1) Drink more water. Water is a fantastic appetite suppressant. When you get a hunger pang, knock back a big glass of water, and you’ll feel a lot less hungry.

2) Replace highly processed, sugary snacks with nuts. Nuts are awesome. A small handful of nuts contain a lot of energy that is released very slowly and keep you feeling full for much longer between main meals. Note that honey roasted peanuts, scorched almonds etc don’t actually count! Check out the Nice n Natural ‘Nutricious’ range from your supermarket instead, or the ‘pick n mix’ bins!

3) Eat a big breakfast. Rather than stacking your energy intake higher as the day goes on, you will need less to eat if you start big.

4) Reduce dinner. Like substantially reduce dinner. Dinner is by far the worst offender, we all eat more than we need. I’ll split this into 2 techniques: a) Use a physically smaller plate, and you will naturally fill it with less food, or b) Use your normal portions but eat dinner in 2 sittings, one at say 6pm and one at say 7:30pm.

Employ at least 2 of these, and you’ll be well on the way to looking and feeling a million times better. Employ them all, and the journey will be even faster. Remember though that while  your new eating habits are formed over the 2-3 weeks of habit forming, you’ll need a lot of DISCIPLINE to stick with it. But trust me, in 2-3 weeks, it will be just as easy as it is for you now

What this means is that you need to lift a heaver weight for less reps! A good rule of thumb is no more than 10 reps (using 2 seconds per rep, 10 reps = 20 secs… or the maximum time within the Phosphate system).

Many advanced level strength trainers go a step further and follow the ’1RM’ principle. This ‘One Rep Max’ system means loading up the absolute heaviest weight that your body can move, and completing just ONE rep only! By the end of the very hard, slow rep, the muscles used are still just as fatigued.

So have a think about how you conduct your strength training session, and whether you are doing it effectively.

Wearing heels for long periods can result in a shortening and tightening of the Achilles’ tendon. When you walk in a relatively flat shoe, your foot flexes up (dorsiflexes) when your heel hits the ground and then flexes down (plantarflexes) as you toe off. If the Achilles’ tendon is short and tight because of high heels, the foot loses its ability to flex up and down, so switching to a flat can cause heel and calf pain. Flats can also aggravate conditions like plantar fasciitis if they lack good arch and heel support.

If you’re moving away from high heels to flats, do so gradually, wearing lower heels at first. That will give your Achilles’ tendon time to relax and stretch out. You should also try doing some of the standard exercises for stretching the Achilles’ tendon, such as keeping your heel on the ground and your leg straight as you lean forward.

Females are much less prone to this condition, because they tend to store fat subcutaneously (that is, just under the skin). Because this is much more visible, the appearance can be much worse than visceral fat, however the health risk is nowhere near as high. But be aware – high levels of fat in females also means that the visceral fat rating will increase to dangerous levels.

At the Busy Body studio, we have a very fancy piece of equipment that uses electrical impulses and can determine your visceral fat rating!!

So how can we get rid of visceral fat??  The same way we reduce all other forms of fat. Your best options are a healthy eating plan, strength training (once per week), and high intensity cardio (2-3 times per week).

All alcoholic drinks contain calories, which your body needs to burn off.  And our bodies prioritise alcohol over all other ‘macronutrients’ (protein, fat and carbs) because, unfortunately, it is a poison – and our liver needs to get rid of it! Due to this, any food we eat while drinking alcohol will have a much higher chance of being stored as fat. Do not eat high fat, high calorie snacks while drinking!

Also, when we drink alcohol, our metabolism slows down, so our fat burning ability is reduced for up to 3 days after a good drinking session!.

So how can we keep drinking? Limit the number of drinks per night to 2 or 3, and choose your poison wisely! The best options are red wine (for the anti-oxidants), and clear spirits. You can request a single-shot of clear spirits in a diet mixer or soda water, and only have 80 calories per drink. This is almost half that of a standard beer or wine (around 140 calories each). Low-carb beers are a good alternative to standard beer, as the calories are reduced to around 110.  If you like white wine, go for dry white (140 calories) rather than sweet (190 calories).

You can still drink alcohol and lose weight by following these recommendations!

Researchers from Columbia University found that sleep-deprived study participants consumed an average of nearly 300 calories per day more than those who had a full night’s sleep. Troublingly, the majority of the extra calories were in the form of saturated fat.

The researchers also found a difference in calorie intake between male and female study subjects, with women consuming an average 329 calories and men an average 263 calories.

Always try and maintain a regular 7-8 hour sleep pattern per night, not only to help your body recharge, but also to ensure you don’t start eating more!

This information is incorrect for females, it is one of the many myths and fallacies of the fitness industry. Many scientific studies have proven that strength training is the most effective form of fat removal. This is because it has the largest effect on the body’s metabolic rate, and also uses stored fat as energy to regenerate the muscle tissue. To give you even more confidence, one of my mentors is Rowena Szeszeran-McEvoy (Rowie), an Australian fitness celebrity who was a trainer for ‘The Biggest Loser’ TV show!! She preached strength training for all her clients and contestants on the show.

In order to ‘bulk up’, that is, put on large amounts of muscle mass through strength training, there needs to be the following 3 requirements:

1)     Testosterone

2)     High levels of human growth hormone

3)     An eating plan consisting of very large meal portions with high protein content.

Now as a male, the first 2 conditions are already met.  As a female, NONE of the conditions will be met (providing you eat sensibly!). So there is absolutely NO WAY to get bulky from strength training (unless you are genetically predisposed to it, which is a minute percentage of the population).

Lifting light weights will have a significantly less effect on your metabolism, and so your fat loss results will be less because of it.

Modern advances in the science of strength training advocate the use of compound exercises that work multiple muscle groups at the same time. The shoulder works in a functional sense in conjunction with the Pectoral (chest) and tricep (back of arms) muscles, in what is referred to as an ‘upper body push’ motion. These motions do not place the shoulder in any danger of impingement, however still allow it to get incredibly strong and toned.