Rob's Blog

It is the season to get fat…..

This is a common excuse for people during December as Christmas is descending upon us.
With Christmas, comes Christmas parties, late nights out on the town and excessive eating /drinking. Therefore people just except this, as part of the Christmas build up and convince themselves that come the New Year, they will pull their socks up and get back on the fitness buzz! That is a common mistake people need to avoid. Yes when it is Christmas time we tend to over indulge, with dire consequences that we ignore.
Why do this to our bodies, yes you can indulge, and again you can treat yourself but earn these treats first. Make the New Year easier to approach head on; do not create a mountain to climb come the New Year. As with a lot of people they blitz the gym for the first two weeks with over the top expectations of what they can and will achieve in the gym now that they are knuckling down. You must be honest with yourself regarding your weight loss goals. It takes time and consistency not two weeks of running yourself into the ground and starving your body of food it needs.
Get a plan of action together; first off commit yourself to at least two days a week. This is achievable by even the busiest of people. Look at it this way there are 168hours in a week, we would tend to be a wake for at least 12  hours each day, all I would ask is that people commit to two hours a week….now is that unreasonable…no! When in the gym you should be maximum 45minutes to 1 hour training, cut out the chit chat and just get moving. Keep a food log of what you are consuming, yes this can be daunting but it will help put things in perspective. If you have a night out coming up, you might hold back on certain treats you would normally let yourself have or better still get an extra day in the gym or even a walk on top of your two days a week in the gym.
You can treat yourself but work for it don’t fall into the trap of convincing yourself that you deserve it because you have had a hard day running around shopping for presents or because stress is getting the better of you. Trust me you will be more stressed when the scales are reading numbers that were not there before. This month will be a battle of minds. You have to convince yourself that YES you can make time and that you can be sensible and take responsibilities for your actions. Nothing is stopping anyone out there but yourself from having that figure you desire.
Get a pen in hand and start making your plan of action, be realistic of what you feel you can commit to and just get up and do it, don’t talk the big talk just do it!

There are 2 types of cellulite, hard and soft. Hard cellulite mainly affects people that are active such as runners or dancers. It is harder to see than soft fat, and attatches itself directly to the muscle. It is diffucult to get rid of. Soft cellulite is more visable than hard cellulite, and is easier to get rid of. It doesn’t attatch as strongly to the muscle as hard cellulite, and it is often flabby.

More than 90 percent of women develop some cellulite after they go through puberty. It will not matter whether you’re skinny or not, the development and severity of your cellulite has a lot to do with genetics and hormones.

Tension in your body, which can be caused by stress, blocks the tissue, preventing proper waste elimination and purification. Diet pills, sleeping pills and diuretics can all lead to cellulite; oral contraceptives, which increase the body’s oestrogen, cause fat cells to enlarge, leading to water retention, which in turn leads to the body not flushing away toxins effectively, which leads to cellulite

So beyond eating clean and exercising regularly, what can you to do?

•Curb your stress. Stress creates cortisol, a fat-storing hormone. The less stressed you are, the less cor…tisol you produce and the less likely you are to store fat. Take time every day to exercise, have a bath or listen to music.
•Rub it out. Massage has been shown to temporarily reduce the bumpy appearance of cellulite (but will not remove it).
•Keep weight training. The more lean muscle mass you’ve got, the more calories you burn, even at rest, and the more subcutaneous fat you’ll use as fuel. Exercising regularly helps fight cellulite. It improves muscle tone, circulation and overall well-being, helping to break blocked tissue and purify the body.
•Drink up. Proper hydration helps wash away toxins from the body, improves skin elasticity and helps fat metabolism.

Weight Loss Program the average woman tends to do in the gym:

1)Endless hours of cardio or aerobics classes.

2)Avoids strength training because you do not want to get “big and bulky”

3)Cuts back on her diet to practically starve herself

4)Focuses on the scale weight and the number she wants it to say

*****WRONG WRONG WRONG*****

Weight Loss Program the average women SHOULD be doing:

1)A demanding full body strength training program lifting challenging weights. This should be their priority workouts 2-4 days a week.

2)Boost their intensity and drop the duration on their cardio sessions performing interval style workouts for no more than 30 minutes at a time.

3)Fuel your body with healthy foods every couple hours getting your metabolism moving.

4)Focus on how your clothes fit and how you look and feel and not focus purleyon the number on the scale. Focus in Fat Loss, not Weight Loss.

For many years now, there has been a lot of talk that eggs where in fact a major reason for raising cholesterol.

Nutrition experts emphasized that the high cholesterol content of eggs raised blood cholesterol levels, which can increase a person’s risk of heart disease. However this was never in fact proven. There have been several studies that have shown that the consumption of eggs is not associated with higher cholesterol levels but is associated with higher nutrient intake.

In 2000, researchers set out to assess the nutritional significance of eggs in the American diet and to estimate the degree of association between egg consumption and cholesterol levels. Their straightforward results were published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition: Eggs make important nutritional contributions to the American diet and their consumption is not associated with high cholesterol levels. Specifically, the study showed that egg consumers had a higher intake of important nutrients like vitamins B12, A, E, and C than non-egg eaters. That people who were eating four or more eggs per week actually had significantly lower average cholesterol levels than those who reported eating zero to one eggs per week.

Here are four more ways eggs can enhance your health:
• Eggs are an excellent source of low-cost, high-quality protein. One large egg provides more than 6 grams of protein, yet contains only 75 calories. And the protein is “complete,” providing all nine of the body’s essential amino acids.
• Eggs are one of the best sources of choline. Found primarily in the egg yolk, one large egg provides 30% of the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of this essential nutrient, which plays an important role in brain health and the reduction of inflammation. Many people are deficient in choline, which is found in trace amounts of many different foods.
• Eggs are a great food for those trying to lose weight. Because of the high amount of quality protein in eggs, they are an idea choice for breakfast, which is especially useful for people trying to lose weight. In one study published in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (2007), subjects following low-fat, calorie-restricted diets were randomly assigned to one of two breakfasts: a bagel or two eggs. After eight weeks, the egg eaters experienced 65% greater weight loss, 83% greater decrease in waist circumference, and a greater improvement in energy levels compared to the bagel-eating group. Also worth mentioning is that changes in plasma cholesterol and triglycerides did not differ significantly between the two groups. Researchers postulated that eating eggs for breakfast enhanced weight loss by increasing satiety, resulting in better adherence to a reduced-calorie diet.
• Eggs protect eyesight. Egg yolks contain a highly absorbable form of vision-protective carotenoids like lutein and zeaxanthin, which help to prevent age-related macular degeneration and cataracts. Studies published in the Journal of Nutrition showed that eggs increased blood levels of these nutrients without increasing cholesterol or triglyceride levels.

The 2007 study published in the journal Medical Science Monitor, no significant difference in cardiovascular diseases (like stroke and heart attack) were observed between people who consumed more than six eggs per week and those who consumed one or fewer eggs per week. So a couple of eggs a day, a few days a week, should be safe and health for most people. Always remembering that although something can be good for you, moderation is the key as too much of a good thing can also be a bad thing!

Ref: Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Journal Medical Science Monitor (2007), of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (2007), Journal of Nutrition.

“Don’t be afraid to give your best at what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves : Dale Carnegie

This quote reminds us of the importance of consistency. It is very important to have a strong foundation and consistency is one way to continuously improve this. Think about your life, do you avoid the small projects because you want to wait for the BIG one? If you do, try to stop avoiding the small things in life. If you put BIG energy into a SMALL task, you can have a HUGE