She masks our tears and sweat with a solid playlist!

This captures our class exactly...JenniferEra is THE intensity Queen!

I’m noticing a pattern, either I am attracted to instructors that are ridiculously intense and passionate about their work and mission, or all fitness professionals are freaks of nature!  I’m going with the latter…it makes me feel more sane (and trust me, I need all the sanity feelings I can get…I’m a chick, we often feel crazy;)!

Before I started on this much more organized fitness venture than my own happenstance approach, Sundays were one of my favorite fitness days.  I go to a killer, Rock and Roll studio in the heart of Hollywood, called Made in La.  It is a little boutique that isn’t mobbed with a lot of people trying to network through the gym, or meet their next 30 second relationship…its sprinkled with people that are inside actually working out, and to killer playlists, thanks to the amazing Ms Wyatt, Jennifer Era if your nasty…(that was a lil Janet Jackson reference, and no, I haven’t heard Janet in the playlist;)

Cycling was killer, but she started our mix with an inspirational, but Rock and Roll song by Local Natives, called Airplanes…sign up for Jennifer’s blog and follow her fitness music choices!!!  As far as the workout…I was pedaling slow, and fast, and we were standing and sitting, it was a blur of tears and sweat…more sweat than tears…who am I trying to kid…it was more tears…just kidding.  She is awesome, and she makes you get out of your own mind for the hour of her class……which I need for sure.  My mind runs like one of those bad Bing commercials.

FOOOOOOOD!

I predicted it…I no longer have a food pyramid filled with different types of cereal.  The food police put a halt to that…I am now learning balance in my meals with whole food options…I had an egg, apple and a handful ONLY of Kashi pre workout! PROGRESS…I think;) (you can take the cereal out of the girl, but you can’t take the girl out of the cereal, that’s how that goes right? when in Rome!)

Don’t tell her, but I felt better in my workout, I felt full and didn’t have a stomach ache or get the typical distended belly look…(ps, that’s not hot and it takes a while to go away!)  Check out her nutrition tips at Nutrition with Tanya!

For more information on all of the participants in the total image make-over, go to http://www.lacitydentalgroup.com/, we even are documenting by video…so subscribe to our youtube channel and get all the fitness, nutrition and image tips from the experts in the LA area…(and really, what city in America is more focused on image, than LA?)

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

The love I have for these cookies cannot be expressed with words. My love for these little pieces of heaven almost broke me out of a relationship…

I was dieting for a fitness show, and had given up all foods with carbohydrates, calories and taste. Unfortunately, the precious cookie fell under the “restricted” category. The boyfriend, at the time, took me to the mall to help him pick out some clothes during my limited time away from a treadmill. While traveling between clothing stores, we passed by the glorious Mrs. Fields…yummm…I had to stop to appreciate the aroma surrounding its glass case of goodies. At that time, the boyfriend had a moment of brilliance and went up and purchased one of my favorite cookies for himself to enjoy and for me to watch him enjoy. Now I don’t know if you as a reader have ever been on a calorie-restrictive diet, with your calorie expenditure being greater than your intake…but if you have, you know that after a few days, this will make you crazy!

The first bite he took into the cookie, I was thinking, “there is no way this is happening.” Second bite, “oh my gosh, this isn’t a dream, that is really my favorite cookie he is eating.” Third bite, “This a– has the audacity to eat my favorite cookie in front of me….aaaaaahhhhh.” The remaining bites become blurry as I half-way yell at him about his choices and all the way start balling in the middle of the mall. Moral of the story, never help your man shop for clothes, it will end in tears…