• Coat 1 kilo of diced chicken (or any other meat) in plain flour (optional),

• Fry;

2 brown diced onions,

2 cloves of garlic,

Teaspoon of ginger,

Diced chicken,

• Then add the;

Lentils, mungbeans & split peas,

2 tins of diced tomatoes,

2 cups of stock,

¼ teaspoon of chilli,

1 teaspoon of cumin,

1 teaspoon of coriander,

1 teaspoon of tumeric,

1 teaspoon of mustard or curry powder,

• Simmer to cook through.

If you’re like 98% of the rest of the world, you are likely to want to improve on your Self Image (at least a little). So how do you do that?

1.       You must first create a clear goals & objectives of what is it you are trying to achieve

o   Easy!

2. You must then develop a plan of what you need to do

o   A bit harder, you may need to sit & think about this step properly.

3. You must then follow that plan & actually do the things required

o   Now this is the really tricky bit!

Why? Because you have become the person you are based on the things you have done in the past. In order to become a different person, you must start doing different things in the present, and doing different things means getting out of your comfort zone, stopping old habits and starting new ones, right? It is always too easy to take the path of least resistance & do what is fun & easy rather than what is difficult but necessary. You need self discipline, a long time perspective & focus to keep yourself on track.

So what does all this have to do with your Strength and Fitness Training? Have a look at the above process of Self Improvement.

1. Goal Setting

Everyone who ever decided to lose weight or get fit decided on how much weight they wanted to lose, what body shape they wanted to look like, or how fit they want to be (the easy bit).

2. Preparation

Then you look at the ways that you can do it. Do you restrict your food intake, increase your energy output, or a combination of both. Do it alone, do it with a friend or do it with a qualified trainer in a group or private setting (requires a bit more conscious thought).

3. Action

Then you commit to start doing it (the really challenging bit). Sometimes you succeed straight away, sometimes you don’t. But it requires self discipline, self sacrifice, understanding that you need to put the effort in NOW even though you won’t get the benefits until LATER (long time perspective) & mental strength to keep going when it starts feeling difficult.

Weight Loss, Health, Strength & Fitness are all by-products of the disciplines of goal setting, delayed gratification, time perspective, the ability to work through difficult feelings etc. You can use your Strength and Fitness Training as a prototype to becoming a better person.

A person of impeccable Character!

-          Be at your ideal bodyweight

-          Be fit enough to run a marathon

-          Be strong enough to lift your own bodyweight

-          Be healthy enough to live a hundred years with ease

Whatever is on your list, you can’t do all of them all at once, but you can focus on one of them.

So the question to ask yourself then is……

which one thing, if I could change it today, would make the greatest positive impact on my life?

Whatever you answer to that question, that is the one thing that you should dedicate your energies towards changing.

Sometimes one area of your life will impact on another. In order to lose weight you may need to increase your fitness. Well then your only focus should be to increase your fitness. Do that first & then once you have a fitness level under your belt, and then look at decreasing your weight. But set your goal on fitness first & don’t expect any results in weight loss. If you lose weight at the same time, then that is a bonus, but don’t try to do two things at once.

Once you have succeeded in that area, ask yourself again….

which one thing, if I could change it today, would make the greatest positive impact on my life?

So it’s fair to say then that the vast majority of you reading this would like to lose weight. Or even if you are currently within the healthy weight range, it’s still likely that you probably struggle to maintain that level. And when the average person decides to lose weight, they generally start a heavy running &/or weights regime whilst putting themselves on the strictest diet they can find. Unfortunately this is just another popular myth in the community for losing weight, for the long term.

In order to lose body fat initially, you’re better off eating approximately 2000kj fewer than you burn per day. However in order to keep that weight off, you need to maintain your activity levels. Combining the two is then even better!

So if you have decided to change your eating habits, how do you know what changes are required? Well, before you know how to get to where you want to go, you first need to know where you are. This is where a ‘Food Diary’ can be the most valuable tool for you. Is it so simple yet highly effective.

All you have to do is simply write down anything & everything that you swallow in a week. However there are a few guidelines that will help you to get the most out of this process.

1. Be honest. Don’t change anything that you normally do.

The idea is to see where you can make improvements; if you aren’t honest with yourself it makes it so much more difficult to know what needs change.

2. Be as specific as possible.

Without going overboard, the more detail you put in, the more information you will see after.

3. Put in other relevant information.

Your metabolism is affected by sleep, work & exercise. Putting in these factors may show a pattern develop in conjunction with your eating.

Once you have done this, look through & see if you can find a pattern of things like;

• Large gaps between meals followed by ‘binge eating’
• Times of the day that trigger ‘bad eating habits’
• Is there a particular food group not included
• Is there a particular food group included too much
• Is there a physical activity that is triggering ‘bad eating habits’

Until you look at your weekly eating at a glance like this, you are not likely to see patters that may span days. They have most likely been developed over years & you probably didn’t even realise they occurred. But now that you are aware of what you are doing, you are so much more likely to be able to do something about it.

To download &/or Print your Free Food Diary Table, click here

Good luck!

There are only two real requirements for success in life. The first requirement is deciding exactly what you want. Most people never get to that point. They never decide exactly what they want in life, and because of this they simply go around in circles. The second requirement, after a person has decided what he wants, is determining the price he’s going to have to pay to get it and then resolving to pay that price.

So if you want to have a new car, it is obviously going to cost physical money, but that may also mean working more overtime, not being able to go out to dinner as often, giving up a holiday or having to take a position with greater responsibility &/or commitments  etc in order to be able to afford that car. You can have just about anything you want, as long as you are able to and are willing to pay that price. And remember, nature always demands that you both pay the price in full & that you pay it in advance.

Once this has been decided, the next question is how to make it actually happen in the real world. It’s easy to decide on what we want; we can easily spend all day doing that! It’s a little harder to work out what we’re going to have to do &/or give up in order to pay that price. The next challenge is to do those things, on a regular basis, until the fee has been paid, both in full and in advance remember.

That is where most people get stuck. Why? Because it’s difficult to do things we don’t want to do, and it’s difficult to stop doing things we actually enjoy. Remember Self Discipline is; “Doing what you know you Should do, When you should do it, Even if you don’t Feel Like doing it!”

So the trick is to change your though process to Want to do the things that we need to do, rather than just focusing on the end result. Instead of saying “I want a flat tummy, I know I have to exercise more but I don’t want to do that, I just want the flat tummy” (this may not be said consciously, but it is probably being said unconsciously), change it to

I want a flat tummy & the way I have decided to get that is to run more. So, I now want to run more because it will give me a flat tummy.

Then the act of doing what you need to do then becomes an enjoyable process as well.

1.       Decide what you want in life

2.       Determine what price are you going to have to pay to get that

3.       Decide to want to do those things

Getting what you want will then simply happen as a by product of doing what you wanted to do.

Has anyone ever heard of the model ‘Energy In = Energy Out’ for weight loss or Strength gain? Simply put, it means that if your energy intake (what you eat) is balanced with your energy expenditure (how much you move), then you will remain the weight you are now.

-          However, if you want to lose weight, you need to either decrease your energy intake &/or increase your energy expenditure. Not too much either way or you may end up actually gaining weight. Sounds contradictory I know, but it can actually affect your metabolism in negative ways when gone to the extreme.

-          To gain weight (for putting on muscle mass for Strength & Fitness) you need to increase your energy intake & decrease your energy expenditure. That may sound like a good formula for putting on body fat. However with the correct type/amount of nutrition for muscle building (combined with the correct type/amount of efficient Strength & Fitness training of course), with the correct type/amount of adequate rest it will actually stimulate the need for muscle growth. Just eating more & moving less will just make you fat L Muscle building will still require you to work for it; you just need to make sure you eat more of the good stuff to tip the scales in the direction of weight (muscle, not fat) gain.

Either way, you’re trying to get your body to burn fat or build muscle & that means changing your body structure through chemical reactions. That is what your metabolism is. Basically it is a measure of how fast you are either breaking down fat cells, or building muscle cells. So the faster you can do this the quicker you’re going to get the Strength & Fitness goals you are after right?

There are many tricks that can be used to increase your metabolism.

• Eat more frequently;

o   Without increasing your overall daily energy intake too much. Know how much you should be eating in a 24 hour period & divide that into 3 main meals & 2 or even 3 other smaller snacks. Buy just ensure that the overall daily energy intake is correct for your needs. http://lifeforcetraining.com.au/category/nutrition-recipes/

• Eat enough;

o   If you eat too little, your body has to slow down it’s metabolism to conserve what little energy you do have. The trick is to eat just under/over what your body requires to burn fat/build muscle. Your body doesn’t want to change, so when you make little changes, your body doesn’t realise what’s happening & is happy to burn away.

• Drink Water;

o   Keeping your fluid levels up will keep your body running efficiently. You can lose up to 30% loss of performance, with only a 2% dehydration level. Maintain your hydration & your body will perform at its peak, which means burning energy.

• Get proper Sleep;

o   You want to burn the most amount of energy when you’re awake, so you need to be completely refreshed when you wake. 6 to 7 hours of DEEP sleep is much better than 8 to 9 hours of light sleep. If you are not rested from sleeping, your body will slow down when you’re awake.

• Eat early;

o   Your metabolism is at its lowest while you’ve been sleeping for the last 6 or 7 hours, you need to get it going as much as possible as fast as possible. Give it something to start burning.

• Eat Protein/Fibre rich food;

o   These Low G.I. foods make the body work harder to break down in the digestive system than High G.I. foods like processed & sugary foods. That means your body is working harder internally for longer, regardless of what you’re doing externally.

• Increase Muscle Mass;

o   You need money to make money – you need muscle to make muscle; why, because you need muscle to burn energy. You burn energy & you’re going to burn fat, & it also takes energy to build more muscle.

o   Legs are the largest muscle group of the body, so if you work your legs you’re going to build the greatest amount of muscle with each & every workout.

• High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT);

o   When you work at a high intensity (immediate increase in energy) for a short amount of time, then rest before repeating the process, your body’s metabolism goes up & down many times within your training session. When you stop training, your body doesn’t know what to expect, so it is at the ready & will keep burning energy for hours after you actually finish. Also known as Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption (EPOC Training)

• Incidental Training

o   Increase Your Metabolism Through Incidental Training

After all, you can burn more energy in your 18 waking hours than you can ever do in a 1 hour/45 minute workout. So doesn’t it make sense to think of your waking hours as a workout in itself?

The trick is to not just simply move more (although that is a very good place to start), what you want to do is to get your body burning energy in anticipation of something physical that could happen any minute now. Throughout the day, regularly change it up to do something to burn energy quickly & then let yourself rest for a bit, before doing something the body is not expecting. Imagine if you were sitting down had been watching t.v. for an hour or so. Your body will begin to see a pattern develop of you not doing anything in the near future, so it slows down your BMR to conserve energy. But what would happen to your BMR if you suddenly got up, raced around the house quickly & did some hard & fast push-ups & sat back down. Your BMR would go through the roof quickly, & then slowly quieten down. In that brief minute or two, you would not burn a great deal of your daily energy requirements, but if you repeated the process several times every hour or so, your body would again begin to see a pattern develop. A pattern of not knowing exactly what to expect, other than at any moment now you are likely to do something unexpected that will require a large blast of energy. So your body will constantly idle a little higher, all throughout the day!

• Exercise as soon as you wake;

o   Set the tone for the whole day by getting moving as much as possible as quickly as possible.

• Eat regular meals;

o   Even if you are moving, if you don’t have energy to burn, your body will slow down to conserve what you do have.

• Park far away from the shops;

o   Or anything that makes you move more than you need to.

• Make more trips;

o   Instead of carrying every shopping bag into the house at once, walk them in 1 at a time.

• Take the stairs;

o   And don’t just stroll; try to beat everyone else to the same floor. You’d be surprised how easy it is to walk a flight as fast as an elevator.

• Stagger your housework;

o   Do a bit, then rest. That way you will also have more energy to do each bit really fast.

o   Lift the couch to vacuum. You know you should do it properly anyway.

o   Wash the windows when they need it, don’t put it off. Build a sweat while you keep a clean house.

• Interval Training as you walk;

o   Walk fast, and then stroll, then fast again, changes it up.

o   Walk as though you are late for a big important interview.

• Don’t use labour saving devices;

o   Sweep the floor instead of always using the vacuum.

• Why sit if you can stand (why walk if you can run);

o   When you sit your brain can even slow down, keep on your feet & you will feel better.

• Make a proper meal from scratch;

o   We know processed food is bad, but so is reheating as opposed to proper cooking.

• Walk the dog / play with the kids instead of the telly;

o   Don’t succumb to what is easier, do what is better.

• Dance a gig;

o   Ever had to stand & wait for a while, why not move to the music in your head J

• Take the scenic route;

o   If you’re not in a hurry, why take the shortest route from A to Z. Walk the long way & enjoy the process.

• Extreme Holiday;

o   When on R&R, organise something to do, instead of pure Relaxation, physical activity is important for Recovery as well you know.

Women:

[655.1+(9.56 x weight in kg)+(1.85 x height in cm)-(4.68 x age in years)] x 4.2

Men:

[66.47+(13.75 x weight in kg)+(5 x height in cm)-(6.76 x age in years)] x 4.2

Once you know your resting metabolic rate you will need to multiply it by your activity factor number to know your total daily energy output needs.

Example:

Amanda is 30 years old, 170 cm tall & weighs 70 kg. Her resting metabolic rate is

[655.1+(9.56 x 70)+(1.85 x 170)-(4.68 x 30)] x 4.2

=[655.1+669.2+314.5-140.4] x 4.2

=6293 kj per day

If Amanda is relatively inactive, her total kj output would be 6293 x 1.2=7552 kj per day.

However if she was training for a marathon, her output would be 6293x1.9=11,957 kj per day.

The safest & most effective way to reduce kilojoule intake for weight loss is to consume

2000 to 4000 kj fewer than your body uses per day. This produces a minimum weight loss of 0.5 to 1 kg per week.

This may sound like a slow process, however you may need to ask yourself how long it took for your body to gain its weight & ask yourself if it’s realistic to expect your body to lose the same amount of weight in a much quicker time frame.

Don’t forget losing weight, even if it’s a slow process, is better than keeping the weight on or continuing to gain more.

Therefore, I encourage everyone to go on a ‘weight loss diet’. “But hang on, isn’t there a lot of contradictions within the weight loss industry of whether a diet is good for you or not?” I hear you say. Yes & No. First, understand that you are already on a diet, a diet is “the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group”. So you need to also understand that the current diet (& activity level) is 100% responsible for your current weight (& Strength/Fitness level). If you are to change your weight (& Strength/Fitness), you must change your habits.

“Ok, that makes sense” I hear you say, “But I don’t know which one is the one that works. I’ve heard of low fat, no fat, low card, high protein etc etc, just tell me which one is the right one. Just don’t tell me to eat a balanced diet, that can’t be the answer, it’s too hard to maintain that. I need a simple system that fixes everything”.

So that’s when the t.v. or magazine gets your attention. Someone comes up with a brand new & proven  scientific system that they say is different from the others, ‘& this one actually works’! And what’s more, it’s easy to maintain (somehow there is also a price to pay funnily enough). So it’s easy to understand how you’d be interested in finding out more & giving it a go. After all, they do explain the science behind it & it does make sense. “& I am so tired of trying to get this weight off without results, I’ll try anything now”.

Unfortunately, what they do is look at the REAL science of the human body, pick out a few facts that are related to weight loss, but leave out the rest. Why, because there are several facets involved in long term weight loss & you need them all & you need to do them constantly to maintain your weight. Unfortunately the body will crave the facets that are missing & sooner or later (usually sooner rather than later) you will be forced to return to your old habits. But they don’t care about that; they just want to sell their product, so they pick the science that will cause the greatest weight loss with the least amount of effort. Someone buys the product, they lose the weight & tell their friends who run out & do the same.

By the time the weight comes back on, it’s too late, and the money has been made. And lots of it. Look back at ALL of the ‘diets’ that have been around over the years. They’re not here now, because NONE of them worked long term. If they did, we’d all still be doing it.

The truth is – that the human race has been eating a balanced diet for centuries & that is what we’re designed to do. Simple as that! Our modern society has changed our foods & lifestyles, but we still NEED a balanced diet. Nothing more, nothing less, no amount of science can change our requirements.

For more information on how to incorporate a balanced diet into your lifestyle (because it’s not that hard really), contact a Dietician or Nutritionist who are the only people able to advise you what will work for YOU. We are all different.

Do what your body needs (not what our lifestyle wants) & you will maintain your weight – guaranteed!