For those of you who gained this week!!!!

The French are always fashionably late!

Warming up and getting ready for a gorgeous training session at Neilson.  Makes you glad to be alive doesn't it! Well done Princesses achieving 90% of target weight loss last week, its starting to show in your fitness too.  

There is only one month to go, so now is the time to reset your focus and go for it.  Remember to do your best and forget the rest!!

RESULTS Week 3

Here are week 3 results, Well done Princesses, what a come back.  Early Risers.....tut tut!

Biggest Loser - Miss Turquoise

Biggest Loser Team - 9am Princesses

Biggest Loser Pair - Miss Green & Miss Lime!!

Training Star of the week - Miss Turquoise

Early										Total
Risers	-700	-100	900	500	500	900	-300	1000		2700
Princessses										Total
	1800	-300	600	400	1000	200	1000	700	500	5900

 

Will lifting weights make me bulky?

Lifting heavy weights won't make you look like this (left) without a little steroid assistance.  Most women do not have a high enough level of testosterone and other muscle building hormones to build massive muscles. But lifting weights and other resistance exercises will help you tone and strengthen your muscles, giving you sculpted arms rather than bulky and muscle bound.   So don't be scared when we get the 7 & 10kgs out!

Results Week 2

This weeks biggest loser is Miss Yellow(pictured)

Early Risers are this weeks Team winners

Come on Princesses!!

Trainee of the week Miss Orange & Miss Pink

Early	Black	Magenta	Pink	pale pink	Grn	Lime	Wht	Clear		Total
Risers	-400	200	0	-200	900	800	400	1000		2700
Princessses	Turq	REd	Pale	Navy	Blu	Yel	Org	Jade	Ice	Total
	200	100	200	200	-1800	1500	900	-300	-300	700

There are spies EVERYWHERE

Just when you think its safe to stand near the ice cream shop......last terms Body Shrink Winner is caught red handed with an ice cream in her hand......when busted she yelled "but its for Harry! I haven't touched any of it"  only the weigh will reveal the truth!

Work baby Work!

Training is fun, hard, challenging, vomit inducing and sometime difficult.  But one thing you must remind yourself is that when its over and the endorphins flood through your body, WOW you feel fantastic, strong and empowered.  The harder you work the greater the rush and the quicker you will see improvements.  Exercise won't get any easier, but you will learn to enjoy pushing yourself and working harder.....furthermore your body will tone up, change shape and you'll walk taller with more agility and confidence.    Need anymore reasons to exercise?  No! didn't think so.

1 down 7 to go!

The first week of any diet and exercise program is the hardest and the easiest.  Hardest because the change of eating and exercise is difficult, but it's easy because your motivation is at its highest.  Be sure to engage yourself at every step of this program.  Talk to your Shrink buddies, and you'll find that everyone is feeling the same and can help keep your motivation high.  But mostly you need to sit down and have a quiet little chat to yourself about your goals and what YOU want to achieve, be honest.  It doesn't matter whether you goal is vanity or health based as long as you know what is motivating you. Its only 7 weeks to go.....such a short period of time so there is no time to loose focus because every week counts.

FOOD IS FUEL NOT COMFORT!

The Difference Between Fat Loss and Weight Loss

Not all of the weight you lose is going to be fat. That’s just the way it is. Some of it will be unwanted water weight, which is mostly a good thing, if not somewhat temporary. Some of it will be built-up fecal matter and “gunk” in the intestines, which is a very good thing. In fact, this gunk may very well be making you frequently ill and slowing down fat loss due to a lack of proper nutrient absorption. The zero carb days & non processed food you eat during SHRINK  will assist with shifting some of this 'gunk'.

Some of your weight loss will almost invariably be muscle mass, which is an undesirable thing. But we try to prevent this by doing resistance training; (weights and your own bodyweight).  The fact is the worst form of weight loss is muscle mass, which is also the most common form of weight loss on most diet plans. Remember that muscle burns calories at rest; therefore the more of it you have the more calories you can burn while you sleep, while you exercise, and while you carry on about your day.

During periods of rapid weight loss it is not uncommon to lose a bit of muscle, but ensuring you eat sufficient protein, a broad spectrum of foods, a nutritional supplement, together with training during your diet, this can be totally avoided and you can often gain muscle.

BRING IT ON!

So far so good ladies.  I am lovin' what i'm seeing, lots of effort, swearing and banter.  Everyone is showing great levels of determination and spirit...keep it up.  Another great sunrise at Christiansen Park this morning. 

SHRINK Starts tomorrow!

NO more junk food!

I know that you are all very excited that Shrink Term 4 is starting tomorrow.  I hope you've had a lovely holiday and are rested because you are going to need strength and determination to get through the next 8 weeks.  No more junk food!  Do not enter into this program thinking you can cruise through it;We are going to work hard to shift the winter blubber so kiss your fat arse goodbye!

Early Morning Run - Feels like summer is coming

We have battled through the winter months, getting up and training in the dark and in all weather, but today during our Friday morning run, the sun was up, the air was crisp and the view from the South Head was spectacular!  If you stayed in bed, then you missed out!  
It felt like summer was nearly upon us, as the mornings get lighter, the air gets warmer and more and more people are getting out of bed, we must have said "good morning" to a dozen other chirpy runners this morning, all of us feeling part of a secret club that have discovered how wonderful it is to be able to run in what has to be considered one of the most beautiful suburbs in Sydney if not the world.   We felt lucky,  healthy, special and we felt energized........COME ON, bring on the summer!

Biggest Loser Trophy still up for grabs!

Now there is only one more weigh in before the final results are determined.  This terms Biggest Loser will win the coveted Body-Shrink 'oscarette' to display on their mantle until the next Body-Shrink biggest loser is crowned.  You have all done incredibly well and I am proud to have helped you along this challenging journey. 

Now once it's over, take a big sigh of relief and pat yourselves on your back.   But beware not to return to old bad habits, you have now been armed with the knowledge on how to maintain your svelte new body.  During the next 8 weeks I would like to see some of you take charge and continue a steady weight loss, the rest should focus on maintaining you current weight and fitness levels, giving your body a chance to reset you 'fat clock' as it were, allowing a fluctuation of no more than a kilo up or down. 

It has been a pleasure to see you grow in confidence and shrink in waist band.........

It's such a weighty issue.....

You've paid your money, so you take your choice................to say i am disappointed with this weeks result is a minor understatement.  The core of you are doing incredibly well and you should be very proud of your hard work and achievements.  Now i always knew the ones who would struggle, but in amongst the "need to work harder" group were some unusual suspects.  You know who you are.  Stop messing around and wasting my time and yours, you're either in or your out.  Its not too late to 'pull your finger out' and get back in the zone.  Inablility to make training is one excuse, but non weigh in is NOT and never will be excused, so face up to the results.  Every action has a reaction, so just a slither of Pizza or "just a little bit" of chocolate cake won't massively affect your weight loss but impacts your will power and attitude enormously.  Don't kid yourself or me that it doesn't matter, because we both know it does!!  Two more weighs in's to go.  It's time to pull out all the stops, because procrastination is the mother of 'lazy arses'!

Week 5 Results are in!

I know your liking what you see, but that doesn't mean you take your eye of the goal! Don't start patting yourself on the back just yet, if you have attained your goals then set another goal today to exceed it.  Complacency leads to lethargy and lethargy to disappointment and failure.  Stay focused and keep your eye on the end goal: your transformed fitter healthier body.  That should be enough incentive and motivation to take you through the next two weeks!  

Remember to drink at least 2 litres of water every day.

To rid your body of fat your must rid it of the toxins that are stored in the fat, drinking lost of water helps the body flush the toxins away

Unhappiness....def:week 4 results

Oh dear oh dear, week 4 results were a disappointment.  That said well done Mr Black and Miss Yellow, terrific results.  Well done you deserve it.   I suggest you revisit your goals and decide whether you want the donut more than the skinny jeans.  Nothing tastes better than being trim and healthy.  The donut will reward you with 3 minutes of pleasure, the skinny jeans will last for months! Its a no brainer.    Lets hope week 5 results are better, I am sure they will be, especially as the 4 of you who got 'P' beads this week, feel remorse and regret and re-motivated. 

Raw food....healthy or a just a wind generator!

I just read an article about eating raw foods and a restaurant in Canada that served all its food raw! This restaurant serves a raw lasagna that was made completely with vegetables instead of wheat pasta, and used some sort of brazil nut protein as the meat substitute.  Is this just another food hype like the babyfood diet?

First, I've noticed that there seems to be a group of people out there that tend to be a little overly "extreme" raw foodists, where they preach that we shouldn't eat any cooked foods at all.
Whilst I think there are HUGE benefits to trying to make a large portion of your diet raw food,  we have to acknowledge that eating cooked foods as a portion of your food intake can still be healthy, and even beneficial.

For example, certain nutrients in certain vegetables are actually more easily assimilated when those vegetables are cooked. 

While some vitamins may be diminished or destroyed while cooking, some vitamins are actually made more available to the body. One example is the antioxidant lycopene, which is made much more highly available to the body in cooked tomatoes vs raw tomatoes.

That's why eating a portion of your vegetables raw has benefits, but also eating a portion of your vegetables cooked can also have benefits.

Plus, we also have to realize that the human digestive system has evolved over tens of thousands of years eating a portion of food as cooked...let's face it, our ancestors DID cook a portion of their food using fire or hot water.  This not only made food more palatable but also provides an internal warming sensation that relaxes and gives comfort. 

So my big picture take on this subject is that while there are definitely great benefits to raw food and should be included as a good portion of a healthy diet, I think they can be balanced with also eating cooked foods too.

I don't see any reason to be an "extremist" in terms of only eating raw foods and never even touching cooked foods.

Another aspect we haven't covered in the raw food topic is that in some cases, there can also be certain benefits to raw animal products, such as raw milk.  I know that's controversial and we are a long way from serving raw milk (i.e. not pasteurised or homogenised), but much of the health benefits of milk are destroyed during these processes.  One good example is the Samburu tribe in Africa that subsist almost solely on raw cows blood and raw milk and yogurt, while eating very little plant matter...yet they display extreme health, strength, and lack of disease.

The big picture is that the human body can adapt and thrive to almost any type of diet as long as the diet is made up of natural unprocessed foods... processed foods are the one type of food that we cannot thrive on.   Scotch finger biscuits excluded of course!

Its a weighty issue.......

Week 3 results are in! Big congratulation to Miss Turquoise as this weeks biggest loser! A well deserved win. Now its time to shake it up a bit, your bodies are starting to get used to your new eating plan and exercise regime, so your not seeing the same large results that you did in the early days and boy oh boy those big numbers are motivating. Don't lose heart, add another kick start into your routine. 

• Can you train an extra day
• Can you up the intensity and effort of your training (you know if you've been slacking)
• Are you drinking enough water
• How big are your portions - a little big perhaps
• Add some benefibre to your diet
• can you miss one of the snacks?
• Are you really hungry? - bored? thirsty? instead
• Are you getting enough variety and flavour in your diet
• Are you sleeping enough...go to bed early, staying up will only tempt you to eat.

Challenge yourself this week to beat your weekly weight loss goal, go on I dare you!

Week 4.....nearly halfway!

Nearly 4 weeks done, only 4 weeks to go. You almost halfway to a new you. Can you see it; feel it: taste it? The answer should be a resounding yes to all of the above. Any muscle soreness should be dissipating and being replaced with a new found self confidence and energy that should be making you really feel like this journey and weight loss goal is achievable! Despite this program being short on time it is long on expectation, demands and commitment. What I am asking you to do is not difficult in physical execution, but often torturous in mentally. You are constantly asking yourself to withhold from comfort eating, resist temptation, restrain from excess and change your long established eating habits. Don't give in now, keep your eye on the ball and a clear focus as to why your doing this.

Getting older? Is it time to switch to bowls?..........Absolutely No!

When the world thinks your too old! Should we listen to society which tells us were too old for this and too old for that. Many people will often suggest toning down your exercise intensity to protect your joints, hips and back. Our bodies are naturally slowing us down by eroding our lovely muscle mass and depleting our "fast twitch" muscle fibres. It is these fibres that get us up the stairs and out of our chairs, and all the things that our grannies struggle to do. We can't stop the aging process BUT we can maintain and improve what we've got. So we MUST do resistance training i.e lift weights, run up hills and stairs. Don't be afraid of exercise feeling hard, it's meant to: enjoy it, relish in the fact that your hard efforts will and are being rewarded.