When 10 more minutes in bed is more important than a proper breakfast

September 9, 2009 by Clare Valvona  
Filed under Articles, Blog, Bootcamp, Health, Mentality, Nutrition, Weight Loss

Is that extra 10 minutes in bed worth missing breakfast for?

As the days get shorter and it gets colder, I don’t know about you but I find it harder to get up. The snooze button comes out of retirement to help me stay in bed for just a bit longer.

For many people including myself at times it often seems like a good plan to have more time in bed and either miss breakfast or have something quick on the run.

Honestly, a good quality breakfast is worth far more than that extra 5/10 minutes between the sheets.

It has been shown in studies time and time again that people who miss breakfast make up the missed calories later on in the day or they get through the day by taking stimulants.

Neither of these approaches are good when it come to either losing weight or improving health.

Most people who miss breakfast end up feeling nibbly throughout the rest of the day, which is made worse by the high sugar snacks which is often the first thing that they have to eat.

For example one of my clients used to miss breakfast, waiting until she got to work at 9 where she would have a croissant or toast with jam and a coffee. By the time an hour had passed she was feeling nibbly again so had a high sugar snack and a coffee at 10 / 10.30ish. By lunch 1.00pm time she would be hungry again and would have a sandwich, fruit and a drink. This would satisfy her more, but by 3 pm she was ready to nibble again so she would only have 1 biscuit and a tea. She would manage to get through until dinner at 7 which would be a stir fry on a bed of white rice, but then throughout the evening she would have a glass of wine…. or 2 and some chocolate/biscuits/crisps and then to bed for 10.30/11pm.

The calories that she missed at breafast were made up plus extra throughout the day. Over a 3 year period she put on 3 stone!

The changes we made to her diet were simple but effective. If you’re not doing these, make a list and start.

  1. Plan your food knowing what will happen throughout the week
  2. Start your day with a protein based breakfast such as an omelette with meat or vegetables in or cold meats with some cheese and fruit
  3. Take a snack with you such as goat’s cheese and grapes, olives, small meat chunks left over from Sundays roast or mixed nuts.
  4. Cut the coffee and drink water
  5. Take a lunch with you so that you do not buy sandwiches. Prepare it the night before possibly by cooking more dinner. Place it in a container in the fridge and take it with you for lunch. See how much money you will save over buying lunch everyday
  6. Only have 2 or 3 spoonfuls of rice with your dinner. To make up the amount on your plate increase the amount of meat and vegetables

On these guidelines most people nibble less throughout the day and the evening, their health improves and they lose weight. If you don’t then you need to take things a little more seriously, come along to the boot camp for £1 or book a free consultation to find out whats best for you.

Committed to your success

Keith

Will doing crunches give you a six pack?

August 25, 2009 by Clare Valvona  
Filed under Blog, Bootcamp

judi

Have you ever noticed how doing sit ups or crunches never seem to give people a six pack no matter how many they do. You may be one of the people who are experiencing this problem.

For most people it makes sense to them that if they exercise a specific muscle surely they should lose the fat from that area….. They are often surprised to find that 1 year of doing sit ups later they can do 1000, have a bad back but still have not shifted the extra weight on their stomach that they were hoping to.

You CAN’T spot tone!

I know, it’s a complete bugger but your body just doesn’t work like that. I want you to think about it in a different way. Think of your muscle as engines and your fat cells as the fuel tanks. For good consistent weight loss you need to make all of your engine work so that they all have increased fuel demands…. Let me explain;

If your arm is working hard and requires more fuel to keep working, fat will be broken down from where ever you store it, let’s say for instance round your waist. The fat is transported by the blood to the liver the liver turns it into glycogen and transports the fuel to the arm where it is used to keep the arm moving.

If all your muscle require more energy the fuel (fat) is taken from your reserves to feed them.

Working one muscle or muscle group like you abdominals is not going to use up enough calories to make a difference to the fat reserves around your body. Your body will also choose which fuel (fat) site to take the fuel from, therefore no spot toning.

The best exercises to use to burn the fat from your body are those that require your whole body to do them. Exercises such as dead lifts, cleans, walking lunges, lunges with dumbbell presses, pulls and raises. These exercises burn up tones of calories and require you body access its fuel stores.

At the fit body boot camp we use exercises that get some increasable results. This is because they are full body, full on, fully committed exercises. This is not to say that they are only for fit people, they aren’t. In your free body diagnostic we will identify your level of fitness and injury risk so that in every boot camp session you can work to your maximum potential with the exercises that are right for you.

The fit body boot camps combination of full body movement and interval training we will get you the results that you are looking for.

To see a video of the Sunday boot campers then click on the link below

www.fitbodybootcamp.co.uk

And then sign up and join in the fun!

Committed to your success

Keith, Clare and the Team

 

Love the bootcamp?

July 10, 2009 by Clare Valvona  
Filed under Blog, Bootcamp

Love The Boot Camp?

 

We have a fitness, weight loss and health craze sweeping the nation at the moment called bootcamp!

 

In this post I’m going to tell you why the bootcamp is sweeping the nation like a bush fire. I’m going to talk about the benefits of group participation, the variety of the training, how cost effective it can be and how it is great for getting results in double quick time.

 

So let’s jump in with;

 

1.       Group Participation

Most people like to be or feel like they are a part of something bigger. This is why we form groups and clubs from the WI to the local football club, there is something for everyone out there. For instance my Mum makes, teaches and participates in lace making groups, in and around the area. Not my bag baby, but I’m told if you can count to 8 you can do it, no problem.

 

Staying with the group theme, if you have been a gym member or belonged to clubs generally you’ll see the same faces day in and day out. For myself I have run group fitness in gyms and the core of the group can remain the same for years… When I say years, I mean it. I have walked back into gyms that I have not been into for 4 to 8 years, looked into the class and there are the same people in there as there were when I was teach it!

 

Why are they still there? Friendship, social atmosphere, camaraderie, fun and the pressure that the group exerts on them to attend week after week!

 

2.       Variety

People can be resistant to big change but the love variety in what they are doing. bootcamp offer massive variety in the exercises, the environment and the programme or theme. For example bootcamp change their theme so that you get to experience different types of training. For example you may start with a timed theme like how much fat can you burn in 4 minutes, but after a while this would get a little boring and stagnant, so it’s time to change, possibly co-inside with a sporting event like the Olympics and theme the workout around specific events or event in the way of a physical job such as a fire fighter or army bootcamp.

 

As you know variety is the spice of life!

 

3.       Cost Effective!

You can work with a personal trainer or a personal training team for a fraction of the normal cost of one on one personal training! Let’s look at prices just for a moment although I don’t want to bore you with too many figures.

 

The average price of personal training in the area is about £45 per hour. If you where to do one session week it would cost you about £195 per month with no guarantee of results as they are just not seeing you often enough.

 

You can train at a boot camp 3 times a week which would practically guarantee your results for as little as £149.95 or less! If you go here you can get a 3 week trail for £1 . http://fitbodybootcamp.co.ukIf you trained 3 times per week with that same trainer, it would cost you a mighty £585 per month!

 

4.       Results!

 bootcamps are great for getting weight loss and body shape and toning results. This is due to many of the aspects that we have discussed earlier. Working with other around you is well proven to bring out the best in most people as they work to keep up or beat the people around them. The exercises that are used in bootcamp are normally of the high calorie burning type which is ideal for those of you who wish to get to better shape by losing body fat. The exercise used are also more functional, which means they are more suited to movements performed in everday life, such as picking you feet up over hurdles, stepping on to steps, squatting down lifting things above your head etc…. Training like this will help you lift the box of paper at work, pull the wet washing out of the washing machine, more the sofa on a Sunday so that you can Hoover or run upstairs when the lift is full so that you don’t miss that meeting! Due to the cost effective nature of the bootcamp it enables you to train more often which is the clincher for getting results. Regularity of training is critically important!

 

So join  the bootcamp so that you can;

 

1.       Make friends Have Fun

2.       Never be bored

3.       Cost effective right when we all need it most

4.       Results, Results, Results

Committed to your success

 

Keith Tucker