Archive for category: Your Health

Lose twice as much fat in half the time

I thought I would break away from the norm and talk about training advice today instead of
nutrition.

I tend to get an influx of new clients during March/ April because people who joined gyms
in January, have now lost motivation. They are bored of slogging away on the treadmill or
doing the same tedious gym workouts. They started getting results back in January but seem
to have plateaued. This is because you need to constantly change your workouts and keep
challenging your body.

The answer is High Intensity Interval Training (H.I.I.T.). It’s scientifically proven that high
intensity training will get better results than a long slow steady jog for an hour.

Benefits of H.I.I.T

• It takes much less time. A 20 minute H.I.I.T workout can
be more beneficial than a steady 60 plus minute jog.
• You burn more fat. Not only will you burn more calories in
an intense workout, but your metabolism will be much
higher for the next 24 hours.
• You will become fitter. H.I.I.T will improve your lactate
threshold. Which basically means that you will be able to
push yourself harder before the muscle burn kicks in.

You also don’t need any equipment, so can do this anytime and anywhere.

Here are a couple of examples:

•The actual workout depends on your fitness level, but an
example would be to pick 6 exercises and do each exercise
for 45 seconds as hard as you can with a rest of 30 seconds
in between. Just like circuits. Then repeat 3 times. It’s best to
pick exercises that use many muscle groups, such as burpes. I
know you all love burpes!

•Or you could do hill sprints. 30 seconds sprint up hill as
hard as you can, with a minute walk back down.
Reparations 6-8 times.

The most important thing is to go as hard as you can for the period of time given and enjoy the short rest!

The tummy is the number one topic for weight loss. It’s true that it is a tough area to combat. Especially as stress and lifestyle play a big part in our cortisol levels. Plus, we typically consume way too many of the wrong types of carbs, resulting in the storage of stomach fat. There are three main points that cause stomach fat. What you eat, when you eat and your rest. 21 days give it a go!

What you eat is obviously very important.

1.Foods to cut out- White & refined carbs. All breads, pastas, white rice, noodles, white potatoes, cakes, chocolates, pastries & cereals. I promise this will help. Continue to have carbs in your diet, but keep to brown rice, oats, sweet potato & quinoa. It’s hard to do, as bread, pasta etc is so readily available, but it’s very possible, and it works.

2. When you eat is also very important.
a. EVERY morning have breakfast. Porridge, eggs, yogurt etc. are all good choices.
b. Eat something ASAP of your workout. Ideally within 15 mins-1hr post training. During this short window, your muscles are depleted of glycogen and the cell membrane is more permeable. Basically this means the food will be broken down and stored in your muscles rather than your belly during this period.

3.Sleep! Your body needs rest. Lack of sleep causes an increase in cortisol levels, which leads to fat being stored on the belly. It also interferes with your levels of ghrelin. This is a hormone that tells your brain you are hungry. This is why on days after a late night you quite often crave carbs or never feel fully satisfied.

One of the most common mistakes when trying to lose weight is to completely change your day to day living.The key is not to try to change too much. Below are 10 points that can help you lose weight and increase your fitness. Pick three that you can realistically commit to and reevaluate at the end of the month.

1.Cut out ALL booze.

2. Have one cheat meal a week. This is not a cheat day, but a cheat meal! If you know you are meeting friends for dinner you can relax but every other meal must be what Ali would be happy with!

3. Increase the workouts to 5 days a week of intense exercise. (These don’t all need to be with Ali).

4. Cut out fizzy drinks and added sugar to tea and coffees.

5. Cut out ALL bread, cakes and pastries.

6. Cycle or run to work instead of using public transport or your car.

7. Cut out ALL sweets, chocolate and desserts. (Except fruit).

8. Cut out all bread, pasta, white rice, potatoes and cereals and replace with sweat potatoes, brown rice, oats and quinoa.

9. No take aways, ready made meals or processed meals. Eat fresh foods from scratch.

10. Download MyFitnessPal or Calorie Counter apps and add all your exercise and food consumption daily. You can see exactly what you are eating, the break down of carbs, fats and proteins and how many calories you are allowed depending on your goal and amount of exercise you have done.

Hormonal imbalance- Excess Cortisol

Ok so last time the topic was excess insulin and how this affects you and your fat storage. This week I am taking about how the hormone cortisol affects your body.

When I first meet clients I have an initial consultation with them where I get them to fill in a lifestyle questionnaire. Some of the questions relate to stress and 90% of people state they feel they are under stress, and typically work related.

Many people associate being under stress with losing weight. For example many brides to be say one of the reason they have lost weight is the stress of the wedding, where actually it’s because they have been dieting like crazy at the thought of being in a dress in front of everyone!

During periods of stress three main hormones are released, the two most common are Adrenaline and Cortisol. Adrenaline draws on your fat stores for energy (which is great), whereas cortisol draws on our muscle tissue for energy (not so good as we need muscle to keep our metabolism high). The third hormone is NYP. NYP decreases your metabolic rate, increases your belly fat and increases your appetite for sugary and carb rich food (comfort food).

To find out if you suffer from excess cortisol, see how many of the below apply to you. If you find yourself ticking 8 or more it looks like this is you.

·         Hair loss

·         Feeling wired at night

·         Loss of muscle tone in arms and legs

·         Cold hands and feet

·         Water retention in face/ puffiness

·         Poor memory/ concentration

·         Loss of libido

·         High alcohol consumption

·         Frequent colds/ flu

·         Fat gain around love handles or abdomen

·         Excess fat on back of neck and upper back

·         Cravings for sweets/ carbs/ constant hunger

·         Difficulty getting to sleep/ staying asleep

·         Irritable bowel/ frequent gas and bloating

·         Infertility/ irregular menstruation cycles

If you have high levels of cortisol, what can you do about it? Well first of all you need to understand what is making you stressed. For most people it is work and I am not in a position to advise you to change your job! The next thing to look at is your sleeping pattern. It is advised that you get 7.5-8 hrs sleep a night and speaking to most of you this is not the case. Sleeping more really can help you lose weight and here how:

·         Sleeping enough or not enough effects the release of appetite releasing hormones, Ghrelin (appetite enhancing) and leptin (appetite curbing). Not getting your 7-8 hours, reduces Leptin release and increases ghrelin, therefore leaving you feeling constantly hungry.

·         Not only do you find yourself hungrier, but we also tend to crave high sugar, high calorie, carb heavy foods. Many studies have been done to look at patients doing the same amount of exercise and following the same diet, but one group has only 5 hours sleep a night and the second group has 7-8 hours. The sleep deprived group always come out with a higher body fat percentage.

Give it a go, see if you can sleep yourself thin.