Your remedy to not feeling FAT, SLOW and OVER-INDULGED!

You know, the average person puts on between 7-10lbs over Christmas. It's all from letting go and paying no attention to the little things. But I do actually want you to enjoy Christmas but at the same time, remember that you don't HAVE TO over eat and drink for an entire week.

Small choices like exercising for 10-15 mins, saying no to food offered, stopping eating when you can't breathe and stuff like that will really help you to avoid that heavy feeling.

Even fitness trainers like myself eat our fair share of junk over the Christmas period, and as we eat pretty well most of the time we really notice how much it slows our systems down and makes us feel heavy and tired.

So, what can we all do to get ourselves feeling better again? Well don't wait until the new year to start that's for sure. Do little things each day from NOW!

Your top five tips to start feeling human again!

1. Drink plenty of water - rehydrate yourself and get your digestive system moving after the overload of hard to digest food

2. Get moving - stop watching TV when there's just rubbish on, wrap up and go for a brisk walk for at least half an hour

3. Throw away or give away (to charity) any chocolate or biscuits left in the house - don't just eat them because they are there

4. Have a break from sugar and starchy carbs (sweets, bread, pasta etc) - cut down, limit or avoid these for a few days to give your digestive system a break

5. Just say no! - if you're visiting friends and relatives every day over the holidays, it's ok to say no to offerings. It will just add to the overload.

Good luck and here's to a great 2011!!

Warm regards

Emma Boffo

Personal Trainer & Nutrition Coach

www.BoffosBootcamp.com

www.YummyFitMums.com

www.OptimiseU.com

Getting motivated to exercise

Why would you want motivation to exercise?

Well it’s motivation that gets us going and excited to get into a healthy routine. It is not good to go into something new (or old) with a negative attitude, especially exercise because that just drains our energy.

Yes we do have our days were we are tired or it is raining or we just simply can’t be bothered but the key is to be able to change our mindset and get out of this attitude before it affects our results.

What is motivation?

The definition of motivation is to give reason, incentive and excitement to assist you to get a desired outcome. Motivation is a state you can easily learn to have with guidance and practice.

What makes motivation an important factor in exercise?

Without motivation whatever plan or regime you choose to follow you will get fed up with and not pursue. You can start getting great results straight away by making motivation your number one priority when it comes to healthy eating and exercise.

How can we motivate ourselves to get results with exercise?

Here are ten keys to motivate you.

1. An exercise log/graph - I cannot explain enough how important it is to log down and journal your experience including taking photos and recording measurements. I get all my clients to do this, its part of the change process.
   
   
2. Remember this is time for you – The time that you spend in session is for you! Respect yourself to remember you deserve time to spend on yourself inside and out.
   
   
3. The frumpy feeling from not exercising - It’s not a nice state so why not take control of your state and be in control of your actions. Make sure you are sticking to your program to prevent you from feeling anything but success.
4. Goal setting - Set goals correctly and make them easily achievable. Setting and tracking your progress with show you your results and will motivate you more.
   
   
5. Prepare for success – Get the right frame of mind to exercise and become healthy. Set your outcomes so that you know which direction you are heading.
   
   
6. Having fun - Exercise should be fun. Choose a class or sport you will have fun with and that can be different.
   
   
7. Visualization - Imagine a slimmer, fitter more toned and energized you and see yourself and imagine how you would sound and feel now let that image motivate and drive you.
   
   
8. Stress relief - Have you had a hard day running after the kids? Use exercise to release that stress.
   
   
9. An exercise class - Sign up for a class, maybe with a friend today as exercising in a group with a trainer can assist in increasing motivation.
   
   
10. Use a coach or trainer – They can support and help you reach your goals successfully.

What if you were to follow the above tips and incorporate it all into your fat loss regime?

Well you’d be setting yourself up for success. Good Luck!

Sally Pettitt

The Mother Factor
sally@themotherfactor.co.uk
The Mother Factor on Facebook

Getting to bed on time keeps you slimmer

Sleeping for eight hours a night is the secret to not putting weight on, according to scientists. They found that those who slept for less than six hours a night put on more weight than those who slept for seven or eight hours each night.

The research published in the Journal Sleep found those who did not get enough sleep gained almost 4.4lbs (2kg) compared to those who slept for the recommended number of hours. Short sleepers were 27% more likely to become obese than those had an average night’s sleep.

The reason that the amount of sleep a person gets can govern their weight is because sleep affects hormone levels, especially those involved in appetite and feeling full after a meal. We release less leptin, a hormone that signals the state of fat stores, and more ghrelin, a hormone that signals hunger. So without enough shut-eye, we’re likely to start overeating.

The sleep/wake cycle

Our natural sleep/wake cycle is called the circadian cycle or rhythm, and is the 24 hour period of when we wake, sleep and feel hungry. It is influenced by light, noise, pressure to perform, food and individual biochemistry. One important hormone controlled by circadian rhythms is melatonin, and the more you produce, the sleepier you feel and the deeper your sleep can be.

If you don’t normally go to bed until 11pm or later, you probably won’t be producing enough to go to sleep any earlier, at least not until you can ‘shift’ your day back to the left, rather like changing time zones. Not only that but any pressure on you increases the production of the stress hormones (adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol) which increases your alertness and readiness for action, which obviously affects whether you can sleep at all.

In an ideal cycle, our ‘get up and go’ stress hormones are released in the morning during activity and begin to decrease later in the day. Then in the evening and at night, the immune system, physical and psychological repair phases take place.

If you are someone that works late and into the night, your stress hormones are present for much longer. Going to bed late misses vital repair to your cells and immune system that you cannot get back. The end result normally consists of being run down and susceptible to becoming ill if it becomes a regular event.

Factors that disrupt your sleep/wake cycle

• Stimulants – caffeine, sugar, alcohol and food additives
• Diet – eating too heavily close to bedtime. Your body can’t sleep deeply if it has to concentrate on digesting food
• Exercise – try to avoid exercise within an hour of going to bed as it disrupts sleep if your core temperature is too high
• Lighting – including watching tv (it is still a light source and too stimulating
• Noise – traffic, snoring, neighbours
• Electromagnetic pollution – from electrical appliances

Action plan

• Get to sleep by 10.30pm (as much as possible)
• Minimise your exposure to bright lights for at least two hours before going to bed and sleep in a room that is completely dark
• Avoid the consumption of stimulants after lunch
• Drink plenty of water
• Exercise (but not too close to bedtime)
• Unplug or remove all electrical appliances near your bed and avoid charging your mobile phone at night in your room
• Buy earplugs to cut out noise from traffic or snoring
• Dejunk and declutter your room and make it a work free zone – no briefcases or laptops!
• Try a relaxation cd to get to sleep

And finally, if you do wake in the night:

• Don’t turn on the light (unless it would be dangerous for you not to!) as you’ll start your wake cycle. The body cannot distinguish between light from a bulb and natural sunlight.
• Don’t look at the clock! You’ll start calculating the hours left till the alarm goes off and just become more alert. Turn it away from you.
• Don’t lie awake being angry about it. Choose something specific to focus on like waves lapping a shore, soft clouds or whatever keeps you in a sleep-like state.

Emma Boffo
www.boffosbootcamp.com

Are you eating like a sumo wrestler?

Many people are actually following a diet similar to sumo wrestlers. What's surprising is that most of these people are actually trying to lose fat.

Now last time I checked Sumo wrestlers are not walking round with six pack abs! Sumo wrestling has no weight divisions so for the wrestlers the bigger the better.



So what does a sumo wrestler do to gain such an athletic body...not!

1. Skip meals

Sumo wrestlers only eat twice a day. This slows your metabolism right down. The best meal to skip to slow your metabolism is breakfast. Make sure you always eat breakfast and if possible eat 4-6 small meals per day to really boost your metabolism.

2. Eat loads of rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, juice and sweets

Now all of this would usually be part of a low fat diet. You see the best way for your body to gain fat is to actually give it too much energy. You body will store this energy in fat cells. Some of the best type of energy that will grow your waistline is foods high in carbohydrates and sugars, so don't over-consume these.

3. Eat late at night

Yup eating a meal full of energy and then going to bed will cause your body to digest the food and then store all the calories in your fat cells. It is better to eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper. Stick to light, easy to digest meals and try to have your starchy carbohydrates earlier in the day if possible. If not make your servings of them small and load up on salad and veggies with protein.

It's good to be lazy

We are working longer hours, under more pressure and leading a life that leaves us at breaking point. But those who manage to make countless work and social appointments daily are admired. When someone says they've worked for 60-70 hours over a week we see them as successful. We are continually active but only mildly effective, and we are wasting valuable life energy on unimportant things. If you push yourself to the limit, day in day out, you will wear out sooner.

Unfortunately over time we have forgotten how to let go of the insignificant tasks that place undue stress on us and require much of out time and energy. We have forgotten how to concentrate on only the important things. It's good to plan and work for the future, but we also need to slow down and enjoy being in the present as well as before you know it, another year has whizzed by.

Let's just have a look at the effects of stress on the body. It's not just having a stressful job but rushing around not giving yourself adequate rest that can cause these to happen.

• Your body ages faster
• You become more susceptible to illness due to a weakened immune system
  
• Blood pressure rises increasing the risk of circulatory disease, heart attack and stroke
• Memory grows worse due to rises in cortisol levels (a stress hormone)
• Not giving yourself time to relax means certain parts of the brain can be damaged in the long term. Your brain ages faster

Stress warning signs

• Tight neck and shoulder muscles
• Catch colds and flu from people easily
• Constant headaches
• Weight loss or gain
• Sleepy in the day, awake at night
• Increased pulse rate
• Grinding your teeth in your sleep
• Cold and clammy hands
  

Relaxation and even occasional laziness are your body's way of balancing itself out. Your pulse and breathing are normalised and blood pressure is regulated. Your immune system, which under stress is weakened by the constant high level of cortisol, recovers.

But rest and relaxation don't happen automatically. All our worries, fears, work problems aren't always easy to put aside. Because of this, relaxation must often be planned into our daily schedules.

But today, deadline pressures and never-ending to-do lists seem to leave no room for relaxation and contemplation. But if you make sure to balance out times of stress and make room for rest will you increase your chance of a long and healthy life.

If all the above rings true you will either have to change the circumstances that are placing you under stress or change the way you deal with it. Differentiate important activities from the unimportant. Mark them red, absolutely essential to achieve that day, amber, nice to achieve that day, and green, can achieve whenever. Have a main to-do list and select no more than six things from that list to do each day so you don't feel overloaded. We are only human and can only fit so much into one day!

Include into your day, time to sit and day-dream, even if it's for just 30 minutes. Have separate breaks where you do not work while you eat or even read. Find the quietest place you can and eat slowly, calmly and enjoy what you are eating. Allow yourself contemplation time after wards.

If you have a stressful job in the week then the weekend should be used for regeneration and recuperation. In reality though this is often not the case as we try and pack in as much action and chores as possible leaving us returning to work just as exhausted. Plan in lazy time! Using relaxation helps conserve energy. Here are a couple to try:

• Short relaxation break: rest your elbows on the table and cover your eyes. Clear your mind and try not to think of anything. If this is hard, try concentrate on your breathing. Breathe slowly in for 4 and out for 4.
  
  
• Learning diaphramatic abdominal breathing – click here to download pdf file

Enjoy being lazy and relaxing!


Emma Boffo, Personal Trainer
07956 315851

www.BoffosBootcamp.com
www.YummyFitMums.com
www.BelliesBumsBatwings.com
www.OptimiseU.com

Top mistakes to make when trying to reduce body fat

1. Doing hours of long, slow, boring cardio exercise only

Heard of the ‘fat burning zone’? You may have seen it on machines in the gym. This is where you work at a lower intensity in order to predominantly use fat as an energy source. Now although this is mostly correct, you will burn far more calories as an end result if you work at a higher intensity for less time.

If you do too much cardio work, your body will break down your precious muscle tissue for energy, and that’s what you need to hang onto to keep your metabolism raised and be able to burn fat!

Keeping your metabolism raised is important, as it is your body’s ability to burn calories while at rest. It is our fat burning furnace. Muscle is the only metabolic tissue in the body and the more we have, the more calories our bodies can burn.

Muscle is the only tissue that can burn body fat as energy, so it’s extremely important to either add or maintain the amount of muscle you have, especially if you are looking to lose body fat. So why are many people still doing the wrong type of training to lose fat?

2. Not eating enough

Logically you would think that hardly eating anything will help you lose weight. Now to a point this is true, you will lose weight, but from your total body weight. Our body weight is made up of more than just fat. Your head alone is approximately one sixth of your total body weight. There are your bones, skin, internal organs, fluids, all making up your total body weight. Crash dieting does make you lose ‘weight’, but only some may be from fat, the part we are interested in reducing. You will also lose water and essential muscle tissue, therefore reducing your metabolism which is why you regain the weight plus more after every failed diet.

Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the amount of calories your body needs in order to exist, to function normally on a day-to-day basis. This means functions such as breathing, controlling body temperature, digestion and the beating of your heart. BMR will vary in each person but for example, a person weighing approximately 9.5 stone can have a BMR of around 1300 calories. Then they need to add on additional calories for movement and exercise which is where you find the average female daily calorie guideline to be around 1500-2000.

If that person was to eat less than 1300 calories, and many faddy diets out there can be well below this, their body would be alerted to a potential ‘famine’ and all it’s functions would start to slow right down to conserve energy. We may have moved with the times but our bodies still work the same as when we were in the caveman era!

3. Avoiding weight training

‘Oh I don’t lift weights as I don’t want big bulky muscles’ is a very common thing that I get told on a regular basis. Although women do have some levels of testosterone present, it’s just no way near enough to give us the same muscle growth as men.

When you see female body builders they are likely to be taking male hormone supplements, which is why they end up looking and sounding like men! They also endure a very serious and very heavy daily weight training regime.

4. Just exercising the problem areas

Many people think that exercising their problem areas will reduce the fat from it. The body doesn’t work this way and unfortunately cannot spot reduce fat, only work the muscle underneath it.

Yes we would all like a flat stomach. But, believe it or not, no amount of weird abdominal exercises or machines alone will magically flatten your belly, regardless of what the adverts say. It seems easy; do hundreds of crunches a day and wait for your stomach to magically flatten. But, after a few months you begin to wonder why it’s not happening. Everyone has a six-pack. It’s just hidden under a layer of body fat!

What you should do...

1. High intensity interval training

Shorter bursts of higher intensity interval training have been proven to be much more effective than having to endure long boring cardio or aerobic sessions.

2. Eat natural food

Cut out or reduce all the usual suspects by way of wheat, dairy, sugar, alcohol, processed and toxic food. These all place stress on the body leading to a sluggish system and weight gain. Eat foods in their original harvested state and drink plenty of fresh water each day.

Make sure you eat enough protein and essential fats. Many people live their life surviving on just starchy carbs. Toast for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch and pasta for dinner. This can also leave you always feeling hungry. Reducing the starchy carbs and eating protein with every meal keeps you fuller for longer and helps reduce sweet cravings.

3. Use resistance

By conditioning your muscles with resistance training they become more efficient at burning fat, all day every day, plus help tone your body. Resistance can be created not just by lifting weights, but also by using exercise bands, your own body weight or swimming.

Resistance training becomes even more important as we get older because metabolism slows and muscle wastes away when you don’t use it. So, use it or lose it!

4. Use your whole body

The more of you that is moving, the more calories your body will need to use. The biggest muscles burn the most calories, so always include chest, back, legs and shoulders into your workouts.

Enjoy getting results! :-)

Emma Boffo, Personal Trainer
07956 315851

www.BoffosBootcamp.com
www.YummyFitMums.com
www.BelliesBumsBatwings.com
www.OptimiseU.com

Do your new year fitness resolutions go something like this?

1. After the Christmas festivities you are left feeling a little tired, heavy and your clothes are feeling somewhat snug.
   
   
2. You know you have to start that 'get fit and lose weight' resolution you set yourself so you decide to go along with the masses and join a gym.
   
   
3. You make it to the gym induction and feel completely self-conscious sitting opposite the slim and/or muscle bound young instructor, who barely looks like they're out of school.
   
   
4. You then feel even worse when they take you round the lines and lines of strange, scary looking machinery.
   
   
5. You get shown your program and then make it back and do quite well for a week or two while your motivation is high.
   
   
6. Suddenly pizza and a dvd seems a much better idea than going to the scary gym and before you know it, you've blown your resolution so there's absolutely no point carrying on.
   
   
7. You return to 'normal eating' and moaning about being overweight/feeling lethargic/clothes not fitting etc.

For many this is an all too common scenario and most don't make it past the first two weeks of their resolutions. So why do we keep trying to do the same things every January when we know they don't work for us? Is it because we know most people will be trying to do the same things so there is safety in numbers? Is it because you think that joining the gym is the only option?

Well now that's where we might be able to help you. Myself and my colleague Matt Murphy are local personal trainers who between us offer a variety of options to suit all budgets and times of day. From bootcamp circuit classes to 1-to-1 and small group personal training, there should be something to suit you.

But why us and not the gym?

Whatever option you choose we will be there to support you all of the way, in and out of the sessions. We are not just there to show you exercises but to educate you nutritionally on how to make the best choices you can for optimal health and well-being. What sort of lifestyle do you lead? Do you have poor posture? Are you getting enough sleep? These all play a part of how you look and feel.

Our bodies adapt to exercise pretty quickly so in order to keep getting results your program needs to be changed regularly. Unless the instructors in the gyms do this for you, you could be left doing the same old tired program for months on end which means your body gets bored, you get bored and you don't get results. And this is what we are very passionate about getting for you!

Do you want results?

I thought so. Combining dietary advice with metabolism boosting circuit-style training and your hard work and dedication, results are guaranteed! Have a look at the sessions we offer below.

Large group classes

Boffo's Bootcamp
A community class held in South Ruislip on Tuesday's and Thursday's 6.30-7.30pm. First class is free, then invest in a block of 4 or 8 sessions with or without 28 day nutritional plan. (£6-£7.50 per class). Have a look at my website for more detailed info. www.boffosbootcamp.com

Turbo Fit Training Circuits with Matt
A community class held at St Helen's School in Northwood. Tuesday's and Thursday's 7.30-8.30pm. Contact Matt Murphy directly for further info on matt@optimiseu.com www.turbofittraining.co.uk

Semi-private personal training four week courses

Limited to only 4 people, a much more affordable way to have personal training. Held at a private training studio in Ruislip Manor. (£15 per session). Free taster sessions available. Contact us to check availablility and to book.

Yummy Fit Mums
Tuesday's and Thursday's 10-10.45am (extra slot available on Wednesday's at 11-11.45am) www.yummyfitmums.com

Bellies, Bums and Batwings
Tuesday's and Thursday's 8-8.45pm
(extra slot available on Saturday's at 11-11.45am)

Turbo Fit Training with Matt
Tuesday's and Thursday's 6-6.45am, Saturday's 7-7.45am
Contact Matt Murphy directly for further info on matt@optimiseu.com
www.turbofittraining.co.uk

Personal training

Either one-to-one or share the cost with up to six friends or family. Held either in your own home or at the studio in Ruislip Manor (up to 4 people only), at a time to suit you, subject to availability. Visit www.optimiseu.com for investment options (under personal training and trainer details).

Drop a clothes size in 30 days or double your money back!
Special package for the new year. Eight personal training sessions plus diet plan and nutritional advice for £288. Contact us to arrange a free consultation. Are you up for the challenge?

If you are interested in any of the above options and would like to know more or would like to book a consultation or taster, please email me or give me a call.

Have a wonderful new year!

Emma Boffo
07956 315851
emmaboffo@hotmail.com