A BIG Congratulations to Tim Lamb who is the winner of our May “Beach Body” Competition.

At the beginning of May 2013 we annouced a competition for all our members to win £100 for working hard to acheive a beach body this summer.  As a result, Tim entered the competition and gave it his all to win and we’re happy to reward him with £100!

Tim is a dedicated bootcamper of the 6.30pm Chiswick group and here is what he had to say about the competition:

“The love handles have not quite gone but another concerted effort at Thrive 21 combined with the UV ‘Fat Club’ and I’ll be there. It’s a tough 21 days.  I actualy l did it for 32, wrapped in the Power of 4 and generally had a fairly ‘plain’ month of May.  Super tough with two bank holidays but I managed to catch the last May holiday and go out with a bang. Which I did

We’ll keep you posted about any upcoming competitions in the future!

Ingredients:  (Serves 6)

• Box of Rice Noodles
• Red Cabbage (sliced into strips)
• 3-4 carrots (sliced into strips)
• Onion (sliced into strips)
• Red bell pepper (strips)
• 2-3 cloves of fresh garlic (chopped very fine)
• Mushrooms (diced)
• 2-3 cups of fresh spinach leaves2-3 celery stalks- diced
• Handful of raw cashews (optional)
• Soy sauce (wheat free)
• Raw coconut oil
• Concentrated stevia powder (optional)

Method:

• Start by adding a bit of coconut oil to your sauce pan or wok.
• Then add your garlic and onions and saute for about a minute on medium-high heat.
• Place your rice noodles in a pan of hot water and let them soak for 6-8 minutes.
• Next, add your red peppers, cabbage, carrots and some soy sauce.
• Saute for a few minutes until veggies look soft but still a little crisp.
• Add your mushrooms and celery and saute for a few more minutes, adding more soy sauce.
• Lastly, add your spinach and your cashews. You want to add these last so your spinach does not get too wilted and your cashews still have a crunch to them.
• Optional: Add a dash of stevia powder and a bit of garlic powder and black pepper too.
• Now your noodles should be ready to add into your sauce pan with your veggies. Stir them all together, adding some more soy sauce and a little bit of water to help stir it all together. I just add until I get it the consistency and taste that I want.
• Place your lid on and let those good flavors simmer on low for about 5-10 minutes.
• Now enjoy!

Ingredients: (12 squares)

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 ½ cups other flour (your choice)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2/3 cup plain yogurt
• 1 cup soy milk
• 2 tbsps sweetener (honey/maple syrup/apple sauce)
• 1 egg
• ½ cup blueberries
• 1 tbsp cornstarch

Method:

• Preheat oven to 425F.  and grease a 10” square pan.
• Blend oats, flour, baking soda, yogurt, milk, sweetener, and egg.  Stir in ¼ cup blueberries.
• Spread into pan and bake 10-15 mins, or until fully set.  Meanwhile, cook remaining blueberries with enough water to make a syrup.  Mix in cornstarch until thick and bubbly.
• Cut the squares into 12 pieces.
• To serve, drizzle with blueberry sauce.

This week, we asked the lovely Jocelyn Ridley if she would mind telling us all about why she joined Urban Vitality and what she has acheived so far.  This is what she said:

Jocelyn, tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’m married 32 years and I have 3 children. Chris is 30 and lives with girlfriend in Sydney, Catherine is 29 and living in Brixton and Lottie is 23 and living at home but about to move out. I run a  recruitment business for charities appointing Chairs, Trustees and senior management.  I’ve lived in London since 1974 with breaks (two years in Rio and Johannesburg, 3+ years in Paris where I ran a bookshop).  I’ve lived in Acton since 1998, before that was in Chiswick.

How did you hear about Urban Vitality?

I met a couple of Urban Vitality bootcampers (Sazzy T and Lou Toosey) in Goldsmith Avenue on their way back from a session and  they made it sound such good fun that I came down with them to the next one and have been going ever since. I’m in my third year.

What made you decide to join up with Urban Vitality in particular?

Exercise outdoors with a group of REALLY nice people. I’ve always done exercise from school onwards, hockey and squash through university. In Rio I used to go to a beach class and when we lived near Chiswick Park, I would run around Southfields Park. Done swimming, including a few of the Swimathons with and without friends and family, done a half marathon and the Brussels 20k, still run and also walk,  and I do yoga once a week so UV is the perfect answer for me.  45 minutes of fun, intense exercise 3 x a week if I can get to all sessions. Oh and I did belong to the Park Club for a few years but hated the gym – UV beats it hands down!

When starting out, what did you want to achieve through UV?

Just to keep fit and to keep on walking up the escalators!

What are the biggest challenges you face with health and fitness?

Keeping that way into old age! Health and fitness are important to me. I feel better for having exercised and UV makes me feel really better. I’m female and sadly for us, pretty much at whatever age, body image is important. It’s usually self inflicted, perception not reality, but I personally like to know that I feel good and therefore think that I look good

What have you achieved so far with UV?

Having thought that I ate a reasonably healthy diet, the 28 day diet was a real eye opener and I am now in much better shape and amazingly have dropped that dress size. That didn’t happen right away but the fact that it happened at all is pretty good. Still do the 100 rep challenge and have been doing it pretty much all the time since the 10,000 one before Christmas.  We were talking in bootcamp this morning about how many exercises we can do while cleaning our teeth (got to have an electric toothbrush and choose exercises where you won’t dribble!).

PS I have kept off the weight and hope that I’m reasonably fit.

What do you enjoy most about the sessions and UV overall?

The people and John of course. I love being outside in all weathers. Really like John’s philosophy though not sure I always agree with some of his ideas. I think that the 9.30 crew can be a little bit rebellious at times but that’s what I like about them

Is there anything you still feel you can learn through UV that you would like us to focus on?

I’m sure that there is but I haven’t given it much thought. Might have to go away and think about that one.

What’s your best UV Memory?

There’s a photo of us on the website, I think, where we’re all soaking wet and standing under the trees. It was a great session and that typifies bootcamp and UV for me. We’re out there whatever the weather and having great fun and really good exercise.

Many thanks to Jocelyn for sharing her UV story with us!

Ingredients – Serves 6

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• ½ red bell pepper, seeded, chopped
• ½ green pepper, seeded, chopped
• 2 large chipotle chilies, seeded, minced (can be found in a can in the gourmet cooking section of grocery store)
• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes with added puree
• 3 cups water
• 1 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed, drained
• 1 15-ounce cans kidney beans, rinsed, drained
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method

• Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrots, red and green peppers, and chipotle chilis and sauté until onion and carrots are almost tender, about 8 minutes.
• Add tomatoes, 3 cups water, beans, bulgur, white wine vinegar, garlic, and spices. Bring to boil.
• Reduce heat to medium-high and cook, uncovered,  stirring often, about 20 minutes.
• Serve over basmati or brown rice.
• Soooo good!

Here are a few reasons why you’re not seeing the results you’d like:

You’re not strength training. Often, people who are not losing weight don’t do strength training. The more lean, sleek muscle you have, the faster your resting metabolism is because muscle is the body’s most metabolically active tissue.

You’re not exercising in a way that forces your body to adapt. The adaptive response requires energy; it raises your body’s energy needs. The body will then dig into stored fat for this energy.

If you’ve been strength training and the weight hasn’t been coming off, it may be because you’re not doing much more than merely going through the motions.

There’s the story of a heavy-set woman who was doing body weight squats. A trainer waltzed over, knelt beside her, said “Hi” with a smile, then handed her two 10 pound dumbells (one for each hand).

The woman’s mouth fell open, but the trainer said, “You’re going to do eight reps of your squats but this time you’re going to hold a 10 lb dumbbell on each side.”

“I can’t do it with that weight!”

“Oh yes you can. Trust me. You’re going to complete all eight reps.”

The woman said her goal was to lose weight, but nothing was happening despite regular workouts. She began her squats, and it wasn’t easy. She had to fight her way to the eighth rep, but she completed eight full repetitions.

The trainer said, “Now that’s the way every set should feel. Apply this effort level to all of your sets for every exercise. You won’t lose weight if you keep doing something your body is efficient at. You must do something that forces you to struggle. Struggling begets weight loss.”

A month later the woman reported having dropped an entire dress size.  Moral of this true story: Exercises that require you to push harder will burn fat and spark weight loss, especially when paired with sensible eatingYou eat mindlessly. Every little sample and nugget counts. One tablespoon of gravy is 100 calories. A “little bit here and there” adds up. Avoid eating when you’re focused on other things, such as watching TV or you’re on the computer

You drink diet drinks. Artificial sweeteners often trigger hunger and mess up your metabolism.

Too many processed foods. These trigger hunger, and too much white sugar and high fructose corn syrup will get stored as fat.

You skip breakfast. Breakfast, even if it’s only a cup of yogurt, tends to tame later-day appetite. Skipping it can make you feel entitled to overeat later on.

You hold onto the treadmill. This has got to be one of the most weight-loss-sabotaging habits out there. The body has absolutely no reason to burn more fat in response to make-believe walking.  Instead, pump the arms and get winded to force your body to adapt. Remember, the body won’t adapt to something that it’s very efficient at doing (e.g., walking while holding onto something for support).

You don’t do HIIT: high intensity interval training. This form of cardio blasts fat.

Inconsistent exercise habits. Regular exercise means the difference between success and failure. Even if you’re doing everything right in the gym, consistency is the MOST important thing.

Poor sleeping habits. Research shows that under six hours of sleep and over nine are strongly linked to excess body fat.

Too much daytime napping. Excessive inertia means a slowed metabolism to accommodate it.

Before you give up review your lifestyle habits to find out what can be modified to promote fat loss.

For lots more information on weight loss and nutrition tips, you can visit Personal Trainer and Nutritionist Lindsay Holdens website Pure Lifestyles

Ingredients: (Serves 6-8)

• 2 tbsps. olive oil
• 1 celery root, peeled and diced
• 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
• 3 large carrots, peeled and diced
• 3 cups organic chicken broth
• 3 cups water
• 1 large tin diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 cup green lentils
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp basil

Method:

• Saute celery root, onion, garlic and carrots in olive oil until golden and tender.
• Add broth, water, tomatoes, lentils and herbs.  Bring to a boil and then lower heat to a simmer for 30 to 45 minutes.
• Salt and pepper to taste.

This week, we asked the lovely Paige Davidson if she would mind sharing her story with us about why she joined Urban Vitality and what she has acheived so far.  This is what she said:

Paige, Tell us a bit about yourself?
I am a Primary School teacher who has been teaching for the last 8 years. I originally come from South Africa and have been living in London for the last 8 years.

How did you hear about Urban Vitality?
One night a friend came round for dinner and she said that she had bought a groupon voucher to join this bootcamp on Turnham Green. She suggested I do the same. I was very hesitant, but I thought I might as well give it a go and I bought the groupon voucher that night.

What made you decide to join up with Urban Vitality in particular?
The Monday that I started, I was so nervous and I felt sick the whole day! My friend Janine could only make it to the 7.30pm one, so I went by myself in the dark and cold – it was April! After the first session I was hooked… I decided to keep coming as it was not only about me getting back into fitness, but Urban Vitality had so much more to offer – healthy eating, social aspect etc. All the people who joined were very friendly and there was a good vibe. John was also very inspirational and often told us about how we could get to where we wanted to get too and he was very encouraging. It also gave me a lot more energy!

When starting out, what did you want to achieve through UV?
I just wanted to get fit and healthy again and enter into events – 5k, 10k runs, cycles etc.

What is the biggest challenges you face with health and fitness?
Time and money! Urban Vitality just fits so well into my routine and it really is the whole package – fitness, healthy eating, social etc

What have you achieved so far with UV?
I have never been a natural runner, and I have always wanted to get into running as my family and friends are all addicted. I couldn’t quite get the same picture, but UV definitely helped me with my stamina and mind set. I started off doing the London to Brighton cycle ride which went well, then I started doing little 5km runs. I do park runs at Gunnersbury Park on a Saturday and then I have done various 10km runs around London. The big one for me this year was my first proper half marathon which I did this year in April. I did the Two Oceans Half Marathon in Cape Town.

What do you enjoy most about the sessions and UV overall?
I like the fun games we play as it doesn’t even feel like we are exercising and I like the social aspect and being outdoors.

Is there anything you still feel you can learn through UV that you would like us to focus on more?
I am still learning through UV today, as John always has something interesting to say!!

Whats your best UV Memory?
My best UV memory was doing bootcamp in the snow and we tried to make the biggest snow ball. John then made us all push the giant snow ball – it as a lot of fun! Also, a lot of us also took part in the Yellow Umbrella 10km race. That was fun, as we all encouraged each other – some walked and some ran.

A huge thanks to Paige for taking the time to tell us her story!

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• 2 cups fresh Organic Persimmons, Bananas, Kiwi, Mango, Strawberries, or any frozen fruit
• 2-3 cups coconut milk, light or regular, chilled OR milk alternative(nut milk, Hemp milk etc…)**
• 2-3 tbsp agave nectar or raw honey to taste or a banana or 1 cup frozen mango or 3-4 dates or 3 drops stevia
• 1 tiny pinch sea salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• For chocolate lovers add: 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder+2-3 tbsp Blue Agave Nectar, omit strawberries and add 1 banana.
• For extra protein add: 1-2 tbsp nut butter(almond, Valencia peanut, sunflower seed, macadamia etc…)

Method:

• Put all ingredients into a blender and blend on low speed, holding the top on tightly. Gradually increase the speed to high until smooth.
• Taste and adjust sweetness with agave. If it is too thick add more coconut/alternative milk.
• Drink right away while it is cold or chill in the refrigerator. It will thicken with time and be the texture of yogurt

**You can use 1/2 coconut milk and 1/2 another alternative milk

All the details are available on this video here!

Click here to apply today!

http://urbanvitality.com/spotlight-personal-training/