Your weight loss is important.

There, I said it and I won’t take it back.

Despite all the shared images of scales with positive messages on.

Kind people telling you that you should use a measuring tape and your clothes as a guide.

And your partner telling you he loves you just the way you are and you should ignore the number on the dial.

You can’t escape the fact that if you are overweight and you need to get smaller, you will have to lose weight to achieve it.

If you are 5′ 2”, 18 stone and a size 22 you’re not going to still be 18 stone when you’re in a size 14 are you? So weight loss is important.

How else will you gauge your progress? Why else will your health improve? Your joint pain go? Blood pressure drop?

People still love to hear a wonderful weight loss story. They get it, they understand it and they can relate to it.

But here is the important bit…weight loss is only important when you are losing it.

If you aren’t losing it then it doesn’t matter! Because we can use other tools to measure your progress.

That’s when a measuring tape and your clothes and photos are all fantastic opportunities to give yourself the pat on the back you need to keep you motivated and moving forward with your body transformation.

People who join FastTrack Fit Camp who really don’t have much fat to lose – change little in weight, but a lot in inch loss.

People who join Fit Camp who have more to lose to start with lose both weight and inches pretty quickly.

And people who don’t want to lose weight at all, but just want to get fitter. Change shape anyway and look more athletic and healthy.

http://youtu.be/3fnEHurCAlI

You see the nearer you are to your target or ideal weight the less weight you will shift. You will lose fat and build muscle. Muscle is more dense than fat and takes up less space on you, so you will shrink but weigh about the same (sometimes heavier…)

So in summary:

Don’t get miffed when I have no sympathy for you that you’ve not lost any weight, but you have lost inches, changed shape and gone down clothes sizes. That won’t wash with me. 🙂

Don’t be confused if I congratulate someone on 10lbs / 2 stone / 3 stone weight loss when I’ve just told you that ‘weight doesn’t matter’.

Do make sure you take a balanced and practical approach to improving your health. If you are overweight — you’ll need to get lighter.

If you are a size 12 hoping to get to a size 10 don’t expect a lot of weight loss. Work on inch loss.

And absolutely, definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, never, ever, ever, EVER weigh yourself daily, twice daily or hourly. Once every week or so is enough to keep you focussed and driven.

If you can’t trust yourself give your scales to a friend to look after for you — you’ll be so glad you did!

Heidi Strickland-Clark runs FastTrack Fit Camp, a health focussed bootcamp in the Wokingham area with venues in Swallowfield, Yateley, Winnersh, Wokingham, Twyford & Warfield. She has a passion for all things food and health related and has more than a healthy preference for good, black coffee. 

In case you didn’t know I watched the quarter finals of ‘The Voice’ on Friday night at Pinewood Studios. I’ve only ever seen trailers for the programme and really had little idea what to expect, but Sophie had been sent tickets from the studio audience ticket service and whilst we could have been sent anything from ‘Loose Women’ to ‘Draw It’ she got lucky with these.

It was a really amazing evening and we had super seats. The show has the largest live studio audience of 1200 people and you need to whoop a lot. But given that it was a live show, there was no time for retakes or errors. It was perfectly executed and showed what planning can do to prepare you for such a big show of many stage changes.

However it was whilst we were there that I saw in action what I’ve read about and been told time and time again about how having a whole lot of passion about what you want to achieve will win hands down every time.

There were moments when the show wasn’t on air and they were changing the set or doing interviews with the contestants. During this time there is a man doing some chatting, joke telling and generally keeping us informed of what is going on. He was amusing and did his job really well. He had several signed items from the ‘coaches’. So a signed photograph from The Script, signed CD from Jessie J, Will.i.am and Tom Jones. All very lovely. But you had to win them.

You can imagine that there were a few fans in the studio for these stars and there was a lot of shouting and waving and screaming to get his attention. However for the Jessie J and The Script prizes he asked who would knew all the words to all their songs. If you were able to sing along to any song he chose, you could win the prize. (At this point I did think, “it’s only a bloomin’ photo”)

However, and this is my point that to succeed in life

You need to truly know your outcome –  I want the CD / photo

You need to have such passion that it overcome you – Knowing every word of all the songs

And that you’ll do whatever it takes to achieve the outcome – sing, live in front of 1200 people, many of whom also want what it is what you’re working for but aren’t prepared to do what you are doing to get it.

Two amazingly brave and dedicated people won a signed photo (a bloomin’ photo!) and a CD with a squiggle on it because they wanted it so badly.

If you’re not achieving what you want, perhaps you don’t know

(a) what you truly want. So go and write down exactly what it is you want to the finest detail. Know exactly where you are heading.

(b) how much you really want it. If it doesn’t excite you then you’re not passionate enough to achieve it, so all the longing , wishing and hoping won’t make it happen. If you’re not passionate enough about it ask yourself more questions. Why do I want this? How will I feel when I do achieve it? How will my life be when I reach this target? If you can’t stoke up the pure excitement for achieving it, it’s the wrong goal.

(c) not prepared to do what it takes. Remember the time will never be right, you’ll never have enough money, you’ll never know enough, it will never be perfect and you’ll always be a little bit scared. But if you don’t just DO IT when the opportunity presents itself someone else will and you’ll always wish you had.

Stop worrying. Get doing.

P.S. Even Holly Willoughby struggles with her shoes. A desperate kicking off of the Louboutin stiletto shoes between shows was very pleasing! 🙂

Heidi Strickland-Clark runs FastTrack Fit Camp, a health focussed bootcamp in the Wokingham area with venues in Swallowfield, Yateley, Winnersh, Wokingham, Twyford & Warfield. She has a passion for all things food and health related and has more than a healthy preference for good, black coffee. 

Have you ever thought back over a series of events and seen how they all join together because of one decision you made earlier on?

This time last week I was rocking and shouting and whooping alongside 5000 others at the ExCel Centre in London as an attendee of the Tony Robbins ‘Unleash the Power Within’ event.

Umm, ExCel Centre??!

Many people have asked me what is was like and to describe what it was all about to them.

This is impossible. Everyone who attends would have a completely different experience. To say that it was the best weekend of my life is not an understatement. That I spent most of it either crying or dancing is by the by. The experience, the effect and the feeling I have about it is enough for me to know that I am changed because of it.

The thing is though that one of Tony Robbins well repeated quotes is –

“It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped. ”

And this is afterall how I got to be there, by a decision I made 8 months ago. Our lives are merely a reflection of our decisions after all.

In August 2012, when I thought I was too busy to breathe, I found myself in distraction mode and was surfing facebook on my phone. I saw a blog post titled something like ‘how to be more productive in the morning’. That’s what I need I thought!

Within this blog was another link to a Tony Robbins audio file. I have no idea why I downloaded it. I had heard of him but had no experience of him to speak of, however I downloaded the audio and started to listen to it. Remember I thought I was “too busy”, but I listened to this audio rapt to his distinctive, gravely voice for 90 minutes. It was perfect for that moment and I was hooked. I can remember him saying –

“what’s wrong is always available, but so is what’s right”

and this struck a deep chord with me. I wasn’t thinking my life was crap, but the very concept of focussing on what’s right changed me there and then.

As a result of this audio I then followed the big man (he is 6ft 7 inches) on Facebook. About 3 weeks later there was a post to say he was in the UK in October at an event called the National Achievers Congress (NAC) , also at the ExCel. I made a decision that I was going.

I am sure many of you know that I am an avid course and seminar attendee. However I normally go on my own and come back pumped up and full of enthusiasm which my poor husband has to absorb at some speed. This time though in an attempt to hear it all first hand he decided to come with me (his moment of decision).

We only went to the ExCel to see Tony Robbins and he was first on, he did a six hour presentation that had me hooked and we agreed there and then to sign up for this event in May. However, we didn’t just stay to listen to Tony, we stayed and found that attending the NAC also opened new doors to both of us. It was there that I saw Andy Harrington speak and am now part of his Professional Speakers Academy, which means that I am delivering presentations in a more enjoyable and useful way for my business. This has bought me into contact with a lot of business people outside the fitness circle which is invaluable for networking and self-development.

So, in that one decision to attend we started a ripple effect of change in our lives.

This last weekend, with Dale, at UPW at the ExCel was full on and intense. It’s 50 hours in 3.5 days and yet you never flag. On day one all 5000 of us (bar a few) did a firewalk — AMAZING! Once you can do that you can do anything right?!

Fire-walked Feet

The remaining three days are an indepth look at what drives you, stops you and makes you alive. If you have any desire to be a better version of yourself it’s definitely the place to do it. The momentum and enthusiasm from the rest of the crowd is intense. I loved it!

What did I learn?

• That I really, really miss my link to music. Since giving up teaching exercise classes I really haven’t listened to music to any degree. So the music, dancing and moving was a good reminder to add that back in.
• That you meet the most lovely people. When you’ve all had a joint experience like the firewalk you’ll talk to anyone to see what their experience was. We met some fantastic people with great ideas of how they can be an enhanced version of themselves to better their lives through the contribution to others.
• That going through such an emotional roller-coaster was so much better when shared with Dale. I cannot imagine having attended on my own and then having to try and share it with him. The joint experience was worth it alone.
• That people can achieve whatever the hell they want. The very first time I heard of Tony Robbins was at another seminar hosted by Phil Richards where he played this audio on how Sylvester Stallone got to where he is today. It’s flippin’ awesome. Never think you can’t have what you want, you just need to know what you want and want it badly enough.
• That I can play air-guitar.
• That I can walk on hot coals.
• That I love the fact that we can continually improve ourselves. Not because we’re dissatisfied with ourselves but because we like to grow, improve and develop to a higher level.
• That I am so glad I decided one Sunday afternoon in August to read a blog, that lead me to an audio that lead me to this new path I find myself on.

Whatever you want from your life, just embrace it. Enjoy it and always see the good in what you have not what you don’t have. Be freakin’ awesome!