Day one and the headache has arrived!

Ok so I'm at the end of day one of my get my body back (and make it better) challenge and oh yes the detox headaches have started!!

This morning when I returned home from the boot camp my sister (who looks after my little girl on a Monday morning while i do boot camp as my hubby is working overseas) had made me a cup of coffee which for a second i forgot about things and took a swig only to remember and pour the rest down the sink, not a great start but things definitely got much better.

For breakfast I enjoyed a banana omelette with mixed spices followed by a mint tea
i went shopping for the rest my healthy supplies today and was a bit hungry at 11 so i ate a raw food bar (cashew nuts and dried fruit) and continued with my day, after that I had phone calls and appointments so it was a quick lunch of 3 thin rice cakes, hummus, cucumber, and celery. That kept me going until about 5 when I had a stir fry of green beans, brocoli, broad beans, kale and asparagus.

Just back in from my evening sessions and have had a banana

I haven't managed to get a decent training session in today but to be fair tomorrow morning is my planned training day.

Over the course of today i must have drunk about 4litres of water and still feel pretty thirsty, just goes to show how drinking caffeine and eating toxic foods masks your bodies natural needs.

Feeling very tired and was a bit moody earlier, going to call it a night now and get an early night after a nice soak in the bath to relax because today has had some stressful moments, I will be training in the morning, sorting my little girl out for school then a full day of work on the new FItness Studio in Brompton on Swale, North Yorkshire.

I will post my measurements tomorrow before I get too much into this challenge.

Doing it for me!

Ok so I haven't posted on here for ages, i didn't manage to get all of the posts on when I carried out a six week challenge because honestly I was absolutely snowed under with work, i did manage to drop about 10cm which was ok. Yep it is an excuse and you know what i have to banish them now because challenges that I have took part in before I just haven't been ready to do them for me so the passion wasn't quite there I was happy with my shape once i lost the excess weight, this time however after a tough couple of months where I have been setting up my new fitness studio, going on holidays and attending several parties has seen my waistline increase somewhat!

So from tomorrow I'm getting back on it and am going to get my body back!!

This time i'm going to be brutally honest, tell you how i'm feeling, challenges i'm facing the food i'm eating and training i'm doing, i will aim to post each evening before I go to bed.

I am still busy setting up the new fitness studio (JX Fitness) but the main bulk of it is complete.

The challenge is on and this time its for me and i WILL succeed!

Its Friday - Time for a giggle

So I've just shared this with my Boot Campers and Personal Training clients, because although I have them on a strict nutrition plan and exercise regime I just wanted to remind them that they must also be in the here and now.

Enjoy life, laugh as much as possible and spend time doing the things that you love, its amazing how much cleaning up your nutrition and exercise will do for your mood and well being but sometimes just watching something that makes you laugh is great too!!






ENJOY - I hope it makes you smile as much as it did me,

Have a great weekend x x

Boot Camp Versus Gyms!

One of my boot camp Clients asked me a question yesterday - why do we get results on the camp when I was going to the gym for hours on end and not seeing results?

Great question, there's a few answers to this - on the camp we aim to build lean muscle and when you have muscle you increase your resting metabolic rate (burn more calories during the day). That doesn't mean you can then eat what you like because you will just put on fat, you need to lose the fat from around the muscle to reveal the great muscle tone - and the NUMBER 1 way to do that is by cleaning up your nutrition. If you have started to lapse a bit on the diet - get right back to the healthy eating - live by the 90/10 rule - allow yourself the OCCASIONAL treat and eat clean the rest of the time.

Another reason we get results at the camp is because no two workouts are the same so your body never gets the chance to adapt to one workout, in the gym you generally get results for the first month then stop am i right? thats because your body has adapted - you need to change your programme (increase intensity/lift heavier) EVERY 3-4 weeks in order to keep getting results.

By doing resistance style training and High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) (what we do at the camp) we create what is know as EPOC (Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumtion) basically the harder our body and muscles have to work at regrowth and repair the higher the metabolism during that time. Usually on the gym programmes you are burning calories for the duration (assuming you follow the same routine most do - treadmil, bike, cross trainer - few light weights that haven't increased in months!) and for around 2 hours after, then it stops. When you create EPOC you may not burn as many calories whilst you do it but your metabolism stays ramped up for 24-48 hours depending on how hard you work your muscles!!

A lot of people will not notice their weight change very much on the scales on the boot camp (although when you follow the diet to the letter you will drop several pounds - this is through excess toxin build up and also expelling those foods that cause your intestines swell up because it can't digest it - MILK is a HUGE one!) anyway back to the point - theres a common saying we hear people say - 'muscle weighs more than fat' well no thats not entirely true because a pound of muscle is exactly the same weight as a pound of fat- the crucial difference is that muscle doesn't take up as much room in the body as its denser than fat. So if you had two people in front of you - one was well toned through weight training and HIIT so had more musle and the other never trained at all and had more fat they would have a completely different body shape yet the one with the most muscle might weigh more does that make sense?

Here is a picture of 5lbs of muscle and 5lbs of fat - as you can see fat takes up a larger surface area in the body:

so here's how two people may look where one carry's out weight training and the other doesn't do any exercise

Slim-fat (unhealthy) Slim - toned (healthy)

None exerciser 9stone Regular exerciser 9stone

The worst thing you could possibly do is rely on weight loss when you are trying to get in shape, sure if your overweight then you do need to lose weight but you need to do it through more than diet alone. Any exercise is great but if your not doing resistance work then some/a lot of your weight loss can actually come from the breaking down and loss of your muscle mass - which is devastating because muscle is VITAL for fat loss, if you rely on weight loss alone you could end up struggling with yo yo diets forever!

I hope this answers your questions? Please keep asking as it helps a lot of people, not just the boot camp members

Well done to Chritina for asking a fantastic question and for getting outstading results so far and we're not even at the end of week 3 - Keep Smashing it!! x x

My amazing weekend at Fitness Entrepreneur Bootcamp

I'm just so excited about the weekend I've had - basically if you don't know I've been in Nottingham on a fitness business seminar and it has blown me away.

I got to learn from some of the world’s top trainers including Alwyn and Rachel Cosgrove - Alwyn Cosgrove is Scottish but moved to America where him and his wife have set up the leading fitness facility, I didn't know Alwyns background fully but when I learnt he's beaten cancer twice and still runs his fitness facility (which ran itself while he was ill!) I was in awe - They were just a lovely couple too that made me realise my own core values and self worth!

What does this mean business wise - well I've invested around six grand this last year on training courses, fat loss/fitness/kinetic chain courses, books, online courses, seminars, coaching programmes so now’s the time for that value to be reflected in my business, there's going to be some changes made to the way I run my boot camps and the membership options, and also my personal training structure.

What else I learned is some very in depth nutrition information from Phil Richards who is the leading strength and conditioning coach in the UK, he's very much the alkaline diet endorser and after listening to him there was some really valuable points he made, one of which that stuck with me is that if you are exercising yet all the other aspects in your life are a mess - like nutrition, stress levels, sleep patterns etc then if your exercising on top of that you could end up shutting your body down and causing yourself to become a ground for illness, disease and injury! Phil had some interesting info like dairy and meats being a cause of cancer (though I had read about milk) although he does recommend eating a little meat now and then. His five top tips to help people get back into health which are:

Number one is clean water - now he did talk about machines that specially sort out the water as both tap and bottled have lots of chemicals in but those things are expensice so If i can recommend anything it would be to see if you can get glass bottled mineral water - if not normal mineral water (though if you carry weight around your hips don't drink out of plastic bottles as there’s lots of estrogens in there from the plastic which is a HUGE cause of carrying excess weight around those hips!

Number two - eat only organic food (well I’ve been telling you that haven't I!) because it doesn't have the pesticides and fertilisers etc, and with the meat there are no injections etc.

Number three - get into alkalising - the basics, did you know that there’s a doctor in the states (Dr. Mark Sircus) that actually uses sodium bicarb to heal some of his cancer patients - how awesome is that! I hear it helps to restore the white blood cells to fight cancer - so every morning have a pint of water with a spoon full of bicarb of soda / baking soda (about 70p from your local supermarket!) and every night do the same, this is what I was doing the last time i went fully boot camp diet and i felt amazing on day 3 so i have started doing it again, before i wasn't sure why to do it necessarily but it makes perfect sense mow - and if I can give my body a chance to fight cancer forming cells I'm gonna bloody do it - you should too - try it for a week see how you feel, if you have a difference keep doing it! we take in too many chemicals from food, washing powders, pollution, cleaning fluids - the list goes on!! we gotta start fighting against them! If you are severely stressed then I recommend doing extra spoon full’s and even have another glass or two during the day. What have you got to lose if you give it a go - you could just feel like a different person!

Number four, Grasses - grasses such as wheat grass and barley grass to help with your bloods alkalisation and get you back to a healthy state, think these are about £10-15 from the health food shop in Richmond but there may be cheaper options

Number five Magnesium spray - we are all deficient in magnesium and rather than taking a supplement orally we can rub it on our skin and it is absorbed much better (30% absorbed orally compared to 80% on the skin or there abouts!)

Now phil has studied and trained for over 25 years in this field so he knows his stuff, a lot of the other stuff he told us was mind blowing but so much to take in!!

The most memorable presentation with stuff I can pass onto you was without a doubt Michael Heppell, this man had us literally crying with laughter but some really powerful messages were passed on, he talks about making positive sentences to use instead of negatives, for instance instead of saying 'I'm tired' - say 'I could do with more energy', 'I have no time to exercise' to 'I need to find some time to exercise' Michael is from the North East himself and the stuff I learned from him was outstanding.


The stuff here is not necessarily ground breaking, I’ve been passing a lot of the info off to you in bits and bobs (maybe not everything but a fair bit!)

Let’s all try the above regards nutrition and positive thinking for 2 weeks minimum and just see how we feel after that week - who's in with me?


So there you have it I just had to share with you the amazing weekend that has changed my life and the changes in my fitness business will be such a positive change and I hope that it will show in the service I give to you - stay BRILLIANT! x

The Top 5 obstacles to overcome in your quest for the perfect body!

Ok so you’ve just started to follow a specific healthy eating regime and exercise programme and things are getting hard, when we set ourselves goals in life we will always come to an obstacle – here are my top 5 when it comes to weight/fat loss.

Number 5 – The media

We see things on the TV every day, adverts claiming their ‘foods’ will help you lose weight, articles/adverts in the newspapers or magazines about the latest diet craze or magic pill!

The media has a HUGE influence over how we view what’s healthy and what’s not, don’t let it suck you in – we’ve all got it in us to realise what really is healthy and what’s not, a lot of it is common sense – think about how our great grandparents ate, no packets or heavily processed crap then!

On top of the media and advertising campaigns we have the skinny models and celebrities to compete with, including those flawless figures in the magazines that have been airbrushed to get them that way!

Who cares whether you have the perfect body – the key is learning to love yourself and your body (whatever your shape) and when you love your body you will respect it – by respect I mean you will eat the healthy foods it requires to function to the best of its ability and challenge it with exercise – get the best from the body you have.

When you learn to love body you will find it much harder to fill it with crap!

If you’re unsure of what’s healthy and what’s not – find a health and nutritional professional who might be able to help you if you’re confused.

Number 4 – your work colleagues

So you might have just started a boot camp or exercise class that your buzzing about and you tell your colleagues, and you get that blank stare – then the ‘are you mad’ look – they might even say that, while their tucking into their digestive and cup of tea, then in the next breath complain of being fat! Some of them might even make fun of you, and make jokes about you being a ‘health/fitness freak’ they are only directing the jibes towards you to take the attention away from the fact that they are doing nothing about their health!

Then you’ve got the other colleague, when you tell them you’ve given up wheat, dairy and alcohol – ‘what are you supposed to eat!’ as they tuck into their lunchtime sandwich and fifth cup of tea of the day, then come out with the comment – ‘I don’t know how you do it mate – I couldn’t!’ This is already defeatist talk – people like this will never get results if they continue with that attitude – they have no will power.

Then there’s the colleague that will bring in the biscuits or go to the shop and bring loads of crap for everyone to eat, they want to eat s**t but to make themselves feel better they encourage everyone else around them to eat s**t too! ‘But one won’t hurt’ they’ll be heard saying! They have no self discipline and want to bring everyone around them down to their level

If you know any of these people in your work place just be strong, politely thank that person for the offer of food and decline, it’s usually best not to tell anyone in the work place too much about what you’re doing because you can set yourself up for failure. After a few days or weeks they will start to notice the changes in you – that’s when you tell them about it – not before, because unfortunately a lot of people like to see others fail, perhaps it makes them feel better in themselves I’m not sure, but if they don’t know they can’t direct their views towards you or try to make you fail before you’ve even started. If you do tell them just be prepared for some of these reactions and be determined not to let it affect you.

Number 3 – your family

For some of you, you may tell your family what you’re doing and they’ll tell you that you look great and don’t need to diet, they love you so much they might not notice if you’ve got out of shape – even if they have its probably not an issue to them.

Of course then there’s that member of family that just loves to feed you up – you know the one when you do start to lose weight, handing you a fattening treat saying ‘get some of that into you love – get some meat back on your bones’ remind you of someone in your family maybe?

Then unfortunately you may have that member of family that just doesn’t believe in you, they might have seen you fail once or twice so will tell you you’re going to fail before you even give it a go, I’d be lying if I said I’d never done this myself because I have a member of my family told me they were going to give up smoking......after they had finished the last of their holiday duty frees – I told them that they were setting themselves up for failure before they’d even started because they clearly weren’t ready yet as they felt they needed to finish all their cigarettes off. The best way is to set a date and stick with that date – no matter what! When this does happen to you and someone doubts you or puts you down don’t let their comment affect your decision – make a point of proving them wrong or again just don’t tell them right away.

If you do tell your family give them lists of what you can’t eat and I’m sure they will try to help out, ask them to get herbal tea bags in for when you visit so you can still catch up over a brew!

Number 2 – your friends

This is one of the worst ones your ‘mates’ can sometimes be the ones who bring you down, whether it’s the one who sits in their house all day moaning about their life and how they wish they were thin – yet won’t do anything about it, except moan at you when you won’t go around to sit with them anymore, these types of friends I like to call the ‘un-loaders!’. They like to unload all of their problems onto you, their own unhappiness and complain about anyone else who is happy. They’ll be known to slag people off constantly and always see the bad in other people, if you know someone like this have a break from them for a while and hope that they find happiness soon – unfortunately if you continue to let them unload on you, you could then begin to suffer.

Next we have the friends that bitch at you for not going out and getting wrecked with them anymore, they might come out with comments like ‘you’ve changed’ or ‘you can’t miss this it’s been arranged for ages (like last Saturday night!) or it’s a friend’s birthday, there will always be an occasion that you should go and get wrecked with them. If you have these friends around you just have a think, are they drinking to excess and just need someone to drink with them? Have you been that person in the past (I know I have) but now you want to make a positive change for yourself they can’t handle it?

A real friend will support you no matter what you’re doing and accept it if you choose not to drink with them, if you enjoy their company you should have a great night with them even if you’re not drinking, if not then perhaps your not as close as you thought you were.

Surround yourself with positive, likeminded people you will succeed much quicker.

Number 1 - you

Let’s face it we’re all partly aware the obstacles we’re going to face when we prepare ourselves for a new challenge but the fact is, that work colleague isn’t shoving the crap food down your throat, your mates aren’t forcing you to drink and poring the alcohol down your neck, the only person who has control over anything is YOU!

If you haven’t got the strength to see things through then you will never succeed on your goals, no one wants to hear about the excuses about why you failed it’s all excuses. If you set yourself a goal then be aware of the price you have to pay to reach that goal, it might be not going out on the weekends for a while, not seeing your friends for a while, not sharing your life story in work for a while but so what – the difference in how you will feel in yourself once you get to that goal is worth much more than that moment of weakness!

So there you have it – my thoughts on the 5 biggest obstacles to overcome on your quest for getting your perfect body, the number one is YOU, if you haven’t got the will power to do what it takes to get to your goal then you will never have the results you want.

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal. ~Henry Ford

Fat Burning - whats it all about?!!!

Recently one of my clients asked me what was the best way to burn fat, she had been listening to the radio and the debate had been mentioned on there, one trainer argued that long cardio sessions with high repetitions of weight training was best and the other argued that short fast bursts were the best.

My client isn't the first to be confused over which is the best way to burn fat, in fact its one of the most common questions people ask! I have to say I agree with the second trainer and here I'll tell you why.

Well lets look at the 'fat burning' slow cardio - high repetition weight training, sure theres a need to include a few higher repetitions into your training programme to build muscular endurance but when it comes to the statement - you have to jog at a slow pace to stay in your fat burning zone - I have some shocking truth, I was shocked when I first learned this because up until several years ago I occasionally added this type of training into my routine.

Well lets say you want to stay working in this fat burning zone which you'd assume is great yeah? Well here's where you might decide that its not so great! If you're working regularly in this 'fat burning zone' what your essentially doing is teaching your body to use fat as its primary energy source - what does that mean, well your teaching your body to efficiently store fat for energy!! If you have taught your body to store fat then in time you would have to work for twice as long in your fat burning zone to remove that fat. Lets use a well known celebrity who spends much of her time in the gym, her trainer has advised her to perform high repetitions of low weight, her marriage split because of her dedication to spending all of her time in the gym so would you really want to follow this kind of advice! Who has several hours to spend in a gym training anyway - not me that's for sure, and no doubt most of the population!

Lets cut to the chase, if you seriously want to shift the fat from your body you want to be doing some fast burst resistance training and intervals. Exercises that use the whole of the body such as squats, press ups, lunges, plank, jumping jacks, burpees (these are great because you don't need any equipment!). Short fast bursts of sprinting can be extremely beneficial too - this can be done in an interval format, here's an example of an interval session using running:


The intensity is based on rate of perceived exertion (RPE) scale of 1 to 10 (1 being easy 10 being extremely hard)

Up to five minutes (warm up) (RPE 4)
30 seconds (RPE 8)
1 minute (RPE 4-5)
30 seconds (RPE 8)
1 minute (RPE 4-5)
30 seconds (RPE 8)
1 minute (RPE 4-5)
30 seconds (RPE 8)
1 minute (RPE 4-5)
30 seconds (RPE 8)
1 minute (RPE 4-5)
30 seconds (RPE 8)
Up to 5 minutes (cool down) (RPE 3-4)
Total Time Approx 18 minutes

This kind of interval training can also be done on a bike or a rower.

By doing the resistance training you will build muscle, the more muscle you have the more calories you burn at rest. The short intervals mean you get your heart rate raised very quickly so after you're workout has ended your heart rate will still be raised and you body has to work really hard to repair and replenish the muscles - burning even more calories sometimes for up to 48 hours - wow you're teaching your body to become a fat blasting machine!!!

So every time you train - put in 100% and reap the rewards!!

Just how willing are you to work towards your goals?

Lose weight, get fitter, tone up – these are goals written so often, you may have been someone who has also written goals like this or told yourself this on numerous occasions, but just how much weight exactly are we talking here or how much fitter?
Get the message? These goals are a bit too vague so you won’t put your heart and passion into achieving them.

If your 4 stone over weight and want to lose it and get a six pack or get into those size 8-10 jeans but decide that it’s easier to set yourself a 1-2 stone goal or drop to a size 12 because its more realistic, then where’s the drive, passion and motivation going to be? What’s going to make you get up on a morning and eat the healthy food or follow through on your training programme?

A lot of people, myself included are sometimes scared to set themselves a big challenge because of the hard work it will involve. If you’ve hired a Personal Trainer or signed up for a boot camp but aren’t completely sure of your goals you’re not going to have the motivation to follow through on your programme. You’ll probably start to resent the programme because you’ve been advised to follow because you’ve lost sight of that end goal.

When we find ourselves feeling like this we should take a deep think about our goals, don’t just set one or two stone because it’s realistic. If you’re a size 14 and used to be a size 8 and would love to get back into those clothes but have decided that a size 10-12 is much more realistic you’re not actually going to have the same drive. Think about how you felt at a smaller size, how much confidence you had, how well your clothes fitted, if you were happier. Then set that big goal, set yourself a timeframe of how soon you would like to reach that goal then pay the price that is expected to get you there. Every time you are working out and its tough remind yourself of why you’re doing it – that passionate goal and you will push yourself much more.

Did you know that the mind has a very strong influence over our motivation to do things, how many times have you woken up after a poor night’s sleep and told yourself all day how tired you are, or started to get a sniffle and you tell yourself you must be coming down with something then low and behold you suddenly feel at deaths door!

Next time you go to tell yourself you’re too tired or too ill - STOP, by doing this you will cure a lot of your tiredness and illness. When we exercise how easy is it to say it’s too hard or I can’t then not even try, even when we do try, how many of us tell ourselves it’s too hard then fail anyway.

Try being positive with yourself, we have more strength than we realise it’s just some people lose sight of what they really, truly want. If you want to stay happy and healthy in life don’t just go for the quick fix, set yourself that massive goal, work towards it, pat yourself on the back when you get to it then set your next goal – this time you might want to go for sports or improve your running time – whatever it is that will help you maintain that massive goal DO IT.


Think about it as a building being constructed – the plans are made, the end is in sight but it may take several months of hard work to finally get there, then lots of work to maintain it once it’s built - inside and out!

Don’t settle for what you’ve been told is more realistic, other people would rather pull you down to their standards because they’d rather eat crap then complain about being fat when they aren’t prepared to put in the hard work themselves!

Here’s something to make you think!

Thomas Edison was interviewed by a young reporter who boldly asked Mr. Edison if he felt like a failure and if he thought he should just give up by now. Perplexed, Edison replied, "Young man, why would I feel like a failure? And why would I ever give up? I now know definitively over 9,000 ways that an electric light bulb will not work. Success is almost in my grasp." And shortly after that, and over 10,000 attempts, Edison invented the light bulb.

Just think where we’d be if Thomas Edison gave up his light bulb invention after the first few attempts?

You are more powerful than you realise so go! Set that big goal that makes you passionate and begin to love the steps you are taking towards achieving that goal rather than dreading it! Remember there may be hurdles or setbacks along the way but you’ve just got to get back to it again and get to that end goal in sight.

To your Health and Fitness Success

Why fad diets are bad for your health and you should NEVER follow them!

The truth some food manufacturers don't want you to know!

Ok so you’ve heard of them - try this diet and you’ll shift the weight faster than you know!! The Cambridge Diet, Kellogg’s drop a dress size, lighter life and dare I say it – weight watchers?!!

Don’t get me wrong the weightwatchers plan is probably the best one there if followed healthily and with exercise too then people might get lasting results but if you eat their crappy foods and choose the unhealthy processed foods they allow you to have in your ‘points’ system then you’re not going to lose body fat.

Ok so here’s the truth with these diets, they are calorie restricted diets, (Cambridge and lighter life the most EXTREME) and although calorie restriction is needed when you are trying to lose weight you do not need to go as severe as some of these diets make you do!

I remember on one of my first boot camps one of the ladies who was going to a well known slimming club and hadn’t lost any weight, when she stated that she had been training and building muscle, (you could clearly see she had lost inches and toned up), the so called ‘health’ professional leader of the slimming club said she’d need to have been training for several months for that to make a difference on the scales and she HAD to lose weight to get results, BULL this person didn’t have a clue! Even after one session of weight training your muscles are starting to build and form, not a huge difference but after a few weeks there is a difference!

I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news but weight loss is not the be all and end all, some people can lose weight yet put on inches around their stomach!

Anyway back to the point, the reason why severely low calorie restrictive diets are bad for you is because whilst you may lose weight on them a lot of that weight loss will come from muscle. Muscle is VITAL for fat loss, the more muscle you have the more calories you burn at rest (yes that means the faster metabolism you will have). When you do these low calorie diets and lose the valuable fat burning muscle guess what happens when you go back to eating normally again, you pile the pounds on – and even more this time, and worse to come this time it’s even HARDER to shift so you get into a pattern of yo yo dieting and teaching your body to be the most efficient fat store there is!!

On a scarier note advertising companies will have you believe that their processed product is healthy or their breakfast cereal is the healthiest. Ever wondered why these cereals are ‘fortified with vitamins and iron’? The process that these grains go through to bring you the perfectly shaped breakfast cereal actually leaves them pretty nutritionless, so to counteract that they stick a load of manmade vitamins in there – pointless! Furthermore what kind of process must those perfectly shaped ‘potato’ crisps that fit into a tube, oh and that saying ‘once you pop you can’t stop!’ there is actually an ingredient called monosodium glutamate which can have addictive properties in this product, so when they made their advert they weren’t lying!

The best way to lose weight (body fat) is to eat nutritious foods such as lean protein, green leafy vegetables, dark fruits such as berries and cutting out high sugar snacks, processed foods and reducing ALCOHOL intake to a minimum, stick to the 90/10 rule and you can’t fail (90% of the time eating clean nutritious food allowing for 10% treat – i.e. the occasional cheat meal). Exercise regularly and include weight bearing exercises / lifting weight and make the exercise vigorous.

Don’t get sucked in by the advertising companies selling you their ‘healthy’ product, they’re not bothered about your health – they just want to make money off you!

New Year - New Goals!

Happy new year everybody I hope you've all had a great start.

I always like to think about my goals around new year, I have a list of business goals, health goals, family goals and personal goals and I set out in as much detail what my goal is, ways in which I can achieve the goals and work hard towards them.

Fair enough there are times when I let things lapse a bit (especially this Xmas when illness struck) but the main thing is picking yourself back up and getting back on track.

If you've put on a few pounds over Xmas and the New year, no worries, s**t happens you'll shift it again at least you enjoyed yourself right? (and weren't too unhealthy ha ha), Xmas is about taking time out for yourself and having a break from all of your hard work over the year. If you followed some of the advice given on staying as healthy as possible during the festivities and continued with some exercise then you shouldn't have put on too much?! Maybe you even lost some which is a bonus and well done if you did, great stuff.

As a nation we are being conditioned to believe its fine to be unhealthy and pile on the pounds over Xmas and the New year and that you must diet come the beginning of January. Ever noticed how many food adverts are on before and during Xmas and the increase in cooking shows, then the new year hits and you have weight watchers, slimming world and the biggest waste of money- the Special K 2 bowls 2 weeks challenge (all this is going to do is mess up your insides and the way you process your foods causing you to retain fat even more efficiently!). Some people rave about the weight watchers diet, it works as a calorie restricted diet that is all, I can guarantee that a lot of the people following the diet will not be in a state of true health. The points system and the weight watchers ready meals will make sure of that, a choice of a piece of fruit or a small packet of crisps and I know what most people with a weight problem would rather choose! They might end up slimmer but they'll still have a high body fat ratio which is not healthy.

What my aim as a Personal Trainer is to help people get a healthy body (strive for health and thin will follow), basically by giving up any pre packaged foods (if its in a packet - sack it, in a tin - bin!!) in favour of wholesome nutritious foods and best of all choosing organic, local produce will ensure that your food will be as fresh as possible. Buying from farmers markets will help you achieve this, also making sure that the meat that you eat is grass fed and has had the freedom to roam, much of the meats we eat are injected with antibiotics and growth hormones, ever wondered how MRSA came about (I believe eating meats full of antibiotics must play a huge part in making your body resistant to them), also what about what happens to your body when the foods we eat are injected with growth hormones to help fatten them up? Will that have the same effect on us when we eat them?

I know I've put on weight this Xmas what with the mulled wine (red wine has its health benefits you know : ) and flu just before Xmas putting me out of action but I'm not going to stress about it, I know I've made a few unhealthy choices and fallen off my 'health wagon' and I've got to admit at times I've suffered! No chance I could eat a diet like I have on a daily basis as I'd get nothing done and sit on my bum all day doing nothing feeling low and lethargic! Unfortunately this is what much of the nation have become, without education on food people don't know what’s healthy and what isn't anymore, kids choose sitting in watching telly or playing on their computers eating crap in favour of getting outside and playing with their friends. No wonder there's so many fat kids these days!

Well with the festivities over I've got some preparations to do today to clean up the food in the kitchen and get ready to do an elimination diet (my Personal Training and Boot Camp clients use this) to remove the toxins built up over Xmas and the New Year!! I know one of my goals is to shift at least 2 inches off my waist by the end of Jan (and I haven't even measured yet!), to do this I am going to have to eat healthy, cut out the crap and step up my exercise regime.

I also have a personal goal - not to take myself so seriously!! When in times of stress I must remind myself of this to remain happy and positive, after all life is about being happy isn't it - who needs stress!!

So come on what are your goals? What does January and 2010 have in store for you?

I for one can't wait to get back to normality after a well deserved break!

Happy New Year - to your success : )

Spicy Thai Soup

Ok so I love cooking, mine tends to be more of a throw everything in and hope for the best style of cooking! Recently though one of my Boot Camp members passed me this recipe and I gave it a go, its (as the boot camper put if) blinking gorgeous!!

Why not give it a try and let me know what you think! Guaranteed to warm youup on these chilly winter days - especially if you have a cold!

In a saucepan, put raw thinly sliced chicken, about 4 coriander stalks, 3 thick slices of ginger, 1 squashed green chilli, 1/2 chopped red chilli (without seeds if you don't like it too hot) and 2 stalks of squashed lemongrass.

Cover with cold chicken stock or water and boil until the chicken is cooked.

Take off the heat and add 3 tbsp fish sauce, juice of 1 lime and some chopped coriander and basil leaves.

Thats it, simple but easy to make.

Do you hate your big thighs?

Do you hate your big thighs?


I have a lot of people ask me how to lose the weight around their thighs and bum, most of the time these people are advised by the ‘fitness know it all’ to do lots of walking/slow jogging as its the best for fat burning.

Whilst studies do show that long cardio sessions are the best for fat burning its not necessarily the best for fat loss.

Carrying weight around the hips is over production of Estrogen, if you suffer from this then you want to avoid long cardio sessions, these will also increase your Cortisol levels making you put weight on around your belly too. Instead you must to be doing vigorous exercise (sprints) and weight training (resistance).

Choose organic produce where you can and be sure to wash all fruit and vegetables to stop any pesticide/toxin intake. Decrease alcohol, yes this is a must – everyone who is trying to lose weight wants to be cutting the alcohol out! For occasions red wine may be drunk but no more than two units per day.

Increase intake of cruciferous vegetables such as watercress, sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, kale – if digested properly they will help rectify the imbalance, plus the fibre, vitamins and minerals are great for your overall health and well being.

There are supplements that may also help – remember supplements should only be used to supplement what is already a good diet, these include:

A good quality fish oil – these have a multitude of benefits and should be included in everyone’s diet
A good quality multivitamin – everyone should be taking a good multivitamin
A diindolylmethane (DIM) supplement may be beneficial
Organic flax seed hulls may also help

An example of a daily diet for people with excess estrogen may include:


Breakfast: omelette made with spinach and mushrooms (garlic Snack: ½ an avocado with a handful of nuts
Lunch:chicken salad made with a chicken breast, watercress, cherry tomatoes, spinach leaves, radishes and flax seed hulls sprinkled over.
Snack: ½ an avocado with a handful of nuts
Dinner: roast turkey with sprouts, broccoli, parsnips, carrots

Its best to steam vegetables and be sure to chew your food thoroughly.
Switch over to green tea and water

If your reading this and you know a man that suffers from moobs (man boobs) then the info contained here may also be of benefit to them!

Remember, If you do suffer from big thighs, do yourself a favour and ditch the cross trainers and long slow jogs!

want to lose your belly?

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the saying “how can I lose my belly?” “what exercises are the best to help me lose my belly?” “can you give us more stomach work?”

If your goal is to lose weight from around your stomach, your not going to do it with lots of stomach crunches! Carrying weight around the abdomen area is linked to nutrition and hormones, namely your carbohydrate intake and your cortisol levels (fat production around the stomach is a sign of over production of cortisol), the stress hormone. Stress levels need to remain as low as possible, depending on what type of stress you may have.

The best way to combat this is to reduce your carbohydrate intake, follow a good diet high in lean protein, green leafy vegetables and dark fruits (berries for example) - best time to eat your fruit is during the 2 hours post training.

Have a good wind down procedure before going to sleep, lower the lights, read, stop watching TV, if you have any electrical items plugged in where you sleep remove them - this will make a difference to your sleep and weight loss believe it or not! Leave the mobile phone out of the room where possible - don't sleep with it at the bed side as the electro magnetic forces can disturb our sleep. You should to be getting to sleep at around 10pm and waking at 6.30am in a completely dark room.

Drink plenty of water and reduce your caffeine as this will stimulate the already overworked adrenal glands, Choose peppermint, ginger and green tea instead.
If you are suffering from any work/relationship/parental stress then gentle breathing exercises or meditation may help.

Take a good quality omega 3 supplement with every meal
Other supplements that might help:
Licorice Root - this can help regulate the production of cortisol.
A good quality multivitamin
Betain hydrochloride taken with 1 or 2 meals could aid with nutrient absorption because for some people it also causes a digestion issue.

Carrying weight in your lower stomach might also be a slight postural problem too, your pelvis might be tilted forward slightly (anterior pelvic tilt), exercises that activate and work the core, stretch the hip flexors and work the glutes to bring your pelvis back might also help.
Exercise examples:

Forward Lunges/split squats x 15 each leg
Plank x 30 seconds to 1 minute
Side Plank x 30-45 seconds each side
Supine bridges x 15 (on one leg when more advanced)

repeat 3-5 times per week

So answer to the question – clean up your nutrition, look after those hormones and concentrate on postural correction through the correct exercise choice.