Holiday Tips to not throw you completely off

Morning girls J

Holidays are great, the sun in shining (hopefully), which encourages us to eat lighter and drink more water. We’re resting and sleeping better (which is very important when leading a healthy lifestyle) and we’re re-energizing our bodies, which is so important of our mental and physical functioning. 

Before I go through my ten tips that I think make an awesome difference to going on holiday, I want to make sure you understand – you are on your holidays – it IS important that you enjoy some more of life’s pleasures for your short time away. However, you are not a dog, you should not be rewarding yourself with food. 

This is a holiday –NOT a binge trip :) 

So here are ten tips to hang on the healthy living boat while on holiday;

1.      Drink plenty of water – this is not hard to do. It’s hot. You’re thirsty. Choose water over coke.

2.     Meditate every morning on your deck chair.

3.     Pick a time of day to enjoy your alcohol - either lunch or dinner. Do you really need to drink at both meals?

4.     Bring your supplements (see below for the three I brought). Supplements are vital for keeping your body functioning, decant them, they’re easy to bring and will help you feel good when you eat crap.

5.     Watch the carbs at dinner, there are so many wonderful restaurants abroad; try to avoid pasta and pizza every night…

6.    Choose nuts over crisps. A lot of people may have a nightcap or a pre dinner drink, have nuts as your snack instead of crisps.

7.     Get a minimum of 8 hours sleep per night. 

8.    Make sure you eat lots of fibrous foods (leaves, veggies + lentils) so you don’t get bloated and clogged… 

9.    Walk or cycle when you’re going out… Twenty minute walk to your restaurant and back is still a little bit of exercise – something is better than nothing.

10.  Let your skin see the sun (even if you’re very pale, just for a few minutes) –Vitamin D is a very good mood booster J

My Top Three supplements:

1.      Aloe Vera Gel: Well, you know how much I swear by this stuff (full blog on it here) I need this every day – it is amazing! It makes my feel so much cleaner inside; it’s full of nutrients, vitamins, minerals etc. It is amazing for your digestive tract and that means you don’t get bloated J so this is the most important thing that I bring with me. I try to always travel with hand luggage (my wardrobe is flip-flops, bikini, shorts, top #casualchick) So I decant it into little bottles. 

2.     Garcina Plus: A well-known appetite suppressor supplement (I always say to make sure that you’re drinking the gel, when you’re taking these – they can be prone to clogging….) these basically make you feel fuller… So that’s good for eh well you know… not overindulging in the magnums. 

3.     ForeverLean: This is a supplement blend of fiber (super for a healthy gut) and chromium. Chromium is a well-known tool for stopping you craving sugar. Truthfully = I LOVE sugar, I would dive into a bag of sweets if I had the opportunity to. I am not joking you – I do not have a sugar craving when on these bad boys!

If you guys want to grab some of these, you can on my online store: www.ericabrennan.flp.com (and please feel free to send me an email if you’re unsure)

Hope these tips help you with your holiday pounds, but remember, have fun, laughter and don’t come back being disgusted with yourself – it’s not worth it!!!

Erica xx

*** STEP 4 *** Get your summer body ready to rock

Hi Girls,

I hope you're all enjoying the bank holiday weekend! Things have been very busy for me lately. I'm in the process of opening a new gym (that is really busy) and I'm just back from an amazing event in the o2 in London. I work part time for myself with a company called Forever Living and they just paid for myself and my partner to fly to London and enjoy the amazing event that they hosted. I am going to write a blog up on how I work my Forever business as you know how important it is not to be stressed.

Stress will completely inhibit your ability to drop body fat. Forever really stopped me from getting stressed about money. I pump everything I've got into the gym so it'll grow and become an amazing fitness destination. Forever has given me the opportunity to work my gym full time and work my Forever business part time (5-10 hours a week) yet earn a full time salary. It's amazing. Needless to say, email me if you would like to see the business presentation online :) However, I'll be back on more of that...

Today...

*** STEP 4 ***

#2: To Put on Muscle, Focus on “Stressing Out” Your Muscles

This is really important = The more muscle you have, the less fat you have.

There is a misconception out there that " muscle turns into fat ". This is untrue. Muscle and fat are two completely different substances. Steaks don't turn into chicken breasts if uneaten!

Therefore the goal is to gain muscle (we don't need to look like Arnie, but muscles are good....)

If you want to build muscle, you need to apply a lot of “stress” to the muscle... we do that by weight training. This will cause the muscle to adapt and grow stronger. In general, training is putting stress onto your body making your body work harder and in turn your body will react by growing stronger muscles and the more muscle you have, the less fat you have.

How To Do It: 

Most people don’t do things... like tempo, volume, and intensity when training. You need to start!!

Count the tempo of every exercise and focus on longer time under tension to build muscle—(a great one is 4 seconds eccentric (down) and 4 seconds concentric (up).

Also, alternate between high-volume training (at least 4 sets of 8-10 reps) and high-intensity training (4-8 sets, 4-6 reps) every 2 to 3 weeks.

You are going to be in great shape in no time if you follow these simple steps!!

When I was in the UK, Forever announced their latest fitness program. It's a decision, not a diet. It works all around healthy fats and proteins, taking high quality supplements and keeping your gut clean. They introduced their latest product called "Therm" (this is going to be AMAZING!)" Therm, raises your body heat which in turn produces more GH (growth hormone), which in turn burns more fat. If you have every done one of my weight training classes, you'll notice that I keep the windows closed, this is again the same idea. The warmer you are and more GH you produce. Anyway my point is, that this program isn't on sale yet in Ireland, BUT I got to buy a pack of it, so guess what I'm starting it tomorrow. It is a 69 day plan to train you how to eat clean, exercise and supplement correctly. It'll be amazing! I'm hoping that Forever F.I.T program will get my down to 12% body fat!

So i'll keep you posted in that!

Happy Sunday, don't eat junk!
Erica xx (ericabrennan.pt@gmail.com)

Step 1
Step 2
Step 3

Get you summer body ready to rock #1

The sun is starting to shine, so the BIG questions is:

Do you want to lose a few pounds of body fat so you have an awesome body come summer? 

So over the next 4 weeks, I want to share with you 5 pretty awesome strategies that will improve your metabolic health instead of wrecking your metabolism (this will help you keep fat off!)

#1: Do Metabolically Stressful Training To Lose Body Fat Fast

Doesn't that sound complicated? It's not.

To lose body fat, you need to generate as much physiological stress on your body as possible (so that your body uses lots of energy and produces a dramatic buildup of lactic acid in the shortest period of time). 

Result:

A serious calorie burn, the use of fat for fuel, and a thriving metabolism. You will also build lean muscle mass, which when combined with increased protein intake, will radically improve the amount of calories your body burns daily :)

How to do it: Lift weights... fairly heavy ones AND have short rest periods. Train, doing big lifts (these use the biggest muscle groups... when you're using the bigger muscle groups, bigger muscle groups have the ability to burn more!)

So your new best friends in the gym are squat, deadlifts, step-ups, pulls, rows, chin-ups, and presses.

Good luck with this in the gym! If you need any advice in relation to your programs, you can PM me via facebook! Next Sunday, beach body plan #2 will be out! But lets take one step at a time! This week, focus on changing your gym programs/regimes!

Erica xXx

Have you gone up or down since January??

Well girls.... HOW are your progress reports coming along????

If you have a look at mine, you'll see only a very little change BUT in February I actually went UP!! Damn you February!! So to be down.... even if it's only slightly down... it's still down!! Plus, it shows I'm not lying to you and just saying I got results the whole time, because I AM HONEST!!

Small achievements over time, lead to a big achievement over the year!!

So, print off your one and have it so by next January you can see a big physical change!!!!

Also, I came across this really cool goal workout download on pinterest!!

So, I downloaded it so you guys can download it and pin it on your fridge to remind you to train!!!

USE IT!

Have another great training week! June is the next deadline for being below 15% for me... Whats your goal for June 2014?!

Erica xx

ps: I have been getting loads of emails from girls looking for some food/training advice, so if anyone else wants to send on some things, feel free to do so and I shall and get back to you as fast as possible!

pps: I ATTEMPTED to make healthy gluten free cookies.... with coconut flour, stevia and dark chocolate:

They were rotten!!! However, I will try again... and when I get tasty healthy cookies - you'll be the first to know about them :)