Back!

The 21st of March!  Wow.  That’s a long time to go without writing a blog post.  I hope you are all well?

Over the past 6 weeks, a lot has been happening.  It has been a time of growth, of learning, of extremely busy diaries…but not of temples.  I think we can say that the “body is a temple” challenge bit the dust a while back.  I guess the incentive is not strong enough – whilst I fully believe in eating well, I know there is room for chocolate in my diet.  There just is.  I feel it is time to simply accept that as even Frank Forencich eats cake – I know, I saw him!  There’s no room for McDonalds, mind, and there never will be – but mini eggs may feature.

On balance, I do believe in the 80/20 rule – if you eat good, wholesome food 80% of the time, you can afford to be somewhat less disciplined the other 20%.  Food is part of the enjoyment of life, it’s a sensual pleasure as well as a survival necessity – we’ve just got to be careful not to get addicted to any of it, particularly sugar.  And that said, the 80/20 rule does feature in as an integral part of several well respected weight loss plans – the 20% is often known as a cheat day, where you allow yourself a less disciplined day of eating as a method of shocking your metabolism into a faster pace and to offset the psychological strain of holding yourself strictly to an eating plan.  Of course, this cheat day should not be seen as a chance to binge…!

So back to the exuberance challenges and this time it’s a biggie.  During April I went to the Fit Pro Spring Convention, which is a 3-day learning-fest for fitness professionals.  It’s the third year I’ve been and I work my passage at the Convention, i.e. I don a blue “Event Staff” t-shirt and for half of each day I check the paying delegates into their lectures, support the lecturers, direct people to their venues etc, in return for attending the other half of the day as a delegate myself.  So from April 9-11, 8ish till 6:30ish each day, I was listening to the wisdom of the icons in our industry, the likes of Annette Lang, Bobby Cappuccio and Scott Hopson.  I learnt a lot, as I always do.  This year though was slightly different, in that I was stationed on the lecture rooms rather than the netball and badminton centre like I have been the previous two years.  Which means that instead of lugging Bosus (Bosi? ;0>) around, blowing up swiss balls and packing and unpacking hundreds of mini dumbbells (hours of fun), I was rubbing shoulders with lecturers I’ve admired since I was a rookie PT.  Strengthening my resolve to be like them one day.  To be an author, international speaker and role model for other rookies in our industry as well as a phenomenal coach/trainer for those that I coach and train.  The Fit Pro Spring Convention is where dreams are born.

So my new challenge is to get to work on that.  Stage one: to read one professional/personal development book a week, and to begin writing my own book.  How exciting!!  The book of this week is “It’s the thought that counts” by David Hamilton, a recommendation from my best friend and, I can already say with conviction, a fascinating read.  I will report back in due course…

Till then, sleep well!

4 days and not one blog post. Ooh!

How tardy of me.  But my reason – and I do have one – is I was mega busy at work with a few marathon PT days.  By the time I got to Saturday afternoon I was like a zombie and barely able to move my eyes, let alone anything else.  And as no one has yet invented a way of blogging by just thinking about the post you want to write, no blog post was forthcoming (although even if they had I don’t think my brain was functioning on enough cylinders to take advantage of it).

Aaaanyway, I’ve been getting on ok with the whole “body is a temple” thing for the most part, although when I’m tired I just want to 1) eat everything and 2) eat junk, and I’m tired.  The mini-eggs nearly got me on the way home.  But they did not, the dastardly little things.  My strength of will is stronger than that.  But not strong enough to sneak me past the pizza in the fridge.

In my defence, it looked like this:

and it was lying in wait for me when I got in.  What chance did I have?!

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, maybe it wasn’t.  Oh well – you win some…  Back on track now.

I will write more tomorrow.  Still not firing on all cylinders!

But before I log off, let’s address the issue of the cat picture. In a nutshell – if you think that’s making it on the blog, you lot who are clamouring for it, you’ve another think coming!!  So there.  ;0>

 

Super-chilled…

A good day.  All round a good day.  Feeling remarkably chilled out and calm.  This is partly to do with the book I’m re-reading –  ”End the Struggle and Dance with Life” – which talks about, amongst other things, focusing on the journey not the destination, in order that we don’t become so focused on the attainment of goals that we miss the richness of life as it is right now.  It talks about giving up competing with others and just giving what you have to give, whilst being comfortable with others giving what they have to give.  And most importantly, it talks about not looking to the external world and your circumstances to find your happiness and peace, because its got nothing to do with those things.  It’s in you, you just have to learn to access it.  It’s good to be reminded of these things now and then.

So. Food-wise, good.  Veggie burger at the Organic Cafe.  Chicken stew cooked by Emma.  Stewed apple and organic yoghurt.  Goooooood.

Meditation-wise, good.  There was no formal meditation – today I tried to be mindful.  Which basically just means being present and engaged in what you’re doing at any given time, rather than doing three things at once.  So while I was walking to the cafe, I was walking to the cafe, listening to the birds singing and feeling the fresh air.  Instead of constantly checking my Iphone.  While I was eating, I was concentrating on eating.  Rather than constantly checking my Iphone.  When I was reading my book, I was lost in my book.  Rather than constantly checking my Iphone.  When I was playing the piano, I was…well, no, I can’t really claim that one as I was simultaneously listening to the marathon Chris Moyles show.  But I’m guessing you catch my drift.

I do love my Iphone, but it does get in the way sometimes.  Email, facebook, twitter – they just create distraction and my Iphone tears my attention in two – half my mind will be trying to read/blog/play; the other half will be reaching for my phone to check something which at the end of the day is just a frivolous application.  It struck me on Sunday night that I had planned to get into my book about cortisol (rock and roll!) and practice the piano but that I had ended up doing precisely nothing except look up some people on twitter and read people’s status’ on facebook.  It’s great to be so connected to everyone, but does reduce your focus and prevent you from getting stuff done.  Plus, I never really feel peaceful when I’m checking facebook repeatedly – it’s like it creates interference in the mind.

So I’m endeavouring to reach for my Iphone less.  I think that’s quite an exuberant enterprise.  Today I have made a concerted effort to do that, and I’ve done loads of stuff I’ve wanted to do for ages and am feeling pretty relaxed.  And have I missed anything?  Er, probably not!

The spinathon at the gym was good – we kept the bike going from 8am till 8pm.  I have not bought a red nose yet.  So I got a red nose painted on me.  Here I am…

enjoying myself immensely.  Bike dancing was afoot.  Well, pedalling in time with the music at least.  I’m not sure what we raised but we’re doing it again on Friday.

Also on Friday – the day that I have 10 clients in; the day I’ll be in the gym the whole day, we’ll also be – wait for it…wait for it: painting each other’s faces.  Yep.  I will be PTing with my face painted.  Who knows what that’s going to look like.  I think I might request a tiger.  I’ve always wanted to PT with a face like a tiger*.

*lie

Should be fun though.

Imagining Hotel Chocolat for purposes of self control…

Hey.  Sorry for the quiet day yesterday.  I was otherwise engaged with – now, what was I doing yesterday?  Nope, can’t remember.  Oh well.  I’m here now.

The “body is a temple” challenge is going rather well.  Today I have been tempted to eat nutritionally bankrupt food, but fairly easily managed to resist as I was reminded how much decent food is out there and how much nicer it actually is than the crap you get from takeaways.  It was just tiredness that tried to lead me down that bad path.  I dread to think what I’m going to be like on Friday when I have 10 sessions and 2 meetings booked.  15 hr day, anyone?  Nobody wave a Toblerone in my eyeline that day, okay?

(in case you don’t know me, this is not a picture of me, just so you know.  It is merely a pictorial representation of what could happen…)

 

 

 

 

I included this one just because of the sheer size of the Toblerone – I mean, it’s practically half the size of the girl!

 

 

Anyway…

 

Randomly, I was drawn to browsing the Hotel Chocolat website today.  I’m not sure why.  I must have been taken with an idle fantasy that I was in a position to make use of this wonderful resource of chocolate delights.  I did read a research study once which suggested that those who spend time imagining consuming many pieces of “candy” (the study was clearly American) ate less of the real thing when given the chance.  Apparently this is due to “habituation” – repeated exposure to a food dampening the desire to eat more of it.  So, they suggest that we spend a few minutes really imagining eating the food we crave or that we are going to eat so that we will then eat less.  It goes against the grain somewhat as we would naturally try not to think about the foods we are not meant to eat in an effort not to want them, but it may be worth a try.  And this was obviously what I was doing on the Hotel Chocolat website.  Reinforcing my resolve to not eat stuff like that.  Obviously.

I meditated today.  Properly, with the use of a guided meditation, not just freestyling like I have been.  I have been meditating – trying to fit it in first thing after I wake up and last thing before I go to sleep – using my affirmation technique, and it seems to be working as I am drawing to me the things that I am affirming in quite a funky and synchronistic manner.  And I find myself the possessor of a quiet, calm mind.  The guided meditation I followed suggested I focus my attention on imagining a hot air balloon carrying away all my problems and worries.  I found I had very little to put in the basket.  Result!

Tomorrow I have a day off – except for one session and a hour on a spin bike (part of a comic relief challenge to keep the spin bike going from 7am to 7pm) – which is needed as I could do with being less tired.  A piano lesson is scheduled which will be the first time I’ve played in 2 weeks. *gasp*  Don’t tell my piano tutor that…

And I am tempted to get my sticks out for a walk in the morning.  Let’s see whether the people of Moseley can handle sticks…

p.s. if you like the blog and read it regularly, you can always subscribe to it – that way, it’ll email you when there’s a new post out, save you having to check a hundred times a day.  Just a thought…

Body is a temple. More or less.

It’s 7am on Sunday morning. I’m not sure why I’m up – I’ve only had 4 hours sleep – but I am.

The 4 hours sleep is courtesy of Emma’s leaving do last night in a nice little pub daan saaf (that’s “down south” in case you were wondering), a prime opportunity to eat and drink merrily in the traditional way, i.e. a lot.

Only when you’ve got around you several people who read your blog, on which you have stated your “giving up crap” best intentions, that traditional pig out really isn’t going to happen. Especially when one of said people immediately upon walking in references the “body is a temple” claim that I’ve attributed to this challenge, just to remind you (thanks John!). And sitting next to you is a gorgeous girl, whom you wish to support in her efforts to kick the sugar habit.

In these circumstances, doing what you’ve said is easy because you’re now accountable to a whole lot of people who are in your presence. It takes being accountable to the next level – you’ve got to be true to your word otherwise you’re going to look like a wally at best, a hypocrite at worst. Your word has got to stand for something, right? Otherwise you’re just full of hot air and any credibility you had goes straight out the window.

So on the whole, last night was pretty good on the food front. There was one thing which I must own to – there may have been a (single, solitary) Jack Daniels involved. I will concede this could be perceived as contravening the rules of the game, but in my defence I’ll say this – sometimes when meeting a load of new people, it’s useful not to come across as a fitness and nutrition robot. There’s a balance to be struck between looking holier than thou and being true to yourself. And leaving the chips in favour of eating the carrot sticks, especially when combined with the fruit salad we had for dessert whilst surrounded by a sea of sticky toffee pudding, looked quite holy enough.

In other news, yesterday I also taught a famous radio presenter and author to nordic walk. Mad but true, and really quite brilliant as they’re someone I’ve long looked up to as a writer. I was quite* surprised when I trundled along to the park to teach a couple to walk with sticks when I realised who I would be teaching!

*mahoosive understatement

So yeah. Trainer to the stars, me! And it’s reminded me how much I enjoy nordic walking and made me think I should start spreading the nordic walking love (as it were) once again. So expect blog posts about poles to make a comeback with a vengeance soon(ish)!

The Oomph challenge is complete. Let Lent commence.

Shrove Tuesday huh?  A day to eat up all the junk in preparation for Lent?  Which makes it quite weird that it’s a pancake day, as the junk in my house is not the milk, the eggs or the flour and I’m going to bet that it’s not in yours either.  It’s the nutella, the dairy milk, the icecream, right?

Anyway, Lent starts tomorrow and with it a new challenge.  Well, I say new – it’s really more of a re-hash of the first one.  Emma had the idea to give up sugar (in the form of chocolate, sweets, biscuits etc) for Lent so that’s what we’re going to do.

Only I’m going to get all Life-Coach-y on it and do a bit of re-framing and goal setting.

Because it’s a longer timescale – till April 24th, no less – more sophisticated techniques are required to complete the challenge successfully, I reckon.  Feel free to steal these if you are giving something up for Lent…

First one – looking at it as a “no sugar” thing.  That’s not what we want.  It will make us focus on the lack, the privation, the absence of these foods which we have eaten for years.  And by focusing on those foods, they are going to be ever-present in the mind.  If you are going to give something up, something that actually, despite all your awareness and knowledge that such things are rubbish, you do like – does it help to be thinking about it a lot?  No, not really!

So.  A better approach is to reframe it from a “no sugar” thing to a “eating only healthful foods” (catchy!) thing.  Reframing something is just to recast a situation in a different light, changing the context to make it look different – taking a different perspective on it, I guess.  This is the definition I found on www.worldofnlp.com:

Reframing is a common practice in psychotherapy and counseling as a technique to provide a different perspective in the mind of the client.  The process of reframing constitutes the following:

• assessing if the current mental concept, belief or value is useful in the present context
• providing a possible perspective

Thinking “no sugar” is not useful.  In which case this new challenge is, for me, the following:

From Wednesday 9th March till April 24th (and, in theory, beyond) I will eat only things which will provide positive nourishment to my body.  If it won’t do that, it’s not getting past my lips.  Any food has to pass the test of “is this food going to make me more vital; will it help my body and mind function well?  Is it good for me?”.

That’s a better perspective.  That’s going to make us more likely to look for good foods and concentrate on the foods we can eat, rather than those we’re trying to avoid.  Always a good idea to concentrate on what you want to move towards not on what you want to move away from, because as we know, we draw to us what we place our attention on.  Therefore, if you place your attention on not eating sugar, you’re thinking about sugar.  Therefore what are you going to draw towards you?  Erm…oh yeah. Sugar!

The second thing to make this more achievable is to get all thespian-like…

and work out your motivation.  What’s the point – what are you looking to achieve?

You need to know – and it needs to be as compelling as possible – as you’ll fall back on it when you’re struggling and there’s a chocolate bar staring at you.  A menacing little chocolate bar that’s got its hands on its hips and is demanding to be eaten, telling you that you’re weak, that you can’t do it, that sugar free is too hard for you; you shouldn’t even have had the nerve to try it.  You need to be able to stand your ground, to look that chocolate bar in the eye and tell it in no uncertain terms that you are guided by stronger incentives than a gratuitous sugar fix, that you are driven to succeed because your motivation to – insert your ultimate goal here – is too strong to be overcome by a pathetic little chocolate bar.

So what is it?  Do you want to be slimmer, to have more peace of mind about your diet, to control your blood sugar, to be more in control?  And what will that do for you?  If you’re slimmer (for the sake of argument), what difference will that make to your life?  How will you feel?  Because that bit – what achieving your goal it will do for you; the difference it will make – what we call the “so what” factor – that’s what drives you.  That’s your motivation right there.  Build it up, make it real in your mind and you can make it real in your world.

Ok, enough pontificating for one night.  I need to work out my motivation.  If you want me I’ll be in my trailer…