by Melissa Woodward | Apr 17, 2018 | Exercise, Nutrition
Planning your meals and exercise around your busy life might seem too hard at times. Many clients ask for a meal plan to help them with their week. We don’t enjoy writing plans for other people unless we fully understand your lifestyle, commitments and likes/dislikes when it comes to food. Its easy to write you a standard plan with 3 workouts a week and all meals planned out. But what happens when you have to fit in the kids after school activities? What if you have an event coming up? What if you hate half the meals in the plan? Will the standard really work for you? Meal Planning is individual and should be approached in a way to suit your needs.
Instead we would like to help you create your own plan that you can customise for your busy life. We will help educate you about the types of exercise to focus on for your goals and simple ways to meal plan. We won’t teach you how to diet or cut calories. This is about creating simple habits that lead to healthier choices for yourself and your family.
Benefits of Exercise and Meal Planning
- Helps you identify the time you have available to you each day for meal prep and exercise
- Saves time involved in going to the supermarket daily for meal ingredients
- Saves money on food as you reduce the amount of take away eaten on busy days
- Provides a sense of accomplishment if you can stick to the plan or have adjusted to your back up plan
- Helps you recognise how consistent you are with exercise and healthy eating
- Reduces food waste in your household
- Creates a habit and easy to follow plan that you can replicate weekly
- Avoids that annoying conversation with your partner when you are too tired to think at the end of the day.
Exercise and Meal Planning Step One
Write down the commitments you have this week. This includes work hours, school drop offs, activities, sports, parties, anything that will take your time. Also consider travel time for each commitment. Knowing your available time will help you to understand where to start with your planning.
Exercise and Meal Planning Step Two
Based on the information you gained from step one, identify free time for exercise. Write down how long you have on each day and select an activity to suit. Remember to enter your rest days.
Tips for making time to exercise
- Wake up 30 minutes earlier and fit in a brisk walk or body-weight workout before breakfast
- Get active with the kids. Exercise doesn’t always have to be structured
- Choose classes that suit your lifestyle. Joining a group to exercise will help with motivation
You can find details of our Mums & Bubs Fitness classes here to add to your plan.
Exercise and Meal Planning Step Three
Considering your commitments for the week, time allocated to exercise, it’s time to plan your basic meals. Add your Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner to the plan. Remember you can plan to have leftovers the following day for lunch or eat the same dinner two nights in a row. You can prepare vegetables that will form parts of different meals in the week to cut down on meal preparation. If you find creating a whole meal plan overwhelming at first, choose one meal to focus on. Start with breakfast. It’s the most important meal of the day right?
Tips for Meal Planning
- Remember your exercise and meal plan is a starting point. Change the plan to suit your life.
- Get creative with leftovers by utilising what you have in the fridge to make a meal.
- Try Online shopping. If you are time poor or struggle to shop with the kids, jump online with Coles or Woolworths to have your groceries delivered.
- Create your list of common items purchased and update them with new meal ideas.
- Have a back up plan for workouts. If life gets in the way and you miss your class, have a fall back workout for home.
- It doesn’t need to be complicated with calorie counting, macro breakdown or meal timings.
- Focus on choosing foods that you enjoy and make your body feel well.
We aim to help make life simpler for families. Our advice is aimed at helping families create healthy habits and getting rid of the all or nothing habits adopted with restrictive diets and meal plans. However, if you are training for a specific event or your goals differ from general healthy living, our plan will require more adjustment. If you need further assistance with meal planning, exercise or have any questions to help improve the health of your family, Contact Us today for advice.
by Melissa Woodward | Apr 6, 2018 | Exercise, Trying to Conceive
Creating life is an absolute miracle. When you look at the science around pregnancy, you may start to wonder how we are able to fall pregnant at all. Trying for a baby can be a time of high stress, anxiety and concern about doing the “right” thing for conception. For some couples, trying to conceive comes easily. Other couples require more effort to fall pregnant. It takes timing, testing and tears when it doesn’t happen. One topic women often ask me about is the best type of exercise when trying to conceive.
As women we have so much pressure on us for our bodies to work to become pregnant. There are feelings that we should be doing more or less to create the perfect conditions for a pregnancy to occur. We worry about what to eat and what not to eat. Eating too much or eating too little. We worry about moving too much or not moving enough. We worry about being too fat or too thin. Thinking we’re too old or our eggs are too old. Most of what you read shares all the things a women should be doing. Very little is shared about what men can do. Last time I checked, it takes two to tango right?
So here’s the truth of the matter. Our bodies are miraculous beings. If the sperm and the egg meet with their little chromosomes doing the right thing, a pregnancy will occur. Sometimes, they just don’t develop. More often it has nothing to do with the external environment that has been created by the actions of the mother.
My advice around exercise when trying to conceive is to exercise like you are already pregnant.
If you are looking at improving your health prior to and while trying to conceive, you are likely to fall pregnant during your training program. It’s ideal to continue to move and build strength throughout pregnancy so why not train like you are pregnant. This gives you a head start and makes it easier to continue.
Benefits of Exercise when Trying to Conceive
- Prepares your body for Pregnancy: A good training program will prepare you for the demands of pregnancy, labour and motherhood.
- Improve your chances of conceiving: There is evidence that having a lower body fat percentage improves fertility. This relates to the hormonal changes that occur in the body with a larger percentage. Slow and steady weight loss is more beneficial than stressing your body in a quick fix.
- Stress Reduction: People to tell you to relax when trying to conceive but how do you even do that? Getting outdoors, taking a deep breath and doing something you love can take your mind off the task at hand.
- Improves Stamina: Well you need energy for the baby making right? Also once pregnant, it will help with the ever changing and growing body.
Mental health is as important as physical health so choose activities that are good for your body and mind
Safe Exercise When Trying To Conceive
- Aim to complete moderate intensity exercise – think a brisk walk, body weight exercises or appropriate weight lifting programs for your current fitness.
- Avoid starting new activities, especially high intensity training.
- Consider adding gentle forms of Yoga, Meditation and Pilates as part of your training.
- Find activities that you enjoy and that make you feel good. Maybe dancing, swimming or strength training.
- Avoid activities that make you feel exhausted. You need to save some energy for the baby making.
- Focus on building strength through your whole body, improving posture and pelvic floor function.
If you find you are not conceiving, please speak to your GP for testing and referral to a fertility specialist if needed. Did you know? 1 in 6 couples experience infertility according to Monash IVF. It’s more common than we realise and there are options for you to achieve a pregnancy and start your family.
If you are looking to exercise while trying to conceive,
get in touch with us for advice, to create a training program or to join our
fitness classes. You don’t need to share with the world you are trying but we can guide you through choosing the right exercise for you and your circumstances.
Contact Us Today.
by Melissa Woodward | Jul 26, 2016 | Exercise, Pregnancy
Exercise during pregnancy is scary. Yes that’s a statement not a question. I’m sure that’s not something you expect to hear from a Personal Trainer but for me it was the truth. Becoming a parent is so full of emotion and when things don’t go to plan it’s easy to create links to things that have no impact on your health. I have had to work on overcoming the fear of exercise during pregnancy.
Over three years ago now, I was pregnant for the first time. I was pretty fit and healthy. I was training with a Personal Trainer at a local gym in Campbelltown. I was studying my PT qualification and then it happened. I fell pregnant. It was the first time I had ever fallen pregnant and had no idea what to do or who to tell. I knew it was early days so I kept quiet. I didn’t even tell my Personal Trainer.
One Saturday morning we did another tough session together. While I was conscious of what was happening inside my body, I continued without sharing the news. He was not someone I was comfortable speaking to about pregnancy, which was my feeling and nothing against him personally. In my mind it was all happy times ahead. Until it started. I started to get pain in my lower abdomen and bleeding. I knew what this meant but had read all of the online forums that this could be normal as someone’s sister’s aunt’s first cousin had had this happen before.
I went to work on Monday with the thought still on my mind of what was happening. I called my doctor to make an urgent appointment and went in the next day. From there it was a blur with 2 days of scans, blood test, hospital visits, injections and emotions. The scans confirmed there was no more baby and due to my negative blood type I had to have an anti-D injection to ensure that if my baby’s blood type was positive, I wouldn’t get sick. I had miscarried.
I was devastated as we had already dreamed up life with a baby. I had calculated when I would be 12 weeks and it fell on my 30th birthday party. Perfect timing to announce. Then it was all over, so now what? I began to get very upset and angry. I started to retrace my days and I remembered that I exercised. It had to be that workout that did it. I went too hard and lost my baby. The connection was there and my mind focused on that.
I didn’t share what we had lost with many people, not even my family. It took me ages to be able to share. I felt stupid to be so upset when it was so early in my pregnancy. It wasn’t a real baby so why was I so upset. My logic was fighting with my emotions. Even talking about it today it’s tough to share because I think people have been through so much worse.
Luckily I fell pregnant about 3 months later, just after my 30th birthday. I waited to go to the doctor to confirm as l was waiting for the worst. I hadn’t been able to bring myself to exercise and was fast putting on weight. I slowly made it to 12 weeks and it was time to share. In the back of my mind I was still thinking nothing was safe with pregnancy.
I refused to return to exercise to make sure my baby was safe. I occasionally went to the gym and felt better for it but was always a gentle workout. I should mention that early in my career I had completed further studies around pregnancy massage and exercise. Despite this knowledge, when it’s your body, your emotions take over.
With all these thoughts in my mind and my actions on the day of my own miscarriage, I was scared to exercise. Now that I have my baby here, I do thinkabout how much easier my pregnancy could have been if I hadn’t let fear get in my way. The benefits of the correct prenatal exercise can manage the weight you gain, how strong your body is to carry the extra weight and assists in a faster recovery after birth.
At 15 weeks pregnant I finished my Personal Training Qualification and once my son was born I decided I wanted to be there for women during pregnancy. I wanted to be there when someone thought they might be pregnant and make sure that they were encouraged to continue to exercise and educate them on what was safe.
I know that if I have the chance again, I recognise that there is a safe way to participate in exercise during pregnancy. I am ready to share my story to show other women that need support that there are people here to help. If you share my fears, I would love to be able to be there for you. Whether it’s as you prepare for pregnancy, throughout your pregnancy or to help you have a safe recovery after birth, you can contact me to create a plan to achieve your goal of having a family.
Phone | 0414 990 335
Email | [email protected]
by Melissa Woodward | Jun 9, 2015 | Evolution Health Services, Exercise, Motivation, Personal TrainingCampbelltown
Feeling uninspired to get back into exercise after the Long Weekend? Just generally struggle on a Monday with motivation? While you keep telling yourself you don’t feel like it, you never will. So here’s my top 5 ways to fake it til you make it. 1. Dress the part Get your butt out of bed. Throw on your fave tights and singlet. Wear your funky coloured joggers and walk out the door. When you wear an outfit you are comfortable in and feel great in you are one step closer to getting to work. My favourite workout clothes involve a fluoro green crop top, men’slarge singlet (Evolution branded of course), high waisted Lorna Jane Tights and green/yellow/red shoes. It looks funky, is comfortable and covers my not so great bits while showing off my toned shoulder. It’s all about flaunting your best bits. 2. Stand tall Posture plays a huge part in how we feel. Have you ever stood in perfect posture and felt how light you feel? If you want to try it, just ask me next session and I will show you how to do it. Posture also affects how people see us. If you saw a girl with hunched shoulders and looking at the ground, what would you think? I would think she’s probably pretty shy and not confident in herself. While the lady strutting along next to her, standing tall, shoulders back, head high, looks like she is ready to take on the world. Who would you wanna be? So once you have the outfit, strut your stuff in it. Walk into that Group Training Session or Personal Training Session like you are ready to take on that workout, even if you don’t yet feel it. 3. Act stronger Once you start your workout, don’t just go through the motions. Get into your posture, use great technique and lift that weight with intention. Run with your head held high. You will be amazed at how much easier running will be when you can breathe well and also how light that weight feels when you aren’t acting like a weak little princess. You are strong and don’t you forget it. 4. Tell yourself how awesome you are Acknowledge your awesomeness with everything you achieve throughout the workout. Think about how much you have achieved in the time you have been training. Were you able to do that push up last week or month? Were you able to do burpees? How far can you jog now? These little changes may creep up on you but they show you how your hard work is paying off. 5. Believe it Now that you have faked your way through your workout, it’s time to believe it. Do you believe you are that funky dressed woman, strutting herself into the workout, smashing out every exercise asked of her and doing more than she could last week? Well believe it baby because you just did it. Now how do you feel? Are you glad you got your butt out of bed this morning? Read this every Monday morning and remind yourself how awesome you are! If you have any questions about how awesome you are, then contact me and we can have a chat. I will always find something that you are great at doing. Enjoy your new attitude.
by Melissa Woodward | May 13, 2015 | 12 week challenge, Evolution Health Services, Exercise, Fitness, Personal TrainingCampbelltown, SMART Goals, Weight Loss
We are getting Married! In less than 13 weeks our wedding day will be here and we have decided we want to get in shape for the big day. As your trainers we are always active but we are also parents, business owners and real people so we want to create a 12 week plan to a better you and show you how it’s done. So keep reading to find out 12 reasons you should join us in our 12 week challenge. 1. It’s SMART Well not only is it a smart choice to join us but we will help you set SMART goals. It is great to have an idea of what you want but to make a goal SMART it needs to be:
- Specific – meaning there is something in particular you want to achieve ie. Weight loss, fit into a dress size, run 1km without stopping… whatever it may be.
- Measurable – weight loss is measurable with scales, setting a distance is measurable.
- Attainable – Taking into consideration your current fitness level we can determine if your goal is achievable.
- Realistic – Considering safety and your lifestyle, we will determine a goal that suits.
- Time-bound – it’s a 12 week program so we have time-based covered!
2. We have a plan“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” I’m sure you have heard that saying before and it is very true, especially when it comes to exercise and eating. Sometimes you don’t know where to start and it all seems overwhelming. We have designed a plan to make small changes over time instead of creating a big change to implement at once. 3. It’s more than scales and measuring tapesWhile weight loss may be one of your goals, we always ask for a fitness goal to show you what else you can achieve. You may want to run or learn to do push ups. These are great motivators and you can really surprise yourself on what is possible when you put your mind to it. 4. We are real people tooMany people have this idea that Personal Trainers are super human or only eat brown rice & chicken. Well we are only human with real life to deal with too. Tristan works a full time job and trains you all at night, plus Coaches kids on the weekend at Little Kickers. Melissa runs a Remedial Massage clinic, holds nutrition coaching sessions, has a 1 year old son and a 1 year old nephew she cares for 2 days per week. We juggle a lot with the support of our family but we want to show that despite all that, we can achieve our goals too. 5. We want to be role modelsBeing a role model foryour children is a powerful motivator especially when you first see them copy the exercises you do without any instruction. Check out this video of our son Blake as he quietly did some burpees while we were training. Not only do we want to be a role model for Blake but we want to be role models you all too. We want to show you it can be done and that we follow our own advice. 6. It’s realisticWe are all very busy in our lives, we are realistic and understand what it will take to reach your goal so we will fit the goal to what you are able to commit to. If you can’t make a session, we will post up workouts you can do at home, in the office or hotel room. 7. It’s your dream with a deadlineSetting a deadline creates urgency and marks importance to the goal you would like to achieve. Goals really are just dreams with a deadline so join us in making your dreams come true. 8. We are here for youOver the next 12 weeks we are here to answer your questions and if you need someone to speak to when you are having a tough day. You can call, email, Facebook message… whatever way you want to get in touch with us. 9. We are dedicated to get you resultsAs we meet you all and welcome you into the group, we are finding out what you need to know and what you need to get results. We will be providing nutrition advice, motivation and inspiration throughout the 12 weeks challenge to keep you going. 10. There’s new friends waiting for youWe have created a dedicated Facebook group where you can share your story, vent on a bad day, share recipes and seek support from likeminded people who are on the same journey as you. They may even become your new best friends as you will be spending plenty of time together. Get involved in the conversation. 11. It’s about finding a better version of youWe think you are pretty great already for wanting to make positive change in your life but with the right direction we are here to help you find that better version of you. Whether it’s the awesome parent who can chase after their kids; or the self-confident woman who walks into a room and commands attention; or that person who inspires others to be better too, we are here to help. 12. Celebration At the end of the program there is a special event to celebrate your achievements and ours. It is important to recognise how hard you have worked and we are here to celebrate with you. One member has already booked her hair appointment and is scheduling in a shopping trip before we have even started. She is in the right mindset to succeed. So if you are ready to join in and succeed too, contact us to find out how to join our 12 week challenge.
by Melissa Woodward | Apr 15, 2015 | Evolution Health Services, Exercise, Fitness, Post-natal, Pregnancy
After having your beautiful baby, you are keen to get back up and shed the kilos. You may want your flat abs back and to fit into your skinny jeans. Or you just want to be back to the old you. Well as I start it’s best to remember the old you has changed. You must look to accept the new you that has brought life into this world. Your body has just created something amazing and yes you are left with some things you would rather not have. Following my pregnancy I was left with a few things I have had to learn to embrace. But there are things we can focus our limited energy on. And that’s building strength, from the inside and out. I forgot how much strength we lose. You would think you get stronger carrying around all that weight but you keep getting told not to lift, to get your feet up and rest!
Getting Back to Pre-Baby Weight
Your number one goal is likely weight loss. I have to admit my weight fell off easily with breastfeeding. I lost 15kgs in a few short months as my monster child fed his way through all my calories. So my advice is to breastfeed if you can. I still needed to follow a balanced, nutritious diet and gentle exercise but it worked fast. If you can’t breastfeed then start off slow and remember the rule that it took you 9 months to gain it so it should take at least 9 months to lose it. I hear many mothers joke that their child is 18 and they are still trying to lose it but we probably shouldn’t leave it that long! Your body is still recovering so make sure you are providing your body with nutritious foods, eating regularly and getting active each day. Once your baby becomes mobile, you will be glad you have slowly built your activity levels.
What type of exercise should you choose?
This is all depending on how you delivered your baby and any medical procedures that were required. I delivered via c-section so I had to recover from major abdominal surgery. I started by walking and walking really is the best way to start. You can take your bub out and you both get some fresh air. Some babies will drift off to sleep being pushed in the pram and you get the opportunity to clear your head or have a break from daytime tv!
You should avoid running initially, especially if you have weakness in your pelvic floor. Your abdominal muscles will also be weak from the pregnancy so you will need to start some gentle core exercises. Avoid doing crunches and situps as they will not work your entire core and you may also have a separation of the rectus abdominis muscle that is yet to close. Plank exercises can also be detrimental if you are not activating your muscles correctly. Your muscles will be very weak so you need gentle retraining to begin.
Breathing is one that is forgotten. You have just had a baby pushing up against your diaphragm for months and you have learnt to breath with limited movement of this muscle. You should focus on retraining your breathing to ensure you are using your diaphragm. I come across many women post natally in both my massage practice and fitness clients that cannot breathe properly. It affects their ability to train effectively and they also develop pain in the muscles of their upper chest and neck where secondary breathing muscles are working overtime to lift their ribcage.
Just squeeze!
We all remember the juice ad with the guys in orange bike shorts that was quickly banned for being sexist to men. Well that little jingle plays in my head whenever I talk about pelvic floor muscle exercises. Kegal exercises should be completed following childbirth and you just have to squeeze. If you experience any issues with your pelvic floor make sure you consult a Women’s Health Physiotherapist who specialises in pelvic floor. If you haven’t seen the Just Squeeze ad click here
Stand up tall and be supported
When feeding your baby you may find yourself hunched over and half asleep at 3am feed time. Try to create a supportive environment for yourself by placing a pillow behind you and underneath bub so you are not slouching. This will help to prevent pain in your upper back and neck. Standing up tall begins the process of retraining those weak core muscles and will make you appear to have lost more weight.
There is so much to think of when you have a new baby. Your life has just been turned upside down when you realise this little person is so dependent on you. So my advice is to keep it simple. Add one new thing a day or week, whatever you can handle. And try to relax and enjoy your little baby, they love you no matter what size your bum is so you should love yourself too!
If you require assistance in setting up an exercise programme, starting safe core exercises or have developed muscular pain then Contact Us to see how we can help.
Here I am the night before Blake entered the world.
