About Me

Welcome to ExSoyCise!

My name is Amber, I am originally from sunny Florida and I now live in beautiful Brooklyn, NY. I moved up to NYC in September of 2008 with dreams of being a front office manager in a trendy Manhattan hotel. After only one week of living here, I landed a job as a front desk agent and concierge of a boutique hotel. That was my very first job in the hotel industry and I was determined to work my way up! For the past few years I have been an Assistant Front Office Manager  for several popular hotels in lower Manhattan and it’s been a blast. But that chapter came to an end as I have found my true life passion in health and fitness! I am now a proud FitFluential and Greatist Ambassador, and I am currently in the process of obtaining my certification for Holistic Health and Wellness Coaching  at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and will start taking clients in April 2013. Over the course of this year, I will offer online Health and Well Coaching through Awakened Nutrition and I will also partner up with my boyfriend, Chris Hale, and eventually offer online personal training programs through Awakened Training!

Over the years I’ve written a couple fun blogs Amber’s Great Escape to New York City, PicturesquBrooklyn and now ExSoyCise is my current blog project. I spend most of my free time creating healthy recipes, building the body of my dreams in the gym, sharing photos of my food on just about every social media platform, and exploring NYC with the love of my life!

I hope to help and inspire others to live a healthy and balanced life!

This is my journey….

My fitness journey started back when I was in high school. I knew I had some extra pounds to lose and of course I wanted to be one of the skinny girls at school. I would go on silly diets and even would start a workout routine that consisted of either going to the YMCA, workout videos, running in my neighborhood, the track and on the beach. These intense workouts only lasted about a week, maybe two if motivation was high that week. This continued into my adult life and was still unsuccessful at reaching my goals. I tried several diets along the way including the Atkins Diet, The South Beach Diet, the starvation diet, vegetarianism (which had the opposite affect and made me gain more weight), and also popped whatever sketchy diet pills that were out on the market.

May 2009 –  my heaviest at 155 lbs

The most successful diet for me was The South Beach Diet. I lost 17 pounds and was able to keep it off for 11 months. It probably could have worked for me had I exercised during that time, but as soon as I had my first hot fudge and caramel covered brownie with ice cream, I blew up like a balloon and the pounds started creeping back on. I eventually gained all 17 pounds back and then some. I attempted to go back on South Beach a couple more times, but I just couldn’t lose the weight successfully like I had before.

May 2009 –  my heaviest at 155 lbs

In late 2009, I met an amazing guy who worked with me at my first hotel job here in NY and he also worked as a personal trainer at a gym nearby. I overheard him giving a friend of mine some pointers on diet and exercise and I quickly jumped into the conversation and took advantage of all the information he was dishing out. He explained the importance of a healthy “diet” which consisted of having protein, healthy fats and complex carb with every meal, and advised me to eat 5 to 6 meals per day. This wasn’t like the diets I was used to where I expected quick weight loss results, this was a healthy way of eating where I could expect gradual and safe weight loss. He then went into the importance of weight training mixed with cardio. He had to reassure me that weight training would not “bulk” me up, but that it would create lean muscle that would turn me into a fat burning machine! I took all of the wonderful information he gave me, as well as information I read from magazines and fitness websites and started on a NEW journey.

On this journey I eat good clean foods in order to fuel my body and work hard in the gym in an effort to have long lasting results and not just a quick fix as I have been used to for so many years. Clean and healthy eating has also brought to my attention that I have a soy allergy and I am lactose intolerant. Since finding out about my allergy, I have had to get creative with my food choices in order to maintain a soy and lactose free diet. I am proud to say that I have gone to wearing a size 8/10 down to a healthy size 4. I still have a little more weight to lose and more areas to tighten up so I will continue to work hard toward my goals!

DISCLAIMER

I am not a doctor, trainer, nutritionist, or licensed _____ (fill in the black). I am just a girl who has a strong passion for all things healthy, including but definitely not limited to: fitness, weight training, soy & dairy free living, healthy recipes, tips that have helped me lose weight, and motivation. These are my opinions and are not written by a medical professional. I can simply only share what has worked for me and hope that it somehow inspires and helps you on your journey. Please consult your doctor for any medical help questions.

xoxo