Hi, I'm Judy

Hi, I'm Judy. I'm currently a student at Brigham Young University but I will be graduating in 4 weeks with a Bachelors in Special Education. 

I've always loved food. I don't remember never not liking food. I like food so much that when I starting really cooking for myself and had the freedom to eat out more, I gained my freshman 15. I still haven't lost that weight but that's a topic for another day. 

Over the past couple years or so I really started caring about my health, the kind of food I put in my body, and the exercise I was willing to do. 

In high school I fell in love with running. I ran for 3 years on my high school's cross country team and ate whatever I wanted. But I found out that once I became an adult I didn't really have the freedom to eat whatever without suffering the consequences.

I love popcorn, cookies, chips, pizza, tacos, candy, bread, and basically everything unhealthy. 

Currently I am working on having self-control. I'm working on loving and eating healthy food so that my love for exercising shows. 

Three weeks ago I hit an all-time low. For months I had been eating whatever I wanted again. I didn't care about having a balanced meal and I was always lacking in energy. I was working out 4+ times a week and I had nothing to show for it. I was drinking so much caffeine daily that I'm embarrassed to admit it. I was literally drinking my calories and eating whatever I could get my hands on. I had lost my real love for food. 

So three weeks ago I decided I needed to love food again. I needed to love food in a healthy way. I needed to love food without feeling guilty about it. I needed to change how and what I ate completely. 

My mom gave me a book a while back that she used to help her lose 50+ pounds. It's called 
Dr.Abravanel's Body Type Diet and Lifetime Nutrition Plan and it's actually amazing. I've tried to use it before but with little success. And to be honest I'm still struggling to implement what I've learned from the book but I'm doing a really great job overall.

Basically the book helps you find out how to feed your body based on your specific body type. There are four body types addressed and after taking a quiz you find out which plan to follow. I am a T-type. I crave sugar and I naturally have low energy. This means I need to avoid sugar--including natural sugars in fruit and honey--- as much as possible and eat a ton of protein, veggies, and whole grains to maximize the energy I gain from those foods.
Since implementing the plan 3 weeks ago, I've seen a huge difference in my overall energy. I am no longer dependent on caffeine and I crave sugary things a lot less. I still struggle to completely rid myself of sugar but my overall diet has improved drastically. I've eaten at least 12 salads in the past 3 weeks and I cook myself healthy meals every day. I have more energy at the gym and have been able to push myself physically and mentally just by changing the way I eat. I am conscience about what I eat but not so obsessive that I count calories and hate myself for "cheating" every once in a while. Although I ideally want to lose weight, I haven't gotten to the point where I want to take the "diet" seriously enough to do so. I also think that because of the particular workouts I've been following (found here), the muscle I have gained is hiding the weight of the fat I've likely lost.
I'm working on a better eating lifestyle that works for me but I highly recommend the methods I've used if you'd like to do the same. 

Through this blog, I'd like to share the food I've made/ate and talk about how to stay active and fit even with a demanding work/life schedule.