Beyond Fit

Popping this here again as we are about to head into term 2, Holidays are finishing up soon!

Term 2 brings boxing to a Monday night now in Kumeu at 6.30pm

And Pilates stays as is on Waitakere:
Tuesday 6.15pm
Thursday 9.15am

Come join us for a great workout within a great community 🤎

PM me for details 👌

In a world where there is real stress or our bodies are thinking we are being chased by a tiger but in reality we just have a million things on our plate, How can we fill our cup and what tools can we use to help with stress?

This is really an individual answer to what serves you and what really does fill YOUR own cup. You need to decide and look at what makes you feel happy, what gives you energy and joy?

Make sure you also speak to your loved ones, your boss, whoever you need too if some of your stress is caused by other people or outside factors, and see what you can do there to ensure this stress is managed or eliminated, because if it’s not and it’s always going to be there and it causes you big stress, no amount of ‘filling your cup’ is going to help you here.

Top 4 tips!

1. Awareness around your stress
Get some awareness and identify where your main stress is in your life. Once you are aware of what needs to change, then you can take steps to change it. Look around you at your relationships, your job, your kids, your lifestyle etc and see what you can identify that causes you to become stressed, grumpy, low, sad etc and work on finding a solution

2. Movement!!! (my fav)
Movement is SO good for stress relief. You will never feel bad after moving your body, it does wonders for your brain, the endorphins and happy hormones that pump around your brain after movement is the same effect as taking an anti-depressant (and which one has the fab side effects…. Exercise!)

I always feel better after exercise. Always. It immediately changes my mood.
Doesn’t matter if it’s a boxing class or pilates class, good strength session, a walk, all of the above changes my state and does wonders for my brain and body.
One thing to add though is – if you are SUPER stressed out, then going ‘hard’ in an exercise session isn’t a great idea, this is when you would do something more like yoga or have a nice walk, something like that because hard exercise won’t help the stress levels – but a more gentle practice such as yoga or a walk will be highly beneficial for you.

3. Grattitude/Journaling
Spend 5-10 minutes each day focusing on all the aspects of your life that you are grateful for. You can’t be stressed when you live in gratitude. Practice your journaling daily and affirmations. Even if you don’t believe it, when you say it and write it down and practice gratitude and focus on filling your cup and doing things each day that make YOU feel GOOD, you will feel better! Catch up with a great friend who always makes you feel happy and joy!

4. Eat Good Food
If you are needing extra supplements and help for stress, sleep, adrenal fatigue etc, then I highly recommend you see a great naturopath (ask me for recommendations), as sometimes we do need some supplements and extra support.

However, remember, there is no magic pill that can make up for a lousy way of eating, too much alcohol and sedentary lifestyle. This has to be number 1!

These things sound super simple right... it's because they are! Get back to basics, live simply and with health and happiness (just like they do in the blue zones where they live the longest and healthiest in the world!).

You see when you look after your body with great food, more plants, when you move your body daily and get puffed, and when you lift weights, you are building muscle, burning fat, improving your sleep, your mood, your happiness.

Without a pill or injection needed. All super simple basics (also with delicious things like chocolate as well!)

We want to work on lowering cortisol, reducing belly fat, reducing stress and fixing our sleep.

We want to feel in control of our health, our bodies and our food so we feel empowered with balanced hormones. We don't want to put on 10kg in peri-menopause, we don't want to feel like 'this is just how life is'

This ISN'T how life should be. It's the western diet of UPF and less activity and connections that have turned this into the bad health some of us have now.

If you're ready to turn this around, comment below 'ready' or flick me a PM as I have space to work alongside you. If you're ready, then so am I. Let's go!

xx

Breakfast… some would say the most important meal of the day. Others not so much …

However if you are skipping breakfast, living on coffees instead and feeling anxious and wired, then I’d love you to try eat some breakfast and have your coffee later.

I have a client on our current hormone empowerment programme who has done just this as all the anxious, wired feelings have gone and she’s feeling so much better.

Could you try it too? Do you need help with brekkie ideas?

If you do, hit me up! Comment ‘brekkie’ below and I’ll send them over to you!

A
X

After seeing my mum in a rest home and the condition of those elderly, I know which option I will be choosing!

Most people don’t take action until the s**t hits the fan, until their doctor tells them too, until they break a hip, until they get a terrible illness, don’t let this be you!

You will live your life with far more quality of your life are fit, healthy and strong 💪

I did my very first podcast interview with Renee Dimment yesterday where we talked about all things hormones and some very personal things, my first one and it was a great chat :)

But when we broke it all down - you know health, it is just so super simple really. It's just pretty basic stuff, all the confusion with so much noise really does confuse people, they get overwhelmed and don't know where to start so they don't.

Health, it really comes down to good whole real foods, loads of fibre and loads of colour, eat your fruit and loads of veggies - all the colours of the rainbow! Diversity is a beautiful thing here.

Your plant based healthy fats, your legumes, your protein sources, quit the amount of Ultra Processed Food you are consuming, move your body, strength train, get into the community and connection as this is so vital for health.

All these things are pretty basic and take us back to the Blue Zones where they live this way, they live the longest and healthiest and happiest as they have all these pillars of health.

There is absolutely room for birthday cake and good chocolate! Just not as much as we may be having. Stick to the 80/20 rule.

It's so interesting that never before have we had access to so much information, yet never before have we been sicker...

If you need help or want to chat anytime, I would love to help you cut the bo****ks and get back to basics # # #

You know the cycle…

💥 Eat super healthy all week
💥 Restrict yourself all week
💥 Workout every day
💥 Weekend arrives and boom! Indulge

Binge
Drink too much
Don’t move as much
Feel s**t

Then start again Monday …

I-GET-IT

I did this for waaaaay too many years and though I am much better now, those demons still linger sometimes…

Try this… allow yourself 2 pieces of chocolate every day, allow yourself a piece of cake if it’s there. Allow yourself to eat the thing during the week too, just one piece, enjoy it and carry on as usual. Don’t restrict too much.

Aim for 80/20 balance. If you want a piece of chocolate - have it. Just not the whole block.

It takes alot of rewiring but too much restriction can lead to binge eating and making you feel a whole lot worse xx

➡️How did we get here?

How have we arrived in midlife with all these symptoms in menopause?

How is it that society is sicker than ever, but with access to more information than ever?

How is it we are staying alive with pills?

How is it in the Blue Zones, they don't experience poor health and menopause symptoms like we do?

Sugar & processed foods, food chain, food supply, changes to medication, never before have we been encouraged to take so many supplements, contraception, and what about alcohol, we are only just learning the effect of alcohol and the preservatives and additives on the gut microbiome and the liver.

Never before have we seen so much chronic disease caused by the western diet.

The mediterranean diet is very powerful to follow as we age.

There are hormonal changes that are happening as we are biologically ageing – even though our brain feels young, our body is changing!

Our lifestyle and dietary history, it is important to take that into account, we may have been exposed to a lot of different chemicals over the years, also many women are experiencing a lot of stress in their life.

If we think about our lifestyle and ageing then we can start to allow our health to improve by empowering our knowledge, changing our habits & go into the rest of our life looking and feeling so much better.

Freshen up your fridge and prepare the pantry!

If you want to change your gut and overall health – then you need to be really disciplined about the types of foods you are eating.

Can your fill your fridge full of fresh beautiful veggies? Is there any markets that sell organic or fresh fruit and veggies around you?

This is an amazing way to support small business but to also get the most natural produce.

Can you cut back on the takeouts and make your food fresh from scratch? It tastes so much better and is so much healthier! Love pizza? Cool! Home-made pizza is the best and with fresh natural ingredients you can still eat pizza and still be healthy.

I'd encourage you to look into the Blue Zones way of living. Community, laughter, movement, fresh air, fresh food - all the things they have in common make for a healthier happier life.

It's about time we got back to basics and implemented alot of these into our own lives and take back control of health!

Why do you feel like you are on a roundabout and stuck on your health and fitness goals? Do you feel like you are just going around in circles and not getting anywhere?

Maybe you are following advice for a 20 year old and you are in your 40s or 50s...

Maybe you are chasing a weight you used to be in your 20s and 30s...

Your body changed after 30, Your body changes dramatically after 50, different body, different requirements. Things change, so adapt and change with it and you will feel amazing again!

Maybe, just maybe these things above could possibly be some reasons as to why you are stuck. I know how hard it is when you get into your 50s and your body has a mind of it's own!

How can you avoid hiding in oversized clothes? Not being able to fit your jeans, avoiding a swim because as much as you'd love to go in, you don't want to be seen in a swimsuit.

I know exactly what this feels like, I hear women talking about this often and I've actually felt these things myself.

Right now I am week 2 into a pilot hormone empowerment program for women experiencing changes to their hormonal health and empowering them to really take charge of their health, and I love helping women thrive in this time of life, not 'survive' on pills and continue to feel like rubbish.

I can help you now though. If this sounds like you, don't wait another 3 months, don't wait until next Xmas, stop thinking about it and decide that you are going to be stronger than that and be done with this yo yo frustrating cycle.

I have multiple options available for you, I can make it affordable for you as I know things are tough for many! But without your health, you have nothing, so get help, you can do it reasonably, you can do it with friends (even better!!) and you CAN get the results and support you need.

Your call...

For now, think about those questions and ask yourself if you are doing the above and if you need a different approach.

I'm here, message me and let's chat about your options, it may be easier than you think!

If there was a magic pill for weight loss, would you take it?

If it was easy and the weight just fall off – I would imagine many people would.

Now there does seem to be this ‘magic pill’ out there in the form or these weight loss injections.

Now I KNOW that for certain people, this can be life saving and there is a place for them. Health conditions like obesity or diabetes, I can see the need for these measures when it’s needed.
But right now, it’s worrying me that these drugs are being handed out to people who don’t have a huge amount of weight to lose or health conditions & I’m not entirely clear on all the side effects and the impact on these as of yet.

I am hearing and reading that you lose muscle on them. This is NOT good. I’ve heard they aren’t good for you gut and ruins your metabolism – once again, I’m not 100% clear on all of this but this is what most health professionals are talking about.

I’ve always talked about the ‘magic pill’ and am against ‘quick fixes’ for weight loss as I know long term they don’t work and the weight and habits tend to come back.

In order for LONG term lifetime results, you need to have an eating plan and exercise plan that supports your health with nutrition & to move in a way you enjoy and love that you can maintain for life, stay active and young for as long as possible.

The injection supresses your appetite, But do you learn anything? Do you change your habits? Do you change your mindset around food? Do you neglect doing any exercise because you don’t need too as the weight is just falling off?

Things to think about….
• It’s expensive
• What happens when you stop?
• Are you willing to risk losing muscle?
• Are you changing your habits and thinking about how you will introduce good nutrition and movement back into your life after you stop so you can maintain the weight loss?

At the end of the day, it’s always your life and your decision & I don’t judge what you do, I know the need for it in some cases.

However, I am concerned about people getting access to it who could get the results they wanted in a much healthier (and yes slower) way.