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Hey Bodygainers!

In this weeks weekly wrap I’ve once again got a strong food focus… in fact I want to share: 

3 Keys To Maintain Your Best Eating Habits While Traveling.

I’ll certainly chat a little exercise and a little mindset too. And of course I’ll share what’s been rockin this past week and what’s been a tad more struggle street.

Let’s get rolling…

First up FOOD, and specifically: 3 Keys To Maintain Your Best Eating Habits While Traveling.

One: Travel Pack Of Protein Pimps.

This is going to be dependant on where exactly you are traveling and quarantine however when traveling interstate this week I had it easy.

If I was traveling overseas or was more mindful of luggage I’d simple Google a health food store at my destination prior to leaving and visit it on arrival. My pack of protein pimps looked like this:

• Raw vegan protein powder.
• Spirulina powder.
• Kale powder.(more veg than protein)
• Chia seeds.
• Nutritional yeast.

Plus a handy plastic shaker.

Two: Pick Your Battles / Choose Your Compromises.

This key concedes (or perhaps celebrates!) that Yes travel will from time to time present challenges beyond your control or simply just opportunities where you want to indulge.

The important thing is to make your choices with volition… not out of laziness or a lack of preparation.

So perhaps you:

• Enjoy your most fav dessert, mums comfort food, baked delicious’ness or cocktail… not every dessert, all mums comfort food, baked deliciousmess and cocktails.
• Declare portion size matters… so just because you’re having a less than ideal meal that is no reason to give in to multiple serves of a less than ideal meal.
• In a similar vain…stop the spiral of poor food choices as soon as you’re aware, as everything counts and you’re only ever one great food choice away from being “Back on track.”

Three: Perfect Your Pre and Post Travel Meals.

This key recognizes the importance of ensuring every meal you are in control of is on goal.

It also acknowledges the law of recency which states the action you most recently took is the one you are more likely to take again… so if that is the case a good prevention strategy for outsmarting a pre and post travel spiral into off goal meals is to cook the great meal before you leave (even if it means a whole 5-10 minutes less sleep) and have the house stocked with great food that will last till you get home (like free range eggs, frozen veg, dried herbs and of course everything in the pack of protein pimps).

Moving on to EXERCISE. After a lovely long weekend away I’ve been in catch up mode with work this week. My exercise sessions are not quite as lovely and indulgently long as they sometime are. And that’s ok.

My exercise tip for you this week is to have a set finish time for your exercise session.

It’s amazing how much you can get done is less time with more focus.

Distractions to ruthlessly avoid include: phone calls, checking social media or email, extended rest periods (I prefer to structure my sessions with opposing muscle groups – like pull then push or even pull then core – to cut down the need for rest) / chatting needlessly (a set of headphones can help you with this even if you’re not listening to anything they give the message you’re not keen to be interrupted!).

If you’re looking for a super short and effective full body fat blasting program I love this one inspired by Paul Cheks 6 Primal Movements. The basic movement patterns that mirror the functional movements our ancestors needed to stay fit and strong.

2-4 circuits. Repetitions as you can manage. I like 16-12 in round one, pyramiding down by 2 repetitions each circuit I complete.

SQUAT: Low Sumo jump in then out squat.

LUNGE: Switch Lunge.

PULL: Hoop chin up

into…

BEND: Walk-out.

into…

PUSH: Push up.

TWIST: Oblique v-up.

My fav podcast this week is actually a documentary my dad told me about.

Luckily I’m a relaxed flier… as earlier this week my dad dropped me at Melbourne airport after a lovely few days catching up with mums side of the fam in country Victoria. It was a 2 hour drive and a nice chance for some rare dad and daughter chat time.

Back to the doco that shares footage from inside the cock pit of a Qantas A380 when a mid-air explosion shattered one of the aircraft’s engines just 4 minutes after take off from Singapore to Sydney in 2010.

My main takeaway was the extensive training and systems that enabled Captain Richard de Crespigny to remain super cool and calm under pressure and land the plane, bringing all 469 passengers and crew safely to the tarmac.

A thoroughly planned, practiced and proven system executed ruthlessly will pretty much eliminate the decision making process and give you every chance of achieving the desired outcome even under potentially high pressure (and in this case a life or death) situation.

You know I’m going to make this applicable to body gain right? 

The areas of your life which benefit vastly from a ruthlessly executed system are likely limitless however a few of my non negotiable’s include:

=> Weekly training and eating plan.

=> Morning and evening routine. 

=> Eating out and holiday time standards.

The habit I’m loving this week is my zero tolerance for sugar habit.

I share this with you to give you hope if you have a sweet tooth (as I once did) that something that once had a powerful hold over you can absolutely be banished for good with zero feelings of restriction, deprivation or missing out. In fact it’s really super freeing to no longer be at the mercy of sugar.

I mentioned I was at a family catch up over the past few days. In fact it was my dear Grans 90th birthday.

The actual celebration was an afternoon tea at the local bowling club. It involved bowls of my fav chips ever (Red Rock Deli Sea Salt), my fav lollies ever (sour snakes + many more) and of course all the usual crowd pleasers like birthday cake, cup cakes, multiple slices, sausage rolls, quiche and sandwiches.

The most important thing was that my Gran had the best time and “wished she could do it all again”…she was still so excited the following morning that she was up at 3am searching for someone to relive the afternoon with… although she wasn’t able to pounce on my aunty till 6.30am!

I share this with you because “sugar in moderation Kate” would have kidded herself “just a couple” and then proceeded to gorge herself on excessive amounts of chips and lollies which then led to pizza for dinner (I had left over frittata) which then led to muffins for morning tea (I had a protein shake) which then led to service station sandwiches for lunch (I made an impromptu salad).

I want to emphasize I’m not sharing this to present myself as some extreme-will-power-freak or that obsessed-chick-that-gets-no-joy-from-food! It’s just that I’ve been on both sides of sugar addiction and having a zero tolerance for sugar habit is 100% without a doubt the easier option.

My struggle-street area this week was more a persistently gnawing disappointment and escalating annoyance than a personal struggle.

Strolling to work at stupid o’clock last week I noticed a brand new shop front rapidly springing to life in an ultra prime position near my gym. It was obviously going to be a cafe or restaurant and by the size (3 shop fronts) and fit-out (plenty of quality wooden seat’ing) I thought: “Now this looks like a fab new cafe on the scene!”

Can you imagine my shock the next morning when I passed the scene to notice the only visible progress on the site was the appearance of 2 large yellow M’s… the nasty golden arches of: MACCA’s. 

I resisted the urge to graffiti the walls with messages of UN-love. I deludedly assured myself Macca’s won’t survive – it’s not welcome. And then as I walked home today a week on the place is open. It’s pumping. It’s presence is spreading like the disease it is via discarded wrapped all along the previously rubbish free footpaths near by.

I know I’m sounding a little extreme however that’s me… I am a little extreme!

I’m not sure why I’m letting this new and unwanted neighbor affect me as I am. However it’s probably a good time to switch focus and introduce the time of the actionable… To get actionable today, I’d love to hear from YOU.

Is there anything you’d like me to cover in an upcoming show? If so, please let me know via the comments below.

As we finish this week a huge shout out to Amanda in Aus for her most gorgeous iTune review this week. Amanda writes:

Kate’s ideas will transform you!

Kate presents with warmth integrity knowledge. Ideas clear actionable and for long term health fitness. My absolute fav fitness & health podcast!!

Amanda, thank you so very much for being such a lovely, generous, supportive, loyal listener. It’s means so much to me.

If you’re yet to leave me a review please know they genuinely make my day and they are the main way this lil podcast gets discovered amongst the copious heavy-weights-and-vastly-bigger-players in the land of iTunes and beyond!

If you liked this you’ll also like: Reckless Weekend Eating: How Much Is It Costing YOU?

If you’re yet to share the Healthification love – just click here to zip over to iTunes and leave an honest rating and review. It’d help me out big time. With gratitude, Kate.