Hobart Personal Trainer | Hobart Fat Loss | Hobart Personal Training

A is for Avocados. Good fats, plenty of fibre, great with any meal.
B is for Burpees. Old school, simple and effective.
C is for Crunches. Ditch them in favour of Killer Core Exercises.
D is for Deadlifts. Great exercise for your legs, arms and butt.
E is for Eggs. Natures perfect meal.
F is for Fasting. Often overlooked and misunderstood.
G is for Goals. Make sure you have them. You can achieve anything you want.
H is for Heavy. Don’t be afraid of lifting heavy weights. They won’t make you bulk up.
I is for Intensity. Pump it up. When you train, have a proper go. Finish your workout spent.
J is for Jumping. Get your own body weight moving vertically and your heart rate will follow.
K is for Kangaroo meat. Full of nutrients, very lean and good for the environment.
L is for Lifestyle. Make small changes every week and your fat loss lifestyle will be sustainable.
M is for Magnesium. Are you getting enough? If not eat more spinach and pumpkin seeds.
N is for Natural. Avoid processed foods as much as possible.
O is for Obesity. Don’t become a statistic. Stay active and eat well.
P is for Positivity. Focus on the good and eliminate the bad. Always be looking for the positives.
Q is for Quinoa. Actually a seed, but used like a grain. Great addition to soups, or as a substitute for rice. Have you tried it yet?
R is for Rest. Recovery is just as important as the hard work you are doing.
S is for Supersets. Raise the intensity of your workouts by doing two exercises with no rest in between.
T is for Technique. Always exercise with proper technique. The last thing you want to do is injure yourself when working out.
U is for United. Get the support of your family and friends and you will get further than ever before.
V is for Variety. Mix it up and you will never get bored.
W is for Weight. Don’t get too conscious of the scales. Do your clothes fit better, do you look and feel better? These are much more important than a number on the scales.
X is for Xanthines. Caffeine is derived from xanthine, and whether you want an extra boost for your workouts or just to kickstart your day then a caffeine hit will do the trick. (Drawn a long bow here, but you try getting a X for fat loss!!)
Y is for You. Get the body you have always wanted. Don’t be afraid of failing. The only way to fail is to not try.
Z is for Zinc. Common deficiency. Easy enough to get when eating red meat, peas and pumpkin seeds.

1. Eat breakfast everyday no matter what. If you don’t have time in the morning, make something the night before.

2. Aim to get zero calories from liquids. This means you will be drinking water and green tea most of the time. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different teas, both hot and cold, to find one you like. Avoid any pre-made teas that have added sugar, ideally you will brew your own but if not go for an unsweetened variety.

3. Get some quality protein with every meal. Protein can come from a variety of sources as discussed here, so you might just need to try something different.

4. Eat at least one non starchy vegetable (ideally two or more) with each meal. If you find this too much try to substitute some berries instead. Failing this grab a piece of fruit.

5. Don’t eliminate fats altogether, instead make sure you get a serve or two of good fats with each meal. These will add flavor but in moderation will make your fat loss easier.

6. Take your fish oil. If you aren’t allergic to fish oil then you have no excuse for not taking it. Bang for buck, cost versus effectiveness, there is nothing better for your overall health (and fat loss) than 3-5 grams of fish oil per day.

7. Get a food diary, and write in it!! It blows me away the number of people that have a food diary with nothing in it. Makes no sense at all. So just start writing everything down and then make the improvements from there.

8. Eat something at least every 3 hours. Ideally this would be something that has all of the above covered (vegetables, good protein, good fat) but something will be better than nothing in terms of keeping your metabolism kicking over and reducing the risk of overeating later in the day.

9. Aim for 80% or better compliance with your eating. This means of the 6 or so meals you are eating every day (every 3 hours remember) 4.8, lets call it 5, want to be ticking all the boxes. Thats per day, per week it 34/42. So don’t be getting down on yourself if you miss a meal, or don’t get a meal 100% right, just move on and try to improve next time.

10. Last but definitely not least, only eat food that tastes great. There are so many great tasting foods and recipes that are actually good for you that there is little reason to be eating ‘health’ food that doesn’t taste any good. As an added bonus you are way more likely to actually eat these foods if you like them. Not rocket science exactly but often overlooked.

Don’t forget to read my ‘Eating Made Simple‘ series which goes into a bit more detail about points 3, 4 and 5.

I have had a lot of questions regarding what the best fat burning breakfast is. Traditionally breakfast would be cereal, fruit, toast and some juice. Hmm, that looks like at least three servings of processed carbs if you have gone for a small portions but more than likely more. A great way to get your blood sugar sky high first thing and crass by morning tea. There is very little quality protein in this breakfast and almost as little on the good fats side

A very simple way to change this breakfast would be to substitute the cereal for natural yogurt, the toast for some walnuts or almonds, and the juice for some green tea. You could also go for eggs, tomato, onion and mushrooms which would tick off all the boxes (protein, fat, carbs). The options are really endless.

The biggest challenge is changing your mindset out of what we are told is correct from all the commercials. If you were to never eat another boxed cereal again it would be one of the best things you could do for your health and body.

Recently Choice magazine looked at breakfast cereals and there was only two they recommended, Weet Bix and Vita Brits. Not exactly what I would call tasty and appetising. Remember food has to taste good, even healthy food. There is no reason why it shoudn’t. And there is no reason why you should have to resort to eating pulverised wheat grains that are packed into little bricks.

If you are short of time in the morning, you can prepare the following in about 2 minutes. A good strategy is to prepare it the night before and pop it in the fridge ready for the morning. Then you have no excuses.

Place the following in a food processor/blender and blend until all ingredients are…blended!

• 2/3 Cup Low Fat Cottage Cheese
• 3/4 Cup Strawberries
• 8 Walnuts
• 1 Scoop Vanilla Protein Powder

This recipe is tasty, healthy, quick and easy. Breakfast is seriously the most important meal of the day regardless of your goals. There is no excuse for not having it. If you think you don’t have time, set your alarm 5 minutes earlier and prepare this the night before. You can eat half of it while the kettle boils and the other half while you have your coffee or green tea.

What’s your favourite breakfast dish? Can I critique your current breakfast? Leave a comment below.

Fats are like the ugly step sister of the food family. You know you should respect them and not overlook them but you do. They are misunderstood and not given credit for all they can do for you.

Fats are your friend though. Some fats are any way. As with the article I wrote on carbs, you want to stay away from processed foods. This is the same for fats. With this in mind you want to be avoiding anything that contains Trans Fats. Read your food labels, in fact, if the food you are buying has a label think twice about eating it. Chances are it is already too processed.

Read the list below, each food has a serving amount beside it. It might be handy to have a copy with you when you  are preparing your meals, so go ahead and print a copy.  With fats you want to be getting between 10 and 15 serves per day. That’s 2-3 serves per meal spread throughout the day.

WHAT? ‘Why so much’ I hear you ask, ‘won’t that make me fat? I’m trying to lose fat here’.

Here’s the thing. If you don’t give your body sufficient dietary fat, then your body will hold onto the fat it already has. If you are giving your body enough fat through the foods you eat, and you are eating the right carbs, your body will start to use fat as fuel. Pretty cool huh?

Whole Foods

• Almonds ~6 nuts
• Butter 1 Tsp
• Cashews ~7 nuts
• Cheddar Cheese 15 grams
• Coconut Milk 2 Tbsp
• Feta Cheese 2 Tbsp
• Flax Meal 2 Tbsp
• Macadamias ~3 nuts
• Parmesan Cheese 3 Tbsp
• Peanuts 1 Tbsp
• Peanut Butter 1 Tsp
• Pecans ~5 nuts
• Pistachios ~15 nuts
• Walnuts ~2 nuts
• Whole Egg

Oils – All are 1 Tsp per serve

• Avocado Oil
• Canola Oil
• Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Flaxseed/Linseed Oil
• Macadamia Oil
• Peanut Oil
• Sesame Seed Oil

If you look through the list above you will see lot of potential for wonderful, exciting flavours. In fact you can’t have any real flavour without some fat.

Main meals will be the easiest meals  to incorporate these good fats into. For instance you can have a salad with your favourite veggies, and then top it with a dash of salt, and some extra virgin olive oil. In the summer time you might want to add some lime juice, in the winter you might want to warm it lightly.

Snacks are a breeze. Simply grab some of your favourite nuts, an egg or two or try my (now famous) chocolate pudding.