Archive for the 'inspiration' Category

My interview with fitness model, Belinda Benn

It seems fitness model Belinda Benn and I have a few things
in common. We’re both in our 40′s, both Aussie, and we
both love helping others achieve their fitness and fat loss
goals.  Being 32 weeks pregnant, one thing I definitely don’t
have right now is Belinda’s abs! But they’ll come back…
 
In light of the upcoming launch of her Get Lean Program,
today I have something quite special for you. 47yo fitness
model Belinda Benn provides us with a sneak peak into her
fat loss secrets as well as some great tips on skin care.
 

 
Sue: Belinda, I’ve read your story and seen you in the magazines – how did you transform your body so dramatically later in life.  I read you never exercised before the age of 37 – is that true?!

Belinda:  Sue, yes it’s true!  I was a coffee drinking, sugar addicted executive.  I was so busy trying to be a “super women” with my career, husband and all my other responsibilities that I had stopped caring for myself – doing things “just for me”.   One day while trying bathers on in a department store dressing room I was shocked to see cellulite and saddle bags (amongst other things) and I realized the body I had in my 20’s had disappeared without me even realizing.  Soon after I set myself the goal of learning to surf and before I knew it I was eating healthily, losing weight and feeling in the best shape of my life.

Sue: I think we can all relate to the dressing room story at some stage or another – probably unbeknown to them retail stores do an amazing job drumming up business for weight loss companies!

What was the hardest aspect of your transformation?

Belinda:  The hardest part was not knowing how to eat right – for energy, longevity and fat burning.  I knew nothing about nutrition.  I started getting fitter but the big change didn’t come until I got my diet straightened out.  It took a while but once I got on track I couldn’t believe how much food I could eat and not put on weight.  I had been eating the wrong foods, at the wrong times in the wrong combination!  When I think back to what I ate in my 30’s it’s shocking – I lived on coffee, milk, sugar, Arnott’s biscuits and fatty foods!  

Sue: I know you get asked this all the time, but how on earth do you look so young? 

Belinda:  Early in my career I worked with Shiseido, the Japanese skincare company and they taught me about holistic wellness.  Which simply means, looking after the total person – inside and out.  We all know things like stress, toxins, over eating, too much alcohol, not enough sleep or a lot of sun, ages us prematurely.  I neglected myself and over indulged like a lot of people do but once I realized, I made some radical life changes – and thankfully it paid off in a big way.   I believe that doing the right things, consistently, adds up to big results over time.

Sue:  Since I am talking with an expert then, a lot of people find that their skin becomes slack after weight loss and they suffer stretch marks.  Did you have those problems? 

Belinda:  Yes I did!  When I started losing weight I began exfoliating every day.  The Japanese had taught me about this and it really works.  I also made sure I included foods in my diet that improved the elasticity of the skin.  In fact, that’s one of the reasons I wrote my Fitness Model Skincare Secrets so I could help people with concerns like that and prove that getting older doesn’t mean we have to age prematurely. 

Sue: What makes your Get Lean Program different from everything else out there?

Belinda: Sue, as you know, many diets start out super strict.  Then as our motivation wanes we go back to our old habits and the weight comes back on.  I have discovered that the easiest and most effective way to achieve a lean physique is to work with the natural harmony of our body’s physiology. From my experience, it takes roughly four weeks before our metabolism jumps to the next fat burning level.  So, the process of obtaining our ideal lean physique should be viewed as fat burning “phases” that we control through establishing new eating habits, rather than a “diet”.  For this reason the Get Lean Program is divided into three, monthly phases: Momentum, Acceleration and Peak.

The Momentum Phase begins the process of increasing your fat burning metabolism. Your body will adjust to new eating habits and these changes will enable you to maintain your diet while gradually reducing your caloric and carbohydrate intake.

The Acceleration Phase will help reduce your body fat % while maintaining the energy levels necessary to work and train hard.  Your body will adjust to producing efficient energy from fewer calories and you will see acceleration in your fat loss.

The Peak Phase will help you reach your optimum lean physique at the end of Month 3.

Many physique competitors use a similar system to prepare for competitions.  But this program takes that science and makes it doable for anyone who wants to lose weight!

Sue: I noticed that you focus a lot on the mental and emotional aspects of losing weight – why is that?

Belinda:  Often it’s not eating healthy or working out that’s our biggest challenge – is our own self-image and self-esteem.  If we allow negative thoughts from the past to contaminate our thinking then that will continually undermine our efforts for success.   Personally I have done a lot of work to change my thinking, from feeling like I am over the hill, old, not sexy anymore, it’s too late or I’ve failed in the past (add in a few of your personal favorites here) and replaced those with new thought patterns of self-confidence and a can do attitude.  We all have moments of weakness and self-doubts, that’s normal.  But there is a lot we can do to get our thinking straightened out!  For that reason I will be giving away my “Think Lean – Get Lean” audio recording with every purchase of the Get Lean Program next week.  

Sue:  Belinda, once last piece of advice for all my readers please!

Belinda:  Transforming your body can seem like an insurmountable task.  But if you take one new positive step forward every day (no matter how small) and tomorrow do it over again – your habits, body and life will progressively change.  Positive change will become a way of life and one day you will catch your reflection in the mirror and realize – there’s a new you! 


 
F.REE FAT LOSS REPORT

If you haven’t get grabbed your copy of Belinda’s free report
Eat to Get Lean – here’s the link. It’s only available until Sunday
so be quick: 

www.idealbodiesonline.com/getleanprogram

 
P.S. Next week be on the lookout for my Get Lean
Program launch emails. If you purchase the program
through one of the links in my emails I’m going to provide
you with an awesome 50% discount on our instant
training programs along with an additional 15%
off everything in our Products Store (excluding
ebooks), in conjunction with Belinda’s
launch. So don’t purchase from any other link if you want
to pick up these discounts! I’ll remind you next week.
 

What is wrong with this picture?

Welcome party Sapphire Princess

Not this one, the one below. There is NOTHING wrong with this picture!

It’s been a little while since I wrote, AGAIN! Thanks lovely people for the comments on my off season pics. Maybe I will consider pre comping soon for an early show again – it was around this time last year – well, after Christmas, that I began my last one. After our Mexico trip my state was a little worse for wear than it is currently. So, yes, this time last year Damien and I were onboard the Sapphire Princess, celebrating his birthday (pic attached for reminiscing purposes).

I’m left without a car this weekend, so was dropped at the gym this morning and walked home afterwards – which was pretty tough after a hard deadlifting session. I sumo deadlifted 75gk for sets of 5 which I thought was pretty good. Slowly building up. Deadlifting is king, I wish everyone knew how to deadlift.

I received this in my inbox the other day and just shook my head. Can anyone tell me what is wrong with this picture??

thirddayfitness_02

The Club 100 winners were announced recently, and, very proud to say that the female winner was one of ours. Nicole Yardley lost 15kg in 100 days and totally transformed her body. Lucky Nicole has won a great cash prize, just for losing some extra baggage and getting healthy. Club 100 will will going again I imagine, so keep in touch about that.

Nicole Yardley - before front

Nicole Yardley - after front outdoors

Congratulations Nicole, you look amazing! Congratulations too, to all the others who entered and managed to finish the 100 day challenge – while you may not have won the competition, I’m sure you got some great results.

I’m off to enjoy some sun. Sorry about the lack of resizing of photos, I don’t have time for that :)

Introducing Karen Lewis…

Karen Lewis PSM
Hi everyone, I am Karen – a proud part of Sue’s Ideal Bodies Online team!

As well as guiding my mentor clients through the journey that is the IBO 12 week challenge, I am raising a family, working full time as an event coordinator and continue to manage my health and fitness commitments. …it’s a whirlwind lifestyle but probably not unlike most!

I absolutely love my role as an Ideal Bodies Online personal success mentor – it has enriched my life enormously. I am continually inspired and encouraged by the ambitions and achievements of the people I meet via my role as mentor.

I use the trials and tribulations of my own 12 week challenge to underpin my success as a mentor at IBO. As well as celebrating the wins, I had to manage and overcome my own fears and obstacles as well – so I fully understand the journey first hand.

Many of the hurdles my clients are faced with I have overcome myself. That’s a great source of motivation for my clients and fills me, as a mentor, with a lot of confidence knowing that I can make a positive contribution – simply by understanding.

I like to take a very realistic and positive approach with my clients – more often than not, I’m a soundboard for the fears and hiccups that only a life change can bring.

I am also a source of continual motivation and guidance. As an IBO personal success mentor, I am here to share, listen, discuss ideas and create opportunities so my clients utilize this amazing 12 weeks to their fullest potential. I derive a great source of satisfaction seeing the positive changes slowly creep into their lives…it is so inspiring!
I am forever amazed at what people can achieve and overcome with the right mindset and attitude.

MY PERSONAL CHALLENGE I HAD TO OVERCOME

I’d like to share with you one of MY personal hurdles I overcame during my 12 week journey, in a bid to inspire you further…. and help anyone who may have similar thoughts or patterns and think they are too hard to break…..

One of the issues that I overcame during my 12 week challenge was relinquishing my glass or two of wine each night after work. It was my small reward for a day at the office and most likely the thing I looked forward to the most after dieting all day. It was such a powerful prop that it single handedly inhibited most of my efforts at changing my physical being. My thinking was ‘well it’s only a drink – what harm can a drink do to my other ‘good’ nutritional efforts and a focus on physical fitness?’.

In fact, it was a lot! This little reward was undermining my efforts at consistent weight loss – not only was it calorific – but it would loosen my resolve and on the second or third glass would see me ditching all my good intentions quicker than I could say ‘triple cream brie’. Further, evidence to prove that my body harboured a preference to burn stored energy in my sav blanc before that of my glycogen and fat stores wasn’t helping! In short, I was holding up my metabolic processes as well as setting myself up for perpetual failure!

My solution

Once I committed to the IBO programme written especially for me – that meant I was committing to dropping the vino life prop. I allowed myself one glass of wine per week during my free meal and that was it!!!! so not only had I changed my head space in terms of its habitual use – I also learnt to control my intake of alcohol when I did have it. It was no mean feat! And I see many clients face the same hurdle. So how did I do it? Here are a few tips if you find it hard giving up your one or two alcoholic beverages in the name of physical transformation…

1. Swap it with something else! I tried Bundaberg Diet Ginger Beer (on Sue’s recommendation) It even comes in a bottle that looks like it came out of a wine store. I treated it just like a glass of precious vino – one or two and no more.
2. Change the routine. If you have to unwind after a hard day at work and put your feet up with a glass of wine – jump in a hot bath instead or better still, schedule your workout for that time. There’s nothing that puts you off alcohol more than a good sweat session when you’re gasping for a bottle of water!
3. Learn to say no at parties and functions. If you want to look the part though and not feel left out – ask for a mineral water in a champers glass! No one would even know you were ‘piking out’ and the benefit is you can drive yourself home without the need for taxis after an expensive night out!

At the end of the day, you’ll soon realise you’ll still be a happy, well functioning individual without those two glasses of vino each night (Surprise Surprise!!) and it certainly is something you can take with you beyond your 12 week programme (amongst other amazing changes)!

I found after a few weeks I could just say no rather than create illusionary props to trick my mind. It was a very empowering moment knowing I had control and hence free rein to garner the best body I could as a result!

So as you can see the journey is fraught with a bit of risk and a bit of moving beyond the comfort zone. But it was so worth it.

I have a saying I like to offer my clients: ‘If you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got!’.

I say cheers to that! Ciao, Karen xxx

An eye popping transformation…

Well if I don’t write now, I never will. There’s just always something to do! I had to write my Q&A article tonight, for Women’s Health & Fitness titled – How Can I Make My Cardio More Interesting? I was going to just write “you tell me and we’ll both know” but I figure that probably wouldn’t work :) Ahh, there are lots of ways, I just am not that fond of the old cardio these days. Amazing, I used to be the typical cardio bunny back in the 80′s and early 90′s. Showing my age a bit there. Yeah I used to wear leg warmers too! Well they were the IN thing back then ;)
Happy Mother’s Day to all the mum’s out there – still waiting for my prezzie from darling little Rexy, starting to think he hasn’t bought me anything…
We went for lunch with my mum today, and about another 15 mothers, all family of some description. Lovely time.
I have now officially caught up on all my work from holidays, and it’s back to normal. I am in the midst of making some changes to our feedback system, and will need to work on this tomorrow to have it all in place by 21st May. By the way, I don’t believe I have even ‘introduced’ our latest addition to the IBO Team. Please welcome our newest Feedback Coach, Rachel Pyle, pictured above with one of our other amazing IBO women, Program Co-ordinator Dianna Broeren. Picture courtesy of Di’s blog. Rach has achieved some great things, and is one of the most inspiring women I have the privilege of knowing. You can read more about her and our other staff members here:
I will take a moment now to also introduce Carolyn Gerdtz – our latest addition to our team of Personal Success Mentors. We haven’t put Carolyn’s details up on the site yet but if you don’t know of Carolyn – get ready to be AMAZED. The before and after pictures above will give you an indication of this lady’s discipline and courage, and, just what CAN be achieved if you really want it. We are SO proud of you Carolyn!
I plan to add Carolyn’s remarkable professional photos and Success Story to our site soon! You can read Carolyn’s blog here…
Ideal Bodies Online has it’s first competitor on stage in a couple of weeks time! Good luck to Christy, she is competing in the Novic Figure at the Sydney ANB comp on May 27 and is going to look sensational given her latest pictures Di just sent through! A great effort for a first time competitor! Well done Christy – I can’t wait to see the final product!

On a personal note, my training is going along fine – I’m training 4 x week, and just doing cardio when I feel like it :) Still maintaining my pre holiday weight which is nice.

A belated shout to Tracey D, thank you for the lovely words, it’s nice to know I have played some small part in your fitness journey! And thank you for the recent referral :)
Thanks for the comments on my recent vomit :) I know everyone can relate at some point in time!

Happy Birthday to Kerry for Tuesday – I hope you have a fab day and you never know, perhaps you WILL drink that much :)

Ok, time to check out of blogland and read a few pages of my latest James Patterson novel…