DAY 9  – ALREADY?

1.  How has the week went so far?  Very easy and the reason I have found it easy is because I have a clear and precise goal that I am aiming for.  I know and believe that the plan is guaranteed fat-loss and I only have to be organised and follow the system for it to work.   I keep the vision I have of feeling great on X-Mas day (and beyond – I’m already planning the next goal after these 21 days are over). 

2.  Has it been hard – no, because this plan is NOT one of these fad, quick fix only eat this, only eat that style of plans.   It is the foundation to build on for changes needed to be slim for life  and never ‘diet’ again.  Due to my body getting a constant ‘drip’ of nutrients from all of the food groups each day I found that as quickly as day 2 I had my power back, if you know what I mean - no hovering about in the cake isle in ‘will I, won’t I mode.’

3.  Have you felt deprived?  Not at all, I haven’t been perfect (see below) but a little bit of what you fancy does you good!   I have not felt hungry and what would I be depriving myself of anyway?  The irony is the foods that we think we desire and crave are the very foods that are depriving us of the fit and healthy life that we are seeking!

TOP TIP: If I feel I could be doing with a sugar fix I keep ‘dates’ in the freezer and have one or two of them.  Eat them straight from the freezer, they taste like candy but they won’t upset the lovely balanced environment you’ve created for your body.

4.  Have you stuck rigidly to the plan?  I would say around 95% compliant,  on Saturday night I had some Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream, just a couple of scoops not the whole tup!  Hey, I never said I would be perfect.  That said, I am enjoying the process.  I started at A and want to get to B and this part is just filling in the gap!  Each meal I have and each time I workout is a stepping stone across that gap.  

 I started with my mind and an absolute certainty that I would drop a dress size in 21 days.  And because I am visually seeing the results now it makes me more determined to be compliant and enjoy the journey.

‘Do you set yourself up to fail’?  Regarding previous weight loss attempts, in years gone by, this was an accurate statement of my own personal efforts.  Effort being the correct word, oh I’ll add drudgery into the mix too as past attempts have usually went something like this:-

PERFECTION 

 I demanded perfection from myself. I was far too strict.  I have to say I have will-power of steel (or is it iron!) but when the internal chatterbox coaxed me into straying off whatever plan I was on, that was it, – the ball was burst, I had mucked it up again -’I'LL START AGAIN ON MONDAY’ would be my cry as I made a path from couch to fridge to ‘get as much in’ as I could before I started the pattern all over again on Monday, always Monday.

INFORMATION OVERLOAD & FEELING OF ISOLATION 

There was soooo much conflicting information out there, my head was spinning with it all and I didn’t really know who to believe.  Eat this, don’t eat that, count calories, count fat, carbs are bad, fat is bad, Zone diet, Aitkins diet, South Beach diet, slimming pills,aaaaaahhhhhhhhh,  I DIDN’T STAND A CHANCE!

VISUALISATION & BELIEF SYSTEMS 

Were a totally alien concept to me.  No diet product or organisation dealt with this most important, no, THE MOST IMPORTANT start of any fat-loss plan or lifestyle change.  I had no idea that I was being unconsciously guided in all my efforts by my belief system.  An example of two of my negative beliefs were ‘I’m not organised enough’ and ‘I’m too busy to deal with all this right now’.  How conflicting were these two, if I knew how to be organised then I would have had more free time!

ORGANISATION & PLANNING

 Yep, my belief of not being organised enough was reinforced every time because I didn’t really understand that I needed to make sure I had bought the correct foods, cooked them if possible and had planned out at least the next 3 days meals.  I would be caught short, so to speak, going longer than necessary without eating.  My blood sugar would not be balanced and I would still be hit by cravings.  All because I didn’t really know that this step was very important to set myself up for success.

GOALS  

Again, I didn’t know of this concept therefore I never ever had proper goals.   I had a feeling of  pain because I didn’t like how I looked.  I wanted to get rid of that feeling and replace it with a good feeling or to put it another way  my goal was to feel better about myself.   Doomed really before I started as my belief system would put the knackers on that anyway.  Basically, I didn’t have clear and precise goals of what I wanted that would question and override any negative beliefs that were lurking in my subconscious.

EDUCATION  

 I always had an interest in nutrition but my knowledge of fat-loss was stuck firmly in the calorie counting or ‘points’ camp  (thought that 4 fishfingers between 2 slices of white bread was fine as long as I had the points for it).  I was unaware that there was more efficient ways to shift that muffin top.

CONSISTENT EXERCISE

I’ve exercised consistently for years.  One of my good beliefs!  Once you get the habit you can’t stop or if you do you can’t stop for long.  Your body has to move!   But some people will go into an exercise programme and feel they have to attend every class they can get to,  they give it everything they have for 2-3 weeks then run out of steam.   They have no clear plan, vision or goal so their will-power fizzles out as their limiting beliefs take over and they’re back on the couch feeling bad.  They’re in a catch 22 situation.  Shame, because it doesn’t have to be like that. 

So how can you set yourself up for success I hear you ask? 

• Don’t be Perfect, you’re on a learning curve, your looking for results not perfection.
• Keep it simple, stick to one plan,  measure the results, adjust and adapt the plan to suit you.
• Find out what your limiting beliefs are, this is stuck energy that can be released see http://www.quantumrelease.co.uk/
• Part of the goal process involves finding any obstacles that will make things tougher than they need to be such as not being organised or forward planning.
•  Have a goal, not just any goal, but the best goal you can think off, take time to day-dream about that goal, visualise what you want to look like – everyday.
• Learn and implement the main Pillars of nutrition into your life.  Know that when followed most of the time your results will  be that you are slim for life.  (No more diets!)
• For exercise to be consistent you must enjoy it.  All exercises are not equal when it comes to fat-loss and also lack of time is an issue for a lot of people.  Good news is that 20-30 minutes per day of fat busting training is all you need to turn your body into a 24/7 fat burning machine!

You agree right?  it’s freezin outside, any extra layers of unsightly fat are going to be well hidden under the extra layers of winter clothing.  You can easily walk around Tescos like the pillsbury dough man or woman without anyone noticing and even the fat that’s starting to accumulate under your CHINNY CHIN CHIN  is hidden behind the gorgeous scarf you got yourself the other week. 

 The shops are bursting at the seams with sugary snacks from Mr Kiplin’s deep-filled mince pies to chocolate oranges and they even do those Belgian sea-shell choccies for £1, you get around 6 for your money, not bad value!! 

The fitness classes that you’ve attended week in week out are breaking for the Holidays.  You’ll start afresh next year, right?

Sound familiar?  lets recap the top four excuses to look like a burst couch this X-mas.

• It’s too cold to exercise
• The shops are full of goodies and it’s too hard to resist buying them
• It’s X-mas, who wants to diet at this time of the year
• I’ll start in January

What if, this didn’t have to be the case.

What if we ate what we wanted but made better choices and didn’t stuff our faces with giant toblerone when we weren’t even hungry?  

What if we didn’t become victims of  food marketing, they know sugar sells and they know that the more of it you eat the more of it you will want therefore the  more you will buy(sugar is addictive and toxic) .    Trainspotting (the film about herion addiction) and Multinational food conglomorates  have more in common than you think.

 What if we done a wee bit of exercise every day. 

 What if we felt great on X-Mas day and, for once, didn’t feel bloated, uncomfortable and tired.

WHAT IF?

• We interval-trained in the house for around 10-20 minutes every day helping our metabolism to burn fat more efficiently
• We didn’t diet but made better, smarter food choices, what a concept eh? trust me, this is the only way to do it
• We decide to start Now and free ourselves of the pain we will go through AGAIN in January when we use that pain to motivate us to DIET AGAIN!!

 Julie McCann starts her drop a dress size tomorrow,  why not become part of the programme and follow the plan with her and get valuable information from West Lothian’s  No 1 real world fat loss expert.

  MORE INFO ON DROP A DRESS SIZE CLICK HERE : http://www.myfbc.co.uk/drop-a-dress-size-in-21-days/

I was reading in one of the papers recently about how NOW is the best time to have a quick fix and go on a rapid fat loss programme.  I couldn’t agree more.  I suffer from wind down syndrome.  It happens to me every year at this time.  My classes are coming to an end, I’m looking forward to a break.  The couch beckons and the remote control starts to attach itself to my hand.  A path is then made from aforementioned couch to the fridge, then back to couch. 

GUESS WHAT HAPPENS?  By X-Mas and New Year, I feel awful.  Everything’s too tight.  The dreaded muffin top is back and yet again another year is started with that feeling of failure and unease that we all get when our bodies and minds are out of balance.

WELL NOT THIS YEAR – I will be getting myself organised NOW and starting the ‘Drop a Dress Size in 21 days’ this Sunday.  Come X-mas this year I will look and feel fantastic.  I’m on a mission.  Why don’t you join me?  The plan is on special offer – even if you buy it now you can use it in the New Year. 

This is a quick fix but hey sometimes that’s what’s needed AND I for one need it NOW.  I can feel myself starting to repeat the same pattern (wind down syndrome)  so action is needed to scratch, scratch, scratch that sticking record and change my behaviour.  This will provide me with a great foundation to build on for 2011.

For more info click here http://www.myfbc.co.uk/drop-a-dress-size-in-21-days/

Zumba is an amazing fat burning workout and Julie and Janice have reintroduced a good stretching sequence at the end of their classes.

The leg muscles -- especially the calfs - can get really tight during Zumba and a bit more stretching built into a weekly training regime is very beneficial.   Both Pilates and Yoga are great exercise methods for this kind of training.  Muscle imbalances can occur through repetitive strain or faulty mechanics, and can result in an uneven pull of the muscles around the joint.  Julie, in fact, had a lot of problems at Zumba with her knee and the cause was tight muscles.  Suffice to say she has returned with a vengence to her own Pilates training and the injury has gone!  The body, like the mind,  needs balance and this is just a very simple routine that will help with your flexibility and help prevent sports injuries -- SO NO EXCUSES NOT TO ZUMBA

These flexibility exercises are safe for healthy adults.  If you have any joint or back problems please consult with your health professional before you attempt these stretches. 

IMPORTANT:  MAKE SURE THE BODY IS WARM BEFORE YOU START, THIS JUST MEANS MARCHING ON THE SPOT FOR A FEW MINUTES OR WALKING UP AND DOWN STAIRS A FEW TIMES JUST TO RAISE THE CORE TEMPERATURE OF THE MUSCLES.

Just a quick post to let you all know that I am alive and currently watching ‘Britain’s got Talent’.

Spoke to Caroline recently – hi Caroline – and she asked why I had stopped posting on ’skinny cow blog’.

One of those things – I had left it so long that I actually feel a bit embarrassed about posting again, hence this quick posting which isn’t really very informative but is a big kick up the backside to start again.

Loads to talk about too, see you tomorrow – honest!!

What are the big obstacles that will prevent you from having the success you desire? What’s contributed most to past failures?

In general, the number one thing I hear is that people are too busy and tired and don’t have enough time to get their workouts in or make their meals. 

But if you really want to look great and be lean, fit and strong there is always hidden time throughout the day and week that can be freed up if your re-prioritize. 

 Think back to why you wanted to get in shape  in the first place and then examine what’s most important to you. Make your workouts and your meal times just like work appointments. Either you make the appointment or you don’t. And if you want to keep your job (or get your dream body) then you better make that appointment.       

Another big obstacle is alcohol. People like to drink and unfortunately alcohol is about as detrimental to burning fat as it gets. Again, what’s more important to you, looking sexy or getting hammered. The choice is yours. Remember, once you achieve your goal(s), alcohol can be added back in with moderation.

But know this, lean people just don’t get drunk unless they are genetic freaks. Low to zero alcohol consumption is needed if you want to look your best year round and that’s a fact.  Moderation is the key.

 Lastly, many people deal with boredom eating or emotional eating.  Boredom eating means just that, eating to fill up the time when you have nothing better to do. The best way to deal with this is, you guessed it, to do something!

Find an active hobby to keep your mind off of eating when boredom strikes -more on this tomorrow – and you can beat this trend. Emotional eating describes the use of food to cope with stress or to reward for accomplishment. Food is not unlike drugs or alcohol in this regard, it can be very addictive. There is no quick fix for emotional eating other than avoiding trigger situations (bars, parties, etc.) and trigger foods (starches, sugars, fast food, etc.) in the short term to break bad habits.

At the end of the day, whether your roadblocks are very individual or if they fall in line with the general roadblocks our clients encounter on a regular basis, the key is to be honest about them and to plan and prepare for them. And that’s where social support and accountability come into play. The clients who have had the most success with us have undergone their transformation with the support of other friends or family members. This is so critical, especially since most of the poor food and drinking choices that sabotage one’s progress occur on the weekend, when most people hang out with their friend and family. If they are committed with you and your goal to get fit and look better, you can put yourself in a much better position to realize the success your desire and deserve. The last thing anybody needs is sabotage or peer pressure from those closest to you, so get them on board and get them on board early.

Watch out for ‘Beach Body Bootcamp’ coming soon – FBC will offer the help, support and accountability to help you look great this summer.

First day back at Camp and check out our happy campers!

We added ropes on Monday.  They’re fun and you know you’re using them right when you make pretty waves with them.  We combined ropes with body weight squats for an amazing mix of speed and strength.