About

Welcome the Free as a Bird!

My name is Samantha and I'm a 20 year old (soon to be 21 yay!) fitness enthusiast from Montreal Canada, who loves living a healthy balanced life.

As a recent graduate from Trent University, joint majoring in Anthropology and International Development Studies, I now have found myself faced with the "real world" and decided to start a blog to keep tracks of this new part of my life!

With a love for fitness, food, traveling, volunteering and everything in between, Fit to Be Free is my attempt to keep all these in check, while treating myself to the occasional (okay more like frequent ;) ) indulgence.

A Little Bit About Me:

I currently live at home with my mom, dad and two brothers (Christopher & Andrew), along with my two adorable Westies Sassy & Sparky. Having just completed by Bachalor of Arts at Trent University in Peterborough, I decided to live at home for one more year before moving out and traveling for an extended period of time.

My daily life is turned upside down at the moment as I'm trying to figure out what to do next. Having done the "school thing" for my entire life, I'm finally free and getting ready to start my big girls life! For now though I work as a waitress and bartender at a local restaurant/pub in order to save up some hard earned cash for my traveling adventures in the future :) While it has nothing to do with what I want to do in the future, tips are great and a fast way to save moollaaaa ;)

FITNESS:

Since I was young exercise and fitness has always been a part of my routine. As a competitive gymnast I spent practically all my time invloved in some sort of strenuous activity. While training 25 hours a week while going to elementry school seems like a lot now, I loved it at the time and would not have done anything different. With super supportive parents who drove me to and from all the practice and events, sitting through competitions with their eyes covered, in fear that I might fall of the 4 inch wide balance beam, I could not have done it without them!

Eventually as I got into high school I decided it was my time to retire my gym leotard for something different. As im sure many can relate, gymnastics takes a HUGE toll on your body & mind, and I was ready for a change.

Not a month later I joined a dance studio close by and spent my high school years devoted to hip-hop, jazz, ballet and sport aerobics. For those of you unaware of what Sport Aerobics is check out this website. Its basically a combination of a Fitness Competition, dance, gymnastics and whole lot of enthusiasm mixed into one!

Then from Sport Aerobics to competitive Hip-Hop, I was constantly on to go, traveling for competitions or performances, in addition to weekly practices.

Now with all that craziness behind me I have hung up my dancing shoes and stuck to "regular" fitness training.

Im a member of my local gym, which I try to attend everyday, and take courses like Body Pump (LOVE IT!!) and Hot Yoga whenever I get the chance.

For more info on my fitness routine check out the Fitness Page :)

FOOD:

Growing up as a gymnast and dancer has really shaped my eating habits. With strict diets and extreme exercise, I have almost always eaten healthy with the occasional indulgence.

Eating healthy is very important to me and I try to be aware of everything I eat, yet know this is not always possible. With a love to cook and try new things, I attempt to mix things up in my meals, but find myself coming back to my favourites quiet often, as you will quickly pick up on ( ahem ... yogurt...fruit..salad ...;) ). I also tend to avoid certain things like cheese, pasta, bread and of course junk food all together, getting my nutrients from other sources, but im not gonna lie, I cheat every now and again ;)

-  ps. i'm going to pre-warn you, im ADDICTED to Starbucks :) yummyyyyyy!!!

Oh and Im also a "newbie" vegetarian! After reading and hearing about all the chemicals that go into meat and mostly the cruelty to the animals, I decided in August 2010 during a shopping trip to Vermont with my Mom to go meatless! I since haven't found it too difficult to avoid meat, but I gotta admit I miss my dad's delicious hamburgers and my moms spaghetti sauce from time to time :). Unable to give up seafood, especially shrimp, I have kept these in my diet as a source of protein, and crossed off all other forms of meat of my dietary list.

For recipe's check out my Recipe Page ! - p.s I'm always looking for new ideas for meals, especially ones that include load of protein so feel free to help me out :)

TRAVEL:

Traveling always has been and always will remain a passion of mine. I tend to believe that the best way to learn and experience is through visiting different places and cultures and seeing them with your own eyes. Fortunately I have already done a tone of traveling in my twenty years, spanning from across Canada & the USA, to 13 cities in Europe & 2 countries in Africa. Traveling has opened my eyes to so many different things and led me to chose International Development Studies & Anthropology as majors in University. For now I have no immediate travel plans for the near future, but i'm working hard to earn more money to travel soon!
For more info on my traveling adventures past, present and future, check out the Travel Page!