Posts Tagged ‘dieting’

Revolutionary Weight Loss Secret Revealed!

Friday, July 1st, 2011

As with a lot of things if it’s too good to be true, it probably is. This particularly applies to rapid weight loss. I completely understand the lure of “diet plans” that promise the perfect body in 4 weeks but here are two basic truths about rapid weight loss:

Weight Loss Secrets

Weight Loss Secrets

1. It rarely works over the long-term because most rapid weight loss programs are not mentally, physically, emotionally or practically sustainable. So why start?

2. Losing vast amounts of weight in a short time frame (say, 2-5 kilos per week) is usually a loss of mostly water and muscle and some fat. Therefore lighter does not always equal leaner.

So rapid weight-loss is generally just a very effective way to lose muscle, get dehydrated and change your body composition for the worst…. and can completely screw up your metabolism. Badly!!

When you embark on a new eating or exercise plan have respect for your body – it’s the most amazing piece of machinery you will ever own. Question whether the changes you are starting are helpful to your body not just for the next month but also for the rest of your life.

A healthy, fit body takes time to create when you have neglected it for a while, but with time it will respond to what it needs – a little TLC from nutritious food, consistent exercise and rest, it is really that simple. We just need to learn to be patient!

The Magic Pill

The Magic Pill

 

If you’re looking to lose weight and don’t know where to start or what you should be doing (because lets face it you’re swamped with massive amounts of misinformation & BS from companies all offering you the world in the form of a pill or powder) then get professional and personalised advice. Do yourself a favour and sit down with a good Trainer who can review what you personally should be doing from the fitness side of things, as well as provide you with some general nutritional guidelines and advice on healthy eating (and if necessary refer you onto a nutritional specialist for more analysis and advice).

Life is short and you health is not just your most valuable asset, it’s your key to maximising your enjoyment of it… make the most of it! You’re worth it!

Happy Training :)
Adriana Solorzano – Owner & Head Personal Trainer

P.S. If you want help or would like to make a time to sit down with one of our GREAT Trainers then give us a call on 1300 110 884 or email me at adriana@tribefitness.com.au and we can arrange for an obligation free consultation.

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Success… One Step at a Time

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010

A lot of my work revolves around sitting down with clients and setting goals that are measurable, realistic and have a timeframe. I do this quite a bit myself on a personal level.

However recent events particularly to people around me has demonstrated that no matter how much structure we create in our lives, no matter how many good habits we build, there will always be things that we cannot control.

Success

Success

Which then leads me to ask “why bother”? Why do I bother putting in the time to stay fit and healthy if I might still come down with an illness later on? Why do I bother setting goals if life will take its course regardless?

After observing a friend go through a terrible loss of their loved one I’ve come to realise that life is too short to not be bothered. If we don’t set goals of achieving cool things we are then just sitting on the bench watching the game instead of playing it.

It seems to me that we need to strike a balance between directing our life on a certain path, for example a path of health and wellbeing by eating well and exercising and accepting that once we are on that path anything can happen.

For instance your goal might be to start running in the mornings, and everything has been going great for the last week – you’ve been so disciplined until this week when it’s been pouring rain and you haven’t gone running once! You get angry. You are disappointed, because you didn’t get to do your morning routine. You are stressed from all these changes to what you’re used to. It ruins your day because you are frustrated for the rest of the day. Worst still you give up on your goal because what’s the point?!

1. Realise that you can’t control everything. I think we all know this at some level, but the way we think and act and feel many times contradicts this basic truth. We don’t control the universe, and yet we seem to wish we could. You can’t even control everything within your own little sphere of influence — you can influence things, but many things are simply out of your control. First step is realizing that these things will happen. Not might happen, but will. So plan for it, when you are setting goals have a plan B.

2. Get perspective. This always helps me. I get angry over something happening — my car breaks down, internet isn’t working — and then I take a deep breath, and take a step back. A week from now, a year from now, this little incident won’t matter a single bit. No one will care, not even you. So why get upset about it? Just let it go, and soon it won’t be a big deal.

3. Accept change and imperfection. When we get things the way we like them, we usually don’t want them to change. But they will change. It’s a fact of life. We cannot keep things the way we want them to be … instead, it’s better to learn to accept things as they are. Accept that the world is constantly changing, and we are a part of that change.

Instead of wanting things to be “perfect”, we should accept that they will never be perfect but to not let that keep us for having goals and working towards them. Sometime people never get on the path of health and wellbeing because the timing isn’t “perfect” – is there such a thing anyway? So what are you waiting for?!

Happy Training ,
Adriana Solorzano – Director & Personal Training Manager

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Eating Consciously

Monday, November 1st, 2010

By far the biggest challenge for most people on the path to well-being is managing their food intake in a healthy, intelligent and responsible manner.

Eating Consciously

Eating Consciously

Most people (and myself included from time to time) eat on autopilot. They eat what they don’t need every day. People eat:

  • Because its expected (its Christmas so you have to gorge yourself)
  • Because food is there (think biscuit tin at work)
  • Because its free (and we wouldn’t want to waste that “nutritious” packaged food)
  • Because they are stressed, angry, upset
  • Because they want to reward themselves

This month I challenge you to not eat for the above reasons but to eat consciously. Conscious eating is giving our body the nutrition it needs for optimal health, function and energy. Nothing more or less. So, what’s the most conscious and responsible question you and I can ask in relation to our eating habits? “Why am I eating this?”

If our answer is not “because I need it and my tummy is grumbling” then we’re eating unconsciously. Many of us have been raised in situations (environment, mindset, group-think) where eating food that we don’t physically need (that is, consuming excess calories, salt, sugar, fat) is rationalised, explained, justified and even expected. The fact that we aren’t hungry or actually requiring food is irrelevant. We often eat because that’s what the situation, circumstance or moment dictated. And when we don’t eat (the food we didn’t need) we are criticised. “Don’t you dare leave anything on your plate.”

A lot of us have been trained to celebrate with excessive eating. That is, disordered eating. We have been taught to overeat on certain occasions.  Christmas, birthdays, reunions, anniversaries, engagements, New Year and Easter are all legitimate times to abuse our bodies with food. We have been encouraged to over-ride the ‘full’ signal. We ignore what our body is telling us and unbutton our pants and keep on eating.

Conscious eating is about reconnecting with our body. It’s about stopping the abuse, the lies and the excuses. It’s about slowing down and paying attention. It’s about honouring and respecting the gift that is our body.

Here’s something you might want to copy and put on your fridge (pantry, forehead) for a month or ten if you believe that they way you eat is sabotaging your health:

Poor Eating

You Are What You Eat

  • I will not eat food I don’t need.
  • I will not reward myself with food.
  • I will not medicate with food.
  • I will not allow situations, circumstances or other people to influence or dictate the way I eat.
  • I will not rationalise poor eating.
  • I will not be a food martyr; I will simply do what I need to.
  • I will not lie to myself or others about my eating behaviours.
  • I will not eat in secret.
  • I will not repeat the mistakes of my past.
  • I will not allow my mind or emotions to sabotage my physical potential.

I will eat consciously.
Adriana Solorzano – Director & Personal Training Manager

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Eat well for Weight-Loss, Exercise for Wellbeing.

Saturday, August 7th, 2010

The most common questions I get as a personal trainer are “what are the best exercises I can do to lose weight” and “how often should I be exercising if I want to lose weight”? The truth is that there are many different ways of training the body; however none of these have much to do with weight/fat loss.

Weight loss is about food. Health is about wholesome food and exercise. The problem that most people have, and the reason I think so many people lose motivation and hate exercising, is that they (1) put too much emphasis on training as a way to lose weight, and (2) they don’t find ways of exercising that they actually enjoy.

Eat Well

Eat Well

If you reduce the calories you consume you can get the same fat loss results with less time spent exercising. Eating 2,000 calories more per week than you need and then doing cardio 5 times per week to burn those 2,000 calories off, leads you to a net fat loss of nothing!

By simply eating less and staying active day to day, you can reduce the amount of official workouts per week. Although it sounds simple, many people eat too much (both “good” and “bad” foods) and then try to burn off those excess calories with many unnecessary hours in the gym.

You don’t have to go crazy and drastically reduce calories. You simply need to eat slightly smaller portions and be healthier with your choices, so instead of the ice-cream with the 200 calories choose the tub of yoghurt with 109 calories. By choosing the yoghurt instead over 3 nights you would save yourself almost 300 calories that week – 300 calories to burn off is a big workout, a workout you now don’t have to do just to get back to a neutral position.

You don’t have to cut back much as far as average daily calories, to equal what a workout would burn. Honestly, just 100-200 calories less per day would do the trick. If you combine this with walking more often and increasing recreational activities on weekends, you will achieve the same effect with one less trip to the gym. I actually believe you would be healthier in the long run as well.

Training should be about working up a sweat to makes our hearts, muscles and minds healthier and stronger, it should be about doing something you enjoy and therefore makes you feel better. At the end of the week your training should make you feel proud not disappointed because it hasn’t changed your weight.

Love your training, don’t resent it and enjoy healthier foods in smaller amounts.

Happy training :)
Adriana Solorzano – Director & Personal Training Manager

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What’s the deal with Metabolism???

Saturday, May 1st, 2010

I’ve been getting quite a few questions about metabolism, and given that the term gets thrown around a fair bit in the media and health magazines it’s no wonder that most of us are confused as to what it is and how it impacts our fitness and weight loss.

So here we go….The basics on metabolism:

Metabolism

Metabolism

> We all have one.

> They’re all different.

> Some are faster and some slower (burn more or less energy at rest).

> Our metabolic rate can (and will) vary throughout the day.

> We can manipulate it. (To a VERY small degree)

> It typically slows as we age (although it doesn’t need to).

> It plays a significant role in body-fat levels.

When we talk about metabolism from a weight/fat-loss perspective, we are generally referring to the rate at which our body metabolises (uses, burns) energy. Keep in mind that any energy that we put in our mouth will be used for either normal bodily functions (energy to do what we do, recovery, repair, growth), expelled as waste or stored on your rear end. Or perhaps legs. Or stomach. In fact, wherever your body chooses to deposit it. I know it sucks doesn’t it…oh well.

The problem I see all the time is that the majority of us are simply giving our body way more energy than it requires. In our fast-food, instant-gratification culture we have a propensity to confuse what our mind wants (and what makes us feel good momentarily) with what our body NEEDS.

In my opinion the easiest way to stay lean and be at a healthy weight is simply to eat less of all foods 95% of the time, and move more, and then you don’t have to really worry about whether or not you have a slow or fast metabolism.  People try all sorts of things to increase their metabolism, some attempts are ok, like eating smaller meals throughout the day. Other attempts not so good like taking pills, powders and potions-who would know the long (or even short) term side effect off those. But the truth is that although theses attempts might help by the smallest degree, no attempt will make up for gluttony.

Just like we’re all born with different fingerprints, so too do we all have our own unique metabolism. No two bodies work (react, adapt, heal, grow) in exactly the same way, so it’s only reasonable and logical to conclude that food (what and how much we have of it) will impact everyone differently. We will often see two people consuming exactly the same diet only to produce very different outcomes (even when the other variables are the same).  So this is why we shouldn’t compare ourselves to others. Eat healthy portions all the time and exercise by doing things you enjoy all the time and regardless of your metabolism your body will be all the happier for it and so will you.

Therefore this month I will:
1. Review portions on all food even healthy foods
2. Try to only eat until I am 4/5ths full.

Happy Training :)
Adriana Solorzano – Director & Personal Training Manager

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