Holiday season - tips for keeping the weight off!

A few of my one to one personal training clients and boot camp members who have been on holiday lately and have come back saying they've put on 3-7lbs. Here's are a few tips on how to keep the weight off when you go on holiday and how to get rid of it as soon as you come back:

• Try to do at least 20 minutes of exercise a day. Some people go to all inclusive resorts and eat lot more food than they normally do and consume more alcohol than normal and spend all the time by the pool or on the beach laying down sunbathing so all those extra calories are just going to be stored as fat and extra weight :(

• Cycle, brisk walk, hill walk to a view point, rock climb, jog, snorkel, swim, golf, tennis, squash, badminton, use the hotel gym, attend some exercise classes etc to keep your metabolism up and burning calories rather than storing calories. If you're on holiday with your children it's a good example for them too. If your baby is in a pram go out for a brisk walk before it gets too hot and try a few hundred metres of jogging every now again whilst pushing the pram etc.

• Try to eat sensible size portions! For some reason when it's a buffet peoples eyes become larger than their stomachs and people can easily over eat. Try to eat fresh healthy options and not to the point where you have to lay down afterwards. Try a 5-10 minute walk after a main meal.

• Drink lots of water which is important for hydration and helping clean your body out of toxins. When you become dehydrated your body finds it harder to function and your metabolism slows down which increases fat storage. It's also important if it's hot or your drinking more alcohol than normal.

• When you return from holiday get straight back into your regular exercise routine or if anything increase it! Some. people get into a bit of a lazy routine when they're on holiday and put off getting back into the training. The longer you leave it the harder it will be to shift the extra few pounds you have put on. The longer your body is carrying the extra weight it will get more used to it, you need to get right back into it and work hard for a couple of weeks to burn lots of calories and increase your metabolism and your body weight will go back to normal, try a longer half day or 1.5 hour boot camp which will help.

No Pain No Gain?!

Some people say 'no pain no gain' when it comes to their training regime which is what they're probably heard on some war films when the drill seargents are shouting at the new recruits. For most people though it is a step too far.

When your body throws up it is a defence mechanism to get out all the harmful toxins and waste products (mainly lactic acid) which has accumulated from a training session gone horribly wrong. Even if you feel like you might throw up then you might have pushed it just that little bit too far.

The whole aim of a training session is to progressively train your body so it makes small adaptations along the way helping you to reach your goals.

If you throw up you'll be depleting your body of much needed water and nutrients which means it will take your body longer to recover and the whole session would have been a waste of time.

If you're training for 45 minutes but feel sick for 10 minutes off it then you'll automatically have to take it easier during those 10 minutes or even sit down to rest which cuts down the amount of calories you'll be burning etc.

Top athletes train hard every day of their lives with sport psychologists, top coaches and nutritionists etc and they never deliberately take themselves to the point of throwing up so neither should you :) Work in your own limits even at 90-95% of your max that's still an intense workout!

Summertime Is On It's Way!!!

Hi, hope you're OK and that your training and diet has been going well so far this year.

It's not too far away now from summertime and trips to the outdoor swimming pools or the beach and putting on your swimsuits that you might not have worn for a while! I always find that quite a few people contact me for one to one personal training and join the boot camps 6 weeks before they're due to go on a beach holiday which for someone who hasn't trained for a long time isn't a long enough period for them to get in shape.

It takes the body 4-6 weeks to notice a change in exercise before it will start making adaptations like increasing your metabolism to burn more calories, toning your muscles and improving your stamina. The stomach area is generally the first place that people put excess weight on and is unfortunately the last place to lose it after training hard and eating well for a few months. Once you have toned up your legs, arms, back, shoulders and chest your body will then start to burn of any excess fat around the stomach area.

That's why March is a great time to start ramping up your training for the summertime!