Month: January 2016

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How To Lose Weight Part Four

Chemical reactions are one of the three reactions taking place in your body at any given time, together with physical and psychological. Although I wrote about them in separate articles they are part of a system. None of them stand on their own and each of them influence and are influenced by the other 2.

Chemical reactions keep the body alive. There are trillions of reactions taking place in the body and, collectively they are known as metabolism.

Chemical compounds can be breathed in or swallowed, sometimes absorbed through the skin. While we need some of them to be able to live, others harm us. There are situations we cannot control, others we can control to a certain degree and others we can control more to reduce the quantity of chemicals we ingest and breath in.

Toxins are absorbed by the body and can affect hormones, digestion and other chemical reactions in the body, while helping our bodies store more and more fat. It is important to minimize the toxins we welcome in our bodies. And here are a few ways to do that, think about each of them and whether you can even improve them.

I do believe that nutrition, which we have more control over, is the first thing to address. By tackling eating habits we can lose weight by reducing the amount of calories, toxins we ingest, give the body what it needs to be and stay healthy and have a healthy digestion. While in other articles I talk more about nutrition habits, here I will not go into detail but remind you about a few of them:

  • nutrition – eat organic when possible
  • know the source of your food – the more local the better as they are not treated to last days of transportation
  • less processed food – particularly if it’s not cooked by yourself
  • digestion – this is an important part of weight loss, these are chemical reactions. By eating less processed food (steamed instead of fried or boiled, raw instead of cooked, local instead of overseas) we can significantly improve our digestion and lose weight
  • no fast food (not just less) – at all, they might taste nice but what’s in them is not what you want in your body…..I don’t what to know more than I already do to be honest, but if you do want to know more there are thousands of resources out there, James Oliver has done a great job in his batter with fast food chains, check out his website and google about him and fast food battle.
  • workout – while I encourage the outdoors, I do not encourage the city; your workouts, walks and runs are a great way to invite pollution into your body; we now also train (classes and personal training) in Oxted, South of London, about 35 min with the train. It is not close for many but society has made it difficult for us to breathe cleaner air so we adapt, will you? Check out our coaching programs, click here.
  • air in your house – now this is more difficult to clean, unless you are willing and have the financial possibility to invest in devices to purify the air, otherwise you can reduce the chemicals in the air you breath by, for example, reducing the amount of sprays you use (all those good smelling sprays are not natural, you can’t “buy” nature with a few quid, stop putting money in their pockets and use things like citrus fruits to make your house smell nice, buy some flowers, use essential oils and if you are outside the city open the windows!!)

Digestion plays an important part in weight loss, so the key is to balance the physical (exercise), mental (reduce stress) and chemical (digestion and quality of food). Digestion and quality of food we can control to lose weight and reduce toxins in our bodies as well.

This is the 3rd of the three reactions taking place in the body. Read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 as well. There’s one more coming so keep an eye out for it.

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How To Wake Up For An Early Morning Run

Throughout University and Masters studies I used to wake up at 5-5:30 am for my runs. When I got a job I did the same. Once you get into a routine is difficult to get out of it, whether that routines is to sleep in or jump out of bed, put the kit on and get out the door.

If you find it difficult to get up in the morning but you would like to, remember it’s about building momentum and then it gets easier to wake up early in the morning for your workout or run.

Now that I have my own business my running times are different. Sometimes I have clients from 7 am so I don’t do my own run as well, other time I do them. I don’t need to wake up very early. However, between 2012-2014, I used to wake up at 4:30 am to go training with my coach. I still have early morning runs though, they are the best.

The truth is that if you really want to do something you will, no matter how difficult you find it. Then you build momentum and it gets easier.

 

Here are a few of my tips and tricks to wake yourself up in the morning and get out that door:

  • have your kit ready, even the shoes, next to your bed – if you have to look for your shorts at 5 am chances are you will just go back to bed, wake up and put the kit on
  • have you water and bar ready – have them ready the evening before, next to your kit
  • alarm – if you are a heavy sleeper, have an alarm that could wake the neighbors, not one that will put you back to sleep
  • far far away – if you can, put your alarm far from your bed so you have to get up to turn it off
  • move – if you find it difficult to wake/get up, start jumping around, do 5 press ups, anything to get your body moving and wake you up, you don’t need to do a full workout, just to move – it works wonders
  • the evening before – it would be best to prepare your work clothes and bag before you go to sleep so you don’t feel under pressure in the morning, sometimes this can put us off running
  • weather – know the weather the evening before so you know what to prepare for

 

To have a quality sleep the most important advice I can give you is to avoid stimulating your brain 1-2 hrs before going to bed. No tv, computer, social media, phone movies etc, your quality of sleep will significantly improve just by avoiding this.

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How To Lose Weight Part Three

After we talked about the 3 reaction that take place in our bodies at any given time: physical, psychological and chemical, in Part I, and about how to keep the physical side in balance, or strive to keep it in balance, in Part II, we will now talk about psychological aspects of weight gain and weight loss.

Read Part I and Part II before continuing.
Psychological reactions means stress, depression, frustration, worry, anxiety and so on. We already know that stress causes imbalance at a hormonal level. we talked a bit about cortisol hormone in Part II.

A bit of stress is alright, but excessive stress can also affect thyroid function. And when hormones are out of balance we may experience excessive weight gain, even if we exercise and eat healthy. You can’t have 2 and not the 3rd, all three reactions have to be in balance, or as close to it at possible.

No need to explain more about the negative impact of stress on your health. I’d rather give you a list of bullet point ideas of how to actually reduce stress. You may have already done some and didn’t work, try others.
For example meditation doesn’t always work with me, sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. That’s why I have many other ways to relax. And here are some of them for you to try as well:

 

  • Breathing – stress and anxiety? Do some breathing exercises and you will be like new. To download a FREE ebook I wrote on breathing exercises click here.
  • Meditate – just close your eyes and focus on your breath, the sounds around you or parts of your body you want to relax, no need for fancy stuff, just do nothing for a while
  • Run – go for a run if you are a runner, and go for a run even if you are not a runner, put some gym shoes on and run…outdoors where you have space and room to breathe
  • Martial Arts – chose a martial art and be consistent with your training, it’s great stress releaver even if you don’t punch pads (Martial Arts are not always about punching bag and pads, not until you actually learn how to punch)
  • Sleep – take a power nap; when I am stressed I also feel tired, sometimes a nap is all I need so I can get back to work and be very productive
  • Eat – have a nice, healthy and satisfying meal, not comfort food, rather food with healthy fats, unprocessed carbs and protein, all you need and crave from comfort food but healthier and in another form
  • Walk – go for a walk, sometimes this is all we need to clear our mind
  • Social media and email? – no, no, this is not what you need, this will stress you even more, disconnect, you are not addicted to it. If you believe you are turn off internet on your phone when you are out for that walk, turn off the phone even

 

So here they are, a few suggestions to keep the mental part calm and happy.

Remember exercising and eating healthy are just part of your weight loss journey. If you want to do this, do it right, quick fixes will get you short lasting results.
Look at your style of life, make the necessary changes and you will see how, little by little, your whole life will change.

 

Read Part I and Part II of How to lose weight