NEW YEAR, NEW YOU...AGAIN?!

January is almost upon us, and again many of us will be setting our resolutions for the New year.

For how many people is that resolution going to be

"This year I will lose weight"

Wasn't that last years goal, oh yeah and the year before that?

Sound familiar?

Stay with me...

This IS just more to help you realise that you can't keep doing the same thing and expect/ hope for a different result.

How many times over the last few years have you told yourself you are going to lose weight?

And in all that time how much has your weight dropped?

It stated that 65% of those that have dieted will return to their pre weight diet after 3 years!  Does that sound familiar?

It's a real shame if the above stat is true, all these dieters with all the best intentions and putting in some great effort to initially lose that weight but then its all undone.

A big part of the problem is buying the book reading the article saying drop 10Lb in Weeks, you get a great 10 week plan with shopping lists and menus but at the end of the 10 weeks nothing, where do you go from there?

Can you do things better?.....Heck yes!

For a start have a clear idea of Your aims, but be very clear don't let the magazine tell you your goal or what tim to do it in.  When I say have a clears idea what I mean by that is  'This year I will lose weight", to be honest sucks as an aim and gives you nothing to work for or with.

A better goal would be "I am aim to lose 10Lb", even better "I aim to lose 10Lb in 10 Weeks".

Now we have a clear goal and clear time limit that you must keep yourself accountable to.

But we're still not done.  Now we have established the goal its time we figure out how to go about it.

So using our weight loss example, part of your strategy may be to attend the gym more.  Again be specific, "I will attend the gym 3 times per week, and I will do 1 class at this time on a Monday and 2 gym based sessions on Thursday and Saturday"

Another part of your weight change strategy will be dieting, so write shopping lists, write meal plans, prepare lunches and snacks so you are not caught without food and find yourself buying high calorie fast foods.

Most importantly track as much as you can.  For my clients I have their training pre planned, I know the exercises they must complete, the sequence I want them completed in, How fast they move in the exercise, what weight to lift.

I track the training to such as extent I can tell if someone did or did not have breakfast!!

Also tracking your diet is much simpler than it used to be with tools such as 'My Fitness Pal' the calorie counting Phone App being freely available.  I also keep my clients accountable by using a simple 1-10 scale,  1 being a bad day and 10 being spot on, daily you self score out of 10 how well have you achieved what we set out and planned to do.

Now don't panic scoring 10 doesn't mean my clients are eating rabbit food, what it does mean is they have had a days good nutrition with a small amount of the enjoyable stuff.  For some that could be as much as 20% of their daily calories or as little as 5%.  That is very much determined by the individual and how driven they are to achieving their goal.

With any training or nutrition plan the most important thing is, is it sustainable?

If it's not reconsider your approach, lets go back to the 'Lose 10Lb in 10 Weeks' client, if at the end of the 10 weeks this person cannot continue the diet and training plan they worked with, in time we will see that 10Lb go back on so in all honesty what was the point?

Make yourself accountable, all my clients know they have to answer to me as I am setting weekly weight loss goals which they do not take lightly, if they don't achieve it I want to know why and we find a solution to the problem that we are both happy with.

To make yourself accountable set a clear target and tell everyone about it so you become accountable to them also.

If you want help in setting out clear goals they feel free to get in contact with me using the links below;

Email; darrencarroll.pt@gmail.com

Facebook; Darren Carroll-PT (join the conversation here too).

MERRY CHRISTMAS..MAKE IT A GOOD ONE FOR YOU AND 

ESPECIALLY FOR EVERYONE AROUND YOU.

Low Calorie Mince Pies

Not to sure if you know, but a bought mince pie will typically contain 200-300 Caloires.

This recipe brings things down to a diet friendly 102Kcal per PIe.

Ingredients

• Pastry Ingredients:
• 130g Chobani Fat Free Greek Yoghurt
• 130g Doves Farm Gluten Free Rice Flour
• 1/2tsp Salt
• 1/2tsp Xylitol (4g) or Sweetener/ Sugar of your choice.
• 1/3tsp Xantham Gum (optional but helps bind!)

• Filling Ingredients:
• 190g Dried Mixed Fruit (Sultanas, Currants, Raisins, Candied Lemon Peel)
• 1 Large Apple (150g)
• 1tbsp Lemon Juice (15ml)
• 1tsp Nutmeg
• 1tsp Cinnamon
• 1/2tsp Ginger

Nutrition Info

• 1 Mince Pie
• 102kcals Calories
• 2.4g Protein
• 23g Carbs
• 0.3g Fats

Instructions

• 1.To begin, mix all of your pastry ingredients in a bowl and knead with your hands. Push and squeeze the dough, working it for around 5 minutes. To begin with it will look dry and crumbly but by kneading it eventually you will end up with a smooth dough. Wrap this in cling film and place in the fridge whilst you make your filling.
• 2.For the mincemeat filling, grate your apple into a saucepan using a cheese grater (and including the skin), then add in your dried fruit, lemon juice and the rest of the spices.
• 3.Place the saucepan over the hob on a low heat, and let it cook away for 15-20 minutes, stirring it often and with each stir mashing the mixture a little too. It may stick to the pan so be prepared for a fight when washing up, but to get it to that sticky filling stage it is a must! Taste a little bit and adjust spices and flavours to suit your needs if anything wants changing! Once your filling is ready, leave it to one side to cool.
• 4.Pre-heat your fan oven to 200 degrees celsius and prepare a shallow 12 hole bun (or muffin) tin with a little spray oil or grease to make sure the mince pies don’t stick. I wouldn’t advise a silicone tray as they will cook cakeier rather than crisping up a little.
• 5.On a flat work surface, spread a little bit of flour and place your pastry in the middle. Grab a rolling pin and carefully roll the pastry out to the thickness of a 50p piece. I found by rolling it bit by bit, flipping the dough over a few times and working it from different angles, I was able to achieve a nice even roll. You may have to sprinkle a little extra rice flour a few times to stop it sticking.
• 6.Using a 7cm Circular Cookie Cutter (one large enough to span the top of your muffin tin), cut out a circle and place it inside a space on your muffin tin. It should fill the whole muffin space to the top. Repeat this process with the rest of your pastry until you have 12 empty mince pie cases ready to fill. (You should have some dough left over for the tops!)
• 7.Spoon your mincemeat filing into each of the mince pies, packing it down tightly so that they are all even and level to the top of your mince pie pastry casing. Now all you need to do is add the final topping.
• 8.I re-rolled my dough so it was nice and thin, then using a 5cm cookie cutter this time, I created 12 ‘lids’ to top my mince pies and I wasn’t left with any remaining dough, it was the perfect amount. Hopefully if you haven’t made your pies too thick you will achieve the same.
• 9.Now your mince pies are ready, place on the middle shelf of your fan oven and cook for around 20 minutes at 200 degrees celsius. Half way through I pushed down the tops to make sure that the mincemeat was nice and compact and the tops stuck on.
• 10.After 20 minutes, remove from the oven, let them cool slightly and enjoy your guilt free mince pies! Let me know how you get on, and Merry Christmas.

Pre Xmas Fat Loss!

So its 1st December and Christmas is just around the corner and 2 objectives;

1) Enjoy and partake in Xmas festivities
2) Don't pile on the pounds

Who's with me on this?

After helping a client drop 3 1/2 across a weekend I thought to myself best jump on this bandwagon and drop some fast pounds myself.

Why?

Well, I want to enjoy xmas who doesn't?

Just thinking about the foods that get rolled out at xmas is getting me salivating.  Now I'm not going to be stuffing my face at every opportunity, but taking the time to enjoy all the smells and flavours that come with christmas I am down for.

The big thing for me at Xmas is my wonderful Wife's Christmas Cake, seriously the slices I cut myself are a joke!

Ok so how am I going about it?  I am going to remove the carbs from my diet, I will still have veggies in my diet but for the next couple of weeks rice, potato, pasta, Oats (yes Oats!) are all out.

Now I don't often recommend going without carbs but as a short term measure having a very simple principle to stick to can be a great short term quick fix.

In terms of application I will be looking to eat low carb throughout December apart from those times when I'm at Xmas and Birthday celebrations.

When I am out and about I should add I will still be eating in moderation an not eating purely for the sake of eating.

I will still be eating several times per day and increasing my intake of veggies and salads with the addition of a small amount of fats.

My Calories will be staying similar but I am sure there will be a small drop across the day and week.

As a result of this drop in my day to day calorie intake I will have in effect freed up some of my normal Calorie intake to go enjoy myself without adding on the pounds!

End result,

I enjoy Xmas, gain no weight and have a big smug smile on my face!!

Yay,

Talk later Christmas lovers.