Archives 2012

Our sedentary lifestyle is causing as many deaths as smoking, a recent study suggests.

The report, published in the Lancet to coincide with the Olympics, estimates that one out of three adults fails to do the recommended dose of 150-minutes physical activity per week.

In the UK, USA, Australia and NZ, we’re especially sedentary with two out of three adults falling short.

The study claims our couch potato lifestyle is now so dire it should be treated as a pandemic.

Trouble is ….We all know we should move more and sit less.

We just don’t do it.

So, how does one incorporate the recommended dose of physical activity?

Here are six strategies for transforming your hit-and-miss exercise regime into a (mostly) daily habit.

i. Find activities you love.

If you think physical activity is limited to sweating-it-out on at the gym or pounding the pavement, you’ll benefit from being more creative.

Aim for discovering a variety of activities you enjoy so there’s always something you can do regardless of weather or time of day.

Look about you – there’s plenty to choose from. Be one with nature: walk your woofer, garden vigorously, mow your lawn.

If you feel unsafe out-and-about in your neighbourhood, stay indoors, turn up your stereo and dance your butt off.

Do whatever (yup, whatever) gets your heart pumping.

ii. Make it a priority.

Your activity time (30 minutes x 5 times per week = 150 minutes) must become non-negotiable.

If you don’t make this your intention, there’ll always be something that’ll rob you of your time.

Another way to look at it is – if you don’t make time for health, you’ll need to take time to be unwell.

Ouch.

You don’t need to be an Olympic athlete. Taking time to exercise your body is basic body care.

Another advantage to making activity time non-negotiable is that friends, family and colleagues see it’s part of your identity, and will support you. When you treat it as non-negotiable, so will they.

iii. Do it even when especially when you’re “too tired.”

We’ve all been there.You’ve had a long day, you’re hungry and tired, and you don’t feel like exercising today.

That’s exactly when you DO need to exercise.

Put your kit on, quit analysing how you feel, and JFDI.

When the exercise-induced euphoria kicks in, you’ll be pleased you did.

As a marathon runner, there are times when I “don’t feel like it” too. Often the hardest kilometre is getting out the front door.

But I’m always pleased I did. ALWAYS.

iv. Get a buddy

If you find getting off the couch difficult, commit to another person.

Adding the social aspect to exercising can really boost your commitment to the exercise habit.

“I’ll let myself off the hook, but if I’ve agreed to walk with a friend after work, I’ll never let them down,” as one former couch potato puts it.

v. Start small

Attempting to walk 20 kilometres on your first outing is a great way to scare yourself back to the couch.

For the first couple of weeks, take tiddler steps by exercising below your capacity. This way it’ll feel easy (we humans love easy!) and the habit will build on it’s own momentum.

If you haven’t exercised for awhile, walking 10 minutes, three times per day will give you your 30 minutes. Do that five times per week, et voila, you have your 150 minutes.

vi. Bribe yourself

Do you tell yourself that once you can zip your jeans without lying on the bed, that’ll be reward enough?

Not very inspiring, is it?!

Nothing makes changing our behaviours easier than bribery. You might buy yourself a specific album after you stick to your fitness plan for a month, or buy new shoes when you achieve 5,000 steps a day.

Do whatever works for you.

So there you go. Six strategies for leveraging yourself off the couch and into the habits of a healthier, energised, inspired new you.

Start today and you’ll be on Day 7 of your programme by the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics. Just imagine!

Love etc, Avril

Conventional wisdom holds that less than 10% of people achieve what they set out to do.

Personally, I disagree. I think it’s closer to 5%.

So, why do the vast majority of us fail to see our goals through to the end?

Perhaps it’s a local 5km fun run you’re considering? Maybe you’re building up momentum to ditch those extra pounds, once and for all?

Whatever health goal you’ve been pondering – today, you’re going to discover the no.1 reason why people give up.

They lose their HUNGER.

We all know how jazzed-up you feel when first you set your goal.

Excited.

Energised.

Hungry.

Wonderful, isn’t it?!

Taking action is so eeeasy! But as time passes… your excitement fades, your actions cease. You’re no longer hungry.

I know I’ve been there before.

To achieve any goal, you need a slow-burning fuel. And, that slow-burning fuel contains the following ingredients:

i. Create rituals that re-connect.

To achieve your goal, you must stay connected to it over time. You need regular rituals that remind why you started the journey in the first place.

If you’re running the local 5km, you might create a ritual where every time you have a cuppa, you reflect upon why it’s important for you to cross that finish line.

Are you running to raise money for charity? Or is it so you become healthy enough to be around for your grandchildren? Is it a way of developing more pride in yourself?

There’s no right or wrong here. The key is to find something that ‘speaks’ to you.

Really take the time to feel an emotional connection to your goal. Once you feel excited, energised and re-invigorated, you know that your ritual has been successful and you’re on your way.

ii. Hang with supportive peeps.

If you want to stay hungry enough to achieve your health goals, you need to hang with peeps who have your back.

You’ve probably heard the saying: we become the average of the five people we hang with the most.

The key is to consciously choose the people you let into your world. Choose people who are on the path to a similar goal as yourself, or have already done what you want to accomplish.

They’ll lift you when you’re struggling, call you on your excuses, kick your butt or hold your hand – whatever the situation requires to keep you hungry.

But if you hang out with people who criticise your goal – and any changes they see in you – you’ll descend into a negative whirlpool, even if you are normally a super-positive individual.

iii. Develop an ‘It’s inevitable’ attitude.

In order to stay hungry enough to keep on keeping on, you need to develop an unshakeable belief in yourself. This is non-negotiable.

Health goals, especially if they’re something entirely new, can be daunting. Very daunting.

That’s where the ‘It’s inevitable – it’s just a matter of time’ attitude is very powerful. It’s the secret weapon to ensure the goal you commit to will be reached.

Not might be reached.

Not could be reached.

It will be reached.

Whatever your goal is, decide right now, that it will happen. No. Matter. What.

It’s not a matter of how or if. It’s a matter of when.

It’s just a matter of time. Because with enough energy, enough action, it is inevitable.

Notice how, when you shift from “Meeh… it’s possible” to “Yeah buddy, it’s inevitable”, your hunger increases.

Closing thoughts.

So, dear reader, I encourage you to mix these three key ingredients, in no particular order, and notice how you develop a powerful, steady slow-burning fuel that will keep you energised – and hungry – on the journey to achieving your health goals.

It’s just a matter of time.

Love etc, Avril

Yup… you read that right.

The title does sound slightly bonkers.

But, in my experience, it’s true.

Here’s why.

Most diets and weight loss sites talk about exercise in terms of ‘burning calories’.

As in, if you run for 20 minutes you’ll ‘burn off’ the chocolate chip cookie that accompanied your mid-morning cuppa.

Have a Big Mac for lunch? Well, a three-hour-run will ‘cancel out’ those calories.

But, by thinking of exercise as ‘burning off’ or ‘cancelling out’, you inadvertently reduce exercise to a numbers game.

And, the problem with thinking of exercise with a numbers mindset, is your workouts will be short-lived.

Very short-lived.

You’ll give up.

You’ll quit.

Exercising will become a torture session. You’ll feel like you’re ‘make up’ for the guilty pleasure of having eaten something yum.

And, eating will seem like a naughty pleasure where X no. of cookies = Y no. of hours exercising.

Sound like fun, no? No way! Ick.

It’s very possible you’ve been there already. I know I have.

Clearly, exercise is beneficial for shifting those extra kilos. Hugely beneficial.

Where most people fail is because weight loss is their singular reason for exercising. And soon they run out of puff, metaphorically-speaking.

If you’ve previously run out of puff where exercise is concerned, you need to change your reasons for exercising.

Here’s how.

The real reasons to exercise.

Before I share the real reasons to exercise, here’s a helpful aside that’ll make a world of difference.

Stop calling it exercise.

If you’re like most people, exercise has “Eww… I’m all sweaty and puffed,” negative associations. That’s exactly why the majority of good folk eschew it.

Instead, replace the dreaded E-word with ‘moving your body’. Our bodies are absolutely, brilliantly designed to do just that – move.

See, how suddenly it already feels more do-able just by changing what you call it?

Now, back to the real reasons for exercising Moving Your Body:

MYB lowers cortisol levels.

Cortisol is a stress hormone released by your body whenever you feel stressed. When your cortisol levels are elevated, your body tends to lay down fat, especially around your tummy.

MYB is the antidote for lowering your cortisol levels.

MYB increases your sensitivity to insulin. Increasing your insulin sensitivity sounds like it’d be a bad thing but it’s not. Here’s why.

The more you MYB, the more sensitive your muscles become to insulin, so your pancreas produces less insulin. Since insulin also instructs your body to lay down fat, less of it in your body, the better.

MYB increases feel good hormones.

When you MYB, you release some of the best stress-reducing drugs available – your body’s own natural endorphins. The release of these natural opiates positively affects your mood, enhances concentration and enables you to sleep more soundly.

And, finally…

As if these weren’t reason enough already…. MYB increases your sex drive.

And, certain hormones released during exercise have been shown to slow – and even reverse – the aging process.

Yay! Five tremendous reasons for exercising, none of which include weight loss. Although it WILL BE a happy bi-product.

To conclude.

If you’ve previously exercised to ‘lose weight’, stop it. It’s doomed to fail. Like all those other times.

Instead, Move Your Body. Because it’s terrific for you – and your brilliantly, intricately designed body – on so many other levels.

MYB every day and watch those extra kilos shift.

Love etc, Avril

Sounds strange – very strange indeed – but it is true.

Negative thinking can make you fat.

Here’s how.

When you think negative thoughts, you influence the biochemistry of your body.

By thinking negatively, you flood your body with adrenaline and cortisol. These stress hormones cause your body to go into survival mode and store extra weight.

While I’m not saying negative thinking actually contains calories, it’s clear that what happens in your head directly influences your body.

Many of my weight loss clients desperately want to be thinner and feel more confident.

Ironically, the way they think causes them to maintain the exact feelings and body shape they want to escape.

For example, clients who want to increase their confidence often have very negative thoughts rattling around in their heads.

“Oh heck, another day to get through….”

“There’s no good man out there, I’ll always be single…”

And, when life starts to look brighter, they ask themselves, “It’s too good to be true – when’s it going to go wrong?”

Surprise, surprise….before long, they find themselves back where they started – except just a little less confident than before.

Now, listen up.

I’m not suggesting you must be in a state of “life is wonderful” every second of the day to lose weight.

What I am suggesting is breaking the habit of automatically seeing things worse than they are.

Here’s three of the most common types of negative thinking.

Generalising

If something negative happens once, you automatically expect it’ll happen again. And, again.

“I can never stop eating junk. I’ll always be overweight.”

The giveaway that you’re generalising is look out for the words ‘always’ and ‘never’.

All or Nothing

You’re an All or Nothing Thinker if everything’s black and white, there’s no grey.

It’s a failure strategy for weight loss (and, tremendously limiting if you want to create any change) since you’re viewing the world in extreme terms.

“If I can’t do it perfectly, I won’t do it at all.”

“Since I ate a slice of cake this morning I’ve screwed up, I may as well continue eating junk all day / week / month…”

Nobody ever lost weight by doing it perfectly. Instead, focus on tiddler steps and incremental change, every day.

Personalising

You’re a personaliser if you take responsibility for something that’s not your fault. You think that what people say or do is some kind of reaction to you.

“My boss is in a terrible mood, if must be something I did. What’d I do???”

Let’s face it, your boss might be in a terrible mood for any number of reasons. And get this….it may well be that none of these reasons relate – even remotely – to your good self! Who knows what’s going on for them? Let’s stop making everything about us, eh!

How to deal with negative thoughts

Now that you’ve learned how negative thoughts show up for you, here’s how to dramatically change them so that you can start positively influencing your biochemistry.

You already know about rubber banding and proper breathing.

Today’s tip is a bit different.

Instead of putting your energy into avoiding negative thinking (which can be really difficult), what you do is add a positive spin to the negative.

It works like this.

Next time you hear yourself saying or thinking something negative that leads to you feeling sad, hopeless or unhappy, simply add a positive statement.

“I had cake this morning so I may as well eat junk all day,”

becomes

“I had cake this morning…that’s in the past and right now I’ve decided to nourish my body with a healthy snack.”

“If I can’t do it perfectly, I won’t do it at all,”

becomes

“If I can’t do it perfectly, I won’t do it at all…but perfection hasn’t worked for me in the past, so right now I’m aiming for approximately perfect.”

This is deceptively simple.

It’s very powerful.

It’s very, very effective.

Can you see how instead of stopping negative thinking (which is darn near impossible), you’re adding a positive thought?

When you do this repeatedly, you’ll notice your mind will begin to streamline the process.

You’ll get to a stage when – as soon you have a negative thought – you’ll automatically fast forward to the positive thought, to complete your sentence.

Now it’s your turn. I’d love to hear your methods for staying positive especially when it feels like the sky is falling on your head. What works, what doesn’t, what would you like to share?

Love etc, Avril

PS: Thank you to all of you who have sent good luck emails re the move. I appreciate it! Next week’s post will be the first from our new digs by the sea : )

I’m drowning in a sea of brown boxes, gaffer tape and bubble wrap. You guessed it. We’re moving house.

Studies like to suggest that moving house rates up there as one of life’s more stressful events.

Not that we need a study to confirm what’s high or low stress, right? If we listen, our tummies tell us everything we need to know.

Even though the house move is going well I’ve noticed that as settlement date approaches, the more urgent and frequent my need is to eat……everything + anything.

Hello, emotional eating!!!

A question for you, dear reader.

What do YOU do when your stress levels are elevated and all you want to do is eat?

Here’s what I did.

I breathed….deeply and consciously.

“How,” you ask, “can something so simple make a difference to anything?”

Here’s how.

Low tech

I understand that breathing as a way to combat emotional eating can feel a little bit ‘low tech’.

I get that.

The good news is that it works.

That’s because nothing communicates to every cell of your body that you’re safe, more eloquently than your breath.

Nothing.

When you shallow breathe (think about when you’re stressed, anxious or nervous), you’re actually sending a message to your body: danger!!!

OK, not sabre-tooth tiger physical danger a la caveman days.

In today’s world of speed, rush, hurry up – presentations to make, kids to collect from school, fragile items to pack and move – there’s a lot of psychological stress.

And get this.

Your body doesn’t distinguish between the types of stress.

That’s right. It responds in exactly the same way to all types of stress. It floods your body with hormones – adrenaline and cortisol.

And, here’s the thing. An elevation of either of these hormones in your body causes emotional eating.

Interesting, isn’t it?

So yes – breathing – is a bit low tech.

But, given we breathe up to 30,000 times per day, can you see the enormous potential to influence your body – positively or negatively?

Do you breathe correctly?

Most of us are so busy holding our stomachs in (so they look flat and firm) that we don’t breathe from the correct place.

The easiest way to determine if you breathe correctly (or not) is to stand in front of a mirror and take a deep breath.

Go on, do it now. I’ll wait here.

If your stomach was the only thing that moved, then you’re one of the rare individuals to retain correct breathing past childhood.

If your shoulders and chest moved upwards, you need to learn to breathe from your diaphragm.

Here’s how.

3 steps to breathing correctly

1. Put your hand on your tummy and, as you breathe in, make your tummy push your hand out. Notice your chest and shoulders stay still.

2. Count to three as you inhale, and three again as you exhale.

3. Repeat 10 times.

Notice how you can actually feel a physical relaxation response. Calm. Serene. In control.

Of course, it’s unnatural to maintain a state of perpetual serenity every second of the day. No one can. If you’re human, you’ll slip up, succumb to stress and overeat again.

That’s part of the process. Simply rinse and repeat to get back to your calm space.

Bonus material

The more you practice conscious breathing the more you’ll build your neurological capacity for peace, calm and control. Just like a weight lifter builds muscle by repeatedly lifting the same weight.

You might want consider making appointments with yourself to breathe. For example, you could start the day by consciously breathing before you get out of bed.

Or, you could link conscious breathing with specific daily activities. For example, showering, waiting for the kettle to boil, and sitting at a red traffic light. Soon it’ll be a daily ritual.

So, next time you find yourself succumbing to emotional or you feel stressed, anxious or tense, take time-out for 10 conscious breaths.

Feel free to tense up again after your 10th. But you probably won’t.

Serene love etc, Avril