5 Reasons To Motivate You…Even In December
These 5 Reasons to Motivate You will help you to stick with your exercise routine so that you’ll enter the New Year feeling energized and excited.
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer for motivation, since different things motivate different people, so explore all 5 motivators below…
Motivator #1: Health
Have you looked at the long list of health benefits that exercise delivers? Pretty impressive. Not only does exercise help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight, it also helps lower bad cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure, while improving the amount of good cholesterol in your body.
Additionally, exercise strengthens your bones and muscles, lowers your risk of cancer, decreases stress, helps you battle depression, and even improves your sex life.
Motivator #2: Enjoyment
If exercise hasn’t been enjoyable for you, it’s time to find a way to make it fun. Everyone likes doing things they enjoy. You might hate running but enjoy swimming or riding a bike. Perhaps you don’t like being alone and would rather be social. So join a team! Or maybe you don’t like the idea of driving all the way to the gym, changing out, and exercising with a crowd. Find out when your local gym is least populated, and hit the weights then. Do what’s most fun for you and you’ll be less likely to stop.
Motivator #3: Increased Confidence
If you’re out of shape or overweight, it can take a lot of courage to start an exercise routine. Remember to be confident in who you are, no matter what size or shape. Don’t compare yourself to the skinny, toned figure strutting her stuff through the gym. Keep your eyes on your goal and don’t expect perfection after just a week of exercise. Strive to have your best body—not someone else’s.
Motivator #4: Goal Achievement
If you’re just getting started in the world of exercise, or if you’ve simply gotten stale, a good place to start is by setting goals. How much weight would you like to lose? How far would you like to run? Working towards a goal is a great motivator. However, don’t set up for failure by striving after unrealistic goals. Do this and you’ll soon feel overwhelmed and give up altogether. To avoid this, set realistic milestones. When you reach them, enjoy your accomplishment and then set new goals to take your good health even further.
Motivator #5: Rewards
Rewards are a great motivator. In fact, much of what you do in life is motivated by a reward of some kind, whether intrinsic or extrinsic. When it comes to exercise, a good reward probably shouldn’t be an ice cream sundae, but it may be that new pair of jeans you’ve been eyeing, or perhaps a night out with friends. Maybe for you, weight loss and lowered blood pressure are reward enough. Just know that your hard work is paying off and deserves to be rewarded.
5 Ways To Crave Less Sugar From A St Johns Wood Personal Trainer
1) Eat More Protein
A diet rich in protein keeps you full, satisfied and less likely to crave sweets. A great way to make sure that you are getting enough is to plan each meal and snack around a protein. Plan breakfast around eggs, lunch and dinner around baked chicken breast, and make snacks hard boiled eggs or baked meatballs. Try the recipe below for a protein-packed, sugar-busting snack.
2) Avoid Artificial Sweeteners
One of the biggest fitness myths out there is the idea that calorie-free, artificially sweetened beverages don’t impact your fat loss results. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but the truth is that the diet soda you’re sipping is making it harder for you to reach your goal weight. While the diet soda itself doesn’t contain calories, it has been proven to cause cravings for sugary foods. Put down the diet soda and instead pick up a refreshing bottle of spring water.
3) Try Dark Chocolate
For those moments when your sweet tooth is relentlessly badgering you for something sweet, ditch the super-sugary candies and stick with a small square of very dark chocolate. Chocolate that is 70% or higher in cocoa content should be the only candy that you keep on hand. The benefit of the cocoa, in addition to the lowered sugar content, makes dark chocolate an occasionally justifiable treat.
4) Stick With Fruit
What’s sweet, colorful and comes in hundreds of flavors? Organic, seasonal, fresh fruit, of course! As you remove refined sugar from your life, feel free to add in some natural sugar by way of fresh, local fruit. It’s amazing how satisfyingly sweet fruit is – it’s truly nature’s candy.
5) Workout Like You Mean It
A regular, challenging exercise routine will not only get you into amazing shape, it also reduces your cravings for sugar. The endorphin rush brought on by vigorous exercise is an even more powerful feel-good-feeling than the pleasure gotten by indulging in sugary foods.
Make challenging, consistent exercise a part of your life by signing up for my fitness program. I’d love to get you to your goals using my results-driven method.
Get More Out of Exercise Time From A St Johns Wood Personal Trainer
How effective is your exercise time?
Do you workout enthusiastically, feeling the burn with a smile, pushing yourself to the limit?
Or would you describe your exercise time more like an even trot? Coasting along, breaking a respectable sweat, doing the same old thing.
Since you take the time to exercise and desire to have your body change into a slimmer, more toned version of yourself, then use the following tips to get more out of your exercise time.
- Focus your mental energy. It sounds simple, but often isn’t. If you’re lifting weights, focus on that specific muscle group. Researchers saw a significant increase in muscle activity when people focused on what they were doing, compared to thinking about unrelated topics.
- Pump up the volume. Listen to upbeat music while you exercise. Researchers found that personal music motivated weightlifters to complete two more repetitions on average than those who were not listening to music.
- Keep things fresh. Alter your routine often. This will help you to avoid plateaus and will continue to challenge your body. Try new exercises, new intensities and new environments.
- Stay nourished and hydrated. Pay attention to your food and your hydration levels. You’d be amazed how much being dehydrated can affect your performance even away from the gym.
- Find your magic time. Work out when your body is at its best. If you’re not a morning person, do not force the issue on your body.
- Wear clothes that you love. Not only will you be happy to put them on and show them off, but you will be able to focus completely on the task at hand, rather than stressing that your pants will split whenever you squat.
- Make sure the shoe fits. Can you imagine a tap dancer performing without tap shoes? Your shoes are just as important! With correctly fitted shoes for your workout or sport, you’ll keep your feet, ankles, knees, and back protected and healthy.
- Use a professional. If you don’t already, have me design your workouts. This will ensure that you’re being challenged and seeing results.
5 reasons to eat at home From A St Johns Wood Personal Trainer
Obesity related diseases are on the rise, as are the number of folks who are just plain unhappy with how their bodies look and feel. Cooking at home seems to be the first step in our road to healthier bodies.
Here are the top 5 reasons that you should starting cooking and eating at home…
Reason #1: Your Health
Hyperprocessed foods are harmful to our health, and that’s exactly where you’ve been getting the bulk of your calories. Even restaurant food that contains fresh produce, chances are high that the produce is not organic, or local or non-GMO. Most of us are eating less than half of the recommended amount of fiber, fruit and vegetables, which eating at home could quickly change.
Simple meals made at home with fresh produce and organic meats or eggs are nutritionally superior to over-flavored, over-processed restaurant food. Not to mention the high calorie beverages and starters that so often accompany a restaurant meal. When you eat at home you take in more nutrient-dense calories that are higher in fiber.
Reason #2: It’s Easy
Eating out so often has conditioned our concept of a meal to be one with complicated flavors and accompaniments. This misconception has made us fear the kitchen. But I urge you to reconsider.
Meals made at home need not mirror those ordered in restaurants. On the contrary, simple is better when it comes to home cooking. Plan your entire meal around a couple of pieces of fresh produce and a wholesome, lean protein. No need for complicated sauces or sides – these are where the harmful calories hide anyway.
Reason #3: It’s Cheap
Fresh, simple ingredients do not cost much. Especially when compared to the cost of prepared meals. Bittman’s advice on ingredient shopping is to, “Buy what you can afford, and cook it yourself. Rice, beans, bacon, salad, bread –few things are cheaper than that.”
Shopping the perimeter of the store is always a good plan. Here you’ll find fresh produce, meats, dairy and seafood. Venture into the aisles for oils and spices to compliment the fresh ingredients.
Reason #4: It’s Proactive
In the US the annual health care expenses related to obesity is $150 billion, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Worldwide this number is over $1 trillion annually. These numbers are staggering, and sobering when you think of all the individual lives that are being negatively impacted by obesity.
Rather than waiting for you and your family members to experience the health risks related to obesity, start your own mission to cook simple meals at home and redirect your future. Remember the words of Benjamin Franklin, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Reason #5: It’s Slimming
Eating at home is also one of the best ways to reduce your body fat. Bittman states that meals eaten at home contain an average of 200 calories less than meals eaten out. Let me tell you, a reduction in 200+ calories per meal will quickly translate to pounds lost!
Start today, and don’t be afraid to start small.
Pick one meal that you’ll make at home either today or tomorrow, and write down your simple menu and grocery list.
And let’s not forget the place that a challenging, consistent exercise program has in your quest for good health and a fit physique. My programs are specially designed to blast fat and to build muscle in all the right places.
Basic Fat Loss Math From A St Johns Wood Trainer
Can you image how you would look?
You’d look like a whole new, younger person.
It’s actually much easier than you think, and I’m not talking about invasive, costly surgery, or gruelling routines.
All it takes is losing one pound each week. One single pound.
Let’s break it down mathematically. A pound is 3,500 calories—spread that over 7 days and you need a 500-calorie deficit each day to lose 1 pound in a week.
Your 500-calorie deficit can be done by a combination of increased calorie exertion (exercise) as well as a decrease in calories consumed (eating less).
First, record your normal weekly exercise – look at everything from walking to participating in sports to exercising in the gym. This is your starting point. From here you’ll need to burn an additional 3500 calories on top of your normal weekly exercise.
If you don’t currently exercise, then any new activity will count towards your 3500-calorie weekly goal.
Second, record your normal weekly food intake – this may be an eye-opener when you see how many calories you eat in a day. Record everything honestly, since you are only cheating yourself by not recording everything. Calculate the total number of calories that you eat in an average day.
Now divide the 3500 calories between your activity list and your food list. You could choose to eliminate 1000 calories each week and burn off an additional 2500. Or you may decide to burn 3000 calories and eat 500 fewer calories.
Here are 7 simple ways to cut 250 calories:
- Drink plain coffee instead of a sweetened coffee drink. Flavoured coffee drinks are delicious but filled with way too much sugar. Drop 250 calories (or more) when you stick with plain coffee or tea instead of sugar-filled coffee drinks.
- Just say NO! to treats and snacks. Four each tempting treat that you refuse to eat, imagine the 250 calories falling off of your waistline, and smile to yourself.
- Jog for 30 minutes. Want in on a little secret? The hardest part about a simple 30-minute jog is the act of getting your shoes on and walking out the door. It’s true.
- Exchange 20 oz of regular soda for water. You know that soda is filled with tons of sugar, so why are you still drinking it? Every time you crave an ice cold cola picture swallowing spoonfuls of white sugar. That’s probably the easiest way to weight gain. Stick with water and kiss those extra calories goodbye.
- Swim laps for 30 minutes. If your response to my jogging suggestion was ‘I have bad knees’, then you are in luck. Swimming is one of the best aerobic activities you can do, and it is impact-free. When you swim you recruit your entire body, a process which requires lots of energy—AKA calories.
- Eat an apple instead of a cookie. Do you always go for something sweet after dinner? While your first instinct may be to reach for a cookie or a bowl of ice cream, why not consider what nature has to offer? Fruit is sweet, natural and lower in calories than traditional desserts.
- Come give my fitness programme a try. I have the whole calorie-burning equation down to a science, and I’d love nothing more than to help you achieve your fitness goal. My workouts have been known to burn hundreds of calories at a time, so what are you waiting for?
Eating for fat loss From A St Johns Wood Personal Trainer
By now you are probably aware that the term, eat clean, has nothing to do with washing your food and has everything to do with eating in a way that promotes fat loss.
While it may sound simple enough, it’s pretty challenging to stick with a clean eating plan. I suppose if it were easy then everyone would be lean and confident about their body.
So what’s the secret to long-term, clean eating success? Here it is…
Eat-For-Fat-Loss Secret #1: Keep It Balanced
Many fat loss strategies encourage eating only from one category of food: soup, grapefruit, salad, chicken breast…While these foods may promote fat loss and reduce overall calorie intake, this way of eating sets you up for a fall.
No one sticks with highly restrictive, one-food-only diets for very long, and you’re no exception. To make your clean eating plan last, keep your diet balanced with a range of healthy, real foods.
Eat-For-Fat-Loss #2: Don’t Put a Label On It
How many times have you uttered the words I’m on a diet? Ugh, just saying that puts one in the mood to cheat on said diet.
If eating clean means you’re on a diet, then you’re not committed enough to make this a way of life. True fat loss success comes when clean eating is second nature, and not a temporarily imposed sentence.
Eat-For-Fat-Loss #3: Have Patience
Wouldn’t it be great if a week of clean eating could erase a decade worth of indulgences? But, alas, you didn’t gain that fat in a week, and you won’t lose it in a week either.
Look for, and acknowledge, each and every small victory along the way to your long-term goal. Notice each pound, each inch and each pant size. These accomplishments build on one another until you reach your ultimate goal. Just remember that big changes take consistent, long-term effort. Be patient.
Eat-For-Fat-Loss #4: Have a Plan
This is the most important step in your clean eating quest, without it you’ll flounder around without direction and will likely find yourself starting into the bottom of a bowl of ice cream. Spend time writing out your do’s and don’t’s for your clean eating plan—and please feel free to reach out to me to help you with this step. See below for a list of foods that your diet should mainly consist of and then make another list of completely off-limits foods.
Use these 4 steps as a guide to make clean eating a way of life. Click reply or call to get started on one of my fitness programmes that will transform your body – once and for all.
Do your kids eat too much junk? From A St Johns Wood Personal Trainer!
Every parent wants good things for their children: a positive outlook on life, a healthy respect for authority, a strong sense of self, a disease-free body…a healthy body weight.
Despite our best intentions, a recent report suggests that for the first time in two centuries, the current generation of children may have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.
With all the advances in medicine, how could this possibly be true? The blame falls squarely on today’s toxic food environment.
In short, your kids are eating too much junk.
And who can blame them? Junk food tastes great.
The good news is that healthy food also tastes great. Take these simple tips and transform your child’s diet into one that is packed with good health.
1) Add Colour
Adding bright and colourful fruits and veggies to your child’s plate will get their diet on the fast track to health. Fresh fruits and veggies are filled with fibre, vitamins and minerals that are essential to good health.
If your kids are resistant then make it fun. Serve veggies with salad dressing as a dip. Cut fresh fruit in the colours of the rainbow and place them on a skewer. Serve a colour themed meal – all green, all red or all orange. Use your imagination and you’ll come up with an endless number of ways to make fruits and veggies fun to eat.
2) Think Whole Foods
Processed foods are the biggest problem with our modern diet. Packaged and refined food products are devitalised and filled with empty calories that quickly lead to weight gain. Unfortunately, processed foods make up a large portion of the diet of many children.
Train your kids to opt for whole foods, rather than packaged ones. Whole foods are foods that are in their natural state. An apple. A piece of sprouted grain bread spread with natural peanut butter. A piece of hormone-free chicken. A bowl of beans. You get the idea.
3) Use Wholesome Sweeteners
Refined sugar and corn syrup are packed into many of the foods that your kids love. But wait, there are more wholesome sweeteners available – sweeteners that add vitamins and minerals rather than empty calories. Use the following rather than white sugar or corn syrup:
- Sucanat: This pure, dried sugar can juice retains its molasses content. Use it to replace white sugar in baking.
- Pure Maple Syrup: Forget the “fake” syrups containing corn syrup. Pure maple syrup contains potassium, calcium and some amino acids.
- Brown Rice Syrup: Use this dark syrupy sweetener instead of corn syrup. It takes longer to digest and won’t spike your blood sugar like refined sugar.
- Dates: Throw a few seeded dates into your blender to sweeten your smoothie rather than adding white sugar.
4) Make Smart Substitutions
Kids love pizza and pasta and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and that’s not going to change any time soon. Rather than fight your kids on their favourites, try making smart substitutions to make their favourites more nutritious.
- Pizza: Up the nutritional content of your pizza by opting for wheat crust over white, adding veggies to the toppings and sticking with lean meat toppings.
- Pasta: Use sprouted grain or whole grain pasta rather than traditional white pasta. Add veggies to your pasta sauce. Stick with red sauce, since white sauce is so high in fat.
- PB&J: A PB&J, made with white bread using sugar-filled peanut butter and corn syrup-filled jelly, is fairly void of any real nutritional value. Make it healthier by using sprouted grain bread, natural peanut butter and fruit-only jam or sliced berries.
5) Ban Sugary Drinks
One of the best things that you can do for your child’s good health is to instill in them a love for water rather than sugary drinks. Soda pop and juices are filled with empty calories that encourage weight gain.
The easiest way to do this is to stock your house with lots of pure, filtered water. Don’t have fruit drinks or soda pop readily available so that they grow accustom to drinking only water.
While I presented these tips as improvements to be made to your child’s diets, these tips will also do wonders for your diet. Try these 5 tips out for 30 days and I guarantee you’ll look and feel better.
Parents all want good things for their children. Now how about doing something good for yourself as well? You are your child’s biggest role model on how to live, for better or worse.
Treat yourself right by calling or emailing today to get started on an exercise programme that will change your life for the best.
7 Excuses That Prevent Weight Loss From A St Johns Wood Personal Trainer
Have you ever wondered how some people are able to maintain amazing bodies while you struggle with your weight?
They make it seem so easy to achieve and maintain results. What do they know that you don’t? When you boil it down, the answer is quite simple.
The missing link between you and your ideal body is your go-to list of excuses.
Start with an excuse and expect to be excused from losing weight. Here are seven excuses that have ensured dieters will fail in their weight-loss attempts before they ever get started.
Excuse #1: I’ve Always Been Overweight
Here’s a little secret: feeling sorry for yourself will not help you lose weight. Quite the contrary. Whining and crying that you’ve never been thin can actually work against you, as you start to see yourself as stuck being overweight. Do that long enough and all you can see in your future is an overweight you. If you’re going to really cut your weight, you’ve got to be able to envision a lighter you.
Excuse #2: I Worked Out, So I Can Eat Whatever
Working out often makes you hungry. That’s a good thing. You just burned a bunch of calories and your body is looking to make up for them. However, just because you burned a few hundred calories doesn’t mean you get to indulge in any and every food you see. And you certainly can’t eat as much as you want.
Excuse #3: I Don’t Have Time to Exercise
Spend a few days documenting how you use your time. Write down each and every thing you do and how long you do it for. You’ll soon notice how much time you throw in the trash by mindlessly surfing your favorite social media sites and watching television. Transform those times into workout opportunities and toss the time excuse in the trash.
Excuse #4: Exercise Hurts
Some folks are in pain the day after they work out. If this is you and you find yourself feeling like you just rode a horse for three days straight after a workout, the reason is likely that you only hit the gym once a week or every two or three weeks. To get over that uncomfortable soreness after every workout, you’re going to have to go at it at least three times a week. Yes, you’ll still get sore on occasion, but it’ll be an accomplished sore.
Excuse #5: I Love Junk Food
This may seem a hurdle too large to overcome, but if you’re willing to fight for your weight loss, it can be done. To convince yourself that healthy food doesn’t have to be disgusting, spend more time with health-conscious friends who cook and live healthily. Eat what they eat. You’ll be amazed at the wide range of flavours to savour on a healthy diet.
Excuse #6: It’s No Fun Doing It Alone
Then stop trying to diet alone! Grab your healthiest friends and surround yourself with them. When you’re tempted to go off track with your diet or want to skip a workout, call or text your friends for immediate support. They’ll prop you up, remind you of your goals, and encourage you to stay the course.
Excuse #7: My Body Is Delicate
First off, before you start an exercise routine, it’s a good idea to run the idea by your physician. However, unless you have an incredibly rare condition, exercises done with proper technique and eating healthily will not put you at risk for anything but improved health. As soon as you accept the fact that your body can handle much more than you’ve put it through, the sooner you’ll begin enjoying the gym and make better use of your body.
Exercise is a huge part of the equation when it comes to achieving weight loss.
Chasing that feeling From A St Johns wood Personal Trainer!
Do you have a goal weight?
Or do you have a goal feeling?
IT’S NOT ABOUT REACHING A NUMBER. ,/
A number on the scale is just an idea. How do you get that idea to become reality?
The number that you’re hoping to magically be one day doesn’t matter one bit, and here’s why…
IT’S ABOUT LIVING IN THE MOMENTUM.
Can you remember how it felt the last time that you ate clean, exercised hard and got adequate sleep for a few consecutive days? A feeling of momentum came over you, didn’t it? There was a buzzing in your cells and a rhythm in your pace. You felt alive, you felt sexy, and you felt empowered. Never mind that you weren’t yet at your goal number, you were headed there!
Getting down to your goal weight, and fitting into your goal size, is the direct result of living in that state of momentum for an extended period of time. You see, the momentum can be felt immediately, once you start eating clean, exercising hard and taking care of your health, whereas that “goal number” simply can’t be felt until it is achieved, and so it’s not as powerful a motivator.
My challenge and advice to you is to find the joy of living in the momentum, and keep that momentum going until your goal number is achieved.
Focus only on the momentum, not on the number.
Fitness is a way of life. Being lean is a lifestyle. Neither of which can be had by going about it halfheartedly.
You have to become the momentum. Chase that feeling…and you’ll find the body of your dreams.
Call or email me today and we will get your momentum started on the exercise program that will reshape your body once and for all!
4 Simple Ways to Eat Clean From A St Johns Wood Personal Trainer
By now you are probably aware that the term, eat clean, has nothing to do with washing your food and has everything to do with eating in a way that promotes fat loss.
While it may sound simple enough, it’s pretty challenging to stick with a clean eating plan. I suppose if it were easy then everyone would be lean and confident about their body.
So what’s the secret to long-term, clean eating success? Here it is…
How-To-Eat-Clean Secret #1: Keep It Balanced So many fat loss strategies out there encourage eating only from one category of food: soup, grapefruit, salad, chicken breast…While these foods may promote fat loss and reduce overall calorie intake, this way of eating sets you up for a fall.
No one sticks with highly restrictive, one-food-only diets for very long, and you’re no exception. To make your clean eating plan last, keep your diet balanced with a range of healthy, real foods.
How-To-Eat-Clean Secret #2: Don’t Put a Label On It How many times have you uttered the words I’m on a diet? Ugh, just saying that puts one in the mood to cheat on said diet.
If eating clean means you’re on a diet, then you’re not committed enough to make this a way of life. True fat loss success comes when clean eating is second nature, and not a temporarily imposed sentence.
How-To-Eat-Clean Secret #3: Have Patience Wouldn’t it be great if a week of clean eating could erase a decade worth of indulgences? But, alas, you didn’t gain that fat in a week, and you won’t lose it in a week either.
Look for, and acknowledge, each and every small victory along the way to your long-term goal. Notice each pound, each inch and each pant size. These accomplishments build on one another until you reach your ultimate goal. Just remember that big changes take consistent, long-term effort. Be patient.
How-To-Eat-Clean Secret #4: Have a Plan This is the most important step in your clean eating quest, without it you’ll flounder around without direction and will likely find yourself starting into the bottom of a bowl of ice cream. Spend time writing out your do’s and don’t’s for your clean eating plan—and please feel free to reach out to me to help you with this step. See below for a list of foods that your diet should mainly consist of and then make another list of completely off-limits foods.
Use these 4 steps as a guide to make clean eating a way of life. Click reply or call to get started on one of my fitness programs that will transform your body – once and for all.
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