Ms. Namita Nayyar:
What is your diet? Do you take a particular fixed regulated diet comprising of nutrients and vitamins to keep you in perfect health?
Ms. Amanda Russell:
I believe in the 80/20 rule, meaning you never deprive yourself of anything, but you eat healthy most of the time. I don’t call it a diet, because it’s a way of life and involves no deprivation or ‘rules that are against the diet’.
I get asked this question frequently, which is why I created Fit Strong and Sexy nutrition guide – it is my personal routine on what I eat, what to enjoy, what to portion out, tips, tricks and beyond.
I like my red wine and chocolate and would never preach a life that forbids those things. However, when I need to energize and feel/look my best for a big photo shoot or event, I take it up a notch for a limited period. It is 7 days of incredibly wholesome clean, ‘ab-reavealing’ eating and energizing daily workouts. I just made it available for the first time online: I call it the 7-Day Body Reset Plan, which is my version of a ‘detox’. No starving or juice fasting, rather it’s a more daily blueprint to follow!
All super easy with daily meal samples laid out, grocery lists and ‘go-to’ solutions, and much more. I decided to share this because the results are truly incredible, it’s amazing how good you can feel and look in just 7 days – you can literally reset your body. I understand there is never a ‘good week’ to diet, life is full and busy, this is the beauty of the 7 Day Reset, it is simple and easy to integrate into even the busiest of lives.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
What is your motivation to take a multi-faceted personality of a fitness model, personal trainer, media personality, nutritional expert, fitness and lifestyle writer, professional keynote speaker, Olympic-trained athlete, spokeswoman, founder of FitStrongandSexy.com and one of the industry’s leading experts in fitness?
Ms. Amanda Russell:
Thank you for the generous description. I think we are all multi-faceted, if you think about it, everyone has multiple roles, interests, & talents. No one is one dimensional, and we are all motivated differently.
My motivation comes from an intense desire for happiness. I know what it takes to be happy and that it doesn’t mean just floating. It’s a conscious choice and it’s not always easy. For example, I know that there are many mornings where I’d rather sleep in than rise to the alarm and sweat it out before a day of work, but I also know that pushing myself is what makes me happy and strong in the long run. I am motivated to really live every day to the fullest, so that when I sit down at night I can reflect and know that I maximized every minute of that day.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
You have glowing skin and gorgeous hair. Do you take some kind of skin treatment to keep it young and glowing and secondly what you do to your hair to make them look so stunning?
Ms. Amanda Russell:
Why thank you! I think regular exercise and getting the right nutrients are the main sources of healthy skin and hair. I am very committed to working out hard and ensuring I refuel my body with the best fuel. However, even with the most balanced diet on the planet, can be enhanced. I used to be opposed to ANY form of supplements or skin care products – no joke, I thought it was all a bunch of marketing. But I hit a certain birthday, some well respected girlfriends told me it was time to try what they’ve been doing and they introduced me to this line of skin care and ‘ageless renewal’ supplements. I started and within 3 weeks even the ‘check in’ guy at the gym noticed that I was looking more energized and even ‘glowing’!
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
You were preparing for Beijing Olympics in the 10,000m, with your hopes high, your running career soaring, and your training schedule was all set when all of a sudden it all came to a screeching halt with a career-ending injury. How you were able to overcome this physical injury/setback and what advice you can give to fellow sports person in a similar situation?
Ms. Amanda Russell:
While the injury was ‘physical’, what I learned from it was that it is about so much more than the ‘physical’. I was devastated and felt lost on so many levels. I struggled through it without my usual outlet of being able to sweat it out, but what I gained from this situation was a life-altering new passion. I believe it is some of the seemingly’ worst situations’ that you have the potential to gain the most from (I say ‘potential’ because it is your individual choice how to react).
I didn’t realize how important fitness was to me until the injury took it away. During that time, I ended up taking a job, working for a prestigious corporate consulting firm in New York City. Like many desk jobs, I was stuck sitting at a computer 12 to 14 hours a day, feeling like a part of me was dead and numb and bored. It was this depressive state, this feeling of being ‘stuck’ that drove me to pursue the journey of trying to get back to some sort of level of fitness – that’s what running taught me, no matter how HARD things get, you are NEVER stuck.
I knew that it was about so much more than the exercise itself, and I had some pretty major physical (and mental) limitations to overcome. But, I also knew what it felt like to be happy and confident, and that life was too short to live this way. Like anything, I knew that I could find a way back if I set my mind and heart to it. The journey was not going to be easy or even clear, but it was one worth taking.
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