The Importance Of Resistance Training On Your Weight Loss Goals

The second pillar for effective weight loss is resistance training. For some this is the easiest and for others it is the one you avoid.

Resistance training has many benefits for weight loss because:

1. It helps with excess fat loss by increasing both after-burn after exercise, and by increasing muscle size, thereby increasing the number of calories we burn at rest.

2. Adds variety to a workout if you are used to cardio based exercises.

3. Gives you targets you can aim for so that you can track your progression in real terms.

4. Preserves muscle during the weight loss journey.

5. Improves mobility and capability in daily life.

6. Suitable for all ages to do.

When doing resistance training it is important to have variety so that you are constantly progressing as well as learning the technique to make the resistance training effective for your goals and to prevent injury.

Want to know more about effective resistance training for weight loss, then drop me a message in the comments below and lets get you on the right track to getting the body that you want.

 

Today I kick off the 8 pillars for effective weight loss that you need to consider, starting with cardiovascular (CV) training.

First of all the benefits of doing CV training:

 Improved heart strength 

 Improved lung capacity 

 Increased energy 

 Better mindset 

 Better sleep 

                                        

These are merely some positive by-products of doing CV training. The major impact comes with burning calories.

Studies show that working at higher intensities of CV training work best to burn more total calories as the higher intensity of the workout the greater the metabolic rate will be.

Though, DON'T go straight into higher intensity workouts if you have not trained to do so yet. Start out at a moderate intensity and train yourself to get more intense as you get fitter.

Not sure how to do that yet?

Drop me a DM and we can get talking about how you can get started before the gyms open again

The Eight Pillars Of Weight Loss

We are around a month to the gyms opening up again in the UK, and some of you will be looking to lose weight and have a better mindset to achieve your fitness goals.

Over the next 3 weeks I am going to be sharing some simple advice / tips that will help you be prepared in different areas:

Resistance Training

Cardio Vascular Training

Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)

Nutrition

Hydration

Sleep

Mindset

Stress Management

All of these topics will have a dramatic effect on your fitness and health goals and as such they should not be underestimated.

Which one are you looking forward to learning more about to help you on your fitness journey?

How To Get A Good Night's Sleep Every Night

There are many factors that can affect your sleep which is the reason why many of us are affected by problems in this area. Sleep disorders include problems falling asleep, disruptions in your sleep cycle, waking up and not being able to fall  asleep again. Your quality of sleep can be affected by many different factors, including physical, mental, and environmental concerns. Unfortunately, many of us try to resolve our sleep problems through synthetic means, causing the cycle of sleep related problems to worsen.

Here are seven steps to naturally resetting your sleep cycles and getting a good night's sleep.

1. A Mindset of Allowing: There are common mindset patterns that affect your sleep cycle. Life stress, worrying about sleep, procrastination can all interfere with how your mind prepares for sleep. Letting go of daytime concerns and becoming aware of how you respond to external life stresses will allow the mind and body to revert to its natural patterns and help you fall into a natural sleep.
2. Increase your Daytime Alertness: There are basic steps you can take to re-program yourself to getting a good night's sleep. In fact each of the activities that promote health and energy during the day, also result in improving our night sleep patterns.  This includes having a regular waking up time, getting more natural sunlight, exercising every day and being mindful of the foods you eat during the day.
3. Nighttime Transition: You should have a transition period between your daytime alertness and nighttime sleepiness. Get a good night's sleep by practicing a sleep routine, such as dimming the lights and quietly reflecting on your day.
4. Bed time Routine: Routines are important because they help our bodies naturally fall asleep. Take five to ten minutes before bedtime to release the day's events and practice deep breathing exercises. These steps will help invite healthful sleep.
5. Good Environment: Create a comfortable, relaxing environment to ensure great sleep. Choose a cooler, noise-free, and darkened room.
6. Mental Exercises: To help quiet a restless mind, try a simple mental exercise, such as visualizing something calming. Imagine a place that makes you feel calm and relaxed, like a waterfall, a beach, or the sky.
7. Sleep-Enhancing Food: Foods can both negatively and positively affect your sleep cycle. Avoid spicy, acidic, or hard-to-digest foods right before bedtime because they can keep you awake. Try sleep enhancing foods, like nuts and seeds, turkey, eggs, and dairy products.

Sleep problems can affect your health, mindset, and mood. Make a commitment to getting a good night's sleep by making small changes. Over time, you'll notice a big change in the quality of your sleep.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5022300

The Science Behind Sleep and Weight Loss | Corporis

You may not think it, but there is a science behind getting better sleep can have on your weight loss journey. Today's video goes into greater detail for you.

Let me know your greatest "aha" moment in the comments below. 

Why Sleep is More Important Than Diet | Shawn Stevenson on Health Theory

As a coach for mental and physical wellbeing, sleep is one of the important pillars to master in order to ensure that you function effectively. The video features Shawn Stevenson and Tom Bileyu. Enjoy! 

Change Your Mindset! Strategies For Developing A Growth Mindset

Coaching Mini-Lesson: Change Your Mindset!

How do you view obstacles that come your way? Are they mountains that are seemingly insurmountable? Or are they mole hills that simply need to be navigated? In Carol Dweck's book Mindset, she identifies two types of mindsets that people possess: fixed and growth. The fixed mindset says things are just the way they are and you have no power to change them. A growth mindset says this is the way things are right now and you have the power to change them.

When you have a fixed mindset, you are more likely to give up in the face of adversity. A fixed mindset says no amount of effort will make a difference. You ask yourself all of the negative "what if" questions: What if I fail? What if I'm not good enough? What if I look stupid? A fixed mindset will stop you in your tracks before you even get started.

On the other hand, a growth mindset sees adversity as a challenge. It answers the "what if" questions: I might fail the first time, but I'm going to keep trying until I get it right. I may not be good at this YET, but I'm going to keep working on it. Who cares what others think? What matters is how God sees me and how I see myself. A growth mindset will propel you forward, even when you are faced with an obstacle. A growth mindset says hard work and perseverance will make all the difference in the world.

Chances are, you have a fixed or growth mindset in different areas of your life. For example, you may have a fixed mindset when it comes to relationships: Most marriages are doomed to fail, why should mine be any different, but a growth mindset when it comes to work: I haven't mastered the excel program yet, but I'll nail it before the next expense report is due. Fortunately, you can change your mindset with a little self evaluation and hard work.

Homework:

1. Identify your mindset. If you're not sure, take the quiz at http://www.mindsetonline.com. If you are more inclined to a fixed mindset, try the following exercises:

2. Journal about something that you are good at that you used to struggle with. Write the steps that you took to improve. How long did the process take? What did you learn from the process?

3. Experiment with the power of yet. Think of something that you are not very good at, but want to improve upon. Try putting the word yet on the end of fixed mindset statements: I don't know how to do that, yet; I haven't lost those last 10 pounds, yet; I haven't found the right man, yet; I can't buy the house I want, yet. Articulate the fact that you are a work in progress, put your plan into action, and employ some of the strategies and lessons learned from previous successes in order to reach your goal!

The good news is that mindset is a choice. Once you learn to recognize when you are limiting your progress with a fixed mindset, you can start responding to life's challenges in a new way. By embracing a growth mindset, you will open yourself up to opportunities that can lead you to master and maximize your life!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7613033

Growth Mindset Activities To Help With Depression

A number of experts believe that adopting a growth mindset will help lower your stress levels and improve both your psychological and physical well-being, and thus help with depression.

Although more research is necessary to establish absolute connections between having a growth mindset and health, current studies indicate that it helps with depression and stress management as well as improving coping skills. However, changing a fixed mindset into a growth mindset takes a great deal of determination and application. In this article I aim to give you some activities to help you manage your depression by developing a growth mindset.

Counter Negativity to Help With Depression

The nature of the thoughts, ideas and words that are constantly going through your head, are often determined by your mindset. Taking the time to evaluate your own thoughts is one of the best ways to determine if you have a fixed or growth mindset. Once you know which relates most to you, then incorporating growth mindset activities to help with depression will assist you enormously on your journey to overcome depression.

One exercise that will help you with depression is to write down or type a negative thought that comes into your mind on a piece of paper, computer or diary. Then for that negative thought, write or type at least 5 to 10 positive counter thoughts that will derail the one you already have. The more the better!!

With a fixed mindset, when things don't go the way you expect them to, you tend to place all the blame on yourself. Let me give you an example: say you decide to learn a new skill and find that you are not very good at the start, you will tell yourself "I mustn't be smart enough to learn this." In addition, with a fixed mindset you don't allow any room for error, everything is always black and white for you. You believe that either it comes naturally or you will never master it.

You will be able to start to change your mindset by writing down or typing your negative thoughts and countering them with more realistic ones. For example, you did not get the lead in a play, so you write down the negative response that you are not talented enough to play the lead and you will never make it as a stage actor. Now, counter that negativity by writing down something like, "I'm disappointed that I didn't get the lead but I am grateful to still be in the play where I can continue to learn", or "I didn't get the lead this time but I am developing as an actor and will have a better chance the next time I go for a lead role." Continue to write down more statements that reflect fact rather than continue to focus on the belief that you are not good enough to be an actor.

Adopt a Growth Mindset to Stay Healthy

Studies show that negative thinking, often associated with having a fixed mindset, can lead to a decrease in the bodies' immune response. A growth mindset on the other hand, produces optimistic emotions that actually affect your physical health in a positive way which in addition helps with managing depression.

Growth mindset activities to help with depression also include identifying all of your personal accomplishments, working on improving your self-worth and recognising the things that you value most about yourself. With practice, these exercises will help to promote a growth mindset. Make time every day to list a minimum of five accomplishments of which you are proud and read your list on a regular basis to help with depression.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7129486

Fixed Vs Growth Mindset: Where's Your Life Taking You?

There have been copious amounts of research as it pertains to fixed vs growth mindsets. The 1990's experienced a wave of support from researchers who surmised that providing children with limitless and oftentimes excessive praise would increase their self-esteem; which would consequently increase the likelihood they would perform better in school and eventually become successful adults. However, we have learned that constantly praising ourselves and others will not propel us to a life of happiness and ambition as was anticipated.

So what could be wrong with praising ourselves and others?

Well... it depends on how you are praising them and what you are praising them for. Praising our children and others is very important but the problem does not lie in the amount of praise we provide each other; it is what we praise each other for. Typically, parents love to brag about their children when they are proficient at a specific skill or are highly motivated; as they should. The bolstering that parents engage in serves two purposes: (1) the parent uses the opportunity to brag on their children; while subsequently portraying themselves indirectly as exceptional parents, and (2) they make the child feel good about themselves... in the short-term at least.

But let's look at, for instance, a parent who constantly praises their child's intelligence. They continuously tell them they are smart until it is ingrained into the child's head. You might be thinking "So what could be wrong with that"? It is important for people to view themselves as intelligent right? Yes and No.

When we assign positive labels to people without assigning more emphasis on the work that was involved to warrant that label, we are possibly thwarting that person's progress towards true growth because the focus now becomes more towards maintaining the label; rather than working and challenging yourself to reach new heights (fixed mindset vs growth mindset). Take for instance Ryan who has worked at his current job for 3 years. His employer has constantly praised him for being naturally gifted and the smartest employee the company has on their roster. Ryan's boss mentions to him that there is an opportunity for a promotion; however, the job duties are totally different and Ryan will have to learn how to run a whole new department. Someone who has been constantly praised for being smart and talented; rather than how hard they work, will more likely pass up the opportunity for the promotion than a person with the same qualifications who was constantly praised for how hard he or she has worked to be so talented. A person who is praised constantly for being smart will be more focused on maintaining that label and it will be harder for him to step out of his comfort zone to take on bigger challenges because that could threaten his "smart" label. This is an example of someone squandering an opportunity to grow because he is so focused on the fear of failure and being relegated to a lower status within the company structure.

Pay close attention to those around you and you can differentiate between someone with a fixed mindset versus a growth mindset. Someone with a fixed mindset tends to feel threatened by the success of others. When someone else gets praised or accomplishes their goals, the fixed-mindset person often feels jealous and compares themselves to that person. The person with a fixed mindset often ignores useful constructive criticism or negative feedback. They tend to blame the circumstances or their environment for their current shortcomings. They often view effort as a negative because they believe that being able to portray that they accomplish their goals using what they believe as "natural talent and abilities" is much more admirable than showing people that they worked hard to accomplish their goals. Individuals with fixed mindsets often give up easily when barriers or obstacles arise; as these speed bumps could threaten their reputation and could ultimately lead to their "label" being stripped from them.

As you can imagine, operating under a fixed mindset can significantly limit one's ability to step out and grow. These individuals usually will stay in their bubble when it comes to their hobbies, their careers, their parenting, and most other aspects of life.

A person with a growth mindset focuses more on the work (or the process) of accomplishing their goals. Instead of looking at someone who is getting praise and commendations as a negative, a person with a growth mindset will be inspired by that person. They might look to that person for mentorship or model their work ethic in order to grow to be as (or more) successful. When a growth-mindset person is criticized or given negative feedback, he or she looks at this feedback as valuable information in which they can use to help them improve their current abilities. The person with a growth mindset views obstacles and barriers as minor setbacks; as these setbacks are viewed as learning experiences and opportunities to grow.

Conclusion

The type of mindset we employ has a direct effect on who we are and who we will become. As you can imagine, a fixed mindset can keep you in an extremely limited and vulnerable state. It is important for counselors to model and teach their clients the difference between a fixed and growth mindset and also provide counseling services that emphasize the shift towards a growth mindset. Living with a growth mindset is necessary for individuals in counseling to truly accomplish their goals and to elicit sustainable change and growth.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/9226985

Beginners Guide To Healthy Eating | 15 Healthy Eating Tips

If you are looking at getting in to some better eating habits, today I share a video that has some really good healthy eating tips, but most importantly, they are generally easy to incorporate in to your life and you can start compounding the good habits. 

Healthy Eating Habits - Building Blocks of Healthy Living

Living healthy does not only concern your choice of diet plan or choice of food. You also need healthy eating habits. That is: what you eat and when you eat it, and how often. This is as important as the actual diet - what foods to choose. Why? Eating a bunch of food at once is bad for you. For example, does this situation sound familiar to you? You are already late from work, so you skip breakfast.

At work you have a lot of things to do, so you skip dinner. All you eat is some coffee and cookies or something sweet to keep the blood sugar up. When you return home, dead tired and awfully hungry, you eat the fridge empty. Or you stop at McDonald's on the way and order the biggest meal they have, double everything. Or you stop at the candy store and buy a bag full of chocolate.

When you are hungry, it doesn't seem that healthy low-carb, low-fat foods would be very tempting. You will most likely choose the most unhealthy option there could possibly be, against all good diet guidelines. Now, that's not how we should be eating on a diet? Clearly something has to be done.

Did you know that some diets suggest you eat not more than 2,5 hours apart? This means that between meals you should eat a snack, too. This way you will stay active and your insulin levels will not drop too low. You will stay functional and your brain will work at full power. You will feel better and achieve more. Then, what kind of snacks should you have? Not those mentioned before - burgers, french fries or candy. These are high on either carbohydrates or fat, or both. They don't nourish you, but instead they wear you down, and they make you fat.

Instead you should have a healthy snack now and then. If at work, this could mean eating a fruit instead of a candy bar. This might require some planning. Take something with you.

It is worthwhile to keep up good eating habits. You'll feel better, and you'll lead a healthy life. You will have more self-respect as well. You will most likely be successful in your weight loss diet, if you are on one.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2877859

Why The Compound Effect Is Either Helping Or Hindering Good Habits

Do you have the right habits for what you want to achieve? Do you spend time developing habits for the future? 

Recently I have been listening to the audio book  The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. In it he talks about how our habits today seem inconsequential today, but compounded over many weeks and months and it has dramatic effects on what the future will be.

Take the example of health, if you were to eat an excess of 200 calories a day for a whole year, and made no other changes, you could expect to put on around 1.8 stone (11.8kg) in weight, most likely in fat. Habits tend to start small and then get bigger over time and you then develop more as you go along.

So when it comes to wanting to better your health, starting small is going to be key.  "But I want it all now!" I hear you say. Most of you would have had goals to improve your health at the start of the year, and some of you may have stopped just 8 weeks in to 2021.

What would be the likely cause is that you set the goal too big and you were not seeing the benefits and therefore gave up. Whereas had you set smaller, easier to attain goals to start with you would got into the habits easier and established them.

That is why when the gyms open in the UK in 6 weeks or so, now is the time to develop the positive habits. I have added running to my routine of cycling so that I can compound the benefits of getting more and varied exercise. 

Good examples for you to start with would be replacing the chocolate with fruit or replace sitting on the couch by getting out and starting some exercise, be it a long walk or a slow job.
Start small. Get the wins. Build upon it. Achieve goals!