How To Combat The Winter Weight Loss Blues

Most people complain when winter is close and, before we know it, winter is over and summer is back in full force. This means that all the layers of clothing come off and we have to expose all the damage done during the winter season. This can be depressing! So, instead of worrying about how to stay fit in winter, let’s start worrying about making the changes and getting fit, so that we are ready for summer. Here's some expert advice from Lisa Raleigh...

Common Winter Problems

Diets start to fall away: During summer you drink lots of water and eat fruit and salads and this can really help your body to get the fibre you need to keep you regular, healthy and boost your immune system. In winter we ditch the fruit and salads and immediately go for foods that are warm, dense and full of fats.

Waking up is so much harder: In winter it is darker in the morning, so you naturally want to stay in bed. You feel lazy and de-motivated to train and therefore start to skip it. The same effect happens in the evening when you are tired and it is so cold and dark outside. Gym whatever the weather!

Pre-cook meals: Cook in bulk, in advance, and freeze. This will stop you from cooking foods that are moreish and bad for you. Try making hearty soups, which also freeze well, and serve with a slice of low GI/Rye bread for a quick winter meal.

Switch to fruits/salads: Don’t wait till the middle of summer to start being good with your fruit and salads. Make yourself a fruit smoothie in the morning, or bake apples with cinnamon to have as a warm, fruity dessert instead of chocolate.

Don’t drink coffee: This is usually full of milk and sugar, and whilst it will warm you up, it is also loaded with calories. Opt for green tea, rooibos tea or a chicory coffee replacement instead.
Indoor workout: Even though it is dark outside, find an indoor sport or hobby to keep you fit. Try dancing, taebo, indoor swimming, or set up a mini-circuit of light weights in your home and train in the cosy indoors.

Get up early with the birds: It may be hard to do this when it is dark outside, but if you get into a routine you will be ready to spring out of bed when summer hits.

Watch your carbohydrates: even though they are good for you, be careful. If you are training less because of the cold, try to eat fewer carbohydrates, or else you may store unwanted fat.

By following these tips and sticking to your routine, you will have no problem with winter, as well as being fit and fabulous by the time summer comes around.
Some extra tips:
-Dry brushing once a day
-Drink lots of water: one glass for every 10kg of your body weight
-Use certain additional supplements: find a supplement to boost your immune system if you are sickly and breaking from training
-Train with a buddy: this increases motivation and curbs the temptation to skip training
To read more of Lisa's inspiring articles, please visit www.lisaraleigh.co.za.

Best Butt

Lisa Raleigh, personal trainer on ‘The Biggest Loser” TV show, and owner of VO2Max Private Gym, and the Lisa Raleigh Wellness and Weight loss Clinic shares her tips for getting your ‘best butt’...

So many of us women today have constant dissatisfaction with our lower bodies – especially the “butt”. Do you look at yourself in a pair of jeans, a dress or a bathing suit, see your butt looking back at you and think “Oh no”? Although there are definitely people out there with smaller and larger butts than yours, do you will still feel yours is terrible? Regardless of the envy of friends and family, are you the woman crash dieting, running on a treadmill and looking for some quick-fix pull-me-in magic pants whenever there is an important event coming up? If this is you and you want to make the changes necessary to feel more comfortable in your skin then carry on reading!

The Three Butt Types
There are three types of butts out there. If you are one or more of them then let’s get moving to get you feeling awesome when you look at your butt. If you feel none of these apply or you don’t know if you where you fit in then you probably have no problem, but should then work at keeping it that way! Reasons for having any of these butt types could have something to do with your genetics or hormone abnormality. The three types are: droopy, flat and ample.

Droopy: if you feel you have a droopy butt and that nothing will give it the lift it needs, it hangs in line with your hamstrings, makes your legs look shorter and your body look wider then this is you! This may be because your pelvis is rotated upwards and this means that normal butt exercises do not challenge your gluteus maximus muscles enough to get them lifting. You need to up your resistance of your exercises and incorporate explosive training into your training plan.

Flat: if you think that you have NO butt, you have to wear a belt with everything or your pants will slip off and you look like one straight line when you stand sideways then this is definitely you. Your pelvis may be rotated downwards, which can shift your bum exercise training to your back and hamstrings. This means that you do not get any gluteus maximus muscle training, they therefore do not get a chance to develop, and you as a result have no booty.

Ample: this is when you have enough butt for more than one person. You don’t really have a shape except for too much shape, and you feel that there are no clothing sizes that fit your butt. This does, however, mean you will build gluteus maximus muscles more easily than the average person – you therefore have the tools to work with and just need to make a few changes. You will need to eat more healthily and lose a little weight so you can create a nice toned butt.

How to round, lift and reduce your butt
Explosive training for the droopy butt: you need to get those gluteus working!! Take what you are doing and make it explosive. Running up and down on a step needs to be quick sprints. Make the step higher to increase the intensity and to implement explosive training while doing cardio. Do all cardio exercises in half the time but double the intensity. Sprint or run, but don’t walk. Explosive training is like a sprinter, not a long distance runner. Squat with the dumbbells in your hand - let your hands go between your legs and then throw them up and repeat. This causes the exercise to become explosive. Increase all forms of power training.

Increase intensity for the flat butt: your hamstrings are doing all the work. You need to increase the intensity of your workout. Glutes fall under one of the stubborn muscle groups. You need to work them every second day and, especially because of your strong helper hamstrings, you need to tire out the hamstrings a bit before working the gluteus. Increase your weights, reps and sets to get that butt working.

Eat well and do butt exercises for the ample butt: you have the tools, but now you need to use them to get your butt. Get your diet on track and start training hard. Set yourself goals and reach them. Make yourself a 12 week plan and stick to it. Include a detox diet and get a proper eating plan from a dietician so that your eating is 100% perfect. Then set up a few sessions with a trainer so that you have a set program, you know what you are doing and you are training 6 out of 7 days! Try living by the 80/20 rule - be good 80% of the time, and don’t make changes you can’t keep. Remember, this is a LIFESTYLE change and needs to be for life!
Hip-flexors affect your butt-shape: hip flexors are the opposing muscle group; when they contract, your brain tells your butt it’s ok to relax. Most of us sit all day, causing hip flexors to stay contracted and therefore keeping our butt’s relaxed. This can unfortunately cause them to be in lunge mode all the time - even during a workout! Make sure you stretch your glutes before a work out and do a few warm up sets to wake them before you start training.

So which ever butt you may have, get it working!!! Make a change to your programme and see the difference. Winter is almost here and that means lots of comfy track pants and baggy jerseys, let’s not let the ample butts grow but get our bikini butt in shape!

Executive Wellness: Weigh loss and Fitness Centre is the only outlet in the Western Cape to offer the Lisa Raleigh weight loss and wellness programme.

Contact Executive Wellness
Tel: 021 674 2790 082 464 8911
Email: joy@executivewellnesscentre.co.za
Physical: 7 Moss Street Fernwood, Newlands, Cape Town

Contact Lisa Raleigh
Email: lisaraleigh@vo2max.co.za

Lisa Raleigh Cpt gets a make-over and emerges as Executive Wellness: Weight Loss and Fitness Centre

Executive Wellness: Weight loss and Fitness Centre is an evolution of the Lisa Raleigh Wellness Clinic Cape Town. After running for two months under the Lisa Raleigh Clinic name we identified some specific client needs, and decided to customise what we were offering to suit those needs. The Lisa Raleigh brand had always offered a full scope of wellness treatments but was known best for the weight loss component. After our initial two month period, we realised that our clients in Cape Town had a wider range of wellness requirements than what we had anticipated, and we decided to customise our approach and product offering even more.

Meal & menu planning at Fruition Cafe and juice Bar

We still offer personal training in our private gym, but will be taking our customised service to a new level through Fruition Express, our healthy, ‘fast food’ component of Fruition Cafe. Fruition Express offers busy people a convenient and nutritious meal planning option at very affordable prices. We have found that many people battle to make the transition to a healthy lifestyle because there is just so much to get used to, and so many changes to implement- at the same time as losing weight and training. Fruition Express caters pre-prepared meals that are wholesome, and packaged according to the individuals’ calorie and nutritional needs. Clients select a menu of choice for the week for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and wholesome snacks. Clients can opt to collect their cooler bags at the gym every morning, or they can be delivered to their homes, at a nominal surcharge. This takes the temptation of over-eating, choosing the wrong foods or snacking while cooking out of the equation, and saves you time. Our evening meal will take around 10-minute’s preparation time. Fruition Cafe also offers light, low-calorie, low-GI meals and delicious green juices can be ordered after a training session or picked up on your way to work.

Detox packages

Everyone needs a detox every now and then- especially after periods of over-indulgence. People who are under stress and people who consume rich foods, or food and / or alcohol in excess should detox periodically. Executive Wellness has come up with a range of detox packages to suit all tastes and budgets. We offer a 12-day detox which includes all the complementary treatments, meal planning and training sessions, which is ideal for people who live nearby the clinic. We also offer a complete retreat option where long-distance clients can be accommodated in a neighbouring bed-and-breakfast, and take a complete break from their everyday lives to unwind, and allow their bodies to rejuvenate entirely. Our detox packages are superb for the corporate market, and are especially useful in helping to prevent burn-out and relieve the effects of stress. Companies all over the world lose time and money to illness and stressed-out employees, and offering executives an opportunity to learn to cope with accumulated stress is one of the things we do best.

Personal and group training

Our private gym offers the option of personal and / or group training. One-on-one fitness training offers a more personalised approach, but some people enjoy exercise in a group environment. Our gym is open seven days a week, from 06h00-19h00.

Body beautiful at Wellness Inc.

We will still be offering our wellness packages under the Wellness Inc banner. Our lymph massage literally takes centimetres off immediately, and tired and sore muscles recover quickly after a full-body massage. We also offer pedicures to soothe tired feet and perk energy levels. Colon cleansing has proven to be an effective complement to detox and weight loss packages. Wellness Inc offers self-administered colon cleansing sessions to relieve emotional and physical blockages.

For further details, or to book a consultation, please contact Joy Krige:
Tel: 021 674 2790 082 464 8911
Email: joy@executivewellnesscentre.co.za
7 Moss Street Fernwood Newlands 7700 P.O. Box 23269 Claremont 7735

Neil’s Story: Through Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis and Back Again

About three years ago Neil Krige was diagnosed with Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH). This disease affects the liver, and occurs in people who drink little or no alcohol. Known as a ‘silent’ liver disease, NASH can only be diagnosed through a liver biopsy. If the biopsy shows fat, and inflammation and scarring of the liver, NASH is diagnosed. Six months ago, blood tests revealed extremely high levels of liver enzymes and cholesterol indicating that Neil’s condition was deteriorating.

There is currently no specific treatment or ‘cure’ for NASH and Neil was faced with a very difficult lifestyle decision to make, “I needed a change in lifestyle; I had been warned on many occasions to do this but lacked the strength of character to see it through. My doctor had told me that changing your lifestyle was more difficult than giving up smoking.” Neil registered with Executive Wellness before it opened officially and began a detox programme with food-state vitamin supplements and an exercise routine, which comprised training six days a week. He admits that making a lifestyle change was tough, and that the support he received at the clinic helped him to cope with the mindset shift and commitment required.

Six months into his programme Neil has lost weight and is healthier than ever, he comments, “the most incredible result was that my liver enzymes were dramatically reduced and my cholesterol came down to normal levels. The results so impressed my liver specialist that I only have to visit him every twelve months to monitor progress.” Neil’s attitude towards his body has changed, and he has committed himself to a completely healthy and conscious lifestyle.

Executive Wellness: Weight loss and Fitness Centre endorses a holistic approach to general wellness and weight loss and makes recommendations based on nutrition, fitness and exercise, emotional triggers and the individual requirements of the client. The clinic also offers full emotional support for its clients through SMS, Skype, email and/or telephone calls. The clinic’s facilities include: a private gym, a wellness centre offering body wraps, cellulite treatments, massages, lymph drainage and colon therapy, as well as Fruition Cafe and Juice Bar which serves low GI, low calorie meals and green juices.

Tel: 021 674 2790 082 464 8911
Email: joy@executivewellnesscentre.co.za
7 Moss Street Fernwood Newlands 7700 P.O. Box 23269 Claremont 7735