As a group exercise instructor whose had a couple of decades in the trade, I can safely say that people's needs and goals havn't really changed all that much. It never ceases to amaze me however, that there is still one or two myths that still exist, especially when it comes to losing body fat for example. When someone comes to me, grabs their spare tyre and tells me they would like to get rid of 'this' they are usually quick to ask just how many crunches it's going to take. Always to their surprise I inform them that whilst abdominal exercises should be a part of their regime, what's going to help melt that fat faster is doing exercises like lunges and squats. Why? The bigger the muscle doing the moving, the more energy/calories are used and since our 'butt' is our biggest muscle, my advice would be to get off it more! Not only that, but once there gets to be a bit of muscle tone happening, then we metabolise even more efficiently. Somewhere along the way we have made fat loss complicated when the simple truth is what goes into our mouths needs to be used up and if it isnt then it turns to fat. I for one are not into complicated programmes or gadjitry. As consumers we also need to make sure we arn't too quick off the mark in buying into clever advertising which targets our vulnerabilities. Stop and think before you buy, or sign up for that gym membership. Of course reducing body fat also requires putting our eating habits under scrutiny. The most important question to ask ourselves is what a typical days eating looks like? Predictably most of us will claim that we only have our 3 meals a day!. I will never be convinced that we are fully conscious of just how much we put in our mouths, but this is easily fixed by keeping a food diary for a week. I know that a lot of my nibbling Im not even aware of!... It's like being on auto pilot on my way to the chippie and cracker stash, both of which must be accompanied by a glass or two of red wine and none of which Im that conscious of doing....and the bumma of it is that they are all empty calories! An empty calorie means that there is no nutritional value. What we also need to be clear about is that fat is fat and muscle is muscle. Underneath my tummy fat lies abs of steel, which of course I will never see due to my unconscious trips to the cupboard which cost me about 700 – 900 calories each time and is all that probably stands in the way between me and my six pack. So if you need any help with fat loss make sure you talk to someone who can give you the right information, and if you are unsure then look for the REPS registered exercise professional. Probably more importantly make sure you are committed to what you need to change in order to achieve your goals, because if you arn't then no amount of thinking about it is going to move that fat.




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I've been on another huge learning curve recently. Just when I thought my life was looking like it was fairly predictable and I had things sussed and everything in it's little boxes, it took a huge turn around! All of a sudden I find Im catapulted into a whole different future, one of which I could never have anticipated and most certainly didn't see coming. Its such a huge reminder of how quickly things can change and how little control we have sometimes of events and people that cross our paths. It also makes me realise that nothing ever really stays the same unless of course we allow it or want it to. Things can disappear or change in a micro second! I do believe that we are given opportunities but often are blind to them. Sometimes we are so fixated on how we think our lives are or should be, that we miss these chances. These windows of opportunity most certainly carry elements of risk of the unknown quantity, and that's where we can fail ourselves by not allowing ourselves to be vulnerable to them. Yes change will and is uncomfortable but it is only through this feeling that we can change our lives should we need or want to. Sometimes change is forced on us by some big event, and what I always find incredible with human beings is our resilience and our adaptability to those. We are survivors! The question for me is always to ask myself, how open am I to change and opportunties? Do I sometimes get so fixated and rigid on who I think I am that I can miss who I can become? Often we all clutter our minds with problems, anxieties and blame for others when in truth our reality is not that black and white, how can it be when we don't have all the facts of our future yet? Sometimes things make no logical sense. At times we are in control and we can create our reality, and at other times we are at life's mercy and we need to work with what has happened to us. I do believe though that what often feels like paradox and chaos, that an order exists which we must have the courage to try and stay open to. “Nothing is permanent in this world...not even our troubles” Charlie Chaplin




Carla is a lifestyle management facilitator

www.carlascoachingforhealth.com