In most electric cars, the silence is something to be enjoyed. But in the BMW i4 M50, some kind of glitch in my subconscious wouldn’t let me blast off the line without saying, “Vroom!”—out loud—every time. So accustomed to the fury of shrieking German turbochargers, I couldn’t let the explosion of power go unheralded.
The whispers of electric fueled vehicles are going to take some getting used to for horsepower-hungry car geeks—especially ones who love to note the difference between the BMW M3’s V-6 and its M5’s V-8 half a mile away. But instant torque is magically addictive, and the good news for those in need of aural satisfaction—you can still make the tires squeal.
Courtesy Image
Ride the Lightning
A pair of electric motors yields 536 horsepower and 586 pound-feet of torque. BMW conservatively claims the i4 M50 will go from a dead stop to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds. It’s of course slightly faster, and when you do slam the accelerator to the floor you feel like Maverick being catapulted off an aircraft carrier.
But it isn’t just quick off the line. The wunderkinds in Munich have tucked the battery pack and all its girth under the floorboards, shifting the center of gravity lower to keep the car more stable and more agile through the bends. The modern miracle of electronically adaptive suspension minimizes body roll to the lowest common denominator.
Courtesy Image
In the ‘Sport’ setting, steering becomes both light and sharp as a Hattori Hanzo sword, ready to attack the corners as the instantaneous electric juice flows to the wheels. The i4 M50’s balance and agility are rather staggering given its 5018 lbs curb weight (its ICE powered sibling, the M4 coupe is 3830 lbs). Optional 20-inch Pirelli P Zero PZ4 tires bolster the already silly levels of grip when it’s time to obliterate the road less traveled.
Back in the land of traffic lights and stop signs, the i4 M50 is both supple and practical. ‘Comfort’ mode softens the setup, so you can chill out and enjoy the traffic. Need to ferry a passenger or three? The back seat is spacious enough to keep adults from complaining on short rides, though not quite a road trip. While there is no frunk (front trunk,) The hatchback is ample enough for large luggage, like a couple of golf bags or a big Costco run.
For those who prefer sound to silence… or their own voice, BMW and Hans Zimmer (yes, thatHans Zimmer) concocted a faux engine “soundtrack” using Shepard tones—but it’s almost as absurd as saying “Vroom.”
Courtesy Image
The Elephant on the Road
So much about the i4 M50 is so right—but the range is shockingly anemic. On the standard 19-inch wheels, the i4 M50 can go around 270 miles. Slap the optional 20-inchers on, as the test model had, and the estimated range plummets to 227. That’s sufficient for most five-day work week commutes but little else.
On a level 2 charger, replenishing the range takes a little over eight hours, and on a 200-kW DC fast charger the battery goes from 10 to 80% in a shade over 30 minutes. BMW does give new i4 buyers two years of complimentary, 30-min charging sessions with Electrify America. But that math means drivers will likely be spending about two hours and change per month sitting at a charger. That’s not an insignificant amount of time or hassle. So, installing a home charger would be an essential upgrade for most folks. But for those going electric, that’s probably already baked into the decision.
Courtesy Image
Our Favorite Car of 2022? Nearly
The i4 M50 wasn’t quite my favorite car of 2022. If I had to pick a winner, the Lamborghini Huracan Tecnica and its naturally aspirated V-10 stole my heart, both on and off the track. Of course to compare the Tecnica with the i4 M50 is absurd. You could buy three BMWs for the price of a single Lambo.
Courtesy Image
But for those of us ready to flip the electric switch, the i4 M50 is an enticing proposition. It’s a highly capable performance four door from a company that has spent decades refining rocket ship sedans to near perfection.
Of course, in the ears of car geeks, the absence of engine sound is a deafening harbinger of the automotive electric future (and present). But it’s one we are all going to have to get used to—even if we have to talk ourselves through it.
Hi friends! Happy Monday! I hope you had a wonderful weekend and a Merry Christmas to those who were celebrating!
Some pics from our holly jolly weekend:
It was the perfect weekend and I’m already sad that today we’ll be packing away decorations. The holiday season always goes by too quickly, but this year was warp speed. Welp, bring on spring and summer swimming and BBQ season 😉
For today’s post, I wanted to share the top posts and pages of 2022. I always love going back and looking at my top-performing posts to give me an idea of the type of content you want to see. I used this info to plan my editorial calendar, along with your amazing annual survey suggestions. It’s always interesting to see which posts blow it out of the water (which usually have nothing to do with food, fitness, or fashion.. but more like potty training and guinea pigs lol). This year I was surprised! WAY more fitness and health content than usual.
This was one of those posts that I was proud creating, because I knew I had friends out there who needs help with spin bike setup. (Also, I think the Peloton intro video does not explain it very well.) I was pumped to see that this post is still a top pick!
I’ve been using Nutrisense for over a year now – I have a CGM attached to me while I write this post – and it’s been such a helpful tool in my health journey. It’s been so insightful to see how my body responds to different habits, stressors, foods, and workouts, and I’ve been able to make positive changes in my routine.
This is an old post – my girls are far beyond the potty training years – but has held a top spot for a long time. My mom and nana potty trained Liv in 24 hours, and I’m sharing all of their tips here. (P potty trained herself when she was about 18 months old. She yelled at me, “NO MORE DIAPERS” and that was that. I’ve had it very easy on the potty training front lol.)
This was another post that I thought would help those who were curious about the difference between the two popular bootcamp-style classes. I break it all down here!
I made this training plan for a friend (who has used it successfully a few times now) and wanted to share it on the blog. I’m definitely not a running coach, but I am pretty good at putting plans together that can help you get towards your goals without encouraging overtraining injuries.
This morning detox drink is such a great way to start the day, and now through my work studying blood sugar balance and learning more through IHP, I know more about WHY this can be so beneficial. I had stopped drinking it, but brought it back into my routine. It’s excellent first thing in the morning, or even in the afternoon an hour or so before lunch or dinner.
This is still one of the best things I’ve ever done for my health. While I definitely miss the look of my implants, I feel a thousand times better with them out. I anticipate that this post will continue to be a top post because the demand for this procedure continues to rise as women become more educated about the potential harm of breast implants.
This is another healthy drink I love! You can also drink it AFTER a balanced meal (veggies, protein, healthy fats, smart carbs), if you’re worried about spiking blood sugar.
Frida, the queeeeeeen! It’s hard to believe that she’s even bigger now than she was in these pics! She’s slowly taking over the living room. Sharing all of the details about how I keep her alive and thriving.
One of my favorite things about the TRX is that it’s easily scaled for various fitness levels. This plan focuses on exercises that would be appropriate for beginners, with room for more challenging professions.
I didn’t post a ton of new workouts this past year – it’s one of my goals for 2023 – but I was happy to see ya’ll are still using the workouts and plans I’ve shared here.
The age old question haha. Thankfully, I have a few amazing tempeh recipes and strategies!
These blog posts are random… just like yours truly
It’s a pretty solid mix of fitness, good eats, and lifestyle posts. I also noticed that the second half of my top 50 analytics were focused on biohacking products (like my sauna blanket review, Oura ring, red light face mask, etc.). I was very surprised to see so much fitness content doing well this year. It was a good nudge to continue to answer questions my friends out there want to know regarding fitness and health strategies, classes, and formats. It’s also a good nudge to post some more full plans and workouts!
If you have any suggestions for the upcoming year, pleeeeeease take 2 minutes to fill out my annual survey here. It’s so important to me to create a blog that you enjoy reading, so your feedback means the world to me.
Ok friends, I’m doing something wild the rest of the week: I’m taking the week off of blogging. I’m pretty sure I’ve never done this and am looking forward to a little break and hitting the new year back here refreshed and ready to go!
It will be the perfect time to enjoy some extra adventures with our babies before they head back to school. I also need to do this for myself to prove that my blog won’t disappear if I happen to step away for a few days. 😉
I’ll see you all in the new year and hope you have a wonderful week!
Hi friends! I hope that whether you’re celebrating Christmas, Hannukah, or a lovely Friday, that you have an amazing weekend. Please know that I’m grateful for you every.single.day and I’m sending you the biggest hug and lots of love. I pray that 2023 is a year filled with happiness, good health, and time surrounded with those you love.
Thank you for being here and being a part of this community. <3
xoxo,
Gina + the Pilot, Liv, P, Maisey, Cookie the hairless guinea pig, and Donut
Hi friends! I hope you’re having a wonderful week! I’m so excited for today’s podcast episode because I’m chatting with Chef Whitney Aronoff about healthy cooking strategies, high vibration foods, her favorite healthy meals and more.
Here’s more about Whitney and her background:
Whitney Aronoff is a Health Supportive Personal Chef in Laguna Beach, California who attended The Natural Gourmet Institute and went on to work farm-to-table restaurants in New York City and Newport Beach. She is passionate about wellness, the vibration of food, and supporting others in living their best life.
As a personal chef Whitney prepares custom meals and dinner parties for her clients. She shares her seasonal recipes on Starseed Kitchen and in her eCookbook, High Vibration Cooking. In 2020, Chef Whitney launched a line of organic spice blends, graciously sharing the custom seasonings that brought her family around the table for years.
Knowing that a healthy diet is just one layer of being well, in 2021 she launched the podcast High Vibration Living With Chef Whitney Aronoff. She interviews experts on healthy eating, cooking, wellness, beauty, travel and spirituality to help others find the modalities and tips to help them feel their best and live in harmony with the world around them.
As the expert on high vibration foods, Whitney believes eating is a transfer of energy between our energetic being and the food we eat. She is an advocate for setting intentions that put the power of healing in our own hands through what she identifies as the four pillars – food, spiritual, emotional, and ethereal.
After all, only you know what your body needs!
Believing the healthiest meal you can eat is the one you make at home, Chef Whitney aims to invite people into her kitchen, feeling empowered to make healthy choices for themselves and their loved ones, and to experience high vibration living.
Resources from this episode:
The weather is cooling down, and I’m still obsessed with my sauna blanket. It feels even BETTER when it’s chilly outside and you can use the code FITNESSISTA15 for 15% off! This is one of my favorite ways to relax and sweat it out. I find that it energizes me, helps with aches and pains, I sleep better on the days I use this, and it makes my skin glow. Link to check it out here. You can also use my discount for the PEMF Go Mat, which I use every day!
I love love love the meals from Sakara Life! Use this link and the code XOGINAH for 20% off their meal delivery and clean boutique items. This is something I do once a month as a lil treat to myself and the meals are always showstoppers. I have a post-holidays shipment on the way and CAN’T WAIT.
Get 15% off Organifi with the code FITNESSISTA. I drink the green juice, red juice, gold, and Harmony! (Each day I might have something different, or have two different things. Everything I’ve tried is amazing.)
If any of my fellow health professional friends are looking for another way to help their clients, I highly recommend IHP. You can also use this information to heal yourself and then go one to heal others, which I think is a beautiful mission.
Thank you so much for listening and for all of your support with the podcast! Please be sure to subscribe, and leave a rating or review if you enjoyed this episode. If you leave a rating, head to this page and you’ll get a little “thank you” gift from me to you.
From Nana’s Famous Egg Dish to Spiced Sangria and Bourbon Pecan Pie, these are our favorite holiday recipes that we enjoy every Christmas!
‘Tis the season for all of the festive eats and drinks. We’ve been enjoying this cozy week at home cooking our favorite holiday recipes and getting ready for the Christmas weekend
While most of the time I aim to eat nourishing recipes with greens and protein and fresh wholesome ingredients (like these spa cuisine recipes), I like to live by the 80/20 perspective, allowing plenty of space for special treats. I’m also a big believer of enjoying holidays, special food, and time spent together.
We have several traditional-to-us recipes that make an appearance on our table during the holiday season year after year; like it’s tradition to have Alton Brown’s Overnight Cinnamon Rolls on Christmas morning while opening presents. From brunch casseroles to spiced sangria and Ina’s rib roast, I’m sharing our favorite holiday recipes – enjoy!
This egg casserole is perfect for any brunch or holiday celebrations. It freezes beautifully to make ahead, and tastes amazing with pico de gallo salsa.
These green beans are bright and fresh, with creamy goat cheese, orange zest, crunchy slivered almonds and sweet cranberries. The recipe is gluten-free and only takes 15 minutes from start to finish.
This salad is a fall dream come true. It has butternut squash, spicy arugula, a tangy vinaigrette, chicken, pumpkin seeds, goat cheese. It’s perfect for any holiday gatherings or parties and makes a veggie-packed side dish. My vegetarian friends can easily omit the chicken and it’s just as delicious without it.
Holiday spice sangria! It’s made in advance of any holiday soirees, and the flavors just get better over the span of a few days. It’s perfect to take to parties, as it’s a fun switch-up from the usual bottle of vino.
Another favorite from Ina. Chocolate, bourbon and pecans—what’s not to love? I’ve made this twice this year already and plan to make it again on Saturday.
Here’s what our menu looks like this year:
Christmas Eve: dinner at my dad’s house (Mexican food buffet + my Aunt’s famous egg nog and all the desserts)
Christmas Brunch:
Nana’s egg casserole
Alton Brown’s cinnamon rolls
Bacon or ham (I haven’t decided yet)
Tamales and beans (from madre!)
Christmas Day dinner:
Cheese board and artichoke dip with crackers
Mediterranean chopped salad
Smoked turkey on the Traeger
Stuffing and gravy
Beef tenderloin with horseradish sauce
Cheesy potatoes (madre)
Fresh sourdough
Bourbon pecan pie + dessert platter (tons of different cookies and candies)
Mulled wine, egg nog, and champagne
It should be a very good, and very tasty, weekend ahead 😉
Sharing my top picks for the best hiking trails in Tucson.
Hi hi! Happy Christmas week and hope that you all are having a lovely morning. We had a great weekend. It was Elf night with friends, we decorated gingerbread houses, and I taught a barre class. We’re headed on a little staycation later this week, and I’m definitely looking forward to it.
For today’s post, I wanted to share some of my favorite hiking trails in Tucson! We are in the middle of hiking season (I think the best weather is from late October until early May), and my top trails have been packed with locals and tourists, enjoying the gorgeous Tucson scenery. I’ve been a fan of hiking for many years, but really fell more in love with it over the past few years, because it was one of the only things we could do. We used the opportunity to explore some of our favorite trails, we visited Sedona a few times as a family, and the kids fell in love with hiking, too.
It’s become one of our favorite family adventures.
I wanted to post some of the best Tucson hiking trails, plus some of my tips for hiking with kids.
Best hiking trails in Tucson
Sabino Canyon
Sabino Canyon is the destination, but within Sabino Canyon, there are tons of trails. If you are a newbie or it’s your first time in Tucson, you can stay on the main tram road, which is about 7.3 miles out and back. It’s paved and heavily-populated. Within the canyon, you can use All Trails to discover so many different trails depending on length and your hiking level. If you want something more rustic but still populated, you can do the Bear Canyon trail.
For longer/sportier hikes, try Phoneline, Blackett’s, and Seven Falls (pack a lunch and lots of water for this one).
If you have kids with you, I highly recommend Bear Canyon to Sabino Dam. It’s short and there a ton of water for the kids (and adults) to wade and play.
Finger Rock
I’ve only ever done the main Finger Rock trail, but it’s become one of my favorites. The scenery is gorgeous, the views are amazing, and it’s not super challenging or rocky. It’s pretty kid-friendly, but keep in mind that there are more creatures here. I’m from Tucson and had never seen a gila monster in the wild until this past year; I saw two on this trail within a few weeks of each other!
Tumamoc Hill
Tumamoc Hill is a large hill by campus and is 3.1 miles total (an out-and-back). The first half is a steep incline and when you reach the top, you have sweeping views of the entire city. This is one of my favorite recs for visitors because the views are majestic, it’s not super long, and then it’s a short drive to the Mercado San Augustin for Presta coffee and Mexican donuts (from Estrella).
Agua Caliente trail
This one is an 8-mile out-and-back that’s relatively challenging with beautiful views. A major perk: dogs are allowed on this trail (on a leash!). This is a rarity in Tucson, so it makes this trail pretty special.
Ventana Canyon Trail
This one is right by the Loews Ventana Canyon resort. It has lots of ups and downs, but great views, and pretty accessible for all levels. If it has rained recently, you may have to cross through water. My Tucson insider tip: do this on a Sunday, and book the Brews and Blues brunch at Loews afterwards. You’re welcome.
Tips for hiking with kids:
– Get them kids’ Camelbaks, and encourage them to wear them, even if you’re only planning on a short hike. When the kids wear these, it’s like they have a superpower and it’s been over a year and the novelty hasn’t worn off. They LOVE these things and feel like legit hikers when they wear them. (It’s also very handy to not have to carry both of their water bottles).
– Hiking shoes may be worth the investment. I find that many kids’ sneakers are slippery on the bottom and don’t do well with climbing or steeper areas. I’ve found all of the kids’ hiking shoes on Amazon (these ones are excellent) and Nordstrom Rack.
– Go out with zero expectations. Since the girls were babies, I’ve told myself that a walk or hike may last 5 minute or may last 2 hours. Whatever happens, it’s ok. They ALWAYS surprise me. These kids have climbed super steep areas (like Camelback Mountain and Birthing Cave in Sedona), gone through caves (in Boulder), and have hiked for many hours with plenty of water and snacks. The first part of the hike is always a mixed bag (“This is boring,” “When is it over?”) and then they never want to leave.
– Go with friends! If your kids are apprehensive about hiking or you’re trying to build excitement for them, invite some of their friends to join in. This one is always a winner, and something we try to do over breaks from school.
So, tell me, friends: what are your favorite hiking trails near you? Spread the love in the comments!
What’s your favorite hiking destination? I DREAM about going back to Mountain Trek. It was absolutely magical.
Every day leading up to the 2022 Baja 1000 start on Friday, the chorus of echoes bouncing off the hills of Ensenada grows and grows as unrestricted engines roar down public streets before one of the world’s most grueling motorsports events. This year, I embedded with driver AJ Jones and his South Racing team for a full week as the 2022 Dakar Rally winners prepped for the race, then tagged along for over 30 hours of sleepless chase trucks, refueling stops, and DIY mechanical repairs.
Arriving at the hotel driveway where South Racing made home base, I immediately found myself immersed in a melange of English muttered with Portuguese, interspersed with the clink of tools, ratcheting sockets, electric drills, and the occasional blast of the world’s loudest horn. Properly prepping a pair of Can-Am Maverick X3 UTVs requires more than a week, so Jones, his father Jesse, Brazilian co-driver Gustavo Gugelman, and Portuguese mechanic Dany Duarte arrived 10 full days before the start of the race to pre-run the half-course that Jones and Gugelman would soon drive at full pace.
South Racing tapped fellow Can-Am factory driver Rodrigo Ampudio to handle the rest of the 2022 Baja 1000 828.25-mile course, a loop that starts and ends in Ensenada after weaving through some of Baja’s most brutal terrain—in contrast to the better known sprint from Ensenada to La Paz. The plan, at least on paper, put Ampudio behind the wheel first, starting the race in Ensenada then handing the reins over to Jones and Gugelman just off Highway 5 at mile 200, before taking over once again at mile 475 for another stint. Jones and Gugelman would then finish off the race’s 150 miles the next morning.
All told, significantly more than half of South Racing’s two stints behind the wheel would, if all went according to that plan, occur at night. But darkness only exacerbates the rate of attrition at Baja, so much of the week’s prep involved late-night pre-running tests of lighting setups, digital GPS screens, and solutions for any conceivable mechanical problems. The second Can-Am, meanwhile, received everything necessary in the case of any off-roading expeditions required to rescue the first.
As the team at South Racing’s hotel swelled to include fellow Portuguese mechanic Felipe Alves, Irish race engineer Joe Naughton, and South Racing principal Scott Abraham, the entire team focused on preparing not just the two cars, but also their own circadian rhythms for the taxing task at hand. Breakfasts pushed back to lunchtime, taco dinners typically started at 9 p.m. or later. Nobody that I saw touched a single drop of alcohol. There were no stereotypical Hunter S. Thompson binges here, to my great surprise.
“You have to have really good guys, really smart people, really capable human beings,” AJ Jones tells me. “I know what my job is. My job is to help out as much as I can, give feedback, drive to the best of my abilities. Basically whatever they tell me, if they want me to go and drive the thing in reverse for a hundred miles and shake the wheel as hard as I can, then that’s what my job is for the day.”
Throughout the week, I meshed with a team in full business mode. Merely hoping for a victory that would make Jones the first person ever to win the Dakar Rally and Baja 1000, two of the world’s most formidable off-road endurance races, in the very same year requires serious cojones. Prepping to do so requires serious commitment of time, manpower, and capital. Actually doing so, as it turned out, would require a serious amount of luck too.
Michael Teo Van Runkle
The Importance of Tire Balls
Throughout the week, at all hours of the day, we regularly schlepped up the hill to the Ampudio family’s shop. Carved out of a residential home in an upscale Ensenada neighborhood, the shop housed a few Can-Am Mavericks in various stages of disassembly, plus homebuilt pre-runners and a few trophy trucks—the biggest and baddest class at Baja that typically employ 1,000-plus-horsepower engines, cartoonish suspension setups, and massive 40-inch tires.
Jones and Ampudio stand about the same height, but each preferred the Can-Am’s seat set at slightly different angles. No problem. Meet in the middle. Ampudio also wanted a GPS display mounted centrally on the dash, in addition to the co-driver’s. Again, not a problem, as Gugelman quickly drilled a few holes and installed the smaller digital screen. But the Ampudios also insisted, based on local knowledge of this year’s course, that racing in Baja required the use of tire balls.
The Joneses disagreed. Tire balls are essentially silicon balloons inflated with enough air to keep a tire firm enough to keep running after a puncture. That potential pro is balanced against the cons of an increased rotational mass resulting in decreased acceleration, a lower top-end speed, and reduced maneuverability in tighter sections. With 30 spare tires on hand—count ‘em, that’s a full 30 spares hauled down from the USA—the two camps eventually agreed to prep Ampudio’s tires with tire balls and then swap out all of the Can-Am’s tires and spare at each driver change. The decision sounded like a lot of wasted time to me, as I loitered around each home base, but what did I know?
Ampudio knew the terrain and he also knew the town of Ensenada, one night taking us to a gas station taco stand where I ate, without a doubt, four of the greatest carne asada tacos of my life. So maybe we should trust him on the whole tire ball thing, I thought, dousing another taco in salsa and cramming it down. But I also pondered the effects of additional unsprung mass on a UTV’s driving dynamics at full-gas. Maybe not…
Post-tacos, rather than retiring for a nap at 10:30 p.m., Jones and Gugelman zipped into race suits with down jackets layered on top against the low-40-degree weather, strapped into HANS devices and helmets, and took the Can-Am out for a nighttime test run of the new, absurdly bright light bar. I rode behind with Naughton and Alves in a Ford F-150 Raptor just in case, but the team mostly wanted to get the CVT belt up to temp and make sure a new alternator installed to boost output for the lights didn’t cause any additional heat soak. Jones and Gugelman came back happy with the light bar, stoked that the CVT belt stayed within spec, and concerned that Ampudio’s secondary screen might blind them over long hours in near darkness. Luckily, a couple of tinting films easily fixed the issue.
Michael Teo Van Runkle
Into Town For A Not-Quite-Laissez-Faire Tech Inpection
Midday on Wednesday, we brought the Can-Am into downtown Ensenada for tech inspection, also known as contingency. I picked up media credentials for race day and jealously ogled a vendor serving margaritas off a cart as the team grabbed wrist bands, a few comms devices, and waited in line for a quick once-over.
Compared to a bone-stock Can-Am Maverick X3, the South Racing race car looks a bit stripped down on the interior, with buckets and harnesses, a plain dash with simply labeled switchgear, and air hoses for helmets and intake. Mechanically, the cart uses much of the same suspension components, a larger fuel cell, and Tensor tires. The upgraded alternator did require removing the parking gear, so the driver needs to either keep a foot on the brake or shut down ignition when stopped—a peculiar tradeoff but as Naughton repeatedly explained to remedy my ignorance, Baja presents a different challenge than most races.
“With the sports I worked in previously,” he said in a gentle Irish brogue, “performance is extremely important. You’re trying to find hundreds of seconds. Tenths of seconds over a lap time, over a kilometer, or a stage, which is a couple of kilometers. But working in this category of side-by-sides, this general sport, first you have to finish. So you’re really working on the reliability of the cars first. And then when you have the reliability, you try and make more performance while keeping the reliability.”
Naughton points to a bunch of spots where he might add little Gurney flaps all over the body to improve top-end aerodynamics and the turbocharged Can-Am’s fuel consumption rates, estimated as low as two or three miles per gallon. But with little time to design, much less fabricate, any such contrivances, he let the dream fade. And at contingency, after a check of the roll cage, safety harnesses, fire extinguisher, and GPS tracking device, the Can-Am only needed better number stickers more clearly visible on the front. Not bad—but these are the pros, remember.
Michael Teo Van Runkle
Not So Much Conquering, More Like Surviving, Baja
The two Joneses cut their teeth racing trophy trucks at Baja, and AJ actually won the Baja 1000 outright in a trophy truck before make the switch to racing side-by-sides. If that seems a step down the ladder, guess again. Trophy trucks are the bastion of wealthy enthusiasts and their toys, but factory support and sponsorship from the likes of Can-Am and South Racing make AJ’s dreams of a racing career possible.
That dream would take a big step up, the Joneses and everyone on hand knew, with a decisive win at Baja to match the Dakar Rally earlier in the year. And just like every other racing driver on the planet, AJ Jones believes in his own skill.
“We had a really good year in 2021,” he said, “where I won in Spain, which is those WRC style roads, and won in Kazakhstan, which is like the desert. And then I won Abu Dhabi, which is the dunes. Those are the three major terrains of off-road racing and I won a race at all three of ’em against really good guys last year.”
I asked whether he preferred the more technical terrain of Baja versus the open dunes, or even rally stages in Europe. Baja, it turns out, isn’t so much of the high-speed roostertails that make up Can-Am and Polaris advertisements.
“It’s not just full blast, 120 miles per hour down whoops looking badass like how all the videos are,” Jones explained. “The videos are sick, but I mean, where you can’t get the cameras up in there, there’s a reason you can’t get the cameras up in there. ‘Cuz it’s gnarly, with how often the cars break because of the terrain and what you’re putting the car through, you have to figure out where the fine line is. You still want to push and go fast, but if you grenade the car, then you know you’re done.”
Gugelman helps to balance the need for speed with the need for man and machine to actually survive the race. And when the inevitable does happen, he also has to hop out into the dirt and swap out flats or suspension components, as needed.
“I would say I’m 50 percent of his vision,” Gugelman told me. “Telling what’s going to happen and then he can understand and see if he goes faster or not. So basically, the co-driver, besides the notes and everything, I’m responsible for it all. I mean, I know a lot of mechanical issues, so I do all the mechanics if any problems or anything happens.”
“I’m also like the psychologist,” he laughed. “Sometimes the driver gets too excited because he sees some dust, he’s catching another guy. So maybe it’s like two miles away and yeah, they get really excited. You gotta say, ‘Calm down, easy pace for overtaking.’ Sometimes it’s hard. It’s for all the drivers, not just AJ. We gotta be like a psychologist and say, ‘Hey, calm down. Breathe.’”
Michael Teo Van Runkle
Race Day Approaches
Behind the wheel of a side-by-side, the urge to push harder and faster than possible can easily outpace sanity, for amateurs just as much as pros like AJ Jones (just ask me how I know). But as the week wore on and race day approached, an undeniable sense of urgency took over the South Racing camp. Sentences shrunk, voices lowered, what had been friendly jokes took on a more biting tone, then stopped altogether. Time to get to work.
On a final asphalt shakedown run of the Can-Am, Jones rounded a corner ahead of the Raptor and leaned over up onto only three wheels. At a stoplight—much like the Joneses’ home state of Arizona, the law in Ensenada doesn’t mind UTVs on the street—he launched hard enough to chirp the rear tires. But hey, with race fuel in the tank, everyone succumbs to that old urge. Plus, he needed to know ahead of the start just how fast engine mapping revised for race fuel might make the Can-Am.
Ensenada’s population visibly was swelling—all Ford Raptors and Ram TRXs and custom-built pre-runners and homemade sand rails in addition to the full-race trophy trucks blasting around without any semblance of mufflers or catalytic converters. Locals were swarming to the city hoping to make a buck off the racers, and not always honestly, as taco shops filled up, gas stations served Jerry cans as often as vehicles, and traffic steadily worsened. Ampudio stopped by the South Racing house to check out his seat position, lobby for more tire balls, and go over the race plan, now taped to the wall for all to see, and memorize fueling stops, driver changes, parts depots, and potential snags in the rotation.
Duarte checked each and every socket in two full tool kits. Naughton revised his fuel-consumption spreadsheet. Gugelman clicks around the functions of his co-driver GPS screen, a sailboat chart plotter in a previous life. Jesse Jones and Abraham loaded tires, sketched then revised chase truck routes, and packed coolers of food and beverages. AJ Jones and I wandered around the buzzing garage, loitering, shooting the shit, checking our phones—the old Steve McQueen quote about waiting came to mind at least a thousand times.
Michael Teo Van Runkle
Finally, The Real Deal
By Friday morning, the anticipation bubbled over into genuine frustration more than once. I woke up at 6 a.m. and loaded a backpack full of snacks and warm gear, checked my camera and phone batteries over and over, and made sure to eat a big breakfast. The team mustered up around 9ish, everyone quiet and wary. We loaded the spare Can-Am onto a trailer, the race car already with Ampudio at the start line, then packed two Raptors plus a Power Stroke F-350 full of gear and headed out of town.
Or, more accurately, headed into traffic. In the melee leading up to Baja, Ensenada’s roads can handle the assemblage of team trucks supporting just shy of 300 race car entries just fine, but on race day, everyone needs to go the same direction and bottlenecks pile up immediately.
In fact, for many teams, the race was already well underway. Motorcycles start first around 3 a.m., hoping to get enough of a lead on the trophy trucks to finish before getting passed in plumes of dust at triple-digit speeds—potentially in the dark of night. After the unlimited trophy trucks, spec trophy trucks, and custom jobs, the UTVs left the starting line at 30-second intervals starting around noonish. By then, we waited three Fords deep in a row behind a line of similarly packed and prepped chase teams, anxious to get through a military checkpoint and past the crossover route where the race course ran over asphalt for a few hundred yards.
I’m riding with Abraham and Alves, hoping to witness as much of the action as possible as they cover the most ground of any of our chase trucks. Jesse Jones makes the first fuel stop to give Ampudio a “splash” of 10 gallons at race mile 75, which should get him through to the driver change, but we hustle along to mile 160 with another dump can and spare parts just in case. Now on the gulf coast side of Baja, having turned about 50 miles north after hitting the water, we hunker down to wait on the side of the rutted path amid a cluster of vehicles.
The trophy trucks make sounds unlike anything I’d ever heard before, somewhere between a deep V8 rumble and the whooping of an electric Porsche as suspension travel keeps the tube-frame chassis and enormous knobby tires all but floating over the dirt, sand, and rock. I kept an eye out for UTVs among the steady flow of racers flying by, some stopping for fuel or to swap on a fresh tire, but most hauling by as fast as possible. Soon we receive word that passenger cars at the highway crossover have caused a logjam, with only another Can-Am driven by Austin Weiland having snuck through ahead of the pack. Hurry up and wait. Finally, Ampudio and his co-driver Alberto Ruiz tear through at full blast, thumbs up, no fuel needed, third on the road a fifth of the way into the race after starting way back in 25th place. Things are looking good.
Michael Teo Van Runkle
We wait for a few more minutes, logging time splits as the rest of the pack filters through, then climb back into the Raptor and hustle down to meet up with the Joneses, Gugelman, and Duarte at mile 225 for the first driver change. A quick stop at the military checkpoint where a balaclava’d and M16’d soldier waves us through. Then we mash it to the turnout—only to find another, in polite terms, complete cluster. Where can we help?
After counting the power line poles from pavement and following the path of helicopters pacing trophy trucks, we arrive just in time to catch Ampudio and Ruiz rolling into the stop. AJ Jones and Gugelman, already dressed in fire retardant race suits and insulated with additional windbreaker layers against the oncoming night, climb into the Can-Am. Duarte and Alves swap on four fresh tires and a new spare—no tire balls—torquing lug nuts and any bolts they can find down to spec double-time, just in case. Jesse Jones dumps in another can of fuel and they’re off at 5:25 p.m.
The whole pit stop took maybe four minutes. That’s an eternity to my eyes, or anyone who watches Formula 1. Then again, when taking first means first finishing, getting the cars and drivers perfectly prepped comes at the tradeoff of a ticking clock. And rarely does Baja come down to tenths or hundredths of seconds, more like full minutes, tens of minutes, hours even. I felt fresh, awake, hydrated, and, most surprisingly, not even too hungry given that we’d been on the road for seven-plus hours already.
Michael Teo Van Runkle
Joining The Race
But now we’re in the race, too, worried about hitting traffic as the sun sets on San Felipe down the Gulf of California coast. If we get stuck on the road, Jones in the Can-Am can veritably fly over smoother, sandy stretches and potentially beat us to mile 275, where he’ll definitely need another splash given the long and treacherous loop coming up. Fog descends with the darkness and traffic on Highway 5 slows to a crawl. Not great, but it’s not fog—actually, we’re in a dust cloud kicked up by all the racers blasting by only a few hundred yards to our right. Then they’re right at our side, blinding us entirely.
A few miles of held breath later and the race course veers back inland. So Alves hits the gas and we sprint down to our designated stop with a few minutes to spare. Jones and Gugelman arriving having given up a position, now fourth on the road after judging that the Can-Am and tires can only handle so much pace over the hard whoops near San Felipe. Never to worry, Abraham tells me in his cheerful South African accent, we’ll make it up in the canyons and lakebeds. As the headlights and illuminated truck beds pierce the enveloping darkness, I chug a Coca-Cola (glass bottle, this being Mexico) and chow down on a few bites of a Kind bar before we turn northward once more to prep for another fuel dump.
This time, the parade of chase trucks turns off the tarmac, up into the dirt to meet the race course. We reach the designated meet-up at race mile 360 and wait, Abraham refreshing the 2022 Baja 1000 app via Starlink repeatedly, worried that Jones and Gugelman looked stopped at mile 310. We can’t connect on the radio and the satellite walkie-talkie also seems useless. Maybe it’s a tracking issue. Maybe not.
Other UTVs fly by at race pace, some stopping for tires and fuel. Jones and Gugelman should be here by now, so we face a quandary: Retrace to check on their status or wait in the hopes that they show up. If we go back and they pass mile 360 without taking on at least 10 more gallons of fuel, they won’t have enough range until the next driver swap and the race could be over. But if they’re broken down and can’t fix the Can-Am with the parts and tools on hand, the race could be over.
Jesse Jones, meanwhile, has taken the spare Can-Am out around the backside of the nearest ridge, so he can occasionally reach Abraham on the satellite walkie-talkie. He has some spare parts but no fuel. Alves and Abraham decide we need to backtrack, but we also cannot drive against the flow on the race course. As we head back to paved roads, Jesse Jones sends up a last-ditch prayer, radioing a weatherman plane that might be able to reach AJ and Gustavo wherever they are.
Michael Teo Van Runkle
Prayers Do Get Answered, But Never Exactly How You Want Them
Sometimes at Baja, your prayers get answered. Just not with the best of news: Jones and Gugelman are stopped, broken down with a suspension and brake problem, or so we hear in a game of telephone. Back moving in 10 minutes or so, we think. Alves flips us around and head back to mile 360, where we can hunker down for a long wait next to a mixed line of locals and chase teams huddled around smoldering fire pits, Tecates flowing, and raucous voices rippling across the sand. Attitudes towards the race on the peninsula vary from welcoming to taking advantage of the cash influx or, often, outright disgust at the unnecessary noise and environmental destruction.
By the time Jones and Gugelman pull up, it’s past 9 o’clock and the stars shine brightly in the pitch-black sky if I look away from the mass of humanity for long enough. The temperature steadily drops down into the 40s, wind picking up and tearing at faces. I put on a beanie and another layer beneath my jacket, but my eyes start to blur in the contrasting light of parked trucks and racers passing in a blaze of fiery streaks. Finally, one stops.
The Can-Am takes on a 10-gallon dump can, a new tire, and a group of locals even help toss on a new spare. Abraham spies a totally bent radius arm below the rear left axle but thinks it’ll hold til the driver change in another 115 miles. Every voice bears the strain of knowing the long breakdown probably put a win out of reach. Time splits go right out the window. But the reassuring thought that the same might happen to plenty of other teams keeps our internal flames burning. Time to peel out and regroup.
Michael Teo Van Runkle
Getting A Little Lost In Baja
All is not lost, Alves and Abraham tell themselves and, to an extent, me in the backseat. But only a few miles later, as we trailblaze a new path in the sand to meet up with asphalt near San Felipe International Airport, AJ Jones comes over the radio to announce another flat. They’re too far past us to turn around and can continue with the spare the locals mounted, but he’ll need to cut pace and drive carefully for the next hard stint to avoid another flat. Do what you gotta do but also the best you can, since by now we’ve fallen well behind the race leaders.
Alves pushes the Raptor through dry washes and up over berms, occasionally clipping bushes and small trees hoping to find a clear path to pavement. We can see the lights of town ahead but with no tracks to follow, any wrong turn might cause a potentially serious time suck. This isn’t Dakar, where the dunes stretch on uninterrupted. We might hit a riverbank too deep to descend in a Raptor without airing down or risking a highcenter. After ages, Alves turns right to run along a tall fence, then we hit another fence at a right angle. Catastrophe, until the magic of Baja delivers a gate, unlocked and wide enough to grant access despite the Raptor’s exaggerated fender flares. Five minutes later and we’re back cruising at 80 miles an hour.
Then the Raptor needs gas. We stop quickly to fill up at a Chevron, then blast back up through San Felipe, back through the military checkpoint for a third time, back west on Highway 3 headed for the next driver change. I pass out for about 20 minutes in the backseat as the clock rounds midnight; Alves has been driving for the better part of 14 hours but I think he actually enjoyed the off-roading bit.
Michael Teo Van Runkle
Knocking On the Glass
At mile 475, Naughton preps the team to fix the Can-Am’s bent radius arm, replace the CVT belt as a preventative measure, and swap on four new tires with tire balls. Jones and Gugelman blast into the pit at full bore, slamming the cart to a stop and climbing out with alacrity. Ampudio and Ruiz hop in, Alves and Duarte wrenching around the rear left axle while Ampudio’s team handles the fuel and tire swaps. At the last moment, someone remembers to toss on a spare tire on with tire balls and Gugelman even hollers that the impact wrench needs a new battery. Good catch. The team needs every base covered to potentially make up a handful of places. The race is halfway done.
Jones and Gugelman hop into a warmed truck for a nap as we caravan down the road towards Lazaro Cardenas in Valle La Trinidad for the next driver swap. After a team taco stop, everyone tries to get some shuteye around 4 a.m. I’ve been awake for 22 hours other than a catnap. Others haven’t slept a wink. Suddenly all the gear packed into the backseat of a Ford Raptor looks comfortable and I nod off.
Knock, knock. Wake up! An Ampudio teammember stands outside the Raptor with urgency. The trailing arm tore off, he tells us, at mile 610. Or maybe it’s 580. Abraham pulls up the race map, fingering along to the absolutely farthest point on the course from all three of our Fords parked in a row.
South Racing thoroughly packs spare radius arms, control arms, belts, and tools for just about any job a Can-Am might need throughout a race. Just about the only thing that won’t fit? A trailing arm, of course—best laid plans and everything. But hold on, Abraham remembers, any stock Can-Am Maverick trailing arm will work. Do the Ampudios know anyone near mile 600 who might be able to sell a trailing arm before dawn on a Saturday morning? Yeah, that’s a no.
Jesse Jones proposes driving on the race course, but apparently a tight canyon means the Raptor will present too much danger to any actual racers he might encounter. Otherwise, getting to Ampudio and Ruiz will require at least a four-hour drive on public roads. As a hedge, Abraham sends Jesse Jones on that fool’s errand. It’s 41 degrees out, darker than dark, and the Can-Am is probably toast anyway, but this is no time to quit.
Half an hour later, we get word over the radio that the Ampudios managed to find a proper Can-Am Maverick X3 trailing arm pretty close to mile 600. Unbelievable, to say the least—and the race is back on. As the sky begins to brighten around 6 a.m., South Racing preps for the final driver change, plus another potential trailing arm swap, all tires and the spare—at least check the work completed out in the pitch black. The sun rises and I risk a sip of a pineapple-coconut breakfast yogurt concoction, plus another glass bottle of Coca-Cola. Hot coffee sounds a whole lot better, but in Baja, I take what I can get.
Michael Teo Van Runkle
On The Last Leg
Jesse Jones arrives back at Lazaro Cardenas, race mile 680, just before Ampudio and Ruiz pull up in the Can-Am. By 8:50 a.m., AJ Jones and Gugelman tear back out onto the course in the full light of morning. As they go, the right rear tire looks out of whack to my eye, way too much negative camber, but I keep quiet. At this point, the goal is to survive the Baja 1000, a win now almost completely out of reach with about 150 miles to go and the leading UTV teams nearing the finish.
The course back into Ensenada should be less technical than the previous 680 miles, plus South Racing had planned for Jones and Gugelman to run this portion mostly in the dark. AJ knows to let off the torrid pace, that with so many delays, the name of the game is smooth sailing from here on. He swings out onto the public road at mile 700 and Jesse Jones calls out that the right rear tire looks off. I should have said something, should have broached my pact of journalistic noninterference. Anyway, Duarte climbs underneath to tighten up a loose radius arm quickly and gets the Can-Am roaring along once more.
Traffic crops up as we drop down towards Ensenada once more, almost exactly 24 hours since leaving. Jones and Gugelman cross the real finish line outside of town with a total elapsed time of 25 hours, 56 minutes, and 42 seconds—good for 10th place, about four hours and 35 minutes behind Pro UTV Forced Induction class winners Austin Weilan and Dylan Schmoke (who also raced a Can-Am). At the later, unofficial photo finish, Ampudio and his family bring out a few sixers of Papas & Beer branded beverages, everyone smiling and fist-bumping, mostly platitudes and plenty of wry wit but not a single mention of tire balls despite, by my count, at least seven flats. Drivers and co-drivers, mechanics and race engineers, photographers and journalists, exhausted one and all.
Michael Teo Van Runkle
South Racing heads to the 2023 Dakar Rally next but first, the team needs to hit Dubai for a photo opportunity. Just a little holiday called Thanksgiving in the meantime, then business takes over once more. The Joneses want to get home to Arizona and everyone else needs to fly out of San Diego the next day, so the team packs up the Can-Ams, loads up the trailers, crams piles of gear into the trucks, and AJ Jones himself drives me up through Tijuana and back across the border. I get home to Los Angeles past 11 p.m., running on my last legs after 41 hours of chasing what I now know as the most grueling off-road race on the planet.
Nobody but the racers themselves truly understands the brutal nature of competing in a Baja 1000. Not the spectators, who hope to catch the start or finish and maybe a few snapshots where the course comes nearest to public roads. Not the locals, who flock to Ensenada hoping to make a buck or huddle around smoldering campfires in the cold night hoping to witness a few moments of fun over some 20-odd hours of action. Not even the race teams, who sprint around the desolate peninsula trying to perfectly time refueling dumps with driver swaps, breakdowns, and mechanical support. In reality, so much of the off-road racing happens so far off the beaten path that nobody can hope to comprehend the arduous task that each Baja race entails.
I caught up with AJ Jones a couple of days later before he hopped on a plane to Dubai, trying to fit his experience into my own eyewitness perspective. He admitted that driving a UTV in the Baja 1000 beat him up worse than any of his previous races.
“I thought I had a pretty good idea of what to expect going into it and I was pretty blown away,” he admitted. “We were thinking that my first San Felipe loop was gonna take around four and a half hours and it ended up taking about eight and a half. It’s not easy at all. It’s hard on the body, it’s hard on the mind. It takes a really long time. “
“You gotta be tough to race this kind of stuff. You gotta be tough to do Dakar, you gotta be tough to race a Baja 1000. That’s a huge part of our team and that’s a huge part of, I think, kind of who I am too.”
“When everything goes wrong and you still keep on pushing through,” he said. “You show yourself how tough you can be, mentally and physically, and then it feels good. Even if everything goes wrong, at least you got that out of it. And at least you can kind of feel fulfilled within yourself and you have something to look forward to the next year.”
Everyone who loves off-road racing, or even just off-roading, should witness the spectacle of the Baja 1000 at least once. Do it cheap on a loop year by finding a few good pit stops to jump around between. Or better yet, plan to camp along the beach for a couple of nights on a year the course makes the full peninsula run.
I arrived home thoroughly exhausted and absolutely hooked on off-road racing like never before. This absolutely unnecessary war of attrition reveals something that can often seem absent from the human spirit today: explorers and pioneers, all race gas and dusty lungers, testing themselves and their machines in the hardest environment they know. It’s less about conquering the rugged terrain than learning how to work through one of the most extreme events on the planet. And deep in the thick of it, even the best of the best quickly find out just how much they still don’t know.
There are few things better than a perfectly cooked slab of juicy steak. The only thing that might come between a guy and his beef are the negative effects that red meat, in all its marbled-with-fat and butter-basted glory, has on your heart and your waistline. It’s no secret lean meats are better for you, but that doesn’t mean you have to ditch red meat altogether. You just need to know what the leanest and fattiest cuts of steak are.
Red meat is packed with protein, which is critical for muscle growth and recovery. It’s also high in iron and vitamin B-12, which boosts the immune system and keeps red blood cells healthy. But there’s a difference among cuts like top sirloin steak, top round roast, and rib eye steak.
So here’s a handy list of the best cuts of steak you don’t have to feel guilty for indulging in when the craving for meat hits—as well as the ones to bail on at the butcher shop.
Note: The American Heart Association recommends limiting lean meat, poultry and seafood consumption to six ounces per day. The USDA defines an extra-lean cut of beef as a 3.5-ounce serving (about 100 grams) that contains fewer than 5 grams total fat, 2 grams of which are saturated fat, and 95 milligrams of cholesterol.
The Leanest Cuts of Beef
1. Sirloin Tip Side Steak
Taken from the sirloin tip or the top of the round. Very lean, but still holds flavor.
Nutrition Facts
Calories: 206
Fat: 5.4g
Saturated Fat: 2.06g
Protein: 39g
2. Top Round Steak
Cut from the hip (part of the round) and considered flavorful and more tender than other cuts from the round.
Nutrition Facts
Calories: 240
Fat: 7.6g
Saturated Fat: 3g
Protein: 36.9g
3. Eye of Round Steak
Similar to the cuts taken from the tenderloin, but tougher and less juicy.
Sunlight casting through snow-covered tree limbs, clouds of breath billowing into cool, crisp air, and the peace and quiet of a wilderness in white makes wintertime on the trail a hiking experience no other season can rival—but only if you’re prepared to stay warm and dry. Keeping active on foot through the winter requires a few seasonal gear upgrades, but with the right equipment, it can be a great way to burn off steam around the holidays.
As a professional hiking guide with an insatiable penchant for rambling outdoors, I need to keep my hiking habit going despite the snowfall, so I spent the early season testing and amassing this winter hiking gear collection. These items will keep you comfortable while snowshoeing and hiking all the way until spring.
Here’s a rundown of the perfect head-to-toe winter hiking gear quiver to keep you on-trail through the snowy season.
A pair of lightweight snowshoes is essential to staying on your feet outdoors through winter, and to keep motivated when the temps drop, it helps if they’re comfortable and user-friendly. The TSL Symbioz Hyperflex Adjust and Symbioz Hyperflex Instinct are two options that tick all the boxes: easy entry and exit, surefooted grip, and an ergonomic, adaptable base. Their flexible footplates bend to the contour of the ground and cradle the foot with a shock-absorbing system that gives each step a soft and natural feel. Underneath, the stainless steel teeth are distributed around the foot for grip in any snow or ice condition.
Both models utilize Boa ratcheting systems that wrap around the foot and quickly adjust to fit any sized shoe, but the key difference between the Symbioz Hyperflex and Hyperflex Instinct is in the bindings. Where the Hyperflex features a pre-adjustable ankle strap that permanently sets your instep in position, the Hyperflex Instinct utilizes a flexible binding system that adjusts to memorize your shoe size, and makes getting in and out of them ultra quick. I liked the Hyperflex for long hikes, and the Hyperflex Instinct for shorter outings and walking around town on snow days.
Truth time: There are no shortcuts to getting a rock-hard body. There are, however, some smart ways for you to achieve your physique goals without wasting time or—worse—doing things that undercut your efforts. We talked with two experts to get their essential fitness tips, and you can use their insight to train smarter and see results.
Here, Colette Nelson, professional bodybuilder, personal trainer and coach, and registered dietician, and Doug Miller, professional bodybuilder and co-author of Biology for Bodybuilders, share their fitness tips for sculpting a competition-worthy physique.
14 Expert-Approved Fitness Tips to Help You Get Ripped
Monkey Business Images / Shutterstock
1. Track Your Food Intake
First, a bit of a surprise: You don’t necessarily need to put in more gym time.
“Working out is really only 15 percent of the equation,” says Nelson. Instead, you’ll be spending more time at the grocery store and in the kitchen. “The diet is 85 percent.”
Miller suggests tracking what you eat to start with, so you can then look at how to tinker with it. Focus on macros first, and then move forward from there.
Antonina Vlasova / Shutterstock
2. Focus on Fiber
Major chiseling means seriously changing up your carb intake. Nelson recommends focusing on legumes, vegetables, and berries, especially on the days you’re not working out.
“Many studies have found that people experience increased satiety, lower insulin levels, and greater weight-loss success on a low-carb/high-fiber dieting approach,” she says.
YARUNIV Studio / Shutterstock
3. Don’t Skip Carbs Entirely
No carbs in your diet at all means you’ll have no ready energy. Therefore, increase carbs slightly on hard workout days.
“The less impactful carbs that are found in sweet potatoes may be eaten one to two times per week and post-workout,” Nelson says.
Limit it to a small portion, though—half a sweet potato or a half-cup of quinoa.
