Need to exercise more? Considering joining a gym? How much exercise is the right amount of exercise and how do you get started and stick at it long term?

Wow! These are really good questions! Of course, we are all individuals, and no right amount of exercise will be the same for someone else.

I can tell you, that if you are considering joining a gym for the first time (or the second) there are some easy guidelines to be followed that will help you stick at it longer and achieve your goals!

I am a gym owner (Xcel Fitness Devonport), and a very proud group fitness instructor. I consider it a privilege to be part of someone’s fitness journey, to witness someone’s love for exercise grow and develop. Not much else makes me happier!

In my experience, a genuine problem is that a lot of people find it difficult to make the first step into a gym and do their first class. I have heard many people say they have sat in the carpark deciding whether or not to get out of the car. I can promise you that once you get over that initial bump, you will wonder why you didn’t do it earlier. I understand people feel like everyone is watching and judging them, but I promise no one is feeling more watched or judged than the instructor on the stage! And everyone else is too busy focusing on what they should be doing to notice anyone else!

The most common mistake I see people make when joining a gym is to then do as many classes as they can, because they believe this will help them achieve their goals quickly!

More often than not, this leads to injury and/or fatigue, which will then lead to a negative headspace around exercise, which leads to excuses as to why they shouldn’t go to the gym.

My experience shows that a high percentage of people doing this will be lucky to make it through the first month. And more times than not, the gym membership is then wasted. Sound familiar?

There are lots of reasons why people start out this way, some being they want results to happen quickly, or they just put a lot of pressure on themselves to go all out or not at all. Nothing worth having happens quickly, especially when it comes to your health. The best way to get healthy and fit is to gradually change habits over time.

The best advice I can give to someone starting out is to start slow. Find out everything you need to know about the classes available at the gym by talking to the people who take them! Staff on reception can point you in the right direction. Then choose two programs or classes that you think might suit you (there are so many choices!) and do one class of each in the first week. Repeat the second week. Then, decide how you feel week three. If you are recovering well (muscles aren’t too sore) you may be able to take on three classes per week. Stick at this for a few more weeks. Keep in mind that everyone reacts differently to exercise, pay close attention to how the exercise is affecting your body physically and mentally. The last thing you need is to be constantly fighting fatigue and muscle soreness. It is not worth it! Before you know it, you will be addicted to feeling so good!

Still need help? This is my passion and I would love to help you gradually change habits! You are on my website, you know how to contact me!

If you are interested in reading more about the best ways to get started with exercise check out:

https://www.lesmills.com/smart-start/

Wow! Where did 2017 go? It’s New Year Resolutions time, and the time of year where we swear we will start fresh, be healthier, do things completely differently! I have!

But over the years I have learnt that it doesn’t take long for the resolutions to become meaningless. At no time have I stuck to a resolution for any longer than a few weeks, if that!

Let’s face it, the ticking over of a new calendar month and year is not going to automatically give us more energy to exercise with, more will power to eat better, or more time to be organized!

An interest to learn the most common new years resolutions in Australia 2018 led me to Google and the following list at www.finder.com.au.

Improve FitnessEat BetterQuit SmokingQuit DrinkingLearn Something NewTravel MoreVolunteerMeet SomeoneSleep MoreGet Out of Debt

There is absolutely no doubt that we all want a better quality of life, and this list is proof of that! At this time of year, we stop and ponder what would make our life better, whether it is because we have eaten too much over Christmas, or spent too much money on our holidays. Or maybe we are just in a rut and need to find another path in the hope it will make us happier or less stressed?

I am a firm believer that big change won’t happen overnight. It needs to happen gradually, in small steps, in order to achieve longevity. But most importantly, with that change the correct state of mind is crucial. In order for change to be successful we need to be in a positive place mentally. Nothing I have ever done that has created change in my life has been done without planning, hard work and a “can do” attitude.

A great place to start is to focus on mindfulness. There is nothing more valuable than making the effort to take a mental break from every day life, be in the moment and enjoy what is happening to you RIGHT NOW. No stress involved, no thinking about what has to happen one hour from now, or days or weeks from now. Just stop, enjoy the activity you are doing, the people you are around, and take in your surroundings with complete gratification for everything you have in life. Because we are so lucky to have what we have!

I have an app on my phone at the moment called Headspace. It really is amazing how stopping for a few minutes a day to “meditate” can help to calm your mind. I would never have believed it until I did it. Maybe this is a good starting place for you. Or, just make the mental decision to stop at a specific time of the day, become mindful of your surroundings, and then make the decision to do it on a regular basis. It will take a while to create this new habit, but over time it will become easier. See how you go? What have you got to lose!

It’s Christmas time! I love everything about Christmas! I try my hardest to hold out until 1st December to put up the Christmas tree. I love how busy everyone gets, the hustle and bustle of town, the Christmas tunes blaring, the happy faces everywhere! I purposely walk around town to soak up the atmosphere. It only comes around once a year after all!

Christmas time is all about family for me. There aren’t a lot of my family members in Tasmania, and my husband only gets every third year away from work, so Christmas is quiet and relaxing. Exactly what is needed after the build up!

We eat simply. It has always been tradition that we cook our meat Christmas Eve and serve it cold the next day with salads, followed by a special dessert (chocolate mousse is a family favourite!).

No hassles, no dramas, just enjoying each others company. Maybe a trip to the beach if the weather allows.

Quite the opposite of the build up to the big day! Parties, events, that little voice in your head that says “it will be OK, it’s Christmas, eat what you want!”.

While that is all well and good for special occasions, I always find that once my mental ability to be strong wavers, I completely lose the plot! Anyone else find this?

So I thought I would give you a few tips on how I survive the silly season!

Without a doubt, no matter what, stay hydrated. It tends to be the first thing we forget about when we are busy. I always have a water bottle, or a glass of water close by. With the warmer weather water will help you stay energized, stay mentally alert and stop you wanting to eat!!!It’s OK to fall off the healthy eating wagon occasionally, just make sure you get back on as soon as you can. For me, small meals made up of protein in the form of meat or eggs, good quality fat such as avocado, olive or coconut oil and low carbohydrates (lots of low GI vegetables) every three hours keeps my blood sugar levels even, and hunger at bay. If you are going out, it’s OK to change your routine up, but try to be as regular as possible the rest of the time. I know once I lose routine, it’s hard to get back into it again.Make exercise part of your daily routine! This is a no-brainer for me. I’m a group fitness instructor and personal trainer. I couldn’t live without it. I know how much it helps me to physically and mentally cope with each day. While I will be away from the gym over the Christmas/New Year break I will be walking and bike riding regularly. Got to get that endorphin fix!This is the most important point. DON’T BE HARD ON YOURSELF!!! Everything comes down to our mental ability to cope. If we tell ourselves we are getting bigger around the belly, we most likely will! If we tell ourselves we are constantly disappointed in our bad decisions, we will end up being disappointed in ourselves! These thoughts are a choice. Choose to NOT be mentally negative, a few bad choices won’t ruin your life! After all, The Green Room will be waiting for you to help you make better choices and create positive healthy habits in 2018!!!

Sheran

It all started five years ago when I decided to change my eating habits for the better. I grew up eating a lot of starchy/processed carbohydrates such as white potato, pasta, white rice and frozen chips! I ate a lot of packaged foods too. I was having problems with feeling generally flat. This wasn’t good, because I was working as a personal trainer and group fitness instructor, and my first thought was that I was burning out!

At the time we introduced a new Les Mills program to my gym, called Grit Strength. I loved it, HIIT training and my body go hand in hand. Along with the new program, Les Mills released a 21 Day Food Challenge, which was focused around eating five meals per day, including one protein shake, and four whole food meals (one palm sized serving of lean protein, two handfuls of vegetables and one thumb sized serve of good quality fat). Wow, did I find this challenging! It removed gluten, dairy, fruit, carbohydrates and all processed foods from my diet. The goal was to put my body into ketosis. By the time the 21 day challenge was finished, I felt amazing! I felt happy, energetic and was sleeping better than I ever had! I slowly started to introduce some lower GI carbohydrates (my body needs them) and my body flourished from there! I was leaner and fitter than I had ever been in my life, at 42.

Everything was fantastic after that, I stayed true to my new way of eating. I had no intention of changing because I felt so good!

In 2014, my family and I went on a holiday to the US. I was slightly concerned that while travelling for a month I would have difficulty finding gluten free and dairy free food in restaurants everywhere, and I admit it was very difficult. My eating habits changed while I was there, slowly I let go and decided I was on holiday, relax, I’ll sort it when I get home, and my habits changed. Pretty normal I would think!

After I returned home, I found it difficult to get back into routine. I was having gluten and dairy sometimes, but I wasn’t too bad. A few months later, I began running a food business I had absolutely no idea about. The stress began!

In hindsight I can say the holiday (although the best holiday of my life, changes and a very busy schedule added an element of stress to my reasonably anxious self) and then the addition of taking over The Green Room, was the beginning of the majority of my problems.

It started within twelve months. My first bout of adrenal fatigue. It stopped me dead, I couldn’t get out of bed for days, but I recovered fully after resting.

This occurred another two times within the next few years, completely unexplained by my GP.

Then, the last time it happened I didn’t recover from it. I was constantly battling fatigue, overwhelming depression and nausea. I felt completely hopeless and exhausted. I had a Naturopath in the shop one day and he could tell I wasn’t well and offered to help. And that he did, he put me on the blood group diet, which more or less cleaned up my eating, and removed alcohol (which I have found to be one of the biggest culprits).

I was feeling much better, fully recovered, but found that once I stopped seeing him, my original symptoms would come back.

My family GP was unable to help me, but referred me onto another known GP who

specialises in womens’ issues and environmental health.

Bingo! My symptoms were very familiar to her, so she went straight to testing the bacteria levels in my gut. And yes, there were lots of bad bacteria, and no good bacteria.

So for the next two months I removed sugar from my diet completely (to starve the bad bacteria) and added 1 litre of bone broth per day (to feed the good bacteria).

I alternated antibiotics and probiotics for the two months to help balance out the bacteria levels.

I felt amazing after the first two weeks!!!

Thank goodness!!!

No more depression, no more adrenal fatigue, perfect sleeping patterns, bursting energy levels, I felt so happy I couldn’t believe it!

Being given the opportunity to start from scratch with a healthy gut has allowed me to work out what works for me and what doesn’t. I have worked out that fresh, healthy, unprocessed food makes my gut very happy. And while my gut is happy, so is my mood, sleep patterns, and energy levels.

I also know that stress is a big part of my journey, and that is something for me to work on. But gee, everything is way less stressful when you’re not battling every second of the day. I feel I can face anything!

I also know that not everyone is the same. That is also a big lesson I have learnt. I can share my story, but it doesn’t mean someone else will do the exact same thing and end up having the same result. But I would like to give hope to someone who reads my story to not give up, there is an answer, and while it may not be an easy journey, the results are well worth the sacrifices and challenges along the way.

Ironically, my story ends on day 21 of the same Les Mills Food Challenge that I started with. I’m sitting here writing, feeling extremely proud of myself, feeling at peace with my health.