Author: Louisa

There’s a lot of hype at the moment about intermittent fasting and time- restricted eating. There’s also a lot of conflicting information out there. In this post I have explored whether this way of eating offers a safe, effective and long term way to gain health and lose weight. 

Note, I am not a nutritional expert, or dietician, but there’s a lot of crossover in the work I do. Also, diet is, of course, such an important factor in wellbeing and fitness. Plus weight loss is a hot topic at the moment with the government’s push to tackle the obesity crisis. I therefore want to try to understand the topic from an evidence based perspective.   

What’s the difference between intermittent fasting and time-restricted eating? 

Intermittent fasting means not consuming food or drink, other than water, for longer than a normal overnight period of 8-12 hours. This could be fasting for entire days, which some programmes advocate, or extending the food-free window to 16 hours for example. Time-restricted eating is the term given to restricting food intake to certain times or hours during the day. 

I personally do not like the idea of whole days without food intake (although the body can survive for days without food and we are evolutionarily programmed to go without food for a certain amount of time). I know some weight loss programmes advocate 1 day on and 1 day off food entirely. I’m more of a supporter of intermittent fasting during the night whereby we give the body a nice long rest from food intake for at least 12 hours. I think this is sensible, good for us and most importantly completely achievable and sustainable for most people. 

It’s worth noting that if you have a history with an eating disorder then intermittent fasting for long periods of time may not be advisable. It’s always worth seeking medical advice if you are unsure.

Physiologically what happens when we give our bodies a break from food intake? 

Giving your body a break from food or drink (other than water) will do amazing things and will provide a whole host of health benefits. After 6 or 8 hours the body’s natural glycogen stores will have been used up and the body will start to utilise fat sources. Your body will then start to burn fat which has previously been inaccessible. Over twelve hours a process called autophagy kicks in.

I read about this in Dr Rangan Chatterjee’s book The 4 Pillar Plan. Dr Chatterjee refers to the work of biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi who focuses his research on autophagy or “oxidative damage”. It is basically the body’s internal way of sorting out and clearing up internal mess and clutter. The body starts to repair cell damage, the immune system and many other essential functions. As Dr Chatterjee says: 

Snacking, insulin levels and weight loss 

Dr Fung talks about the science of time restricted eating in his book The Obesity Code. Dr Fung attributes genetics, insulin and hormone imbalances to be the predominant causes of obesity. 

In the simplest terms: 

• Insulin’s role in the body is to transport sugar, obtained from food, from the blood stream to the body’s cells
• In a fasting state, when insulin levels are low, the body burns stored glycogen and then moves on to burning fat 
• When you eat too many sugar or carbohydrate rich foods too often, the body receives a signal to stop any fat burning and burn glucose received from your last meal instead. This keeps insulin levels high 
• This means the cells in the body do not respond to insulin receptors and can cease working properly
• The cells become reliant on glucose and over time this can result in insulin resistance, weight gain and obesity

Dr Fung’s research has found that snacking in between meals is a high predictor of insulin resistance. The body ideally needs 4-5 hours rest between meals in order to have regular low levels of insulin. Snacking between meals interrupts this and keeps levels of insulin higher than they need to be. 

The hormone leptin serves to make us feel full and the hormone ghrelin makes us feel hungry. Too much insulin also disrupts and confuses the body’s natural hormones so these messages become unclear. This can lead to overeating, weight gain, obesity and other diseases. I.e. the brain fails to recognise when the body is full and the hungry signal may continue when the body is not actually hungry because of the hormonal imbalance.  How many times have you heard people who struggle with their weight say they don’t feel full? A hormone imbalance could be the cause.

What is circadian rhythm? 

Professor Satchin Panda is an expert in circadian rhythm. His book The Circadian Code, explores how the daily cycles and rhythms we experience impact a huge number of areas in our lives from obesity, weight gain, inflammation, depression, anxiety and even some forms of cancer. 

He discusses how there is a  circadian clock present in every part of our bodies. Studies have shown that even if a human being is locked away without access to natural light the body will still wake and sleep at similar times. This is because every cell and hormone in the body is programmed with daily cycles of waking up, sleeping and eating. The different areas of the body are primed for these functions at appropriate times of the day. For example, in the middle of the day the digestive system is optimised and during the evening the body is set to become tired and fall asleep. 

How does circadian rhythm affect weight loss and diet? 

Time-restricted eating and intermittent fasting may encourage eating less food and therefore a reduction in calories consumed. Studies have shown this is the case simply because people are naturally eating for fewer hours in the day. 

In a recent Feel Better Live Move podcast with Professor Panda, he talks about experiments with mice which have shown promising results for health and weight control. 

In one experiment mice were given a high fat and fructose diet. The mice became obese and suffered cardiovascular disease within 9-10 weeks. They also began to eat when they were not hungry particularly in the middle of the night when the gut and liver are not primed for digestion. 

The mice were then divided into two groups. Both were given the same diet and all other conditions were the same. The only difference was that one group were allowed to eat whenever they wanted and the second group were restricted to eating within an 8 hours window. At the end of the experiment the mice eating within the restricted window were protected against diseases such as obesity and cardiovascular disease and mental health conditions. 

Professor Panda also discusses a second set of experiments whereby already obese and diabetic mice were placed on a 10 hour restricted eating window. These mice lost 40% of their body weight within a few weeks. They could also outrun mice who were eating a healthy diet on a treadmill. 

These findings have been replicated time and time again and clearly show that aligning eating time with circadian rhythm can have huge health benefits. Whilst it’s not completely clear how these experiments would translate into humans, this offers promising research in support of time-restricted eating. Human trials are underway and it’s very exciting to hear what the results may be! 

Professor Satchin is conducting a huge worldwide study to examine the role of circadian rhythm in health. To sign up and download the App visit his website here. 

Is breakfast really the most important meal of the day?  

This is a controversial area as most of us have all grown up believing that we need a hearty breakfast. This is not actually the case, according to experts, and the body can go for hours without needing sustenance in the morning. Indeed, having a later breakfast may be a really good and easy way to extend the fasting period and encourage fat burning. Some experts are even advocating skipping breakfast all together. 

However, if you exercise in the morning I’d always make sure you are eating within an hour of finishing.  As your body needs nutrients and fuel to repair muscles and recover from your workout.  

Top tips for embracing your body’s natural rhythms for optimal weight and health: 

1. Don’t eat at night – try to eat before 9pm and definitely avoid any late night munchies.
2. Try to eat within an 8-12 hour window pushing back breakfast if possible 
3. Stop snacking between meals to allow insulin levels to drop 
4. Avoid processed white carbs such as white bread, rice and pasta and swap for wholegrains – brown rice, wholegrain rice. 
5. Eat a largely plant based diet full of fresh vegetables and fruit 
6. Exercise for at least 30 mins a day. Exercise can help to deplete glycogen stores even more so combined with time-restricted eating can be a great way to shed the pounds and get into shape.                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

The swimming pools are finally reopening across the UK, and I have been embracing the opportunities to open water swim at my local reservoir. I felt it was a good time to write about why water, and swimming in particular, can make us feel so good. 

I intuitively know being in and near water makes me feel good. Indeed any of us who have been near a beautiful lake or gazed out at the waves on the beach know that:

“instinctively that being by water makes us healthier, happier, reduces stress, and brings us peace”. 

Wallace J Nichols Blue Mind

To find out why I decided to read Wallace J Nichols’s book Blue Mind: How water makes you happier, more connected and better at what you do. 

I’d recommend this book if: you are a lover of any water based activity, you are drawn to the water or you are environmentally conscious about our blue world (Nichols is a marine biologist and conservationist). Nichols takes us through a tour of the neuroscience of why water makes us feel so good and invites us into his blue mind world. He describes blue mind as:

“a mildly meditative state characterised by calm, peacefulness, unity and a sense of general happiness and satisfaction with life in the moment”.

Wallace J Nichols Blue Mind

The science of why being in or near water makes us feel good: 

Nichols notes that being in, on, or near to water can: 

• Reduce the effects of the stress state (sympathetic nervous system, or the “red mind” state as Nichols it). It can also decrease levels of the stress hormone cortisol. The red mind “fight or flight” response, including high levels of anxiety and stress, can be hard to escape in our modern world. Blue mind provides respite. 
• Increase feel good chemicals serotonin and oxytocin.
• Reduce our heart and breathing rate. Studies have shown that even looking at water can reduce blood pressure.
• Be an effective treatment for a range of disorders such as addiction, PTSD, anxiety and autism (see below for more on this).  
• Make us more creative and inspires our thought processes. 
• Encourage a more positive outlook: Images with water tend to elicit a more positive response in research participants compared to images without water. 
• Create a meditative effect: It invites a natural escape from the modern world. We are away from technology and screens.  
• Elicit an emotional response creating feelings of awe, peace and joy. People will often describe how water makes them feel. 
• Release the feel-good neurotransmitters: dopamine, adrenaline, endocannabinoids and endorphins. 
• Allow us to feel connected to something bigger as an effect of being in nature. 
• Improve our relationships, make us feel greater love and even have a positive effect on our businesses.

Swimming saved me during challenging times 

When I was in the midst of one of the most difficult and challenging periods of my life I had swimming as my anchor. Before Covid-19 hit I swam with a group of friends in the mornings before work. There were times back in 2013/2014 where I didn’t really know how I got out of bed but somehow I managed to get to the pool. Seeing my friends, having a chat in the changing rooms and then getting into the water and doing our swim sessions was grounding. It brought normality, structure, escapism, thinking time and all of the other amazing benefits physical activity has to offer. It felt as though the water was literally soaking up my troubles and easing some of my pain. 

Front crawl has always been my favourite stroke. As you glide through the water you are almost fully submersed. When my hand hits the water it felt as though all the angst, sadness and grief I was feeling at the time was transferring into the water. Being submerged in the water makes you feel weightless, and carefree – for me it’s utterly liberating.  

I love open water swimming and lidos because I can see the sky and trees every time I breathe to the side. It cleanses the mind and it also allows me to process my thoughts and and be creative: I came up with the name of my business when I was in the water. 

As Roger Deakin says in his famous book Waterlog:

“When you enter the water, something, like a metamorphosis happens. Leaving behind the land, you go through the looking glass surface and enter a new world in which survival, not ambition or desire, is the dominant aim.”

Roger Deakin, Waterlog:

Swimming as therapy

Alexandra Heminsley talks about how swimming provided therapy for her when she was going through difficult times in her life in her book Leap In. 

In Dip: Wild swims from the Borderlands Andrew Fusek, who lost his father to suicide, talks about how wild swimming provided mindful respite from the “thought-torture” of his depression:

“Diving into wild water is the great bringer-back of reality. A perfect present tense, a right-here, right-now moment. The senses are so filled by the trees, the light, the sound of birds, of shivering leaves, the fierce squeezing clinch of the water – there’s no space for thought shadows”. 

Andrew Fusek, Dip

In Blue Mind Nichols discusses an interesting case study in California where a surf club has been set up as a successful treatment facility for drug addicts. The idea being to replace the high of drugs with the high produced by exercise, especially something like surfing which produces a natural dopamine surge. Surfing works by providing a different reward to addictive drugs in the brain. 

A swimming community

Alexandra Heminsley refers to the sense of community there is around swimming:

“however exposing the act of getting in the water in nothing but a swimming costume can be, the communities that swimmers have built truly cement my faith in human nature”.

Alexandra Heminsley, Leap In

The Kenwood Ladies’ Pond in Hampstead Heath, North London, is one of my most favourite places. There’s a real sense community there of women, with their individual stories, and reasons for swimming and what it has done for them. It’s secluded, tranquil and amazingly peaceful considering it is in the middle of London. There’s something really special about being somewhere where women have been swimming for almost 100 years all year round. It doesn’t quite feel like anywhere else in the world, it’s a total escape from normal life and is a place where you feel your troubles instantly lifting. There was recently lovely doumentary on the history of the ponds exploring the love people have for the Hampstead Ponds.

Swimming offers a sense of accomplishment and achievement

Nichols also talks about how swimming is a distinct skill we need to learn as children or adults and this is satisfying as it gives us an enormous sense of achievement and satisfaction (once the frustrations are passed). 

As Alexandra Heminsley says:

“To discover a new skill as an adult is like noticing a door, deciding to open it and finding an entire room in your own home you never knew you had. And I had done it – I had opened the door to the extra room. Now I wanted to be able to see water, anywhere in the world – oceans, lakes and pools – and sense not fear but adventure and peace”. 

Alexandra Heminsley, Leap In

Nichols also talks about the benefits of how we have to learn to swim and the cognitive benefits:

“This combination of cognitive effort and aerobic exercise has actually been proven to provide the greatest amount of what is called “cognitive reserve” – that is, the mind’s resilience to damage to the brain”. 

Wallace J Nichols Blue Mind

Swimming is one of the best forms of aerobic exercise

It might be a pain to get to a pool, get changed and get wet but it’s worth it for the great overall workout you get without adding any stress to your joints: 

“The resistance and pressure of water contribute to swimming’s role as one of the best forms of both aerobic exercise and muscle toning. Because the pressure of the water outside the body is greater than the pressure inside”. 

Wallace J Nichols Blue Mind

Swimming improves the respiratory system and every muscle is benefiting from a resistance training workout. 

Swimming as a stress buster

Catecholamines are a hormone in the body which regulates stress. Being immersed in the water can change the make up of catecholamines in the body in a way similar to relaxation or meditation – so just being in water can reduce stress and increase feelings of relaxation. 

As other forms of aerobic exercise do, swimming releases feel good chemicals endorphins and endocannabinoids again serving to reduce the body’s stress response and make us feel great. Swimming is also linked to an increase in the number of neurons in the hippocampus (see my earlier post on exercise and mental health). Nichols also writes that partaking in regular aerobic exercise can help the ageing process by maintaining our cognitive abilities.  

So get in the water whichever way feels good to you and see if it can make you feel better, lift your mood, increase your feelings of happiness, increase your creativity and reduce stress and anxiety! 

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Do you want to feel better in yourself? Have more confidence and energy, less stress and anxiety and generally be a happier, more content and fulfilled person? If the answer is yes, coaching could be the tool you need to feel your best self in your life. 

What is coaching?

Coaching can be a truly transformative process for an individual either within their professional or personal lives. Through a process of structured conversations it can enable positive change, through self-reflection, and help you to feel your best self. 

There are many formal definitions of coaching. I like this one…

Coaching is a way of: 

“unlocking a person’s potential to maximise their own performance [by] helping them to learn rather than teaching them”.

John Whitmore, Coaching for Performance

There are also many types of different coaches focusing on different areas. For example: life coaching, relationship coaching, development coaching, executive coaching, business coaching, financial coaching and health and welbeing coaching. I’ll focus on life coaching and fitness and wellbeing coaching primarily in this post.

How can life coaching be beneficial?

So you might be asking how can coaching benefit me? Life coaching or wellbeing coaching can be particularly beneficial if you are: 

• Stuck in a rut and not sure where to go next 
• Feeling overwhelmed with too much to do 
• Not sure where your career or life is heading
• Feeling anxious or stressed about a particular area of your life
• Unsure about a relationship or what to do with a family dilemma 
• About to make a change, or just made that change, in your life such as moving house, having a family or changing jobs
• Difficulties or challenges at work (crossing over into Executive Coaching)
• Wanting to change your habits such as implementing a long term exercise or diet programme (see below for more on this specifically)  

How does it work? 

Life coaching usually consists of a one to one relationship between a qualified coach and an individual over a period of at least 4-6 sessions. These sessions usually last between 50 minutes to an hour and a half. Sometimes the individual has a specific goal in mind. For example: changing careers; going back to work after maternity leave; growing their confidence, self-esteem or resilience. Often a client may not know exactly what they want, or need, but they know something in their life needs to shift and change. The coach will work with the client, sometimes using tools and giving them homework, to devise goals and work towards where they want to be. 

Why is coaching right for you… 

A lot of people think it’s indulgent to invest in themselves but I think everyone can benefit from coaching and what it can offer. I can’t imagine there are many people who don’t want to grow and further themselves. Indeed, the evidence for the effectiveness of coaching at a personal and professional level is really strong across the board. 

How much does it cost? 

Coaching can vary in price enormously depending on the experience and skillset and expertise of the coach, where the coaching takes place and the length and duration of sessions.

My coaching is reasonably priced and I am happy to discuss the details with each individual. I will also offer discounts for those who cannot afford the usual rates at the moment. Generally coaches will price for blocks of 4-6 sessions. Most coaches will also do one off sessions for a particular issue someone might be facing. 

How coaching helped me

Studying for my postgradudate certificate in coaching at Birkbeck was a life changing and transformative process. As part of the course we took the role as coach and coachee/client from day one. This lead to an amazing journey of self-reflection and discovery for most people on the course.

Until you have experienced being coached, or have had therapy, I am not sure you can appreciate the value of dedicated one to one time with a professional listener. 

My sessions with my peer coach Meera Garratt have been instrumental in giving me the confidence to try new things with my business, push me forward, get me thinking of lots of new ideas and keep me on track. It’s really astonishing what 50 mins to an hour of focusing on your own agenda can do. Coaching can be instrumental in aiding greater self-awareness, personal growth and resilience.  

There are very few safe spaces where you can really explore in depth conversations in the way you can in a coaching environment. In the same way as therapy, coaching provides an unbiased, safe, structured and empowering space to explore ourselves. 

Misconceptions of coaching

• It’s about advice giving: A lot of people assume coaching is about a coach giving you advice. This is usually not the case at all and coaching is generally non-directive in nature. Often a coach may say very little and allow the client to explore their own thoughts, ideas and responses. The coach may guide the client by asking probing questions, picking up on what is said and importantly what is not said, and taking into account body language. The coach does not need to be an expert in the topic the client is exploring as generally the coach believes the client to have the answers within themselves. 
• Coaching is the same as mentoring: Coaching is often confused with mentoring. The main difference between the two is that mentoring is usually more aligned with advice giving and sharing the mentor’s own experience to influence and guide the mentee. A mentor will usually be more experienced, perhaps older (but not necessarily always) and have some background in the area the mentee is working on. 
• Coaching is the same as therapy: There’s lots of overlap between coaching and therapy and sometimes it’s difficult to distinguish. The theory of both disciplines comes from the same schools of thought (psychoanalysis, cognitive behaviour, people centred, solution focused etc). The main difference is that coaching is usually focused on future development and growing potential. Therapy is generally focused on analysing past emotions, feelings and traumas. This blog post explains it well if you want to understand the difference in more detail. If a coach is trained properly they will know when to distinguish between whether a client needs therapy or coaching and will abide by ethical guidelines (note, if you are opting for coach make sure they have followed a reputable route and are adequately qualified. This was very important to me and why I chose to study coaching at postgraduate level at a University). 

My coaching approach 

My coaching is usually non-directive in nature and based on a combination of different coaching approaches including cognitive behaviour, self-compassion and mindfulness based techniques. I take a whole person approach and I believe challenges experienced in our professional lives are not necessarily easily separated from issues in our personal lives and what we do in our personal lives can benefit our professional lives.

I am a member of the European Mentoring & Coaching Council (EMCC) and follow their code of ethics.

Coaching, exercise, body image and self-worth

My passion is for everyone to find an activity they love for life which will bring about positive change in every aspect of their lives to enable them to feel their best self. Coaching can play an important role here. 

I think the mistake most people make when taking on a new exercise programme, diet or regime to lose weight or get into shape is that they don’t fully consider the mindset, habit and the behaviourial aspect. We are fixated on the end goal rather than the whole process and system behind it (as James Clear talks about in his book Atomic Habits). We want quick fixes and fast results, which in reality are not possible, at least to sustain for the long-term. Especially in the world of fitness and weight loss.

Embarking on behaviour change for life is difficult and you need to work on sustainable and long term habit change for it to be a success. In a lot of ways it’s not actually about movement or food it’s a lot more complex than this. 

Feel your best self: what my coaching programme can do for you

My coaching programme takes people through all the stages they need to explore before they actually embark on the exercise programme, fitness regime or diet. It covers:

• What exercise means allowing you to explore how your past has shaped your attitude to fitness and exercise
• What the barriers are and how to overcome them 
• How you really feel about yourself and your identity and how you want to feel 
• What you really want to achieve, rather than what you think you want to achieve 
• Giving yourself permission to do what you want to do
• How to transform habits: stick to good ones and reduce bad ones
• The route to finding the activity which you will love for life
• How to fit this around your existing schedule, family commitments and work 
• How to get your family on board and supportive of your activity 
• How to actually commit to the plans for the long term 

If you don’t think it’s truly possible to embrace a new exercise regime or diet and fitness plan then I challenge you to take on my programme and see how truly transformational change can be.

Ultimately the aim is to create positive behaviour change for life which has a ripple effect in every other area of your life through to health, diet, weight loss, growth in confidence, purpose, self-esteem and self-worth. 

Contact me if you would like to explore coaching in more detail. I have slots available now!

Exercise as my coping mechanism

Exercise has always been my coping mechanism. It is my number one self-care activity. It’s my tool for managing when I feel down. It has helped me battle through depression, anxiety and get to a healthy relationship with my body after having an eating disorder. It has been a constant in my life through relationship breakdowns and divorce, through grief and fertility losses. It has helped me be the person I am, feel comfortable in my own skin, have energy, be creative and helped me get up in the morning. Exercise makes me feel my best self. See my previous post on the“flow” state for more on why I love exercise.

Those of us who love exercise know how good it can make us feel and we can’t live without it. I am passionate for others to find this and embrace the power of exercise for their mental wellbeing and resilience.

The mental health benefits of exercise 

We know that exercise has multiple mental health benefits including: 

• Reducing stress, anxiety and depressive thoughts
• Improving mood, self-esteem, optimism and confidence
• Increasing concentration, creativity and stamina 
• Nurturing connection, purpose and meaning in life 
• Increasing sleep duration and quality (leading to all of the other benefits we get from sleep – see my previous blog post on this topic) 
• Reducing the chances of developing degenerative diseases such as dementia 
• Making us less prone to loneliness 

Exercise is scientifically proven as a preventative strategy against developing mental health disorders as well as a treatment for existing disorders. This topic is slowly gaining more traction in the medical, health and wellbeing world and there’s lots of research out there to support this. But why is this the case?

Exercise can prevent depression, anxiety and stress 

Brendon Stubbs is head of physiotherapy at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. He’s also a lecturer and researcher at Kings College London specialising in helping people find exercise to alleviate and/or build up resilience to prevent mental health conditions. I came across Brendon through my favourite podcast Feel Better Live More podcast. I am fascinated by his work and his ethos. 

In his work Stubbs refers to a study, by Schuch et al, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry in 2018 which followed 260,000 people and their exercise habits over 7 years. The study showed that people following recommended guidelines in terms of activity were 30% less likely to develop depression. Stubbs’s research has shown that even if you are predisposed in your genetic make up to develop depression, exercise can act as a preventative measure. 

Studies on sedentary behaviour have shown that after just a week of low activity, in people who were previously active, signs of stress, anxiety and depression start to emerge. This is something a lot of us know intuitively but it’s great to see the research base growing in this area. 

So why is exercise so good for our mental health? 

There are many reasons and it is a very complex question. From the reading I have done I’ve come up with 6 scientifically backed reasons: 

1. Exercise changes the brain

Exercise increases the flow of oxygenated-rich blood to the brain helping to produce new brain cells, a process called neuroplasticity. In her book, The Source, neuroscientist Dr Tara Swart talks about how exercise makes the brain more agile:

“Those who exercise have better higher brain functions like emotional regulation and flexible thinking, and are better able to quickly switch between tasks”. 

Dr Tara Swart, The Source

Brendon Stubbs talks about how exercise can produce real and significant growth and changes in the hippocampus in just 12 weeks of consistent exercise. This is the area of the brain which is important for processing emotions and consolidating memories from short to long term.

Research is also being done into the protein BNDF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor). BNDF is important for brain cell health and repair, regulating mood and for processes such as learning and memory. People who do more exercise release more BNDF. Tara Swart notes that research has shown that those doing exercise they enjoy rather than seeing it as a chore actually release more BNDF. 

2. Exercise releases feel good chemicals and proteins 

Exercise releases a number of feel good chemicals: dopamine, endocannabinoids, norepinephrine, and serotonin. 

Kelly McGonigal in her book The Joy of Movement talks about the runner’s high. She discusses how some forms of persistent aerobic exercise such as running, cycling, dancing and swimming release endocannabinoids. This is the neurotransmitter cannabis mimics. It results in making us feel less anxious and worried, more hopeful and optimistic and increases pleasure from social contact.

See my blog post on The Joy of Movement for a more in depth summary of why endocannabinoids and what they do.  

Exercise can also trigger a rush of endorphins and dopamines which reduce the feeling of pain and create feelings of euphoria. Serotonin can boost mood and an overall sense of wellbeing and is also increased through exercise. Serotonin also has an important role to plan in improving appetite and sleep. 

3. Exercises reduces stress chemicals 

Exercise is proven to reduce the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline and regulate the body’s fight or flight response. It is also proven to increase norepinephrine which can help the body respond to stress. Exercise such as yoga is thought to correct a balance between the body’s parasympathetic state (the body’s natural relaxing mode) and sympathetic state (fight or flight mode). 

Mithu Storoni, in her book Stress Proof, refers to exercising influencing the effects of rumination after a stressful experience. Exercise can improve prefrontal control over the HPA-axis response (the body’s stress response axis). 

Dr Rangan Chatterjee, in his book, The Stress Solution says:

“exercise is one of the best ways to pull yourself out of a damaging stress state that’s been caused by too many Micro Stress Doses”.

Dr Rangan Chatterjee The Stress Solution

Research has shown that the brain chemical GABA is increased through exercise which encourages the brain into a calm state. Dr Chatterjee also discusses the role of telomeres (protective material found at the end of our chromosomes inside our genetic material). If your telomeres are damaged you will age more prematurely and experience more stress. A study conducted in 2010 with stressed out women concluded that “vigorous physical activity appears to protect those experiencing high stress by buffering its relationship with telomeres”. 

However too much exercise and overexerting yourself can have the opposite effect and actually increase stress in the body so make sure you get the balance right. 

4. Exercise can reduce inflammation 

Research has shown that exercise can significantly reduce inflammation and help the body heal itself as well as protect against infection.

Kelly McGonigal discusses how proteins called myokines are released by the muscles into the blood stream every time we move a muscle. There are 35 different types of myokines all producing positive effects on the body from helping muscles grow, regulating blood sugar levels, reducing inflammation, and reducing disease. See my blog on the Joy of Movement for more on myokines.

A type of myokine is a protein called Interleukin 6 (IL-6) which is released by the muscles during exercise. This protein plays an important role in fighting inflammation in the body. The longer your workout the more IL-6 is released.

5. Exercise has a powerful psychological and social impact 

Moving your body can have a powerful effect on your thoughts and mood as it can distract from painful emotions, worries and everyday stresses. Meeting workout goals or achieving a target such as running a 10K race or lifting a target weight can boost confidence and self-esteem, purposefulness and meaning in life. 

The physical side effects from exercise such as weight loss and improved body tone and shape can increase self-confidence and self-esteem. You will experience a renewed sense of energy and may even achieve other ambitions in your life as a result. If you build self-compassion and respect for your body through physical movement it is more likely you will want to nurture and care for your body and mind through nutrition, sleep, meditation and other important wellbeing activities. 

Exercising in groups with others can have an added benefit of boosting more feel good chemicals in the brain, increasing social connectedness and reducing loneliness. It also means it’s more likely people will be motivated to engage in activities if they are partaking with others. 

6. Exercise has a positive effect on mood 

Specific exercise has a different effect on the brain and body. As Kelly McGonical discusses, each form of exercise is uniquely personal in meaning to each individual. It creates a neurological feedback loop in the brain. For example, someone who loves lifting weights may get an empowering sense of feeling strong or in control. Perhaps a runner may feel a sense of freedom, a swimmer a sense of weightlessness and carefreeness. Dance and yoga might send out signals of joy and openness triggered by open arm gestures and body stance. 

5 minutes a day can make a difference!

The best news is that you don’t have to sweat it out for hours in the gym to feel these benefits. Even as little as 5 minutes a day can give you a positive boost to your mental health. If you want some help in getting to a place where you find the joy of movement and feel your best self in all areas of your life as a result then contact me! 

I’ve had Matthew Walker’s seminal book Why We Sleep on my reading list for months and I’ve finally got round to reading it. It’s an absolutely fascinating exploration of the wonders of sleep. Walker delves into the science of sleep in a clear and understandable way. He guides the reader through a complexity of topics including: why we need sleep; the benefits of sleep; types of sleep; why we dream and how to transform your sleep leading to a healthier and more enjoyable life. 

In this post I’m focusing on sleep and weight loss as well as how sleep impacts on exercise. 

But first a general summary of the importance of sleep

Walker says: 

Sleep is the single most effective thing we can do to reset our brain and body health each day

Matthew Walker, Why we Sleep

Astonishingly Walker reports that two thirds of people in developed nations are failing to get the recommended number of hours of sleep. After reading Why We Sleep it does seem baffling that the virtues of sleep are not more widely understood. The evidence is super clear how important sleep is for our wellbeing. It’s therefore surprising how sleep isn’t treated in the same way as other crucial wellbeing topics such as diet, weight loss, exercise and smoking. Hopefully things are starting to change. 

It’s not cool not to sleep 

Culturally we celebrate the virtues of not sleeping rather than the other way round. Sleeping equates to laziness. We admire people working non-stop and surviving on minimal sleep. We respect people doing all nighters and it’s deemed heroic to miss entire nights of sleep. As Walker shows, time and time again in his research, getting less than seven to eight hours sleep consistently over our lifetimes is absolutely detrimental to our health. 

Getting enough consistent sleep seems like such a simple solution and of course it isn’t for many people who perhaps have small children, sleep problems or health issues.

But I can function on less than 6 hours of sleep…

Walker says that a lot of people think they can function adequately on 6 hours of sleep, or less, but in reality they are damaging their minds and bodies:

Millions of individuals unwittingly spend years of their life in a sub-optimal state of psychological and physiological functioning, never maximising their potential of mind or body due to their blind persistence in sleeping too little.

Matthew Walker, Why we Sleep

He says only a very tiny fraction of people can actually function without negative consequences from this small amount of sleep. 

Benefits of getting enough sleep 

Consistently getting enough sleep (recommended 7-9 hours) has the most amazing overall health benefits. It…

• Extends the brain’s capacity for learning, consolidates memories and clears the mind of information we don’t need to retain so we can make new memories
• Allows us to make logical decisions and come up with solutions to problems (hence the term “sleep on it”) 
• Strengths and cements skills such as playing a musical instrument, performing martial arts or climbing 
• Heals emotional wounds
• Helps us to recognise emotions and facial expressions in others, therefore increasing empathy
• Regulates emotions and reduces angry outbursts 
• Reduces depressive and anxious thoughts and minimises risks of suicidal thinking 
• Helps to restore and repair our immune systems to protect against infection and sickness
• Protects against developing diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and cancer
• Regulates appetite and helps to control body weight 
• Maintains a healthy microbiome in the gut 
• Improves our cardiovascular systems, lowers blood pressure and helps our hearts stay healthy. Even reducing the chances of having heart attacks.  
• Allows our bodies to exercise more efficiently and recover adequately.

There’s tonnes of fascinating research and insights in Walker’s book and I’d highly recommend you give it a read if you want to understand the benefits of sleep.

Sleep and weight loss 

I wanted to delve more deeply into the effects on weight loss and exercise in this post as Walker’s research is fascinating in this area. He states:

The less you sleep, the more you are likely to eat. Sleeping less than seven hours a night increases your probability of gaining weight, being overweight or obese, and significantly increases your likeihood of developing type 2 diabetes. 

Matthew Walker, Why we Sleep

The shorter your sleep the more you will eat and the more weight you will gain 

There are two important hormones involved in controlling appetite: leptin and ghrelin. Leptin provides a signal telling our minds we are full. Ghrelin does the opposite and produces a strong urge to eat. Scientific studies have clearly shown that inadequate sleep decreases levels of leptin and increases ghrelin. As a result, we are less likely to feel full and more likely to still feel hungry if we have had inadequate sleep. 

Walker discusses a seminal study by Dr Eve Van Cauter where two groups of participants were divided into those being allowed a) 8 hours sleep and b) four and a half hours sleep for four nights in a row. They were given access to the same food and took part in the same physical activities. 

The shorter sleeping group consumed 300 calories more each day totalling 1000 by the end of the experiment. Walker estimates this to be in the region of 70,000 additional calories in a year causing between 10 to 15 pounds of excess weight gain a year. 

Shorter sleep leads to cravings for more calorific foods

Other studies have shown that sleep deprived people are more likely to opt for more calorific food than those who sleep adequately. Van Cauter’s studies have shown that cravings for sugary food, carb rich foods and salty snacks like crisps all increase by 30-40% when sleep is reduced by just several hours a night.  

Lack of sleep and dieting 

If you are dieting and attempting to lose weight then sleep is crucial. Studies have shown that weight loss comes from different sources depending on how much sleep you get. A study was done with a group of dieters who were divided into groups. The first group were allowed a full night of sleep and the second group five and half hours over a two week period. 

Both groups lost weight but the group who had less sleep lost 70% of their weight from muscle and not fat. The group who had adequate sleep lost 50% of their weight from fat and preserved their muscle mass.

When not getting enough sleep the body becomes especially stingy about giving up fat. Instead, muscle mass is depleted while fat is retained. 

Matthew Walker, Why we Sleep

As Walker summarises: 

Short sleep will increase hunger and appetite, compromise impulse control within the brain, increase food consumption (especially of high-calorie foods), decrease feelings of food satisfaction after eating and prevent effective weight loss when dieting.

Matthew Walker, Why we Sleep

Sleep and exercise

Regular exercise has benefits for sleep. People who regularly exercise tend to enjoy deeper more sound sleep. Studies have shown that exercise frequently increases total sleep time and the time it takes to fall asleep is reduced. Sleep is also crucial for restoring muscles and repairing the body after exercise.

Research shows that bad sleep is detrimental to exercise performance:

When sleep was poor the night prior, exercise intensity and duration were far worse the following day. 

Matthew Walker, Why we Sleep

Sleep and exerCIse performance

Getting less than 8 hours sleep can have seriously detrimental effects on exercise performance.:

Obtain anything less than eight hours of sleep a night and, especially less than six, and the following happens: time to physical exhaustion drops by 10 to 30 percent and aerobic output is significantly reduced.

Matthew Walker, Why we Sleep

It also increases the risk of injury and has a detrimental effect on performance. In comparison when sleep is sound exercise performance is enhanced. Evidence is also clear that a sedentary lifestyle does not help with sleep. It’s a positive cycle: exercise will aid sleep and sleep will aid your fitness performance. It’s also true that the sleepier we are the less energy we have and are therefore more likely to be sedentary rather than doing exercise to burn additional calories. 

Walker notes that you should avoid exercise two hours before you go to bed. Exercise increases core body temperature which can make it difficult to fall asleep. 

Sleep and obesity

Based on evidence gathered over the past three decades, the epidemic of insufficient sleep is very likely a key contributor to the epidemic of obesity. 

Matthew Walker, Why we Sleep

So if you are trying to lose weight and shape up now is the time to start paying attention to how much sleep you are getting!  I’ll write about tips on how to ensure optimal sleep in a later blogpost.

Lots of people have asked me how they can find motivation to exercise consistently. This article explores how you can find something you will love to do for life…

All or nothing cycle 

A lot of us are trapped in an all or nothing cycle. You feel sluggish as you get to the end of the year and promise yourself you will embark on a diet and exercise regime next year. You sign yourself up to the gym, or a gruelling programme with a personal trainer. You put yourself on a strict no carbs and no sugar diet. You enthusiastically embrace your new exercise regime and diet for about 3 weeks. You lose a few pounds. It then starts to really feel like chore, it’s not fun and results are slow anyways. You start to reduce your exercise from 5 times a week to 3 and then 1 and then stop completely. The “bad” food starts to creep back in and before you know it you are back to your pre-Christmas diet. 

Does this sound familiar?

Motivation and willpower 

Starting out like this with an unrealistic outlook in relation to exercise and diet is super common. Motivation is high when we start embracing new behaviour change. However, it doesn’t stay this way. Will power and motivation peters out over time. See my earlier post on motivation to exercise.

If you are embarking on an exercise or diet regime that you do not like, and consequently feels like a chore, you are simply not going to continue doing it no matter how much willpower you can muster. 

How do you learn to like exercise? 

So what is the key to finding sustainable exercise for life? This is a long and complex question and takes weeks of hard work to really get to the bottom of. It isn’t just about exercise or diet either, there are so many emotional and psychological hurdles and barriers to overcome. It’s also different for everyone. 

These are questions I cover in my coaching and programme of change to really transform mindsets and attitudes towards exercise and fitness. To start with there are a couple of good questions to ask yourself about the activity you have in mind:

1. Is it something you like to do? 

The most important point with finding an exercise that you will stick to is that it has to be something you like to do. If it’s something you have fun doing too then that’s an added bonus! There’s no point making yourself do something you really hate because you think it will help you lose weight or for another reason. Believe me, you just won’t stick to it. 

If you are stuck with where to start on this one sometimes it’s good to think back to what you loved doing as a kid. What did you spend hours of your time doing? Riding bikes? Swimming? Climbing trees? Skateboarding or roller-blading? Kicking a football against a wall? Playing frisbee?

It could literally be anything involving movement. It’s good to think outside of the box too as it might be something that is not traditionally considered “exercise” like dancing or gardening. Did you know that if you danced around your living room for 30 minutes a day you would burn between 300-400 calories? 

Experiment with different activities. Ask yourself how do you feel when you are doing it? How do you feel after you’ve finished the activity? Does it bring you real joy? As behavioural science and exercise motivation expert Michelle Segar says “doing what you enjoy is a better motivator for exercising and it works”. 

2. Is it something that you want to do for yourself? 

You need to find something you are intrinsically motivated to do. This means finding something you are doing for your own internal reasons rather than extrinsic reasons for an outside goal. 

Something which makes you feel good not because you are trying to lose weight, look a certain way, or achieve a goal for someone else. Again, if you start out doing something for extrinsic reasons you will most probably fail to continue as you will lose motivation and momentum.

Your new activity needs to have specific meaning for you. It needs to feel good in the moment or immediately after. Research shows that people who exercise purely for weight loss actually exercise less than people who exercise because it makes them feel good. 

Daniel Pink talks about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in his great book Drive: the surprising truth about what motivates us. He discusses how if an activity contains three aspects: purpose, mastery and autonomy it will be something we gain enjoyment and fulfilment from. 

For example, imagine if you just got a new bike because you wanted to cycle to see your friends more often. There’s your purpose. You would need to master the art of cycling on roads, and perhaps remind yourself of how to actually ride. There’s your mastery. Having the freedom to cycle when and wherever you like is your autonomy.

If you can find a new activity which gives you 3 of these things you are going to be well on the way to finding something which sticks. 

3. Does the activity fit into your weekly schedule?

It’s super important that your chosen activity fits easily into your daily routine. It needs to slot in around your other responsibilities i.e. family, work and your social life. Don’t underestimate the importance of small things like how to fit in the post-workout shower. 

Think about the time of day which will work best for you. If you have young kids when is the best time to do something? Can you wake up super early a couple of days a week and workout before they wake up? 

Remember that you don’t need to do a full hour workout to feel the benefits of exercise. You can build movement into your day which Michelle Segar calls “opportunities to move” For example building small habits into your day like doing 5 squats every time you go to the loo or doing 5 press ups as you wait for your kettle to boil. Behavioural expert BJ Fogg runs a great free 5 day Tiny Habits programme teaching you how to connect new habits to existing ones.

4. Is it something others will support you to do? 

The activity will be more likely to last and be sustainable if you have support from family and friends and even someone to do it with you. For example, if you have young kids getting buy in from your partner or from family, who can take care of the kids whilst you are taking part in your activity, is going to be essential. 

It’s also crucial for those who love you to understand how important this activity is for you. You need to sell the benefits to them and ensure they are fully on board. E.g. if you take an hour and a half to swim once a week it does mean you are away from the kids for that time. But it also means you will be more relaxed, more energised, less stressed and have more focus. You will altogether be a more calm and loving parent and partner for the rest of that evening and even that week!

If you can set up a reciprocal arrangement even better. I.e. on Monday evenings I’ll take care of the kids so you can get out and do your weekly badminton game and then on Wednesdays we’ll swap so I can get to my boxercise class.

If you can find a friend to exercise with even better. Working out with others is proven to increase motivation, enjoyment and fulfilment and you are definitely more likely to do it if you’ve made a commitment to someone else.

Taking time out to exercise is not selfish, it is in fact the opposite as it makes us better partners, parents, friends and relatives. Exercise increases positive mood, happiness, self-esteem, productivity, creativity, efficiency and improved self-perception. Regular physical activity also makes us less prone to illness, assists us in having healthy sleep patterns, reduces symptoms of anxiety and depression as well as decreasing stress and irritability.

So it makes us better people for everyone in our lives including ourselves!

5. Can you afford it long term? 

Is your chosen activity realistic in terms of what you can manage financially and the pressure it might put on your body? There’s no point joining a fancy gym when they are doing a cheap intro offer if you can’t afford to keep going once the offer ends. There’s also no point starting out doing an activity which risks aggravating existing injuries. 

Choose something which is kind to your body and sustainable financially long term. 

Bonus tip to find an exercise you love for life!

Psychologist and movement expert Kelly McGonigal discusses how it takes approximately 6 weeks for the brain to become hooked on the feel good chemicals we get from exercise. So once you have been through these 5 questions it’s it’s important to try to stick at the activity for this long to see if it is really working for you!

If you’d like more indepth help to find your chosen activity you will do for life and feel your best self then contact me.

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It’s a difficult time at the moment for everyone. We all need a bit of self-care and treats are important. It’s also a time where people are likely to over indulge and potentially gain weight. We are stuck in the house, a lot of us are bored, stressed, anxious and emotional. The kitchen cupboard, biscuit tin and fridge are constantly tempting us and food is comforting and healing. 

Lockdown weight gain

Lots of  people are complaining to me of overeating and lockdown weight gain at the moment. So I thought i would think about how to avoid this and how to move into a healthier relationship with snacking and our food intake. Disclaimer: I am not a nutritional expert but i do know a few things from my training and personal weight loss experience. 

How do we avoid overeating and consequential lockdown weight gain? 

Here are 10 things you can try: 

1. Eat a nice filling breakfast: get your breakfasts planned so you have something healthy and filling at the ready. My favourite breakfast is chopped banana, apple, pear and berries (frozen easiest at the moment), with a spoon of sugar free muesli and some plain low fat yogurt which contains the live culture Lactobacillus acidophilus. See my earlier post on stress and the virtues of yogurt for a healthy gut.

If you have been active in the morning make sure you get a dose of protein in with your breakfast to help your muscles repair. Eggs and avocado on toast is my favourite if I’ve been out running or swimming. 

2. Snack on healthy snacks: there’s so much debate about snacking. I actually don’t think we should deprive ourselves of the odd snack as long as it’s in moderation. I think it can discourage bingeing and encourage smaller portions at mealtimes. If you have healthy snacks available you are more likely to opt for them over a chocolate biscuit or a bag of crisps. Make sure your fresh and dried fruit, nuts, carrots and hummus supplies are stocked up so you can dip in when you feel an urge to snack. Have these snacks in easy reach and if you can’t resist the chocolate biscuits try not to buy them very often.

3. Drink lots of water: it’s important to stay hydrated of course and water also has the added benefit of making you feel fuller. Drinking water has also been proven to burn more calories. It also replaces other drinks which may have higher numbers of calories. So next time you have an urge to have a snack have a glass of water first. It’s also a good idea to have a glass of water when you first wake up. The recommendation is to drink 8 glasses of water a day but more if you are active. If you wake up in the night and are tempted by a midnight snack have a glass of water instead.

4. Eat a mainly plant based diet rich in unprocessed foods: try to fill your meals with as much unprocessed food as possible. Wholegrains, vegetables and fruit are more nutritious and filling than alternatives. My absolute favourite meal is red daily dal and aubergine and tomato curry from Meera Sodha’s Made in India recipe book with some brown rice. You can make a vat of it to last more than one meal and it’s delicious, nutritious, filling and low fat all at the same time! 

5. Try eating within a 12 hour window: research shows that it is not necessary what you eat when you eat which makes a difference to weight gain. This is called Time Restricted Eating (TRE). Professor Satchin Panda is an expert in this realm (I will be writing a full post in the next few weeks on his research).

The science shows that implementing a 12 hour, or longer, gap between eating can be really beneficial to overall health and can assist in weight loss. For example, eating your evening meal no later than 8pm and breakfast after 8am the next morning. In a very simplistic sense this rest from food intake allows the liver to burn off fat and repair the body more efficiently. This doesn’t sound too hard right? I think it’d be worth giving it a go for a month and seeing if it makes a difference. 

Dr Rangan Chatterjee has two excellent podcast episodes with Professor Satchin Panda which are worth a listen if you are interested in Time Restricted Eating and the science behind it.

6. Be aware of portion control: it’s really easy to eat massive amounts at the moment especially if you are experimenting in the kitchen with exciting new recipes. Try having your evening meal on a smaller plate to encourage smaller portions. 

7. Eat mindfully: try to really pay attention to the present moment when you are eating. Savour each bite and the taste in your mouth and take your time to chew your food slowly so you appreciate every morsale. If you have done the mindfulness “eating a raisin” meditation you will know what this means.

Before opting for second helpings leave yourself 10 minutes for your body to register whether it is full or not. Chances are you will be and you won’t need that second helping after all. 

8. Allow yourself some treats: if you completely deprive yourself of all treats you will most probably end up bingeing on them later. So allow yourself small treats, for example a couple of squares of chocolate, and treasure the taste of them (step 7 above). 

9. Try to limit your alcohol intake: there are lots of hidden calories in alcohol. Alcohol consumption also seems to encourage unhealthy eating. Try to limit your alcohol intake to 2 or 3 days a week. Lighter coloured drinks tend to be lower in calories. Go for gin or vodka, with diet tonic or soda and white wine instead of darker spirits like rum with full fat coke or red wine. 

10. Get lots of movement into your day! If you exercise you will use up some of the calories you have consumed and it will help you maintain a healthy weight. If you want to lose weight you will need to combine a sensible diet with an exercise plan. 

Last year, I was lucky enough to attend a workshop run by Kristin Neff, internationally recognised expert and academic researcher in self-compassion theory and practice. I was super excited to hear Dr Neff speak in person after following her work, reading her books and practising her meditations.

Kristin Neff,  Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, is one of the world’s leading experts on self-compassion research. With other experts in the field she has developed a wide range of tools and techniques as well as an 8-week program, affiliated with Harvard Medical School, to teach self-compassion skills. The course is called Mindful Self-Compassion and has been co-created by Neff and her colleague Chris Germer.

What is self compassion and how can it help you feel your best self?

Originating from Buddhist philosophy, self-compassion in its simplest terms is the concept of treating ourselves in the same way as we would treat a close friend. With kindness and compassion. 

Neff asked us to imagine a friend coming to us with a difficulty of some sort or something emotional they were struggling with. She asked us to imagine what we would say; how we would say it; our body language and tone of voice. She then asked us to do the same exercise but with ourselves in the position of the friend. 

I found this exercise fascinating as I was a lot more critical when speaking to myself than I was when imagining a friend. Indeed, the scientific evidence is clear that the majority of us are a lot more self-critical than we are with our friends and loved ones. Our inner voice is often laden with harsh critical language compared to the soothing, caring words we might use for a friend who is suffering.

Self-compassion and weight loss

I think self-compassion is particularly pertinent for women struggling to accept themselves, lose weight or get to a place where they are happy in their own bodies. There are often so many critical inner voices to contend with from “I am so fat and useless” to “I hate myself” to even worse (I used to say these things to myself). Ask yourself, would your best mates say these things to you?

Why is self-compassion good for us?

There is clear evidence to show strong links between self-compassion and well being such as a reduction in depression, stress, perfectionism, shame, anxiety, economic angst, body dissatisfaction and even chronic pain. Self-compassionate people are more likely to experience greater life satisfaction, happiness, motivation, optimism, body appreciation and even improved immune functioning. Consequently, there is growing evidence  to support its effectiveness as a treatment in clinical settings in support of therapeutic work.

The three components of self-compassion

Neff has put together what she calls the three components of self-compassion: kindness, common humanity and mindfulness. The concepts overlap but are distinct from each other:

1. Self-compassion: Being kind to yourself

Striving for self-kindness and learning to speak to ourselves with a compassionate voice and calming our harsh critical voice is an essential component of self-compassion. An important part of this is realising that as human beings we are not perfect. It’s about recognising that making mistakes and failing is part of life. We shouldn’t unjustly punish ourselves for when things do not go as planned. For example, if you break your strict diet and have a chocolate bar, or you don’t manage to go to the gym after a busy day at work. It also isn’t about allowing ourselves to gorge or an excuse to be lazy.

Speaking to ourselves with kindness, softness and a gentle forgiving voice is much more effective than choosing to punish ourselves with critical language. As Neff writes:

“When we experience warm and tender feelings towards ourselves, we are altering our bodies as well as our minds. Rather than feeling worried and anxious, we feel calm, content, trusting and secure. Self-kindness allows us to feel safe as we respond to painful experiences, so that we are no longer operating from a place of fear”.

Kristin Neff, Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself

You are not going to feel like going for a run or eating healthily if you chastise yourself with harsh words. Instead choose kind assertive and reassuring language.

2. Self compassion: a sense of shared humanity

The second component is developing a common sense of shared humanity. This brings us together when we are experiencing difficulties in our lives. Rather than feeling isolated and wallowing in our own self pity, which we are all prone to do, sharing in a wider sense of common suffering serves to connect us and makes us feel less alone. 

Neff refers to her autistic son regularly and provides examples of the challenges she has experienced as a parent. One pertinent example she illustrates is when she is in the park with her 7-year-old son and he is having a tantrum and being disruptive. All the other children around appear to be playing nicely, being happy and interacting lovingly with their parents. Neff’s instant reaction is to say to herself ‘what is wrong with my child and why can’t he be like the other children?’.

Using self-compassion she can recognise these feelings and say to herself ‘hold on, all children are challenging in one way or another and no parent is perfect’. By acknowledging our shared human flaws, Neff was able to feel a greater sense of connectedness despite feeling isolated originally.

3. Self-compassion: mindfulness

Thirdly, we need to be grounded in the present moment with the ability to be self-aware, without casting judgement. Having an awareness of our emotions and feelings, without judging, is crucial to developing self-compassion. As is being able to accept pain and acknowledge how we are feeling without dismissing those feelings.

“We need to see things as they are, no more, no less, in order to respond to our current situation in the most compassionate – and therefore effective – manner”.  

Kristin Neff, Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself

I think this is all super important to take on board as we struggle with the uncertainty life has thrown at us in the current climate as we deal with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the aftermath of George Floyd’s death. We need to be kind and gentle to ourselves to get through the next few weeks and months. For women struggling to accept themselves it is so important to develop a kind and nurturing voice rather than beating ourselves up. From here positive change can emerge. 

How do I practice self-compassion?

There are various ways to develop self-compassion involving lots of great resources on Kristin Neff’s website such as: self-reflective exercises and meditations. There is also an 8-week course built around the core components of developing self-compassion. Her books are also a great resource particularly the Mindful self-compassion workbook which contains lots of practical exercises you can do (see below).

I have found practising self-compassion really helfpul particularly when I have experienced emotional difficulties over the years. Saying myself “this is hard, I am really struggling with this situation. I know I won’t feel like this forever” is acknowledging the difficulty and helps to process and accept the present moment. Neff talks about the benefits of giving yourself a hug when you are in a low moment. This releases the loving and nurturing chemical oxytocin in the brain and and will have a calming and soothing effect.

I utilise self-compassion principles as a core component of my coaching work. I would be very happy to work with you to help you to learn skills to recognise and quieten your critical inner voice if this is something you are interested in. 

Do you want to lose weight? Or feel better in yourself and lose weight? Or feel better in yourself without necessarily losing weight? Do the two go hand in hand? So many of the women I know and work with say to me that they can’t feel good about themselves until they have lost weight. They are on a permanent mission to lose weight. They feel fat and their body shape defines them.

This type of thinking often sets them up for failure as they embark on overly ambitious exercise regimes and strict diets. Their motivation and will power naturally peters out over time and they are left back at square one feeling fed up, fat and stressed. 

An unhealthy focus on how we look not how we feel 

We are so conditioned to focus on how we look, our weight, and our body shape rather than the way we feel. This is perpetuated by images of perfect bodies all over social media. Fitness gurus persuade us that it is about feeling good as they strut their stuff looking tiny and toned in their teeny crop tops and figure hugging sports leggings. There seems to me to be an inherent contradiction here. 

This is a particularly pertinent time at the moment as people struggle with weight gain and overeating as they are stuck at home and are feeling fat in lockdown. 

Most of us can’t lose weight like celebrities 

We are bombarded with images of celebrities displaying drastic weight loss results. Adele springs to mind most recently. We desperately crave the miracle ways to get these results forgetting that celebrities have countless resources at hand and often  a lot more time than the average person. I am by means criticising Adele, she looks great, I sincerely hope she also feels great. I hope she has transformed her look in a healthy and sustainable way. 

But in reality who can afford to employ a full time personal trainer, dietitian and psychotherapist to help them navigate the complex road to sustainable weight loss?

Of course there’s the growing movement against this ingrained culture of thinness through movements such as #bodypositive. Inspiring role models like Lizzo are paving the way for a healthier way of relating to our different sizes and shapes. 

Changing the way we see weight loss

Of course weight loss is such a complex, multifaceted issue and not just about food and exercise. 

I have been thinking about whether there’s a different way to look at this which is thankfully emerging as a more recognisable and healthier way to relate to ourselves in the wellbeing space. 

What about if we shifted this dislike of our bodies so we were focusing on how we felt rather than how we looked? You may say to me that that doesn’t make a difference, you feel fat. But being overweight is not a feeling. You can change the way you relate to your emotions and feelings through dedicated self-reflection and hard work. 

As the great Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi says in his seminal book Flow: “what would really satisfy people is not getting slim or getting rich but feeling good about their lives”.

Focus on the way you feel rather than the way you look 

If we focused on what makes us feel good it might just have a ripple effect and end up giving us the results we want in terms of weight loss and toning etc. It can’t be this simple I hear you say, but I think it actually can be. If you find an activity you love to do you will crave doing it to the point where you need it in your life. It can become the fuel to drive you forward in your life and help you thrive. 

True you won’t lose weight fast, and it will require dedication, effort and hard work, but you will transform your mindset and your lifestyle for the long term. And you might just start to feel better in yourself. You might also gradually start to drop the pounds as you begin to nurture and treat yourself with compassion and care.

I have seen this time and time again with people who have felt sluggish, overweight and living largely sedentary lifestyles. As soon as they find something they love to do their whole outlook can shift and create a positive ripple effect in all areas of their lives. Behavioural expert BJ Fogg talks about this positive ripple effect in his work on Tiny Habits which I will be exploring in a future blogpost. Again, this isn’t easy but it is entirely possible.

I transformed myself through exercise so you can too!

The picture on the left is me many years ago before I had discovered my love for movement (I did exercise but it was always a chore and I had a very unhealthy relationship with food). Granted, I wasn’t by any means enormous, but I didn’t like the way I looked and I was obsessed with it. I definitely didn’t feel good and I was caught in a vicious cycle. I had to change.

The picture on the right is me now after 15 years of swimming, running, cycling and more recently strength workouts and yoga. I am not saying I have what is considered the culturally acceptable perfect body, but I am generally quite OK with how I look. I treat myself kindly, nourish myself with healthy food (for the most part) and I generally look after myself.

This is obviously a very complex issue and my approach won’t work for everyone but I am on a mission to try to help as many women as possible feel better in themselves, through movement and healthy eating, whatever their size or shape! 

If you would like to work with me to feel your best self, through my coaching and training programme, then contact me and I will be very happy to help! 

It’s so great seeing so many people out running at the moment. All shapes and sizes, ages and people who wouldn’t normally be running are taking to the parks and giving it a try. It’s so inspiring and really great to see. 

Running is excellent cardiovascular exercise burning a lot of calories in a relatively short amount of time. You even continue burning calories after you finish your run! You don’t have to be sprinting to get the benefits of running. In fact, gentle jogging has proven benefits and can assist with weight loss and transform your body shape if done consistently. It’s definitely transformed my body shape, since I started running consistently 15 years ago, and I can’t live without it now.

Why running is good for you: 

Coupled with the added benefits of being outside in green space, running is one of the best forms of exercise you can do for your mental health. It makes you feel happier, gives you energy, reduces anxiety and depression: all very important especially at the moment. Running also helps aid sleep, concentration and reduces the impacts of ageing and it even reduces your chances of getting cancer.

People worry about their knees and joints and the stress and strain running causes but if done sensibly, and with the right footwear, you can protect your knees and joints and actually strengthen them through running.

It’s also completely free and can be done at any time of day for whatever length of time so it’s one of the most flexible types of exercises if you have a busy working day or young families to look after at home.

Top 5 running questions, for beginners, answered

Lots of friends and family members are asking me about running at the moment so i thought I’d write about the 5 most common questions I get asked and provide my insights:

1. What running shoes should I wear? 

It’s important to get the right footwear and ensure you are supported especially when you start running. Wearing old trainers will risk you developing shin splints or other pesky injuries which can take ages to heal and recover.

There is debate out there about the best trainers to wear and lots of experts swear by the virtue of flat footed trainers or barefoot shoes. I haven’t tried these but there is evidence showing how good they are for our natural pronation and balance. However if you are just starting out I’d go for some trainers with more support to start with you can always gravitate to barefoot running later. 

It’s important to ensure you have checked your pronation to know whether you need to get extra support in your shoe or not. It’s tricky at the moment as it’s impossible to get to the shops to get a proper trainer assessment (usually shops like Runner’s World will do a treadmill assessment for you and advise). When advising a friend recently I discovered there’s a simple test you can do with a bowl of water and a dark piece of paper or an A4 manilla envelope. See the instructions here for how to work out whether you need a cushioned, support or control shoe. 

Often you need to get trainers half a size bigger than you normally would be. I’d steer away from the fashion brands and stick with the running specialist shoes if you are able to although Nike and Adidas do do some good specialist running shoes. My favourite brands are Brooks (mine are ravennas) and Asics (the gel nimbus range is good). Saucony and New Balance also do some good running trainers. 

Good trainers can be expensive but I justify it as the sport is otherwise free. I’d spend at least £60 if you can. It’s a worthwhile investment to make sure your feet and legs are supported properly. One tip is to see if you can get the older versions of the latest versions as they are usually the exact same model but a cheaper earlier version. 

It’s also really important to make sure you are wearing a good sports bra girls! 

2. How do I start running if I have never done it before? 

It’s super important to start slowly and build up gradually. Very few people can get out there and run 5 or 10k without preparation and training. Even if you can do this it’s not sensible as you risk serious injury. Combining stints of walking with running to start with is always the best way to start. You then build up the running part and gradually reduce the amount of walking you are doing.

For example, your first run you might go out and run for 1 minute and walk for 2 and then repeat 3 x and then you gradually move towards running for 2 minutes and walking for 1. Eventually you will be able to eliminate the walking part completely. The NHS couch to 5K app is a great way to start if you aren’t sure how to build up slowly on your own.

3. How often should I go running? 

This question depends on what other forms of exercise you are doing, what your daily schedule is like, what your other commitments. I’d say as a general rule try to aim for 2 or 3 runs a week if you can. This will allow your body to adjust to the new movement and also give you lots of recovery between runs. Try to go every other day with a break inbetween to rest or do another form of movement.

4. I hate running: how do I learn to like it? 

Most people hate running when they first start it. This is totally normal. Your body won’t be used to it and it will be screaming at you to stop. On your first few runs you might feel as though it’s absolutely awful and why would I ever do this again. I promise it will get easier. 

It takes persistence and dedication to teach your body to like running. Research shows that it takes about 6 weeks for the brain to adapt to liking any form of exercise. But if you stick at it  you will reap the rewards. 

Even the most experienced runners have days where they do not like running. Instead of giving up they accept that some days it’s harder than others and they move on to the next run and it’s usually a lot better. There’s not always an explanation either.

Some people find it helpful to listen to music or podcasts when they run to distract them or pass the time and others prefer to be completely in tune with their surroundings and their breath. I’d advise trying out different things to see what you like. There are loads of whacky ideas out there like apps which make you imagine you are being chased by zombies!

Also experiment with whether you want totrack your routes using a watch or an app. It’s all personal preferences and there’s no one right way to do it. 

5. When’s the best time of day to go? 

This very much depends on your personal preference. Some people like going running first thing in the morning as it wakes them up and makes them feel good all day. Others prefer breaking their day up and going out at lunchtime to energise them. After work is also a great time as it might provide closure from the working day especially during lockdown.

The only time i would advise not going running or doing other forms of intense exercise is later in the evening 1-2 hours before you go to bed. It can energise you and may interfere with your circadian rhythm meaning you struggle to sleep and can then be counter-productive. 

So what are you waiting for! Get your trainers on, get outside and try it. It might be just what you need to help you start to feel your best self and thrive.

If you’d like a bespoke running training plan, or a coaching session to get you started, then do get in touch and I’d be happy to help.