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Wednesday, 16th October

Since the weather is turning obviously, its time to talk about any potential restrictions the weather may put on your training.

I know lots of individuals who rely on the weather to dictate what they do on a particular day. I have tried getting the people I train away from making excuses solely on the weather affecting their participation in training.

1. Some people won’t go out of their house for instance just because its raining (like today as it happens!).

Remedy-it rains pretty much 9 months of the year in this country, if you didn’t train the days it was raining, you would never get fit and healthy!

2. Some people won’t go out of their house because its too cold, and like to stay “in the warm”!

Remedy-you get warm through exercising, you feel a lot better and you won’t have to have the heating on when you get back in the house, because your body’s temperature will be much more comfortable after you have exercised!

3. Some people won’t want to train when its too hot! Another excuse to stay in the house and do absolutely nothing!

Remedy would be to train first thing in morning or in the evening when it is a lot cooler. Drink plenty of water throughout the day, and regularly throughout your workout. Don’t work quite as hard on the really hot days.

4. Some people won’t go out because its snowing, and you can totally understand that because it is plainly dangerous to drive in particular in such dangerous weather!

Remedy-the only reason that I cancel workouts in the snow if I cannot drive to a client, but if I can get to them we can workout inside, or if people can get to me in the gym, we always have a great workout again inside!

You can see the weather really doesn’t have to cause you to stop training, its only a case of adapting to the different situations and working the weather to suit you!

Twitt
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Monday, 14th October

Time to recap on what we need to be doing as we get well into Autumn, and the simple things that will enhance our lives and increase performance!

Choose healthy cooking methods

Frying adds fat to your food, and deep frying adds most of all. Grilling, boiling, baking, steaming, poaching and microwaving are the healthiest cooking methods. Stir-frying is fine if you use minimal oil so aim for a teaspoon or two of olive oil and no more.

Eat before you shop
This is a well-known tip but we are going to repeat it here as it is so important. If you go to the supermarket starving you are much more likely to slip sugary, fatty items into your basket almost without noticing it. ‘How did these doughnuts get in here? Oh well, I suppose I’d better not let them go to waste…..

Drink lots of water
If you feel hungry, try drinking a big glass of water rather than snacking. Water fills you up and decreases your appetite. Also this is for essential hydration during training.

Exercise
Exercising is a vital part of any weight-loss programme as Keri would have emphasized to you by now! The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn and the more weight you will lose.

Keep healthy snacks nearby
Make sure you always have healthy snacks nearby, in the house, fridge, desk at work, car or handbag. That way you have no reason to visit the petrol station for fast food snacks.

Like anything in life, you have to get your healthy strategies in place from the start of the week to look and feel our best, without these tactics, we tend to do things on instinct and grab something we wouldn’t normally eat. The right plan is essential.

Twitt
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Tuesday, 8th October

Welcome to the Nutrition section of Keri’s blog and thank you for browsing. Good nutrition and exercise go hand in hand.

Diet plays a huge part in any fitness programme and so every week I will give you some recipes, tips and ideas on how to eat healthily to fuel your active lifestyle.

As you will notice, the recipes I give you may not seem like the sort of things you should be eating on a diet. However as far as I’m concerned this is not a diet but a healthy way of life. In order for you to achieve good fitness and a healthy diet you have to find the food you eat enjoyable and look forward to preparing and eating it. Plain food such as a breast of chicken is nice sometimes but you wouldn’t want to eat it every day and soon enough you would return to your old ways of eating out of sheer boredom!

Another problem I have with diets is that they are always concentrated on counting calories. Not only does this lead to an obsession with the weighing scales but also there is a tendency to limit or avoid certain food groups, such as carbs, which is detrimental if you are following a fitness programme and training hard. Carbs, protein and fats are vital for optimum muscle repair and growth and should never be eliminated.

I believe that you can eat everything in moderation even butter and sugar! However there is a rule. 80% of your food should be whole foods and cooked from scratch. In our household the other 20% equates to a treat on a Friday night such as a scoop of ice cream or a couple of drinks. On a Saturday night possibly a take away or a meal in a restaurant. The rest of the week we eat to train. This ensures a constant supply of the right type of nutrients, vitamins and minerals required for the demands of training. I will show you how to cook simple and quick meals and snacks that the whole family can enjoy.

I want you to start thinking of food not in terms of calories but it’s nutrients and health giving properties. How it’s going to fuel your training, giving you increased energy and vitality. Thinking this way about food will also decrease considerably your risks of getting food related diseases such as diabetes and cancer. Above all I want you to enjoy the food you cook because without pleasure you will not succeed.

If there are any recipes you would like or tips on losing weight please contact me on here or at Ted’s Gym.
Nicola.

Twitt
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Thursday, 3rd October

Just under 12 weeks to go to Christmas, and some people are already describing it as the Christmas run in!

In terms of your body and health, 12 weeks is an ideal time to make a monumental change for the better with your body and mind.

If you improve the way your body looks, feels and performs, then mentally you are going to feel a whole lot better!

I know of many people who say they feel lousy, and it usually coincides with them never exercising or given up exercising, they don’t often eat well and sometimes drink too much alcohol.

So you can see that living a much healthier lifestyle is a whole 180 degrees from that lifestyle of eating and drinking too much, and never ever working out.

The mental side to training is not discussed anywhere near as often as it should be. There is a strong connection between exercising, eating healthy and feeling at your best.

When you feel at your best, you tend to be at your best emotionally too. This always goes into every area of your life too, making everything seem much more positive, and leads to a whole new level of optimism in your life!

The best part about making a big lifestyle change is that it is relatively easy to keep up, and you really wont want to go back to feeling that you haven’t got any energy in your life, you wont want to go back to feeling that you cant fit into your clothes any more, you wont want to go back to feeling sluggish all day, you wont want all of that negativity in your life again.

This is why its vital that the emotional side of things comes with your physical improvements, they have to go hand in hand.

This will make your overall chances of feeling happy much higher, and when you are happy you tend to make much better everyday decisions, cutting the risk of falling back into your old ways when your lifestyle was making you really unhappy.

When you are happy, you tend to want more out of life, you will tend to want to improve all the time, and this is why its much easier to stay healthy and in shape for the rest of your life.

All it takes is exercising sensibly and using common sense with your food, it’s a great time to start right now!!!

Twitt
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Wednesday, 2nd October

The courage to commit to an exercise programme can never be underestimated.

The courage to walk through that gym door, or make that first telephone call setting up your first appointment is always going to be painful.

The first session is a worry to start with, but with the right guidance you can develop quickly.

I start every individual slowly and steadily, no matter how fit that person is to begin with. It’s a case of building things up at a steady level and not trying to run before you can walk. Doing it any other way, or overworking someone is downright irresponsible and dangerous!

Everyone has worries, doubts, negative thoughts going through their minds before they start an exercise programme, but the very best way to get rid of all those emotions is to actually go through with the sessions, and begin your journey to developing into a much healthier, fitter and more active version of perhaps the current version of you.

Everyone has moments of indecision, but its in those moments that your destiny is shaped. Those crucial decisions will dictate if you improve, how quick you improve and how enjoyable the process becomes.

For example, with the colder, darker, wetter nights to come, the easiest thing in the world to do is sit at home, say its too cold and wet to go training, and sit on the settee all night.

This is why I tell people all the time that those sessions are the most important to make. If you get to the gym, then at least you know you are going to do something highly positive at the time. If you stay in the house, then you will be doing absolutely nothing to improve your health and wellbeing.

In life, we have big decisions to make every day, the decision to get healthier starts right now with you, and you should be in control of how to do it. Manage your time better and schedule in your sessions, making time for yourself has never been more important!

Twitt