Do a fitness plan that actually works this January

Christmas and Boxing Day have now past and I bet you're still surrounded by left-overs, boxes of biscuits and boxes of chocolates. Are you sick of the sight of them?

Are you feeling tired, fat with your clothes feeling somewhat snug?

Have you already made a resolution to join a gym in January?

Yes?

But, isn’t that what you usually do every January after the Christmas over-indulgences?

Is this your usual process?

1. You decide to go along with the masses and join a gym as you believe that is what you are supposed to do.

2. You make it to the gym induction and feel completely self-conscious being shown round by the slim and/or muscle bound young instructor, who barely looks like they're out of school. You think, ‘What do they know about being overweight?’

3. You then feel even worse after they’ve taken you round the lines and lines of strange, scary looking machinery and you have no idea what they are explaining to you.

4. You get a program written for you and struggle around the gym for the first week as you can’t remember anything that was explained to you.

5. You then might make it back and do quite well for a week or two while your motivation is high.

6. After a couple of weeks of trying to do it on your own, or even with a friend, you decide it’s just too hard and don’t believe you’ll ever become a slim gym bunny so you stop going.

7. Suddenly pizza and a dvd seems a much better idea than going to the scary gym and before you know it, you go back to what’s familiar and comfortable to you.

8. But, you return to eating whatever you want and moaning about being overweight/feeling lethargic/clothes not fitting etc.

For many this is an all too common scenario and most don't make it past the first two weeks.

So why do we keep trying to do the same things every January when we know they don't work for us? Is it because we know most people will be trying to do the same things so there is safety in numbers? Is it because you think that joining the gym is the only option?

There are many other things you could do.

Alternatives to joining a gym this January

1. Look into community classes

There are stacks of classes in church halls and local community centres from Zumba and salsa, to circuits, boxing and bootcamps. Do a Google search online for your local areas or just stop off at all the places local to you and check out their notice boards.


2. Go power walking with a friend

Completely free and a great excuse to get some fresh air AND have a good ole chinwag too! Don some comfy footwear and work out a few routes maybe starting with 30 minutes and building up to an hour on as many days of the week as you can.
 Remember to walk briskly and not amble!

3. Racquet sports

Who says you have to actually play the game properly? Just see if you can hit a tennis ball or shuttle cock back and forwards to start off! Involves the whole body moving in all directions (not just forwards like at the gym!) A great way to get the heart pumping.


4. Swimming

Using water as resistance is a great way to tone and shape the body. Also great for those of you who are more self conscious and don’t like feeling sweaty. But you have to actually swim to get fit, not just float around! Set yourself a number of lengths to start with or a set amount of time such as 20-30 minutes and build on that.


5. Personal training
 and bootcamps
If you are unsure of how to get to your goal and can't seem to find anything that works, the best option is to hire the services, or go to sessions held by a personal trainer who will be able to give their expert advice and get you to your goals faster.

Whatever you choose you must address your diet too. No amount of exercise can undo a bad diet! Getting leaner is about 80% diet and 20% exercise.

You must also challenge yourself when you exercise and get out of your comfort zone. Get out of breath and get sweaty!

The talk test is a good indicator. If you can chat away and give an update of an entire episode of your favourite soap, the chances are you're not working hard enough. But if you can barely get a work out you can assume you're working pretty hard! If you are fairly new to exercise then short sentences are what to aim for.

If you would like help getting into the best shape of your life this year then come and have a chat with us to find out how.

Email me on emma@optimiseu.com

www.OptimiseU.com
www.BoffosBootcamp.com
www.YummyFitMums.com
www.WeightLossGuruRuislip.com

Free 28 day nutrition plan and advice
www.EmmaBFitness.ning.com

Are you living your life at 100mph?

Many of us are wishing our lives away, forever trying to get all the stuff done that we believe HAS to be done each day. But before you know it you get stuck in the same old same old ground hog style day and then another year has whizzed by.

Would it hurt to stop, even for just five minutes? 'Oh if only I had the time,' I know you've just thought.

Well just imagine you met your 80 year old self. Where would they be living? What would they look like? What would they be saying about their life?

Would they be content that they'd lived it? Or would they be full of regret for not relaxing more, spending time with friends and family or going to new places? Which one do you think will be you if you carried on with your current lifestyle and habits?

Well, the good news is that there is a very good chance that you haven't reached 80 just yet, so you can start making changes in your life. And yes, EVERYONE, can make changes in their life, even just small ones.

So just stop for five minutes...and have a think. What would you like to change or make time to do?

Write down the following headings: family, career, health, adventure, finances and education.

Then, write one thing about each that you would like to do or change.

For example:

Family: spend time with family one day every weekend
Career: ask for a promotion at work
Health: exercise twice a week for 60 minutes
Adventure: book holiday to Disneyland
Finances: put away 10% of everything I earn
Education: learn Italian

Then write next to it one action you could do to be one step nearer achieving it.

For example:

Family: spend time with family one day every weekend – purchase tickets to cinema
Career: ask for a promotion at work – arrange a meeting with my boss
Health: exercise twice a week for 60 minutes – arrange game of squash with friend and go to a fitness class
Adventure: book holiday to Disneyland – go and pick up a brochure
Finances: put away 10% of everything I earn – set up a savings account
Education: learn Italian – buy a cd course

Then...GET TO IT!! Revisit these goals every week and write new ones when you HAVE achieved them.

So remember, sloooowww down and start living the life you will be proud to talk about when you're 80 years old!

Emma Boffo
Personal Trainer & Nutrition Coach

www.EmmaBFitness.ning.com
(Free community for free nutrition advice!)

www.BoffosBootcamp.com
www.YummyFitMums.com
www.OptimiseU.com

Your remedy to not feeling FAT, SLOW and OVER-INDULGED!

You know, the average person puts on between 7-10lbs over Christmas. It's all from letting go and paying no attention to the little things. But I do actually want you to enjoy Christmas but at the same time, remember that you don't HAVE TO over eat and drink for an entire week.

Small choices like exercising for 10-15 mins, saying no to food offered, stopping eating when you can't breathe and stuff like that will really help you to avoid that heavy feeling.

Even fitness trainers like myself eat our fair share of junk over the Christmas period, and as we eat pretty well most of the time we really notice how much it slows our systems down and makes us feel heavy and tired.

So, what can we all do to get ourselves feeling better again? Well don't wait until the new year to start that's for sure. Do little things each day from NOW!

Your top five tips to start feeling human again!

1. Drink plenty of water - rehydrate yourself and get your digestive system moving after the overload of hard to digest food

2. Get moving - stop watching TV when there's just rubbish on, wrap up and go for a brisk walk for at least half an hour

3. Throw away or give away (to charity) any chocolate or biscuits left in the house - don't just eat them because they are there

4. Have a break from sugar and starchy carbs (sweets, bread, pasta etc) - cut down, limit or avoid these for a few days to give your digestive system a break

5. Just say no! - if you're visiting friends and relatives every day over the holidays, it's ok to say no to offerings. It will just add to the overload.

Good luck and here's to a great 2011!!

Warm regards

Emma Boffo

Personal Trainer & Nutrition Coach

www.BoffosBootcamp.com

www.YummyFitMums.com

www.OptimiseU.com

Getting motivated to exercise

Why would you want motivation to exercise?

Well it’s motivation that gets us going and excited to get into a healthy routine. It is not good to go into something new (or old) with a negative attitude, especially exercise because that just drains our energy.

Yes we do have our days were we are tired or it is raining or we just simply can’t be bothered but the key is to be able to change our mindset and get out of this attitude before it affects our results.

What is motivation?

The definition of motivation is to give reason, incentive and excitement to assist you to get a desired outcome. Motivation is a state you can easily learn to have with guidance and practice.

What makes motivation an important factor in exercise?

Without motivation whatever plan or regime you choose to follow you will get fed up with and not pursue. You can start getting great results straight away by making motivation your number one priority when it comes to healthy eating and exercise.

How can we motivate ourselves to get results with exercise?

Here are ten keys to motivate you.

1. An exercise log/graph - I cannot explain enough how important it is to log down and journal your experience including taking photos and recording measurements. I get all my clients to do this, its part of the change process.
   
   
2. Remember this is time for you – The time that you spend in session is for you! Respect yourself to remember you deserve time to spend on yourself inside and out.
   
   
3. The frumpy feeling from not exercising - It’s not a nice state so why not take control of your state and be in control of your actions. Make sure you are sticking to your program to prevent you from feeling anything but success.
4. Goal setting - Set goals correctly and make them easily achievable. Setting and tracking your progress with show you your results and will motivate you more.
   
   
5. Prepare for success – Get the right frame of mind to exercise and become healthy. Set your outcomes so that you know which direction you are heading.
   
   
6. Having fun - Exercise should be fun. Choose a class or sport you will have fun with and that can be different.
   
   
7. Visualization - Imagine a slimmer, fitter more toned and energized you and see yourself and imagine how you would sound and feel now let that image motivate and drive you.
   
   
8. Stress relief - Have you had a hard day running after the kids? Use exercise to release that stress.
   
   
9. An exercise class - Sign up for a class, maybe with a friend today as exercising in a group with a trainer can assist in increasing motivation.
   
   
10. Use a coach or trainer – They can support and help you reach your goals successfully.

What if you were to follow the above tips and incorporate it all into your fat loss regime?

Well you’d be setting yourself up for success. Good Luck!

Sally Pettitt

The Mother Factor
sally@themotherfactor.co.uk
The Mother Factor on Facebook

Getting to bed on time keeps you slimmer

Sleeping for eight hours a night is the secret to not putting weight on, according to scientists. They found that those who slept for less than six hours a night put on more weight than those who slept for seven or eight hours each night.

The research published in the Journal Sleep found those who did not get enough sleep gained almost 4.4lbs (2kg) compared to those who slept for the recommended number of hours. Short sleepers were 27% more likely to become obese than those had an average night’s sleep.

The reason that the amount of sleep a person gets can govern their weight is because sleep affects hormone levels, especially those involved in appetite and feeling full after a meal. We release less leptin, a hormone that signals the state of fat stores, and more ghrelin, a hormone that signals hunger. So without enough shut-eye, we’re likely to start overeating.

The sleep/wake cycle

Our natural sleep/wake cycle is called the circadian cycle or rhythm, and is the 24 hour period of when we wake, sleep and feel hungry. It is influenced by light, noise, pressure to perform, food and individual biochemistry. One important hormone controlled by circadian rhythms is melatonin, and the more you produce, the sleepier you feel and the deeper your sleep can be.

If you don’t normally go to bed until 11pm or later, you probably won’t be producing enough to go to sleep any earlier, at least not until you can ‘shift’ your day back to the left, rather like changing time zones. Not only that but any pressure on you increases the production of the stress hormones (adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol) which increases your alertness and readiness for action, which obviously affects whether you can sleep at all.

In an ideal cycle, our ‘get up and go’ stress hormones are released in the morning during activity and begin to decrease later in the day. Then in the evening and at night, the immune system, physical and psychological repair phases take place.

If you are someone that works late and into the night, your stress hormones are present for much longer. Going to bed late misses vital repair to your cells and immune system that you cannot get back. The end result normally consists of being run down and susceptible to becoming ill if it becomes a regular event.

Factors that disrupt your sleep/wake cycle

• Stimulants – caffeine, sugar, alcohol and food additives
• Diet – eating too heavily close to bedtime. Your body can’t sleep deeply if it has to concentrate on digesting food
• Exercise – try to avoid exercise within an hour of going to bed as it disrupts sleep if your core temperature is too high
• Lighting – including watching tv (it is still a light source and too stimulating
• Noise – traffic, snoring, neighbours
• Electromagnetic pollution – from electrical appliances

Action plan

• Get to sleep by 10.30pm (as much as possible)
• Minimise your exposure to bright lights for at least two hours before going to bed and sleep in a room that is completely dark
• Avoid the consumption of stimulants after lunch
• Drink plenty of water
• Exercise (but not too close to bedtime)
• Unplug or remove all electrical appliances near your bed and avoid charging your mobile phone at night in your room
• Buy earplugs to cut out noise from traffic or snoring
• Dejunk and declutter your room and make it a work free zone – no briefcases or laptops!
• Try a relaxation cd to get to sleep

And finally, if you do wake in the night:

• Don’t turn on the light (unless it would be dangerous for you not to!) as you’ll start your wake cycle. The body cannot distinguish between light from a bulb and natural sunlight.
• Don’t look at the clock! You’ll start calculating the hours left till the alarm goes off and just become more alert. Turn it away from you.
• Don’t lie awake being angry about it. Choose something specific to focus on like waves lapping a shore, soft clouds or whatever keeps you in a sleep-like state.

Emma Boffo
www.boffosbootcamp.com

Are you eating like a sumo wrestler?

Many people are actually following a diet similar to sumo wrestlers. What's surprising is that most of these people are actually trying to lose fat.

Now last time I checked Sumo wrestlers are not walking round with six pack abs! Sumo wrestling has no weight divisions so for the wrestlers the bigger the better.



So what does a sumo wrestler do to gain such an athletic body...not!

1. Skip meals

Sumo wrestlers only eat twice a day. This slows your metabolism right down. The best meal to skip to slow your metabolism is breakfast. Make sure you always eat breakfast and if possible eat 4-6 small meals per day to really boost your metabolism.

2. Eat loads of rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, juice and sweets

Now all of this would usually be part of a low fat diet. You see the best way for your body to gain fat is to actually give it too much energy. You body will store this energy in fat cells. Some of the best type of energy that will grow your waistline is foods high in carbohydrates and sugars, so don't over-consume these.

3. Eat late at night

Yup eating a meal full of energy and then going to bed will cause your body to digest the food and then store all the calories in your fat cells. It is better to eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper. Stick to light, easy to digest meals and try to have your starchy carbohydrates earlier in the day if possible. If not make your servings of them small and load up on salad and veggies with protein.

It's good to be lazy

We are working longer hours, under more pressure and leading a life that leaves us at breaking point. But those who manage to make countless work and social appointments daily are admired. When someone says they've worked for 60-70 hours over a week we see them as successful. We are continually active but only mildly effective, and we are wasting valuable life energy on unimportant things. If you push yourself to the limit, day in day out, you will wear out sooner.

Unfortunately over time we have forgotten how to let go of the insignificant tasks that place undue stress on us and require much of out time and energy. We have forgotten how to concentrate on only the important things. It's good to plan and work for the future, but we also need to slow down and enjoy being in the present as well as before you know it, another year has whizzed by.

Let's just have a look at the effects of stress on the body. It's not just having a stressful job but rushing around not giving yourself adequate rest that can cause these to happen.

• Your body ages faster
• You become more susceptible to illness due to a weakened immune system
  
• Blood pressure rises increasing the risk of circulatory disease, heart attack and stroke
• Memory grows worse due to rises in cortisol levels (a stress hormone)
• Not giving yourself time to relax means certain parts of the brain can be damaged in the long term. Your brain ages faster

Stress warning signs

• Tight neck and shoulder muscles
• Catch colds and flu from people easily
• Constant headaches
• Weight loss or gain
• Sleepy in the day, awake at night
• Increased pulse rate
• Grinding your teeth in your sleep
• Cold and clammy hands
  

Relaxation and even occasional laziness are your body's way of balancing itself out. Your pulse and breathing are normalised and blood pressure is regulated. Your immune system, which under stress is weakened by the constant high level of cortisol, recovers.

But rest and relaxation don't happen automatically. All our worries, fears, work problems aren't always easy to put aside. Because of this, relaxation must often be planned into our daily schedules.

But today, deadline pressures and never-ending to-do lists seem to leave no room for relaxation and contemplation. But if you make sure to balance out times of stress and make room for rest will you increase your chance of a long and healthy life.

If all the above rings true you will either have to change the circumstances that are placing you under stress or change the way you deal with it. Differentiate important activities from the unimportant. Mark them red, absolutely essential to achieve that day, amber, nice to achieve that day, and green, can achieve whenever. Have a main to-do list and select no more than six things from that list to do each day so you don't feel overloaded. We are only human and can only fit so much into one day!

Include into your day, time to sit and day-dream, even if it's for just 30 minutes. Have separate breaks where you do not work while you eat or even read. Find the quietest place you can and eat slowly, calmly and enjoy what you are eating. Allow yourself contemplation time after wards.

If you have a stressful job in the week then the weekend should be used for regeneration and recuperation. In reality though this is often not the case as we try and pack in as much action and chores as possible leaving us returning to work just as exhausted. Plan in lazy time! Using relaxation helps conserve energy. Here are a couple to try:

• Short relaxation break: rest your elbows on the table and cover your eyes. Clear your mind and try not to think of anything. If this is hard, try concentrate on your breathing. Breathe slowly in for 4 and out for 4.
  
  
• Learning diaphramatic abdominal breathing – click here to download pdf file

Enjoy being lazy and relaxing!


Emma Boffo, Personal Trainer
07956 315851

www.BoffosBootcamp.com
www.YummyFitMums.com
www.BelliesBumsBatwings.com
www.OptimiseU.com