Its Time to Set Some New Goals/Shake Up Your Life

My theme this week is twofold.  I received lots of emails mentioning that its" status quo", results seem to have to a standstill.  I am also aware that we are now 12 weeks out from one of the biggest community events - the City to Bay.

Progress towards goals, whether its weight loss/fat loss/performance will regularly come to a standstill.  Our bodies get so good at adapting to what we are doing that before long what we are doing is no longer a challenge, and no longer forcing our bodies to adapt.  So the key here is to do something different.  Eat some different foods, change your exercise routine.  Try a new form of exercise, swap mornings for evenings, split a long session into two smaller sessions in the morning/night, pick up the weight training, start running.  Shake SOMETHING up.

In line with this, if you have found sending your measurements in here helpful, because it keeps you accountable, then I'd like to introduce to the concept of a training plan for a particular event - eg the City to Bay Fun Run.  A training plan has sessions scheduled ahead of time for you, gradually increasing the demands on your body so that you are prepared to meet the challenge on race day. Without a doubt, goals and training plans like this keep you accountable.  You don't want to miss a session for fear that you wont be ready on race day.  And the skill/fitness progression is scheduled in for you.  You don't have to think about how much you should do each week to keep improving, you just look at your schedule and do it.  So maybe this is a good way to take yourself to the next level.  Races like the City to Bay have training schedules on their website.  But if you would like a personalised one to walk it, walk/run it, or run it - then book in for me to set one up for you.  ($50 - either a face to face consult or via email, and then I will write it for you).  But be quick because its time to start training.  And if you follow my training program, I'm offering spa/champagne at the end at Glenelg, and maybe we should also do a group trip to Lorna Jane!

One final word - The City to Bay is a 12km fun run.  Any one of you could walk this provided you train properly. Most of you could walk/run it with some guidance.  Many of you could run it.  This is an achievable goal for everyone, and if the date doesn't suit you (Sunday Sept 15) there are plenty of other runs around.  Just tell me what length you would like to do and I'll find the run for you.

Week 8 Results
(NB we missed congratulating Anisa last week - I erroneously missed her great loss of 1.08% which would have put her in third place. Watch out for this girl - she's training for a Tough Mudder!)

This week:
1st Place: 1.69% Kathryn H
2nd Place: 0.94% Deb S
3rd Place: 0.77%  Anisa A

Overall
1st Place:  8.49% Trudy B
2nd Place: 8.30 % Ali C
3rd Place: 6.81% Ingrid C

Ooooh its close!
Hopefully I haven't made any more mistakes... Have a good week

Help I'm sick/Help its too cold/Seasonal Winter Weight Gain

Its true, research shows that people tend to gain weight, or find it hard to lose weight over winter.
Why?  It might be about the influx of colds and flu. It might be about the cold putting people off exercise. Or it might just be about winter comfort foods.   What ever the reason, don't let the season (out of your control) control your achievement of your goals.  Winter, is not an excuse, its just a rationalisation.

When you are sick:

Its time to assess how sick you really are. If your symptoms are all above the neck - you are fine to exercise if you can manage it.   ie - got the sniffles, no reason why you can't run. Can't lift your head of the pillow - then realistically you aren't going anywhere regardless.
If your symptoms are below the neck - congestion, breathing difficulties etc, you can still exercise but you need to reduce the intensity.  So avoid the cardio that makes breathing more difficult, and focus on low intensity weight training, or yoga, pilates etc.  Now's a great time to concentrate on your flexibility.  And if you are home from work - its gives you plenty of time to stretch 2 or 3 times a day, something you would normally not be able to fit in.  Gentle exercise will increase blood flow and help with your recovery
However if you have a fever, you must rest.

But remember - weight loss is 80% about your diet.  So here's a great opportunity to review what you are eating and make some great choices.  Don't forget that if you are sick, your body is probably burning some extra calories to fight the bugs, so its an extra opportunity to lose some weight.  Fight the urge for comfort eating , or at least limit it.

When its too cold:
Really?  People go running in the snow - what's your excuse?  Would you rather run in 40 degree heat?  Or in the rain?  Or are you just coming up with excuses.  At least exercise will warm you up!
Here are my tips:

• The night before set out your clothes, including some nice warm layers.
• Have your mental messages ready about how good you will feel to have done it, disappointed if you don't.
• Have a heater ready to switch on to make the whole getting out of bed thing easier.
• Remember that it feels the same what ever time you get up - might as well be now and start the day off on a good note.
• Choose an alternative exercise if you don't want to go outside.  Eg. - plan to run on the treadmill or do something else inside - have a heater set up and on for when you start, and see how long it takes you to be desperate to switch the thing off.
• Come to the gym and do a class with me at night - you got your warm sleep in, in the morning, and the trade off is to come from work to the gym, get nice and hot and sweaty, and then go home to the comfort of fire/heater, as a reward for doing a great job.  it will also help reduce your hunger in the evenings.
• And if you are competitive...... think about how good you will look after winter, compared to everyone else who has been  lazin around eating bucket loads of calories!

So who's in control - you?  or the weather?

The Double Whammy!

Here they are - 2 weeks worth of results.
If your name is not here - why not?  Dont let winter (or anything else) beat you!  More about this later.

Week 6 Results:
1st Place Trudy B - 1.99%
2nd Place Ingrid C - 1.05%
3rd Place - Maree C - 0.88%

Week 6 Overall
1st Place - Ali C - 8.12%
2nd Place - Trudy B - 7.12%
3rd Place - Ingrid C - 5.72%


Week 7
1st Place - Kel D -  3.53%
2nd Place - Ingrid C - 1.09%
3rd Place - Trudy B - 1.02%

Week 7 Overall
1st Place - Trudy B - 8.23%
2nd Place - Ali C - 8.12%
3rd Place - Ingrid C 6.81%

And so we have a new leader - well done Trudy!  But can you hold on to it.  There are a few people seeing some extraordinary  results - I (and everyone else) would love to hear from you - what are your tips/secrets?  Post here or on facebook - would love to hear from you.

PS - I didn't have my normal system this week for recording the leader board - so if I have messed up - let me know!

Never Count Your Chickens....

... Before they Hatch -well that's my learning at least for last week.  Wrote a great post last Monday (week ago) about 21 minute exercise regimes, decided not to post it on Monday - but to save it for mid -week motivation, and when I went back to publish it - whammo - gone!  It seems I didn't save it properly.  And there I was thinking I was super organised.  Now I'll have to redo it.  ah well.

Have been reading heaps over the last few weeks about nutrition, spurred on by the "Born to Run" bible - a fantastic novel (true story) about running ultra marathons and the benefits of barefoot running, and then Scott Jurek's book Eat and Run - one of the world's best VEGAN ultrarunner who is featured in Born to Run.  If you didn't know - ultrarunner's may run 100 miles or for as long as 36+ hours - hence  good nutrition is absolutely vital.  Scott totally believes that what you put in your body has a big impact on performance.  The key take home message is that weight loss may be about calories in versus calories out, but performance, recovery times, injury and illness prevention are all about the quality of the food you put in your mouth.

Any way - here are the results for Week 4

1st Place:  Emma G - 1.87%
2nd Place: Ella H - 1.8%
3rd Place- Jo A -1.51%

Overall

1st Place:  Ali C - 7.57%
2nd Place: Tracey B - 5.22%
3rd Place: Ingrid C - 4.64%

There are some newcomers to the leaderboard - make sure if you see them you make them feel special - its always nice to receive a bit of recognition for your hard work.  Also - placegetters, dont get too comfortable  - you can't tell, but there are many others very hot on your tail, only narrowly missing out!

Have a good week

Lisa

Oh and the photo - its my view at the moment - am holidaying this week in my new apartment at Glenelg....!!!!!