Learning lessons from a 6 year old

So it’s the end of 2011! I hope it’s been a good year for you?...

I enjoy this time of year as I use it as an opportunity to reflect on the past years successes and failures and plan out how I’m going to make the next 12 months even more productive and successful.


On Christmas day my sister came round with her partner and little Henry who’s six and just a bundle of energy! After shooting at each other with guns, teaching him tricks from his magic set and playing for hours with game after game, it’s amazing to see how much he hated losing at anything!

It got me thinking that maybe we should try to be more like kids in this respect! Why do so many people lose the desire to succeed so easily?!



Kids have very little fear, they say what they think, they just want to have fun and they want to win!

Now that’s a pretty good outlook for anyone’s life in my eyes!

What happens to us as adults though?

When do we stop wanting to win?

Why do we accept we don’t want to get the best from our relationships, from our jobs and from our health?


Life doesn’t have to be this way. We CAN win at everything! We can have great relationships, a great career, great health and fantastic fitness levels. We just need to decide to do it and then make a plan to get there.

2012 is going to a very good year, I’ve decided this already! ;-) We’ll see the country come further out of recession and more opportunities for growth will be available for us.

As for our health and fitness, The Olympics is coming to town and we’ll be inspired by the performances of Mo Farah, Dai Greene, Ben Ainslee and Jessica Ennis to get out there and move a bit more!

If you want to win in 2012 then forget what you may have been told by others, lose the fear and the inhibitions, and decide that you want more…

Write down your top health, relationship, business and personal goals for next year, get out and make it happen and don’t give up until you win!

Contact us at the studio to find out how we can help you with your health and fitness goals.

http://aayou.co.uk/contact/

Stressed? What a joke!

Its Christmas time and no one really wants to read about what exercise they should be doing when all they want to do is crash out on the sofa and watch Deal or No Deal Christmas special! Or, what organic, locally farmed, grass fed produce they should be consuming on Christmas day – it’s that time of year when everything goes out of the window!


We WILL all over eat, we WILL have a few too many Bailey’s and we WILL do very little in the way of movement and it’s OK to do this, you need to listen to your body, give in and let it rest up from time to time.

PLUS – guilt is a wonderful thing for getting the studio’s busy in January!!

We all get caught up in the busy-ness of life, our work schedules become almost unmanageable, the stress of family and home life can get a bit too much, we realise how expensive this time of year can easily become and we forget about actually having some fun.

I was talking to one of my client’s this week about his work Christmas party and he told me he is hosting a laughter workshop!

Now, I’m open to a lot of weird and wonderful ideas, but this sounded a bit “out there” to me! Then the more I thought about it, the more I realised what an amazing idea it was. Laughter really is the best medicine...

GOOD FOR HEALTH
Laughter has been proven to relieve pain and enhance the immune system.
It reduces stress hormones like cortisol and dopamine and increase endorphins, the feel good chemicals.

GOOD FOR THE MIND
Laughter brings focus away from negative emotions like anger, guilt and stress and brings a positive outlook on things.

GOOD FOR A SIX PACK?!
A good belly laugh exercises the diaphragm, it contracts the abdominals and even provides a good cardio workout!

Simply put it provides a fantastic stress management tool, I’m sure we all enjoy sitting down to watch Only Fools and Horses on Christmas day to relieve the stress of the inevitable Christmas day family arguments?!!


It allows you to be in the moment, feel good, give you a different perspective on life and create a positive re-framing of your current situation.

The simple fact is that this year has been a tough time for a lot of us. However, with a New Year approaching I think we need to re-assess our priorities and make a conscious effort to laugh more and have fun in every aspect of our lives. This should be a priority of anyone who wants to live a more healthier life. So cheer up! It’s Christmas!!

Back To School

My lovely girlfriend was telling me about this lunatic she works with; he’s like the forrest gump of the I.T world, one day he just started running and he just hasn’t stopped! He’s found another slightly de-ranged fella to be his running buddy and the two “marathon men” are embarking on the slightly ridiculous challenge of completing 12 marathons in 12 months!


So I decided I would help out and make sure they were in a fit state to head off on their little adventure...

A little bleep test to determine their current fitness level and give me a bit more information to put a specific training programme together, and obviously a nice way to see them suffer and find out if they’ve got the staying power!...

Here’s Jamie’s take on the afternoon...

Sunday afternoon began with the feeling of returning to school as we prepared ourselves for the physical challenge that is the 20 metre bleep test.

Set in one of the gymnasiums at the old College for Education, now Northumbria Police HQ I really expected Mr Sugden, the PE teacher from Kes, to march in armed with whistle in hand and barking orders!

Fortunately we were joined by David Osgathorp, a high profile personal trainer from London, who was on hand to give us some much needed advice and feedback from the results from the test.

Langley and Jamie were joined by Judy and Zach for the opening stages of the test, but Zach soon found other interests (mostly climbing on police mannequins and peddling like the dickens on one of the many exercise bikes dotted around the room) and Judy later dropped out leaving the two marathon men to push themselves as far as their legs would take them.



The test had certainly picked up its pace by level 9 (or were we just slowing?) and the pair sprinted from point to point to hit the beats. Looking good at level 11 quickly turned to lagging behind as level 12 closed in. Langley reached shuttle 10 in level 11 before dropping and Jamie fell a shuttle later - showing how equal our relative fitness levels are as a pair.

We await the results with trepidation and David will be setting us a series of personal goals to help us in our build up to Anglesey.

If this wasn't enough we then set off on a 16 mile riverside run from Newburn back to Hexham. A tough run, but very rewarding on completion.
The training programme is on it’s way fella’s...
If you want to find out more about Langley and Jamie’s challenge head over to www.marathonmen.co.uk and help them in their goal to raise money for www.tinylives.org.uk

I’ve been inspired by their goal and if these dodgy old knees can take it then I may even join them for one of their marathons (let me know the flattest course fella’s ;-))

I’ll keep you all updated on their progress.

What's The Dukan Diet All About?

The Dukan diet has been getting a lot of press lately with A-list stars such as Jennifer Lopez, Giselle Bundchen and most recently Victoria Beckham reportedly following it to lose their post pregnancy pounds. But what is it? How does it work and is it safe?

French doctor Pierre Dukan is responsible for creating the diet over 10 years ago as a treatment protocol for his obese patients.



It is essentially a four-phase, high protein, high fibre, low calorie diet and has certain similarities to the Atkins diet in its extreme nature and in the results patients expect to see. Apparently dieters can lose as much as 1-2 pounds per day during the initial “Attack” phase.

How does it work?
Phase 1, the "Attack" phase, is quite simple: Eat all you want of lean protein, along with 1.5 tablespoons of oat bran and 1.5 litres of water daily. That’s it. Dieters can choose from 72 lean or low-fat meats (excluding pork and lamb), fish, poultry, eggs, soya and non-fat dairy.

This is followed by the "Cruise" phase, which allows unlimited amounts of 28 non-starchy vegetables every other day along with a core diet of unlimited lean/low-fat protein and two tablespoons of oat bran.

Carrots, peas, sweetcorn and potatoes are not on this list of vegetables but appear in the next phase.

Phase 3, "Consolidation," allows unlimited protein (including pork and lamb) and vegetables every day, along with one piece of low-sugar fruit, two slices of granary bread, and one portion of hard cheese. Dieters can also have 1-2 servings of starchy foods and 1-2 "celebration" meals

Phase 4, "Stabilisation," is the maintenance portion of the plan. Which includes rules such as one day a week, follow an all-protein diet as in Phase 1, eat three tablespoons of oat bran a day and walk for 20 minutes daily and never take elevators or escalators.

So is this the answer and should we all just follow this to achieve great results?

Well, in short, NO!

Any diet that encourages the body to deplete its glycogen stores will have a negative affect on the body; the book warns dieters they may suffer from bad breath, constipation, dry mouth and fatigue, all indications of ketosis which is a dangerous and potentially life-threatening state that stresses the liver.

As a health and fitness professional I feel it is my responsibility to bring about lasting change, to look at creating optimal health through safe and effective exercise and nutrition.

All the evidence out there points to the fact that diets simply don’t work. Anything that is so restrictive in its nature to cause such drastic weight loss can not be good for your body.


My first issue is the difference between weight loss and fat loss. You can head to the toilet and lose a few pounds of “weight”; you can reduce your water intake for a day or two and have the same effect. The truth is you need a long term healthy approach to diet and an effective exercise programme to bring about lasting change to your body composition and fat levels.

Burning 3,500 calories will result in a 1 pound of fat weight loss. Now that is going to be a seriously tough training session for a pretty small amount of progression. That’s why any fat loss based exercise programme MUST contain a supervised nutritional element.

You can’t out-train a bad diet!

Unfortunately for us Health and Fitness Professional the glossy magazines out there absolutely love to report on the eating and exercise habits of “celebrities”. If Posh Spice is doing it then it must be amazing!



Why are women so obsessed with what she does?!

The simple fact is that she has been in good shape her whole life. It’s up for debate as to whether she has been healthy for that time!

All of the women you see in magazines have never been seriously out of shape. 90% of the photo’s you see of them have been air brushed and most of them have probably had an eating disorder or two over the years and yet we still aspire to be like them?!!

The simple truth is the quick fix approach will produce quick fix results that produce rapid “weight” loss but rarely result in long-term success as the restrictive nature is extremely difficult for dieters to adhere to.

Our advice is to work with a professional who can not only provide exact exercise and nutritional advice tailored to your individual needs but also provide the accountability to enable you to stick to this programme.

For information on our training and nutritional programmes contact us at the studio: david@aayou.co.uk

Personal Boot-camp training with All About You Performance and Wellbeing

Do you need to get in shape for a holiday, a wedding, a sports event or just want RESULTS FAST? Are you willing to work hard for them? Then a personal boot-camp with All About You Performance and Wellbeing could be for you.

Our personal boot-camps are an intense, bespoke series of workouts designed with one goal in mind; RESULTS! At All About You Performance and Wellbeing we understand that sometimes people just do not have the time to dedicate months to an exercise or fitness goal, therefore we are now offering this personal boot-camp service.

The boot-camp consists of a short term commitment of either 4, 5 or 6 weeks. Each week there will be four workouts, each offering a different way pushing you to the limits. The exercise sessions may include; resistance training, outdoor cardio workouts, boxing, circuits, body weight training, flexibility and much more. A diet plan will also be provided to compliment the exercise programme.

The boot-camps are hard work, be prepared to sweat, but they offer a safe and fun way of getting you GUARANTEED RESULTS!




You can use the boot-camp for whatever fitness goal is necessary. It could be getting beach fit for holiday, ski fit for the winter, running a 5km or 10km race. Farah aged 30, used her 6 week programme as a Bridal Boot-camp so she could drop a dress size for her big day. Check out her results; she lost 7lbs, including 2inches of her tummy and over an inch off her waist and hips.

“…the boot-camp was hard work, but worth it. I feel thinner, more toned and have bags of energy….”

The cost of the boot-camp depends on the option you choose, there are 4, 5 or 6 week programmes available. So if you are interested in finding out more about this exciting new guaranteed results service, please contact James Hutchison at the studio.

Studio number: 0208 348 9706
Mobile: 07979 022120
Email: james.hutchison4@btinternet.com

Does Weight Training Make Women Bulky?

There are numerous myths and scare stories around the issue of female resistance training that cause most women to stay well away from the weights room in the gym through the fear of growing bulky muscles.

This simply won’t happen!



The truth is that women don’t have enough of the hormones in their body that allow for increased muscle mass. In fact they actually have 10 to 30 times less amounts of testosterone and human growth hormone than males.

In fact most male weight trainers will tell you that simply lifting weights isn’t going to guarantee instant muscle gain. It takes serious dedication, a precise and appropriate weight training programme, a strict and scientifically engineered diet complete with dietary supplementation and for a number of guys, chemical enhancement to see these results!

Muscle mass just won’t suddenly appear because you dare to lift weights. Unfortunately many women believe this myth and therefore miss out on all of the benefits that strength training offers.

Weight training is incredibly beneficial to women and my team of trainers and I incorporate some form of strength training element into all of our female client’s programmes. The down side is that YES, it may mean that your overall weight may go up but as I always say to my clients “is the number on those scales really important if you look and feel so much better?”

The bottom line is that muscle tissue weights more than fat. Therefore, as you increase your muscle tissue, your "weight" will increase.



However, here’s the good bit, Muscle is thermogenic which means that by having more of it this will increase your resting metabolism. The denser your muscle tissue, the more calories you will burn even at a complete rest. Those with dense muscles burn more calories by just engaging in their regular daily activities. In fact, research shows that for each pound of muscle earned, you will expend 35 to 50 more calories per day. So, if you gain three pounds of muscle, you will burn 40 more calories per pound, which equates to 120 additional calories per day, which translates into 3,600 additional calories per month and ultimately results in a weight loss of 10 to 12 pounds in a single year.

Weight training is also an incredibly powerful weapon against osteoporosis, a disease characterised by low bone mass, leading to an increased susceptibility to fractures of the wrists, hips, and spine. About 3 million people in the UK have osteoporosis and every year more than 230,000 fractures occur because of it. In fact, statistics show that one in two women over the age of 50 will suffer from an osteoporosis-related fracture during their lifetime.

So maybe the question should be can we really live healthily without weight training?

For more information contact David and his team – HYPERLINK "http://www.aayoutraining.com" www.aayoutraining.com

Seven Reasons To Detox

Detoxing has received mixed messages in the press in recent years. Unfortunately there is a lack of understanding as to how proper detox programmes can benefit every individual not only from a weight loss angle but also in their general health and wellbeing. There are always extreme approaches to every health procedure but a sensible detox programme doesn’t need to involve a week of water, beetroot juice and 2 colonics a day!
This can be done very safely, sensibly and leave you feeling amazing!
So why should you detox?
Improved Quality of Life

Sadly many of us just simply put up with poor health. We live with joint pain, headaches and poor digestion for years unnecessarily. It doesn’t need to be this way! Even issues such as poor memory, energy levels and mood can be improved when we are able to restore the body’s health and vitality.

When we detox, we allow body to use its energy to restore and repair cells, organs and systems that need to be repaired which leaves us much stronger afterwards. Did you know that 50% of our daily energy level is used for digestion? When we detox there is much more available energy for the body’s internal ability to “fix” what needs to be “fixed”!

To Prevent Chronic Disease
Free radicals are present in all living cell and are a part of the cell processes. However excessive free radicals in our cells can attack the cell membranes causing cell and tissue damage and leading to conditions such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, cataracts, strokes and many more. There is more and more research into the benefits of alkalizing the body as it is known that cancer cells cannot grow in an alkaline environment. With a detox the PH of the body moves from more acidic to more alkaline!

For Anti-Aging Benefits
As previously mentioned, free radicals and heavy metals attack the body sometimes causing irreparable damage internally and externally. Detoxing rids the body of free radicals and heavy metals allowing it to better absorb nutrients including anti-oxidants and vitamins which are essential for fighting oxidative stress – one of the biggest factors in premature aging.
Weight Loss
The simple theory of calories in verses calories out simply doesn’t work! If someone’s digestive system isn’t functioning properly they won’t lose weight! FACT!

A detox programme allows the body to get rid of toxins stored in fat cells and as water weight. When the body eliminates these toxins the water weight disappears and it is common to lose inches of fat, often around the middle.

Strengthen your Immune System
Toxins stress the immune system and also drain the body of energy trying to eliminate them leaving our immune system weakened. This leaves us open to colds, flu and other more serious ailments. Performing a regular detox allows us to strengthen the immune system and fight off infection. Strengthening the immune system also reduces the body’s inflammatory response to external allergens such as pollen and other airborne allergens as well as reduced sensitivities to additives in food, wheat, lactose and other common food allergens.


Create Body Balance
The body’s systems were designed to work in harmony with one another. The nervous system, endocrine and digestive systems perform precise operations to keep us functioning at our optimal level. When these systems fall out of balance our health is compromised.
A detox restores balance to the body allowing us to function properly. Our mood is drastically improved, sleep patterns return to normal and we actually feel rested. It allows the digestive system to function properly, expelling waste immediately and preventing the buildup of toxins.
Remove Toxins and Parasites from the Body

Long term exposure to toxins can affect cell growth, behaviour and immune response and the only way to combat this is through a programme of elimination.

Parasites are also common issues affecting proper digestion. They find their way into our bodies via skin or oral ingestion and they feed on our supplies depriving us of vitamins, nutrients and amino acids.

Heavy metal toxicity and parasites can cause numerous disruptions to the blood, lymph, heart, liver, eyes, brain and joints that conventional medicine often fails to diagnose. A simple consultation can detect any issues with parasites and treat them accordingly.

The Art Of Chillaxing..

Meditation and the art of “chillaxing”

If you struggle to deal with Monday morning’s or Tuesday and Wednesday morning’s even then perhaps you need to learn how to switch off a bit more. Our meditation and relaxation specialist Simon Paul Frost from HYPERLINK "http://www.mymeditation.co.uk" www.mymeditation.co.uk explains more...

Ask most people if they meditate… the answer would be NO…
Ask most people if they want to feel calm, relaxed, be free from tension, anxiety and be happy about life…the answer would be YES…

Why is it then that most people don’t meditate…but desire the mind set and feelings that meditation provides?

I believe it is the old associations: after all, what does the word meditation mean to you? Orange robed monks sitting in silence for hours on end – a chilled out hippie or even an anti religious practice that is more witch craft than prayer … the list could go on!

If we feel limited by restrictions in our lives then we can lose hope – if however, we can remain calm then we enter a place of better understanding and from this objective perspective we can create any desired changes.

How often have you been in a place of regretful hind sight? Wouldn’t it be great to be in a place of productive fore sight and be able to focus on the things you do want rather than waste your energy on all the things you don’t?

Times have changed but our human needs haven’t – we all love to feel calm, we all love to relax and we all would love our lives to be happy and positive…so what are you waiting for?

If you learn to meditate (like a work-out for the mind; the more you do the quicker and faster you become) not only will you be able to understand what meditation is all about you will also be able to say to this modern world that you also know how to “chillax”!
To chill = to feel calm and anxiety free.
To relax = to be tension-free and happy.

Info on Simon – HYPERLINK "http://www.simonpaulfrost.com" www.simonpaulfrost.com
For meditations – HYPERLINK "http://www.mymeditation.co.uk" www.mymeditation.co.uk

The Max Test!

When our client Kevin came to me with the idea of doing the ultimate triathlon in one year, Swim –(Hellespont - effectively crossing from Europe to Asia!) Run The Marathon and Cycle from Lands End to John O’Groats I thought he was a bit of a lunatic; now he’s been coming in to the studio for a while we all know he is!!
So how are we going to ensure that the training programmes we’re giving him are actually taking his fitness to levels he’s never been before to deal with these challenges?!!

Well, that’s where our relationship with The Centre for Health and Human Performance comes in handy. Not only can they take our clients through a VO2 max test their team of experts (http://www.76harleystreet.com/sections/team/sportperformance ) can assist us in creating excellent programmes to deliver the results clients like Kevin are looking for.

VO2 max is measured by getting the lungs to work as hard as they possibly can during an incremental exercise test. As the body works harder the lungs draw more oxygen to supply the muscles, the aim of the test is to reach the point of exhaustion where the lungs are at their maximum.
It’s VERY tough on the client!

Anyone that comes in to the studio knows when Kevin is in the building! So it was great for all of us to have a rest from his grunting and groaning as the mask quietened his screams!




VO2 max is the gold standard of fitness testing, it measures the maximum amount of oxygen in millilitres, one can use in one minute per kilogram of body weight. It is not dependant on the size of your lungs. Olympic champion rower Matthew Pinsent has a lung capacity of eight-and-a-half litres, but when it comes to a VO2 max test, he and fellow rower James Cracknell fall behind little Paula Radcliffe!

Although it is possible to train this in order to increase these levels genetics plays a major role in a person’s VO2 max and it is believed that heredity factors can account for up to 25-50% of the variance seen between individuals.

The highest ever recorded VO2 max is 94 ml/kg/min in men and 77 ml/kg/min in women, - Both were cross-country skiers.

Whatever your goals may be, whether its training for that endurance challenge, or recovery from major surgery, your health and human performance is vital and our relationship with 76 Harley Street allows this to happen.

For more information on this contact us at the studio – david@aayou.co.uk

Are you SAD?

At last we’ve started seeing some sunshine! The clocks go forwards at the end of the month and it will officially be British Summer time and we can hopefully start to enjoy some better weather and being outside a bit more!

Over the last few weeks it’s amazing how many people have commented that at last they’re starting to feel better, just in the last few days at the studio’s we have noticed that clients cold and flu symptoms have cleared up, energy levels have increased and a few more smiles have started appearing! Do the cold dark days really have such a huge impact on us?

Its incredible how many people do actually suffer from Seasonal affective disorder (SAD), also known as winter depression or winter blues.

SAD is a mood disorder which affects people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year but experience depressive symptoms in the winter. Although SAD was once regarded skeptically by the experts, it is now well established as a serious medical condition.

Symptoms vary from sleeping too much, having decreased energy levels, to feeling depressed. Though symptoms can be severe, they are usually not long term.
Typically sufferers experience difficulty waking up in the morning, morning sickness, oversleeping, over-eating, with particular cravings for carbohydrates and consequent weight gain.

Other symptoms include a lack of energy, difficulty concentrating on completing tasks, and withdrawal from friends, family, and social activities.

There are many different treatments for seasonal affective disorder, including light therapy with sunlight or bright lights, cognitive-behavioral therapy, supplementation of the hormone melatonin and the cure for everything – EXERCISE!
Whether you actually suffer from SAD or not, inevitably during the winter months we experience lower energy levels and the miserable weather is often reflected in our moods. The good news is as with most illnesses the power to improve it is in your hands...




The blue feeling can usually be dampened or extinguished by exercise and increased outdoor activity, particularly on sunny days. The positive effects of exercise are endless: Increased energy levels, improved circulation, increased fitness, fat loss and enhanced mood as exercise stimulated the release of endorphins.

The natural feel good chemicals which decrease the stress hormones such as cortisol and increase feelings of euphoria and a general state of wellbeing are released during exercise. Just exercising for a short period of time will improve your mood. Ten minutes of moderate exercise is enough to improve your mood, your vigour and also decrease fatigue.

So if everyone around you is sick of seeing your miserable face you can now look forward to the great British summertime as an opportunity to get back into that exercise routine to not only feel great mentally but get in great shape physically too!

Happy Days!

Look after your heart this Valentine’s Day.

It seems that every high street shop has their special promotions planned and heart shaped decorations in the window’s directed at cashing in on us clueless guys in our attempts to show our love for our partners!

The beauticians are promoting their pampering products, the flower shop is stocking up on red roses, the confectionary store is crammed full of heart shaped sweet delights and the local restaurant has created a special Valentines menu.
What do you do?

Well here’s a novel suggestion. Instead of just giving a simple gift that will end up being thrown away, used up or eaten why not give something a lot more lasting….. If you really want to give your heart to that special someone then why not give them a very healthy heart?!

Did you know that heart disease still kills more people in the United Kingdom than any other condition? National statistics showed one in five men and around one in six women died from heart disease, including heart attacks, in 2005, and around 2.7 million People are estimated to be living with coronary heart disease in the UK and this number is rising each year.




The majority of us lead a lifestyle which encourages an unhealthy diet, excess alcohol consumption, lack of sleep, a stressful working environment and a serious lack of physical activity. I can almost guarantee that you will have at least one of these factors in your life at the moment.

Obviously hereditary conditions account for a number of cases but a huge number of cases are self inflicted through poor choices on the individual’s part. Most heart disease is avoidable if we take simple measures to improve our lifestyle. Too many people in the UK are exercising too little, eating diets too high in fat, salt and sugar, and consequently, becoming overweight or obese.


Another huge factor that we allow into our lives to cause damage to our heart is stress. Stress is the way we all react to change. It includes our mental, emotional and physical responses to the pressures of everyday life.




The pace of our lives in the 21st century is getting faster and faster. Consequently it seems to be harder to find the time to exercise or cook well-balanced, healthy meals. We rev our engines with stimulants like caffeine, sugar and nicotine but then need depressants like alcohol to slow us down again.

Stress is also associated with depression and anxiety disorders and can reduce the amount of pleasure you get out of life. Chronic stress can numb you to feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment. Eventually, this numbness could have a negative impact on your work and your relationships.

How do we change and create long term health benefits?

The simple answer to long term health is long term practice. Unfortunately as stated earlier we live in a world that runs at 100 miles per hour and we want everything now. Therefore we look for the quickest possible way to achieve our desired results.
These usually include prescription medication. What they don’t tell you is that these medications only mask the underlying problems and that every drug has a side effect and a negative impact on the human body, and are you really taking control of your own health by taking a pill?

There are other ways to look after your heart that are much more effective, long lasting and enjoyable.

1. Exercise

Even a brief amount of exercise each day will enable your metabolism to start functioning more effectively. It will reduce excess body fat, stabilise blood sugar levels, lower blood pressure and cholesterol, strengthen the heart an it is a fantastic way to alleviate stress.

2. Take control of your diet

People talk a lot about reducing the amount of fat in your diet and to an extent this advice has been taken a bit too far. Saturated fats WILL increase the clogging of the arteries but Omega 3 oils and essential fatty acids are crucial for the body to survive a healthy existence.

The big change that needs to be made in the majority of diets is a reduction in the amount of refined carbohydrates. Consuming these types of foods not only causes bloating and poor digestion, they also raise blood sugar levels, which stimulates the production of insulin.

Unfortunately we are extremely misinformed about what we eat. Food companies are allowed to exploit our naivety and as a result consumers are unaware of what foods are actually good for them and those that are actually causing more harm. The key is to eat real foods preferably organic as often as possible.

3. Relax

We need to slow down our body’s adrenal system, turn off the fight or flight response and learn to relax, replenish and recharge. Simple processes such as cutting out the amount of stimulants we consume and learning to breath properly get a higher quality a quantity of sleep and take time to switch off each day.

So this Valentine’s make plans to look after your health and give your loved one a healthy heart for years to come, - but probably go with the flowers as well to avoid ending up in the doghouse!

We’ve got a great article on stress management coming up in the next few weeks...

Creating a new habit.

The first month of 2011 has already passed us by! How has it gone for you?

If you wanted to change your diet have you succeeded with that and lost a few pounds? Have you been following a regular exercise programme? Have you managed your time more effectively? Or even changed your job?

Whatever changes you’ve wanted to make to your life it’s never easy to maintain the effort required to make it happen...

We are all creatures of habit and even with the best intentions often fall back into the old routine

“Old Habits Die Hard”

Often the biggest problem is that we aim to make drastic changes to our lives that simply are one step too far...

• 40-a-day smokers decide to quit all together
• Junk food addicts start to follow a 1000 calorie a day diet
• Those that haven’t exercised in years decide their going to run the marathon!

Drastic changes like these will usually fail because the new habits needed to deal with these changes are too extreme from the behaviour the person has previously been used to.

It then becomes such a negative experience that often people fall back into previous habits and in some cases are worse for the experience!

How do we stop this from happening and guarantee a positive experience?

The 7 steps to creating a new habit:

1. Write down your plan and keep it somewhere you will see it every day.

2. State specifically what your goal will be each day. E.G. “I will exercise for a minimum of 10 minutes today.”

3. State what your trigger will be. E.G. “I will exercise every morning after brushing my teeth.”

4. State who you will report to. E.G. “I will comment on the All About You Facebook page about my workout each day”

5. Post your goal publicly. – Use your social media for positive use.

6. Tell as many people as possible about your goal.

7. Celebrate your new habit at the end of 30 days.

It really is that simple!

The key is to not set your goals too big.

Creating a complete lifestyle change is going to require incredible determination and willpower and will increase your chances of failure.

If you haven’t exercised in years then face it... Training for the marathon is going to be pretty tough!!

But, doing 10 minutes of exercise per day is very do-able.

Set yourself up for success, not failure!

This exercise is about forming a new habit and taking small steps to achieve a big goal.

Plan an achievable goal, tell the world, do it and report on it EVERY DAY and you WILL succeed!

With one goal achieved you will then have the confidence to set bigger and better goals in the future with this simple method of establishing a new habit.

Ready to go with your first one?

Then head over to our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/All-About-You-Performance-Wellbeing/159779797381162?v=app_4949752878&ref=ts

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Reduce the stress and reduce the fat!

It's that time of year when we all sit down and decide we're going to make some real changes to our lives! New Job, new exciting plans, new body!!

We obviously want to help you to get that amazing new body! Everywhere you look there are pictures of "celebrities" who've lost a ton of weight on the latest "amazing diet" and although they may look great you need to make sure the diet is safe for you, that you have set yourself realistic goals and that you are not setting yourself up to regain the lost weight within a few months!!

I don't believe that any kind of diet works long term for weight loss - but that argument is for another blog post...

It's our job at All About You to educate you, give you the tools to make long term gains, enable you to create a healthy body full of energy vitality and most importantly feel great about yourself!

We’re here to set you straight, tell you the truth and still get amazing results... And so this post is all about hormones and in particular the hormone cortisol which may have a huge influence on your body's ability to control your body fat levels.

Cortisol is your body's primary stress hormone and is responsible for, among other things, the 'fight or flight' response that you've heard so much about.

It works this way; when a stressor affects you in day to day life, such as being cut up in traffic, arguing with a spouse, being under a tough deadline or being chased by a wild tiger, your adrenal glands on your kidneys secrete cortisol directly into the bloodstream where it causes us to release amino acids from our muscles, glucose from the liver and fatty acids from our fat cells into the bloodstream for use as 'emergency fuel' to help us fight or flee.

This would normally be fine, especially if those stressors are few and far between but that's not the case for most of us. Most people live in a continual state of stress where cortisol is being released time and time and time again leading to permanently elevated cortisol both in the bloodstream AND in the cells themselves.

Trouble is, whilst short exposures of cortisol are useful and can be beneficial, long term they're downright destructive leading to:

- Increased appetite and food cravings
- Decreases in lean muscle mass
- Increased Anxiety and Depression
- Decreased libido
- Increase of PMS symptoms
- Increase in menopausal side-effects
- INCREASE IN BODY FAT

And guess where cortisol-created body fat wants to live?

Right up there on the belly!

This means that if you're carrying excess fat in your abdominal region that's stubborn to shift, you're more than likely to have chronically elevated cortisol causing the problem. And again, it may not have anything to do with the total number of calories you're eating.

How do you reduce it?

Well, there are numerous ways in which we can re-establish normal cortisol levels in the body and start burning fat but the best are simply 'natural cures' that can be applied almost immediately and with very little expense.

In fact, the first one is absolutely free!

It's called SLEEP.

That's right; sleep is one of the most important factors in cortisol control as a lack of both quality and quantity of sleep leads to elevated cortisol and a depression of other important metabolic hormones. Fail to get enough sleep and at the right time and you'll be doomed to struggling with your body fat forever. Conversely, make even a few moderate sleep habit changes over the next few days and you'll start to see the fat shift.

Because cortisol is related to sleep and wake cycles and is triggered by light, you should aim to spend the last few hours before bed in a dimmed or dark room and aim to be in bed by 10pm and sleeping by 10.30pm.

It sounds too early, I know. Especially with late night TV and those emails you have to do before bed but hey, your hormones don't know about TV and email, they know stress. You want to lose fat? Then get to bed! In fact, bright TV's and bright computer screens are the last thing you want just before you hit the hay. They keep your cortisol pumping through both the light they emit and the potential for stress they evoke

Try identifying high-stress situations in advance and working out coping strategies to deal with them as they arise. Add exercise (though minimise aerobic exercise which releases more cortisol) and relaxation techniques and eat a clean and healthy diet and your cortisol levels will soon come under control.

Once they do you'll see the fat disappear faster than easier and with far less effort than ever before.

Start by getting some good sleep for just 7 nights and see what happens.