Maintaining Your Perfect Weight During COVID-Times

With the outbreak of COVID-19, we are suddenly faced with living sedentary lives. Having to work from home has been made even tougher by the fact that almost everything - movies, church, theatrical performances, and school- have been canceled and closed.

The tendency to eat more and make unhealthier food choices is therefore a lot higher so you MUST consciously make smart food choices to stay healthy and maintain your perfect weight.

Resist the urge, while you sit at home, to have more sugary drinks, more alcohol, and more junk and more TV or social media!

It’s no secret, if you replace your sugar intake of fizzy and alcoholic drinks with water and change nothing else in your diet you will already lose weight over a longer period of time! No diet, no gym! Just make this one change!

Of course more protein, vegetables and fruits are the best option to make now while you sit at home and ideally keep this as a new habit if you don’t already do this anyway. Make use of the fact that the parks are still open, go for a run or a walk, keeping your body fit! Muscles burn calories! If you lose muscles by just staying at home all day every day you will gain weight!

So, here are 3 healthy habits to practice while you're working from home:

1. More fruits and vegetables! Get fresh fruits and vegetables – have them as snacks! Bananas and Apples ideally in the morning not in the evening. Nuts, cheese, boiled eggs, dried fruits, and yoghurt are healthy and filling snack options you can choose. Limit the highly processed foods - take a bit of time with cooking- I personally don’t enjoy it but… we can all make an effort right?

2. Get enough water! Just about everyone can have access to water and it's great for detoxing. It's perfect for the immune system and it helps to keep you full so you're not craving food all the time. Plus, water helps to burn calories. Adding fruits or vegetables like lime, lemon, berries, or slices of cucumber to water can add some flavour.

3. Exercise! Just because it's lock-down season doesn't mean you can't exercise anymore. It's essential to get out of the house and get some exercise EVERY DAY! Do a few squats, sit ups, push ups at home, enjoy the sun go for 30 minutes to 1 hour every day!

The Food You Eat

So today I would like to talk about the kind of food we eat!

Yesterday I spoke to one of my clients, who had had a heart attack a few months back. I asked him if he was excusing everyday at least a little bit, going out for a walk, taking in some fresh air and he said - “Yes, I go shopping nearly every day!”

I said that’s not really exercise and you don’t do it every day and the local shop is only 5 minutes walk away -so he agreed that of course he could take 30 minutes every day just to go for a walk around the block.

Then we spoke about his food and he said, oh nothing changed I still love my fries… And then after 10 seconds he added: every day!!

Ok for everyone who knows me already, I am a big believer in eating what you like, just do it sensibly but fries every day is just not sensible especially after a heart attack… !

Do you have a habit that you do not question but that really doesn’t serve you anymore? When was the last time you really thought about what you actually eat, how much and how often? Come and join my coaching classes, find out all those little changes you can do to get your perfect weight to get into shape and to become the better you!

Lots of love and keep save!

Your Net Time

Have you heard the phrase: "what you eat is what you are"? Now of course that is not really true literally you are not a French fry 😊, but of course eating loads of fried foods is not healthy and we all know it.

I would like to share with you how you can have the body you want but you have to define first what you are really willing to do for the body of your dreams. I always had pictures of slim models with long legs on my fridge... positive motivation. Don’t put in front of you how you don’t want to look but how you do want to look like right? But the truth is I love to have chocolate twice or three times a week and I do not enjoy long sessions at the gym, so I have had to realise that I need a new goal. One that I really DO want to work for and to do that I needed to start accepting who I was first.

What is important in your life, where do you need to and want to spend your time? Your children? Your partner? Your work and career? No answer is right or wrong because it is your life!

Now take the things that you can do in "NET" Time- that is NO Extra Time. Can you listen to a podcast to improve your mind whilst you cook? Can you play with your children for 30 minutes running around to gain some core strengths yourself? Go cycling twice a week with them?

Think about your life and if you struggle to plan reach out I will help you get back on track!

Because you CAN do this!

Tired of sleepless nights?

Lying in bed wide awake night after night, thoughts running through your head faster than Usain Bolt, feeling stressed and anxious about a million different things. Then you realise you’ve been lying there for hours and you can’t sleep. You then begin to feel even more stressed, and lack of sleep is just one more thing to add to your big long list of problems to sort. Well don’t worry as we have all the information you need, to say goodbye to sleepless nights and hello to deep sleep and endless dreams!

1. Stick to a sleep schedule
   Create a plan for what time you will go to bed every night and what time you will wake up. This plan needs to be the same time everyday even on the weekend. Its helps to regulate your body clock, and hopefully enabling you a better night’s sleep.
   
2. Relax before bedtimeWinding down and carrying out a relaxation routine before bedtime will help your mind separate your daily activities to when it’s time to sleep. It will also help you to reduce any stress and anxiety that you feel, which reduces the quality of your sleep.
   
3. Daily exerciseCarrying out simple daily exercise, such as a walk or short run will benefit your mind and body enormously. Physical activity can help you in so many ways, such as stress release and it can also help you feel more tired when it comes to the night time.

Try these tips tonight and see if they help you get a better night’s sleep. If you are lying there and are unable to sleep try getting out of bed, walking in to another room and trying some relaxation activities, such as deep breathing until you feel tired. Then return to bed, with a calmer mind-set, and try again. The key thing to remember is try not to get yourself worked up about not being able to fall asleep, as this will only make it harder.

How To Manage Your Metabolism During Quarantine

Overview

As our life becomes more sedentary, our metabolism gradually decreases, which slows down lipolysis (fat burning) and accelerates proteolysis (protein degradation).

The final result is more fat and less muscle.

This process is controlled by the basal metabolic rate (BMR). If you’re not familiar with BMR, it is a numerical parameter used by physicians and nutritionists to measure the number of calories your body needs to keep the organs functioning.

This number is dependent on several factors, including gender, body type, diet, and degree of physical activity.

I know what you’re thinking, “I heard this information a million times; what can I do about it?”

The answer is: a lot!

How to boost your BMR

There are 4 pillars to boost BMR:

Physical activity

Regular exercise is a fantastic tool to stimulate growth hormones and maintain a high BMR.

In particular, strength training is the most effective approach to prevent muscle atrophy and fat accumulation.

Diet

Spending weeks quarantined at home should be associated with careful supervision of daily caloric intake; however, we tend to maintain the same dietary choices, which is not the best idea.

You see, home quarantine means a decline in physical activity; therefore, you will be consuming more calories than you actually burn.

Instead, switch to a diet comprised of whole foods and eat frequent meals.

Avoid a sedentary lifestyle

A sedentary lifestyle is the number one enemy of a fast metabolism.

This state increases the risk of several debilitating conditions and slows down BMR.

Supplements

Some products have been shown to boost BMR, such as green tea, turmeric, and ginger.

However, make sure you are buying the products from reputable brands to avoid fake or low-quality substances.

Takeaway message

BMR is strictly dependent on the degree of physical activity we get. Therefore, decreased physical activity equals a decline in BMR.

Be sure to make a few changes to prevent this from happening.

If you have any questions about BMR or the tips cited above, feel free to ask in the comment section below.

Top tips to accept yourself and loving your body as it is

With social media becoming so popular and gorgeous figures on our TV screens day and night, it is very easy to compare yourself, to others. The rise in influencers and sharing every aspect of your life online, has enabled us to become envious and jealous of what others have, and at the same time belittle our own worth and bodies. It is so dangerous, as often a photo uploaded to Instagram, isn’t complete reality. The image may have been edited, or the scene set to portray a perfect girl, living a perfect life. The image may be fake, but we still find ourselves comparing our bodies to those which have been created. This can leave us feeling deflated, and simply cause us to fall out of love with ourselves. So take a hard look at where the critical picture of yourself comes from and take a step back, review and take notice of all the positive things about yourself!

Ask your friends or your partner or if you have a loving family then ask members of your family to give you 2 or 3 things that they love about you…who knows you might find out something amazing about yourself you didn’t even know!

Accept who you are because you are amazing! That doesn’t mean we can’t improve and it also doesn’t mean we should stop seeking to improve! But you need to start from a place of happiness and constant self-criticism will not and can not move you forward.

Start loving and accepting yourself, then find out what it is that YOU really want for yourself and then make a plan to achieve this true goal!

If you want help along the way then reach out and book a 20 minute free consulting session!

Keep safe!


The top tips to accepting yourself:

1.) Never compare yourself to someone else  
We are all guilty of this at some time. But the truth is it doesn’t help us. Especially when we are comparing ourselves to a fake reality.

2.) Do what makes you and your body feel goodIn order to love your body and accept yourself, you need to do what makes you feel good. For some it will be exercising more for others it will be time with the family, whatever it is for you, ask yourself when was the last time you felt truly happy and start by planning more of exactly that!

3.) Meditate and find moments of calmnessOur lives can be so busy, we often forget to make time for ourselves. This in a crucial part of loving ourselves. Try to find moments of calmness and remember to breath. Meditation can also help with this but even if you don’t fell meditation is for you- just take 5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes in the evening when you wake up and fall asleep to be calm and be grateful and breath deep 5-6 times.

4.) Surround yourself with positivity
Creating a positive life and a positive atmosphere helps build up the vibes that you need for embracing yourself. Remember to immerse yourself amongst positivity, whether this is other positive people or by doing activities which help you feel better about yourself.

5.) Slow down and reflectWhilst on your journey, it is important to take a second to look around and reflect. Think about how far you’ve come, as well as how far you want to go.

Loving and embracing ourselves is so important. We can’t expect others to love us, if we don’t love ourselves. We need to be patient and give ourselves the time we need to fully embrace everything about us. Following these steps will help and be a great start on your journey.