NaFOS: The Transformation

Some great news, Not a Fat Opera Singer has become a community effort. It's no longer one opera singer’s endeavor to beat the stereotype and live a healthy & active lifestyle…now we’re a group! My little Opera Company, Opera Manhattan Repertory Theatre that you may have read about in the papers lately, is now setting in motion its Health & Fitness Program. When we originally created the company about a year ago, one of our endeavors was to help our Artists beat the Opera Singer stereotype and become lean, mean, singing machines! And now it's finally here and happening. A huge motivation to do it NOW was the exciting offer from MizFit Magazine to follow along on this journey with a monthly column. Yep, now their will be a special little place in MizFit Magazine where you'll see Not a Fat Opera Singer as we face our own fitness challenges, while continuing the challenge of making it in the opera biz.

We have trainers, nutritionists, yoga instructors, dance instructors, and many more on board to help our singers successfully make the journey. Most importantly, we’ve already had over 20 of our Artists volunteer to make the transformation; they really want to finally take control of their health in order to be the best that they can be. I truly applaud the efforts they have made thus far in the business, and I am proud that they want to be part of something new and so cutting edge for the Opera World.

Now, what does NaFOS: The Transformation entail? We start next Sunday with the pre-journaling stage: This is where we have the participants write down EVERYTHING from what they eat & drink to their regular daily activity, schedules and amount/quality of sleep. Then for the following week, Prep-Week, we’ll gather that data and have our Program Instructors create a Meal & Fitness Plan for them to follow. During Prep-Week, we’ll explain the program for each participant and also take them to the grocery store and show them how to shop on a budget while sticking to a particular meal plan; followed by a cooking/meal preparation class on how to cook truly yummy, satisfying and easy-to-make meals for the week. I like to remember the popular saying “If your fail to plan, then you plan to fail.” This is so true, especially in the matter of achieving a successful healthy lifestyle. After Prep-Week, the Transformation begins and continues for 90 days. In those 90 days, the participants will receive:

-Journals: Each singer will receive a journal to document their progress with their new meal & fitness plan
-Cooking & Meal Preparation Classes
-Weekly yoga class for singers
-Weekly dance classes (w/Undefined Dance Company)
-Weekly training with a personal trainer
-Weekly meetings to check progress, tweak programs, and take measurements
-Emergency hotline for time when they’re about to go off track
-Healthy social mixers, to show that you can have a good time and make healthy choices at the same time

We also have lovely people helping us with the documentation as well, so there will be photos, videos and spotlight articles on the people that are participating and inspiring us along the way.

Hope you’ll check out MizFit Magazine it launches, it promises to be an informative and, if I know MizFit, an entertaining read!

Have a great day!
-Bex