6 things you can do to let your body settle at its natural healthy weight

Also with thanks to Megan Jaffray of www.paceandpower.co.za

1. Let your Body Talk.

Trust your body to tell you what it needs and when. Start listening to your body’s signals: Eat when you’re (physically) hungry; eat slowly but with enjoyment and gusto – and stop eating before you’re full. Eat what your body wants – not what you think you should be eating – but refer to points 2 and 3.

2. Eat from the Garden of Eden…

Eat unprocessed and, whenever possible, “raw” foods from the earth. Avoid all man-made, highly-processed foods – including sugar and alcohol, both of which are estrogen-boosters in men and women! These 2 unhealthy habits will pack on fat in a heartbeat! Avoid especially those sneaky “healthy” imposters such as breakfast cereals, pre-made soups and health breads.

3. Balance and Colour

Eat a balanced diet: You need protein, carbohydrates and fats. I focus upon the following proteins: Lean unprocessed red meat, whole eggs, fish, dairy and (of course) yummy LeanPlex! Carbohydrates: Eat many different coloured fruits and vegetables daily including watery carbs (broccoli, tomatoes, spinach) and starch (sweet potatoes, squash and butternut). Always choose starch from the earth – so (man-made) pasta and cereal does not count. Fats: Eat unprocessed natural fats including seeds, oils and nuts. My personal favourites: Olive oil, coconut, almonds, pecan nuts, walnuts and avocado pears. Again, variety is key: Eat all “God-made” foods in balance. Natural, unprocessed foods all have their place within the healthy function of the human body. Man-made foods, even the vitamin-fortified ones are not the best option for our bodies (despite what ‘they’ tell you).

4. Train with Gusto!

Get out of your comfort zone (the gym) and do the (hard) stuff that you don’t usually get to do: Boot camp, Tabata hill-sprints, lifting sand-bags, Russian kettlebell training, body-weight exercises, plyometrics and “burpees” etc. Getting uncomfortable is one of the best ways of attaining peak physical condition.

5. Scaling Down on Weighing and Body Composition Testing

Weigh yourself or take body composition tests 1-4 times per year (if you really have to!) Weight on the scale is number. And just like age, it becomes increasingly irrelevant: Allowing a water-based, fluctuating number to dictate whether you’re fat or thin is usually self-deceiving (whether you’re up or down on the scale). And we all know that body composition changes with training: You can weigh more on the scale (from increased muscle tone), but be far leaner.

Body composition testing is a valuable tool, but unless you’re doing under-water weighing, it is often unreliable and can be somewhat demotivating for many dedicated folk. There is usually human error using the skin-caliper method; and with the electrical impedance method, you will most certainly measure fatter if you are (even slightly) dehydrated.

Weighing or body composition measuring that is done too frequently can feed subconscious self-sabotaging behaviour. Rather focus upon and derive pleasure from the process of training and eating healthily. Less emphasis on weighing and testing does not translate into a denial of quietly getting fatter, or ‘creeping’ obesity: On the contrary, being aware of how your “skinny” jeans fit, or where your belt buckle sits or how you look in the mirror – these can all be excellent ways of keeping tabs on fatness.

6. Jump for joy!

Focus on the pleasure! This echoes the previous point, but calls for special emphasis: When you can eat and train with enjoyment, gusto and sheer pleasure, then the outcome, (that is, your goal-weight on the scale) will present itself before you know it!

Furthermore, when you exchange fatigue and slothfulness for the joy, energy, virility and vitality that comes from being fit, healthy, lean and strong, then your goal-weight on the scale fades into insignificance!

Not Getting Results ??? What are you thinking!

With thanks to a great friend and athlete Megan Jaffray from Pace and Power.

Some reasons why you may not be getting results:

1. Remembering when..
   Recounting how lean you were when you got married; how athletic you used to be at high school; the bodybuilding contests you won when you were in your early twenties; how fast you’d run a 10km, how much you’d bench press, the size of your skinny jeans.
   Not only is this boring, but allowing your thoughts to linger in the past will keep your actions stagnant. Acknowledging your fatness and your unfitness now will release you to make the necessary changes to be better than you have ever been before in your life!
2. You over-complicate things!
   You don’t need an exercise scientist to stand behind you and yell “Run!”, nor a dietitian to tell you to stop quaffing sweets and chips! Research and ‘finding the best’ trainer/dietician is a great idea, but do get started with physical action – not just theory! Some people lose weeks and even months faffing around, researching and looking for the best trainer / training programme /diet / dietician! Just get started! Get moving!
3. Procrastinating
   This correlates with point number two. You’re always starting on Monday or on the first of the month, or next week, or when your training buddy can…
   Always great intentions – but you never get going! We never see you at training; we never see you declining the office pizza!
4. Illogical (and emotional) about kilojoules
   One plus one equals two. Kilojoules in versus kilojoules out. Fatloss = less kilojoules in; more kilojoules out. However, most of us make it a complicated (and draining) roller-coaster ride!
5. Skirting and shirking
   Blaming your lack of results on your trainer / your medication / your poor genes /your hormones / your age. This is of course prolongs the flawed belief that you’re not fully responsible for your health or your fitness (or your life!).
   “No one is coming” – Dave Campbell
   
6. Knowing it all..
   Someone who is constantly offering annoying advice, but cannot see that his/her own fitness is stunted. Being a receptive student is one of the finest ways to take your body to another level of conditioning and performance.
7. You’re a creative excusologist
   All reasons why you can’t train/eat right today – you have to work late/work early/ entertain customers / it’s your mother-in-law’s birthday/ you have a cold/ you feel tired / you have PMS/ you have a headache.

Take a peek at this! Tis truly one of the most inspiring clips I’ve seen to date