FBBFan.com: Hello Tanya, Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to share a bit about yourself with FBBFan.com readers!

FBBFan.com: Would you please tell us a little bit about yourself? How old are you? Where are you from? Current Residence? Relationship Status? Family Life?
Tanya: Sure! I am single, 27 years young, from Sydney, Australia and now living in Los Angeles, California. New to SoCal as of September 2009, and I am loving it! I moved over here to be closer to my parents and better my career. Both my parents and brother live here in the U.S., everyone else is back home! I am a professional chef, lifestyle coach and a natural bodybuilder.

FBBFan.com: What is your current profession? We understand you are a professional chef?
Tanya: Yes, I graduated from The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York in 2005. I have my own business, teaching people in their own homes how to cook/prepare healthy foods. Among knife skills, specific meal plans, weight loss/gain muscle. Please check out my website www.TanyaFitness.com for more information!

FBBFan.com: What kind of culinary services do you offer? How can you help an individual and/or a family eat and live healthier lifestyles?
Tanya: You are what you eat! That quote is very true ;) By making positive healthy changes to your diet, you can add precious years to your life, feel and look amazing. I will teach you and your family that eating healthy is delicious and inexpensive.

Some of the services I offer are: Meal planning, knife skills, food safety, kitchen time management, food allergies, grocery shopping and healthy lifestyle makeovers.

FBBFan.com: How does being a fitness enthusiast help you in your job?
Tanya: I believe that you must “look the part”. I choose to live a healthy balanced lifestyle. Nobody wants to have health problems, so I offer my advice on living a balanced lifestyle of nutrition and fitness because they both go hand in hand. America is in trouble as far as obesity and health problems, I enjoy spreading the word about proper nutrition and training to help these people who are trying to live healthier lives.

FBBFan.com: Since you have these “madskills” in the kitchen, what is your favorite meal?
Tanya: I love it all! My favorite cuisines are Italian, Japanese and Thai. Here is my philosophy: Use quality, fresh ingredients, the proper cooking method/technique and do it well, season properly, it’s hard to go wrong!

FBBFan.com: Would you care to share a recipe for a fun and healthy meal with our readers?
Tanya: Absolutely! I have several of my favorites on my website, that I update several times weekly. Stop by and check it out.

FBBFan.com: How did you get involved in the sport of Women’s Bodybuilding?
Tanya: I love weights, bottom line! It is the perfect stress reliever while all at the same time, body transformer! I began tinkering around at the gym as a teenager then I got serious about training when I was about 17. I never played any sports throughout school and I get asked all the time what I played!

FBBFan.com: What do you enjoy about being a figure/bodybuilding competitor?
Tanya: Discipline, working towards a goal that a lot of people in the world wouldn’t dream of doing! It is a different and very individual sport, which attracts me to it.

FBBFan.com: How does your friends, family and the general public react to your physique?
Tanya: LOL well I get a lot of different reactions depending on where I am. I just remember the other day, I was running along the strand and people were nudging one another to check out my legs. Gawd knows what they’re thinking!? It makes me feel selfconcious at times but this is me, these are my genetics and I love the look of muscle. When I look at “normal” people, I can’t help but to think, “how they can not workout?”!

FBBFan.com: What is your long-term goal in the sport of bodybuilding?
Tanya: To keep it what it is, a fun enjoyable hobby. I am so busy these days with work and my personal life to even think about competing any time soon. However I have scheduled photoshoots coming up mid and late summer so that gives me a goal to work towards. I really have been concentrating and working hard to add size to my upper body. My hard work is beginning to pay off. I am much thicker in my back and arms now. So stay tuned to checkout my progress!

FBBFan.com: What has been your greatest personal moment so far in this sport?
Tanya: Having my own website and being able to help others live a healthier lifestyle.

FBBFan.com: Would you please share your competition history with us?
Tanya: Long ago! I competed twice while I was in New York for school, both in figure. I placed 1st overall for the first show, then I placed 3rd overall in the second show.

FBBFan.com: When are you planning to compete next?
Tanya: I have two injuries that I am nursing. My lower back and shoulder, so my health and healing is paramount right now. I am uncertain of when I will compete, I am hoping by the fall of 2010. But when I do compete again, I have changed my mind, I want to compete in figure not as a bodybuilder. it will be with a bang!

FBBFan.com: What is your current height, weight during off-season and contest?
Tanya: I am 5’5” and I currently weigh 155lbs.

FBBFan.com: What do you consider your best feature?
Tanya: My legs! So I have been told. But I think my best feature is my personality!

FBBFan.com: Would you please tell us a little about your workout schedule? Contest and during the Off-Season? Does it vary much?
Tanya: The only big difference is that I do a lot more cardio when I am dropping pounds. I will typically do cardio in the morning and then in the afternoon, I will train then do additional cardio. I train the same way year round, which is heavy, I never count reps, I concentrate on correct form and mind to muscle connection and go until failure! I take minimal rests in between sets also, I like to make gym time the most uncomfortable gut wrenching time of the day. ;)

FBBFan.com: Do you have a favorite exercise?
Tanya: Seriously, I love it all. I enjoy training back mainly because I am trying to add size to it. I have to be careful because my lower back is tender, however I am still able to train heavy.

FBBFan.com: What is a day-in-the-life of Tanya Hyde like?
Tanya: Like living the dream! hahaha! Not quite. I work smart not hard. I save the hard work for the gym. ;) In the morning, depending on my schedule, I will do some cardio, eat breakfast and then go to work, or I will go to work then train! Nothing to exciting, I like to stay on a schedule.

FBBFan.com: What are your hobbies and interests outside of the bodybuilding world?
Tanya: Going to the beach, playing with my two Chihuahua’s, shopping, reading, cooking and swimming.

FBBFan.com: What’s currently on your iPod?
Tanya: Hip-Hop, house, R&B.

FBBFan.com: What are your “Top 5” favorite movies? Favorite actor and/or actress?
Tanya: Silence of the Lambs, Borat, My sister’s keeper, Sex and the City and Blind Side, Dumb and Dumber, and Step Brother’s. I love Anthony Hopkins and Sandra Bullock.

FBBFan.com: Who are your role models? And/or who do you look up to in your life?
Tanya: Without a doubt my parents are my role models. I am so lucky, grateful and thankful for them and all that they have done and do for me.

FBBFan.com: What advice do you have for women who would like to get involved in the sport of bodybuilding?
Tanya: Honestly, I do it my way. Feminine, natural and 100% real!

FBBFan.com: Who are your favorite bodybuilders?
Tanya: Cory Everson, Monica Brant, Jenny Lynn, Ronnie Coleman, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dexter Jackson and Frank McGrath because he is so damn hot!

FBBFan.com: How can people contact you? Do you have a website?
Tanya: My website is: www.TanyaFitness.com

FBBFan.com: Thank you Tanya, for taking the time to speak with us and share a little bit about yourself with FBBFan.com readers, is there anything else that you would like FBBFan.com readers to know?
Tanya: That I appreciate everyone’s support ;) Thank You XOXO

Special Thanks for the Interview to FBBFan.com

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