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18 weeks preggo

Published on May 19, 2010 in Articles, Nutrition Articles and weight loss. 2 Comments

Wow, it’s been a month since I last posted.  Things have been moving along somewhat in the pregnancy department.  I’m over the nausea, well 90% of the time, I did actually have my 3rd spew of the pregnancy just 2 days ago, at 6am before I went for an hour’s walk with Nadia!  Tiredness and insomnia still prevail.  I’m so fortunate I work for myself – I often have 6 hours of work done by 8 or 9am!  If I was an employee, I’d never be able to hold down a job.  So, very thankful for that.

My tummy is getting rather largeish.  Even though little bubba only weighs about 150g!  I have my 18 week scan on Monday, though I am not really looking forward to it for the simple reason I have to drink 1 litre of water an hour before I go.  There is no way I can hold on to that much water.  I nearly pee’d my pants on my walk this morning, and I’d only had a coffee and a water, plus I’d already been before I left!  I’m REALLY worried about it so I’m going to do a test tomorrow morning.  I might have to cut down the time frame and cut down the volume of water.  My bladder it seems can only hold about 1/2 cup before I feel like I am going to burst.  That’s still the reason I wake at all hours of the morning.  My stomach is like a big balloon.

So what else has been happening?

We bought a king size bed – gel top – no movement of other person detectable.  We get it on Friday and I can’t wait.  Next on the agenda is a tall boy and new bedside tables.  And of course new quilt cover and sheets etc.  Going the whole hog.

I am off to the Gold Coast on the 31st May for 7 days.  We are having a lunch in Brisbane on Saturday 5th, and anyone is welcome.  Email me if you would like to attend.  I think we have about 10 going so far.  I can’t wait to catch up with the girls.

I’m going to start pilates when I get back from the Goldy. I found a pregnancy pilates class, but first I have to get my ob’s ok so will wait til Thursday when I see him.  This will be a first for me, never done it before.

I’ve started cleaning out cupboards and re-organizing my house.  It feels good to throw stuff out!

I’m still eating like a horse at times especially after I do some exercise.  My weight gain was bothering me a bit but I figure I need to allow for the fact I was dieting and training 2 x day prior to falling pregnant.  So given that, I think all is ok.  I’m still within the average weight gain, just, so that’s ok!  I also figure that once I get back to my usual lower carb diet, my body will respond pretty quickly.  I feel much better now I have found some decent clothes to wear that actually fit me.  I spent nearly $500 on 3 items at David Jones (Metalicus, not maternity) but they are great and I will get heaps of wear out of them as they are stretchy.  Found some good preggo workout wear at www.pregfit.com.au  So I’m all set for a while.  I’m into maternity jeans and actually love them, so comfy.  Believe it or not my Lorna Jane XS pants still fit me but I’ll be moving up to an S when I go shopping on the Goldy.

I’ve been looking into child care options and we have an appointment on Friday with ABC Learning Centre, which is very handily, just down the road from us.  Can’t hurt to be too organized in this regard I think!

As for Ideal Bodies Online, I have a few projects on the go.  I’ve been searching around for corporate identity kit designers for our new project.  While on this subject, we are looking for expressions of interest from mums who have their PT qualifications or who want to get them, who are interested in a unique new business opportunity.  Email me if you would like some further (still sketchy) details.

Next, I’m busy researching and setting up an affiliate program for our instant programs which will be inproved, revamped and repriced at the same time.  If anyone has a blog, or web site and would like to earn 50% commission on sales, please email me your expression of interest so I can get back to you when things have been finalized.

I had my friend Kerry stay with us a couple of weeks ago for the night, that was lovely to catch up with her (as well as Jodie and Logan) – Kerry has lost nearly 50kg in weight and she’s barely recognizable!  She gave me a harmony ball to wear and I haven’t taken it off yet :)

I’ve started walking 3 x week in the early mornings (ie dark) with Nadia who has moved into Mildura and lives quite close now.  We meet at my usual exercise spot, and do stairs, hills, and a bit of jogging and walking.  I’m still able to do some of this but it’s starting to get a little uncomfortable. 

I just came back from a massage – it hurt but was soooooooo good.  How anyone can live without massages is beyond me.  Already my lower back and hips are tight, well everything is really. 

I am due for a belly shot tomorrow, 18 weeks.  So perhaps I’ll do a short blog and post my (definite) belly pic.

If you missed our recent newsletter, here’s an article for those confused about low carb dieting:

Is a Low Carb Diet Sustainable? (by Sue Heintze)

With the low carb diets craze all the rage these days, one important question to ask is: “Is the low carb diet sustainable?” Can you lose weight and keep it off once you go off a low carb diet?

The quick answer to this question is no. However, don’t stop reading now. As with any successful diet out there, the idea is to turn the diet into a lifestyle of healthy eating. So, as with low calorie or low fat diets, in order to sustain the amazing weight loss achieved on a low carb diet, the dieter must turn the diet into a lifestyle once the excess weight is gone. So, the long answer is yes, a low carb diet is sustainable.

Let’s explore this thought further by examining what happens to the body on a low carb diet. When you stop ingesting carbs or significantly lower your carb intake, your body enters what is called ketosis. Ketosis is when your body is actually using fat for fuel instead of sugar. This state is the very reason why you have rapid weight loss on a very low carb diet.

The other benefit to a low carb diet is the fact that the body isn’t losing muscle providing you are getting enough protein and overall calories and you are lifting weights. Protein is essential for building and maintaining muscle tone and therefore so is exercise, which is why a low carb diet is best for burning fat and keeping muscle, as well as for long term sustainability.

As with any diet, it’s very important to not deprive yourself of essential nutrients like calcium, fibre and protein. Calcium is pretty easy to get on a low carb diet through cheese, cottage cheese and canned sardines or salmon. Protein is also very easy to get from lean meats, eggs, cottage cheese and whey protein. Fibre is probably the most difficult nutrient to obtain from a low carb diet, but you can incorporate some carbs such as brown rice, oatmeal, berries and legumes.

Once the excess weight is off and you’re ready to begin increasing your carb intake, it’s important to do so slowly. The day you hit your goal weight, you don’t want to run out for a tub of ice cream. However, you can allow yourself some treats once in a while, but as with any diet, if you want to maintain your new weight, you must continue to eat healthy and exercise regularly.

Have a great evening everyone.

Sue xxx

Preggo update and stubborn fat

Published on March 28, 2010 in Articles and weight loss. 1 Comment

So I had my 2nd spew last Thursday morning – I got up at the usual 4am and didn’t really feel any more sick than usual but I must have gulped my water too fast (water not really something I am enjoying at the moment, hard to get down).  Straight after the water I was sitting on the floor in the loo.  I must say I felt really good after a good heave, LOL! 

I had a good day yesterday, I even had enough energy to go for a walk, with some stairs and a bit of running – 45 mins all up so was happy with that.  Today I was planning to get my butt in the gym but it wasn’t to be.  I didn’t wake up good today.  I did make myself go for a 30 min walk however.  I also just did some stretching, leg lifts and foam rolling just to get my muscles active!  I’m hoping very soon I will be able to get back to a routine of some sort, for the gym and my eating.  I desperately need to wash my hair but I can’t be bothered today!

Apparently my weight gain (for my starting weight) for the pregnancy should be a minimum of 25lb, an average of 30lb and a max of 35lb.  Holy moly either/or that’s a lot of weight.

We are cooking a rabbit dish tonight, I looooooooooove rabbit.  I remember mum used to make rabbit casserole and it was awesome.  While at Nadia’s the other evening I was browsing one of her recipe books and I found it.  It has onions, red wine, crushed tomatoes, garlic, cinnamon, and other herbs/spices.  I reduced the amount of oil by heaps.  We decided to add carrots and mushies too but I think we may have ruined it because we had to add a lot of water to cover everything.  Oh well, see how it goes.

Now to diet and training stuff (it’s starting to sound like a baby blog).  I had an email from a past client who was having trouble keeping that last bit of fat off.  I’ll share it with you because it seems that many people think that competitors stay competition lean year round. 

Hi Sue:

Thank you for this newsletter.  It’s nice you keep us in the loop.  I have to tell you, I feel like a fool every time, I write you about this.  As you know from all of my past e-mails, I have been  a client of yours for a long amount of time.  But why do I never keep it off completely.

Sometimes you need to give yourself a bit of a break – it’s often the last few lbs that is really hard to get off and keep off without being absolutely religious about it.  That’s why in the off season I don’t mind sitting a couple of kilos over what I’d prefer.  It takes too much work and gets in the way of life sometimes!

I am gaining weight on tummy again.  I hate it.  I am still wearing smaller sizes in clothing, but the weight is gravitating to my stomach.  I’ve purchased many programs from you, and I just need to be on a program which after I finish the program to continue with my results.

Maybe your age has something to do with this too – not saying you’re old by any means (hey I turn 41 very soon), but that is what happens as you get a bit older.  The only thing we can do is train and eat well, and, perhaps get your hormones checked to see if there is some kind of imbalance there.

Usually what I do after I finish the program, is I mess up during dinner and my husband is such a bad deal for me.  He loves his wine at night and his snacks and at times I give in.  I hate it.

Yes, well obviously this will not be helping.  It comes down to what you want the most I guess – choices.  But you should not be so hard on yourself as it is difficult to be so regimented all the time.  Sometimes we need to splurge a little.  As long as you know what ‘phase’ you are in, then I think it’s ok.  For instance, try being ok with it for awhile – then in a month or so you might want to really kick things up a notch and get serious again.  Just give yourself a little leeway and be ok with it once in awhile.  My total effort is when I compete – otherwise I’m a bit more liberal so I can actually enjoy social occasions etc.

Well give me words of wisdom, again.  But tell me my long range solution to keeping a flat stomach.  Help!!!!! Again, hopefully this time I can stay lean without feeling like I am cheating myself.  I’m turning 42 this year, can you believe it, I have to take control.

Basically you need to be on your game the whole time if you want to be in fantastic shape all the time, or be a little lenient every now and then and accept that at these times you might carry a little more.  Your choice :)  It doesn’t happen by chance.

For those who are really keen to get rid of that last little bit of stubborn fat, there is a great 6 week program recently released and designed for precisely this purpose.  It combines different training methods such as lactic acid training, density training and dynamic training, each having a specific effect on appropriate hormones.  Check it out.

http://www.idealbodiesonline.com/final-pha

Ok, well the rabbit was only so so.  The rabbit was good but as we suspected, the sauce was too watery.  Nice and healthy though.

Avoiding the chocolate gifts at Christmas

Published on December 20, 2009 in Articles, Nutrition Articles, food and weight loss. 2 Comments

There are so many Christmas gifts that contain chocolate, that things can turn into a bit of a nightmare if you are trying to cut down on your intake.

As well as the many children’s gifts that contain chocolate such as selection boxes, many of the gifts aimed at adults are also full of it. Chocolates are one of those gifts you give when you can’t think of anything else – after all, who doesn’t like chocolate?

So, how do you avoid it without coming across as some modern day Scrooge who won’t allow any chocolate in their house?

You will quite often find that it is usual at Christmas for your children to receive boxes and boxes of the stuff and they will eat it just for eating’s sake (just like the adults do!). Hence the familiar scenario of young children running around the house like mad things due to the fact that they have overdosed on their fix of sugar on Christmas Day. As far as the kids themselves are concerned, generally they will have so many things to occupy themselves you will be surprised how they won’t even miss the chocolate – so have a quiet word with your friends and family and request alternative gifts to chocolate for your children. Having said that, make sure you buy the kids some chocolate treats yourself every now and then but make sure that you are in charge of when and how much you give them.

And of course it’s not only the kids – there is so much chocolate lying around at this time of year you can’t really help over indulging and end up feeling guilty that you have given in so easily. After all, you don’t want to waste it do you!

So again, a quiet word with your loved ones should do the trick and alternative presents will get rid of this problem. It’s a similar issue at Easter time – I cannot remember the last time I was given eggs at Easter time. My family has been aware for years that I don’t care to have them around – and you know what, I don’t ever miss them! Chocolate isn’t going anywhere, it’s always around if you need it, so why gorge yourself on it at particular times of the year?

I find that the best way for the adults in the family to avoid the chocolate gifts at Christmas is to have an alternative. We have already come to the conclusion that it is a good idea to limit the amount that you have in the house but you should always ensure that you have some kind of healthy alternative which will in effect mean that you won’t really miss the chocolate at all – well not so much anyway.

Try a few bowls of fresh fruit placed around the house and try and get into the habit of picking at those whenever you have a chocolate craving. Or chop up your favourite protein bar into pieces, and have one piece whenever you feel the need. Of course, if you are eating every 3-4 hours as you should be, you should never get hungry enough to want to gorge on chocolate anyway.

If you must have chocolate, get hold of some good quality dark chocolate. It does have a little bit of an acquired taste but once you get used to it, it is absolutely gorgeous and better for you and a little goes a long way.

And of course, Christmas is all about giving, so the best idea by far is to give away your chocolate gifts to someone who will appreciate them. Try the local Salvos or a charity of some description.

Healthy Snacks at Christmas

Published on December 17, 2009 in Articles, Nutrition Articles and food. 2 Comments

Contrary to popular belief it is still possible to have a great time over Christmas with out putting on weight as a result of eating lots of unhealthy meals and snacks.

Here are ten healthy snacks which will ensure that your Christmas celebrations can be enjoyed more than ever without putting on the extra pounds or kilos (depending on what side of the world you are on!).

1. Instead of a turkey sandwich made with thick slices of bread and lashings of butter replace the normal bread with pita bread and leave out the butter. Try replacing the butter with a spread of avocado. You can get small size pitta breads for the children and they taste absolutely delicious. Garnish with a small amount of salad and they will prove to be a popular treat.

2. It is surprising how filling a bowl of salad can be. Most people just associate a salad with boring old lettuce and cucumber but it may surprise you to know that a tasty salad made with chopped up capsicum/peppers, onions, cherry tomatoes and chopped up grapes with some croutons on top make an absolutely delicious salad and completely different to the more traditional salads that most people are used to.

3. Take it easy on the salted nuts. They are very high in calories and a few small bowls of pumpkin seeds in their place will satisfy the same needs but are far less moreish.

4. Fruit. A fruit salad comprising lots of juicy grapes, cherries, berries, apple, banana, kiwi fruit and orange makes a refreshing snack which your body will thank you for.

5. Here is a snack that not many people think of but a fruit or vegeatable smoothie can easily replace a meal and is so very good for you. A smoothie is often just considered to contain fruit but that is not the case. You can extract the juice from carrots and spinach for example and then add in some fruit and you are left with a snack that is absolutely bursting with goodness. Of course you don’t want to overdo the sugar so make it a small serve particularly if using fruit juice. Of course you should try to get some protein with your meals so adding some choc or vanilla protein powder to some low fat milk, some chopped frozen banana and a bit of nutmeg will keep your muscles happy too.

6. Perhaps one of the most delicious snacks I can think of are our protein pancakes. Very simply blend together 1/3 to 1/2 cup of oats, 4 egg whites and 1/4 cup of cottage cheese to form a batter. Add a little sweetener. I like to add some berries then pour the batter into the pan and cook as you would normal pancakes. Serve these delicious pancakes with some sugar free maple syrup and I guarantee that these will be the only kind of pancakes you eat from now on!

7. A baked potato with a filling of low fat cottage cheese is another of my favourites. A mistake many people make is to include a generous helping of butter or sour cream in the potato which really defeats the purpose of a healthy snack, doesn’t it? It is quite often included out of habit and once you get used to your baked potato without the butter you will hardly notice the difference. In place of sour cream try some low fat natural yoghurt.

8. A bowl of low fat natural Greek yoghurt is absolutely sensational, especially when mixed with some berries (yes, I am a big berry fan!) and leaves a fresh taste in your mouth which assures you that you have just eaten something wonderfully healthy.

9. A bowl of muesli (untoasted of course!) or oats does not have to be only eaten at breakfast and it makes a perfect healthy snack which can be eaten at any time during the day (watch the carbs at night if you are dieting though). Feel free to chop up some fresh fruit and add that to give it your own unique twist. Add some cottage cheese for your protein serving, and top with sugar free syrup.

10. Lastly, please remember that it is Christmas and you are entitled to enjoy yourself. A little bit of what you fancy won’t do you any harm!

Double Your Fat Loss…

Published on November 1, 2009 in Articles and weight loss. 0 Comments

We had a lovely evening out with the Robertson’s the other night at Australia’s best steak restaurant (that’s right, right here in ‘lil ol Mildy), the Spanish Bar and Grill. I hadn’t caught up with Nadia properly for months so was great to do so – lots of laughs and a very funny evening.

I’m still a bit crook – I have this nagging cough and was sooooooooooo exhausted that I slept for 12 hours straight on Friday night, followed by 3 more naps the next day (yesterday). Consequently I have missed training both yesterday and today, however I did go for a nice walk/jog this morning at 7am. It’s very, very hot here today and that was the only time you would want to venture outside.

This week is looking rather busy. I received my Blackberry Bold on Thursday and managed to finally open the box yesterday. Now I need to book in to have someone come and set it all up for me (with my Outlook etc).

I have 3 hours of phone chats scheduled tomorrow, then, yippee, a much needed massage at 4pm. Tuesday is Cup Day and still unsure what, if anything, we are doing for that. Thursday is hair day, along with 3 more phone appointments, and Friday more phone appointments.

It’s meant to be very hot tomorrow too so my plan is to get up ultra early again (was 5.30am this morning) and do my cardio, then train mid morning so that I am back in time for appointments. I really must get myself a head set for Skype actually – I meant to do that today. Will write a note this minute!

I will leave you with a little article – it’s pretty basic stuff for many however Ideal Bodies Online is broadening our horizons with some mainstream promotions and much of the gen pop who are trying to lose weight are unaware of how important this aspect is:

Double Your Fat Loss with Weight Training

Did you know that in order to completely reshape your body and keep it that way it”s absolutely essential that you make weight training an important part of your health and fitness program?

Yes, weights! While cardio will definitely help (and has numerous other health benefits), weight training is the key to fat loss. If body fat loss is your goal, resistance training (or working out with weights) has numerous important benefits.

Weight training will do far more for your fat loss efforts, both in losing the fat and keeping it off long term, than low intensity, steady state cardio aerobic training will ever do.

First, an intense weight training session burns calories during the actual workout.

Second, research shows that intense weight training elevates your metabolism for up to 39 hours after your actual workout. In other words, after you finish your weight training session, your metabolism has been stimulated so you will now be burning more calories while you are doing nothing! Your metabolism continues to burn more calories than normal for up to 39 hours after you”ve stopped your workout. This doesn”t happen with typical low/moderate steady state cardio programs.

The carbohydrates you eat will power your intense weight training sessions (which is why you should not completely remove carbohydrates from your diet!). The more intense the session, the more you will deplete your carbohydrate stores and the more fat is burned during the recovery phase, i.e. after the workout and during rest.

As the intensity of the training increases there is a proportionate increase in fat burning after the workout.

One study showed that 15 exercise sessions per month (50 minute sessions at 50 percent of oxygen uptake) could lead to an extra 2 plus pounds per month of fat loss, strictly from the elevated metabolism and extra calories burned -while doing nothing! That”s an extra 26 pounds plus, of fat burned per year.

Remember this is extra fat loss, above and beyond the calories burned during the actual training sessions. It also doesn”t include the extra calories burned from the higher metabolism due to added lean and shapely muscle.

Adding lean muscle is another extremely important benefit of resistance training. Muscle burns calories even while resting. So, the more lean muscle you have, the higher your resting metabolism and the more calories you burn each day while doing nothing. This translates to ”you can eat more food without getting fat!”

Studies have estimated that for each pound of muscle that you add to your body, you burn another 35 to 50 calories per day. So, an extra 10 pounds of muscle will burn approximately 350 to 500 calories a day, or an extra pound of fat every 7 to 10 days, without making any other changes.

This is essential to losing the fat and keeping it off. You see, when you add muscle to your body, you greatly increase the number of calories your burn each day. So, once you achieve your fat loss goals you can start eating more food without putting the fat back on, as long as you have built muscle (and keep it of course, by continuing to train and eat well)!

Now ladies (I am talking only to the ladies here as I know this will have crossed your mind), don’t be scared when we talk about ”adding lean muscle”. No, you won’t end up looking like the female version of Arnold Schwarzenegger – it’s just not physically possible. We ladies don’t have enough of the male hormone testosterone to promote that kind of muscle growth. In reality, adding lean muscle is quite difficult, but just a few additional pound of muscle will completely change the way you look – in an amazing way!

On the flip side, if you don’t train with weights while you are dieting, two very undesirable things will occur. First, much of the weight you lose will be muscle. Second, this in turn causes your metabolism to slow down, causing progress to eventually grind to a halt, leading to rebound weight gain (and more). If you’ve tried any of those fad shake diets around, you will know what I”m talking about.

Pure and simple – you can not keep the weight off permanently without training with weights.

As you can see, training with weights is an extremely powerful and necessary component of any successful weight loss program!