1. What is wellness coaching?
Wellness coaching is strictly ‘no sweat’ meaning that all sessions are conducted without doing any physical exercise. The sessions give you solutions to stop the negative habits which you may be living and fast track you towards healthy behaviours.
2. Do I need a personal trainer?
Are you lacking motivation?
Do you always seem to have New Year’s resolutions but never seem to commit?
Are you stuck in a results plateau?
Have you got something you want to look your best for like a wedding, formal or reunion?
Personal Training will help you form new habits, give you motivation, make you commit, get you out of that plateau and make you look your best in minimal time.
3. I have an injury, what can I do?
Once checking with your doctor or physiotherapist, Exceed & Excel can help design a program and help you perform all exercises using the correct technique. Using a Personal Trainer will fast track your progress to help you recover sooner.
4. I don’t like going to a gym, do I have to go to the gym for a session?
No, most sessions done by Exceed & Excel are done outside or in the comfort of your own home.
5. I know dieting and healthy eating will keep my current weight and size in check but what kind and how much physical exercise will help me burn off the excess fat?
There are many different theories as to how hard you should work and which intensity type is best for fat loss. In my experience, the most effective type of training is what's called Interval Training
Interval Training is a kind of exercise done for a short amount of time (e.g. 30mins) followed by a 30 – 60 seconds rest then back to another 30 minutes exercise. This pushes your heart rate to its maximum for a few minutes. The short break allows your heart rate to recover. This kind of routine not only burns more calories then a normal training but also increases your metabolism and keeps you burning calories long after you have finished exercising. For best results - aim for 2 to 3 Interval Training sessions per week.
6. My goal is to lose weight. I have two kids and a full time job. I struggle eating healthy meals and sticking to an exercise program because I'm so busy. What can I do?
First step, write down your goals. Be specific. Second, plan to have a ‘me’ time every week. Don’t feel guilty for taking time for yourself. Use this time to recharge and exercise, get those endorphins moving! Third, plan your week ahead. This means taking about an hour or two to plan all your meals and snacks that you and your family will eat during the week. Last step, success does not mean eating healthy 100% of the time. Have a ’play day’ which means you can indulge in something you want for a day. The key is consistency
7. My goal is to lose weight. I currently do very little exercise and my job is quite sedentary. I want to know how much exercise I need to do in order to see a result?
This is a common question. If your fairly inactive just focus on ‘raising a sweat’ 3 days a week. Its that simple. This works because it easy to do, you can make the activates fun and best of all it will be enough for you to start feeling the results. More.. The types of exercises that will ‘raise a sweat’ are: Gardening, walking the dog, playing with the kids, walking to work. Its only small, but to begin that’s all you need. Once you have been doing this for a while then its time to start adding some 'planned' exercise in!
8. There is so much confusion as to what foods are better to buy at the supermarket. Low fat, fat free, no added sugar? The list goes on. What should I be looking for?
There are so many choices these day that it even confuses me! The problem is there are products that are ‘marketed’ to be healthy when in fact there not. They are added with all sorts of nasty surprises. So what’s my short answer? When choosing food to buy and eat remember one thing. We eat food to provide us with 2 things:
1. Energy (calories/kilojoules)
2. Nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbs, fats. ect
Most off the ‘shelf’ food we eat contains only energy. This means we might buy a low fat snack bar that has been processes so that it contains no fat, but it also contains zero nututrants. This means your body staves nutritionally. So my answer is if your confused ask your-self. ‘Are their any nutrients in this food?
9. I would like to know how to loose belly fat. I’m loosing it all over but it seems to take forever to loose the belly fat. It is going just really slow. I can’t stand it any more. Can you help?
Its a common question actually. Firstly be proud that you have and are losing fat. Its often frustrating when one part of the body doest change as fast as other parts.
One reason why this can happen is that our body becomes comfortable with what you are doing and is crying out for a new challenge.
I would recommend that you stop focusing on this goal of losing weight around your stomach and set a new goal. You could make it fitness based and aim to do something you have never done. This could be a long jog, swim or bike ride. It might be playing a new sport or doubling your strength.
10. Can I drink as much diet soft drink as I want? Or is the 0 calories on the can misleading?
In terms of calories, it is true that diet soft drinks do not contain any. However, the major issue with diet softdrinks is not the calories but the artificial sweeteners used in these products. Nearly 10 years ago, studies revealed that artificial sweeteners can:
• Stimulate your appetite (spike insulin levels which will increase hunger very shortly after eating).
• Increase carbohydrate cravings (consuming sweeteners will cause your sweet tooth to actually get worse).
• Stimulate fat storage and weight gain (increase in insulin levels cause you to get hungry and eat more).
I would highly recommend switching from these diet softdrinks to good clean drinking water. Water is your best choice to hydrate your body and also help in weight loss.
11. I'm getting married soon and I need to lose weight quickly. I have been exercising for weeks and can't even lose 1 kilogram. What am I doing wrong?
I highly recommend losing the weight slowly and correctly. The last thing you want to do is crash diet and really mess up your metabolism. The safest total weight loss per week is ½ kilo. There is 3,500 calories in ½ kilo of body fat, so in order to lose ½ kilo, you simply need to create a 500 calorie deficit per day. Over the course of a week, this equals out to 3,500 calories or ½ kilo.
The best way to hit this 500 number every day is to create a 250 calorie deficit through your diet and another 250 calorie deficit through cardio exercise. Remember, you want to fuel your body with high nutrient foods and keep your metabolism "firing" throughout the day. The worst thing you can do is limit your food intake which will cause your body to go into starvation mode and hold onto your body fat reserves. Your body is thinking its getting ready for a period of famine and will hold onto all the energy it can to survive this period. I recommend eating at least 1,500 calories per day and make sure you're eating "clean" and nutritious food. You want to make sure to eliminate all the excess and empty calories from your daily intake.
In terms of your diet, try and eat several small and nutritious meals throughout the day. You will gain several benefits from eating several small meals throughout the day and your body's metabolism will be revved up throughout the day. I would recommend to focus on lean protein sources (chicken breast, turkey breast, egg whites), lean fibrous carbs (broccoli, mushrooms, squash, zucchini) and whole wheat starchy carbs (whole wheat bread, brown rice, etc.). Try to eat every 3 hours and make sure to include a lean protein source in each meal. Its also extremely important to keep a diet journal of your nutritional intake. This way you will be able to track where all your calories are coming from and really monitor your intake.
12. I am 19 yrs old and I have been yo yo dieting a lot. It usually happens accidental due to the fact that I work a lot and go to school. My goal is to lose fat, probably not so much about weight my fat. I try to lift weights 3-4 times a week and do ab work outs. This fat thing has haunted me for years and I am tired of it. I need some help.
Always remember this:
Fuel The Body with a nutritionally dense diet
Build The Muscle with weight training
Burn The Fat with cardio exercise
I would not recommend losing more than 1 kilogram per week for healthily weight loss. The reason for this has do to with the issues which quick and drastic weight loss can have on your body's metabolism and muscle mass. When you lose a lot of weight quickly, you really need to strictly monitor where this weight is coming from. Is it water weight, body fat or muscle mass? The majority of the time, it unfortunately comes from lean muscle mass and this is exactly what will cause serious issues with your metabolism. Muscle is your body's most potent and active tissue for burning calories and body fat. Its basically your body's "furnace" which you want to always keep burning hot. When someone loses a lot of weight, which usually comes from crash dieting or some other unhealthy way of dropping the weight, the body's lean muscle mass is cannibalized and you lose some of your biggest "power" tissue for keeping a lean body.
The worst thing is when the person finally decides to get off the diet and start eating again. Their calories go back up, but since their BMR (basal metabolic rate) is lowered and they have lost muscle mass, the end result is they pack on the body fat very quickly! Ever heard of the term "yo-yo" dieting. This is the reason why tons of people have issues and hard times with their weight loss plans.
My advice is to focus on creating a max 500 calorie deficit per day which equates out to an overall 3,500 calories per week (1/2 kilo of body fat). Create this overall 500 calorie deficit through a 250 calorie drop in your diet and another 250 burned with an exercise routine. This is the healthiest way to lose body fat while keeping your muscle mass and having your body run at an optimal level. It will also provide you with a much better plan to permanently keep the weight off forever!
For your diet, focus on getting enough protein throughout the day by choosing lean items like chicken breast, egg whites, turkey breast and fish. Also, make sure to eliminate all empty calories like soda, high sugar fruit juices, candy and fast food. Try and eat several small and nutritious meals throughout the day. By cleaning up your diet, you should see a vast improvement in your physique.
Its also extremely important to keep a diet journal of your nutritional intake. This way you will be able to track where all your calories are coming from and really monitor your intake.
