Staying focused on your goals

Hi Guys, hope we are all well now that the long weekend is upon us :).

 I’ve had a few people say to me over the past few days that their weakness when it comes to food is chocolate. Knowing that Easter is here in just a few days and there have been eggs and hot cross buns on the shelves for what feels like months now I thought now might be a good time for a little refresher post on self-control and willpower.

I’d like to share with you the journey I have been on for the past month as an example of building/maintaing mental strength and willpower. About 6weeks ago I decided that I wanted to start up my own page on Facebook to promote my personal training, this blog and in general just sharing motivation and inspiration when it comes to health, fitness and nutrition. I decided that I wanted to get some photos done to put on the page and also to outline one of my biggest rules when it comes to a profession “practise what you preach”. I would hardly want potential clients or anyone for that matter to think that I wasn't capable of transforming my own body if I am expected to help them transform theirs!

So I started a new program where I went completely 100%clean (no treats or cheats even on the weekends) and upped my intensity with my weights and cardio training. Now I am a big creature of habit and those who know me will tell you this. I like routine and once I get into one I follow it pretty religiously lol. Sundays were always my cheat day where I would have a rest from exercise and indulge a little in what I felt like after keeping my 80-90% clean diet all week. Cutting this out changed my routine a little and forced me to create a new one which proved a mental challenge to me. However my little friend called willpower helped me out and together we pushed through that first weekend. By the second weekend a new routine so to speak had been formed and by the third weekend I was no longer struggling mentally with this change.When they say willpower is like a muscle and the more you use it the strongerit gets they are right, unfortunately most people give in too soon before the muscle even has a chance to strengthen.

The following week however I incurred a new change and this was a big one where I found myself very mentally challenged. What was it youask? The dreaded carb depletion/water load.

This is a process in which you cut out almost all carbs (Iwas on 25g a day) from your diet for in order to starve your muscles of glycogen (which is the main energy source we use when exercising). Your diet consists of protein and fats (good ones) and the idea is that your body will start to use your fat stores as energy. Meanwhile you are drinking an excess of water (8-9 litres a day) to flush sodium out of your body. The first few days weren’t too bad, I lacked a little energy but other than that I was ok. Days 3and 4 were a struggle as they were the weekend. I started to have a lot of mental doubts as I wasn’t sure if my body was even changing and started to question the whole process and got a little bit down on everything I had worked for over the past month. I could have given in right then and there but thankfully my friend willpower stuck with me and together we decided that I had given myself a goal and I was going to stick to it and whatever happened be proud of that at the end.

By day 5 I was beginning to see the light and felt better. I was definitely leaning out although I was carrying a hell of a lot of waterweight! Day 6 began the last part of the challenge, reintroduce carbs (to fill the muscle after it had been starved of glycogen), cut water and sodium. Basically my diet was pretty exciting- rice cakes, turkey, asparagus and sweet potato and very little water. Day 7 was a mentally draining day as I think at this point I was just over it! I was also not feeling as though much had changed through the cutting water and eatingcarbs but I know I am often my harshest critic. I began to question it all again and when I woke up at 1:30am on the morning of the photos with a splitting headache (most likely dehydration) I really struggled and although I was so close I even then considered giving up (crazy now that I think about it).But again I forced my mental strength/willpower to help me out and on the day ended up having a great 3 hours getting lots of photos- some good, some terrible lol but ALL WORTH IT!

I can honestly say that coming through this my willpower has definitely strengthened. Yes it was hard and yes I had to make sacrifices along the way but you know what they were worth it because I wanted the end goal more than I wanted anything else.

So this weekend if you are feeling tempted to OVERindulge in all that chocolate or hot cross buns or whatever else STOP and take a second tothink about your own goals and your own level of willpower. Think about whatyou want more- that extra hot cross bun or a nice set of your own buns?! ;) Ofcourse remember it is ok to indulge a little if you are sticking to your exercise and clean eating but just don’t let yourself lose focus of the bigger picture and goals you want for yourself because in the end no-one else can achieve them for you :)

Have a great and safe weekend and stay tuned for my Facebook page :)

Eat CLEAN, live LEAN, train MEAN

Fit FREAK of the week!

We all have or have had that friend/family member/workcolleague who can seem to eat whatever they like and never gain weight. They can go to maccas and order a triple cheeseburger meal with a 6 pack of nuggets and not even bloat slightly while some of us feel like even glancing at a french fry causes our waistline to expand. The fact is though, that very few people can maintain this kind of fast metabolism forever and if it doesn’t catch up with them on the outside it sure will on the inside.

This weeks’ fit FREAK is an example of this. Jenna Renee is a Fitness model with a banging body and a lifestyle dedicated to fitness. But this hasn’t always been the case. Up until she was in the 10^th grade(yes she’s American) she was that girl who could eat whatever she wanted and never gain an ounce of fat. Unfortunately that did not last and Jenna learnt the hard way that what you eat does always catch up with you. She went from being 110 pounds (about 50kgs) to 135 pounds by the end of the year (61kg).Being only 5’5” this was not a comfortable or healthy weight for Jenna and she felt it. However not having ever had to do worry about her weight before she let it continue to spiral down unsure of how to control it.

In 2007 she developed an eating disorder as a result of her growing hatred of her body and insecurity about her size and ended up in hospital weighing less than 100 pounds (45kgs). This was the turning point forJenna as she realised if she didn’t take control of her weight now she would end up destroying her body.

She started to learn about eating clean and lifting weights.This was a big change for her after coming from having an eating disorder to eating no less than 6 times a day but seeing the changes in her body after just a few weeks helped encourage her to continue on this path to a healthierlifestyle.

Three years later Jenna is a highly successful fitness model and has never looked or felt better. She trains weights 5 days a week and eats clean year round only treating herself on special holidays or her birthday.

Jenna’s story is an inspiring example that skinny definitely does not mean healthy and how important it is that we consider what we put into our bodies regardless of our size as it will always catch up with us in the end one way or another.

Jenna will be at this year’s Australian Health and Fitness Expo (which I am so excited for) along with some other great names in the fitness industry which I will look at in the next few weeks.

Check out her facebook page www.facebook.com/JennaReneeFit  or her website www.jennareneefit.com to seemore of her work :)  

 

Triggers- What's causing your healthy/unhealthy choices?

Hi Guys,

Sorry about the absence last week, time got away from me once again. I had an interesting session with the parents of my Nutrition and Activity program yesterday and thought I would share with you all.

Yesterday’s topic was external triggers that cause unhealthy/healthy eating and that cause physical activity/inactivity. A trigger is basically anything that causes a certain behaviour in a person. We don’t always recognise these triggers until after we have actually acted and are faced with the possible consequence of our actions.

External triggers are things in our environment that may cause us to eat unhealthy or healthy foods. For example if you find yourself in the staff room at work and there is a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies on the table chances are you are going to want to eat one. Afterwards you may think to yourself “why did I eat that? I’m not even hungry”. The trigger here is one of the obvious ones, that you saw/smelled these cookies. What if you found yourself in the staff room and there was a bowl of fruit on the table instead- do you think this would trigger you to have a piece of fruit?

While external triggers are things within our environment, internal triggers are things within ourselves e.g. our thoughts, feelings and emotions. Had a bad day? More than likely an internal trigger (feeling down) might lead you straight to the fridge and in the fridge there is a nice big piece of chocolate cake (external trigger) and the two triggers are going to cause you to put that cake straight in your mouth without a second thought. Will you feel better? No most likely not. Will you realise until after you have done it? No most likely not either.

Every day we are faced with both external and internal trigger that set off behaviours in us. Sometimes these behaviours are good for us and other times they are not so good. The important thing is we learn to recognise these triggers that cause unhealthy behaviours and actions and try and eliminate them (if we can) or find ways to curb them. A lot of them time It comes down to willpower and self- control but these are things we need to build upon and if you don’t feel strong enough then it is best to try eliminate the trigger altogether. 

For example removing food triggers from your home is a great way to start. Don’t trust yourself to not eat the chocolate cake in the fridge? Then don’t buy it or anything else you know may cause you to overindulge after a bad day.

We also can create triggers that will promote healthy behaviours in us as well. For example sticking that picture of your favourite fitness model on your wall, fridge, screensaver. This may help trigger you to want to hit the gym and work hard because this person inspires you.  Creating a routine where you meet a friend for a workout is another example because you have made that commitment to go.

 So this week think don’t just eat that cookie or take the lift instead of the stairs. STOP and THINK about the triggers good and bad in your own lives. Try to eliminate or take action to curb some of the unhealthy triggers and promote some healthier triggers J

  As always eat CLEAN, train MEAN and live LEAN J

 

Portion sizes- Are you in control?

Too often these days people struggling to lose weight are faced with the problem of portion control. I have been given the “But I eat really healthy, I don’t know why I’m not losing weight” line many a time before and when I go over their food diary its evident that yes they may eat mostly healthy but they are eating WAY too much food for the rate they are burning it. Ipso facto- fat storage.

Portion control is something that can be difficult for some people to get their head around, many try and they fail and I’m going to explain why.

See, once your stomach is used to a certain amount of food creating that “full” feeling then giving it anything less than that is clearly going to leave it less than full and feeling like it needs more (at first). So when people first begin reducing their portions they will probably feel hungry because their stomach is sending messages to the brain saying “hey buddy I’m not full yet!” Many convince themselves they are STARVING and turn around and increase to bigger portions once again.

This is where your mind needs to do some hard yards and ignore those conflicting messages from your stomach because within a matter of time, it will become used to the new portions and adjust accordingly.

Please note I am in no way referring to starving yourself. I’m talking about matching the food you are consuming to the exercise expenditure you are doing which is how weight loss occurs. Calories in vs calories out. Let us take an example.

Brian is 35 years old and works in real estate so spends a fair bit of time seated at his desk. He attends the gym 4 times a week for 45 mins. Some days he does weights other days he walks on the treadmill or the cross trainer. Here is one sample from Brian’s daily exercise and eating log.

Monday

Breakfast – 2 pieces of wholegrain toast + 2 poached eggs + 1 large cap on skim milk

Snack- Large fruit salad and yoghurt

Lunch- 250 grams Chicken breast with vegetables and large brown rice and small wholegrain roll

Snack- 6 Corn thins with Peanut butter plus an apple

Dinner- 300 gram steak, potato, vegetables, 1 piece of wholegrain bread no butter

Exercise= 45 mins on the cross trainer at lunch (burns 250 calories)

Breaking this down we can see that Brian’s diet is what you would call “typically healthy” He has fruit, vegetables, wholegrains, protein, some good fats. So where has Brian gone wrong you may ask? Portion control- his energy in doesn’t compete with his energy out.

Looking at his daily activity apart from Brian going to the gym for 45 mins in the middle of the day he was seated at his desk for the most part. Therefore the immense amount of energy in calories he has consumed haven’t really had a chance to be expended. He then goes home from work to eat a large meal (containing a decent amount of carbohydrates) that won’t be expended while he is watching tv that night and therefore Brian will go to bed that night with having consumed more energy in calories than he has expended. Calories in greater than calories out = weight gain.

The next day Brian may have a different day and consume less calories than he expends at the gym but because of his lack of consistency he is still going to struggle to lose those extra kilos.

It’s not rocket science but it does take some time to think about your own diet and whether you really need to eat all that food. Of course overeating on healthy items is going to be better than overeating junk but at the end of the day overeating is overeating. It starts with the word OVER because it means TOO MUCH.

I hope this post gives people something to think about if you have been struggling with weight loss and please feel free to comment below if you have questions regarding further info on your own portion sizes and controlling energy in vs energy out J

 No fit FREAK this week unfortunately but not due to lack of time more so lack of time to find inspiration. I have been searching but am yet to find my next fit FREAK who really stands out so stay tuned next week. Until then I recommend you guys check out the channel BroScienceLife on youtube- absolutely hilarious (and pretty accurate) portrayal of some guys in the gym.

Until next time eat CLEAN (and watch your portions), train MEAN and keep on living LEAN J