So, this is a clip from my satellite media tour in NYC, talking about putting together the Perfect Pantry!  I did 22 of these segments back to back to back to back…..*DEEP breath.  It was a complete adrenaline rush and JP and I had the Perfect excuse to explore the food and wine scene eat and drink all of the things! Click here if the video box below doesn’t play.

So, this is what 45 pounds looks like— and a whole lot of sweating, running, lifting and low-carbing. (More on that in a minute.)  And yeah, that actually IS me on the left– (pretend like I’m not wearing that hideous doo-rag or the spare tire around my mid-section.)  Here’s the thing… when I took that “before” pic and then gasped when I saw how far I’d gotten off track with my diet and exercise, I NEVER IMAGINED I would publicly share it.  It was something to bury deep in my cell phone as a reminder to not hit a late night drive thru and to say no to that third glass of wine.

But as I started my journey to get in shape high school skinny, it became the motivating factor for my lifestyle changes. Lifestyle, indeed. People ask me all the time when they see my food porn on Facebookand Instagram, “But do you really EAT all of that stuff?”

In a word, NO.

But I eat a lot of it. JP still requests chicken fried steak and scalloped potatoes and crazy chef chick that I am, sometimes I make separate meals for us. For me, that means, no breading and no starches. In fact, I cut out all the processed crap from my life. That translates to no sugar, nothing from a box, no pasta, rice, flour, anything with wheat or gluten, and all bread. And all french fries.

So, you ask, “Then what the hell DO you eat??”

I chow down on lots of low carb delish– bacon, any and all cuts of meat, cheese, dairy and veggies. It’s a ketogenic style of eating. Just don’t call it a diet, because that is a 4 letter word that is very, very bad. I will never go hungry on a DIET again. FYI, I have an entire section on this blog devoted to low carb/ketogenic meals!

Here’s how it works

 
When carbohydrate containing foods are digested, they are broken down into blood sugar (glucose) in the body. The more carbohydrates we eat, the more glucose is made. As diabetics know, high blood sugar is toxic to the body. Eating more fats and protein and less carbs causes our internal biochemical pathways to switch to using our stored fat for fuel instead of burning sugar. 

So basically, when you’re eating a ketogenic diet, your body is burning FAT for fuel. For me, that resulted in putting on a teeny tiny bikini for the first time in 10 years. I’m really freaking proud of what I accomplished. And, more than that, I feel fabulous– with more energy and more confidence than I’ve ever had in my entire life.

Want to know more? I’m going to be introducing personalized ketogenic meal plans on my site soon, so you too can find the kind of success I’ve experienced. It will seriously, change your life.

Add in a bad ass workout like Orange Theory Fitness (and NO, I’m not a paid spokesperson for them) and everything that’s been leaned out by the ketogenic style of eating will get toned and tightened…I also do mat work from the Tracy Anderson Method and pop into a few Zumba classes each month.

Here are my stats: I’m 5’11 and started out at 190 pounds with 34% body fat. Today I am a lean 145-148 pounds and dropped to 18% body fat.

Here’s the reveal!

You’ll never be annoyed by an eggy mess again when trying to separate egg yolks from the whites!!

Keep a cutting board in place….Keep all 10 fingers intact!!

Behold….the magic of metal dog dishes and a head of garlic…..Yeah, it’s pretty awesome!

Here’s the way I like to slice my avocados and keep them green. Easy Breezy!  And delish!