Get Lean Program Acceleration Phase: 2nd Month completed!

Sorry it has taken me so long to write this update... you probably thought that like the majority of people I’d already gone off my ‘diet’ plan & gave everything up?!

But not at all! I really love the Get Lean Program and the impact it is having on my life, my health and the positive side effect it is having on the rest of my family’s diet!  

It has been a strange & busy month so it was tough to stay focussed, I had to prioritise and writing is not that easy for me... I had a few wobbly days there & then, I didn’t lose as much in weight as I would have hoped, but the shape of my body has clearly improved. I have lost 3.1 kg within the 2 months I have followed the Get Lean Program. You might not be impressed by this weight loss progress, so I am taking all the courage I have to show you the differences in these pictures:

         22 Aug 2010          15 Jan 2012                        22 April 2012

Now, I know I don't look like a top model & the pictures are not the best quality (some of them were even taken by my 4-year-old daughter!), but I just had the guts to show you my transformation so far & what I look like...it gives me even more motivation to work hard & have better pictures to show next time!

As I told you last month, Belinda Benn has re-launched her site & upgraded her program to workout video downloads & more personal coaching access... so I jumped over to the new improved program. The workout seemed more challenging to me, so I followed the Beginner level half-way through to familiarise myself and improve my technique.

Just started month 3 that is Peak Phase and I am moving to the Intermediate level workout. Because I am now at the weight where I usually ‘plateau’, Belinda suggested a specific weekly workout plan for me to follow & try overcome this ‘plateau’! I am doing well so far and bought some heavier weights to be able to work harder and with ‘proper tools’.

I am sure I will be proud to post so more improved pictures of myself at the end of the month (22 May 2012 will be 3 months worth of the Get Lean Program) to show you that the Get Lean Program does work and I hope that it will inspire you to give it a try too...

At the end of the program and as suggested by Belinda, I will take 1/2-week-break from the workout plan and re-do the 12-week-plan again. The nutrition plan is fantastic, my husband & children find the meals delicious...so for us it will be just continuing to eat a normally healthy & nutritious diet. My fitness will have dramatically improved, so I will eventually move from the Intermediate to Advanced workouts... exciting!!

Do follow me on Twitter @valeriemyburgh to see my progress and hopefully get inspiration from my journey!

I Need to Lose Weight and Fast: Which Diet Plan Should I Use?

If I had a dollar for every time someone came up to me and said, “I need to lose weight and fast,” I’d be stretched out on the sandy beaches of Hawaii without a care in the world. Low carb, high protein, liquid and cabbage soup – with all the diet plans on the market, how on earth do you choose?
Most of these diets are just a bunch of hype; so personally, I wouldn’t touch any of them with a 50-foot stick. Sorry to break it to you (I always gotta be the bad guy), there are no shortcuts to weight loss. The most effective way to lose those stubborn pounds is by using a common sense approach that favors nutritious eating over dieting.

The Lure of the Fad Diet

When people want to lose weight, they want to do it quick, fast and in a hurry. Fad diet marketers take advantage of this desperation and use the promise of lightning speed results to reel you in.
Quick does not always equal better. In fact, when it comes to permanent weight loss, slow and steady always wins out in the end. Here are two of the main reasons faddy-type diets don’t work:

• They don’t deliver long-term results. Most fad diets require you to drastically reduce your caloric intake. This causes your metabolism to respond by slowing down. Once you revert back to your regular eating habits, you’ll gain the weight back just as fast as you lost it.

• They mangle your health. Fad diet plans deprive you of some of the key nutrients you need for good health. This can result in malnutrition, zapped energy, damaged organs, hair loss, and loss of lean muscle tissue. Sounds like a fun way to drop a few, huh.

4 Simple Rules of Eating to Lose Weight

Losing weight is certainly not the easiest thing to do, but if you remember these four simple rules, you’ll never have to hop on the fad diet bandwagon. You can lose weight gradually (remember slow and steady) and keep it off for good.

1. Stay away from processed foods. These foods are full of high fructose corn syrup, salt and chemical additives that can cause weight gain, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and cancer. Yep. This includes those frozen diet meals that some weight loss programs encourage you to buy.
2. Leave the sugar alone. Sugar is riddled with calories. If you use it to sweeten foods and beverages everyday, you can easily rack up too many calories and hinder your weight loss efforts.
3. Eat enough food. If you’re hungry all the time, you are probably not eating enough food to fuel your body. If you don’t eat enough, your body will hold on to stored fat instead of burning it off. This is not what you want to happen when you’re trying to lose weight.
4. Stay hydrated. Water is important when you’re trying to slim down because it helps to metabolize fat and eliminate toxins and stored fat in the body. So drink up!

Where Does Exercise Fit In?

When you follow a healthy eating plan, you’ll likely lose weight, even if you don’t workout. However, unless you add exercise into the mix, your metabolism will eventually slow down and you won’t see the results you want.
Your exercise routine should consist of both cardio and weight training. Relax ladies. Training with weights won’t turn you into the Terminator; it will simply help you build muscle mass and sculpt a lean, fierce frame.
Getting in the habit of working out several days week can be tough, especially if you already have a lot on your plate. Choose exercises you enjoy. This way, you’re more likely to stick with a program.
I know what it’s like to want to lose weight fast. I’ve been there and I feel your pain. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts to permanent weight loss (believe me, I’ve looked). The best way to achieve long-term weight loss without jeopardizing your health is with proper nutrition and exercise.
Making the decision to lose weight is the first step to looking good and feeling even better. Watch this video to get advice on the age-old dilemma of, “I need to lose weight and fast.”

I’m Really Overweight-Help Me Lose Weight

I remember being overweight, and desperate to find a solution to help me lose weight. After a few failed attempts, I finally dropped the weight and I’ve managed to keep it off for years. So how did I do it? Since that darned magic pill didn’t work, I had to lose the weight the old fashioned way. I committed myself to the cause, ate healthy and got off my hump and exercised. If I can do it, so can you.

Whip Your Eating Habits into Shape

We live in a nation of processed foods. The result of this is a skyrocketing population of fluffy adults and children. When you’re overweight, you are at risk for diabetes, heart disease, hypertension and other illnesses that can reduce your quality of life and send you to an early grave.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it ten thousand times: processed foods are no good. Do yourself a favor and boot these items out of your diet. Replace them with healthier, natural foods like fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh fish, lean meats, poultry, beans, legumes, seeds and raw nuts.
Don’t delude yourself into thinking you can change your poor eating habits overnight. Keep in mind, bad eating habits are easy to develop, but they’re not as easy to change. It helps if you start small by making gradual tweaks to your diet.
For instance, you might make it a point to trade in your morning doughnut for a bowl of oatmeal, a piece of nitrate/nitrite free bacon and some fresh fruit. If you eat out everyday, scale back, and commit to preparing healthy, low-cal meals at home at least twice a week.
On the days you eat out, replace a few unhealthy foods with healthier menu choices. For instance, instead of ordering a bag of chips or a side of fries with you sandwich, opt for a small salad. Continue to make small dietary changes every couple of weeks until your poor eating habits are a thing of the past.

Get Up and Get Moving

When you’re trying to whittle your waistline, it’s all about the burn, baby. Once you remove all of the processed junk from your diet, you’ll automatically reduce your caloric intake and lose weight. However, if you don’t do something to set that metabolism on fire, it will slow down and you won’t see any additional weight loss results.
You don’t have to take the “whole hog” approach to exercising to see results. The most important thing is that you do something to get your body moving. Jump up and down for 10 minutes or take a stroll around the block – if it’s more physical activity than you normally get, you’re good.
Of course, as your fitness level improves, you’ll have to add to your exercise routine to keep those weight loss results coming.

Get Committed to Your Healthy Eating Plan

When we talk about losing weight, we always tackle the nutrition and exercise side of things. Let’s talk for a bit about the commitment dropping weight requires. Losing weight and keeping it off is hard work; it requires some serious lifestyle changes.
There are going to be times when you feel discouraged and disappointed, and days when you experience setbacks. If you’re committed – and I mean really committed, you’ll be able to pull yourself up, dust the cake crumbs off, and press on. If you’re not ready to dig your heels in and put in the work, you’ll be disheartened by the results.
Losing weight with proper nutrition and exercise can make you feel healthier and produce lasting results. Watch this video to learn how The Diet Solution Program can help you lose the fat and keep it off for good. If this program could help me lose weight, you can do it, too!

Diet Plans to Lose Weight Need Not Be Complicated

With all of the conflicting information about nutrition, it’s no wonder people give up on their diet plans to lose weight after only a few days. Dropping weight can feel like an uphill climb, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Don’t let others make the process more complicated than it actually is.
Don’t get me wrong, losing flab certainly has it challenges (trust me, I’ve been there). I’m simply saying if you’re armed with the right information, slimming down is not as hard as it seems. If you boot all the processed foods out of your diet and replace them with nutrient-dense, natural foods, you’ll lose weight and feel healthier before you know it.

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

Adding a variety of fresh fruits and veggies to your daily diet can help you get the vitamins and minerals you need to support important functions of the body. For instance, calcium helps support bone health. Vitamin C helps the immune system thrive. B vitamins work to ease stress, and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. And vitamin A supports healthy vision and skin.
Fruits and vegetables are rich sources of complex carbohydrates and fiber. Carbs are important because they provide fuel for the body. Fiber regulates the bowels and expands in your stomach to help you stay full longer. The longer you stay full, the less you eat, and the more likely you are to drop body fat.

I have always been a supporter of free roaming chicken, grass fed meets, and whole organic eggs. It just makes sense.

Poultry and Beans
When you make beans and poultry a part of your regular diet, you are giving your body the protein it needs to maintain good health. Protein is referred to as the building block of the body for a reason. This nutrient is found almost everywhere in the body. Without it, you’ll face problems like fatigue, skin ulcers, sleeping difficulties, weakness and organ damage.
Skimping on the protein can also cause crankiness, depression, anxiety and other mental issues. Also, when you add this compound to your diet, you are less likely to overeat because it makes meals more satiating and helps control your appetite.

Lean Meats, Fish and Raw Nuts

Adding lean meats to your diet will ensure you get the iron you need to build hemoglobin and transport oxygen to the cells in your body. When you don’t get enough iron in your diet, your chances of suffering with iron deficient anemia increases. Symptoms of anemia can include fatigue, problems regulating the body temperature, headaches, dizziness and weakness.
The importance of fat in the diet is underrated. When you avoid eating healthy fats, you do your body a huge disservice. Healthy fats build the brain, provide the body with energy, help produce hormones, and provide cushion for your internal organs.
Fats also enable the body use vitamins more efficiently. Make fish and raw nuts staples in your diet so you can get some of the fats you need for good health.
If you rid your diet of processed junk and replace them with the foods listed above, you can shed unwanted pounds without frustration. The weight isn’t going to come off overnight, but it will eventually come off. Oh, and remember. No diet plan is complete or 100 percent successful without exercise.
If you don’t have a plan, trying to lose weight can be frustrating. Let The Diet Solution Program provide you with effective diet plans to lose weight.

How I Use Exercise to Help Me Lose Weight

When I finally got fed up with being rotund, the first thing I did was clean up my diet. However, this wasn’t enough to help me lose weight consistently. With the amount of fat I needed to lose, nutrition alone just wasn’t going to cut it; so I started an exercise program to keep those fat burning results coming. Here’s how to use exercise to send unwanted body fat packing.

Do Plenty of Cardio

In order to lose one pound of fat you have to burn 3500 calories. It’s almost impossible to achieve this without doing cardiovascular exercises. Aim to get cardio (with an emphasis on high intensity interval training) five days a week. If you’re super busy (like most of us) and find it hard to squeeze cardio into your day, break your workouts up into chunks.
Here’s an example of how you can break your cardio workouts into manageable pieces:

• Run on a treadmill for 15 minutes when you wake up.
• Take a brisk 15 minute walk around the parking lot during your lunch break.
• Pop in a workout video and exercise for 15 to 30 minutes before dinner.

Don’t feel like your only options for good cardio workouts are treadmills and exercise bikes. There’s nothing wrong with these machines, they work great. But if you do them all the time, they can get sort of humdrum. There are plenty of other ways to get your heart jumping. Some examples include kick boxing, mowing the lawn, gardening, jumping rope and swimming.

Pump a Little Iron

Many women avoid weights like the plague. They fear pumping iron will make them look bulky and masculine. This is absolutely not true. Unless you use some sort of performance-enhancing drug when you lift weights, the possibility of looking like the Hulk is slim.
When you build lean muscle tissue by lifting weights, it kicks your metabolism into high gear and helps you slim down. Keep in mind, the more lean muscle mass you have, the more calories your body will burn—even when you’re stretched out on the couch doing nothing (nice!).
Also, lean muscle mass is compact so it takes up less space than fat. Any lean muscle tissue you build lifting weights will tone your body and give you a streamlined physique. Ladies, if you really want to get in shape, put your fears of huskiness to rest and pump weights three times a week.

Sample Workout Plan to Get You Started

In one of my past newsletters, I talked about building a foundation by focusing on mastering the basics—lunges, squats, pushing, twisting and pulling. Do the below exercise back to back. After you do the entire circuit, repeat all five exercises two more times.

• Bodyweight squats – 10 to 20 repetitions
• Bodyweight lunges – 8 on each leg
• Modified pushups on your knees 10 to 15 repetitions
• Assisted pull ups – 10 repetitions
• Medicine ball or dumbbell woodchop – 10 repetitions per side

As your fitness level increases, you can build on these exercises to make them more challenging by increasing resistance and making them more complex.
There’s nothing like waking up every morning looking and feeling your best. Anything less is unacceptable. Let The Diet Solution Program show you these tried and true methods that I’ve used to help me lose weight.

Have You Ever Considered a Starvation Diet Plan for Weight Loss?

The less food you eat, the more weight you’ll lose, right? Sorry, but it just doesn’t work this way. If your idea of the perfect diet plan for weight loss is popping crackers and diuretics, you’re headed for disaster. Besides being downright miserable, a starvation diet can thwart your weight loss efforts and do some serious damage to your health.

Starving Slows the Fat Burning Process

Your body relies on the nutrients in food (real food, not saltines) for fuel. When you starve yourself, it senses the downward shift in your caloric intake and kicks into starvation mode. When this happens, your metabolism will slow down and your body will hold on to stored fat in order to conserve energy.
Lean muscle mass needs more energy to function than fat. Basically, the more lean muscle you have, the more calories you’ll burn. If you continue to starve yourself, your body will feed on your lean muscle tissue and make it even harder for you to lose weight.
Obviously, if you starve yourself long enough, you’ll have no choice but to lose weight. But the weight loss won’t be healthy, and it will show in your appearance. You’ll become emaciated and your body will start to look like an old bag of bones (not joking).

Starvation Diet Results Are Short-Lived

The weight lost from starvation diets almost always comes back. Starvation slows your metabolism down. And it can take months for it to return to normal. As soon as you start eating again, you’ll likely gain all of the weight you lost back, plus a few extra pounds. In the end, you’ll wind up bigger than you were before you started starving.

Starving Can Damage Your Health

When you go without food, you don’t get any of the essential nutrients needed for good health. This can result in fatigue, kidney failure, heart failure, gallstones, ulcers, hair loss, muscle weakness and osteoporosis. This is just a short list of the physical problems a starvation diet can cause. We haven’t even touched on the mental stuff yet.
It’s not uncommon for extremely calorie-restrictive dieters to struggle with depression, anger, indifference, memory loss, poor concentration, hallucinations and mood swings. Starvation can also increase your chances of suffering with eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia.
In essence, your health will be a mess if you try to lose weight by starving. The worst part about it is that some of the health issues that arise from starvation diets can cause irreversible damage to your body and require long-term hospitalization or lifelong medical care.
I’m not trying to scare you, but if you plan to turn starvation into a lifestyle, you’ll end up in a body bag way before your time. No amount of skinny is worth your life.
Don’t let the desperation to lose weight push you to go on a starvation diet. This type of diet can destroy your health and make weight loss harder to achieve. The healthiest way to drop unwanted pounds is to eat right, manage portion sizes and exercise.
Let The Diet Solution Program show you how a sensible diet plan for weight loss can work for you.

I Need to Lose Weight – How Resistance Training Can Help

Years ago, I took a long hard look at myself and thought: I need to lose weight because this pudgy body of mine is not going to work for me anymore. It took me a few tries to nail the nutrition side of things. But I knew that if I wanted to see steady weight loss results I needed to couple my healthy eating habits with exercise.
I do my fair share of cardio, but I also add resistance training to the mix because it helps me burn calories and keeps my body strong and svelte.

Benefits of Resistance Training

If you’re on a mission to lose weight, resistance training is vital because it increases the amount of lean muscle mass in the body. Why does this matter? Every pound of muscle you have accelerates the rate your body burns fat.
You can get resistance training from using dumbbells, weight machines, water bottles, soup cans and resistance bands. You can also use your own body weight as resistance by doing pushups, pull ups, squats, lunges and the like.
When you do only cardio exercises, your metabolism slows down as soon as your workout is over. When you add resistance training into the equation, your metabolism stays revved up long after your workout is over—even when you’re sitting on the couch like a hairball.
If you’re still not convinced that resistance training is important for weight loss, think about this. If two women are the same height and weight, and one of them has a body that’s mostly lean muscle while the other woman’s body is flabby, the woman with the lean muscle will look smaller. Why? Because muscle is compact and takes up less space in the body than fat.

I Don’t Want to Get Bulky

Some women shun the idea of resistance training because they have unrealistic fears of getting bulky. Most of the people who get husky either train specifically to gain bulk (professional bodybuilders for example) or they take performance-enhancing drugs.
General strength training is not, I repeat, is not going to make you bulky. The only thing it will do is make you stronger, leaner and shapelier. Isn’t this what you want?

Tips for Effective Resistance Training

• Do resistance training three times a week. Don’t overdo it. When you strength train, your muscles need time to recover. Ideally, you should rest one day between each resistance training session.

• Don’t lift too heavy or too light. Lifting weights that are too heavy can cause you to get injured, and weights that are too light won’t challenge your body.

• Use slow, controlled movements as opposed to rapid movements when you are doing resistance training exercises. If you lift weights too fast you will use momentum instead of strength to get through your repetitions, which can sabotage your efforts.

• When you lift the same amount of weights and do the same number of reps for weeks on end, your muscles get bored and progression slows down. Revamp your resistance training program every few weeks so that you continually see results.

If you really want to see those pounds melt away, combine a quality resistance training program with a sensible diet and plenty of cardiovascular exercise.
Losing weight can improve the way you look and feel. Let The Diet Solution Program show you what I do when I need to lose weight.

Reset Day 5: Last day of natural detox challenge

I woke up in a panic not naturally but by the alarm!? Motivated still, I got up anyway for my morning workout thinking it won’t be an issue to catch up later on other things to do!

A bit confused I switched on the TV and select the first recorded program I hadn’t viewed as yet: Kundalini Yoga with Maya – Mantras. I gave it up after a few minutes because it was all about chanting and I did feel uncomfortable making these type of noises while the rest of my family are still asleep above...

I chose the next one: Apple Yoga with Katy Appleton – Episode 1. I really enjoyed the workout, there was even one exercise in the middle that requires chanting...this time I got on with it & chanted. I felt really good & energised from it and felt silly not having done the first video!

I felt so good that I was keen to do another video: The BobyHoliday Episode 3 – Yoga. I would love to go on holiday one day there in St Lucia...need to save some money first & convince hubby to come with!! If any one is interested, look at this special offer:

 5*St Lucia from £1749 ppThe BodyHoliday, Luxury room,7 nights, ALL 11-28 Jun 2012 Tour ref: CL0046

 

I continued my food plan as per usual, not feeling hungry at all... I even nearly forgot to eat my morning snack! I am excited at the idea of going on the scale tomorrow where I am meant to lose between 1.8 to 2.3 kgs (4-5 lbs). Let’s see how close I will be to my 60 kg optimal goal.

I believe I will still have more than 5 kgs (10 lbs) to lose and in that case I will move to Phase 1 – Transformation Phase. Every day, I will replace 1 meal and 1 snack with low glycemic ones!

My plan tomorrow is to do the chanting yoga video I passed this morning and encourage my daughters to join me in my workouts if they are awake!

Detox challenge Day 4: Feeling fantastic!

Hooray! I managed to get up naturally at 5.30 am and tried something completely new called ‘Choi Bo’ workout with Anthony Aurelius for about 40 minutes. It was a body conditioning session with strengthening & stretching exercises.

For those without Sky TV and those without Body In Balance Channel, they do offer their workout videos on demand (unlimited access to 400 + videos) for only £5 a month: that’s so much cheaper than a membership gym and more convenient!

Body in Balance TV

I had a busy day, but I was full of beans so everything went very smoothly. I feel fantastic!!

I am not bored of the Nutrimeal shakes (my favourite is off course Chocolate) or the nutrition bars and I also add an orange and some carrot sticks.

My daughter who is 8 trains several times a week in the Squad of a local Swimming Club in the evening. She is training tonight and guess what she will have to replenish her body after the session: a strawberry Nutrimeal shake: she only has a small shake 2/3!

I will only weigh myself on the morning of Day 6, but I can already feel that my jeans are no longer tight so I know the detox is working!!

I am excited at the idea of being able to get up so early to workout...my long term goal is to exercise for at least 1 hour daily and at least 5 times a week!!!

Looking forward to tomorrow...till later!

I Need to Lose Weight and Fast – Should I Join a Gym?

Anytime a person comes to me and says, “Isabel, I need to lose weight and fast. Will joining a gym help me achieve my goals?” I simply tell them that no two people are alike. It’s all about what works for you. There are a lot of good reasons to join a gym, but there are also some drawbacks.

Reasons You May Want to Join a Gym

• Motivation. Everyone at the gym is there for one reason—to exercise. Being around people who share the same objective can motivate you to dig your heels in and get your workouts done. If going to the gym will encourage you to exercise regularly, then I say go for it!

• No Distractions at Home. There is always something to do or someone who needs you at home. These distractions can easily take priority (in your mind) over exercising. When you do most of your workouts at the gym, the dishes, dinner, phone calls, laundry and anything else you “need” to do will just have to wait.

• Access to Exercise Equipment and Fitness Classes. You don’t need much exercise equipment to get a good workout. However, doing the same old exercise videos and running on the same old treadmill can bore you to pieces. When you opt to workout in a gym, you have access to tons of equipment and a variety of fitness classes, so you rarely get bored.

Reasons You May Not Want to Join a Gym

• You May Get Stuck in a Contract. Plenty of people join a gym and use their memberships religiously. Others start off with a boom and then fade away. If you are one of the faders and you sign a 12 month contract, you’ll be stuck paying for a year long membership that you never use. Basically, it will be a waste of money.

• Fees are Continuous. Most contracted gym membership fees are collected via automatic bank draft. If you lose your job or run into financial hardships, there is no way to stop the gym from pulling money out of your account until your contract expires. If your finances are really messed up, the money the gym takes out of your account can cause overdraft charges and other financial hardships.

• Overcrowding. Gyms are in the business of making money. The more members they have, the more money they make. These facilities can be pretty crowded during peak hours. If you hate crowds or are uncomfortable exercising around others, the gym atmosphere may not be for you.

• Germy Equipment. Sweaty bodies and dirty hands—it’s no secret that the exercise equipment and locker rooms at gyms are stomping grounds for germs. Anytime you come into contact with germy equipment, you become vulnerable to illnesses and infections. If you are a germaphobe or slack about hand washing, you may be better off exercising at home.

Some Ways to Combat Gym Drawbacks

While it’s not necessary to join a gym to lose weight, some people thrive in this type of setting. If you’re not sure if a gym is right for you, go to a nearby facility and ask for a free trial membership. This will give you a chance to use the facility for a couple of weeks to see if joining is something you really want to do.
If you feel like a gym membership is what you need to get off your hump and exercise, negotiate with the fitness club to save a little cash. Some gyms will waive their registration fees or offer as much as 30 percent off membership prices–all you gotta’ do is ask.
If you detest the idea of being trapped in a contract, ask for a month to month membership. Most gyms don’t advertise the month to month thing because it eats into their profits. With this type of membership, you simply pay as you go. When you get sick of going, you can quit without paying any additional fees.
Your dream of losing weight is only a reach away. Watch this video to find out how the Diet Solution Program has helped me when I need to lose weight and fast.

Belinda Benn's Story

I am over dieting! At 36, after two kids and some 10 odd years of my weight fluctuating up and down, I’m left with cellulite, flab, low confidence and even lower motivation to go through it again. However, I’m not here to be negative! Quite the opposite. At last, I think I’ve found a healthy, realistic and affordable approach to kick my bad habits once and for all. Let me introduce you to Belinda Benn’s GetLean Program.

Belinda’s story

One factor that always fails in me losing weight is that I’ve never taken my diets seriously. The pictures of the women who supposedly have lost hundreds of pounds are taunt and ripped. But when I look in the mirror, it seems so unrealistic. This always leaves me only half-heartedly attempting to achieve my goal, as they seem so unattainable.

From first appearances, Belinda who is fit and sculpted to perfection would seem like any of those other figures featured in every weight loss commercial. What surprised me about her is that her story is so relatable. At 37, she had never exercised in her life. She had been married and had children. She lived on an unhealthy diet but felt like she had no time to do better. She even admits she had cellulite and flab! To myself along with many of you, surely, this sounds very close to home.

Now at 45, Belinda admits to feeling the best shape of her life. Not only does she look great but has a new philosophy and approach to life, feeling mentally and emotionally vibrant and alive.

How Belinda revolutionised her life

Belinda’s approach to losing weight is what most appeals to me. Instead of being based on short-term dieting with fast but unattainable results, she worked on learning about foods and choosing new, food positive habits. Under Belinda’s approach, eating doesn’t mean cutting out all the tasty ‘bad’ foods or living by some ridiculous ‘rules’. It’s simple and easy. Instead, it’s about learning about food to empower yourself to eat well and exercise well using tools that you already have around you. No gimmicks. No gadgets. Simple wisdom, guidance and support. Everything you need to succeed.

So, what’s The Get Lean Program?

The Get Lean Program is an easy to use guide that you can read work through from home. It’s flexible, designed to work into your busy lifestyle. It’s affordable, using foods that you can access at your own supermarket, or may already have!

Belinda’s guide is explained thoroughly in simple language. She supplies you with a 3 Phase Fat Burning System which breaks the program into gradual stages, setting you up for long term, manageable changes rather than crash and burn dieting.

For a busy woman like me with a husband, kids and job, the program has a Step by Step Fat Loss Plan that works into your daily schedule. It even includes 12 weeks of Daily Meal Plans and over 50 Fat Burning Recipes to take the planning out of it and make it as easy as possible to work into your routine.

Because Belinda has been through the weight loss process herself, she understands the struggle it can be to persevere. To help you through it, she includes her 10 Secrets to Success so you know exactly how she battled and overcame the same issues. There is also a Diary & Success Journal to help you work through the psychological connection we all have with food. Incredibly, there is also Belinda’s personal support via email where Belinda will personally support you through your journey!

Reset Day 1:

As many of us, I have over indulged over the Christmas holidays and was not as active as I should have been. I weigh myself this morning: 69.9kg...but that’s ok, I know what to do: start with a natural detox and get back slowly into good habits and routines.
 Today I am starting a 5 Day Jump Start Carb Cleanse – it will kick off my metabolism and eliminate cravings for sugar and refined carbs. The average weight loss is 4-5 lbs.
My original plan was to get up ½ hour earlier and start with a 30 min Pilates workout DVD that I got myself for Christmas to replace my gym membership! But as she often does, my 4-year-old got into our bed during the night...therefore I didn’t get a good enough sleep and I needed that ½ hour sleep instead.
Instead of tea or coffee (it’s a detox remember!), I started the day with an organic herbal tea: nettle, fennel & peppermint...not bad at all!

And this is my low glycemic feed that I planned for today:

My breakfast will be a tasty Cappucino (taste like but is not!) Nutrimeal Shake with an added scoop of Fibergy (even more fiber: I need it!) with my morning USANA healthpack supplements pouch.
My lunch will & my dinner will be another tasty Nutrimeal shake, not sure which flavour I will choose yet and 2 healthy nutrition bars to make it a total of 5 small meals during the day.
I keep my 1.5L still mineral bottle with me at all times that I will drink throughout and hopefully will need to top up too!
All I need now is to find the time to do my Pilates sessions...and I have lots of excuses for not finding the time: housework, work, kids, preparing food from scratch for the family tonight!

I am updated this now it's 8 pm. It was an exhausting day, not sure if because I had a lot on or the lack of calories or my body fighting the cravings! I managed the detox well, I didn't feel starved at all and I even managed to drink 2 litres of water... the only thing was I didn't do my 30 minutes Pilates: something to get right tomorrow!

Hoping for a good night sleep tonight, but proud of myself on my first day!


Would you like to join me? Contact Me

USANA RESET Week 2012: Stories of Success

What is RESET?

What is the 5-day-RESET:

Where to get RESET from

Where to get RESET from

All the food you need for those 5 days comes in this lovely box. You will replace your meals with delicious Nutrimeal shakes (chocolate, vanilla, strawberry) and your snacks with nutritious low glycemic bars (Oatmeal Raisin or Peanut Butter Crunch). The box also includes daily USANA nutritionals to supplement your intake.

Where to get it

Where to ask to get it

All you now need to do is go through the box, drink at least 64-80 oz. of still water and walk for 20 to 30 mins daily. If you need to, you may eat 1 fruit & 1 vegetable servings on the top of the Nutrimeal shakes & bars.

How to Eat Great and Lose Weight

Snacking on dried out rice cakes and wilted lettuce leaves is no way to spend your mealtimes. You don’t have to eat bland, boring foods just to trim up. It is possible to eat great and lose weight all at the same time. If you choose quality foods and have a willingness to try new things, you can get down on delicious meals and shed pounds too.

Choose the Right Foods

You can’t possibly lose weight if the foods you use to prepare you meals are unhealthy and loaded with calories. When you avoid processed nonsense and stick with fresh ingredients, you can’t go wrong. Anything boxed, frozen, jugged or canned is considered processed and has no place in a healthy diet.
Foods that should be staples in your healthy meal plans include fresh fish, naturally raised meats, organic poultry, organic whole eggs, raw nuts, fresh herbs, and fresh fruits and vegetables. Natural foods are better for you because they are low in calories and filled with plenty of nutrients your body can use.
Also, natural foods aren’t loaded with a laundry list of additives that contribute to weight gain, diabetes, cancer, hypertension and other health problems.

Experiment with Recipes, Flavors and Cooking Methods

I love grilled chicken, but if I had to eat if every day, I’d go bananas—I imagine you would too.  Free yourself from the bondage of humdrum, tasteless meals by experimenting with recipes. Thumb through cookbooks, surf the Internet and use your imagination to whip up meals you can’t wait to sink your teeth into.
When you come across recipes that have unhealthy ingredients, simply swap the bad ingredients out for healthier ones. For instance, if a recipe calls for milk, you can replace this ingredient with coconut or almond milk. Also, don’t be afraid to switch out spices and seasonings to add a new flavor to a dish.
Vary your cooking methods to keep things fresh and give food a different taste. For instance, if you always broil your steak, try sautéing it, or covering it with olive oil and dropping it on the grill. All of these cooking methods are healthy and easy to master.

Sample Recipes to Help You Eat Great and Lose Weight

Healthy French Toast:

• 2 slices of Sprouted Grain, Spelt or Rice bread
• 1 tablespoon of real butter
• 2 whole organic eggs
• maple syrup
• cinnamon

Directions: Mix the eggs in a bowl. Dip the bread in the egg mixture until it is completely coated on both sides. Heat a pan on low to medium heat and add the butter. Once the butter is melted, add the egg coated bread and cook each side for 3 to 4 minutes. Sprinkle the toast with cinnamon and serve it with 2 teaspoons of maple syrup.
Baked Chicken a la Isabel (one of my creations)

• 1 whole baking chicken
• extra virgin coconut oil
• your favorite Italian spices (I use thyme, parsley, oregano, garlic powder, sea salt and pepper)

Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in a small pan and melt it over low heat. Mix 1 to 2 teaspoons of each of your spices in a small bowl and pour in the melted coconut oil. Mix all the ingredients together. Let the spice and coconut oil mixture cool.
Rub the spice and oil mixture under the skin of the chicken with your hands. Once the chicken is completely coated, place it breast side down in a glass baking pan and pop it in the oven. Let the chicken cook for 1 to 2 hours until it’s done.
There’s nothing boring or tasteless about the above recipes. If you’re creative and are willing to experiment with new recipes, you can chow down like this everyday and look fantastic doing it.
Your dream of permanent weight loss is just a reach away. Watch this video to find out how The Diet Solution Program can help you eat great and lose weight.

Introducing The New Get Lean Program

Be Sexy, Be Strong

Let’s be honest. There’s a ridiculous amount of diets, disappointing workout tools and unachievable ‘success’ weight loss stories on the market. We really don’t need any new ones. Well I completely agree, so it’s lucky that Belinda Benn has released TheGet Lean Program, a refreshingly realistic and honest weight loss program, so that I can share something different!

Belinda has put together a program based on her own real life transformation. You would never guess from her appearance but she is actually 45 years old and lived off a diet of sugar and fat until the age of 37. She has lived first-hand the frustrations and difficulties of weight loss. It is this experience that has enabled her to create a program that is realistic, affordable and guaranteed to see results. Belinda knows the struggle you face and also, how to get you through it to at last achieve the results you deserve.

What does the program include?

The Get Lean Program gives you so much value for your money. You will get:

• 3 Phase Fat Burning System – A carefully constructed system of phases designed to ease you towards your ideal lean physique for long-term, sustainable results. No more yo-yo dieting.
• Step by Step Fat Loss Plan – An easy-to-follow schedule that works into your everyday routine. No driving back and forth to the gym or buying expensive equipment. This plan works around you.
• Belinda’s 10 Secrets to Success – Advice from the lady herself who has experienced the struggle of weight loss first-hand and knows how to help you succeed.
• 15 Powerful Fat Burning Foods – Affordable foods that can be found at your local supermarket! Real products that fit in with your real life.
• Proven Treat-Meal Strategies – This program isn’t about starving and suffering. It even makes room to satisfy your sweet-tooth cravings!
• Nutrition Intuition Guide – The Get Lean Program takes a holistic approach to weight loss. This in-depth guide will help you to understand the psychological side of eating and work to re-train your stubborn habits. Not only will you feel great physically, but also mentally and emotionally.
• Daily Meal Plans (12 Weeks) – 12 week plans that do all the hard planning for you. Once you finish this period, your old habits will be long forgotten and you’ll know how to eat well yourself.
• Diary & Success Journal – A supportive and helpful tool that will help you monitor how your body responds to the changes in your diet.
• Over 50 Fat Burning Recipes – Delicious, nutritious AND affordable. Use ingredients that already surround you and learn how to improve your use of them and make you fit, lean and strong.
• 2 FREE LAUNCH GIFTS of Motivational Secrets and Audio Download Plus 6 Inspirational Wallpapers!

Amazingly, Belinda goes even further, offering you her personal support via weekly email as you do the program completely free of charge!

And it still gets better! With all of this, The Get Lean Program comes with a 60 day, no questions asked, money back guarantee.

Foods to Avoid in Your Healthy Meal Plans to Lose Weight

People get excited about a lot of things, but I have never in my life met anyone who’s thrilled about being overweight. I have however, met folks who are sick of the up and down rollercoaster of so-called healthy meal plans to lose weight. Rather than deal with more dieting disappointments, some of these people conclude that living “large” is simply in the cards for them.
Throwing your hands up in defeat and deciding to spend the rest of your days (unhappily) overweight is no way to live. A decision like this can beat your self-esteem into the ground and shave years off of your life. C’mon, you owe yourself and your loved ones so much more than this.
There’s no magic formula to losing weight – if there were, everybody and their mama would be slim. The best way to achieve successful weight loss results is to know what types of foods to keep out of your diet.

Just Say “No” to Processed Foods

Processed foods are cheap, convenient and easy to prepare. Unfortunately, these foods are bad for your health. Of course, you’d never know this by watching those hyped up television ads. Since manufacturers aren’t going to give you the dirty on the ingredients they use in processed foods, I’ll gladly do it for them.
Let’s start with trans fat. This ingredient lowers good cholesterol, raises bad cholesterol, and can increase your risk of cardiovascular disease. Considering heart disease is one of the leading killers of men and women, trans fat is one ingredient you want to steer clear of.
If you’re wondering where that double chin came from, the high fructose corn syrup used in some of your favorite processed foods may be partially to blame. This ingredient has been getting a lot of press lately because it is believed to be a major player in the rising obesity epidemic.
Don’t even get me started on the chemicals manufacturers use in processed foods. If I tried to name some of these chemicals, I’d be tongue tied for days. Besides, you’d probably think I was reading the label on a can of bug spray instead of the ingredients in your favorite microwavable meal.

Send Sugar Packing

The average person consumes about 150 pounds of sugar per year. When you think about the fact that sugar is in almost everything, it’s easy to eat tons of this stuff without even realizing it. So what’s the big deal? There isn’t enough time in the day for me to tell you about all the damage sugar can do to your health. However, I can give you a quick rundown.
Sugar contains nothing but empty calories. When you eat this stuff, a large portion of it gets stored in the body as fat. If your goal is to slim down, being heavy-handed with the sugar isn’t going to help. This is not even the worst of it. Sugar can also depress the immune system, feed cancer cells, contribute to heart disease, raise your risk of osteoporosis and make you look decrepit.

Give Artificial Sweeteners the Boot

Before you run out and stock your fridge with a bunch of those zero-calorie diet drinks, there’s something you should know. The artificial sweeteners used in diet drinks and other low-calorie products are lab-created. Yep. You heard me right – mixed up in a lab like something out of a Frankenstein movie.
These chemical sweeteners can cause or contribute to a laundry list of neuropsychiatric disorders and chronic illnesses – depression, anxiety, migraines, mood changes, panic attacks, vertigo, memory loss, Alzheimer’s, brain tumors – should I go on? And if you think you’re going to shed a few pounds using artificial sweeteners, think again. These sweeteners stimulate your appetite and make you eat more food.
When you’ve tried diet after diet and not one of them delivers results, it can certainly make you want to give up. But you owe it to yourself and to your family to live the healthiest life possible. Processed foods, sugar and artificial sweeteners are the main culprits of weight gain. When you eliminate these foods from your diet, you greatly improve your chance of losing weight.
Make dieting disappointment a thing of the past. Let the Diet Solution Program arm you with the tools you need to create effective healthy meal plans to lose weight and live healthier.

How to Lose Weight in a Week

Everyone needs a shortcut! It doesn’t matter what field you talk about, everyone’s looking for something that’ll get them to their goal faster. Weight loss is no different. Everyone’s looking for a ‘quick fix’ that’ll bring them back to their ideal body weight with the least amount of trouble and pain. But the bad news is that quick fixes don’t work in the long run. You may be satisfied by the short term results but crash diets don’t work when it comes to sustaining the weight you have lost because, let’s face it, they are impractical.

For losing weight and adopting a healthy lifestyle, you’ll probably have to make lifelong changes! Seems scary, doesn’t it but that’s the whole problem. People have redefined what’s normal. A McDonald’s upsize meal that has around 1200 calories is a norm. Let’s take this into perspective. 1200 calories probably account for around 50 – 60 % of your daily caloric input depending on your age, gender and body type. So, if you want to lose weight within a week, you need t to redefine what’s normal!
The bad news is that you can’t possibly expect to lose all the extra weight you carry within a week (Unless the extra weight is around 1 – 2 Kgs). After all, you didn’t gain all of that weight in a week so if you come to think of it, it’s simple mathematics. To lose 1 Kg of weight, you need to create a Caloric deficit of 3500 calories. This means that when your body consumes 3500 Calories less than what it is expending, you lose a Kilogram. So, if you go for a daily deficit of around 500 calories, you can lose 1 Kilogram in a week and kick start the process of weight loss. So, there’s the good news.
Now the next question is how to create a deficit of 500 calories each day. One way would be to starve yourself, but since we are aiming at healthy and sustainable weight loss, that is not an option. The healthy way in a nutshell would be, firstly, to stop eating foods with sugar altogether. Secondly, all processed white bread is off the table. Then comes the fat, all fatty foods are off the table. Dairy has many health benefits so you may go with low fat dairy products. Then comes the empty calories that we love to consume through sodas, soft drinks and juices. These things are banned as well. The replacements are fresh vegetables, some fresh fruits, lean meat (Fish, chicken etc – preferably roasted not fried). Also, you may have whole grains, unprocessed foods such as Oatmeal, brown rice and a small serving of nuts (They are high in healthy fats so don’t overeat them).
If such changes are made, you’ll see that you’ll automatically be consuming 25 – 45 % less calories. To further improve the deficit we have exercise! Healthy eating and exercise go hand in hand (just like peanut butter and jelly). If you want a good jump start and if you want to see some results within a week, go for aerobic exercises at least 5 times a week. Each session should be around an hour long and the intensity level should be moderate. Brisk walking, jogging, running, swimming, cycling would be ideal candidates to choose from. If you are not accustomed to working out or exercising daily, don’t over exert yourself. Over exertion may seem useful for the first few days but there are chances of injury, cramps and other physical problems.
If you are successful in altering your lifestyle in the mentioned ways, chances are that you’ll see some ‘measurable’ weight loss in 1 week’s time! But this doesn’t mean you go back to your old habits; continue with your routine and you will definitely start to see more results in your quest to lose weight.