18 Days To look Fabulous| Tone Up Quickly

It is 18 days till the big night, New Years Eve! This means we all have 18 days to look and feel amazing for the big event (whatever your plans are.) Most people spend the occasion catching up with those we have not seen for a while, so what better occasion to turn up and make jaws drop. It is obviously very hard to maintain our weight throughout the holidays, never mind lose weight. However it is doable, especially during the week between Christmas and New Year, as the majority of parties and get togethers happen before Christmas day. 

So what I'm suggesting is that we do not punish ourselves with relentless calorie counting, but instead make healthier choices. Here are my top tips;

• Do you need an extra glass of wine after the 3 you've already had? Try swapping a large glass of wine (185cal)  for a vodka lime and Soda (76 cal), this will save you around 110 calories.

• Always have a healthy breakfast. You can at least start the day right. Have a healthy filling and nutritional breakfast, for example a smoothie, for your vitamins, then scrambled or poached egg on wholemeal toast. The protein will ensure you stay full untill lunchtime, and if you are hungover the eggs enzymes are good for your hangover (if you can stomach it.)

• Have a health lunch as well! If two out of 3 meals are healthy, it will make a difference. Plus if you have eaten well for most of the day, you will less likely want to ruin your good work, by indulging too much for dinner. Have some soup, hummus with carrot/ celery/ pitta bread, or warm Chicken and pasta salad (in a tomato sauce, not creamy!!)

• Have a 30 minute brisk walk 5 days out of 7. Try going for a walk after your dinner, this will help your digestion also, so you will feel less bloated. Wrap up nice and warm and take the family or dog with you. If you don't fancy walking at night, then try walking to work, or get off your bus or tram a stop early and walking the rest. It may only be 10 minutes extra, but it will help boost your metabolism meaning you will burn more calories when you are sat at your desk all day.

• Do some strength exercises, even if you are new to it. Did you know that for every pound of extra muscle you gain, you burn an extra 150 calories a day! Plus it will help your posture, and the dreaded cellulite! So if you plan on wearing a short dress you need to be doing some lunges! 
• All I am asking you to do is 50  bicycle crunches in the morning when you wake up, and 50 before you go to bed. Bicycle crunches work the whole abs area, so will help trim your waist quicker. 
• Plus 50 squats while you brush your teeth in the morning and again in the evening. It is better than just standing there, plus squats are a great calorie burner, but make a great difference to the toning of your legs and ass... We'll all be looking like Beyonce in no time.

Now I am absolutely certain that everyone of you reading this will be able to do these small but significant things every day over the next 18 days. It really will make a difference your body, your skin, your hair, and it will ensure you look fabulous on the biggest night of the year.

Lets go for it! Let me know what your plans are for the New Year?

The importance of Health! Which life are you designing?

This image popped up on my Dashboard on Tumblr, and it really struck a cord with me. I may not be the healthiest person in the world, but I have a great respect for it, and thankfully a knowledge of it.

I get really annoyed by people who assume that because they are slim or skinny, whatever, they believe that they are healthy. Because I can tell you many of them are not. Your weight is not a representation of your health, you can be slim yet still have unhealthy fat around your organs that can damage them. You can be skinny, yet be unfit, and not have strong bones and muscles to support you, that will quickly deteriorate with age. There are plenty of people out they who may be classed as overweight, due to their high BMI's yet, they are healthier than people who are deemed healthy because of a lower weight.

I am not consistent with my health and fitness, but I do try, and I know that although "overweight" I am a lot fitter and healthier than some of my friends. Nutrition has a lot to do with it, and since drinking smoothies everyday for breakfast, which include on average half a mango, quarter of a cucumber, handful of berries, one banana, and a handful of spinach, I can't believe the crap I used to start my day with. Even just walking for 30 minutes a day is better than nothing. I believe that everyone should be active at least once a day. There is no excuse for not working out these days, especially with the computer games and DVD's that mean you don't have to trek to a gym, they make working out work round your schedule (although exercise should always BE part of your schedule). Even if injured with a bad back, or leg etc, do some gentle exercise such as yoga (which is amazing!)

Overall you may be young now, but how you live your life now will effect how you live it when you are older. Your body has a very good knowledge of how you treat it, and it will treat you the same as you age. Treat your body well and it will look after you for years. Abuse your body and it will soon shy and retire from yourself, and will refuse to work properly.

Just take the picture for example, or look to Jane Fonda for inspiration. At 73 she has just release a new exercise DVD. She admits she can;t do everything she used to, but she tries. (And she still looks fabulous doing it.)

Please just think about how you treat your body. Even just aim for 4 days healthy, 3 days not, and try and build it up and up. Aim for healthy breakfast and lunches, every little bit will help, and the more you do it, the more it become a habit.

Abs Are Made In The Kitchen

I don't know about you, but I never seem to get the right balance with nutrition and exercise. I either find myself religiously working out, 5/6 days a week, feeling great, but not eating right as I am in the mentality that "oh I worked out already, so I can eat this chocolate." Or I eat great, really healthily, but don't exercise, as I think "I'm eating great and loosing weight, so I don't need to exercise."

At the moment I am eating great, but not exercising, I keep telling myself "Oh well, weight loss is 70 percent diet, and 30 per cent exercise." However if I don't work out I won't be toned, I need to kick myself up the bum. Think of it this way, you eat 3-5 times a day, everyday, however you only workout 1-2 times a day 5-6 times a week. The activity that you partake in the most, if obviously going to have a greater impact on your body. 

So starting this week, as in tomorrow! I am going to workout 4 days a week, and keep my soup/smoothie diet up.

I am also upping my soup/smoothie diet, to kick start my weight loss for December. So I will be having 3 smoothies a day, and 3 soups a day, it will almost be like a cleanse. Everything I eat will be green and I will be making sure the soups and smoothies are rammed full of protein so I do not loose muscle mass like you can do in some cleanses. 

Have you ever been on a cleanse, or liquid diet? Do you get the balance right between exercise and diet?