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Day 35

Just got home from a great run in sandy water park. Despite the snowy predictions,  we managed to have two of the sunniest and clearest days of the year. This makes the running experience even more enjoyable of course, and seems to bring a smile out in everyone.

The person i was running with hopefully really enjoyed too, and she commentated that the environment down there was always an inspiration to her. She went on to say that you never found that inspiration in the gym, or the freshness if the air that was all around. Having a fresh start on sunday morning was the perfect solution to a late night out!

When talking about nights out, one of the most common questions i get is about what drink should be consumed. Most ladies seem to go to vodka because of the relative low amount of calories. I have said it many times before on here that wine would be the best solution.

Although wine is double the calories, it will be kinder to your body inside and pass through it without incident. The vodka on the other hand is a much rougher product for your body, and is well documented for causing longer term problems for your body, when consumed in excess.

The sooner everyone stops looking at the “less calorie is good” way, the better. The sooner everyone thinks about the food they consume on each meal/snack, that’s exactly the moment you’re going to start winning the war with your body and giving it the nutrients it deserves, more natural foods are the way to go.

Don’t fall for all these “low-fat” versions of higher fat/higher sugar foods. There is no “free lunch” if you pardon the pun!

Why is it a battle with your body anyway, is it because there is so much “mis-information” out there in the first place, destined to confuse you even more, and ultimately  take some more hard-earned money out of your bank account? Surely you can’t still be falling for that any more?

Doesn’t it all come down to the basics every day? And not some diet based entirely on shakes and freaky eating habits?

You know the basics by now too, and your all natural shopping list doesn’t really have to change that much over time. Of course, your choices will vary from week to week, but those people who say that natural food is somehow “boring” surely have never bought a cooking book for fresh ideas, or it’s all free on the internet? Cooking fresh and healthy can be highly inventive, as well as highly rewarding. You will be feeding yourself and family foods that are going to look after their insides for the rest of their lives! Surely that must be exciting?!!

So how does this sound for simplicity and an achievable lifestyle?

Make your shopping list minimum 80% natural products, have some treats here and there and a bit of what you fancy, have a drink when you want to, but not more than once a week, do your strength training 2-3 times per week, get outside at least twice a week, sleep well most nights and drink water throughout the day. Does that sound too difficult?

Either do that and achieve ultimate long term success that will last a lifetime, or fall for the lastest “new faddy diet” that will always come over the horizon with a huge marketing campaign, promising you the world?!! What’s it going to be?

Strong principles and desire to always do the right thing will always serve you well, people will always try to put you off and that’s why this road is always the road that fewer people travel on. Remember it’s always in your times of indecision that your destiny is shaped!

Twitt
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Day 34

Repitition is another key to ultimate success, just like routines in order to keep you in good form for the long term.

Take the case of a piano. When i was in school, we used to have the blind gentleman come round to “fix” the piano every couple of months. He would walk in with his faithful guide dog and make sure the piano was in perfect working order, as it was used a lot every day in our school.

Why would a piano need such constant care? It shouldn’t really go wrong should it? The reality was it did and it’s similar to us in many ways.

If you look at our own bodies, there are still people out there thinking we still only need “one magical diet” and everything in life will live happily after. That’s why diets don’t work if they are faddy and they don’t make sense. See what i said yesterday about eating right for life and make your choices as natural as possible.

Just like the piano, you need to train/workout on a constant basis, no one size fits all workout will do it, we all have different abilities after all, some of us have different problems and some can’t do certain things. I do believe though that there is a workout out there for everyone, and literally anyone can get into very good shape, it’s just working with the cards you were dealt, and making the best of it. This isn’t a compromise as i believe most people get a deck of cards you can do amazing things with, despite the obstacles you may well have to overcome.

So the bottom line is that one workout say today and never workout again of course is never going to work. You need to exercise regularly every week if you want to be successful, and you need to keep your body in tune like that piano we had in school. If you don’t exercise, you will be soon hitting those bum notes again!

The bottom line with food is the same, if you eat well 80% of the time, then you are going to be in tune most of the time, going to feel great and have enough energy to do whatever you want. Plus, your chances of staying disease free for the rest of your life are greatly enhanced, always concentrate on getting your insides healthy and your outside appearance will look after itself.

This is why we are doing daily updates on here, we all need to be “kept in tune” like that piano, we all want to hitting the high notes for the rest of our lives. Keeping ourselves in tune means exercising and eating well, when it becomes second nature to do that you will know you are truly living the healthy way, and that you have a very bright future.

Twitt
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Day 33 Friday-sunday weekend improvements

The subject of eating properly, and training properly may be a bit tiresome for many of you, but its something we all need to do, or life becomes less on quality and in vitality, and here’s why.

I never had a problem myself reading about, and searching for more training knowledge, in fact i had a hunger for it, and my house has a lot of it in terms of books, internet sources, and just about anything else.

 The more i learn now, the more it encourages me to learn some more. I always try to look for real training knowledge, and get distressed when i see some of the stuff in some of the “fashionable” fitness magazines. That knowledge and tried and tested experience, i try to pass on to you, and if you get to know how to do things the right way, chances are that you’re going to get to your target body fat, health and fitness levels that much quicker.

The same with the eating side, how come there are endless diets out there? Do all of them really work? Are some of them playing on our insecurities? If you strip it all down and work on the principle that most of what you put in your body should be natural in its content and origin, how can you go wrong? If something has been packaged 12,000 miles away, been loaded with salt just to keep it edible, and god knows that else preservatives, is it really good for you when you eat it perhaps a couple of months later?

I personally enjoy the allure of blueberries and strawberries, nuts, and natural yoghurt, over some “low-fat” biscuits or low-fat desserts that are really loaded with sugar and chemicals your science teacher in school would have had a hard job saying! It wasn’t always that way, and i discovered this “better life” too. I do actually like ice cream and could easily eat a tub if asked, i just choose a better path now that works for me fantastically well, plus i know i would put a ton of weight on too!

Here’s a fact that i go on about a million times, what you put into your body over the next 6 months will have a direct effect on the way your body looks and feels. That is down to your teeth and fingernails even. Check it out in your medical book if you want.

Now would you really want to look like this “made over” person in 6 months time, as if you have had some transformation into the best possible version of you right now? Yes it is possible  and i’ve seen so many people go through it. Is that truly exciting for you right now or not?!

It always makes me laugh when i hear the people who say it is “boring” somehow? Is it more boring moaning about life in a pub and bitching about how life has passed you by, or is it boring having a new life to look forward to, full of optimism and drive because of the way you have transformed your life in the previous 6 months?!! That is a question you have to remind yourself of from time to time.

Most people i know would get excited by looking amazingly well, being complemented on their appearance regularly, feeling full of energy all the time, and generally feeling good inside.

Confession time again, i know for a fact that i feel like garbage after i eat pizza, about an hour after actually! It tastes great while eating it, but the price of feeling bloated and horrible inside afterwards isn’t really worth it. Of course its fine to do once a week, and i always encourage that, to break to monotony sometimes, and the same with ice cream etc, having a treat is a break for the mind too, and can help you relax after a tough week. Everyone here would be a liar if they said they never had treats, or liked treats. Everyone loves a blowout from time to time, me included so i’m far from a saint myself!

I just know if i lived that life of drinking 3-4 times per week, settled for eating ready meals, processed food every day, drank pop instead of water, didn’t exercise, cooked with salt and put salt on my food, had 2-3 takeaways per week, etc etc., that life wouldn’t work out for me the way it does now.

The fact’s are that i truly owe this lifestyle heck of a lot, and i have seen the “promised land”! Like many of you, as i say, life tastes so much better when you’re living it to the full and you have a lot of great health to call on exactly when you want it. The only ones who say that this life is not possible are the ones who don’t live it themselves, and haven’t experienced how good it feels because they never had the “Stick” in them to get there, unlike many of you who are doing so well and are well on course for that place.

Let’s work hard and keep your structure and shape going, every day you’re getting  better and every day is a day closer to an amazing place!

Twitt
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Day 32

The numbers viewing are still going up, so there must be more of you trying this thing as it goes along hopefully. Either that, of you’re showing some interest in what’s written here, and you’re thinking you may have a go “next time”. Whatever your decision, i’m cool with it and thanks for your interest!

How’s it all going? Have you had some good weeks, and maybe a dodgy week and wondered why you weren’t improving? Its easy to think like that, especially with this weather affected challenge we have had since christmas. I have a confession to make too, i went up to 16 stone when i first started the challenge myself and my second child wasn’t born until jan 24th.

You know what it’s like in hospital, you get hungry and you go down for a paper, and inevitably its too hard to resist the chicken sandwiches in those packs, and without fail they have some mayo in there and god knows what else, this was the healthiest option by the way!

During a 3 day period there over new years eve and day, i also hit the hospital restaurant a few times, and gambled on their hot cooked food. I really admire the work hospital’s do, so am not complaining, but let’s just say that the food had way more additives than i cook with, or that i am used to!! And i have to admit, it all tasted pretty nice and once things tastes nice, the hospital canteen gets more and more attractive, and you start hitting that place for sandwiches AND the hot stuff!!

To cut a very long story short, when i hit 16 stone, and this would have been around the time the baby was born, i said enough is enough. I bought a cooked chicken for my visists, and like a pig i know, i snacked on that. I also snacked on a wide variety of fruit, and instead of endless coffee and teas, suddenly water made a lot more sense, and guess what? I started getting my energy back!

How many of us are fooled into thinking that january and february is okay to be a little “loose” everywhere? Well, i nearly feel for it myself and with my lack of activity due to the snow and ice, i was on the road to feeling like garbage and looking like michelin man! Maybe a little exaggeration but i stopped the rot, as i know full well how bad that can make anyone feel!

Here we are pretty much a month later and the happy story i have for you now is that i am 15 stone 3, and it feels a million times better! I am running more, my weights are going better and i’m loving my food, and have got used to the reduced portions again and good structure in my life.

No more bloated stomach’s from all that bread, i really felt bad! Also, i haven’t had a drink since January 1st and guess what, i don’t even miss  it and everything is really kicking into gear right now!! It’s taken me almost 7 weeks after new year’s to finally feel my old self again, and i plan on losing another 7 pounds to feel my own personal best, when my energy levels enter the optimum zone and i feel ready for anything, and that means i usually get even more fired up when i write!!

There is something to be said for routines after all!! They get us back on track, and remind us how we got into good shape in the first place. 80% of you now hopefully could tell how you get into shape, and you could recite your own “roadmap” on how you at one time or another, got into your very best shape!

So all of you have great intelligence and if you are reading here most days, you must have a deep down desire to one day be in your absolutely best ever shape, and the rewards that brings with it! You know it makes sense and you’re all so capable of getting to that heavenly place!!!

I’m backing you all in your ambitions and don’t hold back in trying to get whatever you want! 52 days left, you should be flying by now or reminding yourself that you can really fly as long as you remember what structures it takes in your life again to make it happen!

Twitt
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thought for tomorrow

“Whatever you put your mind to, you can do as long as you take regular and consistent action to get there, there’s always a way and you need to keep finding the way even when seemingly impossible challenges come your way, in fact, expect them!”

Twitt