My fitness/health routine

I've had a few comments (here and facebook) and emails asking about how I lost my weight, how I am keeping it off, what I am doing to get my six pack and how I can help other, can I reveal my secrets? .... etc, etc. Well here's the rub people, it's no secret :)

The science part - is that pretty much that if calories out is less than calories in then that equals weight loss. It's no secret, we all know this! We just want it to be easier, but unfortunately it isn't. Despite the email spam telling us that the fatburning tablets and acacia berry drink will help, fact is that if the diet food/fads etc worked why are there so many on the market? Why is the market for diet pills/shakes/foods increasing if they work? And if there are more of them and they all worked why is the obesity rate getting higher and higher? Because fad diets aren't a long term plan.! We KNOW we should choose fruit and yogurt over cheesecake or chocolate lava cake (damn souplantation!) but we're human, we get tempted, the solution is portion control and getting back to eating healthy again afterwards! Dont' fall into the diet trap! Lose weight healthy, get a new lifestyle for your new you!

The most important things to remember are:

• Get checked out by a doctor, especially if you have health issues! Make sure it's safe for you to embark on a lifestyle change!
• Train smart. Start slow and build it up! Going in like a bull in a china shop will mean injury, soreness and you quitting before you get started!
• If you aren't sure what you are doing get a trainer (goes with the above point really) BUT make sure they are qualified! Too many people calling themselves fitness and personal trainers when they don't know their glutes from their gastrocnemius.

Anyway here is what I've been doing the last 6 months:

• My 'eating plan' basically consists of 5 meal times a day. Breakfast, post workout, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner. Ok and sometimes a "liquid refreshment" in the evening if I feel like it, lol.
• Don't starve yourself! I eat around 1500 - 2000 calories a day, depending on how much exercise I do. Yes if I exercise more, I eat more! Also I have 3 cheat meals a week, where I don't track the calories. Those are usually my high exercise intensity days. If I go over these 3 meals I don't panic I just get back to my plan the next meal/day.
  
• I use www.livestrong.com to track my calories in vs calories out (exercise) and check my macros (protein, carbs, fats) but basically the site does it all for you if you input the data! I hate math and this site does it for me so YAY :) I'm not a frantic tracker, somedays I track somedays I don't. Pretty much after a few weeks you'll know when you went crazy ;)
  
• Check your portion sizes! Seriously! America has a huge portion size problem, it's so easy to get suckered in to eating the whole thing, then find out it was four portions worth of food, eeeks! I used my measuring cup set to see what a portion size of pasta/rice etc was and I was WAY off!
  
• Aim to lose weight slowly! Slower it comes off, the longer it'll stay off! Aim for 1% of your body weight each week. So if you weigh 150 lbs then aim for 1lb - 1.5lbs loss a week.
• Try to be more active in your daily life. I walk the dogs three times a day, just a mile at a time but it gets me out and about three times during the day, rather than doing a three mile walk once. I also started swimming in the pool last month. It's only a small pool and I am in there about 10-15 minutes before it bores the pants of me, but I just find swimming boring lol. But it all counts!
• Exercise! Getting up and moving is all well and good, but you do need proper exercise sessions. 45 mins -1 hour, 3-4 times a week. I personally exercise 6 days a week, with Saturday off as my rest day (I still walk the dogs, swim etc though). I alternate cardio/weights days and do ab work every workout day.
• Yep I lift weights! I lift heavy too. No women won't get bulky like a bodybuilder! Unless you workout with weights for 3 hours a day, take steroids, or have some excess testosterone floating around in your body women will NOT bulk up! What will happen is you'll get stronger, you'll burn FAT (yay!) and you'll see some definition due to the fat loss. THIS IS A GOOD THING! Also weights are good for bone density so you'l reduce the risk of osteoporosis. Include all major muscle groups, aim for 8-12 reps & 2-3 sets. The last 2 reps of each set should be tough, not impossible, and not enough that your form suffers. If it's too easy through rep 12 and you feel you can keep going: Increase the weights!
• Cardio, whether you walk, cycle, run, do aerobics, swim, jog, walk the dogs, chase a ball round a pitch etc whatever your passion just do it! Warm up, 10-15 mins, 30 mins cardio, cool down, stretch. Remember too that if it gets easy it means you need to step it up a notch! If you walked 4 miles in an hour, think about increasing the duration or the intensity, either walk longer or kick it up and add some running in there!

Ab work is a whole other thing and this post is already way long, I'll cover that another day, maybe tomorrow? I also want to touch on a few other things I noticed in some emails about solutions for wobbly thighs, expanding butts etc but I need to go eat, lol!

If you have any questions email me or leave a comment, I'll try and post something or email you back :) Oh and alternatively if you live near me hire me as your personal trainer, email me! lol!