Losing My Mojo...

Losing My Mojo...

Hello...it's me! Not Adele, it's Emma!
Sorry I haven't posted in a very, very, very long time, I've got myself a second job; I know I'm crazy for doing so, but what else is a single girl supposed to do at the weekends? So with both my jobs & trying to make time for the gym and other things in my life, I've let my blogging take a back seat.

I feel like 2015 has been my random wandering year as I've sort of lost my mojo of healthy eating & exercise, which is sad because it's something that I do enjoy participating in & I enjoy all the healthy food I make.

Over the past year, from fracturing a bone in my foot, to having my heart broken at the beginning of the year, then having a car accident; the first six months of the year didn't go as I had hoped for. These set backs meant I missed classes & some of the classes I was attending eventually closed due to low attendance, so when I was ready to return I had no class to go back too!
Even though I had these sets backs I struggled through with the help of my friends & family. My best friend Laura & I manage to complete The Suffering 5K, which was great fun but in total was 8.5K long instead, but that's another story.

The second half of the year, hasn't been too shabby; I managed to pull myself together & get out of my funk & get things back on track. I've felt great about myself & felt more confident & have become stronger in the gym, but still I have been feeling that something isn't right. Then I lost my mojo, in October a month before I was due to go away for my holiday to Australia. It just went; I was grumpy & unhappy with myself & my body but I continued to go to the gym regardless. I don't think there has been much change to my body over the year that I can see, which is a little disheartening, when I had tried to put in so much effort. I feel like I've become exhausted & feel like I've made no progress.

The Land Down Under...

Luckily, whilst I was on holiday in Australia, not only did I get the rest I needed, but I also found myself inspired again, by my wonderful cousins! I really liked Australia as I felt that the lifestyle there is more healthy, restaurants have much more to offer in the way of gluten free, dairy free etc. and there's specialist health food shops scattered everywhere full of lovely organic & alternative foods. Also the weather really helps, not only does the sunshine help everyone's mood, but you can do more activities outside, which is what sucks about the lovely English weather...roll on summer! 
So, by talking to my cousins about their health & fitness regime's & what I do back home, really helped me refocus my mind, which is what I desperately needed.
I was eating quite healthily & enjoying the sunshine by going on lovely long coastal walks whilst I was visiting Australia, it really gave me a renewed sense of what I want to achieve & what I want to push myself to do. So, that once Christmas was out of the way I can start again in 2016 with a renewed perspective.

Peace & Love.

 

Skinny Love?

Skinny Love?

 

 

 

Skinny Love, and I'm not talking Bon Iver, or the covers by Ed Sheeran or Birdy either.

 

We are all so fascinated & obsessed with being 'skinny'. But what do people mean by skinny & how do they get there? .Over the last couple of years, learning about various lifestyle changes, fad diets, different exercise regimes, there's a few buzz words floating round one being 'weight loss' the other 'fat loss'.

As we are making changes to ourselves for health reasons, or you want to be fitter & stronger for your own personal goals, most of the time it end's up in some sort of loss over time, so what's the difference?

 

Weight Loss

 

Weight loss, is what a person see's in number's it will be that they've lost so many Kgs/lbs over a week or certain time period, this can also be measured in inches around certain body areas.

 

Weight Loss is essentially where you have a combination of diet & exercise programme to follow, that will result in a loss. But what is this mystical loss, where has it come off from.

Most weight losses, are a result of a diet where there will be no carbs or they are highly restricted, if you have a sedentary lifestyle this will work well as your body will use it's own glycogen stores for energy.

However, if you combine this with an active lifestyle, glycogen can carry 4 times more water weight which means you'll drop the weight quickly as you'll lose the water weight, unfortunately as you will have lower glycogen stores which means when you work out you will be wasting away your muscle mass & become dehydrated. 

 

So now you've got little carbohydrate stores & feel like your becoming fitter because the number on the scales tell you that you are, you might want to try interval/tempo training to add some nice lean muscle so you look toned & defined- don't even bother, well you can try but due to low glycogen stores your muscle will fatigue and there will be an increase in muscle catabolism so your own body will start to use your muscle protein for energy, so now your losing your muscle mass, & the less muscle mass you have the slower your natural metabolism becomes. #Awkward

Congratulations! You've lost water weight & muscle mass, you've become skinny fat! You've dropped some weight, but can't seem to get the definition you'd like, but you're skinny so who cares, right?

 

 

 

Fat Loss

 

Fat loss is the daddy of all losses! Only the tough need apply, fat loss is the endurance test, it requires hard work & determination to be able to succeed. Fat loss differs from weight loss as it just isolates the fat storage on the body, and doesn't effect your muscles or your metabolism in negative ways like weight loss does. Fat loss requires a healthy balanced diet, but doesn't require you to restrict or completely drop a food group. You'll need to eat every 2-3 hours to keep your metabolism fire burning, in hand with training, to become a lean mean fat loss machine. So how do we burn fat?

 

The rules for fat burning are very simple & easy to follow, naturally with any loss you want to cut your calorie intake, the easiest way to do this is to cut excess dietary fat, fatty cuts of meat, skin off chicken, full fat diary products, but keep healthy fats in your diet such as salmon, avocado, nut butters.

Keep your carbohydrates in check, as these govern our hormone insulin that either help us break down fat or store it, carbohydrates must be slow releasing & wholegrain as they don't kick up the insulin too much & never eat carbs on their own.

Eat your protein, protein burns more calories whilst your body is digesting it, than what it contains, plus also it helps you build muscle & keeps your metabolism fired up.

Don't eat too close to bed time as this will make our insulin spike and will decrease our fat burn, throughout the day try & eat little often.

Before & after the gym, try & have protein before & protein & carbs after, as the carbs will assist the protein to repair & recover the muscles.

Fat loss requires you to retain or gain muscle mass, so lift heavy & feel the burn, work out for an hour, only one muscle group at a time, with a rest of 60 seconds between sets.

Don't forget your cardio, cardio helps release norepinephrine, which can help fat loss especially on an empty stomach e.g. first thing in the morning, or if you haven't eaten any carbs yet.
Using the fat loss method, will help you melt the fat away to reveal the god or goddesses body underneath, but don't be scared if you step on the scales & you've gained weight. As your building lean muscle mass, this will make you weigh more, but you should be able to see tone & definition & the truth will be in your measurements.

When I started this journey, I started off on a weight loss course because I didn't know any better & this is what a lot of the advertised diet groups & companies do. Over the years, I have tried various things, as I think everyone should to try & find what works for you personally, like everything in life, its trial & error.

I decided to write this blog as I've noticed people on Facebook & Instagram doing well with their 'weight loss' & when they post their food, food diaries, it made me quite concerned that they're not getting enough protein & wondering why their hair is thinning & nails have got brittle, so they need to take a different supplements that help them grow rather than having a healthier diet. Or they're not eating any carbs, then squatting wondering why they're bum isn't getting any bigger. It just see them making the same mistakes I did, in the earlier days & I'm just sat here like....

 

I also keep getting added to various groups, or invitations to pages not to be rude but I'm not interested in Forever Living, Juice Plus, The Cambridge Diet or any other faddy bullshit diets.
I just don't see how people get conned into doing these diets, why would you want to drink a natural laxative for 3 days? Or eat some fruity pills/shakes instead of proper food? Or have your calorie intake reduce to like 500 a day, not being funny but I'm pretty sure my right ass cheek eats 500 calories a day to keep it big & round. So thanks, but no thanks I'll have to decline.

 

Meet The Buffmaster!

Meet The Buffmaster!

 

You can find this gingernut, beasting people to buffness in Market Harborough. You can find him building bootys at Gym11 or down the wreck on Western Avenue drilling his marines & marinettes at Buffaster Bootcamp. He may even come & kick your ass in your own yard, but be aware he may catch you out when stocking up on your food shop for a sainos selfie! 

Gary, has had over 20 years experience body building, and has been PT-ing for just as long! His bootcamps run on a Monday & Wednesday evenings at 6:15pm or Tuesday & Thursday mornings 6am & Saturdays at 9am at Western Avenue wreck/park in Market Harborough. PT's can be done at Gym 11 or at your home for convenience. He'll provide you with a food plan, & plenty of support for getting buff, as will the buffmaster community!
Buffmaster training is not for the faint hearted, during his years Gary has had 44 people be sick, 7 cry & 4 run off during training never to return.....if you're interested in joining our platoon check out the facebook pages for more info. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Buffmaster-bootcamp/680185175431268?fref=ts or https://www.facebook.com/pages/Buffmaster-Personal-Training/1571871386433461?fref=ts 

Over the last 7 months, I have been developing my body to become more toned, strong & lean and to lose fat mass. As a woman, this can be quite tiresome & a lot of hard work, we can lift heavy weights & burn loads of calories, as we naturally have less testosterone it takes longer for our muscles to grow & fat to burn off, but eventually we do get there. 

I'm so thankful to the Buffmaster for helping me further my fitness journey, at the beginning of the year I was unsure of which route to take to progress myself, but now I feel like I've seen the light.

At the beginning of the year I had my first leg day PT, I could leg press 60Kgs on a 45 degree machine, Gary told me I should be able to leg press my own bodyweight easy; which at that point was about 80Kgs. Fast forward to 7 months later I can now leg press 200Kgs which is 31 stone, I only did one set of 10 reps but I still bloody did it! It just goes to show that you can get stronger, & leaner & prove other women that lifting heavy doesn't make you bulky, it makes you wonder woman; plus its also highly amusing when you can lift more than most blokes & leave them wondering how!

From lifting heavy & a little bit of cardio, I have been able to change my body shape by losing inches of fat, rather than losing my muscle mass that a lot of faddy diets will do! The best part is I can eat lots of lovely healthy foods, and even a few carbs, to help my muscles repair & get stronger whilst melting the fat away, and each time I lose a bit more fat, the more muscle definition I can see, the best part is I can say bye-bye to cellulite!

 

So if you feel like you need a change in your life, or fancy trying something new exercise wise, come & try a bootcamp if you're up for a challenge...you never know you might get lucky & get some free head wear for the winter months! See you soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two Out of Three

Two Out of Three

Firstly, if you don't own Meatloaf's Bat out of Hell album, what is wrong with you?

Secondly, how do you know that you’re healthy? What's the right thing to measure yourself by, your Body Mass Index (BMI), body fat percentage, or waist to hip ratio?


Thirdly, why would anyone want to put their health down to a number? Unless it's the number 42, but surely people know whether they feel healthy or not?
 

Body Mass Index (BMI)
 

Body Mass Index (BMI) is way of seeing whether your weight is appropriate for your height. It's quite favoured by the medical professionals GP's and the like, to let you know whether your fat or not. According to my BMI, even though I've lost 5 stone I'm still now overweight rather than being borderline morbidly obese. It recommends that I lose another 20Kg or 2 stone to be healthy. Which when I look at myself I'm not too sure where this would come off from, there's a bit of fat left on my stomach & arms which I'd like to get rid of but I don't think there's 20Kgs of it...maybe there is who knows.

Personally, I don't like the BMI as we all know muscle is leaner & more dense than fat, therefore all of our favourite sports starts would epically fail on this measuring scale & like the rest of us told to lose some weight.

To check your BMI if you want to click here: http://www.nhs.uk/Tools/Pages/Healthyweightcalculator.aspx

 

Body Fat Percentage

Is a little trickier to calculate, unless you have a pair of callipers, which I wish I had.

I sometimes used the weight machines in Boots or at the Gym where is does measure your BMI but also your body fat but sending an extremely small electrical current though your body to measure the fat, whether this works or not I have no idea. Last time I used one of these machines was 2 months ago, where my body fat percentage was 30%.

Also there are measurement systems online where you just need a tape measure here's a link to one: http://www.active.com/fitness/calculators/bodyfat from using this link my body fat percentage now is 27%. It is possible that I've lost 3% in the last two months, with the weight resistance training I'm doing. So with my body fat being at 27% this means for a woman, my age, my body fat percentage is average, however I am working on getting this to the ideal section.

Waist to Hip Ratio (WHR)

 
The waist to hip ratio is an indicator to see whether you’re an apple or pear/hourglass body shape. As people who are more apple shape & carry more fat around their abdomen are more likely to develop heart disease. To calculate your waist to hip ratio you measure you waist & hips in inches & divide. It's simple maths that even I can do it, but here's a link to make it easier: http://www.virginactive.co.uk/active-matters/tools/waist-hip-ratio

Men with a WHR of 0.95 and women who have a WHR of 0.85 or less are in good health and are more likely to be hourglass or pear shaped, however, if your WHR is above this it means you should probably lose some weight due to the risk to your heart.

My WHR is 0.76 which is good; if I did this 3 years ago I think it would have told a different story.

Basically, above is a load of numbers, charts & calculations that are used to figure out whether a person is healthy or not. Now, I personally don't think you should go by just one measuring system, which is why I have demonstrated the 3 above. From these I'm good, average & overweight; which is why I say two out of three ain't bad.

 

A lot of slimming groups will only use one measuring scale usually the BMI, I personally don't like this as I'm currently trying to build muscle & reduce my body fat this scale works against me as muscle weigh's more than fat anyway. Plus by only using one scale I don't think you can get a clear picture of your body. You may find that you have a good WHR but would like to lose more body fat so then you can look into exercise & food changes that could help you achieve this goal. But also don't forget that it also matters what you feel on the inside as a person, as only you will know in yourself whether something is wrong physically or whether new foods/exercise or whatever it is in your life doesn't agree with you. This will be an indication of whether you’re healthy or not...not a load of numbers.

 

 

P.S Sorry for not posting anything sooner, I've been super busy with one thing & another, but will to continue to post regularly as possible. Peace & Love x

 

 

 

Motivational Monday

Motivational Monday

Aahhh Monday the most hated day of the week, if only we had an extra day between Saturday & Sunday...

I think everyone hates Monday morning, having to return to work after having a wonderful weekend. The Monday blues, make us a little depressed as we trudge back into work in our drones. However, I think we should make the dreaded Monday into something more positive. People are naturally inclined to look at the negative side of life, because it's easier to pick fault with something, than looking for the positives.

I've learnt to adopt a positive way of thinking in my life, and I try & put in as much effort, strength and determination into all aspects of my life. There's no point doing something half-arsed because you'll only get half-arsed results, so you might as well put all your heart into something to make it worth while.

It's not about how far you have to go to achieve a goal, but rather how far you've come. Life is a journey, so enjoy the ride. 

I started my journey at the beginning of 2012, I'm so proud of what I have achieved & the person I have blossomed into over that time. With a little willpower, strength and determination anything can be achieved...



Bootea Teatox Review

Bootea Teatox Review

So, I've been seeing this Bootea Teatox all over social media, it's been used by celebrities from those Geordies up north to those Essex birds down south and everyone in between so I thought I'd give it a try to see if it's another one of those gimmick products that's indorsed by the celebs or whether it actually works. So what is it supposed to do? 

Bootea Teatox uses natural ingredients to help cleanse the body of toxins, and built up waste matter from the body via the lungs, kidneys, bowels and skin. Bootea comes with an 

eating plan which is accessible free online, with the combination of the tea, eating plan & an active exercise regime to achieve maximum results, over the 14 days or 28 day Teatox that you purchase. 

I chose the 14 day Teatox, I looked over the eating plan which is vegetarian, they say if you are to eat meat it has to be organic and lean so chicken or turkey. However, I declined to follow the eating plan purely because there just wasn't enough protein in it for my life style, I workout & when I do it's mainly weight resistant training, if I followed their eating plan, yes my weight would drop but I would be losing my muscle mass as I wouldn't be eating enough protein to maintain or grow my muscles, no one wants to be thin & flabby. Here's the link to the eating plan https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0237/2289/files/bootea_flexible_eating_plan.pdf?1395

This is my before photo taken on the Tuesday after the Easter bank holiday, so lots of chocolate, alcohol & my mum's homemade Beef Wellington. #fattie

The ingredients are natural, but I wanted to know whether they had any other health benefits so I looked into the ingredients...

Daytime Tea Ingredients

Oolong Tea- Helps Eczema & other inflammatory skin conditions.

Mate Leaves - Acts as a weight loss tool/ suppresses appetite.

Giner Root - Anti Inflammatory & helps digestive problems.

Fennel Seeds - Reduces bloating.

Lemongrass - Rebalances internal flora.

Dandilion Leaf - Increases kidney & bowel movements.

Ginseng Root - Boots Immunity.

Gotu Kola Leaves - Helps with circulation.

Nettle Leaves - Helps with digestive system.

Nighttime Tea Ingredients

Senna Leaves - Natural laxative

Peppermint Leaves - Helps with digestion

Genugreek Seeds - Helps digestion & reduces cholesterol

Liquorice Root - Lowers stomach acid, relives heartburn/indigestion, mild laxative

Burdock Root - Anti-inflammatory

Hawthorn Leaves - Helsp with digestive complaints

Valarian Root - Helps with sleep disorders (Anyone seen Carry On Screaming - Valaria?)

Psyllium Seeds - A source of soluble fiber/ laxative.

As you can see from the ingredients its suppose to rebalance the digestive system, & with the laxatives "cleanse" the body of toxins.

The daytime Teatox takes a few mornings to get use to the flavour, I usually drink herbal teas so I'm quite accustomed to trying new ones. It smells like nettles, it tastes like nettles, it's nettles; with a hint of a citrus after taste, after a couple of mornings I got quite used to it but the first couple of days it does taste quite bitter. 

The nighttime tea, is actually quite pleasant, I'm a big fan of peppermint tea its one of my favourites, so I really enjoy the nighttime tea. You only have this tea every other night.

The Effects

So naturally by doing a detox/ colon cleanse or whatever they would like to call it, people just want the honest truth about the effects.

The daytime tea doesn't really effect you in anyway, I have the tea in the morning & carry on drinking my regular green tea through out the day. I can't agree that it suppressed my appetite, I was starving for most of the time, I don't think I've eaten so much in ages.

The nighttime tea, however, within like an hour and a half of drinking it, I was on the loo. So the next morning I had my morning tea & breakfast now I think the combination of the two teas & my breakfast, did the job it was supposed to do... I went to the loo 3 times that morning, you will shit through the eye of a needle to say the least, also have really bad farts that will leave you wondering what the hell you've eaten or what has crawled up your ass & died.

The effects of the nighttime tea only happened that badly on the 1st night/morning after, the only other time it flared up like this was about a week later, so halfway through the cleanse, when I had eaten out & had a few mojitos, but it wasn't as severe I didn't go to the loo at night I only went twice in the morning.

The Results



So I've completed my Teatox, overall I do feel less bloated which is good. My after photos were taken this morning 21/04/15, after I had eaten my breakfast & after I had been to bootcamp where we did abs! But I'm not sure whether it's made any visable difference, maybe you guys can be the judge? I've not lost any weight either. I know I didn't follow their food guide/diary thing but if I did it would make me lose weight, but not the right kind, it would have made me lose muscle rather than fat, I'm just not down with that.

Maybe it depends what your diet is like before the cleanse, I don't know I eat pretty healthy anyway, so it might not have worked? Maybe some of you may try it & and get different results... it kind of worked for me as I feel less bloated, but I'm not sure whether I see any physical difference in my photos, but I did enjoy the tea.

Here are my photos together for comparison....

All About That Protein

All About That Protein

Protein, the third & most important food group. Protein contains 22 amino acids, 8 of which are essential which we can't produce ourselves, therefore they must come from food. Amino acids helps us produce hormones, with brain development, healthy bones & growth. 

Sources of protein are split into two groups animal protein & plant protein, animal protein obviously comes from animals and contains all 8 essential amino acids, whilst the plant protein are known as incomplete amino acids as they don't contain all of the essentials.

Now, I don't care whether your Vegetarian, Vegan, Pescetarian, Carnivore, or an omnomnomivore, I'm not going to judge. Myself, I'm a carnivore I like to eat meat it's tasty & I get all my essential amino acids, and my protein intake for the activities that I do. I mainly eat chicken/ turkey, & I have whey protein shakes, I'll have fish a couple of times a week & steak at least once.

So the question is, how much protein should a person be having?

The recommended daily allowance (RDA) is 0.8g of protein per Kilo (KG) of body weight, which means that I should be eating 65g of protein a day.

Now, we all know that protein is takes longer to digest & therefore keeps us fuller for longer, that's why I have more than 65g of protein a day, because otherwise I would be starving all day & I have a strenuous workout & I need to eat to refuel & repair my body. 

Protein can also be used to help achieve your fitness goals, by weightlifting & eating a high protein diet you can increase lean muscle mass & strength, and lose fat as when you eat more protein it takes twice as many calories for your body to digest it, whilst maintaining & gaining your muscle mass.

But Too Much Protein is Bad for You?

In previous years a high protein diet gets a bad press from things like the Atkins diet where you used to cut carbohydrates almost completely from your diet. To be able to eat healthily & still lose weight you should never cut a whole food group from what you eat other wise bad things will happen.

Or a high protein diet can cause health problems, which if you eat too much of one thing it can cause some fatal disease, this rule applies to all food, especially if you eat something in abundance and then don't use it as fuel for your body. 

When changing your eating habits, I think you should try a various different eating forms as everyone is different & only you will know what's right for your body.Each body will react differently to a different combination of foods, so it's all about experimenting what works for your body & gives the best nutrition for your activity levels

Personally, I've found that if I eat protein frequently throughout the day I stay nice and full & I'm less likely to snack on crap processed foods. If some people are stuck when losing weight its good to mix it up and shock the body into something new, so if you fancy it try eating 5 small meals day & have protein at all of them, whether it's a piece of chicken, a protein shake or peanut-butter on toast. 

Mmm peanut-butter...