Lets talk GOALS.

I often see people fail in their quest's to a healthier and fitter body and mind.

I think it is because they don't have clear or realistic goals. We all read in the magazines Victoria lost 50 kilos on such and such a diet, or Kate lost all her baby weight in 6 days..... bla bla bla !!!
ITS A LIE PEOPLE

So where to start, you want to sit down and think of realistically what you want to achieve,saying i want to loose 10 kilos a week is NOT realistic. What you want to do is make a LIFESTYLE change that you will easily be able to maintain for a long time. If you have kids and have barely any time well don't set your self up to fail by wanting to train everyday.... if you currently eat mainly pasta don't cut it out all together....

So ill give you some examples : i have a 12 mth old baby, iv lost most of my baby weight but am hanging on to maybe 2-3 kilos i don't want.
Exercise: Because i have twin 5 yr old and a 12 mth old I'm going to have to manage my time well, let say i want to make the gym 2 times a week, ill also go riding with the kids (i have a toddler seat on my bike) lets say every day cause that's achievable as my kids ride everyday (even if its around the block its something), id also like to attend yoga 1-2 times a week. if there is a sport or exercise you love to do then do it, you don't want to choose an activity that you are going to hate, i can not run run run on a treadmill and go no where boring!!! but i love to box! so ill be boxing at the gym after my weights.

Diet: as i said i have a family so when cooking i have to think about the eating as well. i also live in a place that meat is very very expensive, so I'm going to up my protein and lower my carb intake.
Lots of salad or steamed veg's with a protein like tuna, chicken, steak and boiled eggs :)
Omelet for breakfast or poached eggs
Have one free day a week usually on the weekend :)

OK so i don't think iv over committed myself - my diet isn't changing a great deal so my goal is a kilo every 3 weeks. which is very achievable I'm in no urgent hurry!

so first thing sit down and wright down goals. not too many ! then look at you goal list and re-write it as follows:
I will loose 1 kilo a month for the next 3 months
I will go to the gym 2 times a week
I will eat healthy
etc etc.
add in any personal goal you may have as well example
I will save $50 a week for my holiday
I will speak only nice words to people
etc etc
I hope i have helped you on where to start.
keep your eyes open - my next blog will be all about breaking down exercise what to do more of to achieve different goals :) happy goal writing

Daily recipe - chcicken salad

OK well i had THE best chicken salad for tea tonight made in my very own kitchen.

Lettuce (of your choice)-not too much maybe 1/2 cup - 1 cup
Cucumber
Capsicum
Tomato

Cheese cubes

Sun dried tomatoes

Sunflower seeds

Black currents

Chick peas

Almond meal

Chicken schnitzel/BBQ chicken
Chop everything up to bit size pieces, layer in you bowl sprinkle the almond meal over not too much!!!

AND ENJOY

Optional Extras:

Capers

chilli's

olives

teaspoon Caesar dressing

lets talk diet V exercise

OK so the long tug of war between Diet verse Exercise, which one to focus on, which is more effective to loose weight, today i will try and clear this up a little.

Daily movement is imperative to any healthy lifestyle, it is recommended that you do approximately 10,000 steps a day which seems a lot, but between normal daily activity and a daily walk it is easily achievable! 

If you want to loose weight the you have to dramatically increase that, which for everyone is not that easy!

When i was a little younger and running a personal training studio on the gold coast (Australia) i use to get so pissed when my clients would cancel, id heard every excuse in the book as to why they were not coming to their session. I was training approx 40-50 clients a week and i would get at least 2 cancellations a day. it is only since i have "grown up" had children and got a mature life that i can totally relate to those clients that i would drill after they missed a session on what their goals were, how they were going to achieve them if they were missing sessions.

Now that i have twin who are 5 and a 12mth old i totally understand that exercise is put last on  the list for the day. So for the past ummm 5 years i haven't exactly been keeping healthy, time with my kids, and house work and time with my hubby come before Any of my needs.

So in saying that diet is probably (i think) 65-80% more effective if you can stick to it for the time you want to loose weight.

What magic diet you ask... well i have tried just about everything through my career as i don't talk about anything unless iv tried it first hand, so every time something new is the hype i try it as long as its not going to kill me.

Cabbage soup diet, Atkins, the 7 day diet, the maple syrup diet and detox diets, but the most effective that i have found is a low or no carbohydrate's high protein diet or eating plan as i like to call it because it had to be a permanent change not just a DIET.

So if you can eat lots of protein, eggs, meat, fish, only for 4 days then this will give you a great cleansing period, then you can incorporate salads and vegetables just no starchy vegetables like potato.

it is most beneficial if you can eat mostly protein for breakfast, a protein only snack mid morning , protein and salad for lunch, then protein only snack in the afternoon then protein and steamed vegetables for dinner.
You can have a free day every week followed by a protein only day. steer clear of sugar as much as you can and fruit while you want to loose weight. Id like to add here that REAL food is obviously best at all times.

AND NO carbohydrates-bread,pasta,rice etc.

I personally find this healthy eating easy to stick too, my husband does NOT! he hates EGGS well that makes it hard unless he is going to eat meat 5 times a day by it self, I'm still working on what works for him but i will post it when i do!

Everyone has to remember that after kids and hitting 30 YOU ARE NOT GOING TO GET BACK YOUR 20 year old body! yes some people are extremely lucky and will keep that body but majority of us will not.

The biggest reason people fail diets and loosing weight is because they have unreal expectations, you will not go from a size 24 to a size 8 in 3 weeks, and unless you quit you LIFE will you be able to exercise everyday for 4 hours. there are some TV shows, that I personally think give the wrong impression about loosing weight and changing your lifestyle, for some people its just carving a little bad habit, some its a whole lifestyle transformation which is really hard when you have a life, kids, significant other, work, school etc etc. 

So that the start of my healthy lifestyle blog stay tuned!

any questions or anything i can answer please ask :)