How are you? I'm genuinely interested to know how you are feeling right now. There seems to be a lot of colds and flu around at the moment so it's important to look after yourself. I'm still undergoing physio treatment for my injury sustained during football back in January! It has been a very frustrating 8 months for me. However, I have to be patient, which is very difficult when all I want to do is play football again.
It's a bit like losing weight. How to lose weight in 6 weeks. You make a decision that you want to lose weight, say a stone in 6 weeks, so that you can fit into your favourite jeans. After all, what's the point of them hanging up in your wardrobe, right? You begin your journey, maybe start by giving up sweets, cakes, fried food and even alcohol! You start to eat more vegetables, salads and fruit and drink a bit more water.
You MAY even think about doing some sort of exercise but you're not sure exactly what to do and how often to do it. You say to yourself "Exercise is hard and do I really want to put myself through the pain?" There are hundreds of gyms, studios, personal trainers, Zumba classes, Pilates... the list is endless. THEN, there is the food part of it. You have to choose a slimming group or the new fad diet that you've seen on the front cover of 'Perfect Healthy Woman' magazine [that magazine doesn't actually exist by the way, I made it up!]. THEN, you see the latest diet pill that is causing a mass revolution in the USA - it must work, 100 celebs are trying it and they are so thin! You are just inundated with choices BUT (and here's the deal), you just don't know where to turn for the best. True?
So, where do you go from here? Well, the first thing I would suggest is to make a plan. You want to lose a stone in 6 weeks? Set the exact date, i.e. by 10th November 2013. Then, get out your diary and make appointments (with yourself) for your exercise, e.g. Mon 7.30-8.00am Body weight exercises at home; Wed 6-7pm Zumba class; Fri 6-6.30pm Interval running session; Sun 8-8.30am Pilates exercises at home. You get the idea? If you don't do this, you will aimlessly exercise in a haphazard fashion and your results will be haphazard. You should also take some photos and measurements before starting to refer back to when you get to your target date.
The same with your eating. Plan your meals for the WEEK, not just the following day. Do a whole week's shopping and LEAVE OUT those nasty sugary treats - at least until you reach your goal of a stone off in weight. ONLY buy the healthy stuff - lots of vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds, lean cuts of meat, oily fish, yogurt, coconut milk/oil, nut butters, spices, green tea, juices, eggs, health bars etc. Make these your ONLY food choices - for now anyway.
Keep yourself well hydrated too over the 6 weeks. Drink plenty of water. BUT how much should you drink? The 'standard' recommendation is 6-8 glasses but I disagree as everyone is different and we all have different requirements. I find this is a good general guide - divide your weight (in kg) by 30. The number you get is the number of litres of water you need to drink - NOT including tea and coffee by the way!
Finally, the exercise bit - I bet you'd thought I'd forgotten about it?! Do something you enjoy. Don't go to a bootcamp if the thought fills you with dread. Don't lift heavy weights if you find it difficult to lift a shopping bag. Find an activity that fits into your lifestyle. Find other women who have been getting fantastic results and ask them what they do. Don't reinvent the wheel here - if women are getting results, what they are doing MUST work, right? Of course!
So, there you have it - my 'simple' plan for losing a stone in 6 weeks. Still stuck? Then get in touch and let's have a friendly chat about it - I'm all ears and I'll do whatever I can to help you.
