I Don't Eat Salad....Ooops

Today I had a friend over for lunch and we had a really yummy meal. During the course of our conversation it dawned on me that I haven't had a salad in almost 6 months! And you preach the gospel of eat more veggies I can almost hear you say........LOL.

Well, when I first started trying to lose weight, I ate so much lettuce and carrots that it almost started growing out of my head but guess what?......I didn't lose much weight. So I guess that is where my dislike of salad came from. Plus it's winter! Who eats salad in the winter! 

That said, who ever said "eat more veggies means eat more salad"? I eat more than my fair share of veggies everyday not just as a salad. So I thought a couple of recipe on how I eat veggies without "ever" eating salad.

A good place to start would be what I ate today with my friend for lunch........

Kale, Prawn & Plantain Porridge

Ingredients

Serves 5 people

5 plantains

200g of prawns

10 cups of chopped kale

1 cup of onions

2 tsp of palm oil

2 tsp of tomatoe puree

2 cups of water

1 tsp of chilli powder

Season to taste.

Method

Peel the plantains, cut into cubes

Add water to cut plantains 

Add a pinch of salt

Allow to cook for 15mins.

In a separate pan

Sautee onions, kale and prawns in palm oil for 5 mins

Then add to cooked plantain and stir.

Add chilli powder & tomatoe puree

Allow to cook for 2 mins

Serve & enjoy

Yummy!

Got my veggies from the Kale.

QUINOA, ZUCCHINI & CARROT STIR FRY

Quinoa is one of my all time favourite grain. I wouldn't bore you with the details of it's nutritional benefits becuase I am sure yu can do a google search and find that out for yourself but know that it higher in protein compared to other grains.

Ingredients

Serves 6-8 people

2 cups raw quinoa

1 cup of grated carrots

1 cup of grated zucchini

2 tsp of coconut oil

1 tsp of curry powder

1/2 cup of onions

Salt

Seasoning of choice

2 cups of water

Method

Cook quoina in water for 20 mins with a pinch of salt

In a separate pan

Sautee onions in coconut oil

Add carrots & zucchini and stir fry for 5 mins

Add already cooked quinoa

Add seasoning to taste

Add curry powder

Stir fry all for a further 5 mins

DONE!

Got my veggies from zuchinni and carrots!

Are you a "no salad" person too? How do you get your veggies in.....Would love to hear from you.

God If You Can't Make Me Skinny Please Make My Friends Fat! (Part 3)

The trilogy of my weight loss journey will not be complete if I don't mention some people who simply just made it fun and a big laugh. You see, I am a creature of laughter, I don't do very well if I can't find the humour in a situation. This next lady amongst others injected a good dose of that.

At this point, I had lost almost 80lbs but I was still what is classified as "skinny fat". I was slim but my body fat percentage was high. Strength training and an even healthier diet was the solution. 

But the more I strength trained, the hungrier I was. Back then, I didn't know what I now know about  the many advantages of strength training. Do you know that when you strength train you can almost get away with eating more? This is because the more muscle mass you have the more calories you burn even at rest and the more calories you burn the easier it is to maintain your weight. But it has got to be healthy food though not junk.............I digress.

This amazing lady joined the secret group in the nick of time. She straight away could see my dilemma, she knew I was hungry because she was hungry too.....LOL. So any new discovery she found she share with me. She taught me the principle of eating smart not less. Why use cow's milk at 155 calories for 250ml when you could have almond milk at 30 calories for same amount and it is better for you she would say. Why make a sunny side up with 5 eggs at 350 calories when you could use 1 cup of egg white and just one whole egg at 190 calories! plus you will have more food to eat! (I told you she was hungry.............LOL)

Apart from food, we also had other things in common, we both love to lift heavy weights. We knew long before the phrase was coined that strong is the new sexy, we just didn't know the phrase then LOL. We both desired the toned, fit look. Therefore, every time I saw a Facebook post from her looking toned and strong I knew I had to sit up and be serious. She injected the element of a healthy competition that I needed at that stage of my weight loss journey.

Now look at her; Michelle Obama's arms has got nothing on my fit friend!

You totally ROCK babe!........Thank you for getting me and my quacky sense of humour. Amen to egg white and almond milk.........LOL.

My message to you reading this blog post is, be open about your struggles because someone just might have the solution you need. Also, relax, laugh a little......weight loss, it really is not that deep.

Happy New Year!

P:S

By the way, my journey was influenced positively by more than these 3 people I have share in this trilogy. I hope to talk about some other people in the future when the time is right. 

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God If You Can't Make Me Skinny, Then Please Make My Friends Fat! (Part 2)

So, fast forward 3 months on; after losing 3 stones, I started to become complacent with my diet and exercise. I began to skip my workout and eat one granola bar too many. Although I wasn't at my pre-pregnancy weight, I didn't look bad for a mother of 2 (that's what I told myself). 

Until one day I started getting notifications on my Facebook timeline from a secret group that I didn't join! It was spooky! This lady featured kept appearing on my timeline posting endlessly about the need to lose weight and not settle for average. 

I took a look at her and thought, she looks like she needs to lose some. She was the same height as me and of similar body frame. So I decided to follow whatever she said to do. If she said run, I ran with a skip, if she said drink a glass of green smoothie, I drank 2, and soon I noticed the fire was reignited in me. 

When I struggled or let myself down I would inbox her and she was never tired of encouraging me. She celebrated every single achievement with me. From my first green smoothie, to running my first ever marathon, to becoming a personal trainer, to even writing this blog. A lady I met online via a secret group. She saw greatness in me when I was ready to settle for average.

But in giving to me and many others, she received because she met her weight loss goals too. She lost the weight whilst encouraging others. A woman indeed encouraging women; a rarity!

Today I want to say.............. Thank you!

To you reading my blog, I say surround yourself with the believers, the dreamers, the thinkers, the doers but most importantly surround yourself with people who see GREATNESS in you.

My next post will conclude this series; subscribe to be amongst the first to read it.

God If You Can't Make Me Skinny Then Please Make My Friends Fat (Part 1)

Yep, that dumb caption above was my facebook profile picture for a long time while I sat on my butt wishing the weight would disappear miraculously. Yes God works in miraculous ways but he sure doesn't answer dumb prayers. 

However he did the mysterious one day when I was at a party with my big self. I bumped into this lovely lady (shown). She was merely an acquaintance at the time but had seen me when I was slim and "athletic". 

I said a quick hello and tried to hurry pass because I didn't like people who knew me before I got over weight to notice that I was now fat (not that it was hard to hide my 100kg plus weight at the time). But she gave me a kind smile and said "Julien you look lovely but you have got to lose some weight". I smiled and mumbled something like "I'm working on it". But deep down I was angry! How dare she tell me I am over weight! She is even bigger than me! What does the bible say about removing the log from your eyes so you can see the spike in.......balahlahlah!

But next day I heard her voice again in my head but this time I heard it as it was meant to be received..............with love. Because it takes a great deal of love or selflessness to have your own struggles but try to ensure that others don't go through the same struggles. This lady didn't think " Ha! Jules is now big like me" or " Thank God, since I can't get skinny at least more people I know are now getting fat" 

That comment, " Julien, you look lovely but you must lose some weight" was all I needed to get up, lace up and go for my 1st run.

Today I want to celebrate a cool friend. I want to say thank you for being honest with me. Now look at you; all trim and hot too. Thank you

I hope this post encourages someone who is  struggling with their weight. I hope this post encourages someone to be honest in a kind way to a friend who is struggling. 

This is part 1 of a 3 part Story on friends who have held my hands through my weight lose journey.

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I Exercise So I can Eat

I exercise so I can eat more; but more importantly, so I can eat junk.

Yep! That definitely use to be me. The more I ate badly the more I exercised until 2 things happened.

 

1. I got injured from excessive exercise: Because I was exercising for 2 hours per day 6 days  a week, ponding my body, trying to out exercise my bad food, I get seriously injured and could not exercise for  months. Now, because I hadn't learnt good food habits, the inevitable happened. I gained 1 stone in 4 weeks
2. I hit a fitness plateau: But in actual fact I really didn't hit a plateau, because  plateau is when you cannot seem to make any progress despite doing everything right. A plateau as a result of exercising and eating badly is not a plateau; it is simply a waste of ones time.

As for as I am concern exercise without the corresponding healthy eating is self abuse. Why would I want to abuse myself, three times! First with bad food then with exercise and  third with the mental torture of  feeling bad from eating bad! Why would you want to do that to yourself too?

Now, does this mean that I eat perfectly every time now? No! It is okay to indulge occasionally. But to continual overeat because you exercise is not okay.

I made a path with myself that I will use exercise as a way of rewarding myself for eating well rather than punishing myself. So anytime I ate badly I did not exercise because I felt  hadn't earned it. But because I know that if I continued to eat badly and not exercise I will soon be back to 116kg so I choose daily to eat right and reward my body with natural endorphins aka exercise

So, make a decision today to use exercise to keep fit and food to maintain your weight/lose weight depending on your goals.

Exercise so you can eat more? No! that is so 2013.....

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Push-Up: Learn how to do them

PUSH-UP!

I love push up! It is perhaps one of the best body weight exercise you should learn to do.

 

Push up works so many muscles simultaneously enabling functional strength to the core, bicep, triceps, lats (upper back), lower back & quads. It is a total body workout in just one movement perhaps that is  why it's hard to do.

 

 

There are lots of variation which targets and isolates various muscles but I will be talking about push-ups for beginners and how to eventually progress to doing standard push-up.

 

These are beginner push ups

Wall push-up are perfect for beginners because it helps build the strength required to eventually progress to traditional push up. It is also a good one to do if you have back problems because they put no pressure on the spine (but place your feet flat on the ground as opposed to tippy toes as shown above)

Push-up on the knees or "girl" push up are a good progression from wall push. If done correctly  they can be just as effective as regular push up. To feel the effect, step your knees slightly back (as shown), hands slight shoulder width apart and lead with the chest (not the head) when you press down.

The triceps push-up

 

The triceps push-up is considered the poor (wo)man's breast lift and great banisher of "bingo wings" because it targets mainly the pectorals (muscles around the breast) and triceps (3 muscles behind the upper arm) if done regularly and correctly.

The key to performing this particular push-up is to keep your hand close to your body (shoulder-width apart) as pictured above.

 

How to progress to standard push-up

 

 

Here is how to progress from doing push-up on your knees. I do this always with my ladies at bootcamp and I have seen them progress weekly with doing a push-up

 

 

Step 1. hold a high plank for 5secs
Step 2. lower your body by bending your elbows slightly (lead with the chest)
Step 3. go straight back into high plank, hold for 5sesc then repeat step 2
Do this cycle for 30secs, rest for 30secs and repeat 3 times over.

Try this 3 times a week and gradually go lower down each time.

Following these steps helps strengthen your shoulders and core in preparation for progressing into a full push-up. 


 If this helps, feedback, like and share

Lifting weight can make you fat!

I read post like "lifting weight doesn't bulk you up, cupcake does" although this is true, I think it is a very unhelpful caption. The truth of the matter is that when you lift heavy weight as part of your exercise routine you get extremely hungry and if you have not planned your meals in advance you would be eating those cupcakes from Starbucks!

The reason why you crave so much sugar when you lift weight or do strength training exercise is because muscles have an affinity for glucose (sugar). That means the more muscles you have the more efficient your body gets at using up glucose, and the more efficient your body gets at using up glucose the leaner you will become. This is why studies have shown that weight lifting and subsequently building muscles can help prevent and/or control diabetes. Because muscles increases the demand for glucose; it pulls glucose from the bloodstream so that blood sugar don't raise dangerously. However, for non-diabetics this can result in hypoglycemia ( you know the shakes you get when you are starving).

Now, if you have not planned your post workout snack in advance  you will be reaching out for those cupcakes. Which subsequently over time causes you to bulk up rather than lean out. The simple solution to this problem is to have some simple fast glucose releasing snacks handle after your strength training workout. I always have an apple or a banana in my bag...

If this short simplified explanation help shared some light on why you want some cupcakes after your strength training session let me know; share with your friends it might help them too.

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