The Naked Warrior

Mindset

Breaking the Binge Cycle

by

One of the biggest ‘danger times’ I see with those I work with is the dreaded night time eating session, you know the one when you’ve finally got the kids to bed and get a chance to put your feet up and relax on the sofa.  Many find themselves wandering into the kitchen looking for something to eat, even though they are not hungry, looking for the sweet treat or that one deserved drink to relax with.  This nightly habit for many can prevent them from losing the weight they want to as it can lead to over indulging in calories.

Enjoying sweet foods after the evening meal can be a habit that forms in childhood or one that evolves over time. Growing up we always had dessert and its only now as an adult that I choose not to, yet when my dad comes to dinner he always likes to have something!  A small serve of pudding, biscuit with a cup of tea or some fruit or yoghurt can be a harmless, and enjoyed without any associated weight problems. It’s more the regular evening binges that completely derail ones calorie intake. The nightly overeating that acts to soothe another emotion – loneliness, frustration, boredom and overeating that can become a deeply entrenched habit, and as such can be very difficult to break.

Night eating can be defined as an issue when it prevents you from reaching a particular goal, whether this be weight loss or just weight control; when it is mentally distracting you from what you really should be doing or when it results in your feeling terrible on a regular basis. There is nothing wrong with enjoying a biscuit or two, but when you demolish an entire packet for the sake of it, or when you cannot have any sweet food in the house for fear of binging then this is an issue.

If you want to remove this habit from your nightly routine then a good starting point is to identify when it happens. Is it when you are home alone, watching TV, when you are online or when you stay up extra late?  Identifying your riskiest time for night eating is the first step in taking control of it.

Next, it is about self-management. Stop buying the foods – if they are not in your house you are less likely to eat them!  Get busy so that you are not at home alone. Or watch less TV so it does not act as a trigger to eat.

Finally, long term the ideal outcome is for you to have some clear rules that you find easy to stick to. This may mean you do have one small, portion and calorie controlled treat each night and that is it. Or that you do not eat after dinner, no exceptions. Every one of us will need a different rule that suits the goals we want to achieve.  Remember, the first night you try and break a habit, it is difficult. The second, not so easy either but once you get 3-4 days under your belt, you will be well on your way to owning and managing your night eating.

Reduce Your Stress to Reduce Your Waist Line

by

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 to Win at Weight Loss

by

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!

 

Are You Prepared to do What it Takes?

by

Do you currently have a goal in mind that you are working towards?  Are you prepared to do what it takes to achieve it and do you know what it is actually going to take to get there?  These are essential questions to ask yourself when you set yourself a goal and begin the journey to success.  It is a good idea to put pen to paper, confirming your goal so it is there before you, crystal clear.  It can be anything, a fitness goal, a lifestyle change, a career move or a dream holiday destination, whatever it is just get it down along with when you want it by. 

Now the journey starts.  Take a look at what you have written and be honest with yourself, how much do you really want this, is there anything that would prevent you from achieving this and what sacrifices are you prepared to make to get it?  Is what you are doing right now enough and have you given it your best today?

In today’s society where everyone has a busy lifestyle, it can be easy to make excuses and use these to prevent you from getting to where you want to go because it is easier and comfortable to stay in the familiar routine

Planning ahead is essential to stay on track, ask yourself, what food do I have at home, do I need to go shopping, where will I be tomorrow and how will I fit in my exercise?  If you take time to address and prepare properly you can be confident of hitting your goals, you simply need to trust the process.  It’s like the old saying goes, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

The other key to success is getting support of the people around you.  Those closest to you that understand fully what you are working towards and more importantly they understand how much it means to you.  Without the help your journey could be harder so reach out to those you know can help.

Above all, just go for it and don’t quit!

Face Your Fears

by

What is it that you are most afraid of and do you ever let it stop you living life to its fullest?  I can remember where I went through a period of time when I developed an uncomfortableness around turbulence when flying – I refused to say I’m scared or fearful as it was completely irrational and I had no control over it!  If like me and most of the general population, there is probably one thing in your life that does create feelings of discomfort, nervousness and anxiety.  I have even heard of people being afraid of buttons, the dark, busy places, spiders and heights.  Whatever your fear is; now is the time to take control of it so it does not control you.

The key to overcoming any fear, first of all is accepting that actually it is ok to be a little nervous or unsure of some things – it is when this develops into deeper anxiety that prevents you doing what you want to, that it has become a problem.  Try not to let doubt stop you, if you think positive and believe in yourself this will give you the confidence to try anything at least once.

If there is an activity you have been longing to do yet those around you are putting negative thoughts in your mind then try to seek out people you know who have already done it so they can provide support and valuable advice for you.  This will assist to boost confidence as well as ignite the excitement within to try something new.

Remember also that why sometimes there may be a little risk involved, the chances of anything extreme happening is minimal – adopt the mentality of what’s the worst that could happen?  Seriously you may even enjoy overcoming your fear!

Take pride in knowing that the process of conquering your fear will leave you stronger both mentally and physically – you will grow and no doubt open yourself up to more opportunities.

  • To make change and move forward in any area of your life you need to get uncomfortable and by challenging yourself to new experiences life will be exciting, not boring, repetitive or stale! 
  • Reward yourself when you face your fear, congratulate the inner you and be grateful that you had the power from within to help
  • Find inspiration that will help you overcome fear and surround yourself with support that will help you
  • As with any goal, allocate a time to do what you need to do.  If it helps do some research as the more knowledge you have the greater your confidence can be as the unknown has been reduced.

Choose to experience life as the adventure it is – sometimes it can be a wild ride and when you hit the speed bumps just make sure you hold on tight!