Diet
“I don’t eat breakfast and it’s not because I do intermittent fasting. I’ve just never been one to eat breakfast. I wake up and have a [vitamin-rich] green powder drink every morning as I’m making my coffee, and I drink black coffee every day. That keeps me going until noon or 1 p.m., but I don’t follow any specific diet. My only two rules are moderation, so I don’t gorge myself, and I don’t eat anything that I know will make me feel terrible. With those two rules, I eat whatever I’m in the mood for. Today, I had a salad and some chicken because I wanted something light so that I could keep moving throughout the day. But it’s not like I rule everything out [of my diet]; I had a burger two nights ago and I also love pizza and burritos. Our bodies are meant to have a certain amount of fat and carbs every day. In between meals, I’ll have nuts for snacks and I also love those peanut butter-filled pretzel nuggets. The ones from Trader Joe’s are fantastic. If I need something sweet, I’ll take just one bite of a chocolate chip cookie or I’ll allow myself one peanut butter cup.”
Fitness
“During Covid, I built a full home gym because I’m one of those weird people who likes the at-home workouts. I hated seeing someone I knew at the gym because it would interrupt my flow of the workout; I’m on a mission and I like to keep my heart rate kind of elevated the whole time. So when Covid came around, I actually really enjoyed the isolation of my workouts. I was spending $150 a month on a gym membership, and I’m now saving that amount. I try to work out five days a week and I also do yoga at a yoga studio two-to-three evenings a week. For my home gym workouts, I usually target two different body parts each day. Before that, and after some stretching, I always do my ab workouts as kind of a warm-up. I found that when I did a hard workout first, I was tired so I would find any excuse not to finish my ab workout. When I’m done with that, I focus on two muscle groups, like back and shoulders, chest and back, and biceps and triceps. I have a cable weight machine and also use dumbbells. Then I always finish my workouts with a minimum of 20 minutes cardio, but my goal is ideally 30-to-45 minutes cardio to get a high heart rate going. I alternate either on a stationary bicycle for 30 minutes of hard spinning or outdoor runs for a slower heart rate and so I’m not sucking wind.”
