Monday, April 26, 2010
So we all know I am on a health craze at the moment. I am trying to get as lean and toned as possible in 3 months- preparation for wedding dress shopping!
Some people have been asking me what exactly am I doing to tone up?
Every Sunday I plan what exercise routines I am going to do for the week. The saying goes- "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail". I know how real that saying is so I like to plan ahead. You plan ahead your summer vacation, so why would you not plan to stay fit? I like planning because when it comes time to doing my workout, I'm not fluffing around and not knowing what to do. If you don't know what you are doing, you wont have set a goal and it will be easy to pull out when it gets tough because "mentally" you are not prepared. It is all there written down for me, I just have to get out there and do it!!!
So this is my workout plan for the week: If you don't know what some of these exercises are, google them or search YouTube.
Monday: Repeat this cycle 3 times
10 x Body weight squats
8 x Push ups
10 x Bent over row
30sec Plank
15 x Kettlebell swings
Jump rope- 8 rounds or 20secs of work and 10secs of rest
Wednesday: Repeat cycle 3 times
Turkish get ups- 3 per side
Step ups- 12 per leg
Kettlebell clean and press- 8 per arm
Single arm front squat with Kettlebell- 5 per arm
15 x Kettlebell swings
20 x Medicine ball twists
Friday: Repeat cycle 3 times
30sec Plank
One arm bent over row- 8 per arm
Stationary lunges- 10 per leg
Kettlebell chest press- 8 per arm
Alternating overhead press- 5 per arm
10 x Explosive box squats
20 x Alternating swings
As you can see I am only working out 3 days a week. But just because I have nothing planned for the other days, does not mean I'm not going to do anything!! I like to call the days with no planned exercise an "active rest day". Meaning I will still be active, doing house work, walking the dogs etc.
So, its one thing having an impressive workout routine but the real results come from what you eat!! Here is an example of what I will eat during the day. Remember, it depends on what you are doing during the day that determines how much calories you need to eat. If you are doing an intense workout and are busy all day then you need to eat more, the more you eat, the more you lose. But if you are having an active rest day, you need to watch what you eat. If you are having a cheat meal, make sure its on the day you are exercising so you can burn it off!
Anywho, heres some insight on what to eat when eating clean:
Breakast: 1/2 cup dry oatmeal (soaked over night), with honey, bee pollen, ground flax seed, and fruit. 2 boiled eggs.
Snack: Apple and mixed nuts
Lunch: Salad- leafy greens, flax seed, salmon or tuna, tomato, red capsicums and cut up carrots. Dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. And fruit.
Snack: Canned chicken and carrot sticks dipped in yoghurt cheese
Dinner: Chicken breast, kumera and broccoli.
If still a little bit hungry before bed, have a small bowl of Kefir with chopped up fruit.
As you can see, I am always peering complex carbohydrates with protein (thats the secret to staying satisfied and not getting cravings in the afternoon).
What are your exercise routines and what do you eat during the day??
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Are you trying to find the 'right fat burner' that will give you a fit body tomorrow while you are still enjoying your cakes, cookies, ice cream and pizza?
Are you looking for the 'right exercise' that will make a certain body part look perfect after just one session?
Are you not even concerned with exercise or eating right, and looking for a magical potion, book or scheme to lose weight and be fit?
Are you eating 5 to 6 small healthy meals a day but thinking something is missing? You might be thinking maybe you need one less gram of carbs or an extra serving of protein and then you will wake up the next day with your dream body once you crank this crazy caper of finding the right magical nutrition combination that everyone is keeping secret from you? Or maybe you've been eating right for an entire 3 days and you are wondering why your body hasn't transformed yet. There is no secret magical food combination . In most cases it is not the food plan that is the problem, it's YOU! You are not following it or eating lots of crap in addition, thinking 'what difference will a little cookie or pizza make' and you are sabotaging your results.
Are you debating if you need to do your weight training in a full body workout style, or a body part split? And once you figure out the right answer you will be in tip top shape after one session? Either style workout is fine as long as you stick with it consistently.
Are you attempting to figure out if eating oatmeal is a better carb than brown rice? If so, you are seriously seeking some magic. It doesn't matter, they are both great carbs.
If you answered 'yes' to any of these questions, you are searching for magic and probably wont reach your goals until you get real about being consistent, dedicated, and hard working all the time to reach your fitness goals over a period of time, not 2 days.
Many people are in complete denial that exercising and eating right consistently is the only way to be fit. Most problems happen when people are looking for a scheme to eat all the food they love and also have the best looking body possible. It comes down to a choice. I know if I were eating crappy foods I love (chocolate cake), I wont be able to have a fit looking body and I would not be happy about that.
Magical exercises don't exist. If legs are your weak point, do LEG exercises. Make sense? If arms are what you want to focus on do arm exercises. If any magic happens, it is when you do your workouts consistently, when you work HARD while working out, and when you eat right ALL the time. There is no magical routine.
Magical food combinations don't exists, aside from eating proper amount of food for your goals and eliminating the wrong food. Nutrition and workouts can always be improved, but there is no magic formula. If you want to see any magic happen, stop eating crap for a few weeks and you'll be amazed.
Progress takes time and only happens when you are consistent, so don't give up.
Advice for success
1. When you don't feel like working out, do it anyway. You'll feel better afterwards.
2. When you feel like eating pizza for dinner, eat grilled chicken instead, you will survive. You'll feel great about your choice the next day.
3. Keep doing the above every week consistently. Consistency is KEY!
You can keep searching and hoping and praying there is a magical potion, scheme or pill to get you where you want to be, but you'll just keep spinning your wheels. You already know what you need to do.. just put down the crap and you wont be wondering where your results are because you will see them for yourself.
Monday, April 19, 2010
So time is getting shorter and shorter as the wedding is coming up quicker and quicker. I will be going dress shopping around July- August. This means I have 3 MONTHS to get into the best shape of my life!!!!
For some, this can be rather daunting. But I know I can do it. Your mind set will be the biggest challenge for achieving your goals. Most people, like me, don't like exercising and eating boring healthy food and would rather indulge in a big slab of meat lovers pizza with extra cheese followed by a chocolate sunday. It's the consistency that will give you the results. You need to make the decision now that this is going to be a lifestyle habit. Its a way of being. You wont lose weight going on a diet for 2 weeks and then going back to your usual way. The only way of getting through to seeing results is CONSISTENCY. I can't stress this part enough.
If you think eating plain chicken or tuna doesn't taste as good as a double cheese burger, you are RIGHT. And it NEVER will taste as great, NEVER! It ALL comes down to daily choices, which will it be? All the delicious food you desire or a body you are happy with? I personally know I can't have both. If it were up to me I would have be eating dozen doughnuts for breakfast but I am not willing to take the consequences. I know it will not produce the body I desire.
I think everyone wishes to be in their best shape of their lives, but with all the temptation out there we need to learn to say "no, thank you". Its not easy getting into tip top shape, if it was easy everyone would be fit. It takes a lot of effort and a bit of sacrifice. There is no secret workout or a diet pill to make you lose weight. If this is something that is really meaningful for you, then the results will be much more worth it.
Its important to set a goal. I know this doesn't sound important, but it really is! If you set a goal that is right for you, it will help you along the tough times. When you don't want to workout, you can think about why you are going through all of this for and it will help you to stay on track. Also establishing people that motivate you. I really enjoy watching the videos Zuzana makes on Bodyrock.tv she always makes me feel pumped to do a workout, her workouts are really fun too coz they are different every time. I also get motivation by looking through bodybuilding.com You can find lots of info on their site, along with new workouts, and reading about transformations.
So my plan of attack for the next 3 months is to eat clean consistently and exercise most days.
Some tips on eating clean:
Avoid all processed foods and sugar
Combine protein with carbohydrates, ie. oatmeal and boiled eggs etc
Drink PLENTY of water
Aim for 7- 10 servings of fruit and vegetables a day
Watch portion sizes
In the way of exercise, I will lift weights and do high intensity interval training. Muscle is a metabolic tissue, meaning it will boost your metabolism and burn calories. In order to build muscle you need to lift weights. And no, you wont get buff and look like a man. Females don't have the same amount of testosterone as males do. The buff females that you see are probably on steroids or are eating LOADS of calories. When I talk about building muscle I am talking about doing traditional weight training, bench pressing, bicep curls etc.
And high intensity interval training consists of either doing interval training on say the stationary bike or doing workouts from bodyrock.tv... The workouts Zuzana does uses mainly bodyweight exercises, which are extremely effective.
I will be alternating between strength training and interval training.
This plan is the ONLY way of getting into shape. If you look at the people who are always on the treadmills or elliptical machine are usually the ones having problems with losing weight and is stuck in a plateau. Long duration cardio actually wastes away your muscle. And like I said, muscle burns calories. Cardio will only burn the carbohydrates you currently have in your body and wont even tap into the fat that is stored around your trouble areas.
To avoid a plateau you need to always be making your workouts challenging. If you are able to pump a certain weight and you are able to easily complete the set then you need to either add another set or increase the weight.
The other point I would like to make with weight loss and toning up is you need to make your workouts smarter. By that I mean make it intense and challenging by using supersets. By supersetting you are combining two or three combination of exercises and completing the sets and reps as quick as you can (keeping proper form). ie. squat and then straight into pushups. Thats one superset- complete that 3 to 4 more times. Aim for 3 different supersets per workout. You will suprised by how hard to actually is. There are no rests between exercises. There are short rests after each superset.
An example:
Superset #1: Repeat 3-4 times
Squats
Pushups
Superset #2: Repeat 3- 4 times
Lunge with bicep curl
Bent over row
Superset #3: Repeat 3 - 4 times
Deadlift
Tricep dips
That will be an example for a workout for the day. This way you are using strength training, and keeping it intense. The shorter and more intense you can make the workouts mean the longer your body can recover and the longer you can burn calories through the day. Thats the other benefit to strength training. Because you are building muscle you will be burning calories throughout the whole day, even if you are watching a movie. Whereas long duration cardio, you are only burning whatever carbohydrates you have at that current time.
I will keep you posted on how the transformation goes. I will show you guys what my workouts consist of and an example of my meals throughout the day. I took photos awhile ago and will retake them again as I go along. Bit scared to post them on here but we will see how we go :)
I hope you will join me in this exciting challenge
Remember, STAY CONSISTENT. Say no to junk food and exercise most days. We will enjoy an exciting and sexy body together :)
Friday, April 16, 2010
The short term and long term side effects from ingesting these chemicals are not worth it. Always read the list of ingredients. Eliminate products containing:
Artificial food colourings (any colour with a number after it)
Artificial sweeteners: phenylalkaline, saccharine, aspartame and sucralose (all items endings in ose)
BHA and BHT
High fructose corn syrup
Monosodium glutamate (MSG)
Sodium nitrate
Soybean oil
and all partially hydrogenated oils (trans fats)
Supermarket shelves are stocked primarily with processed, packaged foods. At least 90% of them contain some sort of refined sugar or carbohydrate. Foods that are refined and processed are taken out of their natural context destroying vitamins, minerals and important nutrients. First, reading labels, and knowing what to look for on them is crucial. If a product contains items such as partially hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, soy bean oil, aspartame, dextrose and enriched flour, don't buy it! Beware of any processed food because chemicals are always used. Shopping along the outer edges of the grocery store where fruits, vegetables and meats are usually located will make avoiding the packaged stuff a little easier.
Another deadly sugar substitute is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).
HFCS is sugar produced by processed corn starch to yield glucose, and then processing the glucose to produce a high percentage of fructose. HFCS has much higher quantities of fructose than fruit, without the natural fiber that slows digestion and feeds the beneficial bacteria. With HFCS, only the harmful bacteria gets fed and gastric distress becomes inevitable with an end result in indigestion, acid reflux and irritable bowel syndrome.
HFCS has become increasingly popular because it is inexpensive to produce. It is used in food products to enhance self life. Due to the sweetness of corn, your appetite AND your weight increases!
Consuming HFCS not only exacerbates obesity, it increases inflammation and oxidative stress, plus it's contaminated with mercury, a toxic heavy metal. HFCS predisposes a person to bone loss, anemia and heart problems. HFCS damages your organs, particularly the liver and HFCS radically spkies insulin and blood sugar while halting biological production of anti-aging and muscle building hormones. Even worse, HFCS gives rise to deadly AGE (advanced glycation end), age accelerating molecules, causing you to over eat. AGE molecules are responsible for causing unsightly wrinkles and age-related blindness.
You'll find HFCS in a variety of processed foods such as salad dressings, crackers, soft drinks, and various fruit drinks. Beware of high fructose corn syrup, fruit fructose, inulin and others.
MSG can be found in countless foods. Everything from soup, to crackers to meats may contain MSG. As dangerous as it is, it makes the food tastes great, its dirt cheap and its just like sugar.
Incredibly, even infant formulas and baby food contain this poison, even though babies and infants, who are four times more sensitive than adults to the toxic effects of this chemical, are most at risk.
In the 1970's food processor's "voluntarily" took processed free glutamic acid (MSG) out of baby food.But that didn't mean it was entirely removed. It was merely hidden deeper.
There are a couple of main reasons why MSG is one of the worst additives on the market. First, Dr Baylock, author of Excitotoxins: The taste that kills; states that MSG is an excitotoxin, which means that it overexcites your cells to the point of damage, acting as a poison. The second part, of the equation is that MSG can be liberally hidden in food labels, under names like broth, casein, hydrolyzed, autolyzed, and more, making it extremely difficult to identify. Be aware that they are continuously changing it's name so people cannot recognize it as MSG.
MSG can cause serious side effects in your bodily systems, including:
Cardiac
Circulatory
Gastrointestinal
Muscular
Neurological
Visual
Respiratory
Urological/genital
Skin
MSG is also probable for contributing to the obesity epidemic. As the FDA continues to vouch for its safety, scientists have known that MSG causes obesity since the 1960's!
It is clearly not worth a few babies of tasty junk to give your body the green light to produce visceral fat, the most dangerous type that surrounds your organs and increases your risk of heart attack, stroke, insomnia, type 2 diabetes and more.
Yes thats exactly what you are doing to your body when you eat MSG.
So the wisest thing you can do is avoid this chemical from your diet.
You know that if the manufactures have to try to HIDE this chemical by giving it different names, that this must be dodgy! You know, they know that this chemical is a poison but because they are getting so much money from it because it tastes so good, that its not "legally" going to be removed. So its a matter of avoiding it at all costs. Always read your ingredient lists. If you can't pronounce it or don't know what it is, then it is not food! Be wise about what you eat and what you feed others. There are so many lies in the food industry that it is actually scary! Make your own meals, plan ahead. You know what you put in your meals so you are able to accept responsibility for it.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Aspartame is a highly highly controversial topic at the moment. Many people know aspartame is bad for human consumption but because scientific evidence does not fully support this notion, people continue to consume it. Aspartame is a sugar sweetener and is found in numerous food products today.
The FDA (Food and Drug Administration), are the people who control what goes into your food, what levels are acceptable etc. They have just issued a statement saying aspartame is safe for consumption. They claim that they reviewed numerous studies and research on aspartame and states there is no evidence that non-nutritive sweetener causes cancer, neurological damage or other health problems in humans.
When aspartame is digested it breaks down into the amino acids phenylalanine and aspartic acid, plus methanol. Methanol, or wood alcohol, is a known poison. Methanol is also found in fruit juices, and our regulatory agencies have seized upon this fact to assure us that the methanol by-product of aspartame is not harmful. They fail to point out that the methanol content of diet soft drinks is 15 to 100 times higher than that of fruit juices. In any event, the safety level has never been determined.
Aspartame is a neurotoxin. It over stimulates the brain neurons to the point of killing them. It has been associated with over 90 side effects.
Aspartame may cause: rashes, neurological diseases, muscle pains, diabetes, headaches, dizziness, numbing of extremities, seizures, emotional disorders, hypertension, depression and birth defects, along with many more.
On the European Common Market, aspartame is banned in all children's food products. Why is it not like this any where else? Because of Monsanto- which owns the NutraSweet company which manufactures aspartame. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation caught them red handed and aired a program where Monsanto was trying to bribe Canadian Doctors at Health Canada. There are also known for paying the FDA, American Medical Association, The Diabetic Association.
Even though nothing has been "proven" doesn't mean it is safe for consumption. It probably wont ever be proven because the manufacturing companies are earning 2 much money and can pay every off. It wont be until something incredibly life threatening will they take it off the market. You are entitled to your own thoughts on this topic. Please do further research and educate yourself on this topic. The word "artificial" sweetener should give it away. Our body isn't designed to metabolize chemicals. Aspartame is humans trying to out smart mother nature. It doesn't work, it just makes people sicker. Please do your best to avoid aspartame.

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Katie
Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand
Hi.. Im Katie. I am 20 years old. I am a student nurse. I love learning about healthy eating and living healthy lifestyles. There are so many lies and myths about the food we eat today and I am determined to spread the word. If you have any questions don't be shy to ask. Email me at k_rotgans@hotmail.com P.S I am not a doctor, I do not diagnose conditions. I am just hear to educate myself and others. Any symptoms I address please see your doctor.
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