The secret to not gaining weight over Christmas

Wednesday December 1st, 2010

 

Coming up to Christmas means that most of us are gearing up to get into festive mode. This usually means two things:

 

1. We usually eat a lot more junk than normal, and
2. We usually get a little lazier as we crave time off work/study

 

This presents us with a little problem. If we eat more junk and are less active, by the time New Year’s comes around, most of us have become a little pudgier! Bummer! That means it'll take at least a month or two before you actually fit into those nice jeans Santa gave you. All for a little "fun" and "food".

 

Is it worth it?

 

Ok, here’s the thing. I enjoy the festive season just as much as the next person. I love chilling out with family and friends and I enjoy taking a break from working my butt off. I’m pretty sure that each of you feels the same way.

 

But here’s the thing. It is possible to relax, unwind, have fun, and take a break and chillout without smashing down a truckload of alcohol and food. You can even have fun while exercising (I can almost hear you gasp as if I speak blasphemy).

 

I wanted to write this post early so that you can make all the preparations you need to make this year’s Christmas and New Year a healthy occasion. If you make the decision now, and if you prepare yourself to have a healthy festive season, you are less likely to be tempted to bludge and eat junk.

 

Here are my top 10 tips for having a happy, healthy and most of all FUN Christmas:

 

1. Get your guests to only bring fancy salads to your Christmas activity – yummy and healthy!
2. Drink alcohol in moderation or dare to do it dry
3. Go for a family walk
4. Go to the beach/pool and go for a swim
5. Buy presents that promote exercise (eg – totem tennis, basketball hoop, trampoline, etc)
6. Use a pedometer and challenge yourself to get at least 10-12,000 steps per day
7. Choose holiday destinations that have access to exercise equipment
8. Clear the table after you’ve finished eating
9. Give your guests smaller plates to eat off
10. Discourage ‘picking’ at food and get everyone to eat together

Bonus tip - pre-warn your guests/family/friends that you are trying to be healthy. Let them know you are serious about your commitment to be healthy over Christmas. Prove to them that food can still taste good and that it is possible to still have fun and not get over-boozed, bloated and pot-bellied!

 

As the year winds down and with only 3 weeks till Christmas, I want to urge you to do one thing for me – be an ACTIVE AUSSIE.

 

Because, healthy living just got fun!

 

________________________

 

Practical and healthy ways to cope with stress

Monday November 15th, 2010

If you’ve been following our blog posts for the last month or so, we’ve been talking a lot about stress lately. I won’t go into why stress is bad, you should read some of the other posts I’ve chucked up here. Today I want to give you some practical ideas about how you can cope with stress.

As with everything, there are healthy and unhealthy ways to cope with stress. The top 12 unhealthiest ways that people commonly cope with stress are (in no real order):

1. Smoking
2. Drinking
3. Eating
4. Starving
5. Watching TV
6. Playing on the computer
7. Withdrawing from family and friends
8. Using drugs
9. Sleeping
10. Procrastinating
11. Taking on more responsibilities and overworking
12. Getting angry or violent with others

These unhealthy methods of coping can be addictive. They can also lead to depression too. These things can hurt you and the people who care about you.

Here are some healthy ways to deal with stress:

1. Take a stroll
2. Get outdoors
3. Have a yarn to a buddy or cheerleader (see controlling your emotions)
4. Have a good workout
5. Write in your journal
6. Take a long hot bath
7. Aromatherapy
8. Have some herbal tea
9. Play with the dog
10. Do the gardening
11. Get a massage
12. Read a good book
13. Listen to some music
14. Watch a funny movie

If you are feeling stressed out you might want to look at how you are currently coping with stress. If you are using some of the above mentioned unhealthy coping methods, hopefully this blog post has given you some ideas about how you can deal with stress a little more healthily.

 

If you would like to know more information about our activelifestyleformula, please feel free to give us a call on (02) 9457 7167 or email us at info@activeaussies.com.au.

 

________________________

 

How to stress less by taking control of a stressful situation

Tuesday November 2nd, 2010

If you are feeling stressed, you need to start making changes in your life. If you always do what you’ve always done, you will always get what you’ve always got! So make some changes in your life or you will always stay stressed out and nothing will improve.

 

The first step in that process is to find out what is stressing you out. Secondly, if possible, you need to avoid that stressful situation. And third, you should take control of any stressful situation can’t get out of.

 

Step 1:    Find out what stresses you out
There are many different sources of stress . Essentially, we all stress out when we think we’ve lost control of events in our life. Covey says that we stress out when we worry too much about things that we have no control over.

 

Can you identify those moments or situations? What really stresses you out the most?

 

If you are struggling to pin point exactly what is getting on your nerves so much, perhaps you should keep a stress journal. A stress journal keeps track of how you feel, both physically and emotionally, and how you act in response. You should also keep track of the way you behaved or acted at the time.

 

Step 2:    Avoid what stresses you out
After you’ve burned yourself on the stove a couple of times you learn really quick to recognise and avoid doing it again. The same goes with stress. Once you know what is causing the stress you should avoid the stuff that causes it.

Here are five ways to avoid stressful situations:

1. Avoid doing things that stress you out
2. Avoid people that stress you out
3. Avoid places that stress you out
4. Avoid talking about things that stress you out
5. Organise your life and manage your schedule to stay stress free

 

Step 3: Control stressful situations
You will not be able to avoid all stressful situations. You need a few strategies to help you keep your emotions in check during stressful situations. The best way to do that is to become a good emotional communicator. A good emotional communicator can tell people that they are stressing you out without hurting feelings or causing offence. An emotional communicator is able to control highly charged stressful confrontations and situations. An emotional communicator stresses less.

Here are four ways to be a better emotional communicator:

1. Express your feelings instead of bottling them up
2. Be willing to compromise
3. Be more assertive
4. Learn to say ‘no’ when pushed to your limits

 

If you would like to know more information about our activelifestyleformula, please feel free to give us a call on (02) 9457 7167 or email us at info@activeaussies.com.au.

 

________________________

 

Stress Less!

Wednesday October 27th, 2010

Life is tough sometimes. There are deadlines, demotions, divorces, deaths, and dentists. It seems that most stressful situations start with D :o)

Our modern life is fraught with stressful situations like these. Stress is the monkey on our back (or more like a gorilla), that until we shake, will hold us down and beat us into the ground. But despite what you think though, stress is actually controllable  and it’s not always a bad thing.

According to Selye , the father of modern stress theory, there is both good stress  and bad stress . But before I go into what the difference is, let’s look at what stress is. Basically, stress is another word for being stimulated. Things start getting stressful when we are over or under stimulated.

When we are stimulated in just the right way and at the right amount, we start feeling a good type of stress. We get focused and more productive. Its business time and our body, mind and spirit know it.

When this happens, we grow. It’s natural. Life will push you around and test you. But the goal is not to quit. You’ll get pushed to the limit and if you can find a way to cope and adapt, you will become a better person. You will be more empowered. You will be more satisfied with life.

On the other hand, the bad type of stress (technically called distress) can have very negative effects on your body, mind and life.

For example, when we are under-stimulated we get distressed. We start feeling bored, fatigued, frustrated or dissatisfied. If we are over- stimulated, we might start to get anxious and feel apprehension, nervousness, fear, guilt or grief. Most people get distressed when we feel like life is getting on top of us. When we feel like we just can’t cope with the stuff that’s getting thrown at us. We feel out of control. Times like these can sometimes creep up on you. It’s like things keep building up and building up and then one day – pow! You are stressed out of you mind.

In next weeks post we will give you some clear cut strategies for reducing and preventing stress.

________________________

The most important ability you'll ever need...period!

Monday September 27th, 2010

Let’s face it, it can be difficult to exercise regularly and eat healthy. You are busy, crap food is easy to find, quick to scoff down and best of all cheap! Exercise takes time and is usually inconvenient. Not to mention sweaty! If it was easy, most people on the planet would be fit as a fiddle. They would shun crappy food and run laps in their sleep.

 

What’s happening to our society?

 

The last 200 years have led to great developments in quality of life and longevity. But over the last 20-30 years something quite alarming has happened. The industrial age has long since passed and computers, television and the Internet have definitely killed the radio star...it’s been dead since the 80’s. The alarming thing that has happened in this post-industrial digital age is that people have become so reliant on time and energy saving devices and strategies that our entire way of life has been shifted and slammed onto its head. Our culture is lazy.

 

Not that we don’t work hard, or long. We just don’t get off our bums to do anything anymore. Email and the Internet allow us to get more work done at our desks. We don’t need to talk to anyone other than Wikipedia or Google or Facebook. Our social skills are diminishing. Thank the heavens for power failures and candles! It’s good to get a dose of reality every now and then. It’s good to realise our over reliance on technology.

 

We live our lives trying to be comfortable. Our scientists and marketers have made our lives so comfortable that we have forgotten age old principles of work, effort, dedication and tenacity.

 

But there is a wind of change sweeping through our country. More and more people are transitioning from their inactive sedentary comfortable lifestyles to becoming Active Aussies.

 

What makes a true Active Aussie? It is their high level of uncomfortability. It is their ability to be uncomfortable.

 

You won’t find this term in any dictionary – I made it up. It is defined as the ability to persist performing a given task despite ever increasing levels of discomfort over time.

 

Most people give up. Quit. Stop. Run away. Most people have no ability to persist. Most people are also fat.

 

There is a point at which people gain a mental awareness of their discomfort while doing something. Their discomfort level starts to rise. Most people quit when they reach this point. It is the common quitting level. You will find that fitter people, skinnier people, healthier people, happier people, don’t quit there. They push on. They persist in the face of discomfort. And guess what? They achieve far greater results than their quitter compatriots. That’s why they are fitter, skinnier, healthier and above all happier.

 

When was the last time you pushed past the point of discomfort? 

________________________

 

Beating procrastination: Managing your time part 5

Tuesday September 21st, 2010

 

You will never be fit, strong or healthy if you procrastinate. End of story. You might get away with it every now and then, but in general, if you procrastinate in your life you will see a carry on effect to your health and fitness. When you procrastinate once, you tell your subconscious that it is ok to waste the present. And procrastination is incredibly habit forming, so you if you do it once, you are more likely to do it again and again and again. Procrastination is also highly demoralising.

 

When you set a goal to do something only to procrastinate and avoid doing it, in the back of your mind you become very down on yourself and you say to yourself, “I can’t even get up in the morning to exercise. I’m no good!” This negative mental speech is normal for serial procrastinators. Procrastination is a vicious cyclical process that if you don’t bust, life will chew you up and spit you out into little pieces.

 

If you can conquer procrastination, you will not only master your time, but in due course, you will be more likely to be consistent with your exercise and eating.

 

How to spot a procrastinator

You can easily spot a procrastinator. They say stuff like:

• I’m gonna go to Japan
• I’m gonna get a better job
• I’m gonna go back to university
• I’m gonna buy a house
• I’m gonna stop smoking
• I’m gonna go on a diet
• I’m gonna be my own boss someday

 

Procrastinators have goals, they just don’t do anything about it! For a procrastinator, there is a wide gap between true intention and the constant verbal wishing that spews forth from their lips. Creating true intentions are the key to actually doing something.

 

Create true intentions

The theory of reasoned action states that the more you intend to do something, the more likely you are to do that thing.

 

If you really want to do any of the above “gonna-do’s” then you really need to put more effort into your intent to do them. You need to:

 

1. Stop
2. Think about what it is that you want to do/needs to be done
3. Think of all the obstacles standing in your way
4. Come up with a plan of attack to combat the obstacles
5. Do what needs to be done!

 

Believe in yourself

Most people will only do things that they feel confident in doing. If you have had bad experiences doing something, you are more likely to avoid doing that thing. That’s why procrastination is bad. You get stuck in a rut of failure and before too long you start believing that you can’t do anything right! You doubt your own effectiveness and you start to use your past failure experiences as excuses not to try anymore – when in fact, you never really tried in the first place!

 

Believe in yourself. Have confidence that you can do something. Set realistic goals and get all the help you need to achieve them. Get support. Build a network. The reason controlling your emotions is the first step in the Active Lifestyle Formula is because if you aren’t in control of your mind, you will never take control of your life. Procrastination avoidance is what mentally strong people do out of habit. And almost anyone can become mentally strong. Active Aussies are mentally strong.

 

Eat that frog

Brian Tracey came up with a way to beat procrastination when he coined the phrase “eat that frog”. He calls tasks that we put off again and again frogs. These tasks vary from the rare big ole hairy scary tasks to little ones that keep coming and coming with relentless fury. The best way to get the most stuff done in your life is to knock off the biggest and the baddest froggy your life throws at you first. After you have eaten that frog you can then move on to other smaller tasks.

 

Having a frog eating mentality will help you clear your schedule, get more done and in turn, have the time and confidence to exercise regularly and eat healthily.

 

ACTION STEP #1

What are some big ole hairy scary tasks you need to do? What are the little tasks that you consistently need to do?

 

ACTION STEP #2

After identifying your tasks, are there any tasks that you can ditch, palm off to someone or outsource? If so, get it done! Clear your schedule of these things.

 

ACTION STEP #3

After ridding yourself of the things you don’t really need to do personally, what is left? What do you need to do today? What is the biggest, baddest, scariest frog of them all? Eat that frog now!

 

ACTION STEP #4

Once you have gotten over procrastination in general, how can you specifically lessen the risk of procrastinating eating healthy and exercising in the future? How can you apply what you have learned?

 

If you need help setting or reaching your goals, we offer personalised weight loss coaching and personal training services to help you whip into shape.

 

Contact our head office to get started with one of our mobile personal trainers - call (02) 9457 7167.

________________________

 

Being more productive: Managing your time part 4

Tuesday September 14th, 2010

 

Creating a weekly plan is the first tactic of time management. The second is improving your productivity.

Once you have created your weekly plan, and are in the habit of doing a little daily rehash for the next day’s activities, you need to come up with a couple of ways to be more productive. If you don’t try and be productive you may run the risk of either getting swamped with superfluous duties, or losing interest and focus.

There are many books written on the subject of productivity, but there are three ways in particular that will make you so productive that you will be able to squeeze in a workout no matter how busy you are! Or how busy you think you are!

The three best ways to increase your productivity are:

1. Learning to say no!
2. Multi-tasking
3. Doing quick workouts

Learning to say no!
So, you’re schedule is jam packed and you’re a walking talking stressball. Yet for some reason you just keep getting busier and busier. You are stuck well and truly in the seemingly never ending rat race. You my friend need to learn the art of saying no!

Saying no is easy. Give it a go. Say it with me...

“noooooo”

It feels good doesn’t it?

When you are stressed out and frustrated, you should really stop heaping more and more responsibility onto your plate. Remember, you have a purpose in life and you have set your priorities straight. You are not going to budge on some things. If something comes along that is at odds with your goal, then you should really try to rid yourself of it. If you don’t, you will get overwhelmed with work and responsibility so much that you will start to feel drained and devoid of energy. You will soon start to put off exercise and you will start opting for unhealthy meal options.

It’s so tempting to pile more and more ‘stuff’ into your schedule. But you really need to stay focussed and be clear about what it is that you want. Doing this keeps you on the right track mentally. Saying ‘No’ to people who try to distract you will keep your schedule free and flexible so you don’t get bogged down with inconsequential activities.

Multi-tasking
I’m a big fan of eating a healthy breakfast, but multi-tasking doesn’t mean you have to eat it as you drive to work in the morning! Multi-tasking in its truest sense, means to squeeze in multiple activities in the same instant. Active Aussies multi-task often. They look for any opportunity that they can get to squeeze in a workout.

For example, just say you drive to work. You might park your car a block or two away from your office so you sneak in an extra 10 minutes of walking per day. Hardly difficult is it? Or just say you commute on the train. You might get off at an earlier station and walk the rest of the way to work. Doing stuff like this is what makes you an Active Aussie.

You can also plan while commuting or slip on your joggers so that when you get off that train you hit the ground running. Whatever type of person you are, if you are an Active Aussie you will continually seek for ways to squeeze in exercise and healthy meals. It becomes a habit after a while. When you get into the habit you will never look back.

Doing quick workouts
But hang on! Doesn’t popular culture dictate that you should go for long gruelling runs and sweat out hours of boring and toe blistering exercise in order to get fit and lose weight? Guess what – there is a little known exercise technique called interval training and it is flexible, fun and time-effective too!

Here is an example of interval training.

Do as many pushups in 20 seconds as you can. Rest for 10 seconds. Do as many squats in 20 seconds as you can. Repeat another 3 times for a total of 4 minutes.

The above example is called a Tabata Interval, named after a Japanese sports scientist of the same name. He discovered that people who follow this type of interval training burn about the same amount of calories during the actual training session as say going for a jog. However, he found out that Tabata Interval training burns calories for hours after you have stopped training – even days! That means that if you do this type of training you will be burning calories when you are asleep, whilst your buddy who went for a run isn’t.

Cool huh?

The other great thing about interval training (especially Tabata Interval Training) is that it doesn’t take much time. For example, you can do a great workout in 30 minutes whereas you would need to go for a run for about 60 minutes in order to burn the same amount of energy. Crazy huh?

You also don’t have to do it all in one go. For example, you might have a spare 5 minutes in your day. You could do 1 Tabata and then do another couple a little later on when you have more time. Sneaking in a couple of quick workouts every day is a surefire way to become an Active Aussie – and true Active Aussies are leaner, fitter and healthier than everyone else!

So there you have it - three killer ways to be more productive with your time so that you can exercise and eat healthy no matter how busy you are or how busy you think you are.

If you need help setting or reaching your goals, we offer personalised weight loss coaching and personal training services to help you whip into shape.

 

Contact our head office to get started with one of our mobile personal trainers - call (02) 9457 7167.

________________________

 

Putting a plan together: Managing your time part 3

Monday September 7th, 2010

 

exercise will help you start thinking about how you plan to achieve your purpose. Go ahead and do this now.

If you need help setting or reaching your goals, we offer personalised weight loss coaching and personal training services to help you whip into shape.

 

Contact our head office to get started with one of our mobile personal trainers - call (02) 9457 7167.

________________________

 

Sort out your priorities: Managing your time part 2

Monday August 31st, 2010

 

Once you understand your purpose you need to set your priorities straight. Setting your priorities will help you to manage your time effectively. When you know what is important and what is not, you are more likely to ignore distractions. Your schedule will free up and you will focus on doing the stuff that matters most. But there is more to it than that.

Some people have a warped sense of priority. They waste too much time doing stuff that is irrelevant and unnecessary. Are you the type of person that wants to lose weight, who struggles to exercise, but still manages to watch TV, play on the Internet or Facebook with your friends? You’re in need of a priority mind shift!

ACTION STEP #1
Take a couple of minutes right now to think about what is really important in your life and what isn’t. Think about what could change in your life and what really needs to stay the same. You should be able to come up with a bunch of things that are more important than others. Are you wasting too much time and energy on irrelevant stuff?

Here’s a thought for you. People usually do things to avoid consequences, rather than to gain something. They prioritise certain tasks to avoid something happening to them. For example, you might exercise to avoid being overweight but you don’t exercise to get skinny – funny that huh? Also, just because a something is really important, you won’t do it unless you actually care about the consequences. Am I right?

That’s why it is important to understand your purpose before setting your priorities. Understanding your true purpose will help you to identify the stuff you want to avoid.

ACTION STEP #2
Write down at least 3 things that you want to avoid. If you completed the ACTION STEPS from the purpose section above, you will find this exercise easier. An example might be that you want to avoid being fat. Your purpose will tell you why you don’t want to be fat. This little exercise will help you start thinking about how you plan to achieve your purpose. Go ahead and do this now.

People often have a circle of concern and a circle of influence. Too often our circle of concern rests outside our circle of influence – in other words – too often we worry about the stuff we can’t control. This can lead to frustration and stress. Are you constantly worried about things you can’t control? Why not shift your focus to things that you can control.

For example, you might want to avoid people thinking that you are fat. You spend your entire life wearing baggy clothes and you might be tempted to get quick fixes like liposuction or to go on starvation diets. You feel insecure about yourself because you are overweight and you want to feel better about yourself. Right now your number one priority is all about covering up the real issue. And what is the real issue? Your life is full of conflicting priorities.

Consider this: you more than likely eat way too much crap and sit on your bum way too long each day. Ouch! But that’s fine...if your priority is to live a relaxed, carefree life with no responsibility. Understand though, that  there is a consequence for everything. If you make living this way a priority, which you are probably doing subconsciously right now, than you are going to be overweight and unfit for the rest of your life until you die or change. Double ouch!

And what does this mean for you? Well you are living the life of a typical fatty right now. You need to start living the life of a healthy person, someone who eats the occasional chocolate bar and eats take-out every now and then, but who also exercises regularly and who rarely goes a week without doing something sweaty.

Changing your life around is going to be hard. Real hard! You have to switch your priorities around and come back to reality. You need to start focusing on the things that you can control. You need to focus on the real issues and the stuff that lies beneath the surface.

Think short term sacrifice, long-term gain.

You should ask yourself what is important and what isn’t. You need to find out what you can change and what needs to stay the same.

Once you understand what your priorities are you can easily identify any distractions that may cause you to get bogged down. You will usually stop procrastinating too!

ACTION STEP #3
What are 3 things that you are going to change right now? What are some things that you need help with? Who will you approach to help you make the changes you need? What sort of things will you give up, sacrifice or burn to smithereens in order to make a change? What is your number one priority now?

 

If you need help setting or reaching your goals, we offer personalised weight loss coaching and personal training services to help you whip into shape.

 

Contact our head office to get started with one of our mobile personal trainers - call (02) 9457 7167.

________________________

 

Finding the WHY: Managing your time part 1

Monday August 23rd, 2010

 

Finding time to do anything in this day and age can be tough – but don’t think for a second that it is impossible to find time for a workout! Managing your time is important. It is easy. And it isn’t just for high flying executives. Everyday people just like you need time management too. Time management frees up your mind and your life so that you can do the things that you love doing most.

The Active Lifestyle Formula is a set of steps that take you from being an Inactive to Active Aussie. In order to apply the Active Lifestyle Formula to your life you will need to follow the 5 P’s of Time Management. They are:

 

1. Purpose
2. Priorities
3. Planning
4. Productivity
5. Procrastination

 

Purpose – finding the WHY
In the last section we talked about setting SMART goals. Time management and goal setting are little buddies. You can’t have one without the other. Setting goals is important, but we usually miss the why. Why do we want what we want? What are the reasons for setting our goals? It all boils down to the fact that we want to feel good about ourselves.

 

Think about it. Deep down, we all want to feel good, don’t we? The famous psychologist Abraham Maslow stated that there are essentially five things we need to achieve in our life – and it all boils down to feeling good about ourselves.

 

If you are sick or ill or have a health scare, exercise is a no-brainer for feeling better about yourself – you’ll avoid things like diabetes, stroke, cancer or heart disease and of course you’ll feel good that you aren’t in hospital, right? You will also feel good about yourself when you are safe, accepted, successful or when you live up to your true potential. The need to feel good about yourself motivates you. It is at the very core of everything you do.

 

You need to understand that your need to feel good about yourself has driven you to read this article. You want to get a warm fuzzy when your girlfriends see you in that sexy new dress, so you search for weight loss solutions. You want to feel happy because your partner finds you more attractive, so you search for weight loss solutions. You want to feel awesome because you’ve just run a half-marathon after months and months of training, so you search for ways to be 10kg lighter for when you run the race. You really just want to feel good.

 

So when I have someone come to me and say that they want to lose weight I always like to ask why? I want to get down to the root cause. Of course the reason is to feel good about yourself, but what are the other things boiling beneath the surface?

 

If you can find out the real reason you want to lose weight you will be able to do it for the right reasons. Understanding this turns a wishy washy idea into a firm vision that will drive you and motivate you like nothing else. Finding the why will help you get up at 5:30 in the morning to work out. The why is going to help you stick with it when your muscles are aching and you are hungry from dieting. The why will keep you on track.

 

Finding the why is fundamental to managing your time. 

 

If you need help setting or reaching your goals, we offer personalised weight loss coaching and personal training services to help you whip into shape.

 

Contact our head office to get started with one of our mobile personal trainers - call (02) 9457 7167.

________________________

Setting SMART fitness goals

Monday August 9th, 2010

 

Ask yourself why you are interested in reading this article. Is it because you want to lose weight? Is it because you are tired of trying and failing and so you look for help? Whatever the reason, inside your mind you have a goal. You have a purpose. This is important as it is the second step in the Active Lifestyle Formula – to set some really good goals.

 

You see, without goals we simply amble through life without direction or purpose. Knowing where you want to go, what you want to be and how you mean to get there are prerequisites to consistently achieving anything in life – why not weight loss?

 

Goal setting brings desire from the subconscious to reality. Goal setting is the key to constant progress. Goal setting prevents stagnation, plateau and sterility. Goal setting creates vitality for life. You will find that goal-oriented people enjoy success more than those people who just wish good things would happen to them. Goal setters are go getters. If you want to lose weight you need to set some goals.

 

You have probably heard of this acronym before, but it’s a good one. When you set goals, you should always be SMART.

 

Be specific
Your goals should be specific and not wishy washy. They should be specific statements that you want to get, be or do something specific.

 

For example, “I want to lose 3kg” instead of “I want to lose weight”.

 

Make ‘em measureable
You should be able to measure your progress and know when you reach each goal. Avoid using words such as improve or decrease unless it is for something specific.

 

For example, a goal to “lose 15cm off my waist” allows you to wrap a tape measure around your waist at any time and see how far you are from your goals.

Make sure it’s achievable
Set your sights high enough to really challenge yourself but not so high as to be impossible! Ok, so anything is possible if you put your mind to it, but don’t be silly about it. You might need to find out what is realistic and what is not. You should be conservative and realistic to give yourself every chance of reaching your goals.

 

Sure it is possible to run 100m in 10seconds, but you personally might not be able to do it without going through years of gruelling training, the same way as an Olympic champion did. What is realistic for you right now? What can you realistically achieve?

 

Give yourself a reward

 

Give yourself a reward or create an incentive – rewards are things that you enjoy or like. Incentives are things you dislike that you want to avoid. Both will motivate you and keep you focussed.

 

For example, a reward for losing 3kg’s might be to treat yourself to a new dress – an incentive is to wash your partner’s car if you don’t.

 

Give yourself a time-limit

Put a fire under your bonnet and give yourself a deadline to reach your goals. Again, be specific with your time-limit and make sure you are realistic.

 

You can also create short-term goals and long-term goals.

 

• A long-term goal is the ultimate goal or end point that you want to be at. They can be ambitious and can be set a long while away. 
• Short-term goals are like stepping stones that serve as reference points to keep you on track for a long-term goal. You should focus on only a couple at a time.

 

A good example is, “I want to lose 30kg in 12 months” as opposed to “I want to lose some weight” or even “I want to lose 30kg”.

ACTION STEP #1
Think of a couple of specific things that you want to achieve. Write down a goal to reach that goal and come up with a time-frame to achieve it. Make sure that your goal is achievable and realistic.

 

ACTION STEP #2
Think of a reward for achieving your goal. Don’t just be satisfied with having a warm fuzzy when you reach your goal. Treat yourself and really enjoy the feeling you get from reaching your goal. Write down a reward for each goal you came up with.

 

ACTION STEP #3
Identify a bunch of buddies and cheerleaders to help you reach your goals. Once you have identified people who will make an awesome support network for you, come up with a couple of specific things that they can do with/for you to help you achieve your goals.

 

ACTION STEP #4
Once you have completed ACTION STEP #3, you should actually go and ask the people you identified if they can be your buddy or cheerleader. Make sure you include them in your reward or get them to think of their own fun and motivating reward.

 

ACTION STEP #5
Go to work and get it done! Don’t procrastinate. Focus. 

If you need help setting or reaching your goals, we offer personalised weight loss coaching and personal training services to help you whip into shape.

 

Contact our head office to get started with one of our mobile personal trainers - call (02) 9457 7167.

 

________________________

 

Taking control of your emotions

Monday August 2nd, 2010

 

The very first step in the Active Lifestyle Formula™ is to control your emotions. Our emotions are so powerful that they can control how we eat and whether or not we can be bothered to exercise. It is really important to bring your emotions under control early and keep them under control or else this lifestyle change that you are going through right now might be temporary.

To take control your emotions you must do the following:

1. Manage your mood
2. Hold yourself accountable, and
3. Build a support network

Let me give you some ACTION STEPS to help you take control of your emotions.

Manage your mood
Your mood is usually temporary, lasting anywhere from seconds to days or weeks. Bringing your mood under control and managing it will help you to control your actions.
Check out the Mood Cycle below. You will see that when you encounter a given stimulus (anything you see, hear, touch, taste, and smell) that certain thoughts will enter your head. These thoughts lead to action and unless you learn how to use self-control, you will be stuck in a vicious cycle – one that is difficult to break – unless you know how!

Breaking the cycle
The key to breaking any habit is to avoid stuff that puts bad/negative thoughts into your head – in other words, reducing the stimulus. For example, if excessive alcohol consumption is the thorn in your side, perhaps you should avoid going to night clubs or pubs with friends on the weekend. Go somewhere that doesn’t make you even think about drinking. Once you have identified the root cause of the problem (stimulus) you will be able to do something about it.

ACTION STEP #1
What are your bad habits? What are you addicted to? What do you do over and over again that you know you really shouldn’t do? What stuff keeps you from losing weight?

ACTION STEP #2
After you have identified your bad habits you should ask yourself, what thoughts start the process and what things stimulate those thoughts? Take a moment right now to write down the things that you will eliminate from your life. Once you figure it out for yourself, you need to avoid these things like the plague.

Hold yourself accountable
Now that you understand that you are responsible for the way you act, you might understand that you are the reason why you look and feel the way you do. You need to own up to your lifestyle and stand accountable for who and what you really are. Acknowledge that you are overweight and acknowledge that there is something that you are not doing right in your life. Being overweight means that you have been a little naughty when it comes to eating and exercising. Don’t put the blame on anyone else’s shoulders. Hold yourself accountable and then change what needs to change.

ACTION STEP #3
What aren’t you happy with in your life right now? Write down several things that cause you to feel grumpy, sad, depressed, anxious, angry or frustrated. This can be difficult to bring out into the open. Some people feel quite vulnerable when digging deep into their emotions. This is important. Spend a bit of time on this step.

ACTION STEP #4
Once you expose what you are feeling inside, you need to figure out why you feel that way and what you are going to do about it. For each thing that you are not happy about, write down several reasons why you might feel that way. Then write down several solutions for each problem. The key is to delve as deep into your emotions as possible so that you can take complete control of your emotions.

Build a support network
Taking control of your emotions starts within yourself and the first four ACTION STEPS help you sort that out. You will also need to build a support network to help you when you are feeling down. Understanding who to include in your support network is really important. Some people will be a huge help to you and others will simply drag you down.

The four main types of people are:

1. Buddies
2. Cheerleaders
3. Hecklers
4. Saboteurs

Source: Matt O’Niell’s Metabolic Jumpstart, 2010

Buddies
Buddies are people who have similar goals to you and will work with you to achieve them. You hold each other accountable and you both care about each others’ success. A buddy is your partner. You should get a buddy to exercise with you or to call or text you about training. They can enter an event with you, do a little competition with you, or they can be an emergency contact for when you’re about to give in. You should try to surround yourself with several good buddies.

Cheerleaders
A cheerleader won’t partner with you so closely, but they will cheer you from the sidelines and give you plenty of encouragement. We all need a few cheerleaders in our life, so look for people who are supportive and caring and recruit them as your cheerleaders. Cheerleaders motivate you and help you stay positive so fill your time with people like this. Life will be easier and you will be happier. Not only that but you will probably stick to your goals better too!

Hecklers
Hecklers unwittingly trip you up on your way to success. They might put you down or slip in the occasional negative comment here and there. They will often tempt you and they don’t ever seem to understand what you are trying to achieve. Hecklers are the opposite of cheerleaders.

Saboteurs
Saboteurs are the opposite of buddies. They might be some of your closest friends, family or associates. They create obstacles for your success. They might not realise what they are doing, but they often have really strong reasons for getting in your way. While you are busy trying to change your life, saboteurs go out of their way to try and stop you. People like this focus on the negative. They can also make it extremely difficult for you to stick to your fitness program.

ACTION STEP #5
Identify any buddies, cheerleaders, hecklers or saboteurs in your life.

ACTION STEP #6
Think of a few more people who might be good buddies or cheerleaders and recruit them into your support network.

ACTION STEP #7
Tell your hecklers specifically how you need them to behave to support your efforts. Tell them that although you are motivated that your willpower can be dented by their comments. Ask them to be positive and to encourage you. Most importantly, although this is challenging, you may need to spend less time with your heckler friends and family members and more time with others.

ACTION STEP #8
Discuss your weight loss goals with your saboteurs. Make a statement about how important your needs are. Ask them what their concerns are regarding the changes you are making and why they are opposed to you trying to change your life. Find a way to include them in your program so they know you care, but if they are still intent on being negative, you may need to avoid them altogether.

By completing these 6 ACTION STEPS you will be able to better control your emotions. You will be a stronger person and you will be more likely to stick to your fitness goals. It is essential to master your emotions before trying to start any new exercise regime or diet program.

If you need help controlling your emotions or getting started with a fitness program, we offer personalised weight loss coaching and personal training services to help you whip into shape.

Contact our head office to get started with one of our mobile personal trainers - call (02) 9457 7167.

 

________________________

 

The Active Lifestyle Formula: 7 essential steps to healthy living and having fun!

Monday July 19th, 2010

 

There are 7 essential steps to healthy living and having fun, they are:

 

1. Control your emotions
2. Setting goals
3. Managing your time
4. Sleeping better
5. Stressing less
6. Eating healthy
7. Exercising regularly

 

We call these 7 steps the Active Lifestyle Formula. Over the next 7 weeks I would like to talk about each key ingredient of the Active Lifestyle Formula. This week I would like to touch briefly on each to give you a little bit of an understanding about them. Over the next couple of weeks I plan on giving you some take home tips on how to get into great shape using this awesome formula. Healthy living should be fun. These 7 steps help you to not only get into great shape, but they allow you to enjoy life and to really help you become happy. The Active Lifestyle Formula is all about sustainable results that last a lifetime. It's a formula that can be followed indefinitely - that means forever until you die :o)

 

Bold statement? Well keep visiting our blog over the next couple of weeks to read about how you really can stay fit and healthy for the rest of your life and still have fun while doing it!

 

Control your emotions

We humans are emotional creatures (some more than others). Emotions are powerful things. They can make us do things that we normally wouldn't. Our head says one thing but we end up doing something completely different. Managing your mood means to take control of your mind. If you are able to harness the power of your mind you are able to achieve anything - believe that! Managing your mood will prevent you from overeating, enable you to exercise more often and help you to stay motivated when you need it most. Mood management is very misunderstood and very, very, very underestimated. Gaining control of your emotions is the first and most essential aspect of achieving any fitness goal.

 

Setting goals

Without goals we simply amble through life without direction or purpose. Knowing where you want to go, what you want to be and how you mean to get there are prerequisites to consistently achieving any thing in particular. Goal setting helps to bring desire out of the subconscious and into reality. Goal setting is the key to constant progress. Goal setting prevents stagnation, plateau and sterility. Goal setting creates vitality for life. Goal-oriented people are more successful and lead exuberant and self-fulfilling lives. They make cynical people jealous because they are so damn lucky - or are they?

 

Managing your time

Once you have created a real desire to achieve something you need to create a strategy and keep it updated in real time. Goals are incredibly powerful but many people neglect to employ solid time management techniques and so their goals remain merely a wish. Desire doesn't always equal action and procrastination has destroyed more souls than television or the Internet. In order to really achieve greatness in anything in life, you need to take ownership over your schedule. Great people throughout history show that great results occur only after focus and dedication. Time management is the strategy employed by great people to achieve great results.

 

Sleeping better

Gaining control over your schedule and life bestow freedom to the focused individual. With that freedom you are better able to live a healthy and sustainable life. Your energy levels are increased - both physically and mentally. To ensure that this newly acquired energy and freedom are not lost, it is essential that you create healthy sleeping habits. Your body will never be truly healthy and you will never live to enjoy all that life has to offer without developing good sleeping habits. Sleep is essential for weight loss, stress reduction, hormone balance, fitness, mood maintenance and a myriad of other great things. Early to bed and early to rise, makes you healthy, wealthy and wise.

 

Stressing less

In order to stick to any fitness regime on a long-term basis, you must learn to stress less. Of course, as you exercise more, eat healthier and sleep better your stress levels will decrease. Once you have developed great time management and you have really managed to control your mood and emotions, stress prevention techniques will stop you from relapsing back to inactivity.

 

Eating healthy

This one and the next one go without saying. Alas, many people eat rubbish and drink copious amounts of alcohol and wonder why they constantly struggle to lose weight. Or just as common, if not more so, are the people who starve themselves of important energy and nutrients by drinking meal replacement shakes and by taking diet supplements. The diet industry is dedicated at keeping people in a constant cycle of rapid weight loss/gain. There is a better way. There is a way out of this rut. The way out of this is to eat healthy. No one expects you to hit your targets every single time. The best dart players in the world miss the bulls eye every now and again. The key is to try to do your best. If you follow the healthy eating principles in the Active Lifestyle Formula you will enjoy food, enjoy life and not have to count calories ever again!

 

Exercising regularly

Once you have developed healthy lifestyle habits you should focus on continually exercising and staying active. To many people jump straight into exercise and go too hard too soon. They lack the concept of pacing. No-one expects you to go helter-skelter your whole life. You just need to try as best as you can to lead an active life. Just try to exercise as much as you possibly can and with as much intensity as you can stomach (literally sometimes!). But exercise can mean so many things to so many different people though. It doesn't have to be a bootcamp or a gym membership and it doesn't even need to be a personal trainer. Exercise can be anything. The key is to find what you enjoy and to do as much of it as humanly possible :o)

 

The Active Lifestyle Formula is an awesome way to transform your life. It is sustainable and it allows you to lead a healthy and happy life forever. I am dedicated to helping people just like you to realise that active living can be fun!

 

For a FREE 20 minute phone call about how to apply the Active Lifestyle Formula in your own life, leave a message on our Facebook page. Only the first 3 people to ask on Facebook will win!

 

________________________

 

5 ways to instantly become more active

Monday July 12th, 2010

 

The following 5 things will instantly help you to become more active. As a result, you will lose weight and keep it off.  If you consistently follow these 5 steps you will be on your way to becoming an Active Aussie and earning the body of your dreams.

 

The 5 ways to instantly become more active are:

 

1. Use the stairs instead of the elevator
2. Walk up the escalator instead of just standing there waiting and waiting and waiting
3. Hang your clothes out on the line instead of using the dryer
4. Stand up and change channels when you can't find the remote
5. Park in the furthest possible parking spot and then walk the rest of the way

 

And that's it! Ask yourself how many of these things you do on a consistent basis. If you are doing all these things I say congratulations. You are an Active Aussie :o) If you don't do any of the above things, you need to start doing them consistently. You need to alter your mindset and behaviour to include them in your day.

 

These 5 active lifestyle tips will instantly help you take more steps per day and it will help you burn more calories and therefore it will help you to lose weight fast! The reason it will help you lose weight is because you will have the mindset of an active person - you will be a true Active Aussie! You will start looking for ways to move your body and when your feet start moving more often, that is when the fat melts straight of dem bones! ;o)

 

The first 5 people to comment about this article on our Facebook page will win a FREE phone call consultation with me to discuss your healthy and fitness goals.

For more info call (02) 9457 7167.

 

________________________

 

How to use a pedometer to be more active and lose a ton of weight

Monday July 5th, 2010

 

 

Did you know that Australia has the highest percentage of overweight adults and a shocking number of overweight children in the developed world? Why is that?

 

The main reason for this is because we eat rubbish and live sedentary lives. And that is pretty much it! Many people however, struggle to lose weight because they are so caught up living a life incongruent to health. They are stuck in an eternal rat race where no matter how much effort or how many times they try, they are not able to lose weight. And if they somehow do, they can't keep it off and they yo-yo from overweight to skinny every other year! It's a real problem for all of us.

 

The solution is in fact simple – eat sensible and get off our bum to move more often :o)

 

Yet we know this, don’t we? Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 50 years you would know that the way to lose weight comes down to eating and exercise. But why are so many people overweight and struggling still? If it was as simple as knowing the right thing to do there wouldn’t be a single smoker in the country! The government plasters anti-smoking pictures and slogans on every packet yet every day hundreds of new smokers pick up the habit. And every day another person dies from a smoking disease. Same goes with eating, exercise and obesity related chronic disease.

 

It’s not as simple as saying “you need to exercise and eat better!” What you need is to have an entire mental, physical, emotional and attitudinal shift towards physical activity. We need to start enjoying and looking for ways to move our bodies more often.

 

"How can I be more active, I'm so busy?" I hear you say.

 

Perhaps the best way of motivating and encouraging lifestyle body movement is by using a simple pedometer. A pedometer is a cheap little gadget that you can clip discretely onto your belt or pants and wear throughout the day. It roughly measures how many steps you take per day.

 

Studies show that individuals who take 10,000 steps or more are living an active life. They are also less prone to chronic disease like some cancers, heart disease and type II diabetes. Studies also show that people who wear a pedometer are more likely to stay living an active lifestyle too. Below is a table outlining how many steps people need to take in order to be considered truly ‘Active’.

 

Steps Per Day	Activity Level
<5,000	sedentary
5,000 - 7,499	low active
7,500 - 9,999	somewhat active
>10,000	active
>12,500	highly active

 

In the next couple of blog posts I will be talking about little ways you can get more active. I will give you some little sneaky tricks to getting a few thousand more steps in your day - and it is easier than you think! So stay tuned. Buy yourself a pedometer and start measuring your steps. You will be suprised at how many steps you actually do take. Go on, take the 10,000 step challenge. It will help you not only lose weight but to develop life-long habits of physical activity. You will find yourself taking sneak peeks at your little pedometer throughout the day and trying to crank up your daily tally.

 

Tell me how you go. Leave us a message on our Facebook page.

 

The first 5 people to comment about this article on our Facebook page will win a FREE phone call consultation with me to discuss your healthy and fitness goals.

For more info call (02) 9457 7167.

 

________________________

 

7 ways to avoid burnout

Monday June 28th, 2010

 

The last couple of blog posts spoke about the importance of sleep if you want to lose weight, and how to sleep better. This week takes the topic a little further with a little extrapolation. I want to help prevent your body from breaking down on you. I want to help you avoid burnout!

 

There are 7 really critical things that you should do if you want to avoid burnout, they are:

 

Get enough sleep

As you would know from reading the previous two posts, sleep is super duper important for losing weight. But sleep is also really important if you want to avoid burnout. If you go to bed early and wake up early, your hormones will be balanced and your body clock will keep ticking away reliably. If you neglect your sleep, your hormones will be out of whack, as will your body clock and therefore your mood, metabolism and energy levels will plummet. Nobody wants that to happen, so make sure you are getting enough sleep. Otherwise you will not only be a grumpy bum, but you will probably be more inclined to sit on your bum and not do any exercise!

 

Eat nutrient rich wholefoods

If you eat processed, highly refined foods, you will miss out on many important nutrients that your body requires for normal functioning. You should ensure that you eat low GI foods and steer clear of any starvation based diets (ie, Tony Fergusson, Lemon Detox). You should stick to healthy balanced diets, like Matt O'Neill's Metabolic Jumpstart diet program. For sure eating junky foods and starvation based diets will be easier for you if you are a busy person, but think about how much energy you will have and how well you will feel when you start eating healthy wholefoods. Your metabolism will start firing and you will find a zest for life that has been missing forever. Your mood will brighten and you will avoid burnout.

 

Don't go too hard too quickly

We've all done it. Start a new exercise regime and hit the gym 7 days in a row only to feel sore and tired and burned the heck out! Of course you are burned out ya wally! You went too hard too quickly! :o)

 

A smarter approach is to make a couple of lifestyle changes and over time you will find that you will feel less sore and less tired. Remember, fitness doesn't happen overnight, but it will happen. Just put in a consistent amount of effort and you will achieve great things. Slow and steady wins the race. How many cliches am I allowed to write in one paragraph??? ;o)

 

If you're hurt, get fixed

So you've rolled an ankle, got a dicky knee, tweaked something in your back or pulled your shoulder. Don't go crying to mummy, get it sorted! People get injured all the time. I have almost zero cartilage on the outside of one knee and an ankle that is as good as an 80 year old. I'm constantly working on getting them as good as they'll get, but I also manage to get my workouts in too. I see so many people get an injury and stop exercise altogether. Rehab is just part of the process. If you get injured, your goals instantly change. You may not be able to lose weight as fast as someone with two healthy knees, or a back that doesn't feel like it's going to snap each time stand up. You just need to accept that fact and stop treating your injury as an excuse to not exercise. Go see a physio and get it sorted out. Your physio will give you a bunch of exercises to do - that is your new exercise regime. If you do that for a little while you will be either right as rain or as right as you'll ever be. Get fixed quickly so you can get back to doing what you really want to do - that is, lose weight!

 

Manage your time

So your busy. Me too. So was Robert de Castella when he won gold at the 1983 World Championships. When his schedule filled up the next year his fitness dropped and he ended up coming 5th at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984. When you let your schedule get out of hand, your goals will slip out of reach. de Castella was the favourite for the Olympic gold, and was rated as the best marathon runner of the '80's, but even he wasn't good enough to beat his competition and reach his goals when his schedule was overloaded.

 

Take a look at what you do on a daily basis. Are there any repetitive tasks that you do that can be delegated, improved or flat out avoided? Is there a bunch of time where you are really ineffective - for example, how many hours do you spend watching TV? You know you really should be spending at least as much time exercising as you spend watching TV on a weekly basis.

 

Don't stress so much

If you're stressed, your stressed - right? It's hard to think clearly, hard to function and most of us curl up into a ball and when the last little straw drops, we explode like an atomic bomb! We then get all emotional, some people eat a bunch of crappy food, some call in sick from work and others get major depression. Stress sucks yeah?

 

So how can you reduce your stress? Well, there are a few ways, (stay tuned for a blog post on reducing your stress in the next couple of weeks). One of the best ways to control stress is with exercise. Exercise has a positive effect on stress. It lowers corisol levels in the body and therefore reduces stress. Exercising outdoors also reduces stress. Breathing in lungfuls of lovely fresh oxygen will brighten the gloomiest of moods. Chuck your favourite song on your ipod and slap on a comfy pair of shoes and head outside - winter or summer - exercising outdoors in Australia is awesome! If you need a bit of motivation join a walking group, hire a personal trainer or join an outdoor fitness group or a bootcamp like Active Aussies. <--- shameless plug I know!

 

Set goals

If you clearly mark out where you want to be and how you want to get there, you will be less inclined to lose your way. For example, you want to lose weight. Ask yourself how much weight you want to lose, when you want to lose it by, and most importantly, why you want to lose it. Then, after you are really clear on what you want, you should map out a clear path to achieving your goal. You might make the goal of exercising in the morning or at night. Eating good food or avoiding takeaway. Going to bed by 10:30pm each night, and other stuff like that. Being clear in your mind about what you want to do and why will prevent you from mentally imploding and it will help you get through the tough times.

 

Losing weight is tough. That is why half the Australian population is overweight or obese - it's easy to be fat. If it were easy to lose weight everyone would be skinny, wouldn't they? So don't think it's going to be a walk in the park. Expect some hiccups and speedbumps along the way. It's a tough goal to lose weight, but I guarantee you that if you put in the effort and be consistent, then you will not only lose weight but you will keep it off forever.

 

If you would like help putting a plan together to help you lose weight, contact me for FREE consultation. I will chat to you about your unique goals and discuss your current lifestyle. We might need to make a few changes, but I will help you get on the right track. I can help you lose weight by turning you into a true Active Aussie!

 

For more info call (02) 9457 7167.

 

________________________

 

25 ways to wake up and exercise in the morning

Monday June 21st, 2010

In my last blog post I talked about the benefits of waking up early to do a workout. This week is one for all those people who struggle to not only wake up in the morning, but who more importantly fail to actually get up out of bed!

Before getting into it, I'd like to say that I used to be the biggest sleeper-in-erer in the whole wide world! The tips I'm going to share with you have helped me turn into a master of the mattress - I am now able to wake up early in the morning consistently.

I've broken up the following tips into four phases:

1.    Preparing for a good night sleep
2.    Hitting the hay
3.    Waking up
4.    Getting up

This is by no means an exhaustive list. In fact, if you have an idea or a method that helps you get out of bed in the morning to exercise - I'd love to hear about it and I'm pretty sure everyone else would too! Please leave a comment on our Facebook page.

 

Preparing for a good night sleep

Readjust your thinking about sleep
Sleep is important. Our hormones responsible for helping us lose weight are inextricably linked to our circadian rhythm. Don't stay up late to cram stuff in. You need to readjust your thinking. You will be better off waking up early to exercise and then do all the work you were going to do late last night. You need to put sleep high up in your priority list.

Go to bed earlier
You need 8 hours of sleep - but 9 is better! That means if you want to exercise at 6:00am in the morning, you need to be in bed by 8:30pm and asleep by 9:30pm. Sure you may not be able to do this every day, but try your best and work hard at achieving this goal. Not getting enough sleep means you will not have the energy to wake up in the morning. It also leads to dropout because it is almost impossible to maintain long term exercise habits without energy derived from good sleep patterns.

Master your schedule
If you can't go to bed any earlier try and become more effective with your time during the day. Is that late night TV show really worth watching? Also, try not to bring your work home with you. If you can't shuffle things around and you find that you are still not able to get to bed earlier, you need to figure out your priorities. Make a list of everything you do throughout the course of a regular day. Prioritise each one. What is less important than sleep and exercise? Some things like meetings, work, and picking the kids up from school are really important and of course you can't cut them out. Really delve deep into your schedule and figure out what things you can cut away. This is important. You will fail if you don't master your schedule. Poor time management skills contribute to dropping out.

Be consistent
We function and operate according to a natural body clock we all have. Our body loves it if we go to bed at the same time regularly and if our sleep is out of whack so will our energy levels and that has a negative carry on effect if you are trying to lose weight.

Wind down
Spend a bit of time preparing for bed. Switch off the television, don't eat or exercise right before bed either. Get chilled, get relaxed. You should start doing quieter activities about an hour before your chosen bed time. It is not a good idea to check your emails before bed as this heightens your alertness and gets your brain thinking acutely. Leave it till the morning my friend. Same goes for Facebook.

Get sleepy
If falling asleep is a problem for you, you should try a few things to get drowsy. Within the hour of winding down you can some of the following:

• A hot bath
• Some herbal tea (not a full cup so as to avoid midnight dunny trips)
• Warm milk
• Read a book
• Get into bed
• Switch off the TV, radio, CD/MP3 player

Hitting the hay

Go to your cave
Our body is incredibly sensitive to light. Make sure your room is dark as a cave. This will not only help you to fall asleep but it will help you to have a full and uninterrupted sleep cycle for the night. Bright lights from the alarm clock, streetlights or down the hall will only serve to disrupt your sleep patterns and prevent you from reaching that all important deep sleep.

Prevent interruptions
Make sure there are minimal distractions and disruptions to your sleep. Make sure you are not too hot or too cold. Noises, such as a TV or radio, are monitored by your brain even after you go to sleep. Don't think that you can ignore them - you can't - you're brain is too smart for that.

Get a dunny night light
Don't turn the bright lights on full bull when you wake up in the middle of the night. Bright lights disrupt the sleep cycle and can make it more difficult to fall asleep again. With a dim toilet light you are able to relieve yourself in the middle of the night and not have your sleep disrupted fully.

Relax
Don't stress if you wake up in the middle of the night. If you can't get back to sleep listen to some peaceful music with a dim light. A hot water bottle wrapped in a towel placed on the tummy can help you feel secure, warm and sleepy.

Waking up

Get enough sleep
This is already mentioned, but waking up early relies on your going to bed early. You know the saying - "Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."

Get up bright and early - literally
As already mentioned, your body is wired to recognise increases in light levels. As soon as you wake up, turn on a really bright light - yes it's really annoying, that's because it is waking you up! So wake up, jump up and turn on the light as soon as your alarm goes off - the brighter the light the better. If you bathe yourself in bright light for 30 minutes after you wake up you are very likely to stay awake - try it out, you'll see for yourself.

Now as to waking up early, according to studies, we actually function better when we wake up around 6am so if you wake up a little bit before this to exercise you are on the right track!

Your clock
Try and put your clock on the other side of the room so that when your alarm goes off, you need to get up out of bed and turn it off.

Your alarm
The more obnoxious your alarm the better I reckon. But that is a personal preference. Some people like a gentle wake up noise and others like a more obnoxious one. Some people like to vary the sounds. Whatever the noise your alarm clock makes, make sure it is sufficient to arouse you and wake you from sleep.

Your snooze button
Whoever invented the snooze button is an evil genius. Make sure you determine your wake up time and if you're a snooze-presser like me, make sure you set your alarm off a snooze-press earlier than your wake-up time. I personally like to snooze my alarm and in that time wake up, and follow all these other tips within that time. But if you're a chronic snoozer, you may need to go cold turkey and ditch the snooze button altogether. Just try and get your butt up out of bed and into some bright light ASAP buddy! The difference between what I do and what snooze-aholics do is that I use that 'snooze time' to wake up and get up. Snooze-aholics use it to go back to sleep. Some even turn the alarm off all together and then sleep in!

Develop a sense of urgency
This is perhaps one of the most important traits of early morning exercisers. You are going to be more likely to wake up and get up when there is something significant on the line - something urgent! People are more likely to wake up and get out of bed early for a job interview than for a gruelling run or a workout. Try and even things up a bit by developing a true need. You may want to put a 'fat' picture next to your bed or on top of your alarm clock. Write your goal down. Look at your calendar before you go to bed. Find something that works for you and stick to it!

Know the consequences
Procrastination and justification are killers. If you don't get up in the morning, what will the price be for your procrastination? If you do this regularly, that cost is magnified exponentially - you realise that don't you? If you don't get up to exercise tomorrow the consequence may be that you will not burn the calories you ate yesterday. If you realise that those calories are gonna get stored on your hips you may want to rethink sleeping in to avoid exercise.

Remove the options
Create a 'must do' mentality when it comes to waking up. If you pay for a personal trainer or commit to a bootcamp you are more likely to get up because you do actually want to get value for what you paid for right? Plus a personal trainer who is stood up is usually a pretty grumpy person - that next session of yours is probably going to hurt my friend! Just warning ;o)

Get a wake up buddy
Social pressure is very effective. If you manage to rope a friend into exercising with you in the morning you are more likely to stick to an exercise program at the fear of letting them down. It works even better if you agree to pick them up in the morning for a work out – you don’t want to leave your friend waiting in the cold and dark while you are still in your bed catching zzz’s!!! Conversely, if your friend makes the effort to pick you up you don’t want to let them down either, you don’t want to waste their time. This is another way to develop a sense of urgency and it helps to not only wake you up but serves as the motivation you need to get your butt out of bed in the morning to exercise.

 

Obey the 10-minute rule
If you can stay awake for 10 minutes after your alarm goes off you are more likely to remain awake. Within that 10 minutes you should turn on some lights, stretch, do something active and something that gets your mind thinking. 10 minutes is your golden time when waking up in the morning – try it!


Getting up
Get your mind active
If you start your mind thinking and start processing things when you wake up, it makes it easier for you to get moving in the morning. For example, I like to turn on the computer and check my emails and I read the morning news on my favourite website. It is a light mental task that enables me to start thinking about things – I switch on and I arouse my faculties.

 

Get your body active
Within one hour of waking you should aim to exercise. This will not only help you to get your day started off on the right track, but it prevents you from getting sleepy again and going back to bed. Chances are if you get up in the morning and go to the gym or to a bootcamp, you may be tired when you rock up, but you will be more likely to actually exercise when you are there – it’s more difficult and a waste of your time to just turn around and go home, you may as well work out now that you’re there.

 

Break your fast and shove food in your gob
You should aim to eat within one hour of waking. Doing this is part of getting active. It is a task that requires body movement and therefore mental alertness. It also kick starts your metabolism which is complimentary to your goals of losing weight.

 

Stretch
Energise your body by stimulating blood flow and promoting oxygen intake by stretching. Oxygen rich blood pumped through the body is important for energy production. Stretching limbers up the body and helps you to feel co-ordinated and enlivened. Make sure you breathe deeply when you stretch so as to really suck up that oxygen.

 

Shower
Having a morning shower titillates the body and your nervous system is pleasurably shocked into excitement. This arouses you mentally and physically and will help you to stay awake. Bathing with scented soap and hair product will fill your nostrils with a smell that totally contrasts the smell of sleep you woke up with. Every good morning starts with a shower. Make sure you keep it under 4 minutes to conserve water and to avoid 'sleeping' in the shower!

Remember, this is by no means an exhaustive list. Please leave us a comment on our Facebook page if you have a method or an idea that is mentioned and that you think helps you get a good night's sleep. Feel free to also comment on any of the above suggestions and let us know how you feel.

Cheers!

________________________

 

12 reasons why you should exercise in the morning

Monday June 7th, 2010

 

Getting up out of bed in the morning is probably the biggest and most consistent challenge anyone will face when trying to blast the belly blubber into oblivion. But why should you exercise in the morning? Here are 10 reasons why you should exercise in the morning:

 

1. It jumpstarts your metabolism. Which means you will burn through calories faster so that your hips and thighs stop storing all that yummy cake you've been eating!
2. You will be energised and invigourated for the day's activities. No more yawning as you walk through the front door of the office. You do want your boss to actually like you, don't you?
3. It regulates your appetite. Your powers of resistance will be increased - no more craving that extra serving of that tasty dish.
4. Your sleep cycles will be more consistent meaning that a) it'll be easier to actually wake up, b) your metabolism and hormones begin to elevate while you sleep, which in turn meant that, c) you'll be more energised when you actually wake up.
5. You have less excuses to put off exercise and your schedule isn't crowded so exercise can't take a backseat. No-one schedules a meeting at 6am right? Except personal trainers that is ;o)
6. It's the first thing first mentality that lets nothing get in your way. Your mental super powers will increase and you'll be able to shoot laser beams from your finger tips. You may even be able to fly! 
7. You will probably increase your time management skills meaning that you will actually get more done and be more effective at whatever it is you do. I'm telling you, your boss will love you!
8. Exercise increases mental alertness for up to 10 hours, so it's better to be alert in the morning as you are about to go about your day rather than being alert when you are trying to go to sleep (eg, if you exercised at night)
9. Doing an outdoor workout is better for you than coffee too - your body loves oxygen more than caffeine. Morning air fills the lungs and your body is injected with a crazy kick that only the truly Active really know about.
10. It's cold outside in the morning, so you'll be more alert and ready for the day because you've had a 'shock' to the system.
11. It's quieter and more reflective in the morning - the window to your soul is open. The birds are chirping, the traffic hasn't started to roar. Your body is in tune with the environment and it craves the lovely air you will breath into your lungs each morning.
12. Lastly, 90% of people who exercise consistently, exercise in the morning. In other words, if you exercise in the morning you are more likely to keep exercising. So if you have tried exercising and failed, perhaps you should try and switch to morning workouts instead.

 

So you see, there are 12 really good reasons why you should exercise in the morning. But what if I just can't get up in the morning, I hear you say. Well, stay tuned next week when I go through some ways you can actually 'beat the blanket' and get up out of bed.

 

________________________

 

Matt O'Neill's 5 Rules to Max Your Metabolism in 2010

Monday May 31st, 2010

 

We are halfway through the year and I think it's time to take a quick look at how we are progressing with our goals to trim down in 2010. At the start of the year, Mr Metabolism Matt O'Neill wrote an article outlining the 5 Rules to Max Your Metabolism in 2010. I want you guys to read this article as these 5 Rules are must do's not maybe's if you are trying to lose weight and get into shape!

 

Active Aussies is an Official Partner of Matt O'Neill's Metabolic Jumpstart program. We have been supporting this great program since 2009.

 

"When you maximise your metabolism you see automatic fat burning results. Follow my rules in 2010 and make this year your most nutritious and fittest year ever."

1.    Eat enough

When you eat well below your physiological needs it triggers your body to go into starvation mode. Don't detox! Don't do crazy low-energy diets as within 24 hours your metabolic rate falls. You are then more likely to store any excess energy and will find it harder to get lean.

 

 2.    Master your appetite

You've got dozens of appetite hormones and chemicals that get hotwired when you over eat. Sure, you may have indulged at Christmas but with a fresh year it's time to stay within the feed limit. You'll get back in sync with your natural hunger chemistry which will tell you when you really need to eat and when you should stop.

 

3.    Switch to nutrient rich

Fad diets may cut calories which strips weight off, but going without one or more food groups also starves your body of key nutrients that help you burn more fat.

 

For example, dairy food contains calcium and other chemicals that help fat cells release fat. Nuts like almonds, walnuts and cashews are hard to digest and give your metabolic rate a slight boost. Wholegrain carbohydrates have antioxidants that fight low-level inflammation that can cause weight gain.

 

So, make sure your fat loss menu has vegetables, fruits, dairy, wholefood proteins, wholegrain starches and healthy oils.

 

4.    Move your muscles more

By keeping active you keep millions of tiny mitochondria in body cells firing and burning calories every second of every day. Sitting for too long switches off mitochondria, so if you have a desk job, jump up every 30 minutes for a stretch and walk.

 

For regular exercisers, move your effort level up a notch. If you've got room to boost your intensity you will be rewarded with great calorie burning and automatic metabolic fitness.

 

If your workouts are "comfortably challenging" move up to "somewhat hard". If your effort is already "somewhat hard" notch it up to ‘hard'. For the same time, you'll see fast results and spark more mitochondria

 

5.    Outsmart Stress

Any biological stress, including emotional pressure, dietary deprivation and excessive exercise triggers the release of the hormone, cortisol. Known as the stress hormone, cortisol can cause abdominal obesity, increased food cravings and inflammation.

 

This is another reason to eat well, avoid over-exercising and try not to become a gym-junky. Set a plan to outsmart stress this year, by taking more opportunities, no matter how small, to refresh. Life is busy, but mini-escapes work wonders to recharge your batteries.

 

Best wishes for making metabolism matter again in 2010. If you'd like a diet plan to maximise your metabolism, click here to learn more about my Metabolic Jumpstart.

 

________________________

 

4 important things you need to do to stay fit during cold and rainy weather

Monday May 24th, 2010

 

It's a week before winter and it's rainy and cold. At this time of the year, the blankets have never felt so snuggly or so nice. Every morning it's a matter of mind over mattress just to get up. That new year's resolution to get fit is starting to become a foggy memory and quitters are rife.

 

Are you one of them?

 

In order to come off conqueror you should follow these 4 tips to stay on track throughout the winter chill and drizzle:

 

Reflect on the importance of daily exercise

Staying active and eating smart are not only the keys to fat loss and fitness but also to a healthy life. We all know that, but it's important to actually reflect on this often. Make a commitment to stay active over the next few months even though it's pretty cold outside. Re-commit yourself to your long term goal to get into shape. Remember it's all about consistency and effort. Without one or the other you will find it difficult to whip your butt into shape. Ask yourself this question daily - "Have I exercised today?"

 

Reflect on your successes and failures

How much weight have you lost since you started exercising? How fit do you feel? Compare that to how you used to feel when you were unfit. How did it all change around? What commitments did you make? You committed yourself to being an Active Aussie is what you did. You started exercising regularly and you started eating smart. The reason you are in shape now (or on your way to getting in shape) is because of your commitment to exercise.

 

Don't forget that. Be happy and excited about how far you've come! Check out those old 'fat' photos and pull out those 'fat' jeans. You have done so well! Congrats!! How exciting, you have to feel pretty good about yourself, right?

 

Identify high-risk situations

There comes a time when we all want to say bleh! In that instant we decide not to exercise. The little devil on our shoulder wins the argument against the little angel on the other shoulder and we decide to not exercise that day.

 

When do you actually make the decision to not exercise? When does the argument/debate between pros and cons actually take place inside your head? Is it when you are lying in your bed after hearing the alarm go off? Do you have every intention to exercise when you go to sleep at night but lose will power in the morning when you hear the alarm? Are you tired in the morning or have you had enough sleep but just can't be bothered getting out of the bed?

 

If you are tired in the morning you should identify this as a high-risk situation. If you exercise in the morning getting up out of bed is an obvious necessity, isn't it? So if you lack the motivation to get out of bed in the morning perhaps you need to address the cause. Perhaps you need to go to bed early at night. Perhaps you need to get a more annoying alarm. Perhaps you need to put the alarm on the dresser on the far side of the room out of reach of your snooze-pressin' fingers!

 

Identify the situations, things, people, times, places, etc that cause your will power to falter. Create a little personal strategy to come off conqueror.

 

You see, everyone has a weak point. It just takes a bit thinking to find out what yours is. You just need to stop and think about things logically for a second. Once you've identified the chinks in your armour and you've made a little strategy or two you should look to actually apply your strategy - ASAP!

 

Anticipate and use problem solving skills

So you know your weak point is that you are tired in the morning (or whatever your own weak point is). You've identified that your tired because you get to bed at 11:00pm every night. You know that you can only keep up an early morning exercise program on less than 8hours sleep for a short time. You've been going for a while now, so pretty much at the next possible excuse you are going to wilt!

 

Anticipate the tired-ness and solve the problem. Go to bed by 9:30pm or better yet 8:30pm! What is stopping you from doing that? Is it TV? Facebook? YouTube? Books? Work? Kids? What is stopping you from getting to bed early enough for you to get 8 or preferably 9 hours sleep?

 

You see, Active Aussies stay fit not only because they are committed to their goals but also because they are master life strategists and problem solvers. We see what is holding us back from our goals clearly because we stop to think about it from time to time. We make a plan and we put it into action.

 

Your friends and family members who struggle to keep weight off or who jump from diet to diet and yo-yo their way through life just don't get it. They don't use these simple relapse prevention strategies. If you have managed to stay active for over 6 months you have used some of these relapse prevention strategies - either consciously or not.

 

I challenge you to go through the above 4 relapse prevention strategies and make a little action plan for yourself.

 

Leave a comment on our Facebook page to help inspire us all to stick to our goals.

 

________________________

 

10 'Must Do' fat busting tips from Michelle Bridges

Monday May 17th, 2010

 

BUY ONLINE Crunch Time: lose weight fast and keep it off

Ok so we all know her as the crazy awesome super chick who coaches the red team in TV's The Biggest Loser. Michelle Bridges' public profile helped catapult her book Crunch Time to the top of best seller lists when it was released last year.

 

I want to focus on one section she writes about: setting goals. As Michelle puts it, "you gotta have a plan man!" I want to go over her tips for setting goals.

 

When setting your goals (I've said it heaps of times before and I'll say it again) your goals need to be SMART.

 

S - Specific

M - Measurable

A - Achievable

R - Realistic

T - Time-based

 

Michelle also gives us 10 'must do' fat busting tips when making a goal to lose weight. They are:

 

1. Get on the scales - find out your starting weight and see if you are a good weight for your height.
2. Get out the tape measure - measure your chest, waist, hips, thighs and arms.
3. Take a photo of yourself - yes this is uncomfortable and no you will never, ever, ever look like this again!
4. Get a calorie counter - you can buy one or you can use an online one (I use both!)
5. Make a calendar - keep track of your weight loss and see if you are on track to meet your SMART goals.
6. Plan your daily workout time - you need to be organised and manage your time effectively.
7. Get support - build a support network of family and friends. If you don't you will find it hard to maintain and be consistent.
8. Throw out all the crap food in your house - don't get tempted and don't keep it in your house as a 'fallback'. If you think you are wasting money well you should have thought about that before you actually bought the stuff silly!
9. Get a NEW you journal - N) stands for Nutrition, E) stands for Emotion, W) stands for Workout. Keep track of how you eat, feel and exercise.
10. Start a seven-day food diary - keep track of what goes into your mouth so you can spot trends, weaknesses and fix the problem areas in your diet.

 

I agree with Michelle in everything she says. Her 10 'must do' fat busting tips are essential when making a goal to lose weight. Have another read over the list. Is there anything that you haven't or aren't doing?

 

Well, what are you waiting for?

 

Get it done ;o)

 

If you haven't had a chance to read this great book - Do it! I thoroughly recommend it. You can buy it or borrow it from Hornsby Library.

 

The book contains awesome info on how to lose weight and keep it off forever. Michelle talks about getting your mindset right and sorting out your emotional baggage first. She then shows you how to really bring it with some great workout tips. She tops it off by setting you up in your kitchen and helping you to develop a love for healthy eating.

 

Gone are the diets and silly shakes. Welcome to the real world people where we've finally realised the reason we are fat is because of the lifestyle we live. Michelle's book paints a clear picture of how you can change your life forever.

 

________________________

 

Are you happy about the way you look?

Monday May 10th, 2010

 

So many people tell me that they are not happy with the way they look and that they want to lose weight. They assume that the only way to change their physical appearance is to lose actual 'weight'.

 

Well I am here to bust the biggest myth about looking great and losing weight:

 

"Losing actual body weight has nothing to do with the way you look"

 

If you are really concerned about the way you look, before and after photos are the best test and measurement of your progress.

 

Of course there is also the fact that muscle weighs more than fat. But what the heck does that even mean? It means that it is very possible to lose only a little bit of actual 'weight' but to absolutely incinerate body fat. I've seen people only lose 1 or 2 kilos but shed 15cm off their waist.

You see, in order to burn fat in the most effective way, you will need to actually increase your muscle mass. I'm not talking about becoming Arnold Schwarzenegger. But I am telling you in order to burn fat you need to have muscles. People with nice muscles burn a fillion times more calories than those with less muscle mass. Plus you look damn sexy!

 

For example, say you put on 2 kilo's of muscle in a month (a reasonable goal) and you lose 3 kilos of fat. Your gross loss is 3 kilos but your net loss (ie, the number staring up at you from the scales) is only 1kilo. Make sense?

 

So how can you tell how much muscle you are putting on? Well, are you able to do more pushups than last month? Can you run faster or further than last month? Can you do more squats, situps or hold the plank longer? If so, you are more than likely increasing your muscle mass.

 

So if after jumping on the scales and the number between your toes doesn't really give you warm fuzzies, step off the scales for a minute and look at your before photos. Then stand in front of a full length mirror and compare.

 

You see, if you want to look better, using your actual 'weight' is not the best way to measure your progress. You should actually see if you look different or feel different. Those little pesky numbers on the scales aren't the be all and end all. Don't put so much emphasis on your weight. It's the biggest myth in the world and you can tell your friends that on the 10th of May 2010, you found out that myth was busted - finally!

 

________________________

'May' the force be with you

Monday May 3rd, 2010

 

So you've taken the plunge and decided it's time to whip your butt into shape and get healthy. You've dug your workout gear out of the closet and have been hammering away at your new years resolution to get fit and skinny.

 

You've made it pretty far, you've gotten to May. Statistically you're above average, most people drop off the band wagon around the end of January. But in a couple of days a massive amount of people from all around the world will cancel their gym memberships, chuck their joggers back in the closet for another year and go back to square one and quit!

 

I'm talking serious amounts of people - millions! May is the quitters month. May should be called dis-May because so many people lose sight of their goals. So many people lose hope. So many people think it's too hard. So many people try to find an easier way. So many people try to cheat and in so doing forget that losing weight is a symptom of a healthy diet and good exercise habits. In May, people tend to forget that consistency is the key to great results. In May, people just don't seem to care anymore. They get dis-Mayed.

 

Have a deep look at your life at the moment. How do you feel about exercise? Have you found yourself making excuses not to exercise lately? Has it become more and more difficult for you to get going? Remember, statistically you'd be pretty much normal if you did. And that is why half the country is considered overweight or obese at the moment - because people get to May and lose focus, desire and commitment and then they quit. Only to make a new years resolution next year and then the next and then the next. And they go on repeating the same vicious cycle year, after year, after year.

 

So what are you going to do about it? Why wait till January 1st to make a new years resolution. Why not make a resolution right now. Let's do it together - follow the steps below:

 

1. I want you to grab a piece of paper - it must be blank and it must be crisp white.
2. Grab a marker or pen - it must be a nice pen, one that works well and that leaves a good mark on the page.
3. Write down 3 things that you are not happy with in your life right now in regards to your body - they can be flabby thighs, the fact you can't run 10km in under an hour, etc. These are your motives.
4. Write down 3 things underneath each of the above motives that you will do in order to change the situation. These are your goals.
5. Write down a time frame next to each of the 3 goals as to when you will accomplish them. This keeps you accountable.
6. Take your piece of paper and blu-tack it somewhere you will see and read it every day - it can be at your office, on the back of the toilet door, on your ceiling above your bed or on the dash of your car.
7. If you feel like it, tell us one of your goals by leaving a comment on our Facebook page. This will inspire us all.

 

________________________

Pants down!

Monday April 26th, 2010

Last Friday morning I turned up for 6am training in my normal training gear and in the misty morning air began my session with Chris’s always enthusiastic Knees Up! But then my pants started to fall down, I suddenly realised I had slimmed down out of my exercise pants, the ones I had become attached too, the comfy ones that I first started my fitness journey in back in September of last year.

Hi I’m Suzannah, a mother of two, Chloe 3 years and Olivia 11 months old and live in Wahroonga. For as long as I can remember I have been sporty and loved the outdoors – skiing, horse riding and jogging – however no matter what I did I always carried those extra kilos, enough to feel uncomfortable in sleeveless tops and shorts, and to hate wearing my cozzie and to find myself always wearing jeans on hot days when a nice dress or skirt would be much more comfortable.

I used to run and walk regularly and from time to time had a gym membership but never really found anything that worked. In my first pregnancy I put on quite a bit of weight which I did not shift until my daughter’s second birthday and then only went back to my pre-baby weight. I put on just the same weight during my second pregnancy and when Olivia was 3 months old, and Chloe had her 3rd Birthday Party (see pic) I decided enough was enough. This was a turning point for me. I decided I am going to get fit and drop not only my pregnancy weight but lose 10kgs to get back to a healthy weight range. I decided I didn’t want to be overweight for the rest of my life I was going to be the person I wanted to physically be.

So I began running every other day for 30mins, I would set off in the morning around my neighbourhood huffing and puffing, whilst my husband juggled a newborn and 3 year old getting ready for work. I felt bad, but this was literally the only way I was going to get regular exercise in.

 

My motto was “ There are no excuses” cause I had a lot: two kids, full time mum with no help, little sleep, working from home, etc. For the first couple of weeks it was a struggle, I remember I was very conscious of making sure I did not get an injury and was careful with each step I took as I didn’t want an excuse for this to not work this time.  Then my first best ever decision was to invest in a good pair of running shoes and I retired my hiking shoes for a super light pair of sneakers.  My next decision was that just running would not cut the mustard, so I began my own kind of cross training, I would run to our local park and do step ups, sprints, push ups and then run home, always trying to tackle at least one hill. In our area we have a heart break hill and after just a month into the running I was able to run all the way to the top. This was one of my first mental and physical hurdles overcome.

One Saturday last October I decided I would run to Wahroonga, 40 mins approx and I set off, when I got to Wahroonga Village shops I decided, hey I feel ok, I will keep going over and do a lap of Wahroonga park. As I jogged around the park I saw a tall guy with three women working out and I thought that is exactly what I need and I barrelled up to Chris and got started within a week.

I began my training with Active Aussies last November, at first I could hardly walk the day after each session, I was working my muscles like never before and they were letting me know about it. I suddenly began to realise that for the first time I was learning what it meant to work out properly, to really push myself and I was gaining confidence that I could push myself harder than I ever had before and that my body wasn’t going to break. I loved the friendly and non-competitive atmosphere where all ages and walks of life could get together and push themselves and have a laugh along the way. By Christmas I was starting to have much more energy and generally being a happier person and better mum, wife etc. I realised that by being selfish and making my work-out a priority, I was actually doing myself and my family a favour as I was a much, much better person. On afternoon walks to the park with my daughters, I suddenly had a spring in my step and was jumping around playing with the kids more than ever. Soon friends around the neighbourhood started remarking, hey you are really looking great, and that made me realise, gee I had changed to the point where I did really look a lot different.

Apart from the exercise, for the first 3 to 4 months I cut out all sugar and otherwise ate lots of food but made it really good as I had a baby relying on me as a food source! My secret to nutrition was eat everything as close to its natural state as possible, which basically means making everything from scratch.

Over the past 6 months with Active Aussies I have gained strength I never thought I would have and life is just better, getting through the day is not the struggle it used to be, I feel lighter and brighter.

 

My commitment to exercise has also paid off in other ways, my 3 year old daughter says to me, look mummy I am doing my exercise so I can get fit and healthy and have lots of energy to play. I don’t want my daughter to let extra weight hold her back from some life experiences which I felt mine did, I now would say to anyone just get moving and learn to push your body properly and you will see the rewards.

So where am I at now? I am enjoying my new found fitness and getting used to being able to wear different clothes and feel good about myself and I am now going to run a 8kms Mothers Day Run and aiming to use this winter to totally rid myself of the post-baby belly and see if I can for the first time in my life this summer hit the beach in a cozzie and not feel self conscious… anyone what to join me?

So thanks Chris and Filipa I am so glad that you started Active Aussies and I appreciate your zest for life and your continually expanding knowledge of the best exercise techniques.

So here’s to the Pants that came down and to the ones that can now come up and do up!

 

________________________

The secrets to being a "Biggest Loser"

Monday April 19th, 2010

 

So The Biggest Loser has finished up for another year, and I'm sure you'll all agree it was one of the best season's of TBL ever! The way the trainers and dietitians helped each contestant to change their life was truly inspiring. The producers really tried hard to educate us as viewers about how each contestant was faring and how they actually achieve their fantastic results. However transparent the producers tried to be, there is one thing that they always allude to on the show, but never really cover adequately. This one thing is the secret to becoming a "Biggest Loser".

 

What is it?

 

The secret is...habitual consistency.

 

What is "Habitual Consistency"?

 

It is doing the same thing day in day out, over and over and over again - without fail, without exception. It is the process of being predictably reliable at performing any given action on regular basis. Habitually consistent people obey the following rules:

 

Rule # 1

Eating good food and exercise every day

 

Rule # 2

Keep eating good food and doing daily exercise after you have lost weight

 

People struggle to lose weight because they aren't habitually consistent at obeying rule number 1. People yo-yo and put weight back on all the time because they don't follow rule number 2. So let me ask you, are you struggling to lose weight? Or do you find yourself yo-yoing and continually slipping backwards and putting weight on once you have lost it?

 

If you fit into any of those categories, here is my massive tip:

 

Stop eating and exercising to lose weight.

 

Being overweight is a symptom that something is not quite right in your life. If you do the right things daily with habitual consistency a consequence will be weight loss. If you do the right things consistently, you will lose the weight. It may not happen overnight like it does on TBL, but I promise you, that it will happen. It just takes time. What's the rush - honestly? Just do the right thing, get your body into the best shape of your life by being habitually consistent with your food and exercise.

 

________________________

 

1 really big reason people can't lose weight

Monday April 12th, 2010

 

Houses are purchased after paying a deposit. A drivers license is earned after passing a test and spending hours practicing. Olympic gold medals are won after countless hours or hard work and dedication. City's are built after centuries of labour and blood and sweat.

 

What is one of the biggest reasons that people can't lose weight?

 

They aren't willing to make the sacrifice required to achieve the dream they seek. Their goals don't match their level of personal commitment. There is confusion.

 

If you want to lose weight you must be willing to pay the price. You must be willing to sacrifice some stuff that you do right now. Below are a couple of things you should do without fail and you should do them forever not just a little while. And you should start them immediately if losing weight is important to you - the land of the skinny and sexy is not inhabited by procrastinators.

 

You must:

 

1. Exercise as intense as possible (75-90% maximum heart rate)
2. Exercise as regularly as possible (at least 5-7 exercise sessions per week)
3. Exercise for as long as possible (at least 30minutes per session)
4. Eat wholesome, natural foods (avoid refined crap and high sugary stuff)
5. Eat small portions (eat till satisfied, not until your stuffed)
6. Drink alcohol in moderation (don't drink to get plastered)
7. Drink plenty of water (2 or so litres a day is good)

 

If you're willing to sacrifice the little lifestyle habits that you enjoy (or you're addicted to) in exchange for realising your dream of losing weight and getting into great shape, then buddy ole pal, you will lose weight. You must be willing to pay the price for your goals first, though.

 

Remember, don't exercise or eat to lose weight. Just focus on creating lifelong exercise and eating habits. If you do that, you will lose weight as a side effect of living your healthy life.

 

If you need help creating lifestyle habits have a chat to a Personal Trainer. We are masters of motivation and we'll help you find a way to make healthy exercise and eating habits a significant part of your life. As a result, we'll help you lose weight.

 

________________________

Happy Easter!

Monday April 5th, 2010

 

Happy Easter everybody! Ok, if this Monday Motivator doesn't make you want to get the booty of the couch for some extra movin and groovin, I don't know what will!

 

So check it, we've put together a bunch of popular (read tasty!) Easter treats. Work out how much EXTRA walking, group training or personal training you will need to do in order to not store those nasty calories on your hips!

 

See you at the park! Wink-wink, nudge-nudge ;o)

 

Yummy Easter Treat Type	Kilojoules (kJ)	Walking (mins)	Group Training (mins)	Personal Training (mins)
Lindt Gold Bunny (100g)	2240kJ	156	78	55
Hard candy egg (100g)	1550kJ	97	49	32
Cadbury Creme eggs (40g)	765kJ	45	25	16
Nestle Smarties egg (50g)	1075kJ	65	35	22
Red Tulip #6 13cm egg (100g)	2130kJ	136	68	45
1 row Cadbury's chocolate	550kJ	39	19	13
2 rows Cadbury's chocolate	1100kJ	70	30	20
1 block Cadbury's chocolate (250g)	5540kJ	300	200	100
Glass of wine (100mL)	315kJ	19	10	6
Can of light beer	430kJ	22	15	10

 

Ok. So check out the table above. Did you eat any of these guys over the last couple of days? Did you eat more than just one? Did you scoff them down in one sitting? If so, then in order for you not to store any of the excess calories you just devoured on your body as fat, you need to do extra exercise.

 

Normally, we need to do about 4-5 45minute sessions per week in order to lose fat and tone up. If you ate any of the above or similar, you need to crank that number of sessions up according to the table above.

 

Ouch!

 

How's that for a reality check? Just helping you guys see the BIGGER picture :o) Aren't I nice hehehe.

 

If you want to get into shape and burn fat fast, you need to exercise regularly and at an intense level. If you are struggling to exercise on your own, or if you need a little extra motivation, contact us now for a free consultation. It won't happen overnight (especially if you keep scoffing down Easter eggs), but it will happen!

 

Guaranteed :o)

________________________

 

I Can't

Monday March 29th, 2010

 

Don't say it with such finality.

Don't just throw it out there without giving it some thought.

I can't is a phrase that they shouldn't teach at school.

I can't is an illusion.

In fact the more I think about it, I can't doesn't really exist.

Don't convince yourself into thinking that you can't.

Stop telling yourself that you can't do something.

You may not be able to do something yet, but as I said, don't say it with such finality!

Start say 'Yet'.

Start saying, "I can't do that, yet."

I can't do a pushup yet.

I can't do 10 pushups yet.

I can't do 100 pushups yet.

Rome wasn't built in a day, and you won't reach your fitness goals in a day either!

Stop saying I can't!

 

Go to our Facebook page and write 3 things that you want to be able to do, but can't do yet.

 

________________________

Continue to Stride

Monday March 22nd, 2010

 

The question you’ve gotta ask yourselves is, do I want to be the person that gives up again, or do I wanna be the person that continues to stride forward.” Sharif Deen, The Biggest Loser Australia contestant 2009.

 

 

I love this quote. I was watching the full episode reruns of TBL online this week and snagged it. It is a great quote from an inspirational guy. Sharif was morbidly obese and struggled with his overweight issues most his life. Now he is a living, walking, talking lifestyle fitness advocate. He is also a qualified personal trainer :o)

 

His experience on TBL could have been yet another Yo-Yo moment in his life. Another notch in the belt. But he made a mental decision to never give up, and to change his life forever.

 

Each of us need to make these mental decisions before we can commit to anything. Sometimes taking action is difficult because we are addicted to living our life in a way that is completely opposite. These difficult decisions take up a lot of our mental energy because there is a niggling part of us that wants to stay the same.

 

Sharif puts it great. He says, “…continues to stride…”. He didn’t lose 72.5kg (the weight of a healthy adult male) by Yo-Yo’ing. He kept it up. He didn’t take baby steps. He took strides. He didn’t do it easy. He did it hard.

 

Moral of the story is, if something is important to you, then you need to do it constantly, consistently and non-stop. You need to jump right in. You can’t remain standing with one foot in your old life and one foot in your new. You must change. You need to jump right in.

 

Whether you need to lose 70kg (hopefully you are not this morbidly obese) or only need to lose a few kilograms. The point is, you must continue to stride and make exercise a lifestyle choice, not a weight loss choice. Weight loss is a symptom of someone who lives a healthy and active lifestyle.

 

Here are my tips:

 

1. Make a goal to be physically active every single day (take the stairs, walk to work, etc)
2. Make a goal to start doing vigorous exercise 3-5 times per week (either with a personal trainer, a bootcamp or by yourself)
3. Make a commitment to continue to do this for the rest of your life

 

I promise you, that if you do this, you will not only lose weight but you will be healthy, you will be fit and you will get into the best shape of your life! You will truly become an Active Aussie.

 

Have you exercised today?

________________________

 

Are you getting yours?

Monday March 15, 2010

 

You don’t want to be selfish, but here are a bunch of things you should really push and shove and manipulate and squeeze into your life - no matter what!

 

* Get 8 hours of sleep
* Drink 8 glasses of water
* Set aside 8 minutes of ‘Me Time’
* Take 8 days off a month

 

Doing these things will radically change your life for the better. If you feel they are out of reach or impossible, leave a comment and tell me about it. I’d love to hear your feedback. What are the reasons you feel this is unrealistic for you? What’s going on in your life that will stop you from doing these things? Leave us a comment on our Facebook page.

 

8 Hours of Sleep

As the adage goes, “early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise”. If you consistently find yourself getting less than 8 hours of sleep, you should really be looking at your lifestyle choices. What needs to change? When it comes to bed time, ask yourself:

 

• Can I leave what I am doing and do it tomorrow?
• Will my life come to a miserable end if I don’t do this thing right now?
• What could’ve I done today to prevent me needing to squeeze everything in at the last minute?

 

Every now and then, sure, stay up late and get that super duper important report done. But if you find that you are living a life of drudgery and staying up late every night, you should probably think of getting a new job! Your health demands it!

 

8 Glasses of Water

It’s soooooo important. Seriously, if you aren’t getting enough water you should consider getting yourself a pretty water bottle. Take regular sips throughout the day. Don’t drink cordial, or fizzy drink, or juice or heaven forbid alcohol to rehydrate yourself throughout the day. Water x 8 = healthy mind and body.

 

8 Minutes of ‘Me Time’

Well, try and get more than this…but I just wanted to be neat and keep things all in 8’s. Meditate, pray, relax. Just don’t watch the telly. Get away from stuff. Look inside yourself and think about the things you can improve on. Think about the things you need to do. Centre yourself. Take time out for yourself and you will notice the difference in your life, I promise you!

 

8 days off a month

No Freddy, I’m not talking about sickies! I’m talking about weekends. Work your butt off during the week and spend time with your loved ones and friends on the weekends. If you are too busy to do this. Think - why are you busy? What is the purpose of your busy-ness? What goal does being so busy help you to accomplish? What is your exit strategy from being so busy? Have you ever stopped to think, I have no idea why I am working my can off just so my boss gets richer, and I get wasted? Take time out for yourself. Figure out a way. Talk to someone about how you can get out of the rat race. Find a way to get 8 days off a month…I dare you :o)

 

That’s about it. Some of these things push boundaries and may make a few of you think “ahhhhh, whatever Trevor. Does he want me to lose my job!?” No, I don’t. I just want you to take care of yourself, because I am your personal trainer. Fitness is holistic in nature. There are many parts. Busy stress balls, who can’t find the time to exercise or spend time with loved ones or to centre themselves are usually very unfit. People who live lives like this are becoming more and more prevalent. Break the cycle and get out of the rat race. There is more to life than work and business. They are means to an end. Don’t make them be the means to the ‘end’ of your life because you worked yourself to death.

 

Something to think about?

 

________________________

Break the weight loss plateau

Monday, 8 March 2010

 

Has the same old number been staring back up at you from between your big toes every time you jump on the scales? Do you feel like it’s almost impossible to budge the bulge? Here are some awesome tips from our nutritionist buddy Matt O’Neill - founder of Metabolic Jumpstart.

 

Today’s Monday Motivator is by Matt O’Neill - Active Aussies’ partner nutritionist. You can find out more about Matt’s awesome nutrition program, and the only nutrition program Active Aussies recommends, at www.metabolicjumpstart.com.

 

 

 

To break through a fat loss plateau you will need to consume less calories or increasing daily physical activity. Here are some tips.

 

Increase duration or intensity of exercise - As fitness increases you can increase effort or extend training sessions. If you’ve initially committed to two training sessions a week you may need to consider adding another session to your routine.

 

Increase out-of-session activity - Even though you work out hard, you may not move enough during the rest of the day. A pedometer or step counter can be used to assess your daily activity. Aim for a minium of 8,000 steps, with a goal of 10,000 or more as required. Around 15,000 steps is a very active day.

 

Eat less sugar - You may have cut back on fat, but are still be consuming too much sugar. Low-fat sweet snacks such as breakfast bars and fruit twists may seem a perfectly healthy option, but they are often are high in sugar. Swapping to fruit can offer calorie savings. Low-fat milkshakes, smoothies and fruit juices also have a healthy image, but are where calories can add up.

 

Drink less alcohol - Alcoholic drinks may be difficult to cut back on or give up, but may be necessary when you hit a plateau. A reality check on volume is important as alcohol is often under-reported. When you say you have a couple of glasses of wine at dinner each night, do you mean two small (125mL) glasses of wine providing a total of 160 calories or four large (175mL) glasses giving around 450 calories.

 

Eat smaller portions - Check to see if you are eating too much of healthy foods like bread, potatoes or pasta. You may need to downsize their dinner plate or reduce second helpings.

 

Keep a nutrition diary - Keeping an eating diary for a short time, say three days to identify opportunities for calorie savings is one of the best ways to be accountable for food intake. An eating diary can also reveal “calorie creep” which is the situation where previously eliminated high calories snacks have made their way back into the diet. It may be just these small things that are causing the sticking point.

 

Find out more about Matt O’Neill at www.metabolicjumpstart.com

 

________________________

What's Your Excuse?

Monday, 1 March 2010

Today’s Monday Motivator is inspired by you - my fellow Active Aussies. This week I have been inspired and motivated and taught by you. I have realised that the saying is true:

 

“Excuses are like belly buttons, everyone has one”

 

But despite their omnipresence, excuses need not prevent us from acting.

 

Life is all about pushing boundaries. Trying harder each day. Exercising despite there being a really good reason not to. Enduring to the end even though the going is worse than tough.

 

I won’t name names in this post. What I will talk about were real events done by real people. But they could be anyone, they could be you. They had numerous really good reasons not to exercise but they didn’t let that stop them or keep them away. They weren’t down and out. They remain unconquered. Undefeated.

 

Please note, I don’t want this to be a brag session for those who came to the event, rather treat what I say as a metaphor and try to apply the principles in your life.

 

The event to which I refer was the inaugural Active Aussies Fun Run at Wahroonga Park. It was a beautiful day with lovely clear blue skies - a perfect day for the beach. Yet 20 or so crazy rascals defied common sense and made the decision to try something that wasn’t at all easy. Something hard. A challenge.

 

There were plenty of reasons to not come, some of the best excuses were:

 

Boy - aged 10 - could’ve stayed home because mum had sprained ankle. Yet he and his mum made the commitment to come to the park and he attempted to run 7.2km run. He could’ve let mum have a sickie. It was a really good excuse. But he ran. He could’ve done the 2.4km walk. But he ran. What a champion!

 

Mum of two - kids were sick at home and really needed to go home and care for them. She had a really good excuse. But she ran. She ran 2.4km in under 15minutes in order to get home quickly to her kids (and no doubt hubby) who were in need.

 

Mum - wanted to beat husband in the race. Some crazy personal trainer jumps out of the bushes and tries to take a photo. But all he got was a really blurry photo of her back as she yelled “I’m not stopppppping!” She had a really good excuse. She could have stopped for a breather or at least slowed down. It was a good excuse. But she kept running and she didn’t quite beat her hubby but he was really fast though :o)

 

Loyal Husband - wife sick and very sore at home. It’s her birthday. He turns up for a workout and stays for the run. He ran 2.4km and then ran home to see his wife. He had a really good excuse. But he ran. He found a way to do both what he wanted and what he was obligated to do. He ran and then spent time with his wonderful wife.

 

Dad - brought young son to group session and they both stayed for the run after. Dad and son spent quality time together running side by side. Dad carrying sons scooter most of the way while young son ran little steps along side him for 2.4 really long kilometres for such really little legs and a scooter that seemed to get heavier and heavier for dad with each step. He had a really good excuse not to run. But he ran and he did great. Son says, “can we do it again next week dad?”. Classic.

 

Client A and B had both never run very far in their lives before. Client A and B never would have known they could unless they tried. And they did try. And they did make it all the way. They had a really good excuse. They had never done it before. But they ran. And they did really really awesome! Well done :o)

 

Crazy client C - didn’t make the group session in the morning because he usually goes for a Saturday morning run with his wife - every week. They usually run 12km. Today was no exception. They ran 12km. Then he rocks up with wife to run the 7.2km’er run. His wife needed to go and pick up the kids from the babysitter. He had a really good excuse. He could have gone home then. He had already done what most people consider a really good workout. But he ran. And he was a little slower than the rest, but not much. He did really really awesome. Way to go!

 

Interesting stats:

 

Everyone who came to the morning group fitness session stayed for the run or walk and didn’t let being tired be an excuse.

 

3 clients had busted ankles and still did the walk.

 

3 clients had little children that needed caring for at home and were left in the hands of babysitters.

 

2 clients brought their children to the actual event.

 

3 clients dragged friends and family along.

 

24 people burned hundreds of calories.

 

24 people became better friends.

 

24 people were Active Aussies.

 

Blog Archive