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Life can get hectic and fast-paced, especially as a New Yorker. For me, it’s important to keep a strict routine otherwise my diet and workout schedule will get lost in the mist. It can be hard to find a daily regimen that keeps your mind and body on point, so I’m here to offer my expertise.
For my fast-paced lifestyle, meal prep is a vital tool to help me keep my eating on track. A young entrepreneur in the NYC scene is always on the go, traveling and doesn’t have the time to go grocery shopping and cook nutritious meals. That’s where meal prep comes in to play. Served Natural is a brand new service that aims to disrupt the meal prep industry by bridging the gap between high-end restaurant quality cuisine and food delivery, all while adhering to daily nutrition recommendations and healthy eating standards. Served meals are prepared by a seasoned chef who incorporates high quality, locally and sustainably sourced ingredients within all of their artisan meal options.
As a fitness instructor and healthy lifestyle enthusiast, I’ve found ways to keep my daily routine and eating habits on point, despite my busy schedule. Through a low-carb low-sugar diet, intermittent fasting, fat-burning workouts and meal prep – with the help of Served Natural – you can even reach your fitness goals on a fast-paced schedule.
Morning:
The first thing when I wake up every morning is to drink a large cup of water to rehydrate my body after sleep. I then drink a cup of black coffee, straight with no additives (no sugar, milk, creamer, etc.) Along with coffee, a great natural metabolic booster, I also start each day with fresh celery juice and half a grapefruit. I typically mix the raw celery juice with a splash of lemon juice and turmeric for taste. Not only is celery juice incredibly hydrating, but it’s also great for your skin. Turmeric also has incredible health benefits. It is a potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant and has the potential to prevent heart disease, Alzheimer’s and cancer.
Once I’ve hydrated and had my coffee, I’m ready to hit the gym for a great fat-burning cardio workout. My morning workouts generally start with 45-minutes of fast cardio (inclined treadmill work at an incline of 15 and 3.0 speed) while hydrating with either water or amino acids. Once finished I will usually squeeze in 10-15 minutes of ab work on the mats.
Afternoon:
I eat my first meal around 1 pm daily. Utilizing the intermittent fasting method, this first meal of the day should come roughly 16-hours after your last meal (8-9pm, the evening before). Here is an additional resource that underscores the importance of intermittent fasting.
After lunch, sometime in the afternoon, I’ll head back to the gym for a heavy weight training workout. I make sure to consistently change my lifting routines. The same routine over and over again will eventually become ineffective, muscle memory will cause your body to quickly adapt to the same routine. If you have the time, an occasional group fitness class is a great way to dynamically change up your regimen. Weight training oriented classes, like boot camp and total-body training, can be a great way to transform your fitness journey.
At the end of a long day, I focus on recovery. I always make sure to massage out whichever muscle group I’ve worked that day. Nothing is better than sitting on my couch, watching my favorite TV show, while using a percussive recovery tool to really break up muscle tension after a hard workout. A more basic and cost-effective option would be utilizing a foam roller or massage balls, both of which you can find relatively cheap.
Evening:
The evenings are important for relaxation and continued recovery ahead of the next day’s training routine.
I refrain from eating starches after 6 pm. And, as previously mentioned, I eat my last meal of the day – low in carbs and heavy in protein and steamed vegetables – at 8 pm each evening. The most important thing of all is to get a full night’s sleep, eight to ten hours, to rejuvenate the body and mind.
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As previously published in The Aspiring Gentleman.
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