Fitness and training

Fitness and training 

In this blog, I will be talking about how you should train at the gym and the rules of getting fitter and stronger by training the correct way. I hope this post helps those who are struggling with exercising at the gym and how to do train correctly throughout the week.

Training and the rules of training

At the beginning of every training session, you must always perform a warm up. This prevents the likeliness of injuries from occurring during exercise as it warms the muscles up which makes them pliable (stretchy). The warm up could consist of static and dynamic stretches. Static stretches are stretches that you do when standing on the spot whereas dynamic stretches are stretches you do when moving.
 

Most people think training the same way every day is going to help them to become fitter and stronger, that isn't true. Doing the same exercises every time that you go to the gym will make you bored but also it will only work on the same areas of your body. You should set different days to work on one part of the body. For example; Mondays could be leg day and Tuesdays could be your pectorals and Thursdsy can be your arms and Saturday can be your back day. By setting yourself days to work on different parts of the body will allow you to work on that specific body part and therefore you will not do the same activities everytime you go to the gym to train. If you play a sport, you can train in the gym and different aspects/skills and techniques in that sport. This will allow you to become better at the sport that you do. Also by setting days that you train and days of rest, it will allow you to rest to allow adaptations to occur to your body so you become bigger and stronger. 

When you train at the gym and your sessions become easier for you, you should steadily increase the amount that amount you are doing. This is called progressive overload. By steadily increasing the amount you are doing in your training sessions, this will allow you to become fitter and stronger and this ensures that you are working at your full potential in these sessions. Never give up!

At the end of every training session, you must perform a cool down. This is because when you are exercising waste products such as Lactic Acid is produced. If this isn't released from your body at the end of training, it will cause you to ache the following morning. Cooling down at the end of each session will allow you to get rid of waste products from your muscles which prevents you from being achy in the morning.

What to consume after training?

The best thing to consume in your diet after each training session is protein. This is because it repairs the muscle tears that occurred during exercise and it allows adaptations to occur making you become bigger and stronger.

Also, you must consume water which replenishes the water that you lost from your body by sweating during exercise. This keeps you hydrated but it also replaces the water that you lost from your body during exercise.

I hope that these rules helps some of you to become fitter and stronger. Please comment down below letting me know what you think about this post but also comment on what you would like to see in the next post of this series.

Natasha 

Being healthy (Energy balance)

Energy balance

Energy balance is when a person balance’s energy intake with the amount of energy they release during exercise. A person is in energy balance when the amount of energy they take in as food and drink (energy input) equals the amount of energy you expend (energy output). They will neither be losing or gaining weight.

If someone eats a lot of food but does no exercise, they will gain weight. This is called positive energy balance. If someone does a lot of exercise and doesn’t eat a lot, they will lose weight. This is called negative energy balance. They will need to intake the correct amount of calories and exercise for a certain amount of time to keep the energy intake and output balanced. They will also have a balanced diet and they will get healthy. This is called neutral energy balance. This means that they are getting enough exercise for the amount of food they intake.
Positive energy balance is when the energy intake exceeds expenditure; this is when weight is gained.
Negative energy balance is less than the requirements, the additional energy required will be drawn from the body’s fat reserves therefore weight will be lost.

Positive energy balance

This is positive energy balance. This is because they are eating a lot of calorific foods but not doing any exercise. This means that they will gain weight.

Negative energy balance

This is negative energy balance. This is because he is eating a lot of healthy foods which don’t contain of many calories and he is exercising a lot. This can cause the body to lose weight.

Neutral energy balance

 



This is neutral energy balance. This is because she is eating an equal amount of nutrients in her diet and exercising enough which releases the energy that she has put into her body so that she doesn't lose or gain weight.  

 

I hope that you have enjoyed reading this post, please stay tuned for the next episode of being healthy. Feel free to leave comments down below telling me how useful these episodes have been to you.

 

Natasha

Being healthy

How to be healthy!

Many people around the world want to be healthy but one mistake is that they either eat too healthy and don't consider about working out or it maybe the total opposite. You have to balance your calorie input with your calorie output. By this I mean that you should balance what you intake in your diet with the amount of exercise that you do. This will prevent you from loosing too much weight or putting too much weight on.

What nutrients should you intake?

There are 7 nutrients that you should consume to have a healthy lifestyle.

As you can see from the diagram above, these are 7 food groups. The 7 nutrients are:

• Carbohydrates
• Proteins
• Fats
• Fibre
• Water
• Minerals
• Vitamins

These nutrients come into 2 categories, these categories are macronutrients and micronutrients. Macronutrients are nutrients that we have to intake a large amount whereas micronutrient we must intake but we should consume a less amount of these.

Macronutrients

As I have stated earlier on in this post, macronutrients are the nutrients that we need to consume more of in your diet. By consuming these in your diet, this will allow you to have a balanced and healthy diet. The macronutrients are: carbohydrates, proteins and fats. The image below shows how much you of each macronutrient you should consume in your diet a day to have a balanced and healthy diet.

Referring to the pie chart above, you can see that carbohydrates is the largest percentage (55-65%) consumed in your diet daily. This is because carbohydrates is the first source of energy when you exercise. It is released before proteins and fats when you start exercising. Carbohydrates like pasta are filling therefore you don't need to have a large proportion on your plate unless you train in your sport (such as swimming) most for so many hours with breaks in between each training session that day. Many people like to carbo load. Carbo loading is when they consume carbohydrates in their diet like a week or 2 days before a big sporting event. This gives them energy every day to train preparing them for the upcoming event. By carbo loading 2 days before the event, it will allow them to store the energy in their body for the big day. You should at consume carbohydrates in your diet at least 24 hours before exercising for a long period of time.

 

You should also consume 25-30% of fats in your diet. This is because it is the second source of energy that is released during exercise and it keeps you going during the middle of your sport because it is like a fuel (providing you with energy until the middle of exercise). There are 2 types of fats which are saturated fats and unsaturated fats. Unsaturated fats are the good fats whereas saturated fats are the bad fats which increase your cholesterol levels in your blood. This can then lead to your veins and arteries. You should consume some fats in your diet to make it a balanced diet but you shouldn't consume too much saturated fats compared to unsaturated fats.

 

Lastly, you should intake 10-15% of proteins in your diet. The best time to eat proteins is after exercising and training. This is because they repair the muscle tears that are caused during exercise but also it allows the adaptations to occur. By this, I mean that it make your muscles become bigger and stronger during your rest period. You will see adaptations occurring after your rest days where you don't do any training. However, as proteins are the third source of energy, you should consume proteins before exercising for a long period of time. This is because they allow you keep going as it provides you with energy until the end of an event.

 

Fibre and water are also macronutrients but you don't need to intake as much of them as we do of carbohydrates, proteins and fats. Fibre prevents you from becoming constipated as it clears your bowel system. Water is needed in your diet to keep you hydrated and it replenishes the water that is lost through exercising by sweating. Your body consists of 70-75% of water.

 

 

Water also carries essential vitamins and minerals around the body. It also helps to reduce the amount of waste products such as lactic acid that is being produced during exercise.

 

Micronutrients

Micronutrients are the nutrients that we need consume less of in your diet. It isn't essential to consume loads of these in your diet every day.

The micronutrients are: vitamins and minerals.

 

 

You need to consume vitamins in your diet to have a healthy diet. You need to intake vitamins in your diet because it helps organisms to do their job properly. There are 4 vitamins that are vital to have in your diet. These vitamins are: A, B, C and D. You need vitamin A for good vision because it makes our eyes healthy so that we have good eye sight so that you are able to see in light and dark. We need vitamin B for the production of energy and it also helps to reduce your stress levels. This allows you to produce energy easily so that you don't get tired out quickly during exercise. It will also help to reduce your stress levels so that your stress levels are average so they aren't too high or too low causing different symptoms from occurring to your body. You also need vitamin C in your diet because it helps you to have healthy skin. This helps with different problems such as spots and having dry and unmoisturised skin. The last vitamin you need in your diet is vitamin D. This is because it helps to keep your teeth and bones strong and healthy. Vitamin D reduces the risk of getting osteoporosis in the future because it absorbs calcium in your bones.

It is vital that you consume minerals in your diet because it helps with the delivery of oxygen to different parts of the body. This is because it helps with the formation of red blood cells so that they can take the oxygen around the body from your bloodstream. It is important that you consume some minerals in your diet so that you have a balanced and healthy diet. Iron and calcium are examples of minerals that are needed in your diet. Iron is responsible for haemoglobin as it helps to deliver oxygen from your lungs to other parts of the body. If you have too little haemoglobin in your body, it causes anaemia. This is because your body lacks in the amount of iron. Calcium is an essential mineral needed in your body. This is because it helps keeping teeth and bones strong and healthy. This also prevents you from getting osteoporosis in the future. You need to intake minerals to stop you from becoming fatigue during exercise and sport. By consuming calcium in your diet, it helps you to continue with exercise for a long period of time as the red blood cells are delivering the blood around the body to the different muscles. Minerals also help to keep the bones healthy during training and competition.

Vitamins are minerals are micronutrients because we need to have this nutrient in our diet but we don't need as much of them as we need of the macronutrients. 

I hope that you enjoyed reading this post, I will be making a series of posts on how to stay healthy. Stay tune for the next episode of being healthy. Please feel free to give me feedback on this post.

Natasha 



 

Dealing with negative thoughts

Dealing with negative thoughts

As you have read my previous blogs about my experience with anxiety and my experience with talking therapies, you may know that I learnt about negative thoughts. I guess one thing that inspired me to write a post about this particular aspect of anxiety and depression is due to the fact that I've been having neagtive thoughts lately so I thought it would be a good idea to blog about this. Also I would like to help some of you who have been having negative thoughts and how to deal with those thoughts. In this post today, I'm going to talk about the different thought errors and how to write these thoughts down and challenge them. I hope that this helps people who have been or are suffering with anxiety and depression.

Some people tend to start thinking negative about their life, themselves and even the world. From my experience by having these thoughts, I know that it can be difficult to stop these thoughts once you have started thinking that way. However there are different ways of dealing with those thoughts.

Thought errors

There are many categorised thoughts errors that people with depression and anxiety tend to have. These include:

• Negative filter: Picking out a negative feature and focusing on that without letting anything positive have an effect on it. This is basically looking at yourself, your life and the world in a negative point of view.
• Catastrophising: Believing that a disaster is always around the corner and predicting that the worst will happen.
• Magnification and minimisation: Exaggerating the importance of negative events and underestimating the importance of positive events.
• Emotional reasoning: Thinking that what you're feeling must be true about yourself.
• Mind-reading or jumping to conclusions: Assuming that others are thinking the worst of you and reacting to what you believe they are thinking. Ignoring the facts that might indicate otherwise.
• Labelling: Calling yourself unhelpful names such as 'stupid' and 'useless' and thinking that this amounts to who you are.
• Black and white thinking: Seeing things as completely one way or the other, ignoring the grey area and other possibilities in-between.
• Unrealistic expectations: Thinking about how you 'should' and 'ought' to be and placing unrealistic expectations on yourself.
• Self-blame: Thinking that everything is your fault and ignoring any other contributing factors.

By recognising the negative thoughts that you seem to have, you can then challenge yourself making them into a more balanced thought. I know that it can be difficult to challenge these thoughts once you start thinking like that but it can be done by practising.

Ways of challenging negative thoughts

There are different ways of challenging your thoughts. These include:

• Using a thought diary: You can do this by thinking of a situation then start thinking about the first thought that would pop into your head if this situation occurred. You can rate your emotions and moods as a percentage then find evidence that supports the thought and evidence that does not support that thought. You will then have to think of a alternative/balanced thought and then rate your emotions and moods after that thought. This is the best way to challenge the negative thoughts because it gives you a balanced thought by using evidence supporting the thought and evidence that does not support that thought. You are most likely to feel happier after thinking of an alternative thought.

Referring to the image above, this is an example of a thought diary and it gives you how to use it.

• Thought stopping - When you notice that you are having negative thoughts or you feel overwhelmed with negative thinking, shout 'STOP' out loud or say it in your head. You can also use a elastic band to flick yourself with. This provides you with the means of instantly stopping those thoughts and it gives you a break in your thought process to start to question yourself. This also prevents these thoughts from becoming out of control.
 

 
 
• Cost-benefit analysis - We can asses how useful our negative thoughts are by using a cost-benefit analysis. You do this by noting down the benfits of the thought you are having but you also state down the costs (negatives) of that thought and you rate the benefit out of a percentage as well as the costs so that they add up to 100%. You are weighing up the positives but also the negatives of that thought.
 

 
• How responsible am I? - Sometimes our negative thoughts are focused on events that took place in the past or situations that we remember in a bad light. Think of all the different factors that contribute to this thought and other explanations that may be involved. Then allocate an amount of pie chart to each factor involved, and whatever segment is left is your amount of responsibility.
 
 

The image above shows a pie chart and how you could split it up into sections. It may look similar to this one depending on the factors that effect your thought.
 
• Continuum - This can be useful for looking at grey areas in black and white thinking. If a thought occurred, such as "I am bad" draw a continuum with 0% at one end and 100% at the other, think about who is the most 'bad' person and think about who is the least bad person, put names at 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% (roughly) then put yourself in where you would fit.

 

 

I hope that this post helps some of your who have been having negative thoughts. Feel free to leave a comment below or email me if you need any advice on what you have been going through.

 

Natasha



The best friend tag W/Shaima

The best friend tag 

Hello guys, I'm here today collaborating with my best friend Shaima. I'm going to be answering questions about her and our friendship. Please go over to check out Shaimas' blog on letsstartanewlifestyle.blogspot.com to check out her posts and the best friend tag on her blog. I hope that you enjoy.

 

Questions

1.) How and when did we meet? 

A: We met on a social networking site called Facebook on the 4th of May 2013. Shaima was the one who added me and we decided to say hello and talk about a topic that was very close to our hearts and instantly became best friends. 

2.) What's your favourite memory together?
A: Every moment that we spend together is another good memory to add to the list of great memories. If I have to choose my favourite memory together; it would have to be the day that we met and our long heart to heart chats.

3.) Describe her in one word.
A: PERFECT!

4.) What is one thing that you hate about the other person?
A: Nothing, everything about her is beautiful.

5.) If you could go anywhere together, where would it be and why?
A: Turkey as Shaima would love to travel there and I want to travel there with her.

6.) Who takes the longest to get ready in the morning?
A: To be honest with you, I take so long getting ready in the morning and I don't even put on make up. I believe that Shaima doesn't take that long getting ready in the morning because she is like a pro at doing her make up.

7.) What is both of your favourite foods?
A: Well I love Indian and Chinese food and Shaima loves her Indian food too!

8.) What is your best friend's biggest fear?
A: Loosing the ones that she adores.

9.) What is one thing that your best friend does not know about you?
A: Nothing as I tell her everything as I trust her with anything and everything.

10.) If you were out together, What would your best friend eat?
A: We have never been out together personally because we are thousands of miles a part from each other but I believe that Shaima would most probably have something like pasta because it is filling along with some fruit and vegtables on the side.

11.) What do you most admire about your best friend?
A: She is so caring, loving and kind hearted. She thrives to help and support people with any situation by listening to them and tries her best to make them happy even if they don't feel like being happy and smiling.

12.) What is the last book that your best friend read?
A: I know that Shaima loves to read, but I'm not sure what she read last.

13.) What is your best friend really bad at?
A: She isn't bad at anything.

14.) Is your best friend afraid of the dark?
A: Yes due to bad experiences that she went through before when she was younger. I'm sure that she has become less afraid now.

15.) Has your best friend ever been outside the country?
A: Yes, she has been to Turkey when she was younger.

16.) Is your best friend a spendthrift, or do they like to save their money?
A: She likes to save her money and spend it on her friends and for important occasions.

17.) Is your best friend allergic to anything?
A: No, not from what I know of.

18.) What's the other person's eye colour?
A: Brown but she has contact lenses that makes her eyes look blue/grey. She doesn't wear her contact lenses much though.  

19.) Is she a heels or a flats person?
A: Definitely more of a heels person than a flats person. She has a great sense of fashion and style!

20.) From 1-10, how much do you love your best friend?
A: 100,000

Please leave comments below if you would like me to do more posts like this. I hope that you enjoy reading this and I hope that you have learnt many things about my long distance best friend Shaima! There will probably be more collabs in the future if you my fellow blog readers love different posts to what I normally write and talk about.

Natasha

 

Tips on surviving long distance

Tips of how to deal with long distance

As you can see from the title of this blog, I'm going to write some tips on how to survive a long distance friendship and/or relationship. I will be happy if this can help at least one of you!

Surviving a long distance friendship and relationship can be difficult especially if the time differences are huge! Here's a few tips on how to survive the long distance: 

- Communicate: This is the most important in long distance because if you don't communicate with each other, this shows that you don't care! First, you have to talk to each other and set a time where you will talk to each other each day! They time must be the same time every day but sometimes you may talk with each other more than other days. 

- Write letters and send gifts to each other: This is a good way of expressing your feelings and showing them that you care and love them no matter how far away they may be from you. It's good to express your feelings and show them how much they really mean to you! This will let the other person know how you feel about them. 

- Have heart to heart chats: By having these kind of chats, this would also make the other person extremely happy to know how you feel about them and how you feel about the distance. Either way, the distance shouldn't affect the friendship/relationship if you truely care! 

- Skype calling: Even though they aren't with you in person, they can still see you and make sure that you can talk about anything for hours on end. By Skype calling them, you can see them almost every day without the distance affecting the friendship or relationship. 

Those are just a few key tips on how to survive the long distance in a friendship or relationship! I hope that you enjoy reading this blog and I hope it is helpful to some of you! I'm really sorry that this blog isn't a very long post. 

Natasha 

Dealing with the long distance

Long distance Friendships

The topic that I would love to talk to you about today is long distance friendships, the story of my long distance friendship and how I cope with the distance between me and my best friend.

I've never really spoken about long distance to an audience before but I will try my best to explain long distance and what emotions you may feel when you are in a long distance friendship or relationship.

Firstly, I would like to introduce my best friend Shaima. I met her online on the 4th of May 2013 and we spoke on that same day. The day that I met her was the best day of my life. I honestly couldn't ask for a any better best friend than her. She's so kind hearted, lovely and sweet. She has such a beautiful personality and she has a heart of pure gold. She is always there for me when I need her the most and she has stood right by my side through the tough times in my life. She always helps and supports me through everything and I will always do the same for her.

I'm so thankful to have such an amazing best friend. I'm so lucky to have her in my life as well as having her as my best friend.

What is long distance?

The way that I define long distance as is the distance between two places or two people.

"Distance makes the heart grow fonder."

The story of our long distance

 

Shaima and I met on the 4th of May 2013 on a social networking site. We spoke about topic that was very close to our hearts and we became best friends on that same day. My first impression of Shaima was that she seems so lovely and kind and I wasn't wrong with that impression. She was the sweetest person I spoke to. From that day, we spoke a few days here and there when we weren't busy. When It came to the summer of 2013, we spoke all day everyday. It was one of the best experiences of my life.

 

Talking to Shaima is still the best experience of my life and I couldn't ask for a any better best friend than her. She has been there for me since day 1 and has stood right by my side every step of the way, no matter how far away she is from me. When I'm down, I can talk to her about how I am feeling and she will make me happy and smile. She is the only person in my life that can make me smile when I'm feeling low. She knows exactly how to make me feel better about myself.

 

Sometimes in long distance friendships it can be hard because all you want to do is see each other especially when one is upset. You wish you could see them to hug them and tell them that everything is going to be alright. You also want to make them feel better by going to see them but also comforting them. The last thing you would want to do is tell them that they aren't walking alone as you are with them every step of the way but unfortunately you can't do some of those things especially if you live thousands of miles away from each other. You can tell them that everything is going to be alright and help them through that tough time over social networking sites though.  

 

What emotions do you feel?

When you are in a long distance friendship like mine and Shaima's friendship. You can feel many different emotions. Here are feelings that I experience:

 

•  Fear - I have a fear that my best friend may leave me for a better best friend who is closer to her even though that she has said that she would never leave me for a better best friend that is closer to her.
• Excitement - I get excited easily when I talk to my best friend.
• Happiness - To know that she is happy and smiling makes me happy and smiling.
• Low - When I miss her, I feel low because I want to talk to her and see her.
• Upset - When she is feeling upset, I get upset because her happiness and smile means the world to me.
• Joy and blessing - To have such a amazing best friend like Shaima.

How do I cope with the long distance?



 

I understand that coping with long distance can be hard however there are many different ways that I cope with the distance between me and my best friend.

 

One way that I cope with the distance is communicating with my best friend. The bond between you will not break if you communicate with each other. Communication is a must when you are in a long distance friendship or relationship.

 

Another way that I cope with the distance is by writing letters explaining to my best friend how I feel and saying how much I love and care about her. By writing letters, you can express your feelings and emotions about how you feel about the friendship, how you appreciate them standing by your side even when you are thousands of miles apart from each other.  

 

I always make time to speak to my best friend every day. It doesn't matter what time it is, I will stay up to talk to her unless I fall asleep whilst I am talking to her which most the time I do fall asleep on her when we are talking late at night.

 

Those are just some ways that I cope with the distance between me and my best friend. You can use them ways if you are in a long distance friendship and even a long distance relationship.

 

I hope that you enjoy reading this post and don't forget to comment on it!