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HOW

A massive improvement is all great and an amazing achievement when it happens, but it’s the “how” that really concerns me before we all do our lap of honour and pat ourselves on the back a bit too hard.

It’s the “how” we decide in the first place we want to get in shape.

It’s the how we go about doing it.

It’s the how we pick ourselves up when things go wrong.

It’s the way we integrate recommended activities into our life.

It’s the how good nutritious food somehow becomes tasty and we don’t need all those fatty sauces any more.

It’s the how tough workouts somehow become even easy in a few weeks time.

It’s the how we learn to sleep better when exercise becomes part of our life.

It’s the how we actually miss breakfast when we don’t have it, even if for 30 years we never ate breakfast in the mistaken belief that it would make us lose weight.

It’s the change in attitude we get, when we become far more positive instead of negative about everything.

All of these things are life-changing, so lets keep digging deep and finding out the “how” we do things!

Twitt
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Hunger pangs

Most people i know go through hunger pangs straight after they have been ill. I am going through it right now after my bad stomach, and it can be tough to handle.

Its as if your body has this need to get the weight back on and will play all kinds of games with you until that happens.

This is sometimes an excuse to eat more calorie dense foods to get your weight back up quickly, as more fatty and sugary foods seem to do the job better than other.

I am trying to go through the harder way right now and eat clean, and let my body adjust back to normal in a more natural way.

How many times have you all over eaten after a stomach upset, or any time you lose weight quickly? It feels the right thing to do but really its a trap set up by your body to consume lots and lots of calories.

The funny thing is, it wont take you long to get used to all those extra calories and your new calorie maintenance levels will only go up. In other words, you will expect more and more food each and every day, this will naturally lead to weight gain which is seriously bad news.

Another reason why we need more calories is because we try and get back to normal activity too quick, and this in itself needs a lot of energy which means extra calories.

The bottom line needs to be to get back to normal eating as soon as possible, not overeat and especially not the wrong foods. Your body will soon get back in a normal pattern and your recent stomach upset/illness will soon be forgotten, and the temptations will soon go away.

Im already having better workouts and feeling very good, and i know the cleaner i eat, the better i will look and feel by the time my day off comes on saturday.

Twitt
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Tuesday feels good!

After a weekend away, not training and eating things you shouldnt at times, its great to have got in a big tuesday of work, plenty of sessions, some running and some great cycling!

This feels great i can tell you, and it feels even better because i hadnt really done anything since friday morning, i did a brief workout last night but as i had a slightly unsettled stomach, i held back a bit so hit a 15 minute all the basics workout, one set of everything.

Now that i can hold my food down, i feel energised that all the blood is flowing and my naturally good energy levels are well and truly back, and im motivated to have a very good week with eating and training!

Don’t you feel like that sometimes? Or am i the local lunatic who should sent to the asylum as soon as possible!!!

So if tuesday seems like a drag for you, really appreciate how you do feel when you are able to do workouts, you’re able to go to the shop and make some great fresh choices!!

If i want to feel bad and low in energy, i will call down the petrol stations, get some ice cream, chocolate, a bottle of wine and then moan about it tomorrow. no choice really is it?

You don’t have to do your favourite workouts or anything special this week either, just do SOMETHING and you’re going to feel so much better, trust me please?

Let me know how you get on, and did the whole experience make you feel better or worse? I will bet on the answer!!

Twitt
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That “its florida, they are all fat over there” holiday excuse

Anyone who has been to the USA on holiday, and in particular florida (orlando especially), always seem to come back with the comment “all americans are fat!!”.

This comment seemed to go on year after year, for the past 30 years it seems.

First of all, there are two florida’s. Orlando is where people come from all over the world, so there are people from many countries there at any one time. Also, you have to go on the facts, a majority of americans ARE overweight, along with an awful lot of Britons!

This creates a shocking environment for many holiday makers but i got the same exact feeling when i went on my weekend family break in butlins.

I have never seen so many people overweight, so many people driving motorised scooters in their 40’s and early 50’s. So many people wearing clothes that you didnt know they made so big. There were literally so many people looking ill it was scary.

These people were mostly eating rubbish all day too, drinking too excess in the evening and simply staying in the shade all day to keep cool, sort of anyway.

I AM NOT HERE TO JUDGE, only to report what i saw and to put all of those “only americans are grossly overweight” arguements to bed once and for all!

There is another florida as i saidd, there is miami and south florida, where you have much higher percentage in shape, working out on the beach, eating much fresher food and generally looking a picture of health.

The same can be said for california, especially los angeles (coastal parts anyway) and particularly san diego.

The USA is a huge country, with 4-5 times our population, interestingly the population overweight in terms of percentages are roughly the same, which will surprise many.

So its maybe time to get real about the UK, and how we are continuing to abuse ourselves on food and drink, and lack of exercise.

Its funny how things change, and how we seem to be catching orlando up as a holiday destination, for all the WRONG reasons!!

Hope you’re having a great start to your week and lets make it  a big one!!

Twitt
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let’s finish off strong!!!!

So if you have had a good week so far, you need to be concentrating on having a big end to the week.

The runs you don’t really feel like doing on a Monday will feel possible on a Thursday or Friday.

Your performance should be good if you’re attitude is up for it.

How about a time trial on the bike? You could aim for a well-known landmark that may be 5 miles away and record the exact time you take.

I used to do this myself every week on a Friday evening at the same time, and gradually my time would come down. The result after around 2 months of doing something like this can be quite dramatic.

Also, it doesn’t really seem like your training for the sake of it and takes away the boredom factor.

If you are weight training for instance, start keeping some kind of journal to record your sets and weight lifted.

Putting a little bit of pressure on yourself to make small improvements every week is a good thing, and again over a 6-8 week period, you are likely to have made sizeable gains.

How about your running? Instead of keeping to easier, flat roads, how about targeting some hilly terrain for a change?

There is always a hill in every town that is regarded as pretty scary. It seems so steep that nobody could ever possibly get up it! This is exactly the hill to concentrate on and get really good at. Use the hill in different ways.

First of all try walking it and see how that feels. If its not so bad, then try some sprint work, try 8 sprints of about 25 yards from the bottom of the hill.

Once you become pretty good at the sprints, then try the whole thing and see how it goes. This whole process may take again 6-8 weeks but the results you will get will be astonishing.

The pride you will get from all of these goals and challenges will be immense, and propel you on to even greater and seemingly impossible challenges.

As the Adidas advert goes “impossible is nothing”!!

I am away Friday until Monday on a weekend break with the family, so have a great weekend and hope to hear your efforts on Monday!

Twitt