Monday 29 April 2013

Motivation and Haters

Finding your fitness passion/motivation is crucial to long lasting success for a healthy lifestyle and weight. When I realised that cycling and dancing were activities that I wanted to do for fun and didn't notice that I was exercising while doing these activities, I began to do them more and in turn, began to lose weight without going to a gym and feeling like exercising was a drag. The great things about these forms of exercise is that they are made up of a variety of different forms of the one activity. Cycling is also easy to fit into a busy lifestyle - choosing to cycle somewhere versus hopping in the car is a very easy way to get in daily exercise. Cycling can also be done in various ways - mountain biking/cross country, down-hill, street, competitive and indoor (I'm sure there is even more!). Dancing is fantastic! There are so many different types of dance and it's hard not to smile when you do it. I loved the Hip hop abs exercise DVD when I was trying to lose weight before my 21st as it was high energy and made me laugh as I tried to do all the moves and the instructor is so charismatic and encouraging. 

A friend of mine who also struggled with weight, found fire spinning. It became a passion and he wanted to keep doing it to get better. Without really noticing that he was becoming more active, yet as a result (combined with a healthier diet) he began to lose weight.

Obviously, fire spinning, cycling and dancing isn't for everyone...but as you can see, once you find something active that you can incorporate into your life without it feeling like exercise then fat starts to melt away without feeling like being active is a chore.

There is another thing that one must overcome when transforming your lifestyle into a healthier one....Haters!
After duscussing this with a couple of people who have gone through weight loss journeys, i have come to realise that this is a common occurence. The closest people arround you, the people that are supposed to love and care for you unconditionally can quickly become your enemy against change. Humans hate change! Your friends and family are used to "fat (Insert name here)" and when you have made up your mind and accepted the changes you will make, those people haven't. It is hard to get used to someone changing their entire lifestyle and sometimes it can mean that you can no longer surround yourself with the same people as they become negative influences. 
Another thing i encountered is family and their struggle to accept me as someone who lived, looked and behaved so differently than the Anna they had known for years. Suddenly after months of not seeing me, they would be shocked and afraid at the change and would think the worst - does she have an eating disorder? Well let me tell you that this is likely to happen and your task is to push through this as it can seem that the very people who are supposed to be your support systems start to project negativity. If you get through this, you will only be stronger for it and even more resilient. Eventually, if you are open and positive towards these poeple and communicate freely, they will come around in the end. 

This weeks finds:



  1. When i worked full-time over the summer, I began to appreciate how hard it is for full-time office workers to stay active and healthy...This site give you great tips for building fail-safe lunches - in fact it's a great guide for building every meal: http://www.leanitup.com/how-to-eat-well-in-the-workplace-lunch-edition/
  2. ActiveBeat - a website featuring health advice and recipes etc....
  3. Whole-grain Zucchini Bread: (Source: Clean Eating)



Serves 12

INGREDIENTS

  • •Cooking spray
  • •1 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour - I substituted 1/2 a cup of this for white high grade flour for a lighter texture.
  • •1/4 cup spelt flour - I swapped this for oat flour (ground rolled oats)
  • •2 tsp baking powder
  • •1/2 tsp baking soda
  • •1/2 tbsp cinnamon, ground
  • •1/4 tsp fine sea salt
  • •2/3 cup of apple, grated
  • •1 cup zucchini, grated
  • •1 egg
  • •1/2 cup nonfat plain Greek-style yogurt - I used Bio Farms low fat acidophilus plain yogurt
  • •1/4 cup raw honey
I then added 2 Tbsp of unsweetened dutch cocoa powder, one Tbsp of Healtheries LSA with buckwheat and chia and 3 Tbsp of dark chocolate drops. All optional...but you can't say no to chocolate!

DIRECTIONS

  • 1
    1.Preheat oven to 180°C. Mist an 8 x 4-inch or 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
  • 2
    2.In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; set aside.
  • 3
    3.In a separate bowl, whisk together apple, zucchini, egg, yogurt and honey.
  • 4
    4.Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and fold until just combined. Spread batter into prepared pan and bake until golden brown, 40 to 45 minutes.

NOTEs

Nutrients per 3/4-inch slice (2 oz): Calories: 113, Total Fat: 1 g, Sat. Fat: 0.25 g, Carbs: 24 g, Fibre: 3 g, Sugars: 9 g, Protein: 4 g, Sodium: 125 mg, Cholesterol: 21 mg

My version came out at the same amount of calories per serving (113) with Total fat: 2.3g, Sat. Fat: 0.8g, Carbs: 15.9g, Fibre: 2.0g, Sugars: 7.4g, Protein: 3.5g, Sodium: 168.3mg, Cholesterol: 0.2 mg.
My finished Product :)

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