Investigate these top ten tips for fat loss - Craig McDonald

Probably the most common reason people join a gym or enlist the services of a Personal Trainer is for fat loss . So today I’m going to provide you with my top 10 tips for fat loss.

1. Goal Setting – if you’re embarking on the fat loss journey, you need to set yourself some realistic and achievable goals. ‘I want to lose body fat’ is not what we’re looking for here but something like ‘I want to lose 5kgs over a 12 week period’.


2. Plan ahead – if you don’t have chocolate in the cupboard, chances are you won’t eat it! Write your shopping list before you go and fill it full of healthy options with plenty of fruit and vegetables and as many natural products as possible. Try to eliminate the sugary, processed foods as much as possible.


3. Review your water intake levels throughout each day and make sure you are getting enough water to keep you hydrated and healthy. Drinking more water will also fill your stomach and not make you feel as hungry.
4. Eliminate all liquid calories and replace them with Water or Green Tea.


5. Make sure you are eating 6 small meals per day rather than 2 or 3 big meals. This will spread out your intake of Protein, Fibre, Fruits and Vegetables throughout the day and reduce your appetite while keeping your energy levels up.


6. Try adding 1 new fruit and 1 new vegetable to your meals per week. Pick a day, say Wednesday and make this the day of each week you try a new healthy alternative to your current meals. It might be as simple as replacing chips with steamed broccoli and/or having a piece of fruit instead of ice cream.


7. For Dinner, try a new source of lean protein such as lean beef or salmon.


8. Be accountable to somebody. Whether it’s your Personal Trainer , your partner or a friend, share your goals and progress with someone who can help and encourage you to achieve your goals.

9. Ensure you make time for your workouts, preferably a minimum of 45mins to an hour, 3 times a week. Don’t let anything, except an emergency, get in the way of your workout time. Also ensure your workouts are effective – quality rather than quantity is the key.


10. Monitor your goals and visualise yourself achieving those goals. This will ensure you remain motivated and progress towards your desired outcome.
    
    Go ahead and try some, or all, of these techniques and you’ll see the rewards for yourself.

Now you can Jumpstart your Metabolism to enable better health

Have you tried every diet imaginable to mankind and still can't get a Metabolic Jumpstart. Well whether you have landed here by accident or you were directed to us this is your lucky day!!!
I firmly believe you attract the people into your life with the same passions, values and attitudes just as you remove the wrong people from your lives when you or they change and those values and attitudes differ between you. Enter Matt O'Neill from Smart Shape who is also the Channel 7 Sunrise nutrition guru.

Matt is on a mission to arrest and stop the Obesity Epidemic we currently find ourselves spiralling towards. Hence he wants to help the health of all Aussies, as do we. So when Matt told me he had devised an online program that allows anyone to get a personalised fat loss, weight gaining or even an energy gaining nutrition plan delivered to them weekly; I knew Lifestyle Improvers had to get this out there to our followers. Because Like Matt we are sick of hearing about Protein only, low carb and soup diets that for some reason never seem to work!!!! Sorry for the sarcasm.

So his program called Metabolism Jumpstart is now displayed on the Lifestyle Improver's website so you can then follow the links straight to the program and sign up. If this interests you go there now and have a look. For $30 a month it is one of the best investments in your own health you will ever make. If you do decide you are going to join Matt's great program tell him Lifestyle Improvers sent you and he will keep an extra close eye on you and so will we. Let us know how you get on.

Discover why no time to exercise just doesn't cut it - by Craig McDonald

The most common excuse we come up against when trying to encourage people to exercise is “I don’t have time”. No doubt we all lead busy lives with work, family, sport, social gatherings and sleep all taking up valuable time throughout our days. Our own personal exercise regimes and meal preparation times often get compromised due to our perceived lack of time.

So let’s think about time for a minute. Recalling my days in Primary School Maths, 60 minutes per hour equates to 1,440 minutes in a day. 7 days in a week and we now have 10,080 minutes in a week. Now how much time would we like to spend on exercise per week? – let’s say 3 sessions of 1 hour per week which is 180 minutes per week. Back to my maths skills and this comes to less than 2% of our total time in a week!

Now if I said I only need 2% of your time to help you achieve your health and wellness goals, would you be interested? I’m pretty sure most people would say yes rather than “I don’t have time to exercise?” Personally, I try and get at least 180 minutes per week of exercise, whether it’s resistance training, cardio or sport, however even as little as 100 minutes per week, say 4 sessions of 25 minutes each would be sufficient if you work at the right intensity levels.

When you break things down in these terms, it seems ridiculous to me when somebody says “I don’t have time to exercise”, so next time you hear somebody say it, try this theory on them and see if they can still validate their argument? Or if you use this excuse work it out based on what you have just read.

Craig McDonald is a personal trainer with Lifestyle Improvers, to read more about Craig go here.

How harmful are your lunches?

The humble ham and salad sandwich is something most of us associate with a healthy food choice for lunch or even the kids lunches. But if you look deeper into the hams, polonies and any processed meat that you can get at your local continental deli you may change your mind. In our role as restriction removalists in a bid to make you healthier we felt it our duty to make you aware of a few things so you can make your own mind up.

Ham, polony, salami or any other processed meat you can get hold of will contain a nitrite or a nitrate. The role of these additives are to preserve the meat and stop bacteria and salmonella being passed onto us. But there is serious concerns of these additives as a cancer causing agent. Especially if the products are eaten daily or more. Not to mention the other additives such as Carrageenan 407, flavour enhancers, excess amounts of salt and even MSG. Cancers of the esophagus, larynx, mouth, liver and stomach seem to be associated with nitrosamines," says Alexander Hall, an assistant professor at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine in Toronto.

Here are other damning reasons we should be looking for better alternatives for lunch meats and sandwiches.

• Meat byproducts such as lips, tripe, heart and intestines are used in processed meats


• Many lunch meats are listed as containing added moisture which is really solutions of sodium, spices and water


• MSG is found in most lunchtime meats

So what's the other alternative to your ham, polony or salami and salad sandwiches for lunch. Well it may require a little bit more effort but we can tell you the health benefits for you and your children are going to be worth the effort. We have put together a few tips you can use to help.

• Instead of processed meats use home cooked roast meats such as chicken, beef, mutton or pork. Cook a roast and use the cold meat for sandwiches. Tuna and salmon is another great healthy replacement.


• Go to your local organic shop or butcher to source an organic low nitrite or nitrate ham or prosciutto and use the meat only once a week not every day.


• Change to eating more natural foods in a salad such as chick peas, kidney beans, avocado and even eggs.

If you need any more info or assistance please get in touch we are here to help, why not even request a Risk Analysis health diagnostic from us. If health is a big priority for you any effort taken now is an investment into your future and your families.

Why you need to make every morning a ‘GOOD MORNING’ – By Craig McDonald

Everybody knows someone, whether it is at work, at home or socially who claims to ‘not be a good morning person’. It might be having trouble getting out of bed or trouble dealing with people in the morning or simply a lack of motivation to get moving and go to work?

All these ‘symptoms’ can be overcome by making a conscious effort to start EVERY day by doing something healthy for yourself . If you start every day with a positive action that is going to benefit you and you only, it will give you a great platform for the rest of the day. It then makes it harder for you to fall back into bad habits during the day and destroy your good work in the morning.

The positive and healthy action in the morning could be as simple as cooking a healthy breakfast or doing a workout or better still doing both. It might entail taking the dog for a walk, having a stretching session or doing Yoga, meditation or Pilates? Whatever the action, it must be positive and it must be for YOU.

I’ve definitely found myself that starting the day with a healthy, positive ritual makes it much easier to follow that pattern for the rest of the day. You owe it to yourself to follow through on your positive start to the day by continuing those behaviours for the rest of the day and the improvements to your health and wellbeing will soon become obvious to you and those that surround you.

If you think you can’t achieve this behaviour pattern then try changing one small thing at a time until that behaviour becomes a ritual then move onto something else and before you know it you’ll be bouncing out of bed in the morning and really annoying all those ‘non-morning’ people!