Welcome to Intuitive Fitness’s final newsletter for 2009! It’s hard to believe another year has come and gone so quickly. This year we have been extremely proud to have helped over a three hundred people work towards their health and fitness goals, and hopefully have FUN in the process! In 2010 we will be introducing many new and exciting programs and initiatives to help keep you on track, motivated and inspired. Stay tuned for more details in early January. From all the team at Intuitive Fitness, we wish you all a very safe, happy and healthy Christmas and holiday season!

CHRISTMAS GIFT VOUCHERS - Now Available!

Are you stuck for Christmas gift ideas? Why not give the gift of health and wellbeing this Christmas! Intuitive Fitness offers a range of single sessions, personal training packages and gift vouchers suitable for all age groups and fitness levels. Simply nominate the gift you would like to give and we’ll do the rest! For further information please contact our team on 1300 856 035, click the image below or click here for gift voucher information

CHRISTMAS DIET SURVIVAL

The Christmas and New Year period can be a challenging time if you are trying to watch your weight. Parties, social events and family gatherings make it extremely hard to stick to a healthy eating plan especially if you’re doing it alone.

Here are some tips to help you get through this tempting time!

Christmas Dinner

Eat a salad or healthy entrée first. This will fill you up and stop you over-indulging on main meals and desserts.
Monitor portion sizes. Use a smaller plate to disguise smaller servings.
Eat slowly. This will allow your body to digest the food properly and you will feel full sooner.
Drink water. Drinking water before a meal produces a feeling of satiety.
Eat breakfast. This will stop you overindulging on other meals throughout the day.
Remove the skin from your meat, chicken or turkey.
Replace high fat snacks with popcorn, rice cakes, low fat corn chips or nuts.
Cut roast vegetables into large chunks and only lightly cover with oil. This will reduce fat absorption during the cooking process.
Use herbs instead of oil to flavor vegetables.
Go for a family walk after dinner. This will help digest your meal and distract you from further snacking.

Christmas Parties

Fill up on healthy snacks before you go to stop you overindulging.
Stand as far away from tables where snacks are located to stop temptation.
Avoid foods with pastry.
Choose diet drinks to cut down on your sugar intake.

When shopping, only buy as much as you need so you don’t end up left with unhealthy food you wouldn’t normally eat. Only cook as much as you need and offer any leftovers to guests.

However after all of these tips, remember to enjoy the festive season – moderation is the key!

EVENT OF THE MONTH - FAT-LOSS-A-THON

Intuitive Fitness is proud to be supporting the 2010 National Fat-Loss-Athon. The Fat-Loss-Athon is a 12week competition aimed at helping everyday Australians shed excess kilos and in the process lead happier, healthier & longer lives. Entrants will be supporting the Sports Rewards Foundation, a not for profit organisation who raises funds for grass root sports whilst also being in the running to win prizes valued at over $13,000. Our team will be emailing you out further information on this fantastic program and how you can get involved in the coming weeks!

EXERCISE OF THE MONTH – Swimming

Coming into the summer months, swimming is a great way to exercise and stay cool at the same time! Not only does it provide great cardiovascular and resistance training, is it also a fantastic way to relax. Water based activities are perfect for people of all fitness levels and provide the following benefits:

Water is 800 times more dense than air. Land based exercise presents the risk of potential injury to joint and soft tissue due to the repetitive strain imposed by body weight. The buoyant force of water can reduce body weight by up to 90% to protect against stress from body weight exercise. It is therefore an ideal form of exercise for the elderly, obese and those with soft tissue injury.
Due to the density of water, it provides full body resistance during exercise. It allows for high energy expenditure due to this constant resistance.
Certain exercises performed in water require greater muscle activation to work against the resistance provided by the water. Walking in water, for example requires greater use of the abdominals and back muscles to keep proper posture, more so than walking on land.

With all these great benefits, why not cool down in the poll this summer!