The Naked Warrior

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How to Survive the Silly Season

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Tick tock, tick tock, the countdown is now on to Christmas and along with it the come the endless social gatherings, office parties and then of course the main event!

Christmas is a wonderful time to spend with family, friends and loved ones yet can also be quite stressful with small babies and little energetic toddlers!

Trying to juggle the present shopping, gift wrapping, excitable children and the logistics of Christmas can take up a lot of time and then along with the abundance of festive treats most people tend to gain a little extra padding in a short space of time.  If you are sensible and follow my tips you can be confident that the extra little treats and change to routine will have minimal impact on your normal weight and body shape!

Check out my top tips below for a healthier Christmas for you and your family:
Set your family Christmas menus now to include leaner food options, like fruit salad, lean meat, and low-fat dips plus reduce the portion size of Yorkshire puddings and stuffing when serving dinner on the plate and exchange cream for natural yoghurt with Christmas pudding, or use cream sparingly and avoid going back for seconds!

  1. Place a limit on treat gifts to avoid the whole family turning up with chocolate. Give specific family members a specific food to bring and limit how much. Any unwanted leftover gifts can be donated to your local housing shelter or elderly care home.
  2. Put in orders for active presents – cricket sets, footballs, rugby balls, rackets and even Wi Fit – just get the whole family moving.
  3. If you are escaping to warmer climates then why not book a holiday that includes walking, hiking, trekking, surfing, swimming or other activities to keep you moving.
  4. Politely tell family members or friends that this year you will not be going crazy with indulgences, but instead will be enjoying the special days with an occasional treat.
  5. Remember too, that just because it is there does not mean you have to eat it! Why not box up left overs and put in the freezer for a quick easy ready meal on another day?

Put these strategies in place now, and you’ll be able to enjoy your Christmas dinner and the great shape you still will be in January.

Reduce Your Stress to Reduce Your Waist Line

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Did you know that if you are stressed, busy and not taking enough time to relax and wind down that this can be impacting your ability to lose unwanted fat as quickly as you like?

The stress of modern day life coupled with a lack of quality sleep and poor nutrition is a driving factor to people either gaining excess body fat, or having trouble losing it, especially around the midsection.

Cortisol is the hormone that is produced by the adrenal glands and is released in response to any stress. Stress comes in many forms, including work, family, kids, emotional and environmental.  When I ask people about their stress levels they respond by sitting bolt up and saying, “I have no stress” so before you do the same, just know that stress manifests itself physically and psychologically and you can become accustomed to a heightened state of stress without realising it.

Whilst cortisol is essential to our daily function, if we have a constant stream of stress, it leaves our bodies unable to cope.  When we experience excessive periods of stress, your body kicks into its natural “fight or flight” response.  To deal with a stressful situation your body must provide you with the energy you will need to either stand and fight, or run. Now you have raised cortisol levels which elevates your blood sugar to give you the energy to respond.  If you had a physical need for that freshly supplied energy, like a caveman fighting off a lion or an intruder, it would be useful, but the problem nowadays is that you don’t. So where does all that energy go?

The hormone that kicks in when blood sugar is elevated is insulin, also known as the “fat storage” hormone. When insulin goes into action to deliver the energy, it has no requirements, as most people are sat down all day, so the energy gets stored as fat predominantly around the belly region.

So to lower body fat around your midsection, you must first address your stress.

Top Stress Busting Tips

  1. Identify your main stresses and work on reducing the impact it has on your daily life
  2. Learn how to cut back and take time out for yourself. Look at your diary and plan some time every day for you where possible, if not daily at least a few times a week
  3. Clean up your diet and start to add the right nutrients to support your mind and body rather that living on food with no nutritional value. Poor food quality saps essential nutrients from your body that you need to function optimally. Poor nutrition starves your body which is a huge stressor.
  4. Soak in a bath of Epsom salts 40 minutes prior to bed to help relax the body
  5. Use calming herbs such valerian and chamomile tea
  6. Be active daily
  7. Reassess your beliefs – Take a look at what is important to you, your attitudes and how you currently react to stressful situations.
  8. Spend time with those people/friends who have similar values to you.
  9. Make sure you get 7 – 8 hours of deep restful sleep per night by eliminating distractions such as phones, TV and keep the room dark

How Muscle Can Help you Burn Fat

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Weight training helps to increase your lean muscle mass, which in turn increases your resting metabolism.  This means that when you are carrying out your daily activities you are burning a lot more energy as a result of your muscles being stronger. Muscle in its resting state is like an idling car engine, burning up fuel in the form of calories  Therefore, it’s true that the more muscle you have, the more calories your body burns at rest each day The more muscle you have, the greater the storage capacity you have for carbohydrates as well. Stronger muscles will allow you to eat more carbohydrates in your day without them being converted into fat.

The actual act of lifting weights and doing a weight training session burns a high amount of calories also.  By focusing on compound exercises (multi-joint movements that work several muscles at one time) you increase the calorie burning capacity.  If you think of exercises such as squats, deadlifts, lunges, bench press and pull ups, these are all compound exercises which challenge multiple muscles meaning you can maximize the calorie burning potential. Not only does weight training help with fat burning, it will also help to make you feel tighter in the muscle and many people see a drop in the size of clothes they wear.  This in turn increases self confidence and can help to overcome any body image issues. It should also be mentioned that it is recommended that women especially follow a structured weight training program to prevent the development of osteoporosis or brittle bones, a condition which can be overcome through weight bearing exercise and adequate intake of calcium.

Peanut Butter Oat Bars

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NUTRITIONAL INFO per serve (makes 8) Carbs: 12.4g Protein: 18.9g Fat: 6.7g

INGREDIENTS:

  • 50g oats
  • 120g chocolate protein powder
  • 50g natural peanut butter
  • 100g skim milk powder
  • 10g desiccated coconut
  • 225 ml water

HOW TO MAKE:-

  1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and gradually adding the water slowly until mixture has a sticky consistency
  2. Line a baking tray with baking paper and spread the mixture evenly at least an inch thick
  3. Refrigerate for 30 to 60 mins until mixture to becomes firm and hard
  4. Once ready bars can be cut into 8 bars
  5. Wrap each bar in cling film and store in fridge

How to Win at Weight Loss

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The Secret to Creating New Habits that ensures you achieve your Weight Loss Goals

Our habits are made up of little things we do as part of our daily lives, often without noticing or thinking much about them. It is these daily habits that are repeated consistently over time which add up to have a major effect on your health and body shape.  Your weight loss goals, or more importantly, maintaining your weight loss results are impacted by the habits you have.

A habit can be anything that you do often enough for the activity to become practically automatic – brushing your teeth is a perfect example.  When you do a specific activity regularly and train yourself to do it repeatedly, it becomes second nature and that is why it is essential to create healthy habits that will set you up for success.  More importantly, this is why you should create healthy habits early in childhood with your little ones so that these become easy to maintain.

Create a habit that fits with your goals and repeating until they become habit so your weight maintenance becomes nearly effortless, or more importantly you create a lifestyle that allows you to get back on track easily should you fall off the wagon.  Put your exercise sessions into your diary and make them an important appointment with yourself.  Prioritise your healthy eating choices over those looking to drag you down and get comfortable with saying ‘no thank you, I have had enough’ or ‘no thank you I do not feel like eating that’.

If you create unhealthy habits such as Friday lunch work drinks or nightly takeaways then this will sabotage your success long term. Because a habit is something you do without much thought, it can be hard to notice when habits are getting in the way of your weight wellness goals.

The type of habits that get in the way of achieving your weight loss goals can be hard to identify because habits are the things you do without much conscious thought. Whether you aim to break old habits, create new habits, or a little of both, keep in mind that your habits are a key part of creating a lifestyle that supports lasting weight wellness.  One of the best ways to make the shift so that more of the right habits are created is to add more of the good stuff in so it pushes out the bad!

 

Spinach and Mushroom Fritatta

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NUTRITIONAL INFO (per single serve) Carbs: 3.9g Protein: 19.6g Fat:  7.0g

INGREDIENTS:

  • Spray of oil
  • 5ml Olive Oil
  • 10g garlic crushed
  • 100g leek, thinly sliced
  • 420g button mushrooms, thinly sliced
  • 200g baby spinach leaves
  • 2 eggs
  • 6 egg whites
  • 125ml skim milk
  • 40g light 50% reduced fat cheese

HOW TO MAKE:

  1. Preheat oven to 160c and spray a 23cm round cake pan with canola
  2. Heat oil in medium and cook garlic and leak, stirring through until leek softens.
  3. Add mushrooms and stir until they become tender
  4. Add spinach and cook off until spinach wilts.
  5. Drain off and discard any liquid.
  6. Whisk eggs, egg whites, milk and cheese into a large bowl and stir in vegetable mixture.
  7. Pour egg mixture into prepared pan and bake for 30 mins or until set
  8. Place frittata under hot grill until browned
  9. Can be served at breakfast or stored for a quick handy snack.