water – The 10 Minute Body

5 tips for a healthier life

Hiya,

I just sat down to wait for dinner to cook and decided to write this

I totally live by 'the 10 minute body' stuff as I can't be bothered to waste my time in the kitchen (despite the fact that I love cooking) or doing 2-hour-long workouts

So I've just done a 10 minute prep, it's my first time ever making MAKARONILAATIKKO in the oven, which is a Finnish dish that nearly everyone loves.

Directly translated it's macaroni casserole, and I filmed making it so you can see how to make it yourself on my YouTube channel later (you'll get a notification when I've uploaded it if you've subscribed... Unless I have majestically fucked it up and it turns out shit :D)

Today I wanted to remind you of 5 things that I know majorly helps you be healthier... Check 'em out and make sure to incorporate them into your lifestyle before this summer.

[Make sure to also start the summer challenge {if you haven't yet} to give you a bit more structure with food and at-home exercise]

1. Drink a lot of water. 2 litres a day is your absolute minimum.
2. Increase your NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis). This is ANY activity throughout the day that's not classed as exercise. What can you do to be a little bit more active tomorrow? Make sure to at least feel your core muscles activate when you're sitting down and standing up.
3. Focus on positive things, and stop negative self-talk. I hate fad dieting with a passion, because they destroy people's self esteems and just make most fatter in the long run. Stop punishing yourself and denying the foods you love eating. Doing it the freedom diet way makes eating anything possible, you just have to be within your personal calorie limits. Listen to this inspiring TED talk I also shared on Facebook.
4. Eat many different (natural) colours. Mixing different coloured veg in your diet makes your body get more vitamins and minerals. Ditch the vitamin tablets, get your nutrition from real food.
5. Make sure you know what it feels like to be hungry. I've spoken to so many overweight people who don't remember the last time they were hungry. Just plan your meals ahead of time so you know what you're having when you get hungry to avoid resorting to junk you don't need. Listening to your body is a key factor in learning what makes you feel good. Eat when you're hungry, stop when you're satisfied. There's an increasing amount of scientific evidence to suggest that letting yourself get hungry results in improvements in blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and also in better insulin sensitivity.

My food's nearly ready..... I'm excited to see if it's anything like the stuff I used to love at school!

Take action to be healthier TODAY.

Talk soon,
Erika

DRAMATIC weight loss in 1 week!!!

erika

My new PT client Mel just lost 4 lb in her first week with me. That's a dramatic result. But now we've got work to do - and that's to focus on MAINTENANCE. There's no point in losing that much weight in a short space of time if we can't keep it off (I'm sure though, in her case, we can. You'd know why if you met her [I'm talking motivation and determination]).

THE PROBLEM: Although that's a great and motivating start for her, nowhere near all of that lost weight is fat. The majority of the weight loss will have been loss of fluids - and that's not REAL weight loss because it comes back on very easily. Some of the weight lost will most likely have come off her precious muscle tissue as well - and we certainly don't want that because muscle turns your body into a fat burning machine.

You see results like this all the time in weight loss clubs. In fact, this type of rapid weight loss gets rewarded -- and in my opinion that's WRONG. This way most people will initially be happy with the weight they've lost - and then struggle to keep it off. I'd say probably 95% people I've met who've been in these weight loss clubs have put the weight back on after they've stopped going to the weekly meetings. Sad, isn't it.

So... As harsh as it is, I told Mel "That's great, but bot ideal". We have to keep it real. The aim is not to lose so much weight each week, and it certainly doesn't mean failure if one week she'd "only" lost 100g (or even put on a bit of weight!). Fat loss is not linear - weight will fluctuate, and that's perfectly fine. And that is because we're only concerned with LONG TERM WEIGHT LOSS, i.e. FAT LOSS.

I posted this on Twitter last week:

"Do yourself a favour and never ever even consider going on a shake diet. They're so bad for you and they MAKE YOU FAT. Fact."

Bear that in mind and you will already be closer to achieving all of your fat loss goals.

Stay tuned - Mel's before/afters to follow!! (You can subscribe to updates easily on the side -->)

REMINDER: Healthy weight loss rate is around 0,5kg per week, or 1kg per week for those who are overweight.

There is no fast way to permanent weight loss. As hard as it is, take it easy.

TAKE IT EASY.

Love,

Erika

Bloated? Here’s the 2 best ways to get rid of that horrible feeling

erika

So Christmas. Needless to say, many of us have had "a bit" too much to eat and/or drink.

Here's how to get rid of that excessive bloated feeling quickly and easily.

1. Drink water. Lots of it. Water is one of the most miraculous things in the world - how about challenging yourself to drink 2.5-4 litres of water every day for 2 weeks and see what happens? Herbal and green tea varieties count too.

2. Exercise. Spending time on the X-trainer is rarely going to be effective. You're best off doing HIIT (high intensity interval training) such as tabata training, or targeting major muscle groups with 5-7 sets of 20 reps. Fit as Hel member workouts are also ideal for this purpose.

If you've got any fitness/lifestyle related questions please post them in our Facebook group. We're here to help!