Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Shit Crossfit Girls Say.....


This made me cry with laughter!


Friday, November 16, 2012

I hate my spin class trainer


Yes I know hate is a strong word. Yes I know I shouldn’t hate anyone BUT I hate my spin class instructor. Let me explain.
Spin class or any exercise class is designed to be challenging and certainly the point of spin is to burn calories and tone your body. So I’m definitely on board with an instructor pushing the class. I didn’t hand you my hard-earned cash so I could take it easy. People go to group exercise classes because they could never exercise at that level of intensity on their own. Setting up the spin bike in front of the TV and watching re-runs of 'Friends' does not a hot body make. So instructors, by all means get hot, get sweaty and get vocal, BUT there is a line and I’m afraid this instructor crossed it.
Miss I-like-to-ruin-your-day (yes that is her name) entered the room without a word to anyone. She left the lights off and this was a 6pm class so it was kinda dark. Not scary- I-can’t-see-my-hand-in-front-of-my-face dark but sort of movie-theatre dark. She had an accent (maybe Russian?) so it was difficult to understand her commands which may or may not be why she began the pointing. Oh yes the pointing. As we got started she would extend one long bony finger that ended with an equally long fake nail (so ok it wasn’t that dark) and jab it the direction of whoever wasn’t following her inaudible instructions. Her shrill screams would accompany the pointing and the poor recipient of the extended finger would scramble to work out what they were doing wrong. By the way it was usually nothing.
It went on. She never told us when to add resistance or take it off. She never asked if anyone needed help with their bikes. If you haven’t been to a spin class read about one here. She just screamed. Nothing was good enough. No words of encouragement came. No time checks. I was certain that at this point most of us wished those bikes were not steadfast so we could ride the hell out of there. I will show you just how fast I can go lady.
The reason her display bothered me so much was there were several new people in the class. Not just new to this particular gym but new to spin and quite possibly new to exercise. As I left that night I heard a few of them talking. They were never coming back.
Shame on you Miss I like-to-ruin-your-day. Sometimes it takes courage to come along to group fitness. Hell for some people it takes courage to participate in any form of fitness. It can be intimidating so if you had worked up the courage and you were confronted with some drill sergeant pointing at you and screaming that you are not good enough how would you feel? An instructor or a trainer has a special opportunity to make someone feel secure enough to make the changes they long to make. You should have encouraged and inspired us Miss I-like-to-ruin-your-day instead you humiliated. This woman is what is wrong with the fitness industry. If you ever come into contact with her or trainers like her just remember the rest of us were thinking good on you for coming. Well done for being brave and trying something new to help improve your health and your life. YOU did a fantastic job!

Me and Diet Coke – Splitsville!






I would like to tell you a story. It’s about a girl and a bad relationship and it goes like this. A young girl (ok, me) started fraternising with diet soft drink. It was so long ago that I can’t remember how it started but I do know why. I was 14 or so and like many other 14 year old girls the last thing I wanted to be was fat. I had heard about calories so the idea of a food or drink that didn’t contain them seemed magical. Sweet, available and appetite quenching I began to include the stuff in my diet. Pretty soon it was all I drank. In many cases it was a meal replacement. I know I too shudder at the thought but I was young, naive and bad health was the last thing I my mind. Without realising I had formed quite the bond with diet coke and as I entered my late teens the headaches I had suffered from intermittently became more intense and more frequent. With them came severe bouts of nausea. I know it sounds silly but diet coke was all I wanted to consume through these episodes. At times I was jittery from the caffeine and as the headaches worsened it occurred to me that the very thing I craved may have been making my headaches worse. I tried to stop. But whenever my headache came back all I wanted was diet coke. The on again off again relationship was volatile. Diet Coke didn’t help me and I knew it but for some reason I couldn’t stop. Was it addiction? Looking back I know it was. It seems ridiculous but the thought of not having it made me anxious. If I was sick its all I wanted. Years passed. I don’t like to dwell on the damage it has done to my body.
Sometimes I was drinking up to 3 Litres of the stuff a day.
It had to stop.
I worked hard on understanding my body. Through trial and error I have managed to significantly reduce the frequency of my headaches. If I was getting sick less often then I had no excuse right?
I have been diet soft drink free for four months. In the beginning I replaced the Diet Coke with soda water but I now I rarely drink that either. I feel like I have successfully broken the habit. I don’t know why it had such a hold on me. I don’t know why I couldn’t let go of something that was only doing me harm. My health has improved. I feel better. My mind feels clearer. I feel happier, less anxious. I don’t know the extent of how much it affected me or in what ways. I’m glad it’s over. In some ways it was a hangover from a teenager’s issues with body image that lasted over a decade.
I am writing this post not to warn you of the dangers of Diet Coke or other diet soft drinks (although I do hope you never start to drink the stuff) but to give you hope for change. If there is something in your life you don’t like, no matter how long you have done it, had it or held on to it, you can change.
I wouldn’t expect anybody to understand my addiction to Diet Coke. Just stop drinking it right? If only habit-breaking was that simple. But I do hope that if you suffer with an addiction or have a habit that doesn’t serve you that you keep battling to let it go. The freedom you feel when you do is just as addictive.






Tuesday, November 6, 2012

The Starbuck's Diet




"Oh fabulous," I hear you exclaim, "does this mean somebody has actually managed to come up with a diet that includes large slices of White Chocolate Gateau washed down with a Grande Cafe Mocha with an extra cloud of sweetened whipped cream?"

WOO FREAKIN HOO!

No.

AND I should also mention, this diet is not a throwback to 2005 when the lollypop brigade; Lohan, Zoe, Richie and an Olsen Twin or two existed solely on a double shot, very skinny mocha latte cap thingy on soy, no sugar, extra EXTRA foam pleeeeeeeeeeease!

No dear friends the Starbuck’s diet is actually not really a diet at all, but a story about a clever lady who lost weight using the resources she had. And just so we are clear, we LOVE stories about clever ladies. Meet Christine Hall, a 66 year old from Virginia USA who used the coffee chain to her advantage and carefully selected appropriate calorie options from the Starbuck’s menu for two years. The result: a regime that finally solved her weight loss issues.

BUT is it healthy? Because I ain't seen no kale or coconut water at Starbuck's!! And dietitians  are all cranky and nay-sayish about it. Apparently the diet doesn’t provide enough calcium and other similar important stuff.

But isn’t this diet better than the one she was on before? Doesn’t reducing your weight when you are considered obese make you somewhat healthier? Hasn’t she drastically reduced her chances of heart disease, diabetes and other serious health issues?

This is a perfect example of the trend of waiting and watching for the newest, most perfect idea BEFORE we take action. If more of us just took action now, knowing what we know and using what we have, we could be telling our own weight loss story to the world.

I would like to applaud Christine for not jumping on bandwagons, for not substituting someone else's wisdom for her own and for using what she had to get where she wanted to be. Christine grew where she was planted and is a better version of Christine for doing so. And maybe she should take a calcium supplement or something but why are we getting bogged down in detail when the truth of it is that this lady took initiative and responsibility for her problem and found something she could manage.
I am on my feet applauding loudly (ok so no I am kind of hunched over a laptop on the couch in some daggy old Peter Alexander PJ's but metaphorically I am with you Christine and we could all learn a valuable lesson here.

If you would like to read more about Christine and her diet go here.

Want great abs? You need to vacuum

So right now you are probably thinking that this is one of those misguided weightloss tips that claim you can drop kilos fast just by doing the housework. Oh if only it was this easy! Yeah I’m not talking about a few laps around the lounge with your Dyson. And I should probably add the disclaimer that housework like incidental exercise is all well and good BUT WILL NOT GIVE YOU KILLER ABS, TONE YOUR MUSCLES OR HAVE YOU RESEMBLING A SUPERMODEL!
So the vacuuming I am talking about is a clever little trick to help give you a flat stomach. The exercise, shown in the video below, works on your deep abdominal muscles and won’t build bigger muscles. So if you are a guy after a washboard stomach then this is probably not your new exercise best friend. But for us girls who want a flat, slim, midsection this exercise will do you many favours and the best bit? It takes no time at all!
Go forth and vacuum my friend…


Thursday, November 1, 2012

please put your hands together for......epsom salts!


Epsom salts have been around for years. You will find them sitting on a supermarket shelf without fanfare. So what are they for? Well a host of applications actually, but the reason I have brought your attention to them here is because thof their powerful anti-inflammatory properties. They will help with aching muscles and fluid retention (so yeah you will look slimmer!). Pour a cup or two into a warm bath and soak for at least 20 minutes. For best results soak twice a week.

Lara knows portion size is important and we could all learn something here!


The latest edition of OK Magazine has provided me with two little bits of very welcome information. The first is that Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale have been spotted holding hands so that divorce rumour is obviously just that! So that's nice isn't it? Also Lara Bingle, everyone's favourite swimsuit model with a reality TV gig is singing the praises of portion size. Hooray!
Lara tells OK, " Portion size is such a big thing. I have small plates at home so that I only eat the size of my plate. Otherwise, you don't have that stop button - especially out at restaurants. You don't need that much food!"
I didn't ever think I would be saying this but we could learn something from Ms Bingle here. It is really easy to add kilos even when we are watching what we eat if we don't watch how much we eat.