My ten rules for a new you
1. Start today. I know it is the worst time of year - it is cold and snowing, and you just want to cuddle up in the warm and eat comfort food. The bikini season is a long way away, and you are covered in so many layers no one can spot the few extra pounds you put on at Christmas. Resolutions have been and gone by now, so grab that motivation and start with me now. Today. Or maybe tomorrow - I'll allow you one day to get prepared for a new, hotter version of you! Have one cheat meal a week and be good the rest of the time - we can do this girls! Remember nothing tastes as good as being thin (FIT!) feels.
2. No gyms in site! Not got the money for the gym? Got no time or don’t have one nearby? Or just don’t want to be stared at by guys or feel intimidated/insecure about working out in front of people - then here is the best bit! We don’t need the gym, we can use home equipment and our own body weight to achieve these results. No pricey machinery, just good old fashioned working out! Forget the new crazes, they are for people who follow the trends, there is no ‘easy way’ of getting the body you want, so don’t believe the hype. You are going to sweat, and it is going to hurt, but it will be done in the comfort of your own home if you wish.
3. No one is perfect. If you don’t find time to work out one day don’t punish yourself, or if you slip up and eat something you shouldn’t, you are only human and no one is perfect. Just be good 90% of the time and it will be sustainable, as the second you omit something from your diet you will want it even more. Love chocolate? Then buy those miniature bars you get in selection boxes and have one a day, it won’t make a difference trust me. Just stop at one! Just look at Demi Moore - she says she eats nothing but wheatgrass or what have you, and I don't think I've ever seen her crack a smile! Same goes for Posh Spice. Life without good food is boring!
4. Find something that motivates you - whatever it is. Whether it is an event to look good for, a photoshoot, a friends wedding, a dress you want to buy, to piss off an ex (this one is most common in girls I speak to!) - whatever your motivation seize it and use it to help you achieve results. My motivation is the fitness agencies I signed to this year - I want to show them results which will get me work, and of course a hot body on the beach!
5. Don’t be put off by others. Don’t be told you cannot achieve anything - if you are then use it to work harder to prove them wrong. Don’t take food offered to be polite, at dinners, parties, even at your folks house, politely say no thank you you are on a diet. If they say go on then be firm - show you are more disciplined than they are. The magic word here is 'no' and it is one word which can make a big difference in how much weight you can lose!
6. Decide your goals now. Do you want to lose weight, drop a dress size, tone up, or just get fit? Don’t expect to change one thing - we are focusing on the whole package - it is physically impossible to lose fat from just one area you will lose it from all over your body you cannot specify where you want to lose it from. However what we can do is tone certain areas up using different exercises. What it will help us determine is what and how much to eat, for example if you don't want to lose weight and just want to tone up or get healthier you'll have a similar calorie intake as you do not - but with more nutrituon from Herbalife. If you want to lose weight, we will cut your calories down or have you working out more. It's all about the food maths.
7. Don’t know where to start? Don’t worry, I've created a free E-Book for all of my customers featuring training schedules and diets to start you off. Make sure you keep a record and take before pictures so you can monitor your progress.
8. Don’t watch your weight, as when building muscle you may go up a few pounds as it weighs much more than fat, instead why not take measurements of your hips, waist, thighs etc and keep a record, or judge by taking pictures and what you see in the mirror! I like measuring inches to monitor progress, and taking pictures on my phone - god if I ever lose that there are 50 pictures of me in my pants flexing my abs - not the best look and not always my best pants haha!
9. Don’t give up. Remember why you are doing this, and if you really don’t feel like exercising then just do a little bit. I learned as part of my Psychology degree that we are often in conflict with our unconscious mind - the ‘ID’ The ID acts according to the ”pleasure principle” seeking to avoid pain or un pleasure, and sometimes the conscious mind cannot control it. As part of the degree we learned that by offering a tiny bit of an action is a good way to get past the unconscious feelings of not wanting to do something, or offer yourself a reward instead! This has also been proven to work in fitness. So say to yourself ”I’ll just do 5 minutes of sit ups instead” as an easy way in, don’t set goals of doing any more, and guaranteed you’ll want to push yourself just a little bit further once you have started! The feeling of slacking is an awful one, so just do a tiny bit and praise yourself for doing any at all - anything is better than nothing we all have bad days in fitness.
10. Ignore the hype. Don’t look for easy ways out and quick fixes - mud wraps will not lose inches, diet pills will only ruin your stomach, water retention tablets will mess with your body - you need hydration your body is made up of cells which need water to metabolise fats and what you eat so you will only put on weight with these quick fixes. Your body weight is half water - so why strip it of what you need to survive. Drinking iced water won’t burn more calories - maybe a few, not enough to make a difference, it doesn’t matter when you eat - I eat most of my main meals at 9pm, it is what you eat in a 24 hour period not when you eat it - eat carbs after 6pm it doesn’t matter this is a myth. You'll find lots of diet myths in my upcoming fitness and diet book I am currently writing - you'd be surprised at the things you think are healthy which actually can make you fatter!
Don’t try fad diets that make you omit any food groups - Atkins will make you lose weight but will damage your organs due to the high fat content in your meals, your body needs the basic food groups for a reason and needs a balance. Do just drink water, water water! I fill a 2 litre bottle with water and ensure I’ve drank it all if not more throughout the day, or I have a glass every 30-60 minutes. Get used to peeing a lot it shows you are well hydrated. Water is ESSENTIAL in weight loss, and if exercising you need even more!
And above all else, get your Herbalife products today and get motivated to a new you, one that is not only easy to achieve with our great products but also one that is easy to maintain - which is the hardest bit! xxx
A year from now you will wish you started today
It's new years day, all I see on Facebook is 'this is my year to get thin' or 'I'm going to lose weight' and a week later - everyone is back to their old ways. Why? As they made a resolution for the sake of making a resolution. New years resolutions mean nothing to me, as they are made under peer pressure to make one. I make mine before Christmas and stick to them over the festive season so come new year I start the 1st January looking and feeling good, and that is a much better feeling than thinking 'crap I've over done it look at my ass'.
I am generally quite fit but have decided to go Carpe Diem on my ass - to find the time to get even fitter. I’ve always been ‘fit’ in the sense I train regularly, running for miles every week and taking part in a variety of martial arts - but now I’m talking ‘FIT’ fit. I’m talking fitness model, abs of steel and the ass of a Victoria Secret model fit.
Long gone are the days of being 19 and eating everything I wanted and staying thin anyway, I manage to keep my size 6 figure with a combination of running, and attempting to eat well. Eating well usually involves several take outs per week from my busy schedule but the rest of my diet is fairly good - I rarely snack, and drink a lot of water.
In an essence it is easy to get thin - it just involves burning more calories than you take in, throw in some running and cut out snacks it is simple science - burn off more than you eat. Or as in a recent episode of mine - contact West Nile Fever from some mossy bites, and don’t eat or drink for two weeks - and you will be thin in no time!
What is hard is staying thin, to keep maintaining that figure whilst wanting to eat everything in site - I’ve been there! There is a reason so many celebs get shockingly thin then bounce back up to their weight they were before or even bigger - it is not healthy and it is not sustainable. This is where Herbalife has made a big difference to my lifestyle and maintaining the same weight regardless if I 'fall off the take out wagon' a couple of days a week. The cookies and cream shake has been a lifesaver when you fancy something sweet!
Thin celebs are idolized, to the point of eating disorders in thousands of young women, they boast about having one cube of chocolate per day or doing 500 crunches or having a personal trainer on speed dial - what none of them do is embrace a healthy lifestyle where you say ‘you know what - I can eat that as I earned it in the gym’.
I’ve always loved fitness, I have no problem going out for an hours running in the rain, or doing 30 minutes ply metrics training at 2am as that is the only time I can spare - the problem I have is with my diet - I just love food! I don’t snack or like alcohol but fast food is my weakness - especially with my busy schedule! I love kebabs, chinese, pizza, chips - everything that is bad for me!
The running has kept me a slim figure with some tone, but now I am hitting up the next level - cutting out the junk, improving my diet and my health, and getting a fitness model body! I’m not talking Jodie Marsh extremes, that isn’t attractive in my eyes - I’m talking amazing abs and a round bum - without the butt implants!
I’ve always shied away from weights in favour of cardio, but research has shown me that weights are the way to go for a toned figure. Doing 200 squats a day has done nothing to give me a pert round bum - it was time to add some weights! I’ve always been terrified that weights will add to bulk, in favour of a slim figure - but fit is the new thin and women don’t have enough testosterone to bulk anyway so I’ve been giving weights a go and WOW! My derriere is rounder and perkier than it has ever been - Kylie eat your heart out!
So in addition to my cardio routine I have also thrown in some weights and strength training, whilst trying to curb my obsession with junk food! Weights training is proven to burn calories for up to 24 hours after a workout, whereas cardio only continues to burn calories for 2 hours after a session, so not only do you burn more calories over all from working out, but having more muscle burns more calories in your body as well. It’s a win win situation and I’m surprised I have not tried it sooner.
I’ve studied fitness for over ten years, every aspect of training and nutrition, have helped friends with advice to lose weight and get fit, and helped girls lose stones, but always struggle with my own advice - it is always ‘one last kebab and I’ll start tomorrow’ well a year from now you'll wish you started today and so that is what we are going to do! Diets will no longer start on a Monday girls!
In the launching of me new diet and fitness books and fitness magazines, I’m going to get fit with you, and together we can achieve the bodies of our dreams! I always practice what I preach.
Through my blogs, the Herbalife products which I am selling, and the free E-Book which will be available to all of my customers, we are going to achieve great results! So put down that cake and lets get started girls xxx
