Exercise the Winter Away

38%

The number of Australian women who expect to gain 2kg-5kg this winter

~Study by NSW food authority and NSW health~

Exercise the Winter Away!

As an outdoor personal trainer one of the things many people say this time of year is that it is too cold to exercise……….and you know what they are right.

Even for the most motivated person, this time of year really challenges your loyalty to fitness. However I always like to consider the other side of the argument and that is the positives that come from just making 1-2 efforts a week to beat that statistic above that 38% is The number of Australian women who expect to gain 2kg-5kg this winter

~Study by NSW food authority and NSW health~

So to avoid being one of the 38% here are a few positives to add to just doing a little bit……… now.

We know motivating yourself for exercise in winter can be difficult when the days are short and the weather is cold. However, exercising outdoors is hugely beneficial to improving your health and fitness during the winter months.

After going for a fresh winter walk, jog or other outdoor exercise activities, exercise can really help you shake off the winter blues.

By exercising outdoors, you’ll get a double return for your effort in receiving both the following outcomes:

1. Physiological  - like faster weight loss, greater fat burn and lowering blood sugar levels
2. Psychological benefits – like being more optimistic, increase resilience, improved self confidence and just the earthily feeling and benefits of fresh air and being in the natural environment.

Here’s why training outdoors in Winter is twice as effective to burn more fat and achieve greater fitness results than any other time of the year!

• We expand up to 30% more energy when exercising in winter. Which means we burn more fat, and achieve greater fitness results.
• As you're burning more energy, you sleep better and generally deeper at night resulting in greater recovery and more energy the next day
•  Regular exercise in winter is one of the best ways to boost your general resilience and immune system and fend off wintertime colds and other illnesses
• The connection to being outdoors will give you a mood boost, make you happier and more productive during the day resulting in better relationships 

Your natural instinct will be to hibernate the winter away. However there are plenty of creative ways to exercise and stay active during the winter. For just 1-2 efforts per week you can double your exercise return, however you will need to get moving soon. No need to make exercise a big priority this winter. Instead just do little things more often. There are far more benefits that outweigh the cold, depending on hoe you view Winter!!!!!

EXTRA WINTER TIP – Post Meal Strolls

Following dinner, before you reach for the sweet snack or dessert Try the following tip to have you taking advantage of the cooler weather. Typically we eat dinner at home, it is nice and warm, the heating is on and in turn metabolism is encouraged to slow down, due to the warm temperature and low activity levels. After dinner walk out the front door and walk for 5-10 minutes is adequate. It doesn't need to be a marathon just a post meal stroll to help digestion, burn some extra energy and the fresh cool air and activity will help also increase your metabolism. Try it and let me know what you think.

5 Tips to Put the Hop back into your Week

Typically this week, the lethargic, bloated, low energy levels of having a great Easter set in. To help you get back on track to feeling and being your best, here is a 5 tip survival guide you can start today, to boost your energy levels and put a bit of 'Easter hop' back into your life:

TIP 1 - Food

The basic rules of fat loss are:  choice of food, portion size and when we eat.... therefore follow the following and you are starting on the right path to achieve your goals:

Protein with every meal – Yes every meal!!  Think lean PROTIEN that is low in fat. Protein balances blood sugar levels, creates satiety (fullness) and is good for fat metabolism. Make sure the protein is the size of your palm (roughly 100-150grms).

Carbohydrates - 3 handfuls with every meal. If having breakfast 3 handfuls is 1 piece of toast.

TIP 2 - Water 

Aim to drink 2 litres per day (8 glasses). 500mls (2 glasses) when you first wake up then 500mls before and after lunch. This will only leave a couple of glasses at other times during the day.

Drink away from food, as this will dilute digestive enzymes that cause fat gain!

TIP 3 - Supplement

Recent evidence has shown that suboptimal levels of vitamins and minerals are a risk factor for chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and osteoporosis. A large proportion of the general population is apparently at increased risk for this reason.

We recommend the following for ageing and fat reduction:

Flordis Nutritionals broad spectrum Multivitamin and Minerals – for energy production and healthy ageing.

Flordis Nutritionals Enteric Omega 3 Fish Oil – Good quality fish oils which are essential for fat metabolism

Vitamin C & Zinc combined – great for the immune system and healthy collagen production (skin health)

There are also specific natural medicines that speed up the metabolism, address abdominal fat and fluid reduction.

We recommend and use the Flordis range. See me if you wish to place an order.

TIP 4 - Lifestyle 

Increase the number of cues that foster healthier eating and exercise habits:

Fresh fruit bowel on the table

Running / walking shoes next to the door

Walking clothing next to your bed ready for the morning

Remove the cookie jar from the pantry

Have television free days

Love alcohol? - Chose the alcohol that works with you not against you for fat loss – Vodka & Soda with fresh lemon or lime. Stay away from red / white wine and beer!

TIP 5 - Exercise Outdoors 

Many recent studies have revealed that exercising in the natural environment, as compared to exercising indoors, was associated with increased energy and vitality. Interestingly, study participants also reported greater enjoyment and satisfaction with outdoor exercise compared with indoor exercise activity, and therefore achieve faster results.

Come and join us at Step into Life Hallett Cove and put the hop back into your week! Our Group Outdoor Personal Training sessions are highly motivating, non-intimidating and cater for all fitness levels. Most importantly we guaranteed results.

Click here to book into a 1wk free trail, we guarantee you will love it!

Easter Break . . . A Bad Habit!

Easter is a big break in the middle of the working year. For some, it’s a time to relax with family and friends. For others, Easter can mark a “time to renew commitments to new goals”.

So, if you’ve been meaning to quit your pack-a-day habit, or stop eating your weight in chocolate or even stay on your fitness routine, its now time for your “Easter Break – A Bad Habit Challenge”.

Here are some handy tips to help you stay committed and on track with your health and well being goals.

1. Don’t try to change everything at once: It’s easy to become over-confident and decide to stop eating chicken wings, go running and quit smoking all at once. But hold your horses. Change is gradual. It’s important you don’t try to end all your ill habits at once or you might not succeed breaking any. Instead, make a priority list. What is costing you the most in terms of health, money and time? Pick up one and aim to put it to sleep once and for all.

2. Publicise: It’s always better to have someone to whom you are accountable for breaking your bad habit. Tell a friend or a Facebook friends about your new Easter resolution. Train with an exercise buddy and keep each other on track. That way, you will be answerable to your friends or buddy whenever you feel like caving in.

3. Take baby steps: So you’ve picked a bad habit to be broken. Great! Just don’t aim to end it forever. Of course, the idea is that you never bite your nails again, or never indulge in shopping too much or exercise three times a week, but your subconscious doesn’t want to hear that all at once. Tell yourself “I will shop within my budgetary limit today” or “I will not drink alcohol tonight.” Go one step at a time. Divide your challenge into doable, small portions and take it from there.

4. Be gentle on yourself: Let’s face it: There is a high probability you will give in sooner or later. You won’t be able to stop yourself always and in a way, it is good not to force yourself harshly. Be gentle on yourself if you cave in. It’s okay if you missed your run one morning – it doesn’t mean you will miss it the next day as well. Learn from your mistakes and keep moving forward.

5. Know your motives: There are mothers who’ve lost weight in order to play with their children, fathers who’ve given up being a workaholic just to spend time with their family . What’s your motivation? It could be anything that tickles your fancy: money, health, time, looks. You decide.

Make sure you have your goal in front of you every time: Stick reminders on the fridge, “Another cookie and you won’t be able to the 5km run with Jo”; schedule reminders on the smart phone “Step into Life Training. For Tina! ” Do whatever it takes to remind yourself why you’re into it in the first place.

This Easter, make sure you break a bad habit and keep moving forward towards your goals!

Beating the bulge and tips to eating sensibly over Christmas

The average person gains 2.5kg over Christmas - but it's not just down to greed. Dietician Dr Susan Roberts reveals the hidden psychological triggers that trick us into over-eating...
Not only turkeys fatten up at this time of year. It’s shockingly easy to gain 2.5kg or even 5kg in the three weeks between early December and the start of the New Year.

The result is not just a few extra inches around the middle but also an overwhelming sense of disappointment because, in retrospect, the enjoyment we got from those extra calories is pretty paltry compared to the long hard slog of taking them all off again.
Of course, avoiding the festive binge isn’t impossible, but there’s a lot more to it than just vowing to count our calories.


The real challenge of Christmas isn’t the food we eat, but the circumstances in which we eat it. On Christmas Day alone, we eat about 3,000 calories more than we need with the first chocolate eaten at 8.39am (according to recent research).


This isn’t just down to greed — it’s a natural human response to a particular set of triggers.
The huge amounts of food prepared cause unconscious overeating — the sight and smell of it sets off metabolic signals of hunger and expand our stomach so that we need to eat more to feel equally full. 


And then there is the food itself.


The defining characteristic of traditional festive items — the bacon-roasted turkey, butter- laden stuffing, potatoes cooked in goose fat, Christmas pudding with brandy cream and rich fruit cake topped with marzipan and icing — is that they’re extremely high in calories and very low in fibre. In other words, you have to eat huge amounts of them before you feel full.
Unfortunately, the challenges don’t stop there.


That huge variety of food on the Christmas table is part of what makes Christmas dinner special, right? Wrong.

The sheer luxury of choice means that most diners eat an extra 400 calories simply tasting all of the delights on offer.


And you know that lovely big crowd at the dinner table?


Well, according to research you can add another 35 calories to your intake for every guest settling down for the festive lunch — with, say, 11 guests at the table, you’ll probably eat an extra 400 calories without realizing it.


Eating in a group relaxes us, and the sight of other people tucking in encourages us to do the same.

These ‘social facilitators’ of overeating are so effective at increasing our mealtime calorie count that nursing homes — where weight loss is often a problem — are starting
Research also reveals that having music playing when you eat means you’ll consume an extra 100 calories on top, as it takes your mind off being careful about what you eat.


And all of this is before the traditional evening spent in front of the box, complete with favourite snacks in hand. This adds at least another 140 calories.


And then there are the after-effects of that delicious meal. Studies show that, even if you try like crazy to keep calories down to usual levels on Christmas Day, you will be hungrier and eat more at the next meal.


Again, this happens because our nervous system is activated by the sight of the delicious looking food in front of us (it’s true that we eat with our eyes), and this causes our digestive system to speed up.


This results in us digesting food faster, meaning that we will have an empty stomach again, all too soon.


It may seem unfair and counterproductive today, but what nutrition scientists call the ‘second meal’ effect served us well during earlier times when our genes were evolving, because it made it possible to have multiple meals on those occasional times when an abundance food was there for the taking.


Today, the negative cycle of having one great blow-out meal and then not being able to snap back to more sensible-sized portions happens because those delicious high-fat and high- sugar foods, which don’t fill us up as fast as fibrous foods would, speed up our metabolic rate. This then triggers hunger pangs at the next meal making it hard to resist — no matter how much we ate at the last meal.


It’s the reason you can go out for a slap-up meal in the evening and despite rolling into bed feeling uncomfortably full — and promising you won’t eat again for a week — you wake up starving. So the slippery slope starts, and is continued as party after party gets in the way of avoiding overeating.


But enough of the doom and gloom. Keeping the weight off at Christmas isn’t an impossible task.


Although we can’t get away from our instinctive eating behaviors, we can learn to control them.


If you are the one in charge of making food, arming yourself with some basic knowledge about the produce you’ll be eating — and consigning the very large plates to the back of the cupboard — will ensure you can step onto the scales come January 2 and feel good about it. Or at least not feel too bad.

Even if you’re dining out and feel uncomfortable asking your host for changes, there are some easy invisible ways to control your natural biology and cut down on all the ‘unthinking’ calories eaten.


So put a nice thin picture of yourself up on the fridge to keep weight control in mind, and use these five simple tips — based on my effective ‘I’ diet weight control programme, to help yourself.


1. BE PREPARED
Even if you’re not the one cooking the Christmas meal, you don’t have to be at the mercy of your host.


One surefire way to limit overeating is to add 100-150g of a really high fibre cereal like All Bran to your regular meals (some people like to sprinkle it on salads for a crouton effect, or you can just have it with milk for an extra course) for two days before the overeating starts. Rather than eating smaller portions in the run-up to Christmas to ‘bank’ calories — which is exactly what will cause bingeing later — give yourself this meal-booster to gain fullness and control.


You won’t be hungry when you sit down, meaning you can enjoy a couple of days of rich food but you’ll automatically want to eat far less.


2. SKIP THE BORING STUFF
Every festive meal has some high calorie things you don’t particularly care for, so save your calories for the foods you really do love.


By not looking at, smelling and especially tasting even a single bite of the mundane items — my list here would include crisps and other non-special starters and snacks, any Christmas cake that is not homemade, and mince pies unless they come from Marks & Spencer or your mum — you avoid revving up metabolic hunger signals unnecessarily.


As for work parties and other events where the food is simply all-round poor — have something satisfying such as high-fibre cereal with milk or an apple to eat before you go, and keep a glass of soda water or tonic in your hand for a calorie-free option (alcohol is full of ‘empty’ calories that will pile on the pounds before you’ve even eaten a single sausage wrapped in bacon).


Not wolfing down the canapes at five of the ten parties you’ll attend between now and January 2, is much easier than you might imagine.

The trick is, not to get started. By avoiding the first bite, you prevent the metabolic signals of hunger, that rev up when you put food in your mouth, giving you an appetite for something bigger. It is the easiest way to cut excess calories — and poundage — in half.

3. MICRO-MANAGE THE TABLE AROUND YOU 
Surreptitiously controlling your food


So as you take your seat at the Christmas table, bear in mind that short, skinny neighbours will serve themselves smaller portions and tempt you to eat less than tall overweight or athletic ones.


If you can’t choose to sit next to somebody who only weighs eight stone, keep the high-calorie foods and alcohol moving down the table, making sure that none of it ends up within reach.
If you’ve ever found yourself sitting near to a bowl of crisps and unable to ignore them you’re not alone.


Numerous studies have shown that how close you are to food determines how much you load on your plate, so even simple steps like this can be a big help.


4. RECOVER CONTROL THE VERY NEXT DAY
Yes, we have the metabolic effects of feasts like Christmas Day that make us ready for another good meal all too soon (with those high fat foods speeding up our digestion and increasing our hunger levels), but that doesn’t mean you are helpless. The key to nipping negative cycles in the bud is doing recovery activities in the right order. Although cutting out high-calorie treats starting the next day might seem like the right place to start, in fact this superficially easy route frequently leads to failure because you get hungry and then cheat.
Before you know it, you’ve eaten more than you would have if you’d just stuck to your usual routine.


The key here in my clinical experience is to satisfy yourself before the hunger kicks in and that means eating filling, fibrous foods before your stomach starts rumbling from hunger.
Put yourself on a high-fibre regime the very next morning — high-fibre cereals, bean dishes and low-carb, high-fibre breads are the best for giving you that feeling of all-round fullness — and see how quickly you lose the urge to overeat.


5. THROW OUT THE WELL-INTENTIONED FOOD GIFTS
Yes, I know your best friend or sister-in-law would be offended if she knew that you tossed her box of luxury chocolates in the bin, but if she doesn’t know she can’t mind.


Controlling your own food — the food that you buy and bring into the house yourself — is much easier than the free stuff other people hand over.

So do yourself a favour and, unless the food is something healthy like a fresh, fragrant loaf of homemade wholemeal bread, be willing to consign it to the rubbish (or pass it on to someone else) and pat yourself on the back for being tough.


In the toxic food environment we live in, controlling your weight takes real effort and the more you can take control of food in the immediate space around you, the easier it will be. 

Understanding Metabolism

We all hear about metabolism however, have you ever really known what it is and what is does?

Essentially metabolism refers to a complex series of chemical processes that convert food into energy as well as establishing the rate at which your body burns calories.

Ultimately, your metabolism is responsible for how quickly or easily you gain and lose weight.

Everyone’s metabolism works differently and there are many factors that influence how efficiently it works. Some of these factors include your age, gender, amount of body fat and family genetics which all play a role that determines an individuals metabolism.

Some of these factors cannot be changed however there are other things we can do to increase the efficiency of our metabolism.

These include:

1.   Participating in regular cardiovascular exercise as you continue to burn calories for 12 to 48 hours after you've finished working out depending on the intensity.

2.   Resistance training (Toning Classes) also assists with your metabolisms efficiency. For every pound of muscle you can maintain or build up, your body burns an extra 70 to 120 calories per day, thus increasing our metabolic rate.

3.   Exercising in the morning raises your metabolism for the whole day.

4.   According to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Green Tea helps you burn 35 to 43% more calories per day.

5.   Drink lots of water because even the slightest dehydration will slow down your metabolism, as our body needs water to effectively metabolize our food.

6.   Don’t skip meals, as skipping meals will make your body go into starvation mode. Once in starvation mode the body will retain fat for survival. This is why breakfast is the most important meal of the day as we have not eaten for 8 hours and it prevents the body from going into starvation mode.

Healthy Eating Tip: Instead of eating three medium to large-sized meals per day, you should be eating five smaller meals

7.   There are certain foods that help speed up your metabolism. These include: Wholegrain foods and oats, Yogurt, green tea, tea coffee, water, almonds, Fibrous fruits and vegetables such as apples, asparagus, beans, berried, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, celery, cucumber, grapefruit, lemons, limes, oranges Herbs - chili, cinnamon, jalapenos, garlic, cayenne peppers and lean meats.

8. As we age, our metabolic rate naturally slows, so we have to eat even less and be even more active just to maintain our weight. A frustrating reality, but if you’re aware of it, it wont sneak up in you.

Essentially if you participate in regular exercise and eat a health balanced diet you will be giving your metabolism the best chance of working efficiently.

How do busy People Fit Exercise into their Schedule?

Fitting exercise into a busy schedule is definitely challenging, yet at the same time extremely valuable and is not only good for our wellbeing but greatly increases our productivity during the day.

Exercise can be likened to the space on a bookshelf. If we haphazardly stack books and shove them wherever we like there is usually no space on the bookshelf and it looks messy and disorganized. If our lives are like this then we will think that we don’t have the space to fit exercise into our ‘bookshelf’ or schedules.

The first and most important thing is to see exercise as a priority and not something that we just do if we have time. Here are a couple of simple, practical ways we can make space for it and fit exercise into every day:

• Sit on a Fitball instead of a chair. This is great for core strengthening and relieves lower back pain.
• Use the stairs instead of the elevator.
• Park the car further away and walk to places
• Wear a wireless headset so you can walk and talk on the phone at the same time.
• Once or twice a week get up earlier and bike or walk to work if a reasonable distance.
• Wear a pedometer to track the number of step and distance you do each day and challenge yourself to beat it the next day.
• Instead of taking 30mins for lunch, eat lunch in 15mins and then go for a short walk outside for 15mins. 

Exercise on the weekend – If your levels of stress are elevated from Monday to Friday, try to lower them as much as possible on weekends. Take a long walk somewhere pleasant, outdoors, at food markets, or with the family. Ride to the shops instead of taking the car. If you do want to do some Lycra, do a group outdoor training cardio class at your nearest Step into Life venue. These sessions includes a good cool down and stretch.

All the things listed above are ways that have worked for me to fit exercise into my busy schedule. Admittedly, there are times when it can become difficult, however I don’t let a week go by without doing some exercise. I like to remind myself often that, 

‘I week without physical exercise makes one weak!’

12 wk Health Blitz Challenge - Week 12

Zero Alcohol

Let's Set Some Goals!

Welcome to week 12, and the very last challenge to complete of our 12wk Health Blitz! Well done for keeping up with the challenges. Let’s finish strong by again having a zero alcohol week like we did in week 3 (re-read week 3 article - Zero Alcohol. Drink More Water).

Once the 12wk challenge is over what next? With spring just around the corner and summer on the way, this week is the perfect time to set some specific goals.

It can be very difficult to set and stick to goals when life is so busy. Many of us have a desire to want to achieve however there is a conflict inside between choosing comfort and pursuing our goals.

Here are 9 ways that can help you set and stick to goals:

1.     One Goal at a Time – Chose only one thing to focus on at a time and make it something specific and achievable.

2.     Do the most important things first – Focus on the goals that will make the most positive difference in your life and do them first before the other stuff that wears you out.

3.     Extend the timeline – When life starts getting in the way instead of giving up simply extend the timeline to something more realistic. It may not be possible to achieve what you originally planned by the target date. It may take longer but at least you are still making progress toward your goal.

4.     No excuses – When life gets busy it is easy to become the victim. Don’t let yourself start saying, ‘I would have lost the weight but….’ Remember, we make the choice to give up or continue towards a goal. You either make your goals a priority or you don’t. If you put the goal off for a bit that is ok, but accept the responsibility for making the decision.

5.     Enjoy the Feeling – When you achieve mini goals, enjoy the feeling. Take time to acknowledge yourself and reward your achievement. There is also power in visualising your goal in your mind before it has happened. You can visualise how you will feel when you have accomplished the goal. The brain connects with those pleasure images, which help change, the neural pathways so the habit sticks.

6.     Life Happens – Think of any obstacle that may come up and plan ways to overcome them. Have a plan B in place for the challenging times. Don’t beat yourself up if something unavoidable gets in the way. Once you overcome them, simply refocus and continue sticking to your goal.

7.     Buddy up – Chose a goal-setting buddy.  You can give each other weekly updates to keep you both accountable. A buddy can also inspire and encourage you to keep going especially through the tough times.

8.     Create a success journal – It helps to write down every little goal you accomplish along the way. This keeps your mind focused on your successes so they can build. Starting your journal with a positive thought or 3 things you are grateful for will help to fuel your day.

9.     Practice makes perfect – It take the brain about 8wks to adopt new patterns of behaviour. Patterns that we repeat each day lead to forming habits. Whatever our goal whether it be learning an instrument or achieving weight loss, create the habits and repeat them each day. Once those neurons are wired together you will absolutely stick to and achieve your goals.