For some people the task of losing weight and getting fit can be quite daunting, especially if you have a lot of weight to lose.

It is easy to say ” I want to lose 20kg’s” and then never do anything about it because it is such a massive task, so why not break down your overall goal into several mini goals.

The best way to tackle weight loss for the long term is to aim for 2kg’s per month.

I can hear what you are saying right now…”2 kg’s a month isn’t much”

Well, 2kg’s a month is more than what you are losing right now and it is more than you would lose if you didn’t attempt 2kg’s next month, so if you manage to eat sensibly, exercise regularly and lose more than 2kg’s without doing anything faddish and extreme, then good for you. Otherwise, make some small changes and aim for that 2kg’s. By the end of a year, you would have lost 24kg’s. Or, don’t aim for those 2kg’s and still be the same weight or bigger in a year.

So what can you do to lose the 2kg’s each month? Here’s my top 5;

1) Eat meals balanced with carbs, protein and fat in a ratio of 40:30:30. Get the majority of your carbohydrates from vegetables, salads and fruits.

2) Eliminate as much sugar from your diet as possible. Never drink soft drinks either diet or regular.

3) Exercise regularly. Aim for 5 sessions a week. Make sure you vary your routine.

4) Limit alcohol to special occasions and even then don’t go crazy. Be realistic about what is a special event and what it you just thinking alcohol is a reward for a hard days work.

5) Be active. Live the lifestyle of someone who deserves to be fit and healthy, a lifestyle that involves going out and doing active things. Ride a bike, go for a bush walk, go swimming, go kayaking, play sport. We are coming into Summer and the great outdoors have never been better than this time of year, so get out and enjoy it.

We are only into the second week in November, so let’s aim for 2kg’s gone by the end of the month. We are coming into December and party season, so you have to be even more focussed if you don’t want to gain weight over that period.

Do you want to go into 2012 fatter or thinner?

Do you want to walk down the beach proud or self conscious?

The answer to both of those questions is obvious, so stop kidding yourself and get started now! Not tomorrow, today!

As I begin to write this blog, I am not sure how I am going to say it, but I know the point I want to make, so if it is a bit hit and miss, atleast you can take away the main point and ponder it and see if it is applicable to you.

Last week I took a break and headed up to QLD to relax and as usual, when I am away from work and I have a few minutes to myself, I usually observe all the people around me. It got me thinking about something and everywhere I looked, I had my theory cemented.

“Everybody can change their life with just a few changes of thinking and a few changes of action.”

I see so many people who’s life is heading in one direction and you just know that they are not happy, but maybe they just don’t know how to change it.

I also know so many people who have been on that unhappy road and they have made changes and their life has changed for the better.

I am not just talking about being overweight, but this would be the main one that comes to mind due to my occupation. I am also talking about being in bad relationships or bad jobs, having bad habits, having no hobbies or interests etc etc, anything that is bringing you down.

When I was away, I got up early each morning and did a workout down by the beach. I did this because I enjoy it and rarely get the luxury of exercising in the early morning when I am working. When I got in the lift each day to head out, there was usually at least 1 person in the lift and believe it or not, they were usually overweight. But not just overweight, they looked generally miserable. They also looked somewhat embarrassed when Hannah I got into the lift.

Now maybe they feel stuck. Staying the same is easy, but it is sucking the life out of them. Making a change is hard, often very hard, but the rewards can be huge.

I also went to a water park and as you know, there is no easy way to cover up there. But what I found was that so many people were embarrassed by their own skin, that they would wear a shirt or even more clothes than just a shirt over the top of their swimmers.

Again, I am sure these people feel stuck. I mean honestly, who is happy and comfortable being overweight, feeling sluggish and embarrassed by their own skin?

I just want to say that it is never too late to make a change. Sometimes making the smallest change can have a domino effect and you will make another change without even thinking about it and then another and yet another until 12 months later, you stop and think and realise that you are not the same person you were. Things in your life are better. Things are more enjoyable etc etc.

I am not saying being thinner is the be all and end all, even though it may lengthen your life and improve your quality of life whilst you are here, but what I am saying is that making one change, usually leads to another.

I’d like to give you some examples. Totally random of course

You’re stuck in a job you hate which doesn’t allow any time for the gym or to eat correctly and you’re in a relationship that is just not right and you’re hanging out because you are comfortable, even though you are unhappy. So one day, you say thats it, I’m done. You quit your job and start looking for a new one that is in a new industry. Something that will bring a spark back to your life. Something you are passionate about. You end your relationship. Let’s face it, it wasn’t going anywhere anyway. You were only hanging out until something better came along, but with the state of mind you were in, nothing better was ever going to come along. You get right into your fitness and eat healthily. All of a sudden you have less burdens. You may be lonely for a while, but now that you are a happier person, working in an industry you enjoy, looking better than ever because you are so fit and healthy and then you find a person who is equally fit and healthy and happy. You are now in a happy relationship because you feel good about your self. 2 years later, you can’t even remember that person who was unhappy in both work, relationship & life and unhealthy and embarrassed to look in the mirror. But, had you not made those couple of changes, 2 years later you could be even deeper stuck in the unhappiness… you would be a totally different person…

or

Maybe you’ve been overweight and unfit for as long as you can remember. Everyone around you is unfit, so why change. But then one day, you say enough is enough. It may be hard and you are going to make a change. You start exercising regularly. You start eating healthy. The weight falls off. You gain self confidence. You start to help others around you because you realise it was not as hard as you had once thought. You want  others to know it is just a few small changes and the domino’s roll. Does losing the weight along make you more confident? The answer is probably YES, but let’s just say no for the sake of argument. So what does make you more confident? Could it be that you now have gym buddies? You’re stronger? You have a hobby? Your social circle has expanded? You can now take up other hobbies because you feel able to do it, where once you felt physically inadequate. How about this…Now that you are happier with your own skin, even though you were in what you thought was a good relationship already, you and your partner are now happier than ever! If you love yourself more, you can love others more too! You don’t always need a new relationship, you may just need to be a happier person to be a better partner!

Does any part of either of those examples sound familiar? I have loads more stories, but I think you get it.

On my way home in the car, I heard a segment on the radio about how much weight you have lost when your partner dumped you. Most of the callers were female whose partners had cheated on them and they all had lost anywhere from 15 to 40kg’s and they all said how amazing they felt and how they rubbed it into their partners faces whenever they saw them. they made comments like now he realises what he lost. My immediate thoughts were “why didn’t you lose the weight when you were together so that he was still physically attracted to you and didn’t even consider cheating on you?”  ”Why is it better to rub it into his face that you have lost weight now that you have broken up instead trying to look after yourself while you were together?

During this same segment, a guy rang up who had been dumped when he was 19 years old. After the breakup, he lost 40kg’s. He said it was a turning point in his life and he was so grateful that she dumped him. He said he is a totally different person now. I want to imagine where he might be if she hadn’t dumped him, because at 19, weighing 117kg’s is not good and I am sure he had some pretty bad habits that may or may not have led to an unhealthy and unhappy adult. In this case, it is the may not! Awesome!

I got told today of a very successful businessman who constantly ate business lunches and dinners always containing alcohol. He recently had a little change of heart and decide he needed to lose weight. By changing what he eats on the business lunches and dinners and by cutting alcohol out of his diet and exercising regularly, he has lost 40kg’s. Do you think he might inspire others around him to do the same. It’s not rocket science!

I saw a guy on the news the other night who was a former skinhead. He had tattoos all over his face. He has recently had a change of heart and is no longer a racist and had decided to have all of the tattoos removed form his face. $35,000 later, he looks like a new man. Could his life have become any different? All he did was change his way of thinking!

So if you are unhappy, for any reason, it is never too hard to make a change, and remember, once you make one change, other things will start to happen! No one needs to be unhappy. Life is short, you better make the most of it. Sooner rather than later!

So many of my clients have made changes in their health and fitness and in turn they have changed many other parts of their personalities and their lives so please help someone else out and let them know it is never too late to make a change!

And please be honest. It is very easy to pretend to be happy with what you have got because it may seem difficult to change, but you can only lie to yourself for so long before the truth needs to come out.

So the last few posts have been based around fat loss and I guess I got a little carried away on the wrong side of things.

Yes, you are definitely going to lose weight and start to look a lot more like you should look, but the health and sickness side of things is the real reason why I want everybody to participate in March.

Just as a quick side note. I am not making any money off this challenge and there is nothing in it for me except loads of time writing these posts which could be better spent doing things for myself or my family, so please take note.

I know what’s good and bad, I do research on “health” all the time.

How many of you have benefited from cutting down sugar? You can thank me later for that.

How many of you think that CrossFit is the best exercise program you have ever done? You can thank me for that later too!

This is the next big thing in your road to a healthier life, so don’t let me down.

Do it for 31 days and then I will discuss anything that troubles you about the diet.

Sometimes I think everyone needs to take a step back and look at this from an outside view point. I’m not asking you to eat dogs for 31 days or to shave your entire family’s heads. I’m asking you to eat fruit, vegies and protein for 31 days to improve your body composition and health.

I’m also not asking you to bore yourself stupid and read the latest Di Morrissey book, I am asking you to read the best book I have read in years if not ever, so that you can grasp exactly what you are doing to your body on a daily basis.

Do you ever look at a smoker and think why? Don’t they know or don’t they care or don’t they think it will affect them? I’m there right now with this challenge and you!

This is for you! YOU and YOUR HEALTH and YOUR BODY.

Now, the majority of diseases are caused by inflammation. Not only diseases, but injuries. How many of you have ever had an anti inflammatory? Wow, that many? Well, listen up.

Food is the most powerful drug you can consume. You eat it all day every day. What you eat both becomes and affects your body.

The basis of this diet is to control inflammation and hormones. The two things that will contribute greatly to most illnesses or health issues, from cancer to cholesterol to cardiovascular disease to infertility.

I am not going to go into, because it is too long for me to write about correctly and the experts have detailed it all in the book I recommended “The Paleo Solution” by Robb Wolf. Buy it, read it, understand it.

Next time you tell me about your illness, injury, health issue, weight problems, you can know 100% what I will be thinking in my head, but probably not bothering to say out loud….

Has anyone ever seen the movie “Madagascar”? You may remember the scene at the end with the penguins laying on the beach…”Just wave and smile boys, just wave and smile”

For those of you who are worried about calcium intake, here’s your answer – Calcium and Paleo

For those of you wanting a few tips about eating, check this out – The Food Matrix

I also had a conversation with someone last night where he said he wanted to read the book before he signed up. I told him to sign up for me. He proceeded to tell me that he wouldn’t be doing it for himself if that is the case.

My response is that you may be doing it for me right now, but 2 weeks into March, when you feel the difference in yourself and you have started reading the book and understanding the inner workings of your body, you will be doing it for yourself, I guarantee it. You will also be doing something that has become common for you, you will be once again thanking me for pointing you in the right direction, because as far as I can remember,I haven’t led you the wrong way yet!

One thing I noticed from our no sugar events is how much people focus on what they going to eat as soon as the challenge is over.

I always hear about the chocolate they ate that night etc.

What I want you to focus on towards the end of this challenge is what you are not going to eat.

It’s quite simple really. When you are eating your dinner, think to yourself. I really don’t need to eat pasta anymore.

Or when you order Thai takeaway, you might realise how enjoyable it is without rice.

Lunches may seem more enjoyable as fruit and turkey instead of bread and turkey.

Think of the things you are enjoying and would like to stick with.

Think of how you feel when you eat something and think of how you used to feel when you ate the alternative. Thats a sure fire way to keep you eating well. The lack of bloat and lethargy you will feel.

I personally do not eat like this all the time. I do enjoy eating like this all day almost every day. It is convenient, healthy and I feel great all the time.

I do enjoy some takeaway and a treat on a Saturday night and sometimes a Sunday night. I also don’t really hold back at parties etc. I am not an extremist and I am not stupid, I understand how good all of this food tastes, but I am a realist, I understand how bad it is for you and how it makes you feel. So moderation is the key.

If there are 42 meals in a week, make sure 39 of them are clean. Do the math on that one. Surely you can get some great results and put less stress on your body by eating clean for 93% of the time and still enjoy the things you like in moderation…

Remember, focus on what new habits you can continue. Don’t focus on how you are going to break your new habits. It’s all a state of mind!

One more thing, how many people have you even met who are fit, healthy and lean, I mean lean, not not-obese, who have become that way via something along the lines of lite’n'easy, weight watchers, tony ferguson etc etc etc. Pardon? None? Oh…..

Yesterday I took a visit to the local aquatic centre and to the aquarium. Not that this was anything new, but I had a good look around this time and was intrigued by what I saw.

At the aquatic centre on the benches where we left our belongings were 3 parents. The other partner was in the pool with the kids, while they sat and watched. Can you guess the common factor in all 3? Yes you can, they were obese. I bet their kids are having fun without them. But I also bet they will shovel in a nice treat from the cafe on the way out.

At the aquarium, it was wall to wall. I am not sure at what point our population became so fat! The queue at the popcorn and donut stand was massive and the people buying the snacks were even more massive.

I don’t care when people say they are happy with how they look and that they don’t need to lose weight, because I know it is a lie and a very transparent one at that. No-one likes walking around overweight. This may seem harsh, but it is true. Whether they admit it to you or not. Whether they admit it to themselves or not. One day, it all gets too much and usually by that point, it is out of control and it is so much harder to get a handle on.

The thing I find most disturbing is the overweight children. Which always have overweight parents! One guy yesterday, who would have tipped the scales at 150kg’s had a daughter who would have been around 7 years old. Now her belly was sticking out between her shirt and pants. While she was eating a tub of popcorn. He was in the underwater tunnel and no-one could get past him, there was a massive traffic jam until he realised and made a bee line for the exit where he stood while the rest of his family enjoyed the rest of the underwater experience that he was now missing out on.

Who has ever known an overweight child to be picked on?

Who has ever known an overweight adult who was singled out?

Why on earth would you want to put your child through the same ridicule that you may have felt as an overweight child or adult?

An overweight child is more than likely going to become an overweight adult.

Or, an overweight child could develop eating disorders instead, which would last a lifetime and control their lives more than you could imagine.

Just educate them and lead by example. Please!

P.S  Has anyone heard the news today that we need more ambulances to carry obese people because they don’t fit in regular ones on regular stretchers.

Keep eating grains, I’m in la la land.

P.P.S All I have focussed on here is being overweight for appearance, because in our society, this is what people focus on most, but the reality is, it doesn’t matter what you look like when you’re dead. Being overweight is extremely bad for your health. If you don’t lose your weight and look after your health, you’re in for a lot of visits to the doctors with lots of medications and lots of troubles as you hopefully grow old.

Health is far more important than appearance!

Ok guys, so we are shutting down for 10 days over the Christmas period, but that doesn’t mean you need to get fat and lazy. This time of year is notorious for weight gain. You have got parties all through December, Christmas day where you eat yourself stupid and then it is all topped off with copious amounts of alcohol on New Years Eve and usually a party or BBQ on New years Day.

Wow, I am tired just writing about all those things. So imagine what this time of year can do to your fitness, your waist line and your health!

It is no accident that the number of people at training drops throughout December. Everybody says it is because they are out late at functions etc and yes, this is one of the reasons, but the other reason which doesn’t seem so obvious is what I call “Health Motivation”

“Health Motivation” is very high when somebody;

• Starts a new exercise regimen
• Starts a new diet
• Has a special event coming up that they want to be a bit fitter for
• Has an event coming up that they need to lose 5kg’s for.

But unfortunately “Health Motivation” doesn’t last very long, which is why we need to set goals.

Without goals, you are just plodding along and the problem with just plodding along is that it is very easy to get distracted, so please I urge you all to set your health and fitness goals before the new year starts. Remember that they must be measurable and achievable. If they are not, then it is just as easy to get distracted because they may seem unattainable and may result in you questioning your approach to them and will probably see you stray from the path you were on.

But, there is something else that affects “Health Motivation” dramatically more than other things and that is a lack of either diet or exercise.

Meaning, if you are in a great routine, you are eating really clean and you are training hard, you will be seeing results and you will be feeling fantastic.

So, lets say you get an injury and have to have 3 weeks off from training. What do you think happens to your diet? There is now a lack of motivation to keep eating healthily because you are not training anyway. Have a good long think about it and I will guarantee you have gone through this without even really thinking about why you strayed from your eating.

Now let’s look at it the other way. Let’s say you have a whole bunch of functions that entail eating bad food and drinking lots of alcohol. This way of eating will have you feeling quite flat and this will now result in you losing motivation to train. Again, have a good long think about it and I am sure you will have gone through this also, without really thinking about why your exercise regimen may have slipped. This is the reason why numbers are lower at training at time of year, not just because of late nights.

You really need to eat healthy and train regularly to feel good and keep “Health Motivation” high.

So, what are you going to do over the Christmas break?

• Have 10 days off training?
• Eat as much rubbish food as possible to really enjoy the festive season?
• Not think about training because it is a time of rest and you don’t want to feel guilty?
• Start 2011 3kg’s heavier than you were at the start of December?
• Find it hard to get started in 2011 because you are in sloth mode?

OR

• Indulge on Christmas day and then get back to eating healthy until New Years Eve?
• Don’t overdo the alcohol on New Years Eve or New Years Day?
• Eat very healthy on a day where you know you’ve got a function on at night?
• Train everyday except Christmas, Boxing and New Years day’s?
• Survive the holiday season without gaining any weight?
• Kick off 2011 pumped and ready to go?

Realistically, if you read this and make choices from the first list, then maybe you need to read the lists again and have a good think about what they actually say.

So, to keep you on the straight and narrow, here is a list of workouts that you can tick off over the holiday break. They are not long, you should be able to knock them over in about 20 mins on average.

1) 100 burpees for time

2) 5 sit ups, 10 push ups, 15 squats – 10 rounds for time

3) Run 5km for time

4) 10 star jumps, 20 bench dips, 30 mountain climbers – 5 rounds for time

5) 1 minute as many push ups as possible, 1 minute as many burpees as possible, 1 minute as many air jacks as possible – repeat for a total of 15 mins

6) 20 squats, 2 sit ups run 100m, then 18 squats, 4 sit ups, run 100m, then 16 squats, 6 sit ups, run 100m – continue with this cycle until you get to 2 squats and 20 sit ups, always incorporating the 100m – for time.

7) 100 bench dips, 100 bicycle, 100 mountain climbers, 80 of each, 60 of each, 40 of each, 20 of each – for time

There you go guys, 7 workouts for the 7 days I would like you to train whilst we are on the Christmas break – 27th, 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 2nd, 3rd.

I wish everyone a safe, happy, healthy Christmas and a fantastic New Year!

The Fitta Bodies Team

I was sent this video clip today because of the awesome weight loss story and the way in which the weight was lost.
Awesome success story
I urge you all to check it out, because it is one of those rare stories where somebody lost a lot of weight by eating sensibly and doing fitness training. Who would have thought it hey? Lose weight by exercising and eating healthy food. Will wonders never cease.

Well, this story is so rare in the public eye these days, that it made A Current Affair.

So, after you have watched it and been inspired to take control of your own health and weight, take another look at it and look at the man who was so worried about Mal’s health that he encouraged him to lose weight. Do you notice anything? He is huge. Can somebody please tell him that he also needs to lose some weight.

I am really happy for Mal, but really angry his boss doens’t take care of himself, or just doesn’t realise how big his gut is. Just a reminder that abdominal fat is the worst kind there is because it surrounds all of your organs. So he is basically a walking time bomb.

Do you know anyone who talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk?

2011 is the year to tell your friends what you really think. If you think they are in need of a health makeover, bring it to their attention. But be aware, 2011 may also be the year you have no friends left!!!

On a similar note, I had a conversation with someone today about big boned people. I said there are no fat skeletons. No fat skeletons means no big bones. Perfect example is the biggest loser. How big are those people’s bones!!! That is until they lose some weight and wow, they are actually small boned. Who would have thought it???

It’s time to stop making excuses, stop procrastinating, stop ignoring the important things in life such as your health and start getting real results and becoming the healthy person you should be, so you can live a long healthy life.

Bring on 2011 and the new challenges that await.

Well I survived my 19 days recovery without exercise. Following on from my intial entry “Everyday the cells in our body change, my beard will prove it” I am sure you will assume that not much can happen to your body if you don’t exercise for nearly 3 weeks.

I have a nice photo here of how my face looked after those 19 days.

Now tell me, if not much can happen in your body in 3 weeks, how did all that hair grow on my face?

If all that hair grew on my face, what happened inside my body at that time?

Did I lose muscle mass? Did my aerobic capacity decrease? Yes, I definitely noticed changes in my body!

So the purpose of this little example is to prove to you that what you do to your body everyday matters. What you eat and drink will be used to manufacture new cells for your body as they regenerate everyday. So if you want to be healthy, eat and drink healthy. It isn’t possible to create healthy cells with unhealthy food!

If you want to be fit, you have to be consistent with your training. Taking days or even weeks off regularly is only going to send you backwards and will make your journey towards a fitter body seem like a long trip with no end in sight.

But it doesn’t have to be this hard guys, eat healthy 90% of the time and exercise 5 – 6 days per week and you could be living in your best body ever!

Please feel free to give me your feedback at the Forum, you know I love to hear what you have to say!

I have always said that Consistency is the vital key to success at just about anything you desire, but I want you to have a think about this…

I am going to use weight loss as my example for obvious reasons, but you can apply this to anything you like and still get the same result.

If desire was to get you to your goal, why are there so many people talking about how they want to look and feel but ultimately stay fat?

If motivation was to get you to your goal, why are there so many people signing up with gyms and trainers but soon falling by the way side and staying fat?

If knowledge was to get you to your goal, why are we constantly bombarded with information about healthy eating and proper exercise yet still hold the record as the most obese nation in the world?

“We often desire something and this motivates us to take action to learn what to do and start doing it, but unless you consistently do what you know you have to, you will never reach that end goal.”

Troy Shipsey

Please feel free to give me your feedback at the forum you know I love to hear what you have to say!

Well the new year has arrived and I am sure a lot of you made New Years resolutions that included health and fitness.

So, what to do now?

I’ll give you a few suggestions to help you on your way.

1) Get a tape measure and measure your waistline on your belly button. Make sure the tape is straight so you get an accurate measurement. Just relax and don’t hold your tummy in.

If you have got someone who could do measurements for you, measure your hips at the widest part and your arm at the mid point between your shoulder and elbow.

Write these measurements down and re-measure at the start of every month this year. I want everybody to atleast measure their wasteline, it is not hard and it is a much beter indicator of weight loss than scales, which brings me to point 2.

2) Put your scales in the bin. I am serious, dispose of them forever. They are the stupidest indicator of weight loss if you are training correctly. Meaning if you are performing resistance exercises to strengthen muscles, bones and joint as well as speeding your metabolism and creating a more toned look. A number on a small metal box means nothing. How you look in the mirror means everything. What you weighed when you were 16 and not training properly and had a great natural metabolism means nothing now. How your clothes fit means everything now. Get it? How do you look, how do you feel, are your clothes tighter or looser on you?

3)  Clean up your diet today. Christmas and New Year are a notoriously bad time of year for eating and drinking, but they are over! I understand indulging during that period, but a few too many people are trying to hang on to it by carrying on the party food and drink.

Now is the time to get rid of all the junk food that is left in your cupboards and start the new year afresh. In February we will have SUGARFREEFEBRUARY but for now you should aim to give up all the sugar in your diet. This means no more alcohol, no junk food, no sweets. You get the idea. Your stomach will thank you for it!

4) Get back to training. It can be hard to get back into the swing of things after 2 weeks of leisure and bad diet, so my suggestion to you is to ignore the lazy little person who is sitting on your shoulder telling you to stay in bed every morning and drag your butt out to do some exercise.

I am going to bring it back to calories as I know you all have way too many in storage at the moment. 1 class = approximately 600 calories. Turn up to 1 class and burn 600, turn up to 3 and burn 1800 or turn up to 5 and burn 3000. 1kg of fat = 7700 calories.

It is not hard to figure out what is right and what is wrong, get back into the swing of training, clean up your diet today, measure yourself today so you can have something to work towards at the end of the month and throw your scales away so you don’t have any useless numbers messing with your head!

If 2009 was the year you thought about, 2010 is the year to do it!