Have you got your eye on the prize??

So have you set your new years resolutions yet? Have you written down your goals for the year? If you have then great, if you haven’t then sharpen your pencil and get to it! Unless you know what it is that you are heading for how can you ensure you succeed?

The true art of goal setting is being able to see the prize, imagining what it will feels like and living the moment.

This takes practice & most people struggle to start with.

Step 1 - decide what it is that you want, but be specific, I want to lose weight is not enough, I want to lose a stone just isn’t exciting. Something like I want to wear that red dress at the back of the wardrobe, or I want to wear a bikini on the beach in June, or I want to be a size 8 in front of everyone on my 40^th birthday, whatever it is make it sexy and exciting!

Step 2 - Next get an old picture of you wearing the dress, or the bikini catalogue, or a pair of size 8 jeans and stick them all over the show! Stick reminders of your goal everywhere, your mirror, your car, and your bedside – YOUR FRIDGE! Everywhere and anywhere.

Step 3 - Now you need a little imagination, where are you wearing the dress, who is with you, how do you feel? Spending 5 minutes at the beginning & end of each day keeps your goals alive.

Close your eyes and relax, now see yourself walking into the room, feel yourself standing tall, hear the music or chatter of people. What are people saying about you?

Or feel yourself slipping into size 8 jeans, doing them up easily and feeling comfortable.

If at first you find imagining the scenario difficult break it down, play it like a movie in your head. The more you practise the easier this becomes.

Step 4 – Chant your mantra, this should be a few words that sum up your goal, such as

Size 8 at 40,

Look at me now

Bikini on the beach

Probably the most famous example of this is when Kate Moss told us how she manages her weight with the mantra “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” and she is right, think about it……

Does the few minutes it takes to devour a bar of dairy milk feel anywhere near as good as slipping on a pair of jeans, a size smaller than normal and feeling good in them? That feeling lasts all day long, how long did that dairy milk last?

Is eating a whole triple cheese pizza as satisfying as shopping for clothes and asking if they have it in a smaller size?

What’s better opening your wardrobe and being able to wear anything inside as it all fits or another bottle of wine this evening?

Step 5 – be the person you want to be NOW! Don’t wait until you are a size whatever or you weigh how much, live like the new you now. Be the thinner, healthier person you want to become. Eat like them, walk like them, talk like them – go where they go, do what they do and before you know it you will be wearing what they wear!

Lastly, keep your eye on the prize and spend time feeling your success – these techniques are used by some of the world’s most successful people from sports people feeling themselves winning and hearing the crowds as they receive their medal (Mohammad Ali is famous for his accounts of this) to multimillionaires seeing themselves closing the deal.

See it, hear it, smell it – live it!

NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Forget those New Years resolutions

So what are you going to do to make 2011 different???

“You are now at a crossroads. This is your opportunity to make the most important decision you will ever make. Forget your past. Who are you now? Who have you decided you really are now? Don't think about who you have been. Who are you now? Who have you decided to become? Make this decision consciously. Make it carefully. Make it powerfully.”

Anthony Robbins

So how do you feel about ending 2010, are you pleased with your achievements, have you reached and exceeded the goals you had this time last year? Yes, no, not quite

If not how are you going to ensure that this is the year you finally get a grip on things, the year that you stand up and start being the person you want to be.

Are you ready for success, are you really ready to do what it takes to end 2011 having smashed the hell out of the resolutions and goals.

If you want to be a winner you have to take life by the balls and make it go your way!

The first and often hardest step is making the decision to do so.

This may mean you need to learn new skills that take you out of your comfort zone, but do you know what happens when you move out of your comfort zone?

Your comfort zone gets bigger!

You have to decide that you are not going to let unfounded fears hold you back, the thought of our actions is often turns out to be more scary than the action itself - FEAR : False Evidence Appearing Real.

You have to believe in yourself and your capabilities, most of us only use a very small fraction of the power we have, and we are forever talking ourselves down and away from this power, as we grow older our inner voice that tells us we can achieve anything (remember you were going to be an astronaut when you grew up) becomes muted and damped down by the millions of negative and unrealistic messages we are bombarded with each day.

We live in a false world, a world where riches and beauty are sought over happiness and health.

The media is full of the rich, beautiful and way to thin and when we see it we want it too and when we are unable to attain these unrealistic lives we are left with feelings of inferiority, leading to a lack of confidence that can all too often end up with us accepting our current situation.

But in us all is the power to make change, the power to be the very best we can, the power to re program that inner voice and realise our true potential, whether it is health, body shape, a new job, a new partner.

The first step to success is making the decision that you will succeed.

So are you ready to step up to the mark?

Have you made your decision?

Are you ready to push through the boundaries of your comfort zone?

Is 2011 the year you realise your POWER??

Surviving the christmas socials!

First of all Happy Christmas, because it has started hasn’t it, the festivities, the winding down, the odd mince pie here and there, the Christmas do’s and sorry to be a grouch but possibly the start of the extra few pounds you could gain over the season!! Unless you are one of my Xpress campers who have decided to do the opposite and spend the next week ramping it up getting their bodies ready for the Christmas onslaught!

Either way I want to spend the next few days giving you a few last minute survival tips.

So first of all, the Christmas socials ……..

Most importantly don’t leave the house without a plan of attack you could easily find yourself consuming 2000 calories plus before you know it.

So here are some survival rules to follow:

Have a plan – decide what you’re going to eat and what you’re not going to eat before you get there.

Take your own offerings if the party is at home or in the office, such as vegetables crudities, with homemade hummus dips, , fresh fruit and nut salads

Nominate yourself as the driver – with 7 calories per gram alcohol can be a real demon in your fat burning plan. Alcohol is actually a poison to the body and therefore it will try to eliminate it immediately, metabolising those calories before burning fat, meaning it will not be able to burn off the calories you have consumed through food thus adding them to your waistline

A 550 ml can of Stella Artois contains 221 cals, 4 of them and you’ve hit your 1000 calories without even hitting the buffet, or for the ladies a 175ml glass of white wine will be 130 cals, vodka is not too bad at around 50 but then if you add coke you can also add another 70 cals, and any kind of alcopops or red bull type mixes you can be looking at around 220 per bottle.

If you are going to have a few drinks then choose wise, add soda and ice to make the drink longer and sip instead of guzzle! And have a glass of water in between each drink – your head will thank you for this in the morning as well as your waistline!

If there is a meal involved choose wisely, soup or a prawn cocktail (without the sauce!) are great starters, turkey for mains is ok, but go easy on the sauces, the sausages, roasted potatoes, Yorkshires, stuffing etc, try and fill up on the vegetables as much as possible.

A fish course can be a healthy option so can the veggie options, but watch out for extras such as pastry or cheese that top up the cals and remember you don’t have to clear your plate!

If you still have room for desert then the fruit salad will be the best option. But as it’s Christmas and if you really can’t resist then leave half of the desert on your plate, and offer the rest to someone else so it isn’t sitting in front of you!

Try to make the decision before you go that you are going to stay away from the nibbles and appetizers, these are dangerous as they are high in calories and often in bowls where you can easily dip in and out grabbing a handful here and there, 10 dry roasted peanuts are about 45 cals, so a handful can easily come in at 100 cals, and whoever has just one handful?

Do a workout before you get ready! Get yourself moving for 30 minutes and get off to a great start, it will make you feel great and get the blood flow to your muscles giving you a bit more definition and a healthy glow later try a quick run, or circuit of 30 seconds of each of these, repeat the circuit as many times as you can in 20 minutes with little or no rest

Squats Jumping jacks Push ups Skipping ( with or without rope) Plank Burpees Tuck jumps

Lastly, make sure you spend most of the evening on the dance floor and not by the buffet, dancing can burn up to 400 cals an hour, more if you throw a few head spins and windmills, so hit the floor and cut some shapes!

Snowed in workout

My snowed in workout this morning, filmed a bit off the cuff by my partner!!! Hence the poor quality. Anyway, give it a go, should keep you going if you can't get to fitcamp or the gym
Stay warm xx