You Want Results Then?

So, you're gently walking along and eating some lemon drizzle cake. Do you really think thats what it takes to lose weight?

No, time for a wake up call.

You need to work hard and be 100% with your nutrition. Simple as that. There are no short cuts, no quick fixes, no fad diets that work.

You need to eat right all the time and work hard on your exercise.

You can use the oatcake recipes and lemon drizzle cake as part of that healthier eating but if you eat them all or sit down and eat slice after slice of the cake, you will NOT lose weight. Be careful with what you eat and remember to stop eating when you are full, doesn't matter what you eat, if you over eat you'll not lose fat.

I said I would post up the kind of exercises I did. Weight training is essential if you are serious about burning fat. Cardio works to a point but for many reasons it is simply not the most efficient way to burn fat. Look it up if you like, I did. Cardio takes time, a lot of time and burns calories while you are doing it, thats all. Weight training takes less time if you work out efficiently, burns loads of calories AND continues to burn calories for days after you finish. it is simply a better way to burn fat.

'I don't want to look like Arnie!' I hear you ladies shouting. You won't. Simple as that. In order to put on the amount of muscle that Arnie did you have to eat loads. Basically if you aren't lifting weights you need to be eating. You can't build muscle without fuel. And as we are on a low calorie input there is no way we can put on that kind of bulk. Sure, you'll see better definition as your body fat% decreases and that is how to look good.

So what exercises to do?

If you don't want to invest in a set of adjustable dumbbells (£40 at Argos) then you can start with bodyweight exercises.

The kind of exercises you want to are those that move the most amount of muscles with every repetition of the exercise. Start with simple exercises: Press ups, shoulder presses, tricep extensions, chest press, chest flys, squats, lunges and bicep curls. 3 sets of 12 with a medium weight that you can lift where the 12th rep is difficult. Do that three ties a week, walk your four miles every day, eat well and clean and you will lose a good 2 or 3 pounds a week guaranteed.

Youtube the exercises to see how to do them properly.

Note there are no Abs exercises here. Why? Well, because they are a complete waste of time. In order to see your abdominal muscles you need to have a single figure body fat%, we all have six packs they are just hidden under the fat. Doing sit ups and crunches will not make your six pack come through, losing fat will.

In any case I'd put money on the fact that press ups and squats are better admoninal exercises that crunches and sit ups anyway.

Enjoy!

Russ.

oat cake update

Can I just say that the oat cakes benefit from the addition of salt?

Thank you.

Krish x

Kids' treats

It has come to my attention that some of you are claiming that you 'fell off the wagon' this weekend because you raided the naughty cupboard.  When questioned as to why there is such a thing in your house as a naughty cupboard, I am given the cow eyes and some flannel about, 'Just because I'm on a healthy eating thing doesn't mean the children have to suffer.  It's not fair to take away their treats.'

First off, healthy eating shouldn't be so hard it feels like you are suffering.  If that's how you feel, you are doing it wrong!

Secondly, how is feeding your children healthy food making them suffer?  How is feeding them all the crap you have decided is bad for you treating them?  What message are you sending to your children if you eat differently to them?

Why on earth would you make one of the best decisions you could ever make in your life to eat more healthily and to cut out all the processed rubbish and then feed exactly that to your kids?  That is not doing them any favours at all!

You want your kids to grow up with a healthy attitude to food, an attitude where they see great nutritional choices as an everyday, run-of-the-mill occurrence.  So practice what you preach!

My kids genuinely love the oatcakes I make as well as the blueberry cupcakes and lemon drizzle cake. They will also polish off a box of chopped up raw veggies as readily as other kids demolish giant packets of crisps.

Stop buying your kids biscuits and crisps and processed mush!  

Not only will it benefit them (and remember, if they are not offered alternatives, they will eat what you give them eventually.  No kid will voluntarily starve themselves) but it will benefit you as there won't be any crap to fall off the wagon onto!


Krish x

Lemon Drizzle Cake

So, by popular demand, the next recipe is lemon drizzle cake, without the usual flour or refined sugar and using 1tbsp of olive oil instead of butter.

I was asked if I had worked out the calorie and fat content of these recipes but as the K-Loss way doesn't believe in calorie counting and we all know healthy fats are OK, the answer is: I haven't.

Ingredients

1 tin of chickpeas in water drained and if in salted water, give them a rinse first
1 heaped cup of ground almonds
1/2 cup of milk powder
1/4 cup agave nectar or honey
2 whole eggs
2 egg whites
1 tbsp olive oil
zest of 3 lemons (save juice for drizzling)
1tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda

Method

Put chickpeas, agave nectar (or honey), eggs, olive oil and lemon zest in the food processor and whizz until smooth.
Add dry ingredients and whizz until mixed.
Line a loaf tin with baking parchment
Pour mixture in and bake at around 180 degrees until golden and a skewer comes out clean
Leave to cool in the tin for around 10 minutes, it will sink a bit in the middle
Prick holes all over the cake with a cocktail stick
Mix lemon juice from two of the lemons with 1tbsp of agave nectar and drizzle over cake
Remove from tin and leave to cool on wire rack.

Hope you like it

Krish x

To drink or not to drink?

I was a little shocked, recently, to hear on the news that we are being advised to have two days off alcohol a week.  The implication being that we are drinking alcohol every day of the week.  If this is the case, no wonder so many of us have trouble shifting the pounds.

I am often asked if giving up alcohol altogether is part of our nutrition plan.

It depends what your goals are.  The nutrition plan that Russ and I have developed is a nutrition plan for life.  It is not a 6 week diet and it is not something to be dipped in and out of.  As a result, we tried to make it as sustainable as possible.  That means that while you are on the fat-loss program, you need to stick pretty much 100% to it.  Once you have reached your target size, you can move onto the maintenance part of the nutrition guide.  This means you can be more flexible whilst still remaining within the key principles of the plan.

The point of this is that many people find they are yo-yo dieting.  We want to avoid this by changing eating habits for a healthier life.  For life.

So, if you are on the fat-loss program, the answer is: no alcohol.

If you are on the maintenance program and you don't want to pile on the pounds again, then you are going to have to have more than 2 days off alcohol a week.



Krish x

Cake.

So, by eliminating flour and sugar from my diet (even the brown varieties) that cuts out cake.  

And I am a BIG fan of cake.

Even once you're over your carb cravings (it took me maybe a month or two) there are still going to be times when you need a bit of cake so I've experimented and come up with a few recipes that work.

The first one I'm going to share with you is blueberry cupcakes.

This isn't strictly carb free because of the chickpeas but it isn't made with flour or sugar - agave nectar and honey are sweeter than sugar, so you need less.

Ingredients

1 tin chickpeas, drained

¼ cup agave nectar (or honey)

2 egg whites

2 whole eggs

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cups of blueberries (frozen and thawed are fine)

heaped ½ cup of ground almonds

level ½ cup of milk powder

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda


Icing ingredients


Greek yoghurt
Agave nectar

Method

Add chickpeas, agave nectar, eggs and olive oil to food processor and blitz until smooth.

Mix dry ingredients together.  Add to food processor and blitz until combined.

Dollop mixture into paper cases about 2/3 full then add around 4 blueberries per cake - dont put in too many as the cakes won't hold together

Bake at around 180° until golden and a skewer comes out clean.

If you want to ice the cakes, you can drain some Greek yoghurt for a few hours through a muslin to get rid of as much liquid as possible then add agave nectar to tase and beat with a wooden spoon.  Use this to ice the cakes.  if you add some crushed blueberries, the icing goes a lovely purple colour but ends up a bit runnier.

You can adapt this recipe and add raisins or other soft fruit, anything you like really.  I came up with this by experimenting, so tweak the recipe and post any improvements you come up with!

Hope you like it.

Krish x

What are your food issues and how can you overcome them?

It's very interesting to me how many different psychological holds food has over people.  The girls I have worked with so far have taught me a great deal more than I could have imagined possible about how people think about food.

In order to become fit and healthy, you need to take control of your life.  You need to take control of your eating.  In order to take control of your eating you need to be aware of your eating 'style'.

I have my mother to thank for the fact that I dont have any food issues.  I suppose I see food primarily as fuel and I find it hard to tolerate fussiness in others, especially my own children, when there are so many people on this planet with limited (if any) food choices.  My attitudes towards food are pragmatic.  You eat what you are given and you are thankful for it.  You don't whine about it and you certainly don't become greedy.

That isn't to say I dont struggle when I'm hungry.  If I haven't planned properly, I find I get to the point where I'm so hungry I can't think straight and that's when the less healthy choices are made.  And they are choices.

So for me, with no food issues, it's really easy. I make sure there aren't any bad foods in the house (as I have virtually no self-control) so there are no biscuits, crisps or cakes to snack on when I can't think straight.  And if I have planned my day carefully and I have chopped up veggies or have Greek yoghurt and fruit or nuts and raisins there, when I get suddenly hungry (and it doesn't creep up on you - its a sudden transition from not hungry to very hungry with me) then I have healthy things to stave off the hunger until I can prepare something properly.

Personally, I like to eat small and regular.

I split my day up like this (times are approximate)

8am -         breakfast
10.30am -  snack
12.30pm -  lunch
3.00pm -    snack
6pm -         snack
8pm -         dinner

This way I never have the sugar-fuelled highs and lows and I keep my metabolism on an even keel.  I am one for not being able to think straight when I'm experiencing low blood-sugar.

I'll go into what constitutes a snack and a meal later.

Now, this is all very well for someone like me, with no food issues, who views food as fuel and enjoys fruits and vegetables, salads, fish etc but what about those of you who obsess about food or binge or hate food or are borderline anorexic or bulimic.  What do those people do?

You need to be pragmatic.  You need to look at yourself closely and analyse not necessarily why you behave the way you do with food - that can come later once you have it under control - but HOW you behave with food.  Once you are begin to have an awareness of how you eat, when you overeat etc, then you are in a position to do begin doing something about it.  If you aren't aware of what you are doing, how can you possibly make any changes?

For example, if you are someone who has been able to control their diet rigidly at points of their life, then having 6 meals a day might suit you really well, as you are able to minutely control everything you eat.

However, if you are someone who actually doesn't enjoy eating, who eats very quickly and so eats lots of densely, highly calorific food fast, then planning three larger meals a day may suit you better, that way you are less likely to obsess about it and are more able to relax.

You need to identify when you tend to eat the wrong things and what triggers overeating.

For example, is it simply a lack of planning that gets you to the point of hunger where you grab the nearest thing?  If so, stop buying the crap!  (You should do that anyway)  Make sure there aren't those naughty foods you grab in a hurry in your house.  Exchange crisps for nuts and carrots, cakes for fresh and dried fruit, biscuits for home made oatcakes (see recipes on this blog).  If the bad choice foods aren't there, you cant eat them!

Whatever the reason for your overeating, it doesn't matter half as much if you are overeating raw veggies or Greek yoghurt and fruit.


So my best advice to you at this point?  
Stop buying the crap!
Plan your meals and snacks carefully so you dont get too many highs and lows.
Begin to analyse your own eating habits.


Krish x

What Did I Eat to Shed 40lbs?

For me, diet (and I don't mean some fad but the literal meaning, as in: what you eat) is THE most important factor in fat loss. There is an old saying that says, 'You cannot out train poor nutrition'. There is a lot of old nonsense out there about diet and fitness but that saying, at least I found, is spot on.

If you are a gym member, take a look around. In amongst those that seem to be doing well are those that have been pounding away at the same old cardio machines for hours on end, for weeks, months, if not years, without changing shape at all. This is because they labour under the illusion that they can eat whatever they like as long as they hit the cardio later. They can't. Simple fact. It does not work.

Having said that I am also not one for calorie counting, its pointless. mainly because we all heavily underestimate what we've eaten and measuring portions and weighing stuff out is never going to work for long.

No. What I did was this.

1) Eat consciously and stop eating when you are full even if there is food still on your plate.

This takes some practice, but it gets easier if you just eat slowly and deliberately, thinking about what you're chewing you will soon begin to recognise the signal that your brain sends to let you know you're full. All too often we ignore it because we're watching telly or we feel under an obligation to finish what is on our plate. You'll soon get a feel for your ideal portions and avoid wasting food. but never, ever feel obliged to finish whats on your plate, it is one of the worst habits we get taught by our parents!

2) Eat regularly

Nothing will cause you to fail quicker than being hungry. You must avoid it, particularly at times when your only option is fast food or snacks.

3) Eat protein at every meal

This is a must really. Eggs, cottage cheese, meat, fish anything you fancy.

4) No starchy carbs after lunch.

My rationale for this is purely hormonal. I am no expert but I read a lot of information and  tried to understand it as best I could. You can look it up too but i can summarise it this way: Eating starchy carbs causes a blood sugar rise, which in turn causes insulin to be released into the blood stream. Insulin is a fat storage device. Therefore you dont want it floating around in your blood stream at times of the day when you are more likely to be less busy, or even sleeping at night. So keep them to the morning.

5) No fruit after lunch

This is for the same reasons as above but from the other angle, fruit contains fructose which is sugar. fructose is the sugar our bodies find the hardest to process. eat it in the morning, no problems you'll use it for energy. eat it later in the day, you'll store it as fat.

6) Eat vegetables all the time.

Vegetables are carbs! I am absolutely not advocating a low carb diet here, but its the type of carb that matters. Veggies are fibrous, low cal, high in all sorts of micro nutrients and keep you full. much them whenever you need a snack, keep them chopped up in a big box in the fridge, you can eat these whenever you like, great for bedtime snacking, keeping in your bag for on the go snacking. carrots, celery, peppers, cucumber. by loads of them, chope them all up on Sunday and eat them freely through the week.

7) No 'diet' 'low fat' 'sugar free' 'low cal' 'zero' anything.

If it has this in its title throw it away. It is poisonous chemical muck designed by guys whose job it is to make money/profit and to keep you fat. Believe.

8) Give bread and all flour products a miss.

We live our entire lives between two pieces of bread or dipping bread in other stuff. If you make your own bread or buy it from a decent bakery then OK, now and then. But otherwise consider this: Bread is generally made from white flour, white flour is processed by men in factories, it is essentially sugar and processed sugar at that. It not only makes you fat but keeps you fat. Avoid it. When you do it eat it try spelt flour bread or rye bread instead. White flour, in my humble opinion, is almost single handedly (along with diet drinks and products) responsible for obesity in the western world.

This includes pasta by the way, even the 'brown' stuff. Avoid it. It is making you fat.

Now, heres an example of what I ate on a typical day:

6.30am Breakfast smoothie - 1/2 cup skimmed milk, 2 tbsp of greek yoghurt, 1 scoop protein powder, 1/2 tbsp smooth organic peanut butter, 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 banana, 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries. Whizz it all up! Tasteeeeee! (you can add a bit more milk if you like it runnier, the frozen berries make it nice and cold but you can use fresh if you like it less cool.)

9.30am 2 poached eggs and 1.2 cup of cottage cheese and 1 apple

12.30pm chicken breast or salmon fillet with a massive salad, get creative with your salads! a few nuts on them, beetroot, a bit of cottage cheese loads of leaves and herbs and balsamic vinegar dressing, a dash of olicve oil or half an avocado as your healthy fats (see previous post)

3.30pm protein shake, handful of nuts and seeds and veggie snack

7.30pm chicken or prawn and vegetable soup I always bung a chilli or two in to keep it spicy for that endorphin rush!

more veggies as a snack before bed if you like.

See? I ate loads and often so never felt hungry. Enjoy!

Russ.

A low fat diet will not help you to lose fat.

There is nothing wrong with a bit of animal fat. There is nothing wrong with whole eggs, avocados and olive oil. There is nothing wrong with nuts.
A bit of butter and cheese is fine.
Full fat yoghurt is great.
The skin on the chicken and the fat on the bacon are OK too. A bit of mayonnaise isn't the end of the world either.

A low fat diet is not the way to lose fat.

The very best thing you can do to aid fat-loss is ditch anything that comes in a packet or a box. The fat found in processed foods is lethal. Literally.

By cutting flour and sugar from your diet you will automatically cut out all those processed foods that cause so much damage.

It really is that simple.

Krish x

Running v walking v interval

When my husband and I started this whole fitness/fat loss thing in the spring of 2011, we had principles. No running was one of them. No running, not ever. We decided it wasn't necessary or even desirable, that running was for self-harmers and resulted, more often than not, in some sort of injury.

We discovered that walking every day made a huge difference to fat loss, was low-impact and therefore the risk of injury was greatly reduced. It was also enjoyable and didn't knacker you out.

Trouble is, the more I walked and the more resistance training I did, the stronger and more powerful I felt, until one day the urge to run was too much to resist. (That combined with the idea that I could condense an hour's walk into a half hour run!)

Before I knew it I was running regularly. Not far or very fast but regularly. Then it got cold and windy and rainy and I stopped.

I've had a few months off. I still go to the gym around three times a week but I've stopped running and walking altogether.

On a recent course, we had to do a VO2max test and I had to run on the treadmill which reminded me that I could run. And since then I have started running a couple of times a week again. I'm finding it more enjoyable than I did the first time I discovered running so I'm going to carry on.

HOWEVER...
our principles remain the same: you do not have to run for fat loss and fitness.

Walking is absolutely the best exercise you can do. It is low impact and if you walk fast enough it gets your heart rate raised sufficiently to burn fat.

If, however, you enjoy running, then fine. Just make sure you don't overtrain, rest days are REALLY vital to avoid injury and to gain the most from the exercise.

I learnt something very interesting on my most recent course, that is to train for a long distance, you don't need to run long distances. Begin with a month or so of running long distance to raise your VO2 max, that is your lungs' capacities for providing your blood with sufficient oxygen to fuel your muscles most effectively. Then once you have raised that (there are tests available to test this but I'll go into that separately) then you go onto interval training (sprint, walk, sprint, walk etc.) to raise your lactate threshold which will enable you to make use of that great VO2 max you have developed.

Brilliant. So I am going to run for a month or so then I am gong to switch to high-intensity interval training. We tested our own VO2 max and lactate threshold on the course so I have a benchmark and I'll keep you posted as to whether or not this strategy makes a difference.

I managed 6km this morning after the school run. Many of you will be running way further and faster than me but I think that may be the farthest I've ever run in one go! Remember I only started this in May 2011. Before that I had never done a minute's exercise in my life!

Krish x

Homemade oatcakes

Here is a very simple recipe for oatcakes.  Oatcakes are a staple in my cupboard but I couldn't find any that don't have palm oil in them.  If you're avoiding flour and are not eating bread, then oatcakes are a must! 

They are delicious and great to have plain with a cup of tea.

140g ground oats

140g whole oats

75ml olive oil
Pinch or two of salt

Enough boiling water to bring it all together.

Grind up 140g of oats in the food processor and tip into a bowl with 140g of whole oats. 
Make a well in the middle and add the olive oil. 
Stir with a wooden spoon. 
Keep adding boiling water from the kettle until the dough comes together in a ball. 
Use your hands to get it all together. 

You don't want it to be too dry or too sticky. 

If it's too sticky just add some more oats.

Roll out on a lightly floured surface as thin as you can get it. Cut into the shapes you want and bake for 20 mins at 180 degrees. Turn after 20 minutes and bake for a further 10 until lightly golden.


Can be stored on an airtight container for a week or so.


Krish x

Why can we help?

Realised it might be a good idea to let you know why we think we can help. Well, I lost over 40lbs between April and August 2011. I didn't do any running (although I do now, mainly because I enjoy it), I didn't join a gym, I didn't spend any excessive amount of money. I did buy some home gym equipment that can easily be stashed behind the sofa, I did learn about what to eat (but I never went hungry) and I made the commitment to change.

The reality is that making the change was so simple and really no effort at all. It puts all the fad diets and monthly subscription schemes in to full focus. None of it is necessary if you follow some simple rules and commit to making a difference.

Can you do that? If so, listen in for more and we'll tell you exactly how we did it.

Krish is now training to become a personal trainer, got down to a nice and healthy 8.5 stone and I am seeking to go from relatively lean to very lean for this coming summer. Check out our profile pic, I think we look great for a couple of 40somethings, OK, Krish more than me, but still...

I'll post up my before pics too as soon as I can work out how to do it. Let us know your thoughts and keep an eye out for Krish's diet types and recipes on twitter and the feed on this blog.

Russ

Where to Start?

I guess this is the question that most people ask themselves when they think about losing some fat. If they could just figure out what to do they could get on with it. Well, actually it is fairly simple but it takes you to make a decision. The decision  is this: No matter what, I am committed to making a change.

You need to commit to this, you need to realise that no one but you can do this. Even your loved ones can't really help. They may be supportive but they can't help and in reality they are also the people most likely to put temptation in your way. "Shall we get a pizza?", "Don't work out tonight just get some chocs and lets watch a film." etc. Realise this early and make a commitment, realise that others will throw barriers in your way and be prepared for it.

Once people do make their commitment they then make the biggest mistake of all: "I know! I'll go running!" This is single handedly the worst thing that people can do for some very key reasons:

1) They aren't going to be able to run very far because they are overweight and unfit leading to demotivation and failure, not to mention they will only burn a handful of calories. Just google the percentage of January gym joiners that drop out in March.

2) They are overweight and so running simply hurts and they risk injury.

Fortunately none of this is necessary. Stay tuned and I'll tell you exactly what to do and there'll be no running, I promise!

I just want you to make that commitment, do it now and repeat it to yourself over and over again.

Russ