You are what you eat...

You are what you eat is such an underrated phrase in my opinion. You hear it all the time but how often do you actually take into account what it means?

I will be honest when I heard that phrase I would think yeah if you eat unhealthy processed high fat foods continuously then you will feel awful, be overweight and generally feel like crap, flip side if you eat healthy well balanced diet you feel wonderful - am I right?

So lets rewind to last summer, around May time 2016. A rash starts appearing on my body, a really red, sore rash on my legs, under arms and side of my stomach, I didn't notice it much until it started getting really painful and really obvious! 

Now I have super sensitive skin, it has taken me ages to work out my skin care routine and get the balance so I don't break out, and now something has tipped the balance.
So I tried changing my deodorant, my washing powder, cleaning products used around the house, even down to my exercise trousers, and nothing changed! 

Fast forward to September, winter is on its way and I am about to change to winter breakfast - summer is eggs and toast, winter is porridge with almond milk. I also take out a morning coffee as I find the porridge to be really filling and can't manage a coffee as well. 
After a few weeks I notice some changes, I am less bloated and also my rash is looking a little less red not by much but it looks like it is clearing up. 

So I start to consider that the phrase you are what you eat might have more meaning to that I originally thought, now I think about it I don't even know why I didn't think that the food I am putting into my body would effect the outside, my diet was always 80% clean 20% dirty, so I didn't think think that my diet would ever effect my complexion. 

So I looked at everything in my diet that contained dairy and took it out. Cheese (crying), milk products, yogurts, butter, chocolate, pizza etc and started from scratch. 

Since then the rash has completely cleared up, I had a flare up over Christmas, further confirming that any dairy product is going to effect me, the way I feel and also my complexion. 

At first it was a bit of a pain if I am totally honest, sometimes I would eat things and immediately feel sick, bloat out to looking 6 months pregnant, or break out- so I knew that had to leave the food group. Now I read every ingredient before buying and consider what might be in the meal when I go out to eat. After a few weeks of food shopping I pretty much knew what I can and couldn't have in my daily diet. I am pretty regimented with my eating, always the same thing every day, makes macro counting easier as well! 

I also look for alternatives - so pizza is my ultimate food I love it, so now I look at the free from section and making things from scratch, home made pizza is actually way better and the difference is SO much better. 

The free from aisle is now my favourite section, for foods that contain dairy they have the alternative, the only thing that is really not the same is cheese. Free from cheese is awful, so now I just don't eat it all, it makes me so sad because I love cheese, one day my body will change its mind I am sure.... ;)

So if you are having a similar problem I would highly recommend looking into your diet and thinking more about what you eat. 
Keep a food diary and if you have any reactions from bloating, feeling sick to hives make a note of what you ate and also at what time, and how you felt that day. 


Looking for nutrition plans, advice or eating tips email us barbellasandbuns@gmail.com for more information! 

Being SMART about your goals

Can you believe 2016 is nearly over? Just 20 short days are left of this year, and now begins the time to make the goals for 2017.

But when making the goals we want to achieve do we look at what it takes to achieve them? I mean really look and plan them out, writing down I want to get fit and go to the gym is a start but what does this mean. When will you achieve this by, what level of fit do you want to be, when does this end? 

SMART is a great way to plan out your goals and layout exactly how your will be achieving them.

Lets look at an example to explain a little more -

S - specific - be specific about your goal what exactly is it going to be 
M - measurable - how are you going to measure this - if you want to lose weight you will measure by scales and a tape measure, if you want to get fit you measure by fitness tests or for example being able to walk upstairs without being out of breath
A - achievable - how are you going to achieve this - what changes are you going to make? join a gym, make better food choices, hire a personal trainer to help you 
R- realistic - 2 stone in a month is not realistic and running a 10k in a month when you have never run before is also not realistic. Loosing weight 1lb per week or training for a 10k over a series of months will be mean you are more likely to achieve these goals and not feel disheartened if you don't achieve them quickly. 
T- time, set a deadline. With a clear cut line of what you want to achieve this you will know what you are working towards and are more likely to stay on track. 


My goals for 2017 are to work on all the little skills I am missing - strict strength, gymnastics, building my aerobic capacity ready for 2018 and to go back to competing.
I also want to work more on my personal training and coaching, continually educating myself in the field of strength and conditioning and making sure that I can be the best there is! 

Achieving your goals

Happy March everyone! Can you believe it is March already? I feel like this year is zooming by already! 

So 3 months in, lets check on those new years resolutions... who is sticking to them and whose have ended up brushed under the carpet? 

If you are in the latter you are probably not alone! It isn't because your a failure or never going to achieve anything, it is simply because you set unrealistic goal or unrealistic time scales for you to achieve these. For example losing 1 stone in 1 month... if you want to keep it off and do it in a healthy way then no this is not a good time scale.

So lets reset it is only March there are 9 months left in the year for you to achieve your 2016 goals we just need to re-evaluate time scales and those goals you have set! 

Here are some tips for your to take into account:

• Look at the time scale you have set yourself - are these possible? If you set yourself a goal of 7lbs to loose in one week you will fail, I can tell you this because it just isn't possible and if you do loose it in one week then it will not long lasting and will be dangerous for your health. Aim for 1lb per week and if you achieve more great, but 1lb is alot and you should be proud of this loss! 
• Is your goal going to make you happy - you are working to this goal but what is it doing for you? Goals are selfish they are what you want to achieve so they should bring satisfaction - lifting a heavy weight, hitting that long awaited PB or wearing that swimsuit on holiday. If it is going to make you happy when you achieve it go for it, you will probably find that when you achieve it you will be hungry for more! That's how I feel when  I hit a PB once that goal is achieved I look for the next number to hit
• Work towards it every day - don't go in half assed, go for it and work your butt off to achieve it! Make a plan and stick to it! A fail to plan is a plan to fail 
• Set mini goals - if your ultimate goal is a big one set mini goals as check in points - every 6 weeks check in your mini goal and see if you have achieved it, over succeeded it or if there is still more work to be done, the beauty of a mini goal is that you can keep yourself on track and if you need to tweak some things you can make the changes and see the difference
• Don't get frustrated - if you don't achieve something right a way look at why you are failing - going back to the beauty of mini goals - look at what your doing wrong and fix it. for example I am working on toes to bar - I cant get the kick high enough so I worked on loosening my back and my lat strength as this is key is lasting is a continuous loop of toes to bar. Its frustrating that I am not there yet but I am working at all the small parts to make the bigger picture!

If you are looking to get back on track and want a personalised plan, please send me across an email with details and we can put something together for you!