Monday 13 February 2012

Lifestyle

Being the 3rd week in Feb and well into the year I'm sure all of you have forgotten all about your New Years Resolutions, and most of you have probably gone back to your old habits and are feeling all bummed out.  You know what, who cares...!?
I was always the same, setting myself fitness goals that I have to reach everytime I started feeling 'fat'.  I think that's all changed now.

This is not me just plugging our business or what we do here at Phoenix Elite cause I know those of you who are members already love it, but ever since I did our 28 day body transformation at the start of the year the motivation just hasn't stopped!  It's not about detoxing or going on a diet for the rest of your life, having to train twice a day every day and dread going to the gym, it's about lifestyle, and I think that's the key word missing in any eating plan or training regime that most people ask their trainers for today.

So the 28 day transformation basically consists of an eating plan and training regime.  The eats are based on the 'Paleo' lifestyle/diet.  Which in a nutshell is, whatever you can hunt and gather you can eat.  Think of yourself as a caveman! 
Now, I HATE diets, I cannot stress enough how much I hate them, and even counting calories I find sooooo annoying! I hate the thought of having to restrict what I'm eating, not being able to have something when I'm craving it, and hence, being in the nicest way possible, a down right B&%#H when on one.  So, don't try and get me to do a diet, I LOVE my food! and that's why Paleo is sooo great.  There is an alternative for EVERYTHING! You feel like carbs, bread, pasta or how about a big dirty pizza! What diet allows you to eat pizza?
Paleo does.....
Everyone loves bacon and eggs....well guess what....for 28 days, I had bacon and eggs pretty well everyday!
Bacon and eggs for breakfast, some sort of delicious chicken salad or veggies for lunch, want mayonaise or ceasar sauce? Make it yourself! Paleo Mayonaise is da bomb! Sweet potatos crisps or wedges or chips for snacks and bangers and mash for dinner.....then there's dessert! Coconut ice cream, rasberry tart, dark chocolate! I had it all peeps! The best thing is, I now love foods that I used to hate!
It simply ROCKED MY WORLD!
For 28 days I had to hunt and gather my way through my meals (so to speak...not literally), there is so much food out there that the world has told us is fatty and bad for us...when truth is...it's what our body needs to function properly and what our bodies are capable of digesting.....

Think about it, whose seen an obese caveman? Whose seen a caveman eat a lovely slice of multigrain toast with some jam on it, or a big bowl of pasta? I know I sure haven't! 
The world has progressed so far with it's technology but our bodies haven't caught up! It's time to go back to our roots, it's easy, it's such a simple principle and something I found so easy to maintain!
Yep....there were days I felt like a huge slice of creamy brie cheese, but you know what, I saved that for my cheat day, learnt from my mistakes as I felt so unbeliveably sick the next day! I fell off the wagon a few times, drank alcohol, ate something I shouldn't have, but it's so easy to get back on.

My 28 days ended on the 1st Feb 2012 and whilst I may not see any difference on the scales or even visibly, I feel 100 times better than I have ever felt in my life.  Not only that but if you ask me what I ate for dinner last night, I had bangers and mash, dessert...I had dark chocolate. Now I'm allowed to tweak it the way I want...I can drink red wine and if I want to drink to have a big night, I choose vodka, soda water and lime!
Not only that but I am more motivated than ever and am starting to see my results!

The training...I probably could have done a bit more training during my 28 days.  The key is to find something that you enjoy doing be it running, yoga, dancing, strength or just the plain old classes, and stick to it! I have a new found love for strength training, I never have to get tired or exhausted and I get to lift heavy shit, not only that but because I have pushed myself, I am lifiting more weight in my 2 weeks of training than I ever have before.
You need to find something that you're not going to dread going to the gym to do, let's face it, you're not going to rock up somewhere if you're not going to do something you like doing! It's like going to that persons birthday party that you don't really like but because you work with them you feel obliged to go! I know you all know what I'm talking about....

I could go on about this forever! Let me just reiterate, it's about lifestyle, finding a way of eating and training around your current lifestyle!

http://paleodietlifestyle.com/ Check it out, it's a great website to get you started!
Oh and a little trick I didn't mention is to eat constantly, don't let yourself get hungry cause as soon as you feel hungry, that's when the devilish cravings come!