The key to real success is consistency Whether you are exercising, weight lifting or just eating, it is important to remember that maintaining a regular routine is the way to achieve your dream shape -- and keep it regular eating and exercise should become part of your routine and it will help develop tremendous habits in your life. It is the ordinary things consistently done that produce extraordinary results. Change takes time! You can eat and exercise perfectly today and tomorrow but when you step on the scales, you will not have lost 25lbs. It needs consistency.

It's just like applying for a mortgage -- your bank wants to know if you have been saving consistently before they will give you a loan. In the same way, your body needs to know it will get fed regularly before it decides to give up fat.
Disciplined Fat is a stored source of energy. Your body will hold on to it for as long as it can and use muscle as energy if it does not know when its next deposit is coming. You need to be disciplined with your eating patterns and very consistent with your training.

When you are not feeling 110pc, or you are recovering from an illness or bereavement you should modify your training sessions.
You can achieve this by reducing the volume of training -- for instance, adjusting the number of sets to one or two and reducing the repetitions to six or eight of the weight training exercises you are doing. You maintain a heavy weight on the bar, but take a longer rest between exercises.

Weight training is anabolic and so it helps rebuild the body. Cardio during this time period would create more stress and lead to catabolism where the body breaks down muscle, similar to the way it does with long-distance runners. Fat loss or weight loss does not happen in a linear fashion.

Adapt You do not lose 1-1.5lbs a week consistently. One week you may lose 3lbs and then, the following week, your body may stall and take time to adapt and you lose nothing. But you have still averaged 1.5lbs of fat loss over two weeks. As you get stronger, the muscles that stabilize the hip, shoulder and knee joints must get stronger to bear the heavier weights you can now lift.
There is a saying that you cannot fire a cannon from a canoe, so work on strengthening the muscles that stabilize the joint in the shoulders so that you can improve your pressing and pulling strength.

To continually drop body fat, you need to keep adapting your nutrition and training program to continue your progress. If you want to change your body shape, you need to eat for the body you want and not for the body you have.
One gram of carbohydrates and one gram of weight of protein are equal to four calories each and one gram of fat is equal to nine calories.
This is not to say that fat is the enemy. Nor is it saying that it is all about calories, as 100 calories of ice cream will have a different effect on your hormonal system than 100 calories of broccoli.
It is important to know the ratios of your food intake between the three to make informed decisions about how changes can be implemented.
The only difference between ordinary and extraordinary results is having the desire to give that little bit extra.

Here are some general tips for when eating out:• Have water with lemon or lime. This helps alkalize the blood. The more alkaline you are, the less cortisol you make
• There is usually steak, chicken or other meats on the menu. Where the problem arises is the preparation and additives that the restaurant has put in the meal. Ask the waiter to put all sauces on the side, as they are often sources of hidden baddies.
• Order a salad with your meat. Ask for balsamic vinegar and/or oil. Restaurants often add sugar to Caesar salad and other dressings for taste. The balsamic vinegar will actually lower the glycemic Index by up to 20pc. Ask for your salad to come with the main meal. If it does come early put it aside and eat it after your meat. That will ensure optimal digestion, as meat requires an acidic medium.
• When you order, ask for vegetables and make sure they are steamed or raw. Stay away from starches like rice and potatoes.
• Make sure to tell your waiter that you will not be having dessert; they won't ask you at the end of the meal. You will be less tempted when others order their sugar-laden sweets.

Hi guys, just to let you know there are slight changes to boxercise classes here at Fitness 2000 Health club.


Intermediate class will now start Monday 16th of August at 7pm and beginners will start Tuesday 17th of August at 7pm.

We also have special offers available for our club for the month of August, membership also includes free circuit training.

The first 10 people to join the gym for 6 months in August (Paid in Full)get a free boxercise course(6 week course).
We have lots of info on our web:www.fitness2000.ie from weight loss tips to what our club offers.

If you need any further information please contact 091 870555 or email us at fitnessstaff@hotmail.com

How to Reduce belly fat by Mary Joyce RGN, CHHC,

BEAT BELLY FAT

BY MARY JOYCE RGN, CHHC,

HEALTH FROM WITHIN.


DIET
EXERCISE

STRESS LEVELS

· DIET: maintaining a healthy diet by adding ‘fat burning’ foods.

Proteins and high fiber foods need more energy to digest.

• In addition include the following:
  Apples Chicken
  Black beans Salmon
  Chilies Spirulina
  Eggs Celery
  Cinnamon Whole Grains
  
• EFA: Essential Fatty Acids keep control hormone production.
  
• Avoid processed foods
  
• Add NUTS as a source of good fats and EFA
• WATER: flushes out toxins and raises metabolism
• EXERCISE: full body exercise to raise metabolism and reduce stress levels.
• STRESS LEVELS: Cortisol is a hormone that is produced under stress. A high cortisol level causes high belly fat.
• Reduce your levels by
  Exercise
  Diet
  
• Eight hours sleep a night
• EAT EVERY 3-4 HOURS
• CHEW SLOWLY 07/10

Eat, Run and Lift Yourself into Model Shape (Men)

Monday:

• 6am Eat an apple and go to the gym for 45mins running.



• 7am Breakfast Swiss Muesli with low fat milk, low carb protein shake, cup of green tea to boost metabolism.



• 10:30am snack Apple, green tea.



• 1pm Lunch 2 chicken breasts with peas, corn and tomatoes.



• 3pm Snack Grapes.



• 4pm Snack Protein shake.



• 5pm Workout Chest and Abs.

Chest: bench press, inclined bar bell press, inclined flys, decline dumbbell press.

Abs: hanging leg raises, advanced incline sit up, vertical leg-hip raise, cable-kneeling crunches

• 7pm Snack Post-workout protein shake. This can either be low-carb or the same amount of carbs as protein per serving, but never more carbs than protein.



• 7:45pm Dinner 2 fish fillets with corn and greens of choice.



• 10pm Snack a piece of fruit an hour before bed.

Tuesday:

• 6am Cardio An apple and 45 mins of cycling.



• 7am Breakfast Muesli with low fat milk, low carb protein shake.



• 10:30 Snack Peach or orange with raw almonds and green tea.



• 1pm Lunch Beef with veggies.



• 3pm Snack Orange.



• 3:55pm Snack Low carb shake.



• 4pm Cardio Touch rugby.



• 5:30pm Workout Triceps and Biceps.

Skull crushers, triceps pushdown, cable push down with rope.

Biceps: seated hammer curls, bar bell precher curls, reverse curls.

• 5:30pm Shake Low carb shake.



• 8pm Dinner 2 chicken breast fillets with greens of choice. Stay away from red meat at night.



• 10pm Snack fruit.

Wednesday:

• 6am Cardio 45 mins of running.



• 7am Breakfast Fruit salad with green tea.



• 10:30 Snack Fruit or raw almonds.



• 1pm Lunch 2 chicken breasts with salad.



• 3pm Snack Fruit or biltong.



• 4pm Shake Protein shake.



• 5pm Workout Legs.

Squats, flying lunges, leg curls and calf raises.

5pm Shake Low carb shake.

5:45pm Dinner 2 fish fillets with veggies.

10pm Snack fruit.

Thursday:

• 6am Cardio an apple and 45 mins of cycling.



• 7am Breakfast Muesli with low fat milk, either green tea or coffee.



• 10:30am Snack Pear.



• 1pm Lunch Beef stir fry.



• 3pm Snack fruit(Stay away from bananas if you want to drop body fat)



• 4pm Shake Low carb shake



• 5pm Workout: Shoulders and back.

Shoulders: Standing bar bell press, front raises, lateral raises, upright rows.

Back: Seated row, pull ups, shrugs and supine row.

5pm Dinner 2 chicken kebabs.

10pm Snack fruit.

Friday:

• 7am Breakfast fruit salad or muesli, green tea or strong black coffee. No cardio today.



• 10:30 Snack Fresh fruit juice.



• 1pm Lunch Meatballs and veggies no starch.



• 3pm Snack Fresh fruit juice/smoothie or biltong.



• 5pm No gym today.



• 5:45pm Dinner 2 chicken breasts/fish fillets with veggies, no starch.



• 9pm Social Have a drink with the guys keep to whiskey and water.

Saturday:

• 9am Cardio An apple and 45 mins of running.



• 10am Breakfast: Muesli or fruit salad, black coffee, low carb protein shake.



• 12pm Lunch bbq, again stay away from starch so no bread.



• 4pm Workout Cardio workout including sprints and sets of burpees to exhaustion.



• 5:30pm Shake Post workout protein shake.



• 8pm Dinner 2 chicken breasts or fish fillets with veggies, no starch.



• 10pm Snack a piece of fruit an hour before bed.

Sunday: Cheat day

• 9am Breakfast bacon and eggs, cappucino.



• 11am Snack fruit.



• 1pm Lunch Steak and chips or burger and chips, if you struggle to rip, don't have desert.



• 4pm Snack fruit or biltong.



• 4:45pm Dinner Chicken or fish dish.



• 10pm Snack a piece of fruit an hour before bed.

Kicking the caffeine habit

If you want to be in tip-top mental health, stay away from stimulants. This is doubly important for those with mental health problems because too much caffeine can, in some, produce symptoms that lead to diagnosis of schizophrenia or mania. This may happen because high caffeine consumers can become both allergic to coffee and unable to detoxify caffeine. the net effect is serious disruption of both mind and mood.
Heres how you can give it up:
Coffee contains three stimulants: caffeine, theobromine and theophylline. Although caffeine is the strongest, theophylline is known to disturb normal sleep patterns and theobromine has a similar effect to caffeine, although it is present in much smaller amounts in coffee. So decaffeinated coffee isnt exactly stimulant free. Many people are cleared of minor health problems such as tiredness and headaches just from cutting out their two or three coffees a day. The best way to find out what effect it has on you is to quit for a trial period of two weeks. You may get withdrawl symptoms for up to three days. These reflect how addicted you've become. After this, if you begin to feel perky and your health improves, thats a good indication that you're better off without coffee.

Caffeine makes you tired.

Here's the irony. The reason that people get hooked on drinking coffee, particularly in the morning, is because it makes them feel better, more energised and alert. But does coffee actually increase your energy and mental performance, or just relieve the symptoms of withdrawl? Coffee is addictive and drinking it relives the symptoms of withdrawl.
Not only is coffee addictive, but also it worsens mental performance. Moderate and high consumers of coffee were found to have higher levels of anxiety and depression than abstainers.
Caffeine blocks the receptors for a brain chemical called adenosine, whose function is to stop the release of the motivating neurotransmitters dopamine and adrenalin. With less adenosine activity, levels of dopamine and adrenalin increase, as does alertness and motivation. Peak concentration occurs 30 - 60 minutes after consumption.
The more caffeine you consume, the more your body and brain become insensitive to its own natural stimulants, dopamine and adrenalin. You then need more stimulants to feel normal, and keep pushing the body to produce more dopamine and adrenalin. The net result is adrenal exhaustion - an inability to produce these important chemicals of motivation and communication. Apathy, depression, exhaustion and an inability to cope set in.
Coffee isn't the only source of caffeine. There's as much in a cup of strong tea as in a cup of regular coffee. Caffeine is also the active ingredient in most cola and other energy drinks such as red bull. Chocolate and green tea also contain caffeine, but much less than these drinks.

Stimulants

Sugar is only one side of the coin, as far as blood sugar problems are concerned. Stimulants and stress are the other. As you can see from the figure below if your blood sugar level dips there are two ways to raise it. One is to eat more glucose, and the other is to increase your level of the stress hormones adrenalin and cortisol. There are two ways in which you can raise adrenalin and cortisol. Consume a stimulant - tea, coffee, chocolate or cigarettes - or react stressfully, causing an increase in your own production of adrenalin.
Knowing this, you can see how easy it is to get caught up in the vicious cycle of stress, sugar and stimulants. It will leave you feeling tired, depressed and stressed much of the time.
Here's how it works. Through excess sugar, stress and stimulants you lose your blood sugar control and wake up each morning with low blood sugar levels and not enough adrenalin to kick-start your day. So you adopt one of two strategies:
Either you reluctantly crawl out of bed on remote control and head for the kettle, make yourself a strong cup of tea or coffee, light up a cigarette or have some fast releasing sugar in the form of toast, with some sugar on it called jam. Up go your blood sugar and adrenalin levels and you start to feel normal.
Or you lie in bed and start to think about all the things that have gone wrong, coulod go wrong, will go wrong. You start to worry about everything you've got to do, haven't done and should have done. About ten minutes of this gets enough adrenalin pumping to get you out of bed. If this sounds like you, your caught in that vicious circle, with all its negative effects on your mind and mood.