12
May 14
From Lisa Bullock
In 2004 I got twitchy feet. We’d been in our home for about 11 years and loved our house but like many growing families it just didn’t meet our needs anymore and it was probably time to move on.
The thought of moving house was scary but exciting. I knew EXACTLY what I wanted; a minimum of one acre, sunny, flat and no gum trees. Now I should explain about these requirements. I live in an extremely hilly part of Melbourne, known colloquially as The Hills – so “flat” was not an easy ask. “Sunny” – well, with the hills comes national park and heavily forested areas and lots of heavily shaded houses. “No gum trees” – gum trees burn easily and we live in an extremely high fire danger region so they were out, small detail being that the Hills are covered in gum tree forests; they also drop limbs whenever they feel like it – not great for safety! I love gum trees in the forest but not in my garden – I’m a serious gardener and eucalypts deplete the soil.
So list in hand, we started talking to real estate agents. One and all they read my list with a snicker – some an outright laugh. Wrong move! I LOVE a challenge! It wasn’t easy but I was absolutely resolved on what I wanted and determined to get it. Step one – have a goal!
It took 10 months of searching, but I found it! I was driving through a small township about 5 minutes drive from where we were living when I drove past a heavily overgrown, very neglected property with a For Sale sign out the front. My gut told me instantly, this was it! I chased down the estate agent and booked an inspection for the next day. It was a flat block, it had the potential to be sunny once the overgrown garden was tidied up, and it was one and a half acres. Winning!
It was also practically derelict. As I walked up the front stairs, my heart sank. I KNEW this was going to be our home but lordy me, the work! If I could bottle the smell of the place to show you how OUTSTANDINGLY REVOLTING it smelled I would! But chances are, you’d throw up! The very eccentric owners had moved out some months before taking their 10 dogs with them. The dogs had had the run of the house peeing and pooing their happy way wherever they felt like it! You couldn’t touch a single surface without cringing , it was so filthy.
The estate agent discreetly stood on the front veranda calling comments to me from a safe distance. I opened the pantry door in the kitchen – whoops, dead possum on the floor. Nice! I checked through shedding and the outdoor laundry. Blood spatters on walls that resembled nothing more than the Texas Chainsaw Massacre! Presumably they prepared the dog food there? I hope! I was too scared to ever seriously enquire!
The house hadn’t been updated for over 20 years and would require re-building to meet our needs. The house itself was nearly a 100 years old, had 14 foot ceilings, moulded cornices and huge rooms. It had great bones (dead rat bones mainly) BUT, we believed we could do it for our budget. Poor ignorant fools that we were!
Looking back it was an incredibly foolhardy project to embark upon. Our entire family moved into one large room where we all slept, ate and the kids studied. Our kitchen was a BBQ in the front garden – not even a veranda for shelter. And the kitchen sink was literally a sink sitting in the garden where we washed dishes in water that had boiled on a camp stove. We showered in one of the remaining bathrooms (we demolished everything else around it) where we did our best to clean ourselves without actually touching any existing surface. I’m feeling a little queasy just remembering! From very early on, our place was known as The Dog House!
We essentially burned the house down! We’d demolish a section and burn it and rebuild as we went. I think the bonfire in the yard never went out for 5 months! (Environmental pirates that we were!).
We lived without heating through a winter so cold it snowed – super rare for our town; without a kitchen for 6 months; without laundry facilities for nearly 10; we lived without possessions or decorations in the space of one room and it was so liberating for all of our family. It really reinforced how important for me, family was, and how unimportant possessions are. Nice to have, not essential!
We endured the visits and poorly concealed sympathy, sometimes shock, from friends and relatives. The project we had embarked upon was so massive that 99% of our friends couldn’t see how we could possibly do this.
For Craig and I, the vision was crystal clear. We knew EXACTLY what we could do with this amazing block of land and exactly how we would craft our house to meet the needs of our young family. I wanted to be able to run my personal training studio from home and needed a dedicated gym for that purpose with adequate parking and outdoor training areas. We wanted space to lay out my “show gardens” (still waiting for time to do that!) – shedding for Craig and the boat he was building; space for the kids to play and to roam and camp out for fun!
I would sometimes stare at visitors with surprise when they commiserated on the workload – couldn’t they see what we saw? It’s right there in front of them! Couldn’t they see the potential?
Too many people limit their vision – their sense of what is possible with hard work and determination. Theoretically we should never have been able to afford what we have now. Re-building an entire house for one third of the standard cost should never have been possible – but we did it! We had vision, we had work ethic and determination (and lots of wine to blur the edges of reality lol) and nothing was going to get in the way. Our house is now a beautiful, homey place where we love to welcome clients and visitors. We hosted my sisters wedding, my daughters 21st, numerous parties and family celebrations – it is The Dog House no longer!
Now, I’m not being subtle here – this is an analogy for any goal you set for yourself. Formulate a vision for what you want to achieve, make it crystal clear in your mind so you can see every detail – go forth and work at it! It won’t be easy, it won’t necessarily be quick and sometimes you’ll rebel at the challenge and possibly even shed a few tears. But do it anyway!
You’ll achieve amazing outcomes that other people only dream about!
We’re ordinary people just like you and millions of others – but we were prepared to do something that others weren’t prepared to do. I know that heaps of you have amazing stories of challenges that you overcame – we’d love to hear them! Someone could be just waiting for you to inspire them with your story.
If you need motivation with your health and fitness check out Female Fat Loss over 40 – and hint, hint, we’ve got some big and exciting changes coming soon!
Lisa Bullock is a Personal Trainer based in Melbourne, Australia. She’s run her successful fitness business for over 15 years and has trained over a 1000 clients helping them reach their health, fitness and wellness goals. Married for 27 years and mother to a daughter (22) and son (19), she is a proud proponent of the philosophy “keep on keeping on”. She believes that consistency is key to achieving goals. Lisa loves weight training with a passion; she’s boxed for over 12 years and sees no reason to stop soon! She’s faced her own health and weight issues and come out fighting. “I believe in training for the long haul” she claims, “I fully expect to be doing handstand push ups when I’m 60!.”
8
May 14
Here’s a new and tasty way to prepare lean chicken and nutritious veggies. Meals that are high in protein and fiber, like this, are exactly what you need to be eating in order to see amazing results.
Servings: 8
Here’s what you need…
Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 211 calories, 3 fat, 390mg sodium, 17g carbohydrate, 5.5g fiber, and 29g protein.
7
May 14
Shawna K doesn’t use age as an excuse for belly fat.
Here she explains her new M2A method of training. Increase lean muscle tone to increase resting metabolic rate and do short intense workouts that create after burn.
Here’s a sample workout:
Do 30 seconds of work with a 5 second transition. Use the modifications if you need.
Repeat up to 6 times.
You can modify this and any other Challenge Fat Loss workout by shortening the work time, increasing the rest time and reducing the number of overall sets.
Challenge Fat Loss is scientifically based and proven. And this week, you can get all of Shawna’s M2A workouts and her Challenge Fat Loss Nutrition Tactics for half off.
Get your 20-minute follow-along M2A workouts here <== Half OFF
From Lisa Bullock
Shawna and I chat regularly by Skype – we’re in different hemispheres but living parallel lives. Our kids are similar ages and our attitudes to training are like peas in a pod!
So what do Fat Loss Experts chat about when they Skype? Um, like fat loss, duh! (and workout gear, colourful training shoes and throwing pink dumbells out the window and other cool stuff!).
This is a long interview – but we cover a lot of ground with great strategies for approaching healthy training and lifestyle choices. Grab a cup of green tea and join us as we discuss fat loss for women and why we’re so passionate about empowering women to be their best selves!
We cover areas like:
Take a look at Shawna’s Challenge Fat Loss workouts featuring all the benefits we discussed and more – be quick because this week ONLY it’s on sale for HALF the usual price!
Guest Post by Molly Piercy
It’s a balancing act, husband, kids, job, house, errands, neighbours, friends, family, bills, dinner. There are actually times during the day that you can be grateful for sitting ALONE, even if its just a minute on the toilet of all places. (You know exactly what I am talking about) As women, we have to be superhuman at times to accomplish everything. Laying in bed at night, just imagining the next day can be exhausting, but actually doing it with energy, excitement, and gratitude for this extraordinary life can all be yours through one change—your diet.
It has been proven that an alkaline diet can produce more energy, build your immune system, improve your bone health and allow you to actually lose weight on top of all of these other benefits.
Lets take a closer look. The food and sometimes medication we intake determines whether our bodies are in an acidic (bad) or alkaline (good) state.
You may have heard the term alkaline thrown around a few times such as pH testing, or on drink labels. But you may be unclear of what it means exactly. Below is what can happen when we are predominantly in an acidic state: (most Americans live in this state all the time and its way worse than living in Texas in the summer without air conditioning)
These can happen in the state of Acidic:
The most important thing I want you to hear and I’ll shout it from the rooftops to make it clear is:
THE FOOD THAT YOU INTAKE DETERMINES WHETHER YOUR BODY IS IN AN ACIDIC OR ALKALINE STATE
(Plus day-to-day chemicals and medication can also have an impact)
If you looked over the list of what can happen in an acidic state, most of us can determine we do not want to live there. So where exactly do we start?
Well that’s easy, we start with our diet. Try to find what in our diet is causing the acidity. Once we begin eliminating those foods you will find some awesome results occur quickly.
Superwoman Immune System First, an alkaline diet is going to help to keep your immune system in top shape, which will be important as the aging process gets underway. Just because we are getting older doesn’t mean we need to sacrifice our health. By keeping an alkaline-based diet we naturally fight aging diseases.
Also, If your immune system is at a weaker level, you might find that you start to fall ill far more easily (think the flu season, and every germ you come in contact with) Its not natural to have a cold every winter, it doesn’t have to be that way. I like to refer to this as the antibiotic nightmare. I have friends who every single year, when flu season hits take an antibiotic. Its part of their routine-the expect to get sick. They choose Z packs and pill popping over healthy alkaline foods. Worse than the common cold, you could even be setting yourself up for an increased risk of disease by staying in an acidic state.
Superwoman Weight Loss Next, eating alkaline foods is going to help best balance your blood sugar levels, helping combat hunger pains by eating foods that are unprocessed. When you decide to eat this way, you will naturally lose weight. I always say that weight loss is best side effect of an alkaline diet. You are improving your health but it always reaps the reward of weight loss. I believe in eating an alkaline diet so much for internal health purposes, but this reason alone sells them on the plan. It works every time, over and over again. I have seen hundreds of women follow an alkaline plan and lose lots of weight while maintaining their lean body muscle.
Superwoman Bone Health Another benefit to eating an alkaline diet is it can help to boost bone health as well. Highly acid foods will have a tendency to erode your bones, making you more prone to stress fractures and osteoporosis. Since these are both big concerns of women approaching their 40s and above, following an alkaline diet can protect you against it.
Superwoman Energy And here we are, back to the busy days and the low energy many of us experience. It doesn’t have to be this way. I promise you, following an alkaline diet rejuvenates your energy. Once you make the transition you start feeling stronger, excited, powerful—you find superwoman again.
I have so many friends and family, as they age they tend to have to head to the doctor’s office more frequently. And many times, they say—“Oh Molly, I have to take this pill and it costs so much money, and they want me to take this pill and I can’t eat certain foods with it, and this other pill leaves me feeling so tired, I have no energy to workout. “ I always ask them, what did your doctor say you should be doing differently with your diet? And the answer 9/10 is “ they never mentioned that.”
If there is all this data and studies out there about how great and how strong we can be in alkaline state and conquer sickness, lose weight, fight disease, improve immunity, why isn’t this your first step to take to feeling amazing and living a long healthy energized life? It should be. You can be Superwoman!
If you’d like to discover your inner Superwoman CLICK HERE.
Bio: Molly Piercy is a certified personal trainer and health coach living in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. She has coached hundreds of clients on and offline on the benefits of following an alkaline diet. She personally transformed her own life through this approach and has recently created a diet program that has helped women all over the nation transition into an alkaline based diet.
24
Apr 14
This salad is the perfect pre or post workout meal. It has plenty of protein and fiber, vitamins, minerals and lots of delicious flavor.
Servings: 8
Here’s what you need…
Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 200 calories, 3 fat, 144mg sodium, 14g carbohydrate, 4g fiber, and 30g protein.
22
Apr 14
From Lisa Bullock What have cats, dogs, rain, love and fat loss to do with each other? And no, it’s not raining cats and dogs – that was just a sample of my female rambling thought processes this morning. As a woman you’ll understand that one of our major strengths is multi-tasking and being able to make HUGE intuitive leaps in our thought processes at the speed of light. Come on men, keep up! Is there anyone else out there who has these bizarre philosophical thoughts as they shower and wash their hair? Oh, just me…. 🙁
It started out as a dark and rainy early morning with my cats and dog complaining about their starvation pangs – loudly! I was in a rush to get into the gym but the persistent cries of “feed meeeeeee” “feed meeeee” followed me round the house as I scrambled under the couch for my shoes (note to self, must learn to put shoes away), found my water bottle underneath the mountain of air drying dishes, and thought about brushing my hair (nah, too hard – you can’t brush curly hair anyway, it goes frizzy. Can’t have frizzy hair when you train lol). I flung some cat food on plates for the kittens and grabbed a “tasty” out of the basket for the dog.
Wait on – a whole basket of “tasties” just for the dog! What is that all about! My husband LOVES his dog Sunny. Sunny thinks Craig is the “light of the world”. Soul mates! Everyone else outside our family loathes Sunny – she’s a certifiable nutter and can be a little aggressive. That’s me being polite. We love her heaps and she’s getting better as she gets older but she was a rescue puppy and I don’t even want to imagine how she was treated as a little one for her to be so scared of everyone to this day (scared dogs are often aggressive, just getting in first is how they see it). Anyway, back to the basket of treats. Not one packet of dog treats but TEN boxes of treats! Because that’s one of the ways Craig demonstrates his love for Sunny – by buying her food treats. Which is really cute. But not necessarily the BEST way! And even though they walk up to 3 times a day, she now has what we call “robust buttocks”!
(aren’t they cute! just wait for a moment, I have another 1,550 pics I’d love to show you…..!)
Which brings me towards the point of my convoluted thought processes. We so often equate love and comfort with food. We think that we need to “reward” ourselves for training hard or eating clean. How often are you told or think that because you’re losing weight on some deprivation diet that you deserve a reward? Which is usually food related!
How about rewarding yourself with finishing a tough workout and feeling a sense of accomplishment and strength? Isn’t the reward of looser clothes a reward in itself? Isn’t feeling fitter and healthier a reward too? I wonder that we’re so programmed to tie in an external reward for hard work when the reward is already there. Anyone who has lost a decent chunk of weight will recognise that feeling of “ease” when the weight is gone. The “ease” of bending forward to tie your shoelaces, the “ease” of completing everyday movement without struggle, the “ease” of fitting into ordinary clothes, the “ease” of working out and not having your body literally get in the way!
So start celebrating the rewards you’ve already attained and question the need to reward or pamper yourself to for doing something that has already benefited you. Like Sunny, you probably don’t need the extra “tasty”! Reward yourself instead with health and fitness and we can help you with that!
(Now rewarding cats – that’s different! They don’t call me the Crazy Cat Lady for nothing!)
Lisa Bullock is a Personal Trainer based in Melbourne, Australia. She’s run her successful fitness business for over 15 years and has trained over a 1000 clients helping them reach their health, fitness and wellness goals. Married for 27 years and mother to a daughter (22) and son (19), she is a proud proponent of the philosophy “keep on keeping on”. She believes that consistency is key to achieving goals. Lisa loves weight training with a passion; she’s boxed for over 12 years and sees no reason to stop soon! She’s faced her own health and weight issues and come out fighting. “I believe in training for the long haul” she claims, “I fully expect to be doing handstand push ups when I’m 60!.”
I love a good rant and I can always rely on Kate Vidulich to deliver a GREAT rant! I was one of those guilty Bootcamp Instructors who called my 20-10 intervals “tabatas”, but after reading a rant from Kate a few months ago, I quickly changed my tune (just in case she caught me – Kate being in New York and me teaching in Melbourne, it wasn’t likely, but still!).
20 seconds of work with 10 seconds of rest, repeated for 8 rounds, is a fabulous training protocol. But it’s NOT a tabata! Her article below explains why. Kate also has a great video workout – she’s chosen the “elite” level but you can try the following modifications and still get an awesome workout.
Repeat for 2 rounds (10 minutes total)
This circuit is from 1,000 Calorie Accelerators System (Elite level) and designed for advanced folks only. But don’t give up if you’re not at the elite level yet! We have alternatives! That’s what’s great about Kate’s program – she provides for beginners up to elite.
Watch the video and then try it with these modifications. If 45 seconds is too demanding, decrease your work time and increase your rest time – try 30 seconds work to 30 seconds rest. Alternatives to the video are:
4A) Walkout as far as you can and then drop to your knees for the pushup
4B) No need for those impact moves if you have an injury or can’t jump for any reason – step through this exercise just as fast as you can to keep heart rate high.
4C) Bring the arms down out of prisoner position if you need extra balance or find it hard to hold your arms above shoulder level.
4D) Squat thrusts can still be done effectively as a stepping movement without the jumping. If changes of level bother you – try doing this with your hands on a bench or chair and step your feet back rather than jumping. Again, keep your pace fast!
4E) Swings are a brilliant exercise for lower back health when done properly. Watch the video carefully for Kate’s good form.
Check out the video and then try a modified version as required. You can swap out those high impact moves for easier “stepping” exercises – just like Kate does in her program where she offers 3 levels of workouts suitable for beginners through to advanced.
OK – let’s get Kate explaining why 20-10 intervals AREN’T the same as tabatas…
5 Things to Know about 4 minute Intervals
1. It’s ULTRA Intense
In the study, the Tabata group did a 10-minute steady state warm up followed by 7-8 continuous cycles of 20 seconds at 170% VO2 max, then 10 seconds of rest on a braked cycle ergometer (it’s a fancy bike in the research lab).
It’s incredibly hard to sprint at 170% VO2 max – it hurts, it’s not attainable for the ordinary person and it’s NOT fun!
2. It’s Not Proven Effective for Fat Loss
Nowhere in the Tabata study did they mention anything about its effectiveness for fat loss. They didn’t even study it. This study was undertaken purely to improve athletic performance at the Olympics. So sure, maybe it does work for accelerating fat loss. Or not. It’s unknown. I personally think Tabata would work for fat loss, (well it better, right?) but it’s never yet been actually tested for fat loss.
3. They did slow cardio too…
In the original study, the athletes trained 4 times per week using Tabata, PLUS another day of steady-state training at 70% VO2 max with the cardio group.
4. This protocol was tested on athletes, not humans
The subjects were Japanese Olympic athletes – to be exact. They were in peak physical condition and could safely push themselves to this insanely high intensity.
Which ultimately means that if you haven’t exercised in years, let alone done intense training, Tabata is not for you.
5. You burn approximately 15 calories/minute
A recent ACE study took the 20:10 “Tabata-style” protocol and tested it on real people. In a 20 minute “Tabata-style” workout, subjects burned between 240 and 360 calories, for an average of 15 calories per minute burned.
Unfortunately, time and time again, calorie calculators have proved inaccurate so don’t take that as any kind of gospel!
Four minutes to fitness? Maybe! It’s certainly better than nothing. But even with high intensities of training evoking an afterburn effect, it’s not enough to create the calorie deficit you need to get rapid fat loss results.
So what can you do?
Simple. Your workout needs to be longer. Like the portion of the workout at the top of the page…
Get 1,000 Calorie Accelerators here You’ll use the ‘tabata style’ protocol along with other proven methods to burn the calories you need for the accelerated fat loss results you’re after.
17
Apr 14
Eating healthy doesn’t have to be boring! These turkey-stuffed bell peppers are the perfect meal for those days when you’re bored of eating healthy. Shhhh, your taste buds won’t suspect that this dish is low-carb and protein-filled. Serve over a bed of greens for a complete meal.
Servings: 5
Here’s what you need…
Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 193 calories, 3 fat, 256mg sodium, 14g carbohydrate, 3g fiber, and 28g protein.
16
Apr 14
What’s the right way to eat a chocolate Easter bunny? Start at the ears of course!
Easter is almost upon us. Hot cross buns and chocolate eggs. And by the end of the weekend, quite likely a couple of extra pounds on the scale.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. A little planning and some simple strategies set up in advance could spare you the unwanted Easter weight gain.
Food and drink is such an important part of socialising and sharing with friends and family, we connect over the dinner table whether at home or in a restaurant and it can be a wonderful bonding experience. But food and drink need to be servant, not master.
Supermarkets started to stock Easter eggs as soon as Valentine’s Day was over! That’s two months of shelf displays of enticing, tempting chocolate bunnies, eggs and assorted Easter treats! It’s so easy to just slip an extra bag of mini eggs in your shopping trolley thinking that they’re only small, it won’t do any harm! Um, once you start, how easily do you stop? To burn off 3 mini eggs, you’d need to skip continuously for 15 minutes! And who stops at 3!
And what about Hot Cross buns? Compare the size of a bun from 1994 to 2014 – they’ve grown to about triple the size of what they were, with all the corresponding tripled calories and fat. A small bun without butter sits at about 150 calories or the equivalent of a half an hours swim. A large bun is at least double the calories and would take a half an hour intense training session to burn!
If extra chocolates and candies aren’t in the house, you can’t eat them. Simple as that! Save your treats for the actual day!
So, should you sit in the corner of the room declining all treats and look and feel like a martyr to your diet? Or can you perhaps plan to enjoy your Easter as part of your weekly calorie allowance, taking the extra holidays to increase your training intensity too. If you know that you’ll be enjoying a big Easter lunch on Sunday, try reducing your calories and your starchy carbs the day before. Have a solid training session that will burn a load of calories and make sure you drink a ton of water!
If you’re travelling for Easter and socialising across the whole weekend, then scale back your calorie intake this whole week. Make sure you’re training regularly and intensely and keep up with your water intake. You’ll go into the weekend knowing that you’ve earned your treat meals and you’ll enjoy them guilt free.
If it forms a helpful picture for you – BEFORE you scoff those mini eggs, imagine how much exercise is required to burn off those small, innocent little treats.
6oz chocolate bunny (50g fat) would take 2 solid hours of running
1 Cadbury Caramel egg will take 2 miles of brisk walking
1 Chocolate chip hot cross bun would take a one hour cycle class
You can never out-train a bad diet, but you can certainly put in the hard work beforehand and earn the right to treat yourself. And if running for 2 hours isn’t your thing (my knees ache at the very thought!) then try these intense yet do-able workouts designed for women perfectly timed for your Easter weekend.