Tuesday 12th July

 I notice some of the little changes you have made lately have become big physical changes for you, or definitely turned into big physical transformations for some of you.

Take one of the easiest, most tiny changes you can make and the results are usually staggering.

If you stop taking butter and margarine on your toast, then you will be saving yourself at least 100 calories per sandwich, and more likely up to 200 calories for some people who slap it on their bread. I have found this tactic enormously successful for everyone who has stuck with it!

Then there is another obvious one. Mayonnaise! This is a serious weight gainer and if you can’t eat your fish or even meat without it, then you must change right now because every time you take some on your food, you are filling your arteries up with saturated fat in a very serious form, this only has a bad ending I can assure you!

No need to try the low fat versions of these either, you really need to get rid of the taste of these products and they are prime examples of how people continually never get “weaned” off high fat and high sugar foods, because you’re not really getting rid of them.

You may get a lot less calories in the “low fat” varieties, but you’re not getting rid of your taste for all of these products, and you’re not stopping the endless chemicals in these products coming into your body.

If you want your body to become a chemical experiment, then carry on but my guess is most of you care what happens inside your  body and you don’t want to take chances with your health.

Eat fresh when possible, eat natural at every opportunity, eat in moderation  and you give your body a great chance of having outstanding health!

Monday 11th July

Having just completed my house move, its a good time to be thankful that we again have the spare time to do some good workouts again.

I am also thankful that i have the time to eat some good fresh natural food again, and i can tell the difference between eating not so good and now very nutritious food today. I have more energy, more get up and go and i am recovering well.

This is the power of food when used in the right way, and when you use it as an excellent fuel source. That statement doesn’t mean that healthy food isn’t tasty, because it REALLY CAN BE!!! In fact, if you google search any healthy food cook book on the internet, they are usually packed with lots of ideas to do really good and exciting things with fresh and natural produce.

If you don’t believe that last statement, then you are relying far too much on sugary and fatty food, or you are scared of eating regular meals and snacks, if this is the case, i have to sincerely tell you that you must try and get past it.

Food IS NOT the enemy and it has never has been, good food that is!

The rubbish that most supermarkets sell really IS the enemy if this is most of your daily consumption!!

Yes, you can eat well when you go out for lunch or in the evening, you just need to eat better and more plain if possible. You don’t need all that food soaking in all the fatty sauces, or with lashings of cream and butter, or loaded with so much salt, you could probably drink ten pints of water afterwards!!!

Its monday and im energised again because my habits are good again ,fresh and natural food is stocked high in the fridge and my workouts today are already full of energy and enthusiasm!!!

Lets make it a great monday as usual and set the tone for the new week!!!

Thursday, 7th July

The lack of honesty in assessing one’s training is similar to someone valuing their own house.

In 2007, everyone thought they were a millionaire due to their supposed value of their own house. This delusion can last a couple of years until they realise they have to be realistic and come down at least 20% if they really want to sell their house. Some people still won’t admit to themselves that their version of Buckingham palace is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it, and in this climate, that is likely to be not a lot.

With your training and fitness exploits, there may have been a peak in your life too, when everything was going along swimmingly, life was great and you got used to receiving compliments all the time on your appearance. You probably look fantastic, you feel amazing and people admired your dedication for your health.

Then the “crash” may have come.

Life is not so easy now and its no longer “easy” to get into shape, although it is never actually easy to get into shape!

You may give sporadic efforts, you may give your all for a couple of weeks, but everything seems like swimming in treacle this time around.

The great news is though that there are reasons for it, and like yesterday it comes down to self-assessment and self-honesty.

Those people I train when they are in top shape discover this new honesty in themselves. Once they realise they have to adopt a certain healthy lifestyle to be where they want to be, suddenly get real with themselves and its fantastic to see.

They will tell you how glad and relieved they are to leave the alcohol behind, the fatty foods behind, the faddy exercise methods behind, once they did this they tell me, life becomes joyous once again and being in great shape is worth a million dollars, after all you can never put a price on excellent health.

If you’re at the peak or in a trough, its time to get real and realise what it takes to be at the top of your game, no excuses and no “but’s” because you know secretly the way to the top so lets do it!!!

Wednesday 6th July

Barbecue season and you shouldn’t ignore your healthy options.

The only way you will put on weight after a barbecue is either eating huge quantities of food or eating the traditional high saturated meats such as gammon, bacon and sausages. Eat a good portion of these and the way will come on for sure.

You have plenty of low fat choices in meat terms such leaner cuts of beef for example, white meats across the board are always safe choices and its always a question of using your head every time, rather than just throwing caution to the wind every time you have a barbecue!

Just think of all the effort you have put in lately on your training! Are you really going to blow all of that effort? Are you going to be that thoughtless? If you are, its a free country but don’t be too disappointed with the results, its your choice after all!!!

What happens if you are making the wrong choices AND eating all the wrong barbecue meats, loading your body way up with saturated fat and putting a lot of strain on your arteries?

Blood pressure problems, heart concerns and risk of serious illness will go way up if these habits are employed on a long term basis!!

So if your current situation is that you don’t exercise (but talk about it a lot), and you eat exactly what you want (even if it does clog up your arteries), then we should stop talking about it right now and stop pretending to be in shape, or stop pretending you have a deep desire to be in shape!! Talking about being in shape or the way “you used to look” over a cake and couple of beers ins’t going to fool ANYONE!!!

Harsh words maybe but a hospital visit through ill health in the future will be much tougher for you to handle, both physically and mentally!!!!

Time to front up and get moving, and start being honest with yourself!!!

Tuesday 5th July

What type of exerciser are you?

Are you the type to regularly go the gym, and enjoy going and have some decent results?

If so, what happens when you go on trips or holidays?

Do you exercise then too? Or do you say “im on holiday and there’s no way im exercising and thats it!!!”.

Its recommended that everyone has a break from exercise from time to time, but it all depends on how many trips you take?

If its once a year, then its great to have a break from your exercise programme and eat a bit more loosely, this can be very liberating for you and you will come back much fresher, even if a few pounds heavier! This break will reinvigorate you and your workout programme and you will be pretty fired up for everything when you return!!!

If you take several trips a year though, then things need to change if you never exercise on holiday or your trips away.

Every trip i undertake, i always exercise, not only to stay in shape but to feel better too. Once i have a shower after my workout, i will always feel on top of the world again, and things will “feel right” again.

Here’s another thing to think about when you go on holiday and never train, for every week you do NO exercise, it takes at least 1-2 weeks to get back to normal.

If you take 3 weeks off training for example, it can take 3-6 weeks to get back to your former levels. This figure was arrived at through lengthy scientific research so it tends to be pretty accurate.

Also how many times have you not done a thing on holiday, and then found it desperately hard to get going in training and eating terms once again, i find this VERY COMMON indeed.

Bottom line is to have your holidays, but you need to keep some consistency in your training the rest of the year for all sorts of good reasons!