A Boost to your Weight Loss Mindset.

In relation to trends and patterns, the start of new year is when most people focus on their Health and Fitness goals, to a lesser extent another is the beginning of September.
With this increase in productivity in mind, focus on your most important goal, the one that would make you happiest on achieving, the one that would make the most difference to your life.
Quickly ask yourself why would this make you happier?
Why would this enhance your life?

As humans we tend to be a bit reactive, we tend to have to be unhappy or in some discomfort before we take action.

With that in mind I want you to fast forward in time to when you feel you should have made progress or achieved the goal.

Yet when you get there, you are still the same.
In the future, no progress has been made, in fact you have gone backwards slightly.
So what would be the repercussions?
How would you feel?

What if this outcome could be avoided?
Well it can!
By fast forwarding to the future, it should give you a greater sense of urgency, to take action.
Doesn't need to be perfect action, just a decision to move forward, even if it's slow progress, you can take more action to speed it up, by not making a decision you are drifting, relying on life's current to take you where you want to go and that can go either way...

It's up to you!

Exercise can't compensate for a bad Nutrition Plan.

Relative to your weight loss goals, the thing that will yield you the most results, the most important aspect bar none is your Nutrition habits.
Only a very extreme amount of regular exercise (which would also bring about the negative symptoms of over training) could hope to compensate!
Let's say after an hours worth of exercise you expend 700 k/calories, in a pound of body fat (.454 kg's) there are 3500 k/calories, barely touching the surface!

What is your Metabolism Message?

Your metabolism message is what you have been telling your body all these years...

Evolution is not a fast process.
For instance, what do we need fight or flight for in this day and age?

The body is designed for short term survival primarily.

The body has no idea whether food is in good supply or not, it depends on our eating habits.

So looking back over the years is your body equipped for abundance or scarcity which will decide a fast or slow metabolism?

Frequent low calorie or big sporadic meals, or following different types of "faddy" nutrition plans, constant skipping of meals teaches the body food is in bad supply and to lower metabolism in preparation for shortage.

Eating regularly in moderate amounts, with short gaps in between meals fires up the metabolism and teaches it the notion of abundance (it can process the food now, because your eating habits dictate more is coming soon).

So your body has been heading which ever of the above messages is stronger over time.

That's why after a restrictive calorie nutrition plan, it's easy to increase body fat quickly once you return to normal eating.

If you are doing all the right things, but making slow progress, could be the body needs some time to get into the notion of abundance.

Sounds like a contradiction to eat more often to be leaner, but think of someone you know who is constantly eating healthy stuff in modest portions and yet do they have a fast metabolism?

Please use the comment section for questions that could be featured in future posts.

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Simple tip to help you lose weight...

We can't get away from it, but 70-80% of your weight loss goal is down to your eating habits.

One simple tip to help with this is to increase the awareness of the food you put into your body!

On weight loss TV programmes, the very effective way it is done is to shock people  about their current habits.

You see the food they usually eat for a day or week sprawled across a table, to that persons disgust!

But this is a very effective way of increasing awareness.

One thing you could try is to keep a food diary, as a Personal Trainer this is what I have my clients do, so I can see exactly (if they are honest) what foods they are consuming and how it is helping (or not) their progress.

Writing a food diary is very effective, try and list amounts, doesn't need to be accurate, writing "big portion" will do!

What time your meals were, infact as much information as you are going to find useful.

Once it's written down, review it, what would the contents of the diary look like sprawled across a table?!

Are there different habits and patterns you can pick up upon?

Can you notice some habits that you can change for the better.

The best things about any Nutrition plan out there, wether they are good or bad is that we become more aware of what we are eating, we should try not to be too obsessed with every crumb we eat, but if we identify a habit we could change, in exchange for a healthier one, this could make a huge difference to our results!

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Any questions you have, please use the comment section.

I read this was the best for Weight Loss...

Here is a statement that I get a lot in the gym; "I was reading article X and it said this was the best equipment for health and weight loss."

Actually any time I attend a course, if it is run by the employees of an exercise equipment company, they will tell us (course attendees) that their equipment is the best.

The answer is, that providing it has stood the test of time, it all works!

If the goal however is weight loss and you haven't yet adopted the right nutrition habits, then after 18 years of experience I can tell you no fitness equipment will work!

You cant do exercise to compensate for an unhealthy nutrition plan!

No amount of trying new equipment and exercise will overcome that,
eventually you will have to come back to your eating plan.

If you have a good lifestyle, then the equipment does work, providing the exercise is right for you.

Depending on what you are training for, fancy equipment is not essential, there are body weight exercises that are effective, in the boot (trunk, depending where you are reading this :)) of my car is a stability ball, suspension straps (similar to TRX) kettle bells, resistance band, medicine ball and speed ladder all very effective!

After 18 years it still comes down to the same thing regarding healthy weight loss results: 1) Nutrition, 2) Resistance Exercise, 3) Interval Cardio.

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The Ultimate Destination!

We tend to see the ultimate destination as the point where we reach our goal, our target weight, the shape we have always wanted to be, better health, more energy...
However unless we maintain good habits even when we reach our goals we can start to undo all our good work.
So what is the ultimate destination?
For me it's when we have formed all the habits, the balanced healthy eating, moderate portions and regular exercise, when all of this becomes second nature, something we do completely unconsciously.
This is an incredibly powerful place to get to, you now have ultimate control over how you look and feel.
After a special occasion or holiday where your lifestyle habits are not as good as usual, you find it easier to get straight back on track, when there is a special occasion or holiday to somewhere warm when you want to look your best, you are either close to where you would like to be or even better you have been maintaining that condition for a while now. Even if you do find yourself gaining a few pounds, you know exactly the mindset and the slight habit changes you need to install. It's now just a lifestyle- something you just do.

If you have a Healthy Weight Loss question, please use the comments section and I will answer them in a future post.

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Stop to congratulate yourself...

In the strive to achieve objectives, to continually move forwards and progress sometimes we forget something - how far we have come!

When we focus on our big goals, we forget all the small disciplined changes we are making along the way.

 It is not about only recognising the end goal, it is everything we are doing differently to create a new and positive change.

So regards to your exercise and lifestyle, remember to stop and congratulate yourself for any positive lifestyle changes.

Could be you are exercising more regularly now than before, you now drink more water, you are more conscious of your posture, any positive changes with your Nutrition habits, the list is endless I am sure you can think of your own!

Any change big and small, especially those that become habitual will contribute to your health and fitness goals, so any time you make the smallest change in your lifestyle habits, stop to congratulate yourself!