Ned's Unlikely Success Story
Let me introduce Ned:
Awesome results, awesome client! So very happy that the wonderful Ned smashed her goals in such a way that she's now really confident going forward and she can sustain everything she's learned.
Don't take it from me though, this is what she said:
"I think the accountability and personal contact every week was what made the difference for me. And through setting goals, I made a commitment to myself that I was going to do it, and I did".
That's a little bit of advice from this amazing woman - a busy professional with a young daughter.
Ned had been struggling to lose half a stone even though she was a regular exerciser and very active. She’d tried everything before she came to me and nothing really stuck or helped her to get the more toned look she was hoping to achieve and lose that pesky last half stone.
We worked together and focused on making easy changes she could fit into her busy lifestyle – making swaps and better choices, building good habits – so that she could still enjoy nights out without feeling deprived and making steady maintainable weight loss.
Ned Says...
“Working with Lisa has been inspirational and I’ve learned so much stuff. I’ve gained some real insights and picked up some great tools that will help me manage diet and fitness going forward to make it work for me in the long term.”
“The plan is tailored to me and that’s what’s important for it to work. Diets like Weight Watchers or Slimming World don’t look at people’s personality or the way they live, and let’s face it, who wants to go to a weigh in at a cold village hall at 8.00pm on a Monday.”
“Having a coach I’ve got way more traction and better results. It’s also made me accountable – I can’t hide and I can’t cheat but frankly it’s not worth it.”
“And the best thing, if something’s not working for me Lisa looks at doing something that will and that suits me. I get an immediate response, so my motivation doesn’t dip. You’re not going to get that from Weight Watchers, it isn’t that convenient, whereas this is. Really it’s about making things work for people’s lives and if you do that then they’ll actually get results and take action”.
And here's the thing - she didn't set foot in a gym once, nor give up her favourite cheese and biccies, or red wine. She ate "normal" food - in fact she had to eat more. She never felt deprived and told me that it took some self management but was easy....
Thank you for being so brilliant!
Why should I do interval training?
Why should I do interval training?
Every week there seems to be a new fitness trend - put your hand up if you’ve heard of hot yoga, Crossfit, hydro spinning/aqua spinning (really!), Zumba, Boowiaka, Body this that and the other, chi ball, step, etc etc. The range of workouts and classes you can choose from at most gyms is immense. It can be very confusing for those people who are new to exercise, even those who are regulars – what should I pick, should I just go in the gym on the treadmill and bike?
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is a training system that’s gained popularity in the last year and has become a favourite of many trainers and their clients. HIIT is based on short blasts of exercises with short periods of recovery - the theory behind it is that by having these short sharp blasts (most HIIT sessions will last no longer than 20-25 minutes) you disturb your metabolism, giving it a spike and keep burning calories for longer.
I teach and workout to Metafit which is a HIIT workout using big range of movement and the major muscle groups functionally burning more calories in a shorter space of time and increasing the fat burn potential through EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) or also known as the after burn effect.
Interval training is not endurance training – going on the treadmill for an hour at a steady state. It’s putting in your absolute maximum effort for short bursts of time. If you’re not worn out after 30 minutes you’ve not worked at your maximum. It’s not about pacing yourself in the “fat burn” zone, but pushing yourself to your failure level. You can easily incorporate this on a treadmill by warming up for 5 minutes then short bursts of 30 seconds work followed by 30 seconds recovery.
Sounds hard? It is, but it’s your level of hard, not mine or the person standing on the mat next to you. A good trainer will always take you to a level you can complete, which means the fittest person and the least fit person can safely take part.
I believe that Metafit was essential to my weight loss efforts – I regularly did Metafit and still do and any time I think I can’t be bothered, I take out Spartan Matrix and tell myself “It’s only 16.5 minutes long, I can do this” and bish, bosh, bang, I’m done and feel great knowing I’d incorporated some great exercise into my day.
Writing this in December, it’s also brilliant at this time of year. Who wants to spend hours on the treadmill or cross trainer if you can spend 30 minutes doing a more effective workout.
Even better, how about a 30 minute workout in the comfort of your own home? Incorporate some big moves – lunges, squats, press ups, burpees, star jumps, high knees (running on the spot), to your own timer – 30 seconds work 30 rest. And would you believe it if I told you that you could commit 3 x 30 minutes a week and get some great results!
Interval training may not be for everyone, depending on what their fitness and nutrition goals are, but it’s a hugely effective and time efficient way to work out. I know for sure I’d rather do 20 minutes of Metafit than plug away at the cross-trainer for an hour. Some of my clients say to me “I swim x amount and thought I was fit” or “I run for y miles but I sweat more doing interval training” that’s because it is challenging (and fun). That’s because it’s a different type of exercise (HIIT as opposed to endurance) and therefore will challenge your body in a different way.
For weight loss, I can highly recommend interval training and some weight bearing exercise but more on that later!
If you’d like to know more about my 12 week transformation programme email me on lisa@lasfitnesshastings.co.uk or PM me on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/lisa.ali.520
Do I have to give up alcohol to lose weight?
Simple answer is no! That’s the good news, but let’s look at some of the facts about alcohol and weight loss.
The first thing to say is the odd glass or two of wine is fine, but when that odd glass or two becomes a regular occurrence, and by that I mean 2/3 times a week, will you be sabotaging your weight loss efforts?
So let’s look at some of the facts
ALCOHOL HAS NO NUTRITIONAL VALUE
To me this is perhaps the most important thing to consider. You get no nutritional value from alcohol as you do from other food stuffs such as protein, fats and carbohydrates. Alcohol is 8kcals per gram which is nearly twice as much as protein and carbs together – simply put, alcohol is very high in calories. Why does this matter? It’s doing nothing for your body and can of course (as we all know) be affecting your liver, pancreas and other organs. Essentially, it’s just additional no value calories.
YOUR BODY WILL BURN ALCOHOL FIRST
If you are carrying extra fat (or not) your body will turn to the alcohol first in its efforts to get rid of the toxins from the body. One notion that everyone should know up front is that when you drink—even just one serving of your favourite drink your body makes metabolising that alcohol its priority above everything else. Through the process of getting rid of alcohol from your blood, the liver needs to detoxify it. With just a single drink, you are already putting some stress on your body and giving it work to do burning off the alcohol above any excess fat.
ALCOHOL WILL IMPACT YOUR HORMONES.
Here’s the science bit, with weight, there are 3 key hormones you need to be aware of, grehlin, leptin and insulin. Alcohol is in essence carbohydrate which increases insulin in your body, which can hasten fat storage, directly in to the fat cells, bigger fat cells = overall added body fat (science bit over!)
YOUR BEHAVIOURS CHANGE, ALCOHOL LOOSENS THE INHIBITIONS
When you think about what takes place over the course of a night of drinking, your brain goes through some changes where it disrupts communication pathways and your behaviours and cognition may be impaired. Your defences are lowered and you can reach for the extra snacks, or kebab or pizza on the way home. You know what I mean….
And let’s face it, who wants to eat healthily or go to the gym the following day with a stonking hangover. It’s inevitable your performance will suffer
THE 3-PRONGED ATTACK TO WEIGHT LOSS
The first two elements of weight loss are obvious, diet and exercise, but one very often overlooked is the need for good quality sleep, 7-9 hours per night. Now this is all tied up with hormone regulation (getting good quality sleep, see hormones above), but let’s face it, if we’ve drunk too much we may be out for the count comatosed, but then our sleep becomes disrupted and agitated. There’s a reason we wake up after a night out feeling exhausted……
These are the facts, but if you want my opinion, here it is!
When people ask me personally “Lisa did you give up alcohol to lose weight?”, the answer is a yes. I did because I was drinking 3 or 4 times a week and sometimes that was several glasses of wine, sometimes 1 or 2. I don’t happen to be a very moderate person and I came to the conclusion that my drinking was anything but moderate. I also knew that alcohol was additional calories that I couldn’t afford whilst trying to lose weight.
I did however learn that it was OK to have a couple of drinks on a special night out, rather than every and any night out, or every weekend. That was my choice and now, mainly I chose not to drink because that’s what I prefer to do.
So, I made a choice. And that’s the important thing. You can choose what is most important to you. Whether you want to lose weight or not and the impact alcohol is likely to be having. Would it be the worst thing in the world to give it a go and not drink for a couple of weeks? It certainly wasn’t for me and it surprised me how easy it was, if I don’t drink I seriously don’t miss it. But my choice is mine, and yours must be yours based on the goals you want to achieve.
I do hope you enjoyed this blog and as ever if you need any help with weight loss or have any questions do get in touch: lisa@lasfitnesshastings.co.uk