The Only Supplement That I Use

Hi there, Hungry here. In 2007, I started using supplements. I was an 155 pound Division I college athlete that needed to gain weight and strength. I used Muscle Milk’s protein and Muscle Tech’s pre-workout. 2007 was also the year that I became a fitness professional, as a personal trainer. I’ve been in the industry for about 12 years. During that time, there was a five or so year period where I tried every product by every brand. It was the same period where I wanted every certification. I was hungry for growth and knowledge. Now, with the atmospheric growth of the fitness industry, that isn’t possible. It also isn’t worth it.

Mar012019

Fuel Up Like Gronk: Chris Gronkowski’s Guide to Protein Shakes

[Please enjoy a guest article from former NFL player, Chris Gronkowski!]

Why Should You Drink Protein Shakes?

No matter your workout goals, protein shakes are beneficial to your diet and your exercise routine. If you’re looking to build more muscle, upping your protein intake stimulates your muscle growth. Proteins are made up of amino acids, which are essential to building muscles, so drinking protein shakes throughout the day will amp up this process.

For those looking to lose weight, protein shakes can be a healthy meal replacement that will ensure you get enough protein while decreasing your calorie intake. Losing weight involves eating a healthy diet and burning off more calories than you consume. Replacing your breakfast with a protein shake is an excellent way to fuel up for the day during a diet.

Feb072019

Hungry’s New Morning Routine

Who wakes up before 8 am? Who wakes up before 7 am? 6 am? How about 5 am? I know that we have readers of all ages on the blog, and while everyone is unique, there are certain populations who tend to sleep in more than others. For as long as we’ve been together, our alarms are usually set for 5:30 am. We like to walk Noke before other people are outside and get our day started. Recently, a few changes have led me to set that alarm an hour earlier.

I’ve been waking up at 4:30 am.

Jan072019

How Much is Diet and How Much is Exercise?

Yesterday at the gym, in the middle of a set, a woman walked up to me and asked me if she could ask me a question… even though she already did. I nodded up and down, finished my set and took my headphones out so that I could hear her. I’ll get interrupted nearly every workout, no matter where I’m training, so it doesn’t bother me. If it did, I would use my gym at home or just ignore people. Since I designed this particular fitness center, I’m even more friendly than normal, so I decided to help her out.

Dec212018

Two Do-Anywhere Workouts

It’s the holiday season. You could be traveling, stuck in airports, hotels, or maybe your bedroom from fifteen years ago. Either way, you might not be in your normal setup and routine. Or, even if you aren’t traveling for the holidays, other things may interrupt your routine. For example, your usual gym could be closed for a few days over the holidays. But have no fear–Hungry & Fit are here! Fit recently had to travel for work and didn’t have a gym handy so she had to get creative in her hotel room with no equipment!

Please enjoy the two workouts below. I try to keep them as simple as possible and under 30 minutes so that they can fit in your busy schedule during the holidays.

Nov302018

The Optimal Holiday Season

Thanksgiving is over and you’ve probably just stopped feeling full from what was surely a gluttonous night. Preparing for the madness and chaos between Christmas and New Year’s, we are all trying to stay in the best physical and mental state possible. After all, we need to hit some of our 2018 resolutions and prepare ourselves for 2019. Instead of just giving up entirely and letting yourself go, give December your absolute best effort. We already threw some tips out for Black Friday shopping, which are still somewhat useful now. Even if you missed out on all of the sales, focus your mind and be an absolute beast this last month of the year.

In order to keep your mind in the best possible place and minimize the stress that is associated with this time of year, we need to keep our bodies in great shape. We need to stay healthy and fight off colds or flus that notoriously wreck us at the worst time possible. (I remember having a 106 degree fever while recovering from Bells Palsy a few years ago, at our family Christmas celebration… it was the worst!) Regularly exercising and eating well will put you in a good place and set you up for success, but everyone can use some help. Fortunately for all of us, one of our absolute favorite companies in the health and wellness space just came out with some new products and after trying them for a few weeks, we have to share!

Nov272018

A Beginner’s Guide to Counting Macros

[Please enjoy a guest article from former NFL player, Chris Gronkowski!]

Starting a new diet can be a difficult adjustment and part of the change involves becoming accustomed to a new routine and way of thinking about food. Counting calories is an accurate but sometimes challenging method for tracking what you consume each day. If your goal is to lose weight, you’ll want to record how many calories you eat and work to burn off more calories. For some people, this dieting method is tedious and easy to forget about. But those willing to stick to a strict approach may want to take it one step further and experiment with counting their macro calories.

What Is a Macro Diet?

Following a macro diet is similar to the process of counting calories but, instead, you must focus on tracking how much you consume of the three macronutrients—protein, carbohydrates and fats. One of the major benefits of counting macros is that you are compelled to consume only foods that are fueling your body in some respect. For example, if you were on a calorie-counting diet, you could eat a bag of potato chips as long as you write down the calorie count. But, with a macro-counting diet, you would want to replace the chips with a food heavier in protein, carbs or fats.

Macronutrients are vital to our body’s well-being, and they can be found in nearly every food. Most items though are classified by whichever macronutrient they have the most of—for example, beef is considered a protein even though it also contains fats. Counting macros has been a popular practice amongst athletes for many years but, as of late, people have found this method to be a beneficial way to hold themselves to healthy eating habits.

Mar022018

Meditate With Your Pets!

Animals are the joys of our lives and our constant companions. Whether they’re a cat, dog, or a snake, they’re usually by our side and present daily in our lives. However, when it comes to things like meditation, they can be a bit of a pest. Either they’re meowing in your ear, nudging your hand for pets, or jumping in your lap, pets can be darned distracting during meditation! You’re trying to find your breath and oomph there goes the cat jumping on your lap or the dog barking. Yeah, we love ’em, but pets can be annoying in situations like these. This meditation is to challenge that. The other day, I did a short meditation early in the morning before Hungry was awake. The animals were either on the couch next to me or somewhere close, hoping it was close to breakfast time. And somewhere between their pining and my peace-seeking, I found a balance and it was really great.

I focused on companionship. The unconditional love you can get from your animals is a powerful thing. When it feels like the whole world is against you and nobody really likes you, you can still get plenty of face licks from your dog. She will sit with you forever and never get tired of you. To me, animals exhibit and teach us true love and also how to love. We can learn a lot from observing them and reflecting on them. So that’s just what I did for this meditation. Even if you don’t have your own pet, think of an animal you love–that will still work for this meditation. This can be a short meditation if you wish it to, but don’t rush it if you can. Enjoy.

Feb232018

How to Keep Up Your Workout Routine When Traveling (MOTIVATION!)

This doesn’t include one of our notorious hotel workouts. This doesn’t have a ton of exercises and numbers. You won’t find any programming here: No sets, reps, rest, etc. This is strictly motivational and completely intended to help you remember that you can make up as many excuses as you want, but you can also take them away. It is all on you.

Feb142018

Meditation All About Love

Happy Valentine’s Day (or: Single Awareness Day)! To speak plainly, it doesn’t matter if you don’t have that special someone in your life. Love is not always about another person, and even when it is, it doesn’t necessarily need to be romantic. You can love your dog, or your friend, or your coworker, or yourself! Love doesn’t even need to be directed towards a being. Love can just be love. It doesn’t need to be cute or mushy or gross. Love at its barest form is pure and unabashed–without flowers or chocolates or obligations. It’s a powerful force that binds the world together (ignore the slight Star Wars reference). Let’s try just taking a moment today to focus on love and find what good it can do for you. Below is a short meditation all about love to get you in the right mindset today.