Hi guys. Welcome back to my channel. In today's video, I'm going to be sharing with you my
fitness and weight loss hacks. Basically, back in January I was feeling very sluggish
and like I had no energy. So I decided to change a few things and just get healthier.
And the hacks I'm going to share with you today just really worked for me. So I'm hoping
that they inspire you as well and that you like them. And today's video is also sponsored
by Noom. So there's a link in the description to them, and I will be reviewing them a bit
later on in the video. With all that said, let's get into my tips. So my first tip is
what you probably knew it was coming and that is to drink more water. And this is something
I really struggled with in the beginning. So I have a few hacks for you.
The first one is to invest in a good water bottle like this and carry it around with
you everywhere. So if I get into my car, I've got this with me. Or if I'm at my desk, I'm
drinking from this. And I try to drink two to three liters of water a day, and it's really
helped my weight loss, but also my skin, as well. It's nice and clear because I'm drinking
so much. And if you don't like drinking lots of cold water, then a great way to up your
intake is to drink herbal teas or even just hot water is quite nice. So many benefits
to drinking it. It suppresses your appetite, it boosts your metabolism and it can even
make exercise feel easier. And another hack is before you eat a meal, make sure you drink
a big glass of water before, because often when you're feeling very hungry, you're actually
dehydrated and need more water. And another tip that has really worked for
me is to get dressed into your workout clothes first thing in the morning and then you're
more likely to actually work out. So when I'm planning my outfit in the evening, I'll
make it gym wear unless I have a meeting on, and there's a saying that says, "Get dressed
for the job that you want." And I think that applies for fitness as well. So if you work
from home or you're at home with the kids, put some gym wear on and you're more likely
to be active, like even if the kids are on the trampoline, but I'm wearing gym clothes,
I'm more likely to like join them or go out for a walk. And while we're talking about
workouts, I also wanted to say, don't be afraid to take it slow especially in the early days.
If you're starting from scratch, you don't need to be working out for an entire hour
every day. The main thing is that you want to be maintaining
your fitness and be able to sustain it over time. And I always tell myself on days where
I just can't be bothered, I say, "Something is better than nothing." So on those days
when I just don't want to do my workout, I'll do 10 sit ups, 10 pushups, and 10 jumping
jacks. Like literally something that's simple. And I think, well, something is better than
nothing and nothing is what I was doing before. And a future for me is to invest in a step
counter and you don't have to spend loads of money on there. So you can get them quite
inexpensively. But having a step counter is such a great motivator to get me moving. It
tracks my steps, it tracks my calories, it tracks my heart rate, it can even track your
sleep as well, depending on which one you have.
And I'm quite addicted to how many steps I do now. I try to do 10,000 a day and I definitely
move more now that I have a step counter and I've even got one for each of the boys and
they also love to track their steps and we've got like a healthy competition at home. So
I would totally recommend if you want to move more, get one of these. And a game changer
for me when it comes to health and fitness has been Noom. And if you don't know what
Noom is, it's a program that uses psychology and social science to help you reach your
goals. So for me, my goal was to feel stronger and to have more energy. So I use Noom to
track my meals, my water intake, my weight, my calorie density, and my steps for the day
because it actually links up to my little step counter. But Noom isn't just about tracking
habits. There is so much more to it than that. There
is training and courses to help you reach your goal. And my favorite part about it is
that you get your very own coach who is an actual human. So mine's name is Paul and I
can message him at any time and he's trained in fitness, nutrition and cognitive behavioral
therapy. And he just helps to keep me motivated and accountable as well. He'll message me
and say, "Have you weighed in this week or how's it been going?" And I've asked him so
many questions as well. So it's just really nice to have that back and forth. And there's
also support groups on Noom as well. So you can speak to like-minded people going through
the same thing that you are. But since January, I've managed to lose 18 pounds in total, and
more importantly than that, I feel healthier and stronger than ever.
And I feel like it's something I can actually sustain. So I spend about 10 minutes a day
on Noom. I'll input my meals and my water intake and I'll do a couple of the mini courses.
So they did these little training courses that literally take like two minutes and I've
learned so much from doing it like how to eat less densely, about thought distortion,
how to unprocess my diet and how to eat more mindfully as well. And it's really changed
my relationship with food and just helped me see a few of my very bad habits. And I
also like that when you input your food for the day, it shows it in like a traffic light
system. So it was like green foods, yellow foods and red foods. And you will be surprised
when you put your meals in for the day, what turns up red and what turns up green.
And it's really helped me to learn more about what I'm eating. Sometimes I think you know
what you should be doing, but it's more about applying it and being able to sustain it as
well. But I'll put a link in my description for Noom. And if you click that link, it will
take you to a free 30 second quiz so you can see how Noom could help you reach your goals
as well. And my next tip is to meal plan and meal prep. If you could make it so easy for
yourself to just reach for those healthy options, then that is the way to do it. So on a Sunday,
I'll just grill up some chicken, maybe some broccoli and make some brown rice and then
put into Tupperware. And that is my lunches for the next few days. Then it just makes
it so easy for me to reach for that in the fridge and not like make a cheese filled toasty
or something that I shouldn't have when I'm low energy.
I also like to meal prep my breakfast. So I make this homemade granola that I know is
really healthy. And it's so easy in the morning. I just put some yogurt into a bowl, put the
granola on top and that's done. That's just so easy and quick to make. And I also have
stuff for smoothies and planning ahead can also help you to create a calorie deficit.
So if I have a low calorie breakfast and lunch, then I can be a bit more relaxed with dinner
when we eat as a family. And it just takes the thought out of it just makes it super
easy for yourself. And I just mentioned a calorie deficit and that's actually my next
tip is to count calories, especially if you're trying to lose weight. So for me, by putting
what I eat into Noom, it shows me how many calories everything is.
And then I've worked out some simple swaps I can make. So for me, swapping normal mayonnaise
for light mayonnaise, it saves me so many calories and also for crisps as well. A normal
bag of crisps is like 170 calories. But if I eat a pack of the kid's Pom Bears, they're
actually 69 calories, but it still gives me that crunchy, satisfying feeling, but I'm
actually having way less calories than just normal crisps. Another little hack that Matt
and I started to do in lockdown was to brush our teeth at about 8:00 PM to stop us from
just eating a rubbish once we came downstairs when the kids were in bed. So in lockdown
we're all at home, we're all eating dinner at like 5:00 or 6:00. So once the kids went
to bed, we would brush my teeth just to stop us coming down and munching on chocolate,
or popcorn or anything like that and it really works.
And the next tip is huge and it's something I've never actually been that good at and
it's to get enough sleep. Did you know that you need to have at least seven hours of sleep
at night to release the hormones that help you lose weight and also lower your stress
hormones. So if you don't get enough sleep, you're more likely to have an increased appetite,
you're more likely to crave bad foods and reach for the wrong things. And it can also
decrease your metabolism and make your workouts feel harder. So make sure you get enough sleep.
And another tip that really worked for me was to set myself a challenge and a time limit
and then at the end of it reward myself. So in January when I started this, I was like,
"Right. I'm going to do a 12 week challenge. So for 12 weeks I eat healthier, I'm going
to track everything and I'm also going to work out as well. And if I do that by the
end of the 12 weeks, I'm going to also reward myself with this handbag," or you can make
it wherever you want it to be. But it really did motivate me. And it kind
of tricks my brain into thinking, "This isn't forever. It's only for 12 weeks." Even though
now I've done the 12 weeks, I want to carry it on. It's a great place to start. And another
hack is to make your workout time feel like it's me time, by sticking in some wireless
headphones and listening to your favorite podcast or by turning on the TV and watching
a show that is like a guilty pleasure. I find that so much more enjoyable because although
you're working out, you're also watching something that you love.
I would randomly watch like Modern Family, [inaudible 00:09:12], or I would listen to
my favorite parenting podcasts. And I just felt like I was actually having time out.
I was actually exercising. My next hack you may have heard before, but it actually really
works. And that is to eat off of a smaller plate to trick your brain into thinking you're
eating more. So if you put your lunch or dinner onto a side plate and overflowing with food,
your brain will actually think that it's eating more and you'll be more fulfilled from eating
off of a small plate. My next tip is to think about your day and when you're sitting still
and then how you can move more. So for me, I actually just bought a desk bike so when
I'm editing a video or I'm answering emails, I can be sat on my desk bike and cycling away
with my legs. And it also doubles up as a standing desk.
So if I do want to just stand and answer emails or whatever, it still means that I'm standing
up and I'm moving that bit more. But you don't have to spend loads of money on expensive
equipment. My mom recommends using a Pilates ball. So when you're sat at your desk and
you're just working away, if you sit on that, it'll actually help to engage your core, but
say, you're on a phone call, why not get up and walk around the house while you're taking
that call and just get some extra steps in, or when you're watching Netflix in the evening,
you could do some stretching or you could also plank during the ad break. I also wanted
to show you that I've recently got some ankle weights to where when I'm cleaning around
the house. So they're 1.5 kilograms each, which doesn't feel like loads in my hand,
but when I'm wearing them as an extra 3 kilograms, I need to be moving around the house.
And it just makes me work that bit harder. And I actually decided to do this because
when Matt and I were out on a walk one day, we noticed this couple had weights on to obviously
enhance their workouts. So I thought while I'm just cleaning up around the house I can
be wearing these and just working a tiny bit harder. Another really good tip is to break
up your workout into small chunks that you do throughout the day because an easy excuse
for not working out is because you simply don't have time, but you could be doing squats
while you're waiting for the kettle to boil. You could be doing leg raises while you're
brushing your teeth. You could be doing planking while you're waiting for an ad or have small
bursts of energy throughout the day. And if you do that, it will all add up.
And another great way to be active is to play with the kids. So we have a trampoline and
you will have seen in my blogs that I love to get on the trampoline with the kids. They
love that I'm playing with them, but it's also such a good fat burner and a great way
to get more steps in and to get my heart rate up as well. So I'll often go on the trampoline
with them for 20 minutes to half an hour, and we have so much fun anyway. And you can
also play quick games of tags with the kids or go for a walk with them. Or if you have
a baby, when they're on a playmat you could do some core exercises as well. And you can
use the kids exercise time to exercise yourself. So when my son has football training, I could
walk around the field or do a light jog to get my steps in.
Or when my other son has gymnastics training, it's actually at a gym, so I could work out
while he's actually doing his gymnastics training. So you can think of clever ways to do it like
that. And another huge tip is to work out with friends and family. So if I go for a
run or walk with a friend, it doesn't feel like I'm exercising because I'm actually just
enjoying time with them. And as a family in lockdown we made a huge effort to get out
and do walks or to go cycling because we were so worried about how the kids just didn't
have any clubs on and they just weren't being as active as normal.
So we made a big effort to do stuff together and it actually makes it so much more enjoyable.
So that is it for this video. I really hope you enjoyed it and it's given you some food
for thought and a little bit of inspiration as well. Let me know what you think in the
comments below and that link to Noom is in my description. So you can take your free
30 second quiz to see how Noom can help you reach your goals. With all that said, I'll
see you in my next one. Bye, guys.