Category Archives: Exercise tips

Welcome to Skinny September!

With Spring in the air and summer upon us, what better timing than now to start getting fit and healthy.  You will find daily posts for your Skinny September Coaching Guide on our Blog, Twitter and FB pages to keep you organized and motivated so there’s no excuse!

This is a guide only but should give you enough information to make your healthy regime effective.  Always check with your doctor before starting a new diet or exercise programme if you are unsure of your health or have existing medical conditions.

If you are looking for a more personalized programme then a Create Health & Fitness Personal Training Package, nutritional consultation will be more appropriate for you.

Preparation for the week ahead is key, when you start to prepare yourself, your family, your meals and exercise clothes for the week you will find that you are more likely to keep to the plan.

So just a few pre-programme tips….

1. Mindset – you need to have the right mindset when starting out with any life changes or just getting back on track with your health programme. You must commit to small changes and make the decision that you are going to be kinder to yourself.

2. Time – make sure you factor in the time it takes to go shopping, prepare meal batches and exercise, essentially make some time for yourself for a change.

3. Just do it as Nike says – don’t think about it, just put on your trainers at the time you are supposed to and just do your exercise.  If you think about it too much, you will end up talking yourself out of it and justify why you can’t do any exercise. Try to remember how good you feel after putting in the effort to exercise and why you are doing it.

4. Posting your progress and connecting with other Create Health & Fitness followers will also assist with your commitment to your health regime. Tell us what is happening to you, share any time saving tips you have that are helping you along the way.  Sharing your goals you’re your journey helps you to achieve them!

First thing, preparation:

Are your exercise clothes ready to wear? No? Find them and put them out somewhere you can see them. Where are your runners? Find them and have them ready along with your water bottle and ipod? They all need to be easily accessible.

Your ‘me’ diary, if you don’t have one, just open a blank document on your computer and start making notes of your weight, how you feel, where you would like to be and by when.  Take a picture of yourself now and put it in your diary. The purpose of this is so you can write down everything you eat, do and feel every day for at least 2 weeks, when you see what you have consumed in a day it can be a bit of a shock and motivating at the same time.  It is also a good way to identify any food sensitivities you may have.

Food shopping: make sure you have a stock of fruit, vegetables (including green leafy), nuts and seeds, some low fat crackers, yoghurt, eggs, muesli or porridge, wholemeal/grainy bread, brown rice, cheese, tinned beans (lentils, chick peas, adzuki beans, etc), canned tuna or salmon, corn thins, low fat cottage cheese. Wholemeal wraps are also a good thing to keep in the pantry.  Lean cuts of meats, poultry and fish, no processed meat though.  Clear out your pantry of any sugary snacks that you usually have, that will be detrimental to your progress.

So use Sunday evening and Monday to prepare yourself for the days and weeks to come. Try to go for at least a 45 minute walk on your first day and get all the necessary healthy foods to start your plan.

Monday Meal Examples

Pre-exercise – 1 x apple

Morning brisk walk – 45 mins

Breakfast – bowl of natural muesli and yoghurt with fresh fruit

Snack – handful of nuts and seeds, plus one piece of fruit

Lunch – tuna salad with dark leafy greens, and capsicum, add ½ cup of brown rice

Snack – 1 x piece of fruit or a piece of wholegrain toast and peanut butter if you are working out.

Dinner – protein (less than 80g), fresh vegetables and roasted sweet potato

Is this you?  Well as far as I can tell, this is how we all seem to be living our lives right now… excessively S.T.R.E.S.S.E.D! Stress will take it’s toll on your body and not in a particularly good way. Sometimes a small amount of stress can motivate us to take on exciting tasks but when it becomes overwhelming then we need to take action.  Some symptoms of excessive stress are; weight gain or weight loss, high blood pressure, neck and backaches, dizziness, getting emotional over unusual issues, lack of sleep or concentration and frequent illnesses that keep you away from work.

When you are under a lot of stress and strain your adrenal glands produce more hormones which in turn increase your blood pressure and heart rate. This reaction can cause symptoms in any of the organs or systems in the body such as the digestive system and can also create some long term problems if not addressed. By increasing the rate at which the adrenal glands are producing hormones, increases metabolism of nutrients so they are available for the body to use as energy.  Although that may sound good, there is a downside apart from all the side affects already mentioned! You will also lose protein and potassium more quickly as well as decreasing the storage of calcium in your body.  So the need for good quality nutrients are necessary during times of stress.  You can see that as your metabolism increases due to stress, your stores of required nutrients will become depleted more quickly which will lead to those niggling bugs and colds or longterm illnesses.

A balanced diet is the best way to get through stressful times but sometimes it’s the sugary, fatty foods that we crave which only makes things worse.  These foods do not replace the required nutrients that you have lost so just leads to more stress, more illness, a vicious circle.

By putting some quick and simple measures in place, you may just be able to keep better control of stress and live a better quality of life.

1) Eat a well balanced diet, that means preparation, I know I probably say that every post, but it really is key to a balanced diet.  If you don’t prepare your food then you will likely end up eating an unbalanced meal from the store.  Grainy breads, fruits, veggies, protein and “brown” carbohydrates. Remember that good quality carbs are good for the brain.  Refined carbs just place more stress on your body so please avoid, avoid, avoid! Caffeine try to limit your coffees, chocolate and alcohol.

2) Exercise, ideally 60 mins per day, however, this just isn’t manageable in some cases so, split your workouts up, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.  Personal Trainers are great for getting you up and out of bed for your workouts and you don’t even need to think about what you are doing, we do that for you!! If you don’t want anyone to see you then get yourself a Wii and they have a number of fitness games you can try.  Or join a group for motivation.

3) Relaxation, don’t forget that you also need and are allowed to relax! It’s actually a really important thing to do.  Mediation, yoga, or even cooking can be relaxing!

B-complex vitamins are a great nutrient for the nervous system and can be found in a number of foods, if not you can take a good supplement or make up a great soup! I’ll post my stress relieving soup in the next post!

If you would like any further information about how to manage stress or for a healthy eating programme, training programme or some personal training, please do get in touch.

Thanks for reading!

Angie :o)