Festivities & Fitness

Hello hello!  Been a while since I've been on here!  Quite a bit has happened since my last post, but I've been so busy that I haven't had a chance to document anything!  Luckily today is my token lazy day - and I'll explain why :)

Well first off, on the work front, the holiday season here was NUTS.  Everyone has been working like crazy since Halloween!  Horror Nights went well - the late shows were actually fun to perform because the crowds were really rowdy and into the whole evening - and then it was straight into Christmas prep.  December hours were nuts as well - I ended up working three weeks straight!  Talk about exhausting, but once I finally got a couple days off I was good to go.  Now that New Year's is over we're pretty much on a normal schedule, so I think everyone is breathing a little easier!

On TOP of a crazy work schedule, I also spent December prepping for my first bodybuilding competition here in Singapore, the Muscle & Fitness War 2014.  Am I nuts?  Pretty much, yeah.  But don't worry, I didn't totally deprive myself for the holidays!  I still had an AMAZING Christmas buffet at the Carlton Hotel the weekend before Christmas, at which I made approximately 9 trips to the buffet and made sure I got my money's worth of desserts as well ;)  I was with a great group of people and we had an awesome time!

Our post-Christmas holiday photo!

My one glass of champagne for New Years, lol

Once I'd had my holiday feast, it was back to the grind!  Three weeks of diligent dieting, the last week of which was laid out very strictly by my amazing coach.  Although it was a little rough having to withdraw myself from some gatherings (knowing I couldn't eat or drink anything out at restaurants or friends' get togethers did put a damper on my social life!), I trusted that my friends understood why I was doing what I was doing.  If not, well, the photographic evidence from the competition hopefully showed why!

Taken backstage before the class began.  My tan wasn't as dark as I needed/wanted it to be, but everything was in place and I was happy with it :)

The competition went very well for me, personally.  I didn't place, but the classes and the judging were based on a different level and criteria than I'm used to in the States.  Essentially, I feel the look I had wasn't the look they wanted.  I know, however, that I gave my absolute best and was conditioned beyond my expectations!  It was the best I've ever looked and felt, and I know that I left it all out on that stage and did exactly what I showed up to do, so I have absolutely zero regrets!  And my coaches were very proud of me, and gave me the biggest words of encouragement and support I could possibly dream of - and they're the pros, so I'm gonna go with what they say!

My coaches and I after the competition.  There's no way I could have reached my full potential without them!  They are the best!

I also just have to take a moment and give a shout out to all of my friends here in Singapore.  You guys have shown me so much love and support, and I just need to make sure you all know how much it truly means to me.  I've done these competitions on my own before, and I was happy with myself and how I prepped, but having such a huge support system here made my journey SO much more positive!  Competition prep is never an easy thing, and it can be difficult if the people around you don't understand or they question why you do what you do, but you guys just went with the flow and respected my decisions, and I could not ask for more.  You didn't just respect my choices, but you applauded them, and for that I am so grateful!  Much love!!!

After the competition, we had an AMAZEBALLS dinner at Communal, an American restaurant here.  We had never been, but I had high expectations as I have been craving a taste of home - and they definitely delivered!  I had just about a little bit of everything on the menu lol!  Cocktails and burger and beer, oh my!  ;)

My first cocktail in ages, and FRIED chicken wings?!  Whaaaaa?!?!  My stomach had no idea what hit it!

I know I skimmed over a lot here, but there's been so much that I don't think I could fit it all in anyway!  Basically, it's been a crazy past couple of months, but I have worked hard, learned a lot, had great times with my friends, and had some incredible experiences.  We'll see what else Singapore has in store for me in 2014!

A few things about Sings...

I'm going to start this entry with a fact: I am horrible at blogging.  I will most likely not post that often because a) I've been working a lot and b) whenever I have free time, I'm pretty much eating or sleeping.  Blogging isn't very high on the priority list lol.  BUT, I know people back home want to know what's going on, so I'll try to remember to come back here every so often :)

Something that people may be wondering about is how I'm doing on the health front here.  In case you didn't know, I did a couple of fitness competitions back home before coming here to Singapore, so I was pretty intense about nutrition and working out.  Well I am happy to say that I've been able to still keep all of that in check.  It's MUCH more difficult here, though, which I fully anticipated.  For one, protein is not a big part of the Asian diet, especially "clean" protein. (If you want rice, they've got plenty of that!)  So I basically take protein in any form whenever I can get it, and supplement with protein powder shakes and baked goods.  I used to be SO very OCD about what I ate, like if there was even a bit of sauce on a piece of chicken or fish at a restaurant I would mildly freak out and scrape it off immediately.  In my time here, I've become much more lax about such things.  In fact, I'm kind of glad the food here is a little less "clean" because I've been eating a lot of the dishes that are considered "normal" here (curry chicken, mongolian chicken, aka things with sauces lol) and have been able to keep up with the physique I've worked hard for over the past few months.  Granted I don't eat that stuff ALL the time, since I do still make my own food at home a lot of the time, but knowing that I can eat it and my body won't freak out is extremely comforting.  I clearly have not given my system the credit it deserves!  I also think it's funny because a few months ago for me to go out and have Chinese or Indian food would be a treat - now I hardly even consider it a cheat meal lol!

Luckily one of the perks of this job is a membership to a really nice gym near work.  They have good equipment, VERY nice locker rooms and lots of classes (which I have yet to take, but BodyCombat and Yoga are definitely on my to-do list!).  I am SO grateful for it!  Granted, it's a bit of a trek to go out and go to the gym on an off day from work, since it's about a 30+ min bus ride, but in the end it's worth it.  We also have a few plates/dumbbells/barbell in our apartment, so I can squeeze in a quick session with those when I need to as well :)


On a completely unrelated note, I'd like to share a few interesting tidbits of cultural things I've noticed since being here, for your amusement:

A) Personal space.  It doesn't exist here.  You get where you need to go, and f*** everyone else - that's the ruling mentality here.  It threw me off at first, and I was being very polite to everyone, particularly on public transportation.  I finally learned that to stand your ground and continue on your way isn't a big deal to most people around you.  That's not to say it's okay to be outright rude, nothing like that, but back home if there was a crowd of people and someone seems to have gotten to a space a bit before you, you might let them go in front of you - yeah, that would never happen here.

which leads me to...

B) Driving.  There is a stereotype of Asian drivers for a reason.  Here, they treat their roads the same way they treat their walkways - you gotta get where you're going and it doesn't matter how close to others you are or if you're in someone's way.  I am so glad I don't have to drive here - I would have a heart attack every day!  The funny thing is, since everyone has that same mentality, they don't really think anything of it if someone seems to be very close or in the way, which is true for walking as well.  It's bizarre.  But yeah, that's why it doesn't fly in the States, because no one else would take that!

C) Pedestrians.  This is where it gets really weird, and is completely contradictory to the above points.  Cars will stop ON A DIME at an intersection if a pedestrian starts crossing.  You would think, given the previous perimeters, that they wouldn't care and would just fly by...which is why it royally confused me at first.  I was standing on a corner where there was just a walkway across the road with no "walk/don't walk" signal, looking at my iPad for directions to make sure I was heading the right way.  I just kind of stood there for a minute looking over the map, then heard a car honk at me.  I looked up and saw there was a HUGE line of cars waiting for me to cross!  I was like, really?  You don't stop for OTHER CARS but you stop for ONE PERSON at a tiny intersection??  This country officially makes no sense :P

D) Rice.  Rice everywhere.  With everything.  And if it's not rice, it's noodles.  Oodles of noodles.  Needless to say, my carb-conscious self about had a meltdown when I first got here and EVERYTHING was white rice and white noodles.  I've figured out ways around it and when it's okay to eat, but still.  Rice.  So much rice...

E) Prices.  Prices are ridic.  Even taking the exchange rate into account, things are STILL more expensive here.  Which sort of makes sense, since it's an island city-state and pretty much everything has to be imported.  But here's a few that have stood out to me so far:

1) Pam cooking spray: $10
2) 11 oz. decaf Folgers coffee: $14
3) 2 lb. Optimum Nutrition Whey Protein: $200
4) Boone's Farm: $13
5) Margarita at Chili's: $16


All I can say is, it's a good thing I'm not a heavy drinker because my money would be gone PRONTO!  Instead, I spend all of my money on expensive groceries, lol.  But it's worth it!


A few things that are awesome:
1) Although they don't carry egg whites in a carton here, you can buy 30 eggs for $5.00.  That's pretty rockin'.

2) Bus fares are like $1.75 to go 10km to work.  Compare THAT to filling up a car every week...

3) Basic produce and fish are super-cheap at the supermarkets (chicken, turkey and beef not so much, but oh well).

4) Because people don't really care about space, if you're late to work/in a hurry, you can speed on past people down stairs, escalators, public transit, etc and nobody gets miffed about it.

5) At the hawker centres here, you can get a decent dish of nearly every ethnicity (Korean, Thai, Indian, Chinese, on and on) for $3 to $5.  Is it healthy?  Probably not.  But they're almost always open late and perfect when you're walking around hangry with a nearly-empty wallet (which happens more often to me than I wish it did).

All in all, so far so good!  Been working a lot and will continue to do so, so I'm working on finding a way to balance work and exercise - hoping I'll get to a good place between the two :)

Singapore So Far

Hello world!  This is my first official post from SINGAPORE!  I am on my way to being fully settled in here - we just moved into our housing last week - and things are going well!

The first month we were here we stayed in the Equarius Hotel at Resorts World Sentosa (where the Universal Studios park is).  It was nice because we could walk to work...buuuuut also mostly sucked because we had no luxuries of home.  The rooms were nice, but we couldn't really do much in the way of making food or storing our stuff.  So, we basically lived out of our suitcases and ate out for a whole month, which, if you know me, nearly killed me!  I wanted nothing more than to wake up and make my traditional morning omelet!

Well, now we are in our condos and I am SO happy!  I've made an omelet nearly every morning!  :)  I really could not have moved into a better space - the kitchen is basically fully equipped.  We have the normal stuff, like a toaster and a kettle, but we ALSO have a juicer, a blender, a food processor, a rice cooker/slow cooker...I'm in foodie heaven!  The only thing missing is a mixer, which I plan to take care of very soon ;)  I feel like any time not spent at work or the grocery store (or on my computer) I spend in the kitchen, and I LOVE it!  I had my reservations about living here for a year during that first month, but now that I have an actual living space and am doing more of my normal routine, I feel much more comfortable with being here.  Not to mention I have cool roommates, who are great to talk to and also either don't mind or join in my food obsession :)

As for my actual job, it's going great!  My first week on shift was a bit stressful - 6 full days in a row of rehearsals and/or shows - but I've gathered from others that that's not a typical schedule.  I've now had two days off and am only working afternoons today and tomorrow, so I've been able to recuperate a bit, which is nice :)  The show is SO much fun!  Especially when we have great audiences!  They get so into it and it makes me really love what I'm doing, even on those last couple days this week when I felt totally exhausted.  It's TOTALLY different than what I did on the cruise ship in that this show is *intense* physically.  On the ship, I basically did park 'n bark - not too demanding physically.  But THIS - well, this is the exact opposite!  I haven't had to do any extra cardio at the gym because the show gives me plenty of it (I've actually had trouble keeping weight on because there isn't a lot of protein in the diets here AND I was burning a lot during rehearsals/shows - but now that I can make my own food I should be able to remedy that!).

That's the short little run down of things for now!  Time to go get ready for my first parade shift - here goooooooooes!!!  :D

BBQ Chicken Pizza Recipe

I am constantly wanting to mess around and make up my own recipes in the kitchen, yet somehow I rarely get around to actually doing it.  This time, however, I DID!  And OMG am I glad I did!  Because this pizza is baller.  And completely guilt-free.  It has 3x more protein than carbs - a fitness foodie's DREAM!  (Scroll to bottom for macros) Give it a go!

*A couple of disclaimers - For the crockpot sauce, use whatever spices you want!  This is how my thought process worked for mine: *spins through the spice rack* "Hmmm...this looks good...this could work...let's try this..." so don't feel like you have to use this as a strict recipe!  Add/subtract ingredients as you see fit :)

Also, the low carb/high protein aspect of this recipe works in no small part because of the P28 Flatbread.  It has 27g carbs and 28g protein per piece!  So, you can substitute a different flatbread or crust, but it will inevitably have a higher carb and lower protein result (which defeats the purpose of why I made this in the first place!).

My Ingredient List:

For the crockpot

1/2 c. BBQ sauce (I used Sassy 2 Carb BBQ - low carb and still flavorful!)

1/2 c. chicken stock (low sodium)

2 cubes chicken buillion

1/2 tsp. paprika

1/4 tsp. ground white pepper

1/4 tsp. ground mustard

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

Dash of salt

3 dried Thai chiles (or jalapenos/other spicy pepper)

4 basil leaves

Spritz of lime juice

1 to 1 1/2 lbs. chicken breast (I used breast tenderloins, which cooked through easier, so I might suggest cutting it into smaller pieces if you're using a whole breast.  Only use more than 1lb if you're using more than 1 piece of flatbread)

For the pizza

1 to 1 1/2 pieces of P28 Flatbread

1/2 large can of crushed tomatoes (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 Tbl. Italian seasoning

Salt/pepper/spices to taste

1 1/2 cups reduced fat Colby Jack cheese (or cheese of choice)

1 1/4 cups reduced fat Mozzarella cheese

1/2 red onion, sliced

3 stalks green onion, diced

Throw all of the ingredients, except the chicken, into the crockpot and stir to combine.  Add chicken and let that puppy simmer for 4 to 5 hours on low.  When the chicken is done, shred it with tongs or a fork - it should tear apart very easily.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Lay out the flatbread on a baking pan.  Place a colander/strainer over a bowl and place the shredded chicken in the strainer, then pour remaining sauce from crockpot over top.  Pick out the chiles (trust me, you don't wanna bite into those!).

Combine resulting strained sauce with tomato sauce and mix in Italian seasoning and any other spices to taste.  Spread over top of flatbread all the way to the edges.  Sprinkle Colby Jack cheese over top.  Spread shredded chicken evenly (there will be a lot!) and distribute the red onion and green onion evenly as well.  Top with mozzarella.

Bake for 10 minutes.  Remove and drizzle with extra BBQ sauce.  Enjoy the awesome protein-packed goodness!!!

The macros for my BBQ Chicken Pizza

Serving size: 1 slice (12 slices total)

163 calories
9 g carbohydrates
6 g fat
20 g protein
496 mg sodium
3 g sugar

One week left and I've already had an anxiety attack...

Okay, maybe "anxiety attack" is a strong term, but I did have a moment today where my short term memory suddenly COMPLETELY fizzled out on me and I started feeling completely overwhelmed.  I don't know exactly why, either - well, there are about a million reasons why at the moment, I just don't know which one is the culprit!

I have a week left before I leave the United States to go live in Singapore for a year.  See, even typing it out here doesn't come close to making it feel real.  It's like a fantasy that I have repeated to people over and over for the past two months, forgetting that it will ACTUALLY happen.  I left this last full week of mine completely open so that I could fill it with seeing friends, continue to work out, and do whatever else I need to get done.  But today, it was like I realized that I went from having a completely open week to a completely crammed week, and my brain couldn't handle it.  Funny thing is, my schedule isn't all that full, I just have maybe one or two things each day.  But apparently that's enough to send my brain into meltdown mode.

On top of that, I also experienced a bit of anxiety with food today.  I suspect this is quite common among both bodybuilders and people who "diet" in general.  Usually I'm very level-headed about it and know that as long as I eat clean when possible and continue to work out, my body will still respond positively.  But with wanting to eat at so many places and with so many people this week, my brain is freaking out a bit over how my body may respond to it.  I am literally just recently becoming more comfortable with upping my carb intake from competition, which has been tough.  You'd think I'd be happy to have more carbs!  CARBS CARBS CARBS YUM YUM YUM!!!  But I do get paranoid about possibly overdoing it and losing the work I've done.  In the end, I know it's silly, because I'm still training.  It was only when I stopped training AND ate unclean that my body felt like a horrible shapeless blob.  I know that moderation is key, and I know I'm smart enough to figure out how to balance it, but there's still that little twinge of doubt that creeps up from time to time.  Hopefully it will all work out, and I will be able to eat what I'd like and still show up in Singapore feeling my best!

Oh, and I keep wanting to make food.  Lots of food.  Snacky desserty food.  Problem is, with eating out so much, I don't want to have snacks waiting for me at home...ahhhhh dilemmas.  I will try to just make a fewwwww more things before I go - who knows how long it will be until I get to do it again!

Overall, I do look forward to this final week despite whatever amounts of stress it may cause.  I will continue to be positive and happy and enjoy myself, dammit!  :)

Sometimes we have to reflect on the "why"...

Recently I have found myself looking back over the past few months and reflecting on all the steps I've taken to get where I am right now.  Now that I am in post-contest mode, I find it interesting that after the initial OMG I WANT TO EAT EVERYTHING IN SIGHT phase passed, I now actually find myself craving to stick to the diet I had leading up to the contests.  Why?  Because that's one of the biggest components that got me to that point.  Even after a consultation that established I can start upping my calories and carbs little by little, I'm actually scared to do it because I'm afraid of losing the work I've done so far...

In the end, I've found that keeping the same eat-clean mentality I stuck to during contest, but allowing myself just a biiiiiit more keeps the balance in check.  Also, it's all about listening to your body.  If I know I'm hungry, I'll eat something.  What shall I eat?  Well, it depends on the time of day and what my macros are at at that point (e.g. if it's late at night, don't eat too many carbs, or if it's postworkout, don't spring for items with high fat content).  Balance is key.  So is dedication.  So is moderation.  It's not always easy, but if it were easy everyone would be doing it!

Anywhos, back to my original thought.  The past.  One of the questions I've been asked most is "Why did you start doing this?"  Honestly?  I was bored!  I've been pretty avid with working out for the past two years, starting with cardio for weight loss, then incorporating BodyPump (low weight/high rep strength training).  Life on the ship could get pretty dull since we really didn't have much work to do during the day, especially if we didn't have a show and thusly no mid-day rehearsal, so I needed something more that would both a) take up some of my time and b) give my mind something to focus on.

Below are pictures from late January 2013, a little over a month before I began clean eating

I had seen friends posting on FB and Pinterest about these intense workouts and women with crazy-fit bodies, defined abs and all.  I wondered if I could ever get myself to achieve that type of physique.  I wasn't overweight, but I wasn't super happy with my appearance.  Even though I generally ate pretty healthy, I was indulging more than I usually would have (one of the biggest challenges on a ship is avoiding the cookies/desserts/ice cream bar that is open ALL. DAY.)  It was like I knew I could be better, I just needed the right information to utilize in order to get there.  I wanted to push myself further than I'd ever pushed before.

I knew from doing BodyPump that I enjoyed lifting, and it also gave me a good arsenal of key moves for each muscle group and taught me good form as well.  I decided to basically start doing my BodyPump moves, but do them for shorter amounts of time with heavier weights.  Then I started reading about split sets and started using that method, along with the occasional full body workout.  I also kept up with cardio at least 2-3 times a week, ranging from moderate running to HIIT to Insanity workouts.

As I was developing new workout routines, I finally found a key diet plan to help get my nutrition on track in Tom Venuto's "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle."  I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone looking to burn fat, whether you're trying to drop a lot of weight or just lean out.  I quickly found what foods on the ship worked for me, and I pretty much stuck to the same items since the amount of "healthy" food available was pretty limited.  Luckily, breakfast and dinner had certain staples that were always available, so it was nice to have that to depend on.  A typical day consisted of:

Breakfast: Egg white omelet loaded with veggies (squeezing all of the oil out of it, of course)
Mid-Morning: A piece of fruit
Lunch: Rotisserie chicken breast with romaine lettuce and fresh veggies from the salad bar (no croutons or dressing)
Post-workout: Protein powder with 1 cup fat-free milk (would occasionally have fat-free Greek yogurt with honey instead)
Dinner: Fish with sauteed veggies (unfortunately the only veggies available were sauteed, which is not ideal, but trust me, the dinner salad bar sucked!)
Other general snacks: Reduced-fat cheese sticks, almond or hazelnut crackers, celery & PB, edamame

-I was fortunate enough to have a mini-fridge in my room, so I could stock up on milk cartons, veggies and cheese fairly easily.

Also, I found it funny that it got to the point where the Lido servers (the place we ate our meals) for breakfast and lunch ALWAYS knew what I would get.  Jaime would start making my omelet order at breakfast without even asking, and Teresa would start cutting out the chicken breast when I reached the front of the line at lunch lol!  Even the ship security people in San Diego would comment whenever I came up with my bags of Ralph's groceries, saying things like "Oh, here she comes with her healthy food!" or "Girl, you need to get some chocolate next time...and share it with us!"  So did I become predictable?  Yes.  But hey, it worked!

Below are pictures from early April 2013, about a month into my clean eating regimen.

Looking back at the way I dieted and exercised on the ship, I am a little amazed at the progress I was able to make.  It also reminds me that no matter how hard it may seem now to stick to good nutrition, I just tell myself that if I can do it on the Zaandam, I can do it anywhere!  lol!  And I felt SO much better when the contract was ending (although I knew I still had a little ways to go to REALLY reach my goals), which was by far the biggest payoff I could have asked for.

Below are pictures from the end of April - the last pics I took before the end of the contract!

I am, in a way, reverting back to some of the mentality I had on the ship, at least in regards to working out.  While I was there, my exercises were a "grand experiment" of sorts.  I just wanted to try different things to see if I liked them, and how well they worked.  Although I am a little addicted to split sets - I love being able to isolate muscle groups and make sure they get the attention they need - I also try to mix it up a little bit.  FitnessRx has some GREAT workout routines from the pros on their website, and I've tried a couple of them and have really enjoyed them, so I may turn there for a few more.  Now that I don't have to feel quite so pressured by competition to do a super-strict regimen, I'm really enjoying the freedom to do the workouts I WANT to do, and now rekindled the feeling of doing split sets because I WANT to, as well.

Although looking back over the past 6 months can often leave me feeling exhausted when I think of all the time and energy it took to start achieving my goals, I know that there is no other way I would've wanted it.  And although I have days now where it seems like too much, like I just want to "be more normal," I have come to the point where I ultimately find solace in clean eating.  I know my body will feel and perform better when I do, and that's the most addicting feeling ever!  So even though I have my occasional ice cream or candy bar, in the end I choose to eat clean because it provides both my mind and body with the utmost peace and power.

Eat clean, train mean, stay lean!

In the beginning...there was nutrition!

Ever since I started posting my progress and competition results on Facebook, I've had many people who have voiced their support and encouragement for the choices I've made, which is incredibly uplifting!  I've also had many people ask me what I did to get to this point.  Well, honestly it is incredibly complex and incredibly simple all at the same time.  I will try my best to chip away at this topic through this blog.  But also, PLEASE bear in mind that I am not a certified trainer or nutritionist - I am simply sharing my personal journey and advice so that others can possibly take something away from it or find something to try for themselves.

First of all, I couldn't have done ANY of this without the e-book that got my nutrition straightened out. It's called "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle" by Tom Venuto, and you can find it here.  I had been eating relatively healthy, skipping fried foods and all that.  I had tried to messing with my carbs and making them higher to try 'giving myself more energy,' but that failed miserably.  I needed to find out how to get my nutrition on track.  When an internet search yielded Tom's book, the more I read about it the more I liked it.  So, I decided to give it a go!  But let's step back for a moment...

I have tracked my food in a food diary via MyFitnessPal for over two years now, and I credit my initial weight loss two years ago to a combination of cardio and this website.  I used their calorie and macronutrient guidelines to keep myself in check, and whaddayaknow - it worked!  Who knew holding yourself accountable could WORK?!  I had tried Hydroxycut and acai berry pills before that point, with little to no results.  I am very happy to say that I achieved both my initial weight loss and my more recent muscle building with good old fashioned nutrition and exercise.  The only "supplement" I use is protein powder - that's it!  No gimmicky pills or paying for pre-packaged food delivered to your door, just smart decisions, dedication and a good work ethic.  This is also one of the reasons why I loved Mr. Venuto's book, because it focuses on straight up nutrition.  He's not trying to sell you anything.  (The only thing he ever advertises is his "Inner Circle" website, which is a support community for people who follow his program/book.)  He covers exercise as well, which is helpful, but most of the book is focused on nutrition.  And it is a LOT of info for only $40.  I swear, that thing has WAY more than paid for itself!

If you decide to spring for the book, I think you'll really like it.  I truly think it's perfect for anyone at any point on their fitness journey, whether you're just starting out or looking to fine-tune your habits.

To really pinpoint what you need/want/should do to achieve your goals, you need to assess your current stats and what you want your goal stats to be, physically.  Then you can tune your program, including your caloric intake, macronutrient goals (fats, carbs, protein), and workout regimen to work toward those goals.  This can take a bit of time and effort to figure out, but once you've got that down, it really does become pretty simple!

The book explains all the different types of carbs, proteins, fats, etc. which is very important information, and in the end it boils down to good old-fashioned all NATURAL food!

First things first - cut out processed foods.  Most junk food is "junk" because of all the processing and additives it gets in production.  I can tell you that I rarely go down the aisles of a grocery store.  90% of my shopping is done in the "outer circle" of the store, aka the produce, the butcher, refrigerated section and the health market.  I don't buy frozen vegetables or meat, I prefer to buy fresh, but I do know that for some people that is the most time and cost effective way to buy food, and I understand that.  If that's your preferred method, still take time to read the label and make sure there isn't a bunch of unnecessary additives to it.

Oh yeah, did I mention you should read labels?  READ LABELS!

I repeat... READ. LABELS.

Yes, be that person.  I read labels on everything I buy.  And I am highly discriminatory.  The less ingredients, the better.  There's all kinds of hoopla about how accurate labels are these days, but it doesn't mean you shouldn't read them.  For now, take them at their word.  If there's a bunch of words in there that you've never seen or can't pronounce (propyl gallate say-whaaa?), it's probably not good for you.

And for the love all things, PLEASE steer clear of artificial sweeteners.  Aspartame, sucralose, saccharine, acesulfame K...no bueno.  They won't do you too much harm in small amounts, but many people (and I was guilty of this too) make a huge habit of using them, e.g. Splenda in their coffee, Equal in their tea, etc.  My advice?  Stevia.  It's a wonderful thing.  Zero calories, but much more natural AND sweeter than any artificial sweetener!  I also use Truvia blend and/or erythritol in baking rather than white sugar or artificial sweeteners.

Basically, it boils down to eating wholesome food.  There.  That's pretty simple, right?  I'm going to leave it at that for now.  Hopefully I will find a way to make sense of even more fitness and food tips for future posts :)