Matlock / Bakewell gym - Blog

The Woodlands newsletter: Monday 24th February 2020

Monday 24th February 2020

Hi, I want you all to be able to eat healthily and not feel like you're always on a diet. I wouldn't want my son to have a negative relationship with food. We have lost the ability to know how to just eat. Because of all the fad 'diets' out there, food has become so confusing. We have some resources telling us only to eat 20 grams of carbohydrates a day (including vegetables). We have some experts telling us that eating bacon is totally fine. But - for some bizarre reason - eating fruit is not. Why? Are pomegranates the embodiment of inexorable evil? Do coconuts harbour bigoted views? Are apples haunted..? Grapes make derogatory remarks about your children...? So when some people look…

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The Woodlands newsletter: Monday 17th February 2020

Monday 17th February 2020

Hi, A few weeks ago I was speaking with one of my clients. She is currently at a healthy weight, is active and eats well. She says to me "I'd love to lose 10lbs, and I'll be the weight I was when I got married". I'm not surprised, because honestly, it's a comment I hear often. Here is what I want you to ask yourself: at this point in your life is the number on the scale more important to you then how you feel? If you feel good, have energy, are enjoying food, eating a healthy diet and your body is active and healthy, do you really care what that number on the scale says? Whether you…

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The Woodlands newsletter: Monday 10th February 2020

Monday 10th February 2020

Hi, As much as social media can be a place for inspiration, motivation and education, we get to choose who we follow and what we see. We have control over our social media feeds. We are in the driver's seat and have full control on the content we see. We have to take what we see and read with a grain of salt. How one person loses weight, what one person eats is not necessarily how it works for everyone. I think this is the trap most of us fall into "if it worked for her, it'll work for me" If you do want to lose fat, you'll need to eat fewer calories than you need to maintain your current weight.…

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The Woodlands newsletter: Monday 3rd February 2020

Monday 3rd February 2020

Hi, According to social media, there are an endless amount of shortcuts (i.e. diet pills, weight loss programs, books, exercise routines) claiming you can lose weight with minimal effort. LIES! There are no shortcuts! None. Creating a calorie deficit (through moderate calorie restriction and increase in physical activity) is the only way to lose weight. Any plan that does not require sacrifice, consistency and effort is unrealistic - and will lead to failure. There are some general guidelines, rules of thumb, and ways of viewing a diet program that will allow you to decide, once and for all, if it's the right diet for you. You may not always like what I have to say - but it will be the truth. If you are sick…

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The Woodlands newsletter: Monday 27th January 2020

Monday 27th January 2020

Hi, There's a meme that seems to regularly do the rounds on social media that explains why you should respect fit people. Of course, you don't have to respect someone just because they're fit. However, you could respect the effort that's gone into them being fit. Because fit people with a physique is much more than how good they look. Because the number one reason body transformation journeys fail long term? People giving up. I know right, who'd have guessed? The numbers don't lie; the vast majority of people who lose weight will regain it - and often exceed what they lost. True story. A well-built physique is a status symbol. It reflects you worked hard for it. No money can buy it. You…

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The Woodlands newsletter: Monday 20th January 2020

Monday 20th January 2020

Hi, Do you want to look good? Or do you want to weigh good? Because how much you weigh or how much weight you've lost is only tenuously linked to how good you will look. Some people are always checking their weight. So, how accurate do you think weighing scales really are? Apart from being motivational killers and always being disappointed when stepping off them, the weighing scales are the worst measure of success. Everyone's actual weight on a scale will tell you nothing about the amount of actual fat you have lost if you have been training correctly and have a healthy diet. As everyone knows (well I am assuming everyone knows!), muscle weighs more than fat. You could be training well…

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The Woodlands newsletter: Monday 13th January 2020

Monday 13th January 2020

Hi, Looking over some of my old newsletters, which I've been writing, I see that beliefs about weight loss come and go each season. But there are a few basic unavoidable truths that do not. It's important to face the facts if we want results that last beyond the latest exercise and diet trends. Advice should always be specific to the individual client - but to get in shape and look better, follow these basic rules: 70% nutrition: A 20% calorie deficit will maximise fat loss, minimise muscle loss. If you're unsure how to calculate this, please just ask me. You are what you eat - so it's important to eat good food in order to be healthy and fit. If you eat rubbish then…

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The Woodlands newsletter: Monday 6th January 2020

Monday 6th January 2020

Hi, Losing weight is 70% nutrition. Because you can't out train a bad diet! Well, long term you can't. This means you have to establish a calorie target and stick to it. Every. Single. Week. Using The Mifflin-St. Jeor equation, let's do the sums for a 44 year old female who is 167 cm tall and weighs 74kg. Her BMR is 1,403 calories per day. This person - let's call her Susan - is moderately active so we multiply Susan's BMR by 1.55. So... 1,404 x 1.55 = 2,174. A deficit of 20% of this maintenance level will usually mean everything is happening in a way that's best for you and your exact situation. Dieting with a high calorie deficit puts a lot of stress on…

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The Woodlands newsletter: Monday 30th December 2019

Monday 30th December 2019

Hi, Why are we always looking for the quick fix? What is making people choose the next big thing over learning how to eat? While obesity and unhealthy weight is a concern, the desire for us to lose weight quickly at any cost has caused us to equally engage in unhealthy eating habits and behaviours. We spend so much time looking for which diet to follow and getting advice from other people that we have completely forgotten how to tap into and connect with our own body. Why do you think we try so many different diets/ways to lose weight fast? The media, particularly social media, plays a big part in it. It has skewed our views of what we…

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The Woodlands newsletter: Monday 23rd December 2019

Monday 23rd December 2019

Hi, Okay, this is probably the worst time of the year for me to bang on about restrictive fad diets.... But when the New Year comes around, there's going to be lots of weight loss options getting thrown around and I just want you to pre-empt those. Fad diets operate on restricting you. We know this, yeah? And chances are these restrictive diets will usually starve you of something important your body needs. When these fad diets are successful in helping you lose weight and fast, what happens next? Do you actually know how to eat in a manner that fuels your body? Do you know how to eat without following a plan? Do you live the rest of your life with…

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The Woodlands newsletter: Monday 16th December 2019

Monday 16th December 2019

Hi, I regularly get asked about the Keto diet. The ketogenic diet is a very low-carb, high-fat diet that shares many similarities with the Atkins and low-carb diets. It involves drastically reducing carbohydrate intake and replacing it with fat. This reduction in carbs puts your body into a metabolic state called ketosis. This diet was originally created in the 1920/30's to treat people with Epilepsy. Nowadays, when guided by medical professionals and/or dieticians it is extremely successful for some cancer patients and for those who are morbidly obese. The problem is not the Keto diet; the problem is people changing it! It is such a trend right now, and such a money maker that people are taking the key…

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The Woodlands Fitness Centre newsletter: Monday 9th December 2019

Monday 9th December 2019

Hi, After you achieve your dream physique, everything will depend only on you and whether you adopt new habits of living or not. If you will go back to your previous lifestyle (choose unhealthy meals and don't continue to exercise), your new physique will be gone faster than you could expect. The most important rule of maintaining the result of your hard work is to maintain routine and make healthy food choices. New you should come with a different mindset and understanding that exercise and healthy food is now part of your life. Learn how to cook healthy meals, add morning/evening walks to your schedule - enjoy life in a responsible way. Food should give you pleasure as well as nourish your…

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