Who’s number 1 in your life?

This is a question we all need to ask ourselves from time to time and hopefully in most cases the answer is you? Now this may sound a little selfish, particularly if you have small children, but in order to achieve a healthy and happy balance in your life you must make time for yourself. An excellent analogy for this is to imagine on a table in front of you are a small glass jar, a number of small stones and one large stone. Now if you pile all the small stones into the jar first, there will not be enough room for the large stone to fit in at the end. However if you place the large stone in first, all the small stones will fit in around it. Of course in this analogy you are the large stone and all the other priorities in your life are the smaller stones.

Some people are already very good at achieving this balance and can easily put their own needs ahead of others and these people tend to be happier and better functioning people as a result. On the other hand, there are people (especially mothers) who put everyone else’s needs before their own and these people tend to often feel exhausted, drained, resentful or just plain cranky.

The irony of this situation is, while you may be perceived as selfish by putting yourself first, failing to place your basic needs such as health, self care, exercise and time alone before the needs of others actually tends to make people function at a level that is far below their best. As a result of this, the people closest to us or of most importance, whether that be family, friends, clients or associates do not get to interact with us when we are at our best, so at the end of the day nobody wins.

Generally people can be put into two categories either ‘me for me’ people or ‘me for you’ people. Those in the first category tend to self care first as they know they will then be at their best for others. Unfortunately those in the second category tend to be forever chasing their tails. So in concluding I urge you all to place that ‘big rock’ into your jar first and let everything else fall into place around it.

To find out exactly what part of your life you need to focus on to make sure you are at your best for others why not fill out a Lifestyle Health Check. This will show you what you can work on today to make sure number 1 in your life is looked after first.

Diets are not for Everyone

For most people starting out on an exercise program the issue of diet, and or dieting, will be discussed early on in the piece. Here at Lifestyle Improvers, we highly recommend Matt O’Neil’s Metabolic Jumpstart program to all of our new clients. No doubt you have heard through various media outlets about numerous other types of diet whether that be high Protein, low Carbohydrate, low sugar or various detox types of diet. So which one should you choose?

Recent research shows that 90-95% of people who lose weight through dieting regain 115% of the weight lost within 5 years. These are pretty damning figures. Perhaps a better approach to weight loss is to introduce lasting changes to our eating habits rather than follow the latest fad diet?

So to help kick start your new lasting healthy eating habits I have included my 5 top tips as follows ;

1) Eat Breakfast – a good healthy natural breakfast not only helps get your metabolism firing first thing in the morning, but also significantly decreases the chances of overeating later in the day.

2) Focus on Nutrient rich, energy sparse food – this could actually mean you need to eat more rather than less? If you’re confused by this what I mean is adding nutrient rich foods such as vegetables or various forms of protein instead of cutting out things from your diet. The exception here is highly processed foods which should be replaced by natural nutrient rich alternatives.

3) Reward rather than deprive – if you must have some treats, use them as a reward rather than trying to cut them out completely. So if you’ve stuck to your eating plan all week allow yourself a small reward at the end of the week. Research has shown that total deprivation of treat foods can lead to increased consumption at a later date.

4) Think before you eat – make sure you pay attention to what and how much you’re eating. Try eating at the table and away from the TV, chew each mouthful of food to completion before reaching for your next mouthful, put your knife and fork down between mouthfuls and finally, drink a large glass of water before eating your main meals.

5) Don’t let the scales rule your life – if you dread your weekly or daily weigh in then do away with it. Seeing a good or bad number on the scales will influence your mood and quite possibly your eating habits. Your clothes will tell you how you’re going.

Good luck to you all as you embark on a new long lasting healthy eating lifestyle.

The Importance of Carbohydrates

After attending a very busy and informative weekend at the Australia wide Fitness industry convention in Sydney, it is only fair that I share some of the knowledge I have obtained with our loyal members at Lifestyle Improvers.

One of the lectures I attended was presented by well known Nutritionist Susie Burrell who has a very high profile in Australia and regularly appears on commercial TV to share her knowledge on Nutrition.

With so many different diets available to the general public, it sometimes becomes difficult to determine what we should and should not be eating, and when we should and should not be eating. One common perception particularly in the fitness/weight loss industry is to limit or eliminate carbohydrate intake in the evenings.

As Susie explained, many people who exercise first thing in the morning will starve themselves of carbohydrates the evening before thinking that if the body has little or no carbohydrates available then it will burn fat instead. This perception is in fact incorrect and in fact the metabolic pathway that sees fat being broken down and utilized as a fuel source, actually works better if some glucose (carbohydrates) are still available within the body.

This not only means that when you train you will more likely burn fat, but also be able to train harder and longer as a result. This also does not mean you should be demolishing massive bowls of pasta the night before your workout, but a small amount of carbohydrates (10-20g) which can be as simple as a half a glass of low fat milk or a couple of crackers.

So why not give it a try and see if it works for you?

How are you behaving?

We have just returned from a Rippa weekend of learning and personal development in Sydney at the FILEX convention (Fitness Industry Expo). So we thought it only fitting we shared what great information we learnt that can make a huge impact on your lives.


Our first one comes from the opening keynote address and boy did this one hit us right between the eyes. Titled, "Building Rippa Relationships" and delivered by Bruce Sullivan. He was funny, engaging and all the right ingredients for a keynote speaker but he delivered an absolute knockout message that floored us and the rest of the people in the room. Believe me there was some big fellas and gals in the room and I even saw a few tears coming from them.


He initially put to us that everyone means well. However our intentions don't match out behaviours. We are all out of alignment so to speak. Fair point and taken on the chin.

He then moved on to point out we need to be

1. Conscious and live in the moment more. Be present with partners, workmates, kids and family


2. Make your behaviour match your intentions and let them show. If you think your wife/husband/partner looks beautiful, tell them. Not good enough to intend to!!!


3. Don't be neutral, meaning you are either adding or taking away from a relationship


4. Stop using busy, lazy or stupid as an excuse. Not now, wait till I finish .......

Bruce's underlying message was don't try and change all and sundry - change yourself first. Can you see how you changing your mindset, attitude or behaviours may impact positively on your relationships? Rippa now stop making excuses and do it.

I will leave you with two gold nuggets he passed on and if you get this, I believe our stress levels will nose dive markedly.

1. Understand the facts of life. Good things happen, bad things happen and gravity is constant. Point being things happen and sometimes there is no rhyme or reason why, they just happen.


2. Fix problems and don't complain about them. Whether it is your fault or not; fix it. Then the problem is gone. Simple isn't it.

If this sounds unremarkable and uncomplicated to you - great. Because I am sure this was his aim. KISS (keep it simple st---d) The knockout blow came when he ran us through the birth of his daughter. They were quickly informed there was a heart problem and a chance she had down's syndrome. Between them they decided to go full out and live their intentions out in their behaviours. The slides showed the most remarkable family snaps of them all playing, skiing, horse riding, first days of school and lots more adventures.

Bruce and his wife accepted that this had happened to them and their daughter, they didn't complain they just fixed the problem by accepting it and living every day consciously, showing their intentions loud and clear and never being too busy. Bang; we were floored totally.