6 Sneaky steps to slim your tummy – Week 3 – Stress

How was week two of your “6 Sneaky steps to slim your tummy”?

  • Were you able to decrease your alcohol intake? – How did this make you feel each day?
  • Were you brighter on the mornings where you had no alcohol the night before?
  • Did you tummy feel a bit better?

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I would love to know! Share your stories with me on any of…

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Week 3:

Stress:

We now know that stress plays a big part in holding weight around our waists.

This has to do with our stress hormones being pushed out of balance when we are under constant stress with no time for adequate rest.

Do any of the following statements resonate with you?

  • “No matter how hard I exercise I still have a belly.”
  • “I work long hours and work out hard and still can’t shift my belly.”
  • “I am exhausted all the time to the point that my legs always feel heavy and I have no energy to work out.”
  • “When I wake up in the morning, even after a good amount of sleep, I still feel wiped out.”

These are just several statements I have heard from new personal training clients who are totally frustrated.

Some stress is fine and our bodies are capable of dealing with it but problems arise when we can’t recover and recharge.

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Insights:

Getting stress levels down, therefore balancing our hormone results in:

  • a healthier body shape, including your tummy
  • improved moods
  • better feeling, regulated energy levels throughout a day
  • less inflammation in our bodies, meaning less chances of injuries and future disease

Do you notice that these insights are the same for week 1 (decreasing sugar)?

Practices for this week:

  1. Think about your stress levels.
    1. Rate yourself on a scale of 1 (totally relaxed man!) through 10 (exhausted and not able to deal with stressors)
  2. What is your optimum number of hours sleep in a night?
    1. Aim to get these hours regularly
    2. Create a calming bedtime routine starting about an hour before you want to be asleep
      1. For some people this includes turning technologies off, packing their lunch and bag for the morning, bath, reading a book, sleep
    3. Notice how you deal with stressors each day.
      1. Be mindful when finding yourself in a stressful situation
      2. Take some deep breaths
      3. Focus on the moment – remember you will be fine
    4. Exercise.
      1. Yep, exercise does cause stress and breakdown of our tissues in our bodies. This is meant to happen and is healthy when we get enough rest and recovery between sessions.
      2. Genetically some people need more rest than others. If you know from past experience that you are regularly very sore post workout or take days to recover then you may be one of these people. It is beneficial for you to take more time to rest. If you still want to be active then make your next day of movement an “active recovery” such as a very light bike ride, walk, swim, core or stretch session. You will find your workouts and energy eventually swing back up therefore allowing you to feel and see better results from your performance and body.  And remember you are reading this because you are interested in your tummy feeling better. More rest will help.
      3. Your genes may not be a factor but your stress levels can be!
        1. More is not better when you are feeling stressed and exhausted.
        2. Rest and recovery are even more important to you right now.
        3. Shorter, quality workouts are key with ample rest.
      4. Feeling stressed? But haven’t been working out then start out slow.
        1. Be sure you are sleeping enough each night.
        2. Start with 10 minute quality workouts every other day.
          1. Weight training and walking are a great options.
        3. Find 10-20 minutes each day to sit quietly with no noise or technology.

Press here for Week 4

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Need some helping planning your rest and recovery?

healthessentials

Check out my EBOOK – “Simple Healthy Living – A Guide for Busy People”

You will find lots of tools and tricks to guide you!

 

 

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Remember each week keep the practices from the previous week going.

So, sugar will be taken out for all six weeks…..

Alcohol is being decreased.

Now we are decreasing stress through adequate rest, being in the moment, taking some time to ourselves and choosing quality (not thoroughly exhausting) exercise.

Press any of the above points to review that week.

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Want to really get to the causes of your stress?

I recommend the book “The De-Stress Effect” by my friend and colleague Nutritional Therapist Charlotte Watts.  See my contributions in the exercise chapter!

Press on the book cover below to find it!

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I would love to know how you are doing over our six weeks so…..

Chat with me on twitter – facebook – instagram

Let’s have some fun!!!

Find other great workout & wellness stuff on my shop!

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