Bret is such a diligent and disciplined man in every thing he does - one of the reasons why I feel in love with him!

• Body: He has a clean, healthy and balanced nutrition (he's 95% vegan, like me ;-). He has a huge sweet tooth for dried fruit and other vegan goodies. Has an active lifestyle, working out 6 times a week. Sleep 8 hours a night and sleeps in on the weekends.
• Mind: He is a well-rounded reader! He reads all kinds of things and is curious to learn anything! Also, Bret loves planning ahead is almost always prepared (for example, shops from a list and sticks to it each time :) He has already  planned our wedding venue and other details, booked our honeymoon flights and has our itinerary scheduled in Italy!
• Heart: He is an incredible partner, so living, great listener, supporter in everything I do and he is honest with me about my blind spots. I can go on and on about our beautiful relationship!
• Spirit: He is an amazing, caring and passionate high school history teacher. He is activist, non-conformists, revolutionary and advocate of social justice. Bret's starting his second master's in firm at LMU this fall and I am sure he will make great independent films that will change the world! 

The reason why I wrote this blog entry, however, was to talk about the importance of eating for energy. Without proper and frequent nutrition we can't have sufficient energy required for intense workouts that build muscle and burn fat.

The body uses carbohydrate for energy, but when hours without eating have gone by and training begins, the primary source of fuel becomes protein (then fat). But because of an empty stomach there is no protein available either so the body begins to use up the protein in the muscles, leading to muscle loss :-(

Bret's physique has dramatically changed since last June (2011) when he started working out with free weights consistently. I helped him get started on a training program (from http://www.bodybuilding.com/guides/) to designed to build muscle and rely on less on cardio (since he has a hyper metabolism!). I've seen him workout hard and eat well to grow, but I told him that I feel he may be losing his hard-earned muscle by not eating prior to working out. So I suggested having a rice protein shake and an apple 1 hour before hitting the gym and he agreed. He like his muscle and wants to keep it :-)
 
I'll help him by preparing his shake and adding a fruit to his lunch pail. I'll continue reminding him to drink up and eat prior to working out. Together we will keep track of his progress and see if in 6 weeks from today he adds more muscle :)

Love,

Bea