Earn your Christmas time FEAST!

Yup that's right....just like you work for your money you should also work for those yummy Christmas lunch calories. Cheat meals don't come cheap! LOL

We all know when it comes down to it and that Christmas pudding is staring you in the face.....you'll eventually give in! If you don't... WELL DONE!!!!!
If you know you will give in then the back up plan is to earn those calories BEFORE HAND!

Hit the gym twice a day, add in that extra workout daily from now until Christmas lunch, don't allow yourself any cheat meals until Christmas Lunch or what ever other occasion it may be.

The benefits:

• You wont feel as guilty when you do go for that fattening meal and pudding. You earned it, you planned on eating it and you know you've burned those extra calories in advance!
• You wont gain weight because you've "EARNED" those extra calories by working out extra hard a couple of days before the event.
• You start to understand how easy it is to gain weight by pigging out and giving into your cravings, you also learn how much work you need to put in to keeping a lean and trim figure, so you'll think twice before other pigging out sessions.

Now go earn that Christmas Pudding! Add on at least an extra 500-700 calories burning workout to your usual daily workout routing! So an extra hour of cardio should do the trick! 

Happy guilt free Holidays!

XXX

K

Your Holiday Workout!

Hello!
Apologies for not blogging in a week but I was away in Sunny Cape Town and decided to have a complete break which included one from E-mails, cellphones, social networks and blogging too..sorry!

But I'm back and I have some tips on what exercises and training to do while you're away on holiday!
Here are some of my tips on how to stay in shape whilst away :-)

Enjoy the Fresh Air

If you are going down to the coast to enjoy some ocean views and Sunshine kisses then it would be a crime to not enjoy the benefits of a beach holiday!
To keep your metabolism active and to start your day in a fat burning zone have a cup of coffee, no breakfast and go for a early morning beach walk or jog. Take your man, friend, children, baby in pram or ALL of them if that's the case LOL, and go to the beach!
 The Ocean is at it's calmest, the air is crisp and fresh, the beaches are not crowded and the Sunshine is filled with Vitamin D! AND it's not as hot and dangerous as it is mid-day.

Your goal is to walk briskly or jog for at least 50 minutes. You should be able to walk between 5-8 kilometers. It really isn't that much and walking/jogging on the beach is so beautiful you'll do 5km's before you know it! Get the heart rate up, get into your fat burning zone, breath in the fresh Air and enjoy healthy quality time with a loved one.

I walked every morning and did at least 7.5km's every morning. it was glorious! I envy all Capetonians! If you live in CT you are SO LUCKY to live in that beautiful city! ;-)

That's your cardio done!

Now..

Hit The Sand 

Do 30 lunges on each leg.

(a Lunge...do the exercise correctly to avoid any injury by not allowing your knee to go over your foot )

Then hit the sand and do 3 sets of 15 push ups and end off with 3 sets of plank to work all the core muscles! Hold the plank position for at least 30 seconds at  a time...DON'T CHEAT! ;-)) 

(make sure you dont dip your lower back, belly button pulled in tight and make sure your whole body is straight like a table top)

Now you're done for the day. 

Walk back to your hotel/holiday home and prepare a fruity summer Smoothie!

You know I like all things berry so mine was all the berries I could find, added into a blender with Bulgarian fat free yoghurt. You can also try Banana, cinnamon, tiger oats and a teaspoon of peanut butter for a more textured sweet smoothie ;-)

I've tried some awesome Holiday pack supplements. I'll post that this week too.

Now no excuses for not training while you're on Holiday ;-)

XXX

K

Supplement of the week- Green Tea

Why Green Tea?

Well firstly because I'm a TEA-HOLIC! On a hot summers day I'll order a tea.... I know my friends think I'm crazy too! But in actual fact a nice hot cup of tea can cool you down as it increases your core temperature and your body automatically goes into "cool down" mode.
I like to drink normal tea with 2 slices of lemon after a meal....I just can't not have a cup of tea after I've eaten I feel like it helps me settle my meal and digest my food, plus its been a family ritual since I can remember. Right back to green Tea! LOL

So Green Tea is great for you because it has a powerful antioxidant known as EGCG (epigalloctechin gallate) , it lowers cholesterol levels, increases your metabolism ( meaning you burn more calories- YES PLEASE) and it inhibits the formation of abnormal blood clots which is one of the reasons so many people have heart attacks.
Green Tea has been used as a medicine in China for over 4000 years!

Green Tea, Oolong and other black teas all come from Camellia sinensis plant leaves. The difference between Green Tea and other normal black teas is that for Green Tea the leaves are steamed which prevents the EGCC from being oxidised!

In a nutshell Green Tea has many benefits:

• Lowers Cholesterol
• has antioxidants
• Increases metabolism & Fat burning body fat
• Helps prevent Blood Clots
• Lowers risk of cancer
• Has less caffeine then coffee

BONUS: If you don't want to drink hot tea the beauty is that you can drink Green Tea chilled, it makes for a very refreshing iced tea ;-)
Try Woolies organic Tea.

 References: Greet Tea: The Natural Secret for a healthier Life

Enjoy at leats 2-3 cups of Green Tea daily to boost your energy levels, metabolism and increase those body healing properties.

Cheers to that!

XXX
K

Understanding calories

One of the reasons people keep on gaining weight is that it sneaks up on you!
If you look back at photo's of yourself from 7 or 10 years ago most will notice they have gained quite a bit of weight! But if every year you put on 2-3 kilo's you don't really notice it. Add up the 2-3 Kilos over 5 years and you have over 10 kilos of gained weight!!
For example 1 kilogram of body weight is approximately 7200 calories. Just one extra pat of butter each day (85-100 calories) will add to approximately 5 kilograms a year to your weight!
It's that little snack here and there... that one holiday where you think, "its okay I'll go to gym when I get back" and so on....

That's why it is important to understand Calories and how they work so that when you do cheat and indulge you understand what goes into burning it off and not gaining weight but maintaining or losing weight depending on your goals.

Counting Calories and increasing activity
A calorie is a unit of heat or energy, created by the body "burning up" the food we eat. This calorie is the basis for determining what our weight should be and what our diet should be.
Scientist use specific terms to indicate how many calories you need to stay alive, keep your heart pumping and your temperature normal.
We need approximately a calorie each minute,simply to keep living.
The good news is you burn calories EVEN WHEN YOU SLEEP!!! Thank God ;-)

Most men and women need from 1000-1500 calories as their base requirement...HOWEVER when you work, talk,think,walk etc you burn up additional calories and therefore need to take in more calories.

To give you an idea:

• Sitting & resting- 20 calories p/h
• Standing -25 calories p/h
• dressing -35 calories p/h
• Mental work -10 calories p/h
• Walking (easy)-100-125 calories p/h
• Light house work - 70 Calories p/h
• Strenuous exercise- 200-500 Calories per hour
• swimming -200 calories p/h

Before you go on another crash diet educate yourself on how to eat properly, track your calories and burn them off. I'm not saying you need to walk around with a calculator but have an idea in mind.

For an active women going to gym 3-4 times a week burning over 500 Calories at the gym try not eat more then 1800-2000 calories per day. If you're trying to lose weight you want to create a calorie deficit meaning you burn more calories then you eat. The easiest way it to get a heart rate monitor and calorie counter . It will calculate the calories you have burned according to your hear rate, weight, age and gender. I have a Polar watch and I'm loving it. You can also try phone/ipad apps.
 For blackberry I like the "CALORIE COUNTER BY FATSECRET and for ipad try the LIVESTRONG CALORIE TRACKER. It's a great way to keep a diary of what calories your burning and eating.

Try create a 500 calorie deficit so if you're eating 1800 calories a day you want to burn 2300 calories in total. If you burn 500 calories at the gym and eat healthy you know for sure you've managed to burn 500 more calories then you've taken in. You'll lose half a kilo a week ;-)

Here's an average 1600 calorie daily diet intake:

Breakfast:

1starch- cup of bran flakes, 250 ml fat free milk

1 fruit

1 tablespoon nuts

Snack 1:

2 fruit

1 hard boiled egg

Lunch:

1starch- slice of Low GI bread 

1 protein-chicken breast and salad with 1/4 Avocado, olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Snack 2:

Whey Protein shake or

2 table spoons of Hummus, salad/Veg

1 fruit

Dinner:

1 protein-180 gram grilled fish

1 starch-1/2 cup brown rice

Steamed/grilled veg, 5ml Olive oil

Evening snack:

1 small tub of fat free yoghurt

(Please remember to consult your doctor or dietician before making any drastic diet changes, especially if you're diabetic or have a medical condition)

Now THAT ISN'T SO BAD IS IT??!! :-))

PS. all fatty foods you can roughly give them a 8 calorie per gram estimate. So if you're eating 5 grams of butter its already 40 calories!

Keep active, at least 30 minutes of cardio a day as well as some toning or weight training and make smart food choices ;-) If you're going to indulge keep in mind you'll have to work it off at the gym so those centimetres don't sneak up on you.

XXX
K

Kim Kardashian Celebrity diet of the week

Every girl decides to go on a major diet and exercise routine before her wedding day.
Before Kim's wedding she was  on a total body workout, she would often train twice a day. Her mission was to drop 2 dress sizes without losing her famous curves.

Kim's Training Routine
When Kim trains she breaks a sweat 2-3 times a week with bicep curls and lunges. This is great functional training because she's building muscle, increasing her heart rate and therefore burning more calories and body fat as well as toning her muscles. By combining bicep curls and lunges you're also training the core as it has to be engaged in order to give you strength and balance to do the exercise.
According to E! to add to this she also goes to Barry's Boot camp where they do an hour long high-intensity interval training. According to US Weekly Kim would go up to 5 times a week.
Interval training is a great way to tone, burn calories and blast that body fat off!

Diet

To get the weight off Kim had to make some diet changes. She said no to the Junk food and yes to Grilled chickens and salad! If Kim orders chicken or a turkey burger it's without the bun. 

Kim Kardashian's Diet is basic. She stays away from junk food and limits herself to roughly 1400-1500 calories a day. Here is a sample of one daily meal routine:

Breakfast: Smoothie made with peanut butter, bananas and protein powder
Lunch: Chicken salad with low fat dressing, iced tea with 5 sachets of Equal sugar sweeteners
Snacks: Sugar cookies, sliced apple with 1 tablespoon chunky peanut butter (its my favourite snack too)
Dinner: A tiny slice of pizza bread, a piece of grilled salmon served with pesto sauce, 1 cup of brown rice and  2 cups broccoli
See! Even Kim Kardiashian has to work out super hard to lose that extra weight and keep lean and trim. Even if her marriage is already over.....*Sigh*


(PS. I just LOVED Kim in the Blonde hair so I had to add the picture in )

Stay motivated! December holidays are around the corner ;-)

Much Love

K

XXX

Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge

I'm proud to say we did it! My husband and I along with some friends created Team Midrand SPCA and we  cycled for all the furry kids out there.

Because it was our first time doing the 94.7 Cycle challenge our goal was not time based but simply to finish before the cut off time!

We trained on average 3-4 times a week in total. We would go on off road bike trails on the weekends and during the week we cycled on road tracks like Kyalami Race track. It's a totally different experience cycling off road or mountain biking to road cycling.
With our weekly training and higher protein lower carb diet I lost weight and my fitness level has shot up beyond my expectations!

Doing the actual 94.7 Cycle challenge....on mountain bikes, I might add ,was such a pleasant surprise!
Firstly 94.7 Highveld Stereo/Primedia and Momentum are incredibly organised. To be able to manage thousands of people to park in the correct area and to get to the start line in their seeded groups on time is an enormous task on its own not to mention all the other elements of the event. Not only was it well organised but the vibe was incredible!
People cheering, music pumping and MC's informing and motivating cyclists.

Out team Midrand SPCA was at the start line, the 5 second count down started and off we went!
It's such an unbelievable feeling cycling down the M1 highway with no cars in sight....all 3 lanes are for you to spin as fast as you can. We cycled into town.... the vibe was amazing, people cheering us on "go girl you can do it" "on a mountain bike ...respect" Haha we had to laugh!

The motivation was amazing, the water points were full of smiling faces offering you fresh cold water and other refreshments, the latest top chart music playing in the background giving you momentum as you cycle on.
Thank you to all the people that took time out of their day to stand on the sides of the roads to cheer us on and offer us snacks and refreshments! You ROCK!

3/4 of the way into the cycle challenge and we were fine, no sore muscles, not tired....we surprisingly felt super strong! Until we hit the N14 highway..... let me tell you after you've cycled over 75km's that's when you start to feel it.
Thank God I prepared my Evox Cyto Crank which I was sipping on though out the entire race because it really gave me sustained energy.
We got to the 10km's left mark, the crowds cheering us on, the sweat dripping and we carried on pushing up that last hill.
Approaching the finish line the vibe was electric, smiling faces cheering us on and photographers snapping photo's of all the cyclists coming in about to finish. My husband and I rode through the Finish line together and received our medals.
 It felt AMAZING!!! 4h30minutes to cycle 100 kilometers on a mountain bike!!! WE actually did it!

This is one event I will definitely be a part of every year!! I loved every minute of it, the route is fantastic...I will never look at some of our roads in Johannesburg the same way again.....I drive on them daily...that's normal but I ACTUALLY CYCLED ON THEM!100 Kilometers of them!  ;-)

Thank you 94.7 Highveld stereo/ Primedia and Momentum to a superb event!
Thank you to our team for cycling at the event to create awareness to support our local SPCA- Midrand SPCA and Thank you to Evox products for giving me the extra edge! From Carbo loading, endurance & energy enhancing products to recovery shakes.

Till the next race... there will be lots to come. I'm hooked! ;-)

Happiness that we completed the race in such a good time and still standing!

If you're thinking about doing the cycle challenge next year I say DO IT! Just make sure you start cycling regularily a few months before,you don't need to be obsessive just get your heart fit,  have good quality supplements and it will be an enjoyable and amazing expereince! ;-)

XXX

K

Time out...

Just as much as your body needs to the get the blood pumping and muscles warm and active...it also needs a Time out.

It's that time of tranquility when the body, mind and soul recovers and restores its cells.

After many weeks of intense cardio training for the 94.7 Cycle Challenge, today is one of those days that I have made a point of doing no form of exercise what so ever!

I wont lie I am so used to being active that the thought has crossed my mind to go to gym and do a few laps in the pool or some circuit training. But After cycling over 100 Kilometers yesterday it is time to make sure my body has well over 24 hours of pure rest.

Why?

The Body repairs and strengthens itself in the time you give it in between workouts. Continuous training can actually weaken a strong athletic or fit body. Rest days provide Physical and Psychological benefits to your well-being.

Physically your muscles can rest, repair, rebuild and strengthen exactly where needed. You need the rest time to replenish energy stores and allow for your body to repair damaged tissues.

It gives you time out to meditate on your achievements, enjoy family time and most importantly "ME" time...many of us don’t get to do that and it is important to make that time for yourself.

Without sufficient time to repair the body will continue to breakdown from intensive exercise.

Another major focus of recovery has to do with replenishment. What you put in your body within 30minutes to an hour after excessive training or exercise is very important and has a large impact on how fast you recover and restore your fluids lost and optimizing protein synthesis (The process of increasing the protein content of the muscles, preventing muscle breakdown).

The best and easiest way is to get a good recovery shake. During my training towards the Momentum 94.7 Cycle challenge I've been using Rapid recovery from Evox and it does just that...gives you RAPID RECOVERY! I definitely recommend this product. Drink plenty of water and try staying clear of alcohol and cigarettes.

I just don't get how someone can light up a cigarette after an exercise workout.

So if you've been training hard, go give yourself a break.... replenish your body, mind and soul...

I'll be having a bubble bath by candle light tonight and then cuddling up to my husband ;-)))

Enjoy your Zen moment too.

XXX

K

PS I’ll be Blog posting my Blog post on the actual Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge tomorrow!