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Getting leaner means eating smaller

 To answer some of your questions i have had this week, there is one theme running throughout.

Its vital for you now not to get too downhearted about your lack of weight loss if you’re having a bit of an up and down time. If you have been signing in most days, you have made significant improvements lately and for a long time now so its no time to quit and go off track, you’ve come too far.

If you have put an enormous amount of effort in your training and eating, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that you are burning more calories, burning more body fat in the vigorous nature of your workouts. You have complete confidence that you are getting fitter and healthier, now we have to fix the area which is dragging some of you down by your texts and emails

Portions size and inconsistency of eating is the area you need to look at, and getting some very stable habits into your life. Lighter lunches one day, then heavier lunches the next will not let you get used to the same desirable quantity of foods. Your body will like regular, smaller portions and will make you lose weight if done on a regular basis. Your body likes stability.

This one area is making a lot of you deeply unhappy when it comes to measuring and weighing times, and all that unhappiness is not worth going through if it makes you feel like that. If you change your eating habits that much more again, YOU WILL DO IT AND YOU WILL BE SUCCESSFUL NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!!

Some of you said you don’t eat the chocolate, the chips, the crisps, all the stuff everyone else is eating around you, as your priorities are being fit and healthy, and you should be proud of yourself showing such control, when in the past you would have caved in and joined everyone else so you have moved forwards significantly further than even you previously thought.

Many of you show guts and determination EVERY TIME you workout in adverse conditions (snow, ice and extreme heat), and the times you don’t really feel like it in the first place, some of this dedication has to go in now during the private moments when you’re struggling to control your eating binges, when some damage can be done.

Even if you eat smaller portions, and often you will still have much bigger portions, you’re not really teaching your body that you want to get smaller. You won’t be teaching your stomach to get smaller and smaller because you will still keep your overall long term capacity for food quite high. If you eliminate these bigger portions for good, you will be saying to your body that the old days are over, and that you want to get down to your desired weight/body fat levels very quickly indeed.

Smaller portions cannot support higher weight, remember that and if you 100% begin eating like much smaller and leaner people, you will struggle to start with but your body will get used to it, YOUR NEW BODY THAT IS SO LET’S MAKE IT HAPPEN AND BE PROUD OF YOURSELF AGAIN, you should be proud of your workouts and athletic ability, but imagine how good you will be if you didn’t carry all the excess weight you don’t need in your life anymore!

Its time to make it happen and that time is now! The fittest people aren’t always the leanest, so workouts don’t do it all, healthy structured eating counts big time when it comes to being in shape and at your very best so let’s do it!

Twitt
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Following the herd

Taking the more popular way in your training and eating will always make you happy………………………for a time!

Doing things the right way can sometimes be like being put on the the right path as a child, you don’t like it sometimes or parts of it, and sometimes you will rebel against it, but secretly you will know its the “right thing to do”.

So this way will always never be the most popular way of doing things as it requires some effort, a little bit of sacrifice now and again and will constantly challenge and encourage you to get better and better.

The idea of improving one’s life is not always popular too. How many times in this country have we built someone up only to batter them down on the first sign of weakness, this can be the british way can’t it?

We all watch soap opera’s partly because they usually display a life that is usually worse than our own. This makes us feel better and keeps us in our comfort zone. Doing nothing is the easiest thing to do when confronted with improving our health, many of you of course have and are taking the opposite approach, you ARE TAKING ACTION NOW and improving your lot in life. Some of you have made dramtic progress, and those of you who haven’t have still managed greater awareness on health in general, and you have at least started an exercise programme which is fantastic!

So following the herd will never really work for you, as the herd will often change their minds, and shift from programme to programme, adopting practices that are often destined to fail.

When i start training with anyone, i tell the person concerned that if they want to show the programme to the doctor, then please go ahead and do that. I have full confidence in this because i know the doctor will agree, and be enthused that so much common sense is being spoken and hopefully being practised!

So your choice is always going to be to either follow the faddy way of the herd, which changes often, or use a lot of common sense and analyse what you’re really doing. Look how well jean posted this week, she has literally been through every programme in history, but now she knows what works for her and its not rocket science.

Now she does her best to encourage and motivate others, which is great because she has the experience and ups and downs of probably 100 people! She doesn’t think like others anymore and theres heck of a lot to be said for individual thinking these days!!!

Whatever your choice, as long as you do your best, you’re going to do well!!

Twitt
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With a purpose

If something is worth doing, then its worth doing well.

If you’re planning a workout, make sure you put some effort into it, and you’re not guilty of going through the motions.

If you struggle to get going some days, then get going anyway. I find if i get a day like this, i feel a whole lot better 5-10 minutes into the workout. After the workout, i am really so glad i got going in the first place, and everything feels better after the event!

We all would like to act on some of the takeaway leaflets that come through the door sometimes, wondering in fact if we are really missing something? When we fall for it again, the reverse is true of how we feel after a workout. We feel all groggy, sluggish and generally terrible, exactly how we didn’t want to feel!

Doing things for a purpose works on a time basis too. We all have constraints on our time from time to time, and if we train with a purpose, we usually have to train LESS than most people do, because we have a purpose in mind and simply we want “to get the job done”!

Making changes in our body fat, and energy levels can be done with eating with a purpose too. I gave you the pizza example earlier, or just about any takeaway, when we feel terrible after junk. The opposite can be done with “good” and “clean” eating, we automatically feel better when we do this, but we have to shop with a purpose too, this means pre-written shopping lists with intent on being healthy and being well-nourished. This is easily done and you don’t have to think about it too much.

Good planning is often imperitive if we are aiming for some impressive results. When this planning becomes second nature, then good results and a good standard of health and fitness becomes natural, and almost like being no effort at all.

Most people are impatient and unwilling to give it time. This is a common reason for failure. If you give anything enough time, you will do well as long as you’re sure what you are doing contains common sense and has every chance of working.

One of the secrets of success is simply showing up time after time, remember the 80% rule about doing everything right. Then 20% of the time, do whatever you want and enjoy the treats in life on all sorts of levels.

Twitt
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Day 78

Bank holiday monday already, the bank holiday almost over! I have had my early morning run, and i will be shortly off to Carmarthen for the kids steam engine ride with Thomas and friends!! It’s a bit rough out there but the boy is 2 with me today, so we have to give it our best shot!!

I suddenly realise we are in the last week of the challenge, and its been a long road for most of you. Some have started so well, then threw in the towel. Some have done amazingly well, then panicked and forgotten what’s worked for them and changed eating systems, going back to faddy ways of doing things.

Some of you never actually got going, just watched along the way, and nothing wrong with that, but your participation next time would be most appreciated.

Those of you that are still here are to be highly commended! You can see how hard it is now just to last 12 weeks!! That’s pretty tough going and you managed to do it!! You kept your head when all those around you were losing theirs!! You have accomplished great things and the biggest thing you managed to do is keep going and showing up here on this blog a lot, you can see that this a major achievement that some cannot finish, or most cannot finish it seems!

Okay, we have 6 days left and those of you who are left, try and make them big ones if you can. All the hard work is done, all the eating good fresh natural foods is done and your body has appreciated all of that, that is great news now for your body and for the future!

What’s your future going to be after this, are you talked into doing the right thing yet, or are you tempted to do things the wrong way which means all the faddy eating again?

I try to post each day because i believe what i am saying is the truth, and really the tried and tested way to do things. It’s a free country so if you want to trust my words, then that is appreciated, if you don’t then that’s up to you.

What i do know is that i don’t make a penny on this site to preach all this stuff every day, the faddy diet inventor’s however want your money, your longer term financial commitment and will literally tell you anything to get you onboard.

These are the facts so make your choice. All i know is that when i pay for something, i want that product to work and not to let me down.

Have a great bank holiday and see you on here tomorrow!

Keri

Twitt
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Day 77 80% is enough for me!!

Another great sunday morning run done today, and the sun was out loud and proud this morning again!

This great harbour scene was overshadowed a bit by the presence of church goer’s in cloaks at burry port lighthouse having a sermon, or chanting or something really weird, they could have been devil worshippers?!! Who knows, but what i do know is half those people pretending to be christians are usually the biggest sinners in our community, you know them so i say no more!

Anyway, how’s your sunday morning going? Has there been a workout in already before you get on with easter sunday? Have you had a great breakfast packed with vitality, or is it your weekly great british breakfast? Is this a day of rest for you or is it a day when you hit several beers, as easter sunday has come to mean this for a large part of the community.

Whatever your choice, i’m cool with it as long as you keep hitting your 80% target.

80% in school used to mean you were really intelligent, were very at good exams and likely to go on to college and have a very good career.

80% as a goal kicker in rugby is phenomenal in terms of coverting penalty kicks. Johnny Wilkinson and Neil Jenkins are the best of all time, and i would doubt even these great kickers ever achieved this success record!

If you were successful in something, it could be assumed that you were doing things right most of the time, not all of the time as that is impossible, but 80% or more would be classed as being a master in your chosen field.

This 80% i keep going on about is your target with your eating and training. If you can do this, you can see by comparison with everything else, you will be highly successful without a shadow of a doubt!!

I think the problem sometimes is that people often have to go 100% or nothing! You will see some on this site at either remarkable highs, or depressing lows (for a short time only i hasten to add!!). You can see that being perfect is not only impossible, its stupid to beat yourself up for not achieving it or even close to it!

EVEN the so-called masters are not perfect, and don’t achieve perfection, or anything close to it. Their magical number is closer to 80% rather than 100%.

Johnny Wilkinson often said that his pursuit of perfection nearly destroyed him mentally. He has since become a buddhist and now has a different view on life, which he says, has helped his rugby as now he doesn’t put so much pressure on himself. He still has hugely high standards, but doing his best and what comes from that is now enough for him.

Being yourself is often frowned upon but shouldn’t it be encouraged? Your best should and always be enough in my book, and whatever the result, then so be it. You willl be happy, i will be happy and when everyone’s happy, results nearly always go up and up!

Twitt