Simple nutrition and weight loss

Hi guys! Today I just thought I would share an experience I had with my old diet and my struggle to maintain my body shape.

You can think that you're eating healthily and be completely off with it as I once found out. Before I became a Personal Trainer I found it a daily struggle to maintain my weight and body shape, especially because I was working away from home and found myself snacking on everything unhealthy.

I decided one day that enough was enough and tried a few popular diets. They worked for a small amount of time but I felt very sluggish and my body shape was not improving.

As I trained as a PT I kept a food diary for a week without making an effort to "eat healthily" to see if I could pin point the problem because at this time I thought my diet was pretty healthy. What a shock I got! As I read it back to myself I noticed that on a typical day I was eating 2 slices of toast with butter for breakfast, crisps for a snack, jacket potato with beans and cheese for lunch, a cereal bar for a snack and a tuna pasta bake for tea all with water to drink. I thought I was being sensible but as I now know I was going through way too many heavy carbohydrate foods in a day. It showed me that I was eating things without even thinking about it. Always try to plan ahead with your meals if you can, it is much easier to stay healthy and keep lots of variety on your plate.

Common misconceptions about food is that you need some form of carbohydrate to accompany whatever it is that you're eating for example, Steak with chips or fish and vegetables with potato.
I still eat potato, rice, cous cous, pasta ect but not as much as I used too. I use my vegetables to fill up my carbohydrate intake which in turn makes my ability to do the sports and fitness that I love much easier.

If you are trying to lose weight my best advice is to keep a food diary of a typical day and see exactly what you are eating. That might give you an idea of where you are going wrong.

A few food rules -

1) If a food label says "low fat" make sure you look at the sugar and salt content because they are usually higher to make the food have less fat.

2) Sugar helps you to gain weight rapidly - try to cut back on fizzy drinks!

3) Look out for the chemical "Aspartame". It is in a lot of sweet things which claim to be sugar free (diet drinks, chewing gum ect) and it is dangerous!

4) The fewer ingredients in your food the better! Buy fresh to avoid hidden chemicals. You don't know what you're eating if you don't eat fresh.

Thank you for taking time to read my blog, I hope this has been helpful to you :-)

If you want to get in touch about this blog then please feel free to comment on it.

If you want to get in touch about training and / or nutrition then visit my website - www.bx3t.moonfruit.com Find me on Facebook by searching Bx3 Personal Training or Follow me on Twitter @Bx3_PT for handy hints and advice.

Getting started is always the hardest part.

Hi guys, long time no speak.

I have been super busy launching new aspects to my fitness business.

I recently launched Personal Couch to 5km jogging programs following the success of my first jogging group.

Group and One to One training courses are set out over 10 weeks to help beginners go from the couch thinking about jogging a 5km route to actually getting up and jogging a 5km race.

My first group are at week 6 now and have managed to take off almost 25 minutes off their 5km times already and we are only just past half way! I love teaching jogging in this format and I have had such positive feedback from it so far, I could not have wished for a better half way result.

I have also  launched "Virtual Training" which is training using video chats, phone calls, emails and GPS tracker devices for outdoor exercise. I currently have 2 options for Virtual Training - 2 weeks and 1 month training periods. All of the people who have tried it so far would recommend it which I am thrilled about.



What I would love for you to take from this blog is that if you don't succeed straight away DON'T give up. You never know how close you are to success so mix things up and try something new.

I always think of this and try to teach my clients that this is very important when it comes to exercise and nutrition. It takes approximately 4 - 6 weeks for a you to notice a visible difference in your own body and 8 - 12 weeks for other people to start seeing a physical change. That does not mean that you won't be able to feel a difference within yourself during this period.

Your body will typically get bored within 4 weeks if you do the same exercises over and over again so don't be scared to ask for advice on how to mix things up a little and change the level of intensity you currently work at. To get stronger / slimmer / better you have to challenge yourself, if you continue to do what you're doing your body will become bored and you won't see much of a difference. If you push your own boundaries you will learn how your body reacts to different exercise and you may see results quicker than you initially expected.


Today's exercise myth BUSTED!

Sit ups give you a flat stomach - Sit ups do tone your abdominal muscles BUT if there is a layer of fat covering the abs you could do 200+ sit ups a day and not get very far. One of the main parts to getting a flat stomach is your diet.

If you have any fitness or diet related questions please feel free to post them on this blog or find my facebook, twitter or website and ask me there. I will do my very best to answer any questions you have to ask.

My website is www.bx3pt.moonfruit.com, Find  and "like" me on Facebook by searching Bx3 Personal Training and Follow me on Twitter @Bx3_PT

Keep coming back for updates as now I am able to do an update at least 2 times per week.

Thanks for reading, I hope you have enjoyed it.