Not so simple!

On the surface, losing and gaining weight is simple; take in more food that the calories you use through metabolism and exercise and you gain weight. Take in fewer calories than that and you lose weight! Simple..................or not! Losing fat is difficult because your body fights hard to keep you at a constant weight - lose weight rapidly and the body release hormones that make you hungry and slow your metabolism down.

Braving the rocky road to weight loss takes more than a pair of Asics. There are rough patches, and for some women, it's even tougher to arrive at their target weight - no matter how strict their diets are or gym workouts. Studies have found that the ease with which a woman loses weight is largely determined by her genes. But Genes are not your destiny, no one is destined to be fat! Understand you challenges, work out a regime that will work for you. You may have to play with it a bit until the right formula appears, or alternatively you may have to keep you body guessing at all times, so that it does not get used to the same regime day in day out.

My principles at the moment are :-

• Do 60-90 min of aerobic exercise per day
• Include some form of interval training
• Do four heavy session of weights - concentrating on always pushing your muscle to the limit
• eat a well balanced diet that works for you and is easy to maintain
• drink plenty of fluids
• listen to your body.

In short, and in the long run, the best way to lose fat for good is with proper diet, cardio and a good strength training routine. Cardio will help speed the process along, but the key to permanent weight loss is increasing your metabolism - and having a healthy amount of lean muscle mass on your body is the best way to do this - again bring on the muscle! Group that with a lowfat diet rich in protein, you are set for life.

Well one week down and two weeks to go until the results of my DNA test to come back. Had an awesome week training with the exception of hurting my knee again.........same injury reinjured. Should have not done that extra bit of weights with J but could not resist the challenge. Something about weights, challenge, growth and acknowledgement all mixed together seems to get the better of me. I think I will need to strap my knee for the next couple of weeks while doing any cardio or weights. Went shopping yesterday and you know how the shopping trolley gets away from you, you pull it back into line and you twist your knees,legs,body to pull it around...................weeelllll OW! whammo just when I thought it was good again, I blew it! Maybe I should listen to others who tell me to go to a doctor to get it seen to????? Nahhh! wasting my precious time is all my head is telling me and who has time to go to the doctors!!! I guess I will stick to bike and xtrainer for a while for cardio, even rowing machine. Walking is a little hard, though it shouldn't be, must be the way I am placing my feet. Boxing will be a problem, but with a bit of good strapping, i should be okay. Had the sorest shoulders and upper traps all week after tuesday, thought it was the way I did my weights but worked it out. It was the 5 x 3 min sessions of skipping that did it............talk about major lactic acid build up leftover pain.

The rain was nice yesterday and today is turning out to be a good day as well with the sun shining. I am tossing up whether to go to the NABBA show at Southport or go do some gardening, cleaning and maybe even shopping. Well as it is already 10.00am I guess I am not going to the NABBA show.

Well I guess I had better cut, chop, dice, slice and make my food packages for the week. Will check you all later.

Ciao!

X:D)