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