Over the course of the last year, I have been working on re-training my body to get off the sugar (or carbs) and use my own body fat for energy instead.

And over the weekend, it hit me. I've come a long way with this transition. In fact, it's safe to say, I have arrived.

Here's how I know....

Over the weekend Steve & I stayed with some friends in Philly. We all got tickets to see a TEDx talk at the University of Pennsylvania. The event was on Sunday, so we headed down early to meet up with everyone on Saturday & stay the night. That way we could catch up over dinner & drinks then feel less rushed in the morning to make it in time for the 10am start.

Side note: By the way, if you haven't gone to any live TEDx talks, they are AWESOME. I make it a point to subject myself to people with big ideas & insights who are not afraid to share their concepts with the world. TEDx is known for forward-thinking and revolutionary concepts. I. JUST. LOVE. THEM.

So, what ELSE came of this awesome trip?

I realized that I can now travel & not feel like I'm a slave to my food (or my workouts for that matter.)

No stressing out about what, when & how I'm going to eat on the road or in someone else's house where I'm staying. No freaking out because I don't have the "right" snacks & I'm starving.

It's a rather amazing feeling and I am finally ready to share how I did it with you in this week's RealFit in 5 video.

It started with recognizing & admitting these 2 things:
1. Carbs (even "healthy whole grains" at every meal was no longer a good idea for me. It caused my blood sugar to spike, my stomach to growl, and my mood to drop which made me HANGRY within 2 -3 hours of eating. It made me a slave to my food.
2. My hormones had more to do with how my body was handling food and my mood than I was willing to admit in the past.

I put off taking care of these things because eating carbs is hard to let go of! Carbs & sugar are the fun foods! the comfort foods.

AND, I was in denial about how much my body TRULY needed to benefit my health and level of "feel good." I would reach to them to feel good, but that was a temporary fix that lead to a crash shortly thereafter.

The other reason I put it off was because I wasn't ready to go off my birth control. (I shared this in a previous video) Not getting my period was AWESOME! ...So I thought. Then it caught up to me & was becoming quite the hindrance in my life.

Once I faced these 2 things, I made a decision to do something about it. (remember my post on decision making a couple weeks ago?)

Here's what I did:
1. I went off my birth control & got my hormones tested. Magdalena gave me a protocol to help balance them out naturally.
Click here for info on hormone testing.

2. I shifted my carb intake to the evening.
Check out John Kiefer of Body.io who opened my mind to a different approach with my food.

3. I balanced out my workouts. Less cardio. More rest days. I've talked about this before & it holds true for me - the more cardio I do, the more ravenous my appetite & well, that kinda defeats the purpose for me. Also, with my cortisol levels high ( proven from my saliva test), I knew that cardio would actually cause me to HOLD ONTO body fat, not burn it.

4.  I incorporated yoga as part of my stress relieving strategy for mental & emotional health. (Did you know we now have regularly scheduled new yoga videos in RealResults too?)

5. I got back to lifting for 30-45 minutes 3 times a week. Strength training promotes hormone balance and lean muscle tissue for a more efficient metabolism.

Want a 2 or 3-day a week strength program to follow? I've got it covered for you. Join RealResults for 30 days & if you aren't seeing results within the first 4 weeks, I will give you your money back!

I would love to hear about YOUR experience with being a sugar burner... or perhaps you have already made the switch yourself! Share below!