Strong vs Skinny

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Any time a woman decides she is going to go on a diet or start exercising, she often thinks – "I'm sick of looking like this, I want to get skinny."  The problem is though, I don't think 'skinny' is the right description of how they actually want to look.  In the end, most women just want to lose fat.  But when you become skinny, it's because you've lost a lot more than just fat – you've also lost muscle, water, energy, nutrients.  

Muscle is what defines our body.  

Muscle is what makes us look trim and toned.

Muscle is sexy.

Check out the picture below – you can see a 'muscly' fit woman vs. an almost anorexic 'skinny' model.

 

I really hope you agree with me on this one that the woman on the left (in yellow) looks strong, confident, toned and sexy.  The one on the right looks boney, emaciated, sickly and quite unattractive!

If you don't agree with me on this matter, then you are in the wrong place and are not going to gain anything out of the information on this website.

I am a huge advocate for being fit over skinny.  Women who are fit and toned look great in everything – as well as nothing at all….. And having muscle doesn't mean looking like a massive body building freak – it means having curves and bumps in all the right places.  It means being strong and confident and above all else – you feel freakin' awesome!!

To look like the skinny bean above, you have to eat lettuce and celery all day, but to look like the sexy hot mama on the left, you get to eat several meals a day made up of all sorts of delicious food.  You will also be healthy from the inside out, where as Little Miss Skinny is more than likely extremely malnourished, has health issues and next-to-no energy at all.  

What do you have to do to look like our fit, sexy woman?  

Simply follow a fitness program that involves both resistance training and interval training and eat a well balanced diet.  If you don't know where to start looking for one, check out my Mummy Boot Camp @ Home Program – it includes everything you need to get you well on the way to looking and feeling like Jessica Biel (below) – she is one strong, sexy, woman!  And best of all, you can do it all in your own home!

 

 

To Your Health & Success, 

 

 ~ Linds

Pregnant and Teaching Boot Camp

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Hi Everyone!  

I thought it was about time I started writing a bit more about myself and my own journey.  

Mummy Boot Camp has been my baby for 6 months or so now and I am loving it each and every week.  My clients are fantastic and exercising and teaching outdoors is a real buzz.

Half of my group are mums and half are not – we don't discriminate at Mummy Boot Camp – all are welcome.  In fact, when I started Mummy Boot Camp, I myself was not yet a mother.

That however, is about to change.  Mummy Boot Camp has a new trainer on board, literally.  I'm carrying him/her as we speak.

I found out around mid-November that I was pregnant, which was such wonderful news – except not being able to tell many people for a while….

I am now 22 weeks pregnant and on the down hill run, as they say.  Very exciting times ahead indeed.  Even though I'm a little late in sharing this journey with you, I want to go back and let you know how it's all been going….

When I found out I was pregnant, I was 59kg, around 22 on the BMI scale and a 8-10 AUS dress size.  All in all, I was more than happy with my current shape and not to mention my fitness levels.  

This being my first pregnancy, I really didn't know what to expect.  As I found out very quickly, it doesn't matter how many books you read or how many mothers you speak to, every woman is different.

Well, I felt like I had been hit with a Mac Truck!  Talk about fatigue…. Being a pretty active person, I found this very debilitating.  Even if I'm not physically active, I've almost always got something on the go and for my body to more or less just STOP, I found it extremely frustrating and had to give in to the exhaustion.  Luckily for me, nausea wasn't as bad as many women I know.  I was lucky enough to not cop incessant vomiting or be completely turned off food.  I more or less just felt hung over everyday but without the fun night the night before…haha.   And, as far as food went, I was eating wayyy more than usual, although most of my cravings were for fruit – which at least helped with not gaining excessive weight.

One of the greatest things I had during this time was my boot camp.  Although I was super tired, I found it forced me to do some exercise even when I didn't feel like it and the best part was after I exercised, I got felt revitalised – even for just half an hour afterwards.  It really did help get me through the weird changes that were going on in my body.  I had to back off in the intensity, but just getting my body moving and focussing on the good parts really did wonders.

Finally, I got to spill the beans and tell everyone the good news…. My boot campers were ecstatic for me – especially considering many of them are mothers themselves.  Although, they really can't wait until I have this baby so they can tease me about weakened pelvic floor muscles, which we all know is a side effect of pregnancy and giving birth!

From about Week 16, I have been fortunate enough to have gained back a huge amount of energy and no more nausea and it feels wonderful.  As far as my diet goes, I have pretty much just eaten when I'm hungry and eaten what I feel like at the time.  I have to admit, those first 12 weeks did see a lot more instant or take out meals than I would like to admit, but that fatigue really did hit hard.  For the rest of the time though, I just ate – and still do – foods that I would normally eat before (minus cold meats, raw egg and raw fish).  

According to those around me, I am barely showing (check out the photo and decide for yourself), although my clothes seem to tell a different story, seeing as most of them no longer fit!  But at 22 weeks through, I am happy to announce that our most recent scan and my doctor say baby is the right size and my size is great too.  On weighing myself this week, i am now only 63kg ~ a whole 4 kg heavier than when I found out!  I don't know for sure what the cause of this is but I believe it has to do with continuing some sort of exercise routine and not stuffing my face with all manner of 'bad' foods.  

What exercise do I do?

I am still running short distances, but at a much much slower pace and absolutely no more than 5km in one go.  There are all sorts of opinions about whether you should continue to run or not.  My opinion is this:  If you ran regularly before and it feels good, then go for it, just ease off the speed and distance and if it feels like it's getting too hard – STOP.  Why would you want to push through when you have a baby on board?  That obviously doesn't make sense….

My main form of exercise though, is strength training.  It is really important to keep your muscles working.  Apart from keeping up some level of fitness and muscle tone, it has been well documented that it will lead to an easier birthing process.  Let's face it, labour is one of the hardest endurance events you can do, so the fitter and stronger you are the less fatigued you will get and the easier it should be!  It also helps keep those pesky pregnancy pounds from creeping up too high and will make it easier to shed them once your baby arrives.

That's about enough of an update for the moment, but I will keep posting my progress and more importantly, after my baby is born – show you exactly what I do to get my old body back!  My fiancee and I were supposed to get married on July 14, but bubs has decided that he/she wants to spoil those plans by being due on July 20! So now the wedding has been postponed to December 9th, which gives me almost 5 months to get my baby body back into my stunning Roz la Kelin gown.  What an incentive!

Until next time – train hard, eat well and look after yourself and your loved ones.

~ Linds :-)

New Year – New You!

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Well, Christmas is over and the New Year is only a few days old.  Like many others this time of year, I wonder if you have over eaten and under exercised during the holiday period.  It is easy to do and let's face it – it's a lot of fun!

There are so many guides out there telling you how to survive the holiday season, but be honest with yourself….How hard do you really try to adhere to any sort of dietary or fitness rules over this time?  There is so much food and so little time for exercise with all the running around organising presents and social events – it's any wonder we don't all blow out like balloons!

There is a saving grace.  It is not a terrible tragedy to have indulged yourself over Christmas and you shouldn't feel bad about it.  The best way to combat any extra pounds is to re-focus and concentrate on what you can do now to make up for it.  

Every year, I'd say 80% of people make a New Year's Resolution to go on a diet or new exercise program or to lose weight etc etc….  (These aren't reported statistics, just my own estimations).  My next guestimate would be that only around 20% (if that) actually follow through with that resolution.  So, if you are in that 60% or so who want to make a change but never end up doing it, it sounds like you just need a friendly push….

One of the best forms of motivation for weight/fat loss is to do it with somebody else.  But not every body has somebody else who lives close enough or who wants to be held accountable.  That's where I have a solution for you…. Instead of trying to find someone you already know to drag outside for a run or start weight watchers with you, why not join a group of like-minded women who all have the same goal (to lose weight and become healthier) and at the same time make some invaluable friendships.  That's what Fit la Femme's Mummy Boot Camp is all about.  Making new friends and working together to achieve our goals as a group.

To give you an example of how great Mummy Boot Camp works, one of our members lost 8kgs and over 30cms in her first 4 weeks, another lost 2kg and over 15cms (Check out their testimonials here).  Not to mention the fitness results our girls have achieved.  They are stronger, fitter, determined and such terrific motivation to each other.  Three of our members ran 5km non-stop for the first time at the Sussan Classic Fun Run whilst raising much needed funds for the Breast Cancer Network Australia.

Here is a video of me with two of the girls during the Sussan Classic….

These are all real women and mums just like you.  They joined Mummy Boot Camp with a goal to lose weight and found they achieved so much more than that.  The friendships that have formed and the trust and commitment to each other is absolutely inspiring.

The next Mummy Boot Camp starts on 24th January 2012 at Cheong Park, Eastfield Rd, Croydon South.  You only have to commit to four weeks, but I have no doubt that once you see the amazing results you get, you'll be signing up for more.  But don't leave it until it's too late.  Places fill up fast and there are only 15 spots available!

Contact Lindsey on 0408353111 or at lindsey@fitlafemme.com.au to secure your spot today!!  Make 2012 your best year yet!!

P.S. Check out Jill's and Keralie's testimonials here!

Mummy Boot Campers Rock!

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We had the final session of Mummy Boot Camp on Saturday and it was a gorgeous day!  The sun was shining, the birds were singing and my boot campers were once again giving it their all!

Seeing as it was the last session of this boot camp, I decided that it should be a little bit more on the fun side…. We started off with playing a game of 'BALLS'.  Four teams battled it out to complete each exercise on the balls they collected – aiming to be the group with the most balls when they all ran out.  There were 100 balls in total with different exercises on each.  Lots of work but they powered through it!

Next was followed by a Pyramid of Fitness Challenge.  Each round one boot camper was knocked out until we were left with only two.  As it turned out, the two left were sisters!! The girls started out well with the challenge but in the end decided to finish together and call it a draw…. no need to prove anything within the family!  It was a terrific challenge and everyone put in a stirling effort.  Another game of hospital tag, then we finished up with a BBQ.

Not just any BBQ mind you, this was definitely one of the healthiest BBQ's I've ever been to.  It was fantastic to see everyone contribute to a healthier way of eating and let's not forget – it was absolutely delicious!!!

I want to say a huge thank-you to my boot camp team and let them know how far they have come already in just four short weeks!  They are all very proud of themselves and each other and are such a friendly and social group.

Stay tuned for some of the amazing results the girls achieved over the four week camp….

 

In the words of one of my wonderful boot campers,

"Strong, united, encouraged, beautiful, enduring, all-conquering amazing women who had the best time, who loved our trainer and who are in for some more. Yahhhh! Go girls!!!!" ~ Pam

Very proud of all of their efforts and their new t-shirts!!  It was just a pity we were missing three of our group for this shot…..

How good does that food look?!!  Yummo!!

November's camp has just started – looking forward to more sensational results and fun packed times!!

~ Lindsey