. It's about helping people to achieve their goals and supporting them along the way. This is something the company is very passionate about and makes imperative when enrolling new promotors. 

Is The Challenge Right For You?

As long as you have health or fitness goal that you want to achieve, then the challenge can work for you! Whether its weight loss, weight gain or just maintaining your weight and staying healthy; the challenge can be tailored to help you in whatever way you desire. 

It is true that the challenge was originally developed to fight obesity and aid weight loss. However due to the high nutritional value, it can be used as an aid to achieve whatever results you desire! My challenge of gaining 5lbs of muscle whilst losing 4% body fat is a testament to this and I hope it proves successful in the coming weeks. 

Day 6

Had my shake this morning with frozen mixed fruit I bought from Tesco. Tasted soooo good and was nice and cold! A bag of it only costs about £1.30 and you only need a small handful of it. Again today I didn't feel hungry until about one o'clock, feeling a bit sluggish after last nights gym session but still feeling good! 

Also had a UK Team conference call last night, lots of good info, tips and advice. And a competition! 

Day 5

This morning I had my shake with blueberries and milk - not as good as banana - but still not bad! I had it at about 8:30am and had a banana at about 11:00am and I've just had lunch at 1:30pm as I'd only just started to feel hungry! It seems that claims made that this stuff keeps you full for a long time is true!

Usually the day after hockey I'm lacking energy and feel like I'm running on empty the whole day. Today doesn't feel too bad, I'm not tired, I slept pretty well last night, I'm in a good mood (for a Monday) and I generally just feel good in myself!

I'm planning on getting a frozen bag of mixed fruit and adding that to it in the mornings... Will let you know how it goes!

Exercise plan for today is:

- Short sit-ups/abs work out this morning

- Chest and Triceps gym session

Day 4

I made my shake the same as yesterday; half a banana (ate the rest) and milk. Still tastes pretty good! I had it at about 8:30am, I then went to play a hockey game at 10:50am. I can honestly say that after hockey I am usually absolutely starving, and usually run to the nearest KFC as fast as possible. Today we finished at about 12:30pm and I wasn't hungry at all - I felt like I could eat, but I didn't feel like I needed to - it felt weird. 

Looking forward to carry on the challenge next week and hopefully see some results by my next weigh in on Thursday! 

Could This Benefit You Financially?

The simple answer is yes.

Firstly, if you're just looking to take the challenge yourself, but worried about the cost, think again. It works out pretty damn cheap. At just £1.20 a shake, if you take two a day you're only going to be spending £2.40 plus the cost of your third meal - whatever that may be. Your generic lunchtime "Meal Deal" is typically about £3.00; so you can have 2 meals a day for less than what your average lunch usually costs you!

Secondly, Body by Vi run a "Three for Free" scheme. What this means is that if you refer three people to the challenge, who purchase equal or greater packages to yours, your package will be sent to you free of charge each month for as long as you you still have three people that you referred buying the product. Who doesn't love free stuff?! 

Thirdly, you can become a Promotor. There's 8 different ways you can earn income as a Promotor with multiple bonuses and weekly payments - amongst other perks. The payment scheme is extensive and has developed thousands of people with six figure incomes in the US. If you want to find out more about promoting, feel free to email me at tomschallenge@gmail.com

Nutrition

Lots of people have been asking me, what is the shake? What's in it? How does it work?

Flavour wise, as mentioned before, the shake comes as a neutral "Sweet Cream" flavour (tastes like cake mix, which is pretty awesome anyway) and then you can add Body by Vi taste sachets or put on whatever you like to add flavour!

Nutritionally, from what I can see, its a 40:40:20 mix of protein:carbs:fat which is perfect for what your body needs! It also has high fibre content which comes from a patented blend of fibres, formulated by Body by Vi. It also has low sodium and sugar content. It's dairy free, gluten free, kosher and also specially formulated to help diabetics (amongst other properties). But the best part about it is the 23 vitamins and minerals crammed into it! Supposedly more vitamins and minerals than you could gain from a normal diet in a WEEK. And you're getting that every day! That's insane. 

So to answer the question, how does it work? It's simple. It's just an easy and quick way to give your body all of its dietary requirements in one hit! This is not one of those program's where it's like "eat this twice a day and you'll lose weight and you don't have to do anything" you are encouraged to be more active to help achieve your physical goals and the shake is just there to help you do this!

*UPDATE* for nutritional info see here: Nutrition Info

Sorry I haven't got a pretty chart for the nutritional info, I'll try to get one! For now here's a picture of the back of the pack:

Day 3

I've just had my shake for day three for breakfast! I just had it with semi skimmed milk and half a banana, not that imaginative, but tasted really good! I wasn't expecting to, but I actually feel really full; not bloated but I don't feel hungry or like I'd want to eat more. Of course I used my new Tesco value blender for this, might of been cheap but it definitely got the job done!

I Just Bought A Blender...

After the challenge party last night I got home and suddenly remembered that I don't have a blender! I do have protein shakers which work just as well for the shakes and flavourings but to get the most of them a blender is really required. The great thing about these shakes is that they come as a neutral "Sweet Cream" flavour (which kind of tastes like cake mix) and then you can add whatever you want to it! So I went out to the 24 hour Tesco last night and, after weighing up my options, decided to purchase the Tesco value blender for £14.97, I can't wait to throw some stuff in it and see what happens!

For examples of flavours, last night we had: 

- Almond milk with real strawberry and a sachet of strawberry flavouring

- Chocolate soya milk with a half spoon of peanut butter (this is my favourite - tastes like a snickers!)

- Plain semi skimmed milk with banana

Next to try: replace milk with orange juice - supposedly tastes like the Solero ice lollies you used to get... Still get... I don't know, it hasn't been warm enough for an ice lolly for a while!

My First Own Challenge Party

I've just come back from my first own challenge party, and it went great! Everyone tried the shakes - and loved them! Everyone there was interested to know more about the challenge and I was glad we could help to spread the word. We showed everyone the video supplied with the Promotor kit and set up a Skype call with Kate Kincaid to help answer all the questions they had!

It's Arrived!

My challenge Promotor kit has arrived along with my first pack of shakes! Can't wait to get on this in the morning! I'm going to do a post about more info on the shake tomorrow as far as nutrition goes and also a bit about the perks of promoting!

Day 2

I've just had a confirmation email to tell me that my shakes have been delivered safe and sound to my house! Really looking forward to getting home and having one! I aim to replace one meal a day with the shake, but eat normally the rest of the time. Tonight I'll be having one for dinner but usually I think I'd prefer to have it in the morning... Maybe I'll try having it at different times in the day and see what effect it has? 

Exercise summary for today:

- 5km jog this morning

- Shoulder workout tonight at the gym

The Weigh In

As promised I have weighed myself, taken muscle mass measurements and recorded my body fat percentage. The results are as follows:

Weight: 13st 8.4lbs

Muscle Mass: 10st 12.4lbs

Body Fat %: 15.2%

That means my target over the next 90 days will be to get to 11st 3.4lbs of muscle mass and to get my body fat percentage down to 11.2%

And as promised, much to my regret, below are two before photos:

Why The Challenge?!

I wanted to join the challenge mainly because of my own personal goals. Since taking up running last summer and becoming steadily more and more active I feel the need to constantly be setting myself further goals to aim for, and the challenge seems to be a great way to do this! The support network is great and with other people I know locally already on the challenge I feel motivated to get to where I want to be. 

The second reason is to promote the challenge. Anyone can promote the challenge and there are a multitude of benefits that can be gained by doing so. As well as the financial bonuses, earning money for referring customers and other promotors, the main benefit for me right now would be the 3 for free offer. This is a program offered by Vi that says that if you can refer 3 customers or promotors that subscribe to an equal or higher value package to yours then you get yours for free - and who doesn't want that?! Oh, and also you can qualify for a free brand new BMW... But we'll come to that later! 

Lastly, I want to be able to help people achieve their own personal goals too and to get more people on the challenge!

My First Challenge Party

The main thing about the BodyByVi 90 day challenge is obviously the nutrition; the main part of this being the shakes. Obviously you're not going to hear about something like this from a friend and straight away jump on board and start handing over your hard earned cash, are you? Which means you're going to want to know exactly what you're buying into before you buy it. 

The way this is done predominantly is by the Vi Promotor holding a "Challenge Party". This is where they invite everyone that's interested in starting the challenge and finding out more to come to their house, watch a couple of information videos, try the shakes, ask questions and generally talk about the product. 

It all sounds very American and admittedly at first I wasn't sure if I wanted to go to my first challenge party. I wasn't sure what was going to happen and just generally was doubtful of the whole idea being effective in the UK. However, after trying the shakes and watching the video, I felt a lot more confident about the challenge and I actually ended up having a pretty good time! The most important part was that afterwards I really wanted to get onboard and complete my challenge!

How I Got Started

My first exposure to The Challenge was at the Heathrow Airport launch conference in mid April. At first I was a bit dubious about it all; I wasn't actually told much beforehand and as soon as I heard that it involved taking shakes I thought to myself "No way. Waste of time." However, once I heard more about it and how it's helped change millions of lives and how successful it's been, I started to change my mind. 

A couple of weeks later I met up with Kate and Alisha, who travelled over from America to help spread the word and get people started. They were a great help and gave me all the information I needed to make the decision to start my own 90 day challenge!

Below is a picture of us at the Heathrow launch conference with Nick Sarnicola (Co-founder and Global Embassador for Vi)

My First Post!

Welcome to my first post! As mentioned in my About Me section I'm going to aim for at least one post a day to describe how I'm feeling, what's going well, what isn't and generally update you on how it's going! 

To come:

- My involvement with the challenge so far, what I've done and who I've met. 

- Tonight I'll be taking all my measurements as well as some before pictures for future reference. (I'll be doing this every Thursday) 

Thanks for stopping by! Any questions or comments feel free to ask at any time. Please check out the video on the main part of my blog too!