CONGRATULATIONS

Just wanted to say, 'Congratulations'

Its important to stop and acknowledge all of your hard work over the last 4 weeks. Its traditionally something that I think we are not so great at, stopping our busy lives to tell ourselves, 'well done'.
So take a minute and do that.........

Some of you have already had your measures done and some have them scheduled over the next few days. All the results that have come in have been successful due to everyone's commitment to the program.

Success is the continuous movement towards a desired outcome. So remember, any decrease, in weight, fat mass or waist girth is a victory, one that should be celebrated

When Life gets in the way: Part 2

Should I exercise if I have a cold?

Sometimes we can get a cold and think that maybe we shouldn’t train because it will make us feel worse, not better.
Research now shows that you can exercise with a cold without having adverse side effects.


“If you have a cold but no fever, exercising is fine. New research shows you can put as much effort into a workout when you have a cold as when you are healthy. At Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, 45 students were infected with the rhinovirus that causes most colds. After developing cold symptoms, such as a runny nose, sore throat and/or cough, they ran on a treadmill for up to 15 minutes, as did 10 healthy students. Researchers found the lung capacity of the infected students was the same as that of the students who were not ill. In fact, the sick students reported that exercising didn't feel any more strenuous than usual.”


So don’t let a cold get in the way of achieving your goals this month and beyond!!

BY NADINE

Breakfast Recipe

A great breakfast recipe courtesy of our favourite Swede Kat!!

TASTY EGG WHITE OMELLETE

Ingredients

3 egg whites
2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill
pepper to taste
1/2 cup loosely packed, thinly sliced fresh spinach
1 roma tomato, chopped
2 tablespoons grated 25% reduced-fat Cheddar cheese

Preparation method

1. Whisk the egg whites, 1 teaspoon water, dill and pepper in a medium bowl until soft peaks form. Toss the spinach, tomato and Cheddar in a small bowl.
2. Lightly coat a small nonstick frying pan with nonstick cooking spray and set over medium heat for 1 minute. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and cook until the eggs begin to set on the bottom.
3. Lift up the edge of eggs with a spatula, pushing the cooked part towards the centre of the pan and letting the uncooked portion run underneath. Cook until the eggs are almost set and the bottom is just lightly browned.
4. Spread the spinach filling over half the omelette, leaving a 1 cm border and reserving 1 tablespoon of the mixture for the garnish. Lift up the omelette at the edge nearest the handle and fold in half, slightly off-centre, so the filling just peeks out. Cook for 2 minutes. Slide the omelette onto a plate and garnish with the reserved filling. Serve at once.

By Kat


Why is breakfast so important??
10 reasons to eat breakfast

Measurements

Welcome to the final week everyone!

I will be in contact with you all this week to arrange times to do your post 4 Week Intensive measurements. It is important that you are not dehydrated at the time of your measurement which means 1) No training immediately before your measurements and 2) avoid alcohol the night before your measurements.

I will be asking you about what aspects of the 4 week intensive you will be continuing to implement long term so start thinking!

Cheers All,

PJ

When Life gets in the Way

For the next four weeks you have all made plans to help you achieve your fat loss goals and you have made a commitment to stick to these guidelines in order to maximise your results.
Sometimes life gets in the way – there are unplanned events, emergencies, meetings that run over time etc etc etc…
The important thing is to recognise that this has happened and not use it as a reason to give up, but simply pick up where you left off and keep going.
This is an important lesson to learn after the four week intensive has been completed because life is always going to have the potential to get in the way.
If we go on holiday, travel with work, have a Birthday – anything that may disrupt our daily plans, it has the potential to send us off the rails and back towards unfavourable results.
Accept that we are going to have those times and make the choice to get back on track the day after your Birthday, that big night out, an indulgent holiday.

NADINE

Post 4 Week Get Together

We'd like to invite you all to a casual get together to catch up, celebrate, reflect and share your experiences having completed the 4 Week Intensive. There will also be a small debrief and a few stand out achievements acknowledged. We hope you can all make it to appropriately wrap up an inspiring and challenging 4 weeks for you!

When: Monday 12th October from 6:30-7:30pm.
Where: SJB Interiors, Level 2, 490 Crown St (Just around the corner from Ignite before the Clock Hotel)
Dress: Casual civvies, partners welcome!
Nibbles and light refreshments provided.

RSVP to comments or to pj@ignitehealth.com.au

Time to Share

What has been your experience so far with the 4 week Intensive?? It is powerful to share and declare your experiences with others, good, bad or otherwise. You may be inspired by what others are experiencing and you too might have something to offer others facing the same challenges as you. Wow, if they can do it I can do it!

Please post challenges, successes, general observations as to how your feeling to comments. We'd like to share your level of commitment and your experiences with the wider Ignite community, almost all of whom share your goals!If you don't want your comment to be used on the 4 week Intensive board, that's fine, please say "don't use" at the end of your post.

PJ

Rate Your Intensity

One of the ways that we can improve our results is by increasing our exercise intensity.

Rate your intensity every session by using an effort scale from 1 – 10.
Let’s forget about 1-5 (you’re sleeping or at home on the couch, or sitting at your desk).
6 out of 10 is a brisk walking pace – you are putting in some effort, but you can comfortably hold a conversation.
7 out of 10 starts to feel a bit more challenging, you can feel your heart rate increasing and could talk whilst taking a breath every four or five words.
8 out of 10 you are now needing to take a breath every couple of words if talking.
9 out of 10 there’s not much talking going on now
10 out of 10 we never really get to a ten because we always keep a little bit in reserve in case of emergencies!

So, can you talk whilst you’re training? Where do you put your intensity on the scale? Where do you think you could go with it?

BY NADINE

Half Time

Hi Everyone,

Congratulations, you are half way through the 4 week intensive. I trust you're all sticking to your guidelines! :)

A few of the changes you've made that may have been hard at the start may be starting to get a little easier at this point? Perhaps this won't be the case for all the changes you've made, however after another 2 weeks and I'm sure some of these changes will become healthy new habits that just happen automatically.

Good luck with the second half of the 4 week intensive. Remember your results will be a reflection of 1) How strict you implement your guidelines and 2) How strict you set your guidelines in the first place. Post your challenges and success at the 2 week mark to comments.

Cheers all,

PJ

MOUNTAIN BREAD

A good way to reduce your nutritionally empty carbs is to substitute our normal bread with Mountain Bread wraps. Enjoy 1 or 2 wraps for lunch. We recommend the Rye Mountain Bread Wrap.

Sample filling:
30g ham/roast beef/chicken
1tbls of avocado
Cucumber
Spinach
Mushroom

Or

30g tuna/smoked salmon
Capers
Low fat cottage cheese
Rocket
Olives

ENJOY lunch! We Love mountain Bread wraps!

By KAT

The Benefits of Strength Training

When our goal is to lose body fat we automatically think that we need to increase our cardio which is certainly an important part of the equation.
Another way to reduce body fat is through strength training, not only does it burn the calories while you’re training, but the lean muscle that is developed boosts your metabolism helping you to become more efficient at burning calories at rest.
Many people fear that they will ‘bulk up’ if they do strength training, but with the correct balance of food that is low in carbohydrates you will develop lean muscle that isn’t ‘bulky’, but firm and fabulous!


By Nadine

Coffee, the good the bad and the ugly

Coffee and caffeine was a topic that received a lot of attention in the group discussions on nutrition on Saturday. I've re posted a blog post that Darren wrote in the past that sheds more light on the most habitual part of most of our diets!

"After having my double macchiatto this morning I thought it pertinent to blog on the effects of coffee on our system.

So as the story goes and depending on who you speak too some will tell you that coffee is good for you in moderation (1-2 day) and some will say that its not good for you in any dose. That's not saying that its bad, as long as its in moderation - but that its just not good. And the purists will say that its bad (but these people don't live and work in Surry Hills).

In my experience speaking to experts in recent years, they say for weight loss and general health there are NO benefits to drinking coffee and that they would recommend in an ideal diet that it be omitted. And they follow that up with, 'but don't even think about taking my daily morning coffee away from me'!

I think that this proves the strength of caffeine on our system and that it is a DRUG that we are easily addicted too.

So my simple and easy to follow recommendations on coffee for weight loss is as follows
1. have less than you are having now, shouldn't be anymore than 1 or max. 2/day
2. reduce the milk content to a minimum (so short coffees or long blacks)
3. give your system a complete break from coffee every 6 months for 2-4weeks
4. make sure you drink plenty (2L) of water as coffee leaches your system of water and nutrients

Some interesting links to others thoughts

yourtotalhealth
Crossfit Santa Cruz
How to give up coffee?

By Darren Shaw"

ENERGY JOURNAL REMINDER

Hi All,

Just a reminder, to make sure you're getting into the habit of filling in your Energy Journal daily with when you ate, what you ate, and how much you ate. The more information your trainer has when they review your energy journal, the better they will be equipped to give you constructive feedback and guidance about how your food is going.

Please submit your Week 1 Energy Journal to your trainer by 6:00am on Monday 7th September. Trainers emails:

darren@ignitehealth.com.au

nadine@ignitehealth.com.au

kat@ignitehealth.com.au

pj@ignitehealth.com.au

SLEEP

A person in my group during Saturdays workshop mentioned getting enough sleep as one of the danger situations that they needed to plan for and overcome. Let me run a scenario by you that lets you see how much sleep can influence our lives.

You stay up on Sunday night and enjoy a few glasses of wine and watch a movie that finishes at 11:00pm.
You have trouble getting to sleep because you are still wide awake from staring at the bright TV for 2 hours.
The quality of your sleep is poor because you had a few glasses of wine.
Your alarm goes off at 6:30am after what seems like 2 hours sleep.
You hit snooze a few times and realize when you get out of bed that you only have time for a shower or breakfast. You don't smell too good so you choose the shower.
You get to work and after an hour or so realize you have no energy. Nothing a coffee won't fix.
Lunch rolls around and you realize you forgot all about the salad in the fridge you were meant to bring in. You're starving so get some take away.
You struggle to get any work done and realize your going to have to stay back late, why am I so unproductive? Better call ignite and cancel my session for tonight.
You get home at 7:30. Your hungry, you've only eaten lunch. One dinner that could feed 4 later and you ready to finally unwind in front of the television with a glass of wine.

REPEAT AND THATS HOW YOU GET OVERWEIGHT


Alternatively:

You read a book after dinner and start to feel a bit drowsy by 9:00pm.
You decide to go to bed and get to sleep by 9:30pm.
Your alarm wakes you up after what seems like an eternity and you jump out of bed into the shower.
You have breakfast remember the chicken salad and the 2 snacks that were pre packed in the fridge.
After your mid afternoon snack at 3:30pm you realize you've gotten all of your work done and wonder if anyone would notice if you left early to train at the gym. You decide they would so you check out whats happening on www.ignite4weekintensive.blogspot.com and pretend you're working.
Pumped to train, you hit the gym on time, increase your deadlift by 5kg and beat your timed workout by 30 seconds.
You get home and despite feeling like you've been eating all day, you eat a small dinner, read a book, and come 9:00pm you start feeling a bit drowsy and go to bed. REPEAT AND YOUR ON TRACK TO YOUR WEIGHT LOSS GOALS

For more info on sleep, how important it is and what you can do do maximize it, check out the links below.

Sleep Article

Sleep Article 2

4 Week Intensive Audio

If you would like to re visit or brush up on any of the content from the presentations from Saturday, below is a link to the audio of the 4 Week Intensive presentations, recorded earlier this year.

www.lose4kilosin4weeks.com

I would recommend you rip it onto your phone or MP3 player and listen to it when driving (or even better when walking!) to keep your guidelines in the forefront of your mind.