My secret to eating what I want

Top: Alo from Carbon 38
 Leggings: Alala from Carbon 38
Vest: Carbon 38 (similar here)
Shoes: Nike Presto

It's probably no secret that I eat a lot of food, but in this post, I want to chat about how I do it while maintaining a balanced lifestyle. 

A lot of people ask me how I eat all this food (which I honestly do, I don’t just photograph it) and not gain weight. The answer is my personal trainer boyfriend, Dan, keeps me motivated to work out hard to eat hard. But you better believe that my weight fluctuates too, just like everyone else! I’ve been an active person my entire life and I’ve been a lover of food since forever. Some people don’t think the two go together, but in my world, they’re like pho and spring rolls, cookies and ice cream, burgers and fries, you get the idea.

Believe it or not, before starting Stir and Style, I had pretty much tried every diet there is out there. From paleo, to low carb, to no carb, to gluten-free, to Keto, to juicing cleansing, to calorie restriction, and even to only eating certain colored foods each day of the week. I worked out hard, but not the right way. The way I used to work out bulked me up and actually slowed down my metabolism to the point where if I ate one cheeto, the next day I would be 1lb heavier. It drove me crazy. But now, I’ll eat a whole bag of Cheetos and don’t feel a tinge of regret.

I never post a photo unless 1) I ate it and 2) I liked it. I love to eat. Dan has changed my life in so many ways and one way is that he has taught me ways to workout where I don’t need to worry about the calories I’m consuming because as long as I workout hard at the gym, everything stays balanced. Since a lot of you have been asking about my workouts, I will be posting more workout videos on my IG @stirandstyle and Youtube Channel in the near future. But for now, I typically share my fitness routine whenever I’m at the gym on Snapchat at StirandStyle. So, follow along there!

Now it's time for the big secret of how I eat what I want. I still stick to the foundation of my workout that Dan taught me from my first fitness post , but now I increase my speed. This my friends is what I swear is my secret and by MY secret, I mean Dan's secret...so shhhhh:

15 minutes of cardio is all I need:
2 minutes at 7 speed
1 minute at 10 speed (or 11 if I'm feeling extra energetic)
Repeat 5 times

I used to run on an incline of 3 to 5 and please feel free to do so. It helps with fat burn and leg definition, but lately my knees have been hurting since I've had two ACL surgeries (a story for another post), so I don't run on an incline at all anymore. If you do my intervals 5 times a week along with some weight lifting, you will see results. This cardio routine is something that I've been doing for 2 years straight and since meeting Dan and learning his workout ways, I have lost almost 20lbs!! This past week, I have been very inspired and motivated to train for The Spartan Race and I have been aiming to run 10 sets each time I get on the treadmill at slower speeds of 6 speed jog and 9 or 10 speed sprint for endurance training. I haven't yet decided if The Spartan Race is the best choice for me due to my knee injuries, but I'm open to training for it. The Spartan ladies are BEAST, so strong and lean. We'll see what happens and I'll definitely keep you posted!

STIR
The Stir for this post is Korean Taro Shaved Ice with housemade red beans, mochi, coconut flakes, and condensed milk from Sul & Beans in LA’s Koreantown. It tasted like a taro Samoa, two things I love very much.

If you’ve never had Korean Shaved Ice, it’s not like a snow cone where the ice is crunchy and hard. The ice is more like fresh powder when you get a mouthful of it after you take a hard spill on the slopes while snowboarding. It melts in your mouth immediately and requires zero teeth action. But let me tell you what does require teeth action, those delicious house-made mochi on top. So chewy and such a perfect addition to this dessert! [Pro-tip: Order the mochi toast too!]

STYLE
Carbon 38 is where fashion meets fitness, another two things I love very much! They’ve created a space to shop for the best brands for fitness attire that’s also fashion forward. Their styles fit all your needs whether you’re actually going to workout, which is cool, or just headed out to brunch or the grocery store…or BOTH. Their pieces are perfect for the times you leave the gym, but you need to run a million errands and still want to look cute. I’m especially loving their new outerwear items for Fall too, so make sure you go check those out!

Thank you so much for reading and following along on my journey. If you have any requests for workouts or questions you'd like answered, please don't hesitate to comment below or email me at june@stirandstyle.com!