The four years I spent getting my undergraduate degree at Emory University were not kind to my body.  College culture does not cater to a healthy lifestyle.  Late nights, whether spent partying or studying, tend to cloud one's judgement, and limit options when it comes to what you put into your body.  Ordering Dominos at 3 A.M., to be delivered to your doorstep in 20 minutes, is much easier than steaming vegetables and grilling a chicken breast.  While I had anticipated gaining the "freshman 15", I did not expect it to turn into the "senior 50."  Four years after entering Emory weighing 155 pounds, I left at a hefty 205.  At a height of 5 foot, 9 inches, this was not good.  The crazy thing is that I was active the entire time.  I played rugby my first two years, followed by two years of club baseball. I even made it to the gym on average three times a week.  Like many health professionals say: fitness is 80% diet.  I was in need of a serious lifestyle change.

When my wife and I decided to move to Mexico in the Summer of 2009, I made a commitment to improving my eating habits and overall health.  If I was going to live on the beach, I wanted to look the part.  Having never been to the Riviera Maya before, I was apprehensive of the food selection, envisioning the same kind of food that you would find in a typical Mexican restaurant in the U.S.: dripping in grease and loaded with fat.  I could not have been more wrong. 

The international community that inhabits the Riviera Maya (over 47 countries represented) is very health-conscious and makes eating well easy, even while eating out.  Everything just tastes so fresh.  Soon after the move, my diet had quickly changed to delicious, locally-caught, fresh fish, and vegetables.  Just four months after arriving, I was down 25 pounds.  The other half of the weight came off as smoothly as the first.  I have discovered that it is not difficult to maintain a healthy diet, provided that the food tastes good and there is a wide variety of it.  Such is the case in the Rivera Maya.

For those who are interested in the exercise side of things, my fitness successes boils down to two main components: CrossFit and the Maya Gym at the Omni Hotel in Puerto Aventuras.  CrossFit workouts are random, short (averaging around 15 minutes), and explosive.  They are physically challenging, and keep the body guessing.  The Maya Gym at the Omni Hotel in Puerto Aventuras real estate is covered by a palapa roof, and is literally feet from the Caribbean Sea.  It will be difficult for me to join another gym considering how picturesque the view is from the large glass windows that surround the equipment.  No matter how I am feeling when I arrive, the combination of an exhausting workout and the crystal-clear turquoise waters always remind me how great life is in the Riviera Maya.