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Monday, 7th January

It’s the first full proper week in January, and for those of you starting off for the first time, or the 30th time, the essentials need to stay the same.

If you are the one who is responsible for the shopping in your household, then you need to make a statement of intent in terms of what you need to do.

If you go to the supermarket, shop locally or shop online, then you have a great opportunity to make sure all or least most of the food and drink coming into your household is mostly natural and fresh where possible.

There will probably be a massive difference between this week’s shop and the one you did in the week before Christmas.

The one before Christmas will have made you feel terrible eventually, the one you make this week should enliven you again, build some really strong foundations for your immune system again, and really set in stone the back up system you’re going to need for a far more active January!

A good way to plan your shop is write down a lot of the meals you intend making as part of your new healthy regime, and buy accordingly. This takes needless waste out of the equation.

If you are truly serious about getting into shape and getting healthy, then please stop making excuses to yourself. This includes “reasoning” that you can still buy lots of treats as you will “never eat them”, YOU WILL!!

Stop buying the alcohol because it will be so tough not to have “the odd glass that turns into two”.

This week is about taking away the temptations away again, so you’re not so easily tempted.

This week is also about giving yourself every chance of success, and it all starts with your biggest shop of the week for the essentials in life that will eventually shape the way you look and feel.

For more info, click on the diet/food section on the right hand side.

Twitt
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Friday, 4th January

Happy new year and hope you’re ready to make a strong start to the new year!

Sorry about the late posting but i picked up a really nasty virus myself on new year’s day it seems, and its only now i am recovering properly. First time i have had something like this for many years, and i have to say a big good riddance to it!

Anyway, this makes me realise the importance of getting back to proper food, putting enough nutrients into my body again and protecting myself against any future ailments that could be heading our way.

This is the role of food or should be anyway, protecting us against illness and disease, and this is why the nature of our food should be of paramount importance.

Once we get this right, then we should be thinking about energy and how we can get it. Put good food in every day and we should get plenty of energy.

Once we have energy, then this puts us in a good place to actually exercise!

When we get through a workout, then its down to food again to replace lost energy, and build our bodies back up after breaking down all that muscle tissue!

You can see why food has many roles to play in the whole cycle of energy and training, and without it things would be pretty impossible to achieve.

This is the important lesson to learn early on this year. No starving yourself, no diets that will put all the weight back on and more, no shake and bars only diets. How about nourishing yourself properly for a change and reaping the rewards this year in a big way!! Most people i train never go through this faddy time of year anymore, because they were put on a lifelong path a lot of years ago.

It’s all about being on a sustainable path and really putting yourself on a path for a lifetime!!!

I’m fired up again so lets get ready to work hard in 2013!!!

Twitt
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Monday, 24th December

Christmas Eve is finally here, and a very busy time is about to kick off for a lot of us!

One unknown fact is that i know quite a lot of people who will/indeed have trained today already with me and on their own at the gym, there will be a few on christmas day and particularly boxing day. These are the people who still don’t want to pile the pounds on, they don’t want to have a shortness of breath from eating all the rubbish/fast food, and they generally don’t want to waste a lot of the hard work they have put in all year long!

A piece of breaking news from the states on the weekend i think a lot of you would be interested in. Herbalife, the company that promises quick weight loss and apparently “everyone was doing it”, has hit massive problems.

Herbalife is listed on the US stock exchange and has been “shorted” by two very big name analysts and investors. “Shorting” is when you predict the stock will go DOWN instead of up and the analysts have a new stock target price of ZERO dollars. They claim the stock is a ponzi scheme that will end up losing investors all of their money. One big pyramid scheme they say.

Not only this, but herbalife has been found selling their products in starving african countries, where you thought a weight loss product would be needed the least!! It seems as if they are having problems ethically and financially. Good on these stock market investors exposing such a company.

I have been banging on for years about how these companies fleece would be weight loss victims out of their hard earned monies. The same goes for weight loss clubs and the whole industry is fake and a sham and i urge you to show common sense in the new year and avoid these charlatans.

You can’t beat good natural food in sensible portions, with a bit of what you fancy in moderation.

Enjoy christmas and see you for more later on in the week!!!

Twitt
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Thursday, 20th December

In an ideal world, the body of your choice would just happen, good food would be just put in front of you and getting into shape would be the easiest thing in the world!

There would be no problem getting to the gym, and all the chores in life would be done for you.

This is an imaginary world of course, especially in the week before christmas, so we had better get back in the real world!!!

We are in a world where we make mistakes and we make them often.

So what we have to do is DO what we can do!

Life shouldn’t revolve around your diet or some kind of totally strict never have a treat regime either! This will not work. Frequently i hear from individuals that they have some big party and trying to be perfect somehow, they say that for some reason that they need to avoid the party!

This is nonsense of course and there is no need to avoid ANY social occasion or bring your own food just because there’s not a healthy meal already prepared there for you! Using common sense in these situations always works and as long as you don’t pig out too much, or don’t drink the bar dry, then put it down to a one off and make sure you get a workout done the very next day!!!

I have always said that you need to just concentrate on eating healthy at least 80% of the time, this should be enough to keep you healthy and energised for your workouts. If you constantly try to be at 100%, then you will be heading for failure and such plans never work for any length of time!!

If you allow yourself treats on one day a week for example, or two maximum, then you always have something to look forward to, and your diet will never become over-bearing. Common sense will always work for you, especially right now in the festive season.

Moderation always works, and keeps your mind very fresh and positive for your upcoming workouts that should always be at least a small part over the next two weeks.

Twitt
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Monday, December 10th

We need to understand why we put weight on during the christmas period, and what we can do to get away from this situation that affects most of us every single year.

Most people in this country put on 7-14 pounds, and new year’s resolutions usually last 14 days on average!! This mean you are likely to hit 2013 in an overweight mode!

It’s particularly cold today so guess what happens? We don’t move around much and tend to wear warm baggy clothes. This makes us “comfortable” and being in shape always gets put on the back burner!!

It’s a deep human instinct within us to eat more and move less, something thats been around for thousands of years, but there are ways to get around it.

A good tactic is to keep an eating diary for example this week, when its likely to be cold. Also, try and plan your meals in advance, and try to keep your portion size as normal as possible, all of these things will keep your eating under control and you will be thankful by the end of the weak that you still look and feel lean.

The problem this time of year also is that food is the centre point of things when people get together and meet up.

Even if you have several parties to go to, you should try the tactic of eating before you go. This way you will feel full and be unlikely to pig out in the party.

The christmas season can be stressful at times too, and what’s the first thing a lot of people do when they are stressed? Eat excessively or eating the wrong thing is a typical trait for most, and drinking more alcohol is a close second!! These two habits are going to be guaranteed to put weight on full stop. The less excess food and alcohol you have in the house the better!!!

Fight the weight gain, and with a bit of smart thinking you can do it!!!

Twitt