How To Prepare and Pass the FIFA Fitness Test

As a Referee, there is one thing I dislike above all other things: The Fitness Test.

The purpose of the fitness test is not in doubt or in question, they are a necessity and it is very important that referees are held to a standard the same as players in this regard.

But as the “Referee Personal Trainer” I have always worried about the judgement of others, the fear of failure and the well, the down right imposter syndrome that seems to come along with me every time I step onto a Fitness Test field.

Put me in a game - I feel bullet proof.

Put me in a test - I feel very weak and vulnerable.

And with age, I’m now 37, I am aware that my genetics for fitness at the higher end of refereeing are clinging on by a very thin thread.

Fitness tests are hard, brutal, bruising and scary affairs. Your whole season can be made or broken with one 25minute run. But with so much on the line on that particular day, I figure its important you learn everything you can about the Fitness Test, about how to pass it, and about how to prepare for it.

This also comes up a fair amount on my podcast all about refereeing: Red or Yellow.

Red or Yellow is the number one Referee Podcast on the Internet, and you can listen to it right here:

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TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR FITNESS TEST TRAINING FOR REFEREES

1. The Importance of a Fitness Test

2. FIFA Fitness Test: Repeated Sprint Ability

3. How to Prepare: Repeated Sprint Ability Test

4. FIFA Fitness Test: Interval Test

5. How to Prepare: Interval Test

6. FIFA Fitness Test: Interval Test Audio Files

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The Importance of a Fitness Test

Fitness tests have changed somewhat throughout the refereeing community. When I was in England Refereeing, to be a Level 4 referee you used to have to do 3600m in 12 minutes flat followed by two 40m sprints in 7.5 seconds.

That was brutal enough.

Then I got to Australia and was introduced to a Dynamic Yo-Yo. Which is a 40m sprint at increasing speeds and changing directions. I think in total you cover 40 sprints and finish at 18.5km/h.

That was also very brutal.

But now there seems to be a move from Governing Bodies to replicating the same fitness tests that FIFA require for their competitions.

The new test is split into two sections which are to be completed one after the other.

Section One: Repeated Sprint Ability (RSA)

Section Two: Interval Test

Men and Women have different parameters to pass each test.

I don’t know many referees who enjoy having to pass a fitness test - I certainly don’t. I get very anxious about them, I always fear failure and the realisation that my whole season is coming down to one test of my fitness is a little terrifying. I am a fit man - but in referee terms, it is something that has always been one of my weaker attributes. My record to date on a fitness test is in the 10 years I have been required to do one, I have only failed one - that was last season.

The irony was, that all my fears about failing one never came true. I wasn’t faced with a wall of judgement from my peers, I wasn’t an outcast to the system, and I wasn’t actually a failure. I just couldn’t get fit that year. And to be honest, I enjoyed the rest, I enjoyed doing more community football, and when I did get opportunities to see players I was in charge of last season, they all wished me well, said they missed me, and hoped I would be back again soon.

It was eye-opening.

Part of the reason I am writing this is because here in QLD, they are changing the fitness test from the Dynamic Yo-Yo to the RSA and Interval Test. A test that I think will suit my fitness a lot more - I am quite a good sprinter, and I am a better interval runner than a dynamic runner. But also I am getting ready to try and give it one more shot for next season. I have spent the last three months in the gym getting stronger, and now I am spending the next three getting my cardio to the point I need it to pass.

This is a journey for me, from failure to, well, who knows what will happen? My injury isn’t quite as bad as it used to be, although after running a 24min 5km for the first time in a long time, I am in pain writing this article, but I am confident I can manage it.

This brings me to my wider point: The importance of a Fitness Test.

As referees, we get tested every match. We don’t know what we will face over the next 90 minutes of our lives and it is vitally important that we have the physical fitness to allow our cognitive function to be at its best throughout the game.

Fitness Tests are a way of recreating pressure. A way of holding referees accountable for their discipline and integrity and for making sure that you are protected. It takes away criticism, it takes away doubt and it fills the players with confidence in your ability - and anything that can do that is a very important tool for you. Moreover, it helps create respect - and one of the most important things referees need to remember is that respect is earned, not given - and the fitness test is a great way of earning it.

I know the fitness tests I have feared the most are the ones I haven't trained for. The ones where my integrity isn’t where it should be - and I am hoping on a whim and a prayer that I will be ok. If you feel nervous, anxious or fearful about a fitness test, then make sure you do the work to pass it - if you put your all in, you will get your all out - I promise.

Take it from someone who has had to work very hard on this side of his game - preparation is the key.

FIFA Fitness Test: Repeated Sprint Ability

FIFA do not expect you to be able to outrun a Lamborghini.

But by the end of the 6th sprint in this test, you might feel like you have.

Repeated Sprint Ability (RSA) is a very simple concept; cover 40m in the fastest time possible.

I really like this set-up, because it allows you to build speed before you start getting timed. That 1.5m lead in, should not be wasted, use all of its space to build up as much speed as possible.

Passing The Repeat Sprint Ability Test

There are four categories of fitness to pass, each with varying time allowances over the same 40-meter distance.

These are as follows:

MEN

International & Category 1: 6:00 seconds

Category 2: 6:10 seconds

Lower Category: 6:20 seconds

WOMEN

International & Category 1: 6:40 seconds

Category 2: 6:50 seconds

Lower Category: 6:60 seconds

You must complete 6 consecutive sprints within the allotted time. If you fail one of the sprints, you’re allowed a seventh attempt. But you only get one extra attempt over the whole test.

How to Prepare: Repeated Sprint Ability Test

I remember when I first set up a 40m distance to practice these sprints, it is a bigger distance than you think.

To pass at the International Level, you have to run at a pace of 24km/h.

A quick glance at my Garmin App - taking a sample of my data my top speed ranges anywhere from 23km/h to around 28km/h. When I tried these sprints last week, I was on grass and wearing trainers, whereas the test will be on a running track, which will give you more purchase and therefore more speed.

Essentially to pass, you need to improve your sprint ability.

This comes down to a combination of muscular development and technique development.

Muscular Development:

Essentially you need a very strong body - not just strong legs.

Back Muscles:

You need a strong back to help stabilise the torso so that all power generated from the legs can be balanced for maximum propulsion. Pay particular attention to your Latissimus Dorsi, Rhomboids, Trapezius and Erector Spinae.

Exercises: Lateral Pulldown, Seated Row, Single Arm Dumbbell Row, Chin Up, Pull Up, Shoulder Press, Barbell Back Row, Deadlifts, Yates Row, Cable Rows, and Inverted Rows

Shoulder Muscles:

When sprinting you want to pump your arms as much as possible to help generate forward motion. The stronger your shoulders, the more speed you can pump with and the less fatiguing you will find it. Pay partiattention

Exercises: Military Press, Rear Delt Cable cross-over, Arnold Press, Seated Dumbell Shoulder Press, Lateral Raise, Front Raise, Shoulder Arcs.

Abdominal Muscles:

When you sprint you will be raising your legs multiple times over a certain distance. To help trigger that movement in an efficient way, developed abdominals will really help. Sprinting is essentially a rapid repetition of a single leg jump, and to achieve that a stronger core will help all aspects of your sprint. Pay attention to Rectus Abdominus and Obliques.

Exercises: Leg Raises, Air bicycles, Russian Twists, Captain Chairs Crunches, Hanging Leg Raises

Leg Muscles:

Your legs are made up of many different muscles: Calves, Quadriceps, Hamstrings and Gluteals. As we you will be training for speed, I think it is best in this section to suggest focussing on compound muscle movements, as opposed to focussing on just one section. As I said above you are basically jumping on one leg multiple times from the Hip. This is where the Glutes and Hamstrings do most of the work, and then to propel you forward, your Quadriceps come into their own along with the sales, due to the extension and flexion of the toes. The best lower leg exercises will be power training exercises.

Exercises: Squat Jumps, Broad Jumps, Split Jumps, Lateral Heidon, Reverse Lunge with Knee Hop, Tuck Jump, Runners Skip, Barbell Squats, Heel Elevated Squats, Leg Extension, Hip Thrust, Glute Bridges

Running Technique

This is a critical component of your ability to run with speed, and efficiency. I still remember the day when I learnt to run with much greater technique, and this changed my game immensely. The image I was given was the following:

“Imagine your legs are wheels, and the center of the wheel is your hip joint”

When you can visualize and implement this, you will ensure that you are engaging the correct leg leg muscles in the correct way. It is really important that you learn to utilise the ability of the Glutes, the Hamstrings, the Quadriceps and the Calves correctly for maximum speed.

Before you know it, you will look like Roadrunner….

Repetition is the Mother Of Skill

It is also important to note that one of the best things to help with your sprinting ability is to practice. After all, “Practice makes progress”. So head out to your local park, grab some cones, and put them 40m apart and practice sprinting. You may not be able to accurately time the sprints, due to the nature of not having timing gates, but it will give you a really good guide to seeing how your times are changing over time and just getting used to doing the load required.

FIFA Fitness Test: Interval Test

This is the part of the fitness test that I always find challenging. The stamina and speed.

When we had to 2.6km in 12 minutes, that was simple. You could train for it on a treadmill, set your pace and practice until the cows come home to make sure you had it.

Then when I moved and the test became a Dynamic Yo-Yo it was a lot harder to practice for.

An interval test is a hybrid of the two. You can’t solely train for it in the Gym. But you can train for it in terms of speed, distance and time.

On the track it looks like this:

For each 75m run, you will need to run at a pace of 18km/h.

For each 25m walk, you will need a pace of 5km/h.

To complete the whole test for the top level you will have to do 4000km in 22 minutes.

Passing the Interval Test

Similar to the RSA there are different categories for a pass mark, and Men have to do it slightly quicker than Women.

MEN

International & Category 1: 15 seconds/75m run, 18 seconds/25m walk

Category 2: 15 seconds/75m run, 20 seconds/25m walk

Lower Category: 15 seconds/75m run, 22 seconds/25m walk

WOMEN

International & Category 1: 17 seconds/75m run, 20 seconds/25m walk

Category 2: 17 seconds/75m run, 22 seconds/25m walk

Lower Category: 17 seconds/75m run, 24 seconds/25m walk

At the end of each run, before the whistle, every referee must have one foot inside the walking area, which is 1.5m in front of each walking area. If you fail to achieve this once, you are giving a warning, if you fail a second time you have failed the test.

How To Prepare: Interval Test

I’m going to level with you. We all feel like Andy when faced with the prospect of having to pass a Fitness Test. But that’s because, as I have already alluded to, they are daunting, scary and an overwhelming prospect.

For many referees, the Interval Test is the most daunting part of it. I know I can nail 4km in 20ish minutes— but I don’t know if I will do it on the day.

And that is why training is so important. When running in this manner you don’t just train your body but you also train your mind. When I ran the London Marathon back in 2018, I remember being told “your legs are stronger than your mind” - and I guarantee that got me through some very dark moments running around Canary Wharf.

To pass this test, you need to run an average of 13km/h over 4km or run at a pace of 4.6-minute kilometres.

Which is relatively feasible.

The challenge of the Interval Test is two-fold: Heart Rate Recovery and Elevated Pace.

I am structuring my training thus with about three months to prepare:

Weeks 1-4:

Just focus on my 4km pace. Get used to running 4km in 22 minutes and practice this twice a week to build my baseline. You can either do this outside or on a treadmill.

Weeks 5-8:

Interval Pacing on a 5km on a treadmill. Now that you have the mental strength to run the 4km at a pace that is working, we want to work on elevated speed and heart rate recovery. This is a trick I used to use to bring down my 10km time. I would set my pace at 10.5km/h and for 200m each kilometre I would run at an elevated pace of whatever I felt best at. Sometimes I would whack the treadmill up to 15km/h, sometimes it would be 13km/h - but it would always be above the baseline pace.

Because the speed you will need for the 75m run is 18km/h I would likely do the following:

Step 1: Baseline Pace: 10-12km/h

Step 2: Elevated Pace for 100m: 18km/h

Step 3: Secondary Elevated Pace for 100m: 14km/h

I would cycle through that until I had completed a 5km.

Repeat this at least twice a week.

Weeks 9-12:

You should be feeling pretty fast now, and quite comfortable at these speeds and distances required. I would now practice the test out on the street, not on the treadmill. Lay out the markers at the intervals required, and get used to listening to the beeps and the pace you will need to run. One thing we all do is set off too quickly too soon when faced with a test like this. So by drilling the practice with the audio in your ears you will get used to what will be required on test day.

FIFA FITNESS TEST: INTERVAL TEST AUDIO FILES

To practice the test as best you can you can download the relevant audio files here:

MEN:

WOMEN:

Thank You So Much

Thank you so much for reading my Blog Post on the FIFA Fitness Test. I really wish you luck if you face one soon and can’t wait to hear your stories from the tests in the future.

If you are interested in other Referee Content I have published on my site then please check out the articles below:

The Best Pre-Match Warm Up for Football and Soccer Referees

A Practical Fitness Plan for Football and Soccer Referees

Please don’t forget to listen to Red or Yellow as well. Please send in your questions by joining our WhatsApp Community - we can’t wait to hear from more #loyallisteners!

The Best Pre-Match Warm Up For Football and Soccer Referees

As a Referee, I have always done a warm-up.

Now that statement might sound a bit obvious - especially now that I am a Semi-Professional Referee and warming up really is a minimum requirement.

But even when I used to be on my own, on the Brentwood Sunday League at 10:30 am on a wet, rainy and very cold Sunday morning in the depths of Essex, England I would head out and warm up. I would do a few laps of the field. A few shuttle runs. Some jumps and some dynamic stretching.

All on my own.

Players just stood around and kicked the ball at the goal as their warm-up…and there I was…taking it seriously and showing that I wanted to do a great job. We all started somewhere as referees, and what we do at that starting point lays the foundation for what you may or may not do in your overall career.

I firmly believe the warm-up serves a much bigger purpose than just getting you physically ready for your game, and hopefully, if you start implementing it into every game you do, not only will you feel better physically, but your match control, your decision making and player management will all improve immensely too.

And that’s never going to be a bad thing on the pitch, is it?

This is also a topic that we cover quite regularly on my Podcast: Red or Yellow.

Listeners are always getting in touch with questions about fitness, warm-ups, and how best to manage themselves physically on and off the pitch.

Red Or Yellow is the fastest growing and biggest refereeing podcast there is, so if you want to be a part of our amazing community please feel free to listen to it at your leisure.

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Table of Contents For The Best Pre-Match Warm-Up For Football and Soccer Referees:

1. Benefits of a Pre-Match Warm-Up

2. Problem-Solving Your Pre-Match Warm Up

3. The Best Pre-Match Warm Up For Football Referees

4. Pre-Match Warm Up Best Practice

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Benefits of a Pre-Match Warm-Up

As I mentioned previously, the warm-up is a very key component of your overall match-day experience. It goes far further than just getting yourself ready physically.

I personally see the warm-up as such a useful space for a referee, and I think it wholly benefits your game.

A Warm Up Creates an Awesome First Impression:

What is a first impression?

It takes about 7 seconds for a first impression to be made, a harsh truth, but one nonetheless, and to then change that first impression you need to meet the same person at least 7 more times thereafter.

Where do you think the saying “you’re growing on me” comes from?

In football, you are likely to meet everyone more than seven times in a manner of speaking

1. When you first arrive to the ground

2. When you go to the boardroom

3. When you do your pitch walk

4. When you head to the field of play to warm up

5. The walkout

6. Kick Off

7. During the game

Now if you miss number four, then you are going to have to work a lot harder elsewhere - and during a warm-up, because the field is large and you are moving around a lot, you could meet people more than once.

A first impression is made up of:

• Your body language

• Your appearance

• Your demeanour

• Your mannerisms

• How you are dressed

You want to impress the players, managers, coaches, match day coaches and even the spectators before you have even blown your whistle. By making a good first impression you might just get the grace you need on a tight decision because a player may be more willing to work with you as opposed to against you.

How to create a better first impression other than warming up…

• Dress professionally. These days if I was still in the UK I would have to wear a suit to a game. Here in Queensland, I have to wear a black polo shirt, black trousers and dress shoes, and crucially dark-coloured socks (nothing is worse than when you are doing a pitch walk and a flash of white socks is between black trousers and black shoes). However, when I was coming through the ranks in Essex, I would still dress in a refereeing tracksuit. I would have plain black jogging bottoms, clean trainers and a black Nike T-shirt with the FA logo on it. I would never go to a game in my kit (this would be acceptable for child safety reasons if you are Under 18 or a female official where there isn’t a dedicated Female changing room).

• Don’t be late to the game.

• Make eye contact with players, coaches, and spectators and smile at them as well. Look relaxed and like you want to be there.

• Introduce yourself appropriately to the correct people.

• Don’t walk onto the field of play halfway through a conversation on your phone. Just finish your phone call in your car before you walk into your venue.

• Don’t sit on your phone pitch side. There is nothing worse than seeing a referee sit on the touchline when the teams are warming up, and you’re doom-scrolling when you could be warming up too.

• Don’t have a dirty kit. Make sure your clothes are clean and professional.

• Get ahead of problems like whether or not the balls are flat, the goals aren’t attached to the goal posts properly and getting the team sheets in on time.

• Have all the tools you need in your kit bag to do your job properly. There is nothing worse than not having your AR flags with you and having to get your Club ARs run the line with a subs bib in their hand - trust me, you only make this mistake once (I speak from experience).

• Chat with the players and the coaches. Ask them how their season has been going, how they played last week, and hunt for other information that might help you in the game about the way the teams play, or any players you need to look out for that may be trouble. Keep it lighthearted, warm and welcoming. It is really important to not pre-judge any players, as they can tell when you do that.

A Warm-Up Saves You Time:

There is nothing worse than being completely rushed for kick-off. We’ve all been there, stood in the centre circle still waiting for a confirmed time sheet and the away team seems to want to take 15 minutes to find someone to run your line for you. Or they are trying to delay because their “star striker” is on his way due to being hungover from a stag do the night before.

Before you know it, you should have kicked off 10 minutes ago and are now looking at a 30-second halftime just to keep on schedule, because there are another 2 games on after yours.

Well, this is where doing a warm-up can save you time and help keep you on schedule.

You see when I am running around the field going through my drills (more on these later) then that is a unique opportunity to make sure the teams are on top of these issues before you have even thought about guzzling your pre-match Lucozade (other isotonic drinks are available).

By going over to the teams, as you are warming up helping to cement that first impression, and getting ahead of problems that you are aware of but the teams might not be until you want to start the game, then it will keep you on the schedule you need to be on.

A Warm-Up Allows You To Show Off:

Soccer is a game of physical prowess. One thing I notice when warming up is that players are watching. They want to get a read on you as much as you do them, and therefore if they see you warming up professionally then they may just be impressed.

As I am getting older, I enjoy the challenge in my warm-up of showing that I can keep up with my much younger assistants when we are doing our laps and final sprints. Nothing makes me feel happier before a game than if I have out-sprinted a 22-year-old AR - and if it is making me happy, chances are it is making the players take notice that you are up to the task.

If you’re fit, take pride in it, and enjoy the fact that you can outrun players. Coaches, spectators and Match Day Referee Coaches are always watching.

A Warm-Up Helps Build Teamwork:

Refereeing is a funny task sometimes, especially when you have Assistants who you have never met. You have to present yourself as if you are a team that has spent a whole season together perfecting your game - just like the players you are refereeing - when in reality you have likely never met your ARs before, and aren’t likely to work with them again any time soon.

This is if you are lucky enough to have Assistant Referees.

Gelling quickly, getting on the same page and gaining trust for each other isn’t an easy task and the warm-up is a crucial tool in being able to do this. Obviously, you have your pre-match brief as well, but life is very different when you are all under physical and mental pressure to get decisions right.

My favourite warm-up drill to do with Assistants is the following:

Get your team and take them to a marked-out corner on the field. This. can be at the halfway line, on the edge of the penalty area or actually at the corner markings. The referee starts in the middle, and the two assistants line up on a line facing the referee. Now, wherever the referee runs to, both Assistants must stay in line with the referee on their axis. Therefore if the referee runs into the corner, then both ARs will have to move at the same speed towards the corner. If the referee decides to run up one line, then one AR will remain level on their axis, whilst the other AR has to side-step or sprint to keep up with the referee.

Once you get the hang of it, you can vary the speeds, intensities, and directions of each run toward and away from your respective Assistants. Give each person about 90 seconds to 2 minutes pretending to be the referee.

It is a fun game and builds rapport between the team nice and quick.

A Warm-Up Helps The Participants Trust You:

As I have already mentioned, eyes are on you from the second you enter the field/ground. Getting participants to trust you is a very useful tool and the warm-up can help you with this. It shows everyone that you are there to take the game as seriously as the players are taking it, and that you care that you do a professional job. If you can get the players to buy into this as well, it will make your whole game a lot easier to manage.

In sales people often talk about how long it can take someone to buy something from you. There is a process for this called, know, trust and like.

Once you have mastered all three of them, then a potential client transitions to an actual client.

As a referee, you must work on this as well, because I promise you that you will need to sell a decision at some point in your game, and if the participants already know, trust and like you then it might just make that moment a little easier to navigate.

Problem-Solving Your Pre-Match Warm-Up

There are many factors that might affect your ability to Warm Up - so let’s try and find some solutions for them:

I am running late

We all have slight mishaps with time. However, the higher up the football pyramid you go, the less you can afford to allow this to happen. So don’t make it a habit. Hopefully, if you do run late on game day, you have already done some Match Day movement in the morning as preparation for your game. This could be a walk with the Dog, some morning mobility work, or a gentle swim. During the season you should try and keep your body ready for the demands of refereeing throughout so that when you do run late to a game, you can truncate your warm-up and still give a great performance.

Another useful tool here is to invest in some compression tights. For games, I often have to drive anywhere from 90 minutes to 3 hours and in that time I can get stiff. I have found compression tights really useful in stopping any stiffness in my legs, meaning that I am more ready to perform.

My Assistants Are running late

I am assuming here that you have already messaged them before the game to arrange what time they need to be at the ground to make sure you can get everything prepped for the game. If you haven’t done that, then your ARs aren’t running late. If they didn’t know what time you needed them, then they are well within their rights to do what they please. However, if they are running, I would suggest just preparing as normal, and allowing them to slot into your pre-match preparations when they arrive. This may mean having to hold off your pre-match briefing so as not to repeat yourself.

I’m Carrying an Injury and don’t want to make it worse before the game

This is something I struggle with these days. Due to my injuries, I very much have to save myself physically for my game. This has meant that I have had to completely change the way I warm up, to still get the benefits of the warm-up, but also to not impact my on-field performance.

I therefore now just work around the injury, not through it. You should never work through an injury. My injury is in my feet, so I have to prepare my body with as little impact on the feet as possible. This involves a lot more mobility work, much slower-paced running and more walking compared to shuttles and sprints. The physical warm-up you do is to make sure you are ready for your game in the best way possible given your current context.

There is No Space to Warm Up

Luckily where I referee, we often have the whole field to warm up on, or a designated warm-up area, but sometimes there may be back-to-back games and you can’t get onto the field to do sprints and laps. This is where knowing your body and what your physical outcomes for the warm-up can come in real handy, and then you can adapt to the space you do have. A referee needs to be able to change direction, sprint, work at a high intensity and have a good cardio baseline. The higher likelihood of injury in a game will come from the sprinting and the changes of direction required. Therefore you need to prepare your body for these eventualities.

You will be able to find a space, where you can still prepare. This could be your dressing room for example. If that was the case, I would focus on your mobility for the lower back, mid-back and hips in the form of dynamic stretching. I would then put in some hopping, vertical jumping, lateral jumping and lunges with some pause squats. This way you would engage all the mobility you need, as well as prepare your body to activate the fast twitch muscles you will need when sprinting.

Finally; The Best Pre-Match Warm Up For Football Referees

The best pre-match warm-up for referees is one that prepares you in the best way for your game.

It should incorporate everything you are going to have to cover in the game. According to the AFC these are the demands put on a referee:

The total distance equals 11-12km per game

• High-intensity activity for 4-18% of the total distance

• Sprinting 1-8% of the total distance

• Changes of direction >500 mostly 30-60 degrees

• Average Heart Rate is 85% of your MaxHR

To make sure you tick all of these boxes a warm-up should look like the following:

1: LIGHT JOG

Cover one and a half to two laps of the football field just running lightly to shake off any stiffness and tightness you may have. Think of it as an active massage for your body. Work out anything that doesn’t feel right and just get to the point where you can keep a conversation whilst running.

2. DYNAMIC STRETCHING

This is a personal thing for you, but I do believe you should cover the hips, groin, lumbar spine and thoracic spine. Therefore I would do 3 Sets x 10 Reps of any of these exercises that takes you about 10 minutes to complete.

2. SHUTTLES

Next, you are going to want to do some dynamic shuttle work. Here I would normally line up on the touchline and perform a shuttle exercise until I am in line with the penalty area and then jog back. These shuttles are designed to cover mobility whilst moving:

• Open The Gate (Outward Hip Rotation)

• Close The Gate (Inward Hip Rotation)

• High Knees

• Bum Kicks

• High Kicks

• Side Step One Way

• Side Step Opposite Way

• Two to the Left, Two to the Right forwards and backwards

• Grapevine

• Backwards Jog

• Hamstring Walks

3. DYNAMIC HIGH-INTENSITY MOVEMENT

Next, you will want to add in some zig-zag jumps up and down the touchline combined with running and jumping, some very short sprints, quick stops and some changes of direction.

Only spend a few minutes on this.

4. PROGRESSIVE RUNS

This is my favourite part of the whole warm-up when I am not injured.

Essentially it’s a gradual sprint that covers half of the field.

Start on the goal line, and start your run at 50% of max speed, as you exit the penalty area, increase to 70%, then when you are halfway between the halfway line and goal line, keep accelerating until you cross the halfway line at 100% speed.

Make sure you don’t stop straight away, and that you then decelerate over 10-20 meters, walk through to the other goal line and repeat.

Do this 2-3 times.

Referee Pre-Match Warm-Up Best Practice

So here is a little round-up, and some aspects of your pre-match warm-up that I haven’t yet touched on.

1. Use the warm-up to help keep you relaxed. It can be a really useful space for you to work away those pre-match nerves and get comfortable in your environment.

2. Smile as much as you can. Remember when you’re warming up, you are on show to Match Day Coaches, Spectators, Managers and Players. Use it as an opportunity to impress people and show that you want to be there.

3. Build rapport - use the warm-up to build rapport with your refereeing team, and the teams you are about to referee.

4. Don’t over-exert yourself, but more use the warm-up to prepare your body for the demands of the game ahead.

5. Work around your injuries, not through them.

6. Stay out of the way of the teams warming up. They need to do a warm up as much as you do.

7. At all times stick together with your team. Don’t leave one AR behind. You want to look united, together; a team.

8. Try to make sure you and your team are all wearing the same clothes for your warm-up. Don’t ever warm up in your referee kit.

9. The Warm Up is there for you to prepare yourself. Don’t refuse to do what’s best for you, to appease others.

10. Have fun. Like with all things refereeing, the more fun you make it the easier it is.

That’s All Folks…

Thank you so much for reading my Blog. If you want to find out anything more about fitness for referees then I do have other articles throughout this Blog.

A Practical Fitness Plan for Soccer and Football Referees

As mentioned above, it would be great to get you on board listening to Red or Yellow. My co-host and I are very passionate about helping grassroots referees in giving them advice, recapping the Laws of the Game as well as having brilliant interviews with guests.

Don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast right here:

You can also stay in touch with me, and get more helpful fitness content by sending me a freidn request below…

Personal Training in Withcott: Fun and Friendly Fitness

I want to say welcome to my local community. If you are here, reading this then that must be you and it is an absolute pleasure to have you here.

I live in the Lockyer Valley Region, having moved to the Toowoomba Region of QLD just over a year ago for my wife’s work.

I am English - and Toowoomba is about as close to little old leafy blighty that I could find in Toowoomba, and we are really happy here. A little more about me:

1. I play Basil Fawlty in a touring show of Fawlty Towers.

2. I am an award-winning Personal Trainer and have been doing this job for a decade.

3. I was in a Harry Potter movie.

4. I was born with a congenital heart condition.

5. I am a Semi-Professional Football Referee (like actual football. Not rugby or that funny game you Aussies play on a cricket pitch).

6. I have been on the BBC, Hot Tomato FM, and written for Ocean Road Magazine, The Cove, Muscle and Health and The Coach App helping others navigate the world of fitness.

7. I was recently diagnosed with ADHD - which is fun and very interesting.

8. I was nominated as Best Personal Trainer for the Gold Coast in 2022.

9. I also have a Hugo: obligatory photo incoming…

I tell you this not to brag, but simply to introduce myself. To say hello, and to let you know that I cannot wait to become your friend.

I am quite confident about this because over the last year or so of my life, I have made many friends in this wonderful city, and that is what has led me here to write this today.

On Instagram, I received a DM from a dear friend of mine, who asked if I had ever considered running a Group Fitness Class in Withcott - she is a resident and thought it would be a wonderful thing to do for the community and approached me.

After some thought…I figured why the hell not? Its always important to service your local community and it’s always a good idea if it comes from someone else who knows the lay of the land better than I do.

What's The Plan?

Now I am not a morning person. Nor am I a hot-weather person - being English and all.

Therefore I have settled on the following:

• When? 6am.

• Day? Wednesday’s

• Where? Springbrook Park

• Cost? $15/session, paid in full every four weeks, cancel anytime at the end of your billing cycle.

• How long? 30mins

• Will there be Burpess? Never.

• Are there banging tunes? Absolutely. I have curated what can only be described as the single greatest workout playlist the world has to offer. Don’t believe me…read this DM I got the other day.

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What Are The Workouts?

Every four weeks we will cycle through four different formats of working out:

Week 1: Mobility + Core

Week 2: Strength (Lower)

Week 3: Strength + Core (Upper)

Week 4: Strength (Full Body)

We will then cycle through each workout for each quarter of the year. This means you will do each workout at least three times, once a month.

It is designed this way to avoid the usual running-you-into-the-ground manner of group fitness classes. Fitness isn’t about “going as hard as you can” it is about exploring movement in your way and noticing significant changes in your skill and ability. To develop your skill and ability repetition is important, not variety.

Repetition is the mother of skill, after all.

This way, you can get familiar with the movement patterns, and hopefully notice yourself develop as you get stronger in developing your ability.

I will also publish a workout guide each quarter so that you can see what we have in store, and so that you can research the movements so you feel less “in the dark” and more confident about coming.

Who’s Welcome?

Anyone. I cannot tell you how un-elitist I am when it comes to fitness - there is no point in saying you want to help the community and then only make it accessible to the already uber-fit. Put simply, each session will be designed for you to be able to push yourself in your own way, have fun, and make sure you feel good and enjoy yourself.

And I mean it. No Burpees. Ever.

What Equipment Will You Need?

Nothing or everything.

I do not have a whole heap of weights that I cart around for the amount of people who may or may not come to the class. Therefore if you want to bring your own weights that you have, then please feel free to do so and I will happily show you how to incorporate those into your workout as we go along.

You may well need to bring a Yoga Mat of sorts for some mobility and core work we may well engage in.

How Do I Get Started?

You will need to do three things.

First Things First:

Well, you never do first things last, do you?

There are two payment options for the classes.

If you want to attend all four sessions each four week cycle, that is $60.

If you need a little more flexibility, you can pay for two sessions each four week cycle, that is $40 - and you can choose any two to come to in each four week cycle.

Please also note that refunds aren’t given for missed sessions.

Once you pay once, it sets up a recurring payment for the same amount every four weeks. You can cancel anytime at the end of your billing cycle and you have access to your own customer portal.

Secondly:

I will need you to fill out the following Google Form which is known as a PAR-Q (Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire)

This way, I have a record of your injuries and an understanding that you take on fitness like this at your own risk and there is always a chance, although I will do everything possible to make sure it doesn’t happen, a chance you may hurt yourself.

Third:

Join our Facebook Group for all the updates and workouts - this will be the only form of communication for the Group as a whole - so please get invovled in here:

And Finally…

I am so excited to help you.

I cannot wait to meet you.

If you would like some freebies like a home workout plan, a calorie calculator and my book 27 Ways To Faster Fat Loss, to help you get started with your fitness then please put your email here:

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How to Have a Healthy Relationship with Food and Lose Weight

I’m not saying eating noodles in the bath is always a sign of not having a healthy relationship with food, but it is definitely one of the more odd behaviours I have seen photographed.

This is a big topic. Big because there are an awful lot of people who don’t have a healthy relationship with food, big because there is never one straight forward solution to this problem and big because the issues that underline having an unhealthy relationship with food are often very deep-seated and everyone will have their own way of figuring that out.

So in this article, I am simply going to outline what an unhealthy realtionship with food looks like, give you the strategies that could work for you, and try to point you in a better direction to start healing.

I simply can’t promise that reading this will fix your realtiopnship with food, as that takes time, hard work and many ups and downs but I do hope it might help you identify what you may need to do to start improving this relationship.

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There are very few things I love more than helping people - and if you are here on this page, then I am going to presume that you would like as much support as possible. Rebuilding your relationship with food can be tough, and having a safe space to send thoughts to can be immeasurable. So how about you send me a freidn request, and you have unlimited and open permission to email me anything you need help with.

You will also get some free goodies from me, some things that will be useful for you rebuilding this relationship with food, and some that might not be - but that is for you to choose as you receive them.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. How To Know If You Have An Unhealthy Relationship With Food

2. How To Know If You Have A Healthy Relationship With Food

3. 5 Ways To Reset Your Relationship With Food

4. A Final Word

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How To Know You If You Have An Unhealthy Relationship With Food

Chances are that if you have ended up here, you are already suspecting that you may need to address your relationship with food.

Identification is a very important aspect of beginning to change your relationship with food.

There is an important line in the sand we need to draw here - and that is that having an unhealthy relationship with food, and having an eating disorder can be related. However, just because you have an unhealthy relationship with food, doesn’t mean that you have an eating disorder.

So here are some questions that you may need to consider to see if you do need to work on building a healthy relationship with food:

1. Do you feel stress and anxiety when food is being offered to you?

2. Do you research calories on menus before you eat out?

3. Do you not eat to “save calories” for later in the day?

4. Do you hit the gym after you have eaten to burn off the calories?

5. Do you constantly yo-yo diet?

6. Have you been on a diet your whole life?

7. Do you have a randomness to the time of day you eat and how often you eat?

8. Do you ignore when your body is telling you it’s hungry?

9. Do you overeat and then restrict over and over again?

10. Do you count calories using a calorie-counting app?

11. Do you eat food away from other people?

12. Do you feel guilty whenever you eat food?

It is also wise to point out that you may go through phases of feeling this way about the food you are eating, and you may go through phases where you don’t. All relationships can be more intense at times than at others.

If any of those questions have resonated with you, then I am so pleased you are here, because here is where you can find help, a safe space and hopefully start your path to having a better relationship with food. There is nothing wrong with struggling, and there is nothing wrong with wanting to work on and improving your relationship with food.

Chances are that your relationship with food has deteriorated over time without you even realising it. With so many of my clients, it occurs the story is somewhat similar - and I bet its a story you can relate to as well.

You have low self-esteem, which is oftentimes a result of bullying or never feeling good enough for whatever reason in your lives - whether that be with a partner, a parent or friends and this has eroded your body image.

To correct this you misidentified the issue with your body image and automatically related it to being “fat” and then went looking for a weight loss solution. This has happened with clients of mine who have high, normal and low BMIs. It is often quite scary how many people in this world see themselves as fat when in fact they are below average bodyweight for society.

You likely then headed to a Gym or some weight loss diet program meeting and spoke to someone. This someone is a trusted “Personal Trainer” or “expert” and they sit down and have the “chat with you”.

In many of the Gyms I have worked in this meeting doesn’t even happen with a fully qualified Personal Trainer at all, but in fact with a salesperson who happens to look like a personal trainer or who might be able to do the odd group class just to look credible.

At diet clubs, the leader of the club isn’t a qualified nutritionist or professional, but simply someone who has paid the company money, to run the meetings and get the most basic company-centric view training to be able to host them. 90% of the time they are also people for whom the diet worked, and that is what “inspired” them to go around destroying other people’s relationship with food.

It is one of the main reasons I suck at sales meetings because getting someone’s money is less important to me than making sure that person is safe and respected and that I don’t do anything to compound their already low self-esteem. Which the client will think relates to their goals, but is there simply to get their money. It is based around being shamed into believing you are overweight, and that even if you want to lose just “a couple of pounds healthily” you do need to do that so that you feel better about yourself.

You then likely embarked on a “weight loss” program where you were celebrated for losing weight, given meal plans, calorie counters and strategies to manage your weight loss - often coupled with rigorous high-intensity workouts that are seldom suited to your physical ability because there are 30 other people in the class.

Let’s take a moment.

Did you notice the critical sentence in my story?

This sentence is the reason that many people’s relationship with food deteriorates.

What do you think it is?

“You then likely embarked on a “weight loss” program where you were celebrated for losing weight”

In being celebrated only for when you lose weight you naturally associate weight loss as a success and weight gain as a failure.

This then will lead you to more and more drastic behaviours to try and stop being a failure.

As you drift away from the place you went to rebuild your self-esteem, you carry this internal feeling of success and failure directly relating to weight loss and weight gain and the only way in which you can control that is through manipulating your food.

This experience of intrinsically feeling like a success when you lose weight and a failure when you lose weight can happen throughout your life. It could be your parents trying to discourage you from eating junk food as a child, with the best of intentions, but it has a deeper effect. It could be that your aunty always talks about your weight and the way you look. It could be that all you see on Social Media is the “thin ideal” and every time you scroll you feel isolated from the way you look compared to what you are seeing on the fiction-packed internet.

But the result is always the same, it all stems back to:

Weight Gain = Failure

Weight Loss =Success

And this is so often why people develop an unhealthy relationship with food.

Gaining weight is not a sign of failure. You aren’t a failure. You are a beautiful human who is doing their best at all times to manage the cards you are being dealt.

How To Know You If You Have A Healthy Relationship With Food

Much like the previous section, there are certain things that we can identify in someone’s eating habits that would suggest that they have a healthy relationship with food.

1. Do you eat regular meals each day?

2. Do you look for colour on your plate?

3. Do you give yourself unconditional permission to eat food?

4. Do you eat when you are hungry?

5. Do you finish eating when you feel full without finishing your plate?

6. Do you enjoy a variety of different cuisines?

7. Can you in a relaxed manner in front of other people?

8. Do you feel comfortable eating “non-healthy” foods?

9. Do you enjoy eating in moderation?

10. Do you not let other people’s opinions on the food you eat stop you?

11. Do you not worry about fluctuations on a scale?

12. Do you make calorie-free choices?

Once again, you don’t have to do all of the above, but if you are ticking off a fair few of the questions in a positive light then you are probably on the right path with your relationship with food.

Many people I have come across who do have a healthy relationship with food have all managed to remove the pressure of a certain “look” or “scale number” from their lives. They have all accepted that their body is their body, and have learnt to be incredibly grateful for what it can do, and the way it presents itself.

This is very much true of myself.

I have had a good relationship with food, for most of the time in my life. This is because I have on the whole as an adult been happy with my body weight - and the times in my life when I have had a very odd relationship with food has been whenever I have tried to gain weight.

Like all people, there are aspects of myself I would love to change in an ideal world, and I grew up very much hating the way I looked. I am skinny, scrawny, and lanky. I used. to not wear shorts because I didn’t want people bullying me about the lack of hair on my legs as a teenager. Like with all insecurities, I tried to fix them for most of my life, but the time I took it most seriously was when I was performing in Othello at the National Theatre in London, I set myself a goal of trying to put on some muscle. My Trainer at the time told me to eat 3500kcals of food a day. It was horrible. I was eating three servings of lasagne for dinner and there is only one word to describe how I felt:

It felt like I was eating all day long, I was eating anything and everything in sight just to get the calories in, my energy was low, my appetite was shot to pieces, and I was spending way to long fixating on two numbers:

1. Number of calories consumed

2. The scale

When I look back on that time in my life, and I look at the list of questions I posed at the start of this section - everything was off. There was no structure to the way I was eating, I wasn’t telling anyone why I was eating so much, I was very very poor because eating that much is expensive, I was eating when I wasn’t hungry, I was not listening to my body when I was full.

Everything was yucky.

Needless to say, I never gained the muscle I was hoping for, I fired that Personal Trainer and I have never done something like that ever again.

The second I stopped trying to achieve this goal relating to my body weight, my relationship with my food improved immeasurably. This leads me nicely to the next section of this blog.

5 Ways To Reset Your Relationship With Food

Luckily there are strategies you can work on to help you reset your relationship with food.

Sadly, it is not as simple as just hitting a button. It is more a series of buttons that you will have to keep pressing over and over and over again as you meander through this journey.

Resetting your relationship with food will take time. The idea of some of the strategies I am about to lay out might give you anxiety, might make you feel conflicted and it might not make a lot of sense as you sit here reading this right now.

However, you have to keep in mind the long-term goal.

If you build the right foundation and relationship with your food, then you may be able to achieve all the things you want to achieve that are currently damaging your relationship with food.

Without the right foundations, nothing can be built.

But that is a way down the track. Right now the goal is to reduce anxiety, make you feel like you are in control of this relationship, and give you practical and achievable steps to follow to help you.

the Goal Is Health

Before I give you the 5 strategies, I want you to remember that the aim is to give you health. Health is a multifaceted topic, but we are literally working on going from unhealthy to healthy, in the context of your relationship with food.

But this will also improve other health markers in your life as a consequence.

Your relationship with food is integrated with your psychological state and so much of the strategies I lay out here are here to help improve your psychological state as well as your physical state. With my clients and myself, I can see clearly the link between emotional state and food choice.

How you feel literally dictates what you eat.

This why my strategies are there to improve all aspects of health, not just the health of your relationship with food.

It will improve you:

1. Physical Health

2. Mental Health

3. Metabolic Health

4. Social Health

5. Emotional Health

Imagine how beautiful you will feel if you manage to move even some of those categories of health up a notch.

Some of my strategies might seem like they are acting against what you want to achieve from a fitness point of view - but that is the point - because fitness goals normally drive people to the oddest and most strained behaviours around food - because to achieve great things in fitness, relative to who you are, you are likely going to need extreme behaviours to get you there.

It is extreme behaviours that have got you here, reading this blog.

So let’s drop the extreme and focus on the mundane - because the mundane is where balance exists, and balance is where improving your health exists.

1. Stop Looking At The Scale

It is very hard to be healthy if you are under pressure. Pressure leads to stress, stress leads to comforting behaviours, not healthy behaviours.

You can’t improve your relationship with food whilst putting yourself under pressure to lose or gain weight. You can’t lose or gain weight without having a strong foundation in place, and the scale will always undermine your ability to build these foundations.

This doesn’t mean that weight-based goals aren’t going to happen, but they shouldn’t be your focus. The scale is a fickle thing. The scale goes up and down based on so many variable factors like hormones, water levels in the body, the outside temperature, whether or not you have eaten, whether or not you have worked out, whether or not you have been to the toilet - and if you are working on rebuilding your relationship with food then you don’t want the rug to be constantly pulled from under your feet.

The scale gives you zero information on whether or not you are healthy. The scale doesn’t tell anyone whether or not you have a healthy relationship with food, all it does is tell you how much you weigh. It doesn’t disseminate what your arteries look like, or whether or not your organs are performing as they should. It doesn’t tell you how your mental health is, or how integrated into society you feel.

It is literally a number. A number that has been loaded with emotion, over time in your life by various influences that have led you to let this number determine your self-esteem.

“How can how you look on the outside reflect how you are feeling and functioning on the inside?”

— Rhiannon Lambert

2. Structured Eating

One strategy I give to all of my clients who work with me one-on-one on the Strong and Confident Program who need to work on building a healthy relationship with food is having a structured eating plan in place.

Making sure that you are regulating your food intake is important in the process of building a healthy relationship with food.

Having regular meals at regular times will create regularity with many aspects of your appetite and metabolism. The main advantage of doing this however is that it regulates two hormones which are integral for your appetite control.

Grehlin and Leptin control both your hunger and satiety and if you give them regularity, it will help you to learn to listen to your body a lot more.

My structured eating method is the following:

• Breakfast.

• Lunch.

• Dinner.

• Two snacks.

• Each meal must fit on one plate.

• You should also eat uninterrupted and participate as much as possible in the making and creating of the food.

The other thing to remember with structured eating is that it requires mindful eating as well. This will help you pay attention to your body's hunger and fullness cues, and eat only when you are hungry and stop when you are satisfied. Avoid distractions like TV or phone while eating, as these can cause you to eat more than you need. Mindful eating is effective for weight loss and the prevention of weight gain.

Again, when we are looking at building foundations, the word structure makes a lot of sense here. This isn’t to say you aren’t allowed to deviate from this structure, but you must have it in place to begin with, to stray from it because one very important aspect of moving away from a structure is making sure you return to it as well.

This structure will become your comfort when it comes to food, your safe space, your place where you can exert the most control over your appetite and body, and the place that allows you to keep building that healthy relationship with food the most.

3. Give yourself More

Restriction gets you nowhere in the long term. When losing weight, you do need what is called a calorie deficit, and this is often thought about as a restrictive measure. However, let me ask you this…how has trying to restrict yourself worked for you thus far?

It is probably one of the contributing factors to your need to build a healthy relationship with food now because being unable to stick to the restrictive nature of your weight loss regime leads to you feeling like a failure and then putting you on the hamster wheel of binge and restriction.

How would not binging sound to you?

Well the key to that, is not restricting.

One of the biggest contributing factors to binge eating is something called dichotomous thinking or black-and-white thinking. Many weight loss programs will tell you that you aren’t allowed to eat many of your favourite foods, or if you do, then you need to then earn those calories back somehow through restriction or movement.

Well, the truth is that you don’t need to do any of that.

You need to give yourself more. Way more.

And the thing you need to start with is more respect.

If you begin to respect yourself more, you will do all of the things you need to do in order to build a healthy relationship with food. When you treat your body with respect you will listen to it more, you will treat it with more love, you will want to do things for it that make it thrive and this will lead to more positive behaviours in your life.

By giving your body more respect, I simply mean giving yourself more permission to be yourself.

Give yourself more permission to:

• To eat more foods you enjoy.

• To explore more respectful movement.

• To eat more foods your body is craving.

• To drink more water.

Whenever I have this conversation with clients they get anxious about the prospect of unconditional permission, they believe that because they have binged, that by telling them they can eat whatever they want, whenever they want, that they won’t be able to regulate to moderation.

I simply pointed out to them, that if the restriction was working on them, they would already have a healthier relationship with food.

When it comes to binge and restriction, it is very similar to how people view emotional eating. People always want to fix the “eating” side of the equation.

Binging isn’t the problem with the binge and restrict cycle, in the same way that eating isn’t the problem when it comes to emotional eating.

If you want to move away from these relationships with food you need to fix the “restrict” and the “emotional”.

It is amazing what happens when you give yourself more respect, how these charged psychological states diminish from view in your relationship with food.

More respect.

You deserve more respect. Don’t you?

4. Manage Stress and Emotional Pressure

As you now know, your unhealthy relationship with food is a psychological issue as much as it is anything else. This means you will need to work on the emotional triggers that lead you to react to food.

Food is a comfort to us all and we all regulate food somewhat in our lives, however, the frequency of that regulation is linked intrinsically to how handle our emotions.

Many clients of mine find it hard to sit in uncomfortable emotions and to avoid those feelings will turn to food. But as we explored in the previous section, this only leads to more turmoil as you end up on an emotional/binge-eating hamster wheel.

There are many strategies you can use to help manage your stress and emotions but to date the most powerful one I know of is to improve your sleep.

Sleeping well is one of the strongest tools you have to reduce your emotional reaction to the world around you.

If you struggle to sleep and want to find out more about the correlation between sleep and your emotional state then please read my Blog: Why Does Slee Effect Your Weight Loss?

Other really helpful methods to help reduce stress and anxiety are:

• Journalling

• Meditataion: The Daily Stillness (this is my own Meditations course which yu can get for free)

• Going for a walk

• Being in nature

One other key aspect of this is being able to correctly identify what emotion you are feeling. When you feel emotionally rocked, and if you have a poor relationship with food already, then a common theme is to just eat your way through those emotions - as opposed to actually identifying what it is you are feeling and therefore need to do.

You could be:

• Feeling bored

• Feeling lonely

• Feeling unheard

• Feeling desperate

• Feeling overhwhelmed

• Feeling worried

• Feeling lost

• Feeling nervous

Plus many more emotions. But being able to correctly identify the way you feel, and then being able to correctly address that feeling, as opposed to using food to address it will help you immeasurably. This is what I mean when I say “sit in uncomfortable emotions”. It can be very challenging to name what you are feeling, and then address it - but over time it will improve your relationship with food and your ability to handle yourself in this way.

5. Focus on Getting Stronger In The Gym

I have news for you.

You don’t have to do weight loss workouts anymore.

I wouldn’t even know what a Weight Loss Workout is, because working out isn’t a tool for you to lose weight. The minimal amount of calories you burn in a workout is not going to move the dial for you in terms of helping you lose weight.

Added to that, if you are restricting your food, working out sucks. You have little energy, you won’t enjoy your workouts and everything will feel sluggish and hard.

Whereas if you change your focus in your workouts from trying to burn as much as possible, to trying to build as much as possible you will significantly impact your relationship with food. You will see food as a fuel source, as a source of power and strength, and crucially something you need in order to make your workouts feel awesome.

The gym is designed as a place for a human to get stronger, not to get smaller. Nothing bad can come of getting stronger can it?

In fact, all your desires for losing weight, all of the self esteem issues you think that losing weight will fix will in fact be helped a lot more by getting stronger, not smaller.

There are really heavy things in the Gym, and the purpose of those heavy things is that a human moves them from point A to point B - and one major aspect of being able to do that is eating the right food to fuel your workouts.

Another aspect of getting stronger is also respecting your body enough to listen to what it needs. The other day I was feeling really low on energy, I was fatigued and wanted to be anywhere except doing a gruelling workout. Except that I had made a promise to myself to work out. Therefore I listened to myself and executed a workout that respected how I was feeling.

I did some stretching, three sets of a Sumo Deadlift, three sets of a Leg Press and went home.

Thats it.

I respected myself based on how I was feeling, and I respected my goal to workout that day. I felt much better for balancing how I was feeling with what I was doing - compared to if I had still tried to a tough workout, or gone home altogether.

You have to listen to yourself and what feels best for you in the Gym. If you go too hard when you aren’t up to it, that could have a bigger impact on the way you mange your food that day, and then you could end up in a cycle of harming your relationship with food again.

Remember this rule: Too tired to go for a run? Go for a walk instead.

Nothing bad can come of going for a walk - a walk cures everything.

Don’t be scared of getting stronger - it is the path to healing.

A Final Word…

Everyone has a personal and unique relationship with food, and getting a healthier relationship with food isn’t the easiest journey in the world.

This is why focussing on practising strength and resilience will help you.

That being said, not everyone can cure these deep-seated psychological links to food on their own, and if you really are struggling with an eating disorder like Binge Eating Disorder, Anorexia Nervosa or Bullemia then please do reach out to a mental health professional for assistance.

There are lots of charities all over the world that are there to help you with these conditions and I cannot emphasise how important getting professional help is.

If you have enjoyed this Blog please feel free to reach out to me and let me know - nothing brings me more joy than hearing how my words have helped others.

Other than that, I wish you all the luck in the world, and cannot wait to hear from you in the future.

Peace, Love and Protein

Coach Adam

How To Lose Weight In Toowoomba

I’m just going to come out and say it.

Weight loss is hard, difficult, stubborn and often results in a cyclical behaviour known as “yo-yo” dieting where you seem to be in this constant cyclical behaviour of losing weight and gaining weight over and over and over again.

Toowoomba, don’t worry…

I have a solution for you to avoid you feeling like you are constantly chasing your tail when it comes to working on your fitness…and I want to share that solution with you here today.

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Table of Contents for How To Lose Weight In Toowoomba

1. How to Lose Weight…anywhere…not just in Toowoomba

2. Where do I start if I want to lose weight? Weight Loss Coach Toowoomba

3. My Toowoomba Weight Loss Clinic

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How to Lose Weight…anywhere…not just in Toowoomba

The science of weight loss is really clear - and when you comprehend what the science is, you can start to have a much deeper and greater insight into why you have fallen into things like:

• All-or-nothing mindsets

• Eating “healthy” for a short period of time

• Losing all motivation to exercise and go to the gym

• Losing weight initially and then being disheartened when that pace doesn’t keep up

• Feeling like you are broken

• Signing up to diet, after diet, after diet and never getting anywhere

You see, to lose weight you need one thing: A CALORIE DEFICIT

This means that what you expend in energy each and every day is greater than the sum of the amount of energy you put into your body.

I go into a Calorie Deficit in copious amounts of detail throughout this website (here, here and here). A Calorie Deficit is really easy to comprehend, but that doesn’t mean it is easy to execute.

In fact, it is very hard to execute because of so many environmental and biological factors that you are facing each day. These can vary from:

• Sleep patterns

• Stress

• Medications

• Thyroidism and/or Hashimotos

• Mental Health

• Physical Injuries

And many many more.

However, all of these factors are things that make weight loss more difficult, not impossible. Throughout my near decade in this industry I have seen many people with these conditions lose weight successfully by getting into a Calorie Deficit.

There is one concern I have regarding a calorie deficit and its efficacy in helping you lose weight, and that is the mindset it can often place someone into.

The word deficit, in many peoples minds, correlates to restriction - and it is this trap that many many “weight-loss diets” will have you fall into - however I have a solution for you.

Please keep reading my friend…

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Where Do I Start If I Want To Lose Weight? Weight Loss Coach Toowoomba

I am a Weight Loss Coach here in Toowoomba. My solution has been developed over years and years of coaching thousands of people both in person and online across the world.

I started out as an in person Personal Trainer in my hometown of Hornchurch and have ended up in Toowoomba, via London, Essex and the Gold Coast. Online I have trained people all over America, Ireland, India and New Zealand. I have won awards for my personal training both online and in person and have written extensively in magazines and on this website about this very topic.

In short, I have seen many different types of people and have extensive experience in helping people through the very difficult and often destructive world of weight loss.

I tell you this not as a brag, not to stroke my ego or to impress you - but to empress upon you how far and wide I have travelled to distill this one very simple message. It is a message I put at the forefront of everything I do when it comes to weight loss with all of my clients, and if you manage to buy into it as well - you will reap more rewards than you have ever thought imaginable.

“To lose weight; get strong”

— Adam Berry

Strong AF. Swole is the goal.

You see, when you view your weight loss journey as an opportunity to get stronger it removes your mind from restriction to abundance - because in order to get stronger you simply need to do more - not less.

I am not asking you to look like Arnie, and lets face it, if it was that simple to get “big and bulky” do you not think more people in society would have managed it by now?

I promise you the fear of looking too muscular, as opposed to “slim” has hindered your progress to what you ultimately want. In avoiding finding your strength and training with that goal in mind, you have put yourself on a hamster wheel of weight loss, and never actually managed to make any progress that is tangible enough, and crucially sustainable enough.

The Gym is a place for getting stronger - not thinner.

Training is a method with which we improve and develop a skill as opposed to punish and reduce ourselves.

The Gym is a playground of weights, a playground for the body, in which you can learn and develop not just your physical body but your mind as well.

I remember when I first got to Toowoomba, I was training a Mum who was concerned about her bodyweight and I asked one simple question:

“Why does this matter so much to you?”

She looked lost, she looked dumbstruck in being able to respond to me, because she had never really thought about her perpetual pursuit to weight loss - I think she never realised she was putting so much into it.

When she couldn’t utter a response I simply said:

“Your children don’t care about how much you weigh. They care that you are strong enough to look after them”.

And in an instant, she relaxed.

It was as if someone had finally taken her hand and said stop punishing yourself, because it doesn’t matter at all.

And if you think about it, that is all anyone wants right? To be strong enough to be able to care for the people they need to care for - and those who are the cared for only want the person doing the caring to be strong enough to carry that load.

This is why strength is the solution to weight loss.

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My Toowoomba Weight Loss Clinic

Toowoomba ranks really highly in the overall “overweight” stats for Australia.

The Chief Health Officers Report of 2018 [1] stated that 66% of adults in the Darling Downs (Toowoomba) Region are overweight.

This puts Toowoomba as the 10th most overweight city in Australia.

Added to that 12% of households in Toowoomba fall below the poverty line of 50% median income set at $480/week [2].

Now we know there is a direct correlation between poverty and obesity which is why these figures are important to understand.

That being said, it isn’t the whole picture, many things seldom are, and therefore I am going to lay out exactly what you can do to help start a weight loss journey.

This is my Toowoomba Weight Loss Clinic…

Step 1: Get into a Calorie Deficit

Step 2: Drink 3 liters of water a day

Step 3: Eat Protein and Veggies at every meal

Step 4: Get Strong AF / 10k steps a day

Step 5: Get 7 hours sleep a night

I call these my five awesome rules for Fat Loss Life.

You can find out more about them here.

They have worked since the day I started training clients and I still stand by them 3650 days later, every piece of science I read and write about in relation to weight loss always relate back to these five principles. It is also very clever how they work as well. Step 1 is the most important, then a combination of any of the next four will help you make step one a reality.

My Five Awesome Rules for life do need some fleshing out, so here is a quick something on each point.

Get into a Calorie Deficit

As mentioned before, an awful lot goes into what makes a calorie deficit possible. But the science is very clear on this. You need to consume fewer calories than you expend from your body. You can expend calories in several ways. However the equation isn’t to just burn calories, but it is also to learn strategies to help you consume fewer.

Every other one of my five awesome rules helps you achieve number one. So pay close attention.

Three Litres of Water A Day

That is a lot. Three litres is a lot, and not everyone can manage that amount of water. But it is a good target if you are allowed to drink that much, to aim for. Being adequately hydrated can give you a lot more energy and focus, which in turn will help with your caloric expenditure. Added to that, by drinking more water you will then likely feel less hungry, and snack less. So often my clients are thirsty, not hungry and it is amazing how having some water suddenly makes their hunger disappear.

Protein and Veggies at Every Meal

Protein is a wonderful form of food. It is a macronutrient, and it is wonderful because it leaves you feeling fuller for longer and takes longer for your body to digest than carbohydrates or dietary fat. This will help reduce snacking, and increase your metabolism all at the same time.

It also helps with muscular repair - which is no bad thing as you are now trying to get strong AF.

The Veggies part of this equation is that vegetables have a lot of fibre in them, which is great for your energy levels, as well as helping you feel full.

Now eating this at every meal isn’t the easiest, especially for breakfast. However, I put that in here because I want to emphasise the point of how important eating on a regular schedule is. Three meals a day, two snacks. This is important for weight loss for a few reasons but the top two are that it regulates your hunger hormones, as well as helps improve your relationship with food. Let’s face it, if you don’t have a good relationship with food then you really shouldn’t be trying to lose weight to start with.

Get Strong AF / 10k Steps A Day

Get strong AF - because lets face it - nothing bad can come of getting stronger can it? Strength training is also accessible to nearly every human alive, unlike many other forms of movemnt like playing sport hence I like to try to help as many of my friends as possible get strong AF.

Now, 10k Steps A Day, isn’t easy in Australia. I used to always find getting my steps in so much easier in London. But here we are, and actually, Toowoomba is probably more helpful than most places in Australia for this - at least Autumn and Winter are normal temperatures. Nothing in life is quite as nice as an Autumn Walk around Queens Park.

As you now know, to be in a calorie deficit, you need to spend more calories than you consume. To spend calories all movement is helpful, and in conversations about metabolism, this is often referred to as NEAT (Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis). 7500 steps is the magic number to improve your health and mortality but all movement is helpful so I set all of my clients the goal of 10k. Get above 7500 you’re winning. Get to 10k you’re winning even more.

It’s another win-win.

7 Hours Sleep A Night

Look, I appreciate many people out there who just can’t get 7 hours of sleep in a night. New mums, new dads and shift workers to name a few. However, an awful lot of my clients can get 7 hours of sleep in a night, yet before they met me, they didn't realise they needed to.

Put simply when we are tired two things happens to the body. Firstly, our willpower is lowered and therefore we are less likely to adhere to our dietary wishes. Secondly, our activity drops, because we are tired.

Rest is one of the most integral parts to a weight loss process. So please prioritise it.

The piece of this Toowoomba Weight Loss puzzle that I am most passionate about is step 2.

Get Strong AF.

It’s what I am passionate about.

It’s how many, many, many of my friends have found their joy in movement and fitness.

Friends like these:

If you feel a little overwhelmed from all of this advice.

Never really been sure where to start, but like the cut of my jib.

Then I would love to help you more.

I train clients exclusively in Toowoomba, and not only do I help them navigate the wonderful world of weight loss, but I help them get stronger, I help them solve their emotional eating and we become great friends along the way.

I continue my Toowoomba Weight Loss Clinics.

My clients get a whole heap of:

• Video Courses

• Workout Manuals

• Recipe Books

• Access to me

• Calorie Calculators

• Workout Programs

• Training Programs

• Nutrition Help and Advice

Working with me is really simple and straightforward - just click on the link here:

If you want to work with me, I would love to hear from you.

I just have one other aspect of How To Lose Weight In Toowoomba to take you through:

Hypnotherapy for Weight Loss Toowoomba

Curiously, hypnotherapy seems to be a popular search for people who are looking to lose weight in Toowoomba. I am not overly familiar with hypnotherapy, however, I am a firm believer in the power of meditation and in particular the power of stillness to help my clients lose weight.

Whether these moments of stillness help them fall asleep, so that they get their 7 hours of sleep in, or whether these moments help them reduce stress and therefore decrease their desire for comforting foods, I recommend a few moments of meditation as regularly as is possible.

The power of stillness and calm in this day and age is one that requires a lot of work, and discipline but the benefits can be huge, especially if you are looking to lose weight.

Each of my clients gets access to my meditation series called The Daily Stillness, which not only helps them find these quiet moments in their day, but it also helps them improve their self esteem, their relationship with food, increase thier sleep, help them with motivation for working out as well provide tools to reduce anxiety and stress.

If you want to find out more about how this meditation series can help you lose weight then please head here: Can Meditation Help With Your Weight Loss and Emotional Eating?

A Final Word…

Thank you so much for reading my Blog.

I truly hope you found if helpful.

If you need any further help with your weight loss journey and live in Toowoomba then please feel free to Apply To Work With Me by heading here:

I cannot wait to hear from you really soon…

Peace, Love and Protein,

Coach Adam

Toowoomba Weight Loss

References for How To Lose Weight in Toowoomba:

1. Chief health officer reports - 2018: The Health of Queenslanders - publications: Queensland Government, Publications. corporateName=The State of Queensland; jurisdiction=Queensland. Available at: https://www.publications.qld.gov.au/dataset/chief-health-officer-reports/resource/90d328e1-db7e-4a8c-b1bf-ae294c7de31c

(Accessed: November 27, 2023).

2. Toowoomba (no date) Household income | Toowoomba Regional Council | Community profile. Available at: https://profile.id.com.au/toowoomba/household-income (Accessed: 27 October 2023).

Personal Training Toowoomba: Get A Free Month

NOTHING BAD CAN COME OF GETTING STRONGER, CAN IT?

Hello, my name is Adam Berry and I am a Personal Trainer here in Toowoomba - and I like to offer all of my clients a free month of personal training.

If you have any questions about how it works then there is an FAQ at the bottom of this page which explains the free month in full.

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MY PROMISE TO YOU…

No lock in contract

No Gym Membership required

No cancellation forfeits

No upfront costs

No Burpees - ever!

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I build very in-depth, and very trustworthy relationships with my clients both in person and online. These relationships are built on honesty, empathy and professionalism.

I do personal training differently because I am a very different personal trainer….

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I am so pleased you are here. I spend my life getting people like you to become the person they want to be. My belief is that change always starts with confidence. Confidence is the one thing that is stopping you from being who you are now…and who you want to be when you look at yourself in the mirror.

I won’t sell you nonsense about how losing a few kgs will change your life, and I won’t push goals onto you, or ever shame you into living up to my version of fitness, compared to what you want out of working with me. You are the boss. Whatever you want to achieve, we achieve.

We achieve this through a value-based training model, and the moist important value we will work with is: empathy.,

Once we have empathy in place we can understanding and allow for circumstance second, and then create balance third in order to achieve the results you want to achieve.

The key to confidence is strength.

I will be your number-one cheerleader. I will give you the tools. And I will help you every step of the way.

Once you have a cheerleader…things start to become a lot easier (and if you ask nicely I may bring my pom poms to the gym with me).

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AM I THE BEST PERSONAL TRAINER IN TOOWOOMBA?

I put this title here not to gloat. But it helps with Google SEO - and it’s more than likely that is how you found me…

However, you can see for yourself what my clients, past and present, say about me.

I have also had a number of media appearances as a writer and on the radio all over the world.

Then you can make your own mind up on whether what the people say about me, makes me a good fit for what you want in your Personal Trainer.

As that is what is all about really.

Do you think I am the right person for you and what you want out of fitness…

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Watch Some Testimonials:

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No lock in contract

No Gym Membership required

No cancellation forfeits

No upfront costs

No Burpees - ever!

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WHAT YOU GET: PERSONAL TRAINING TOOWOOMBA

It is my job to make sure you have everything you need to make your training an ultimate success - to help make that happen, you get given all of the following:

✅ A completely customised training program with me, which we will review and amend every 5 weeks so that you master your movement and increase muscle strength.
✅ Nutrition Guidelines are reviewed every week so that you can fuel your training to stay on track with your goals.

✅ Access to my Email Video Course, which is a step-by-step guide on navigating your training and nutrition so that you never feel lost when navigating your health and fitness journey.

✅ Access to my exercise tutorial library so that you have how-to guides in your pocket, so that you feel safe if you want to work out away from your sessions.

✅ Unlimited support from me via Email and WhatsApp so that you never feel alone in your journey

✅ You get unlimited access to The Fitness Collective, giving you access to over 250 workouts, Yoga Workouts, Meditations, Monthly Challenges, and every Manual I have ever written so that you can vary your training based on the demands of your life.

✅ Access to my Free Straightforward Fat Loss Facebook Group so that you can connect with other people who are also on a fitness journey.

✅ You get access to Monthly Step Challenges so that you have a competitive drive to keep you on-top of your movement.

✅ Your own Google Drive Folder that gives you access to all of your training plans, and where we will store the progress of your fitness journey so that you have easy access to your resources.

✅ My book “27 Ways To Faster Fat Loss” is a bible of knowledge to help guide you through your journey.

✅ The Beginners Bodyweight Workout Guide.

✅ Hyperdrive Your Metabolism Workout Manual.

✅ OVER 600 Recipes catering for all diets, including Gluten Free, Vegetarian and Vegan all with MyFitness Barcodes, Weekly Shopping Lists and Meal Plans.

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PERSONAL TRAINING COSTS IN TOOWOOMBA

ELIGIBLE FOR FREE MONTH OFFER

NO LOCK IN

NO MINIMUM TERM

NO SESSION CANCELLATION FEE

CUSTOMISED TRAINING PLAN

EMAIL VIDEO COURSES

TRAINING PLANS TO DO OUTSIDE OF SESSIONS

OVER 600 RECIPES FOR ALL DIETS

YOUR OWN GOOGLE DRIVE

SEAMLESS BOOKING

SESSION REMINDERS

FITNESS CHALLENGES

OVER 100 ONLINE WORKOUTS

PROGRESS TRACKERS

ELIGIBLE FOR FREE MONTH OFFER

NO LOCK IN

NO MINIMUM TERM

NO SESSION CANCELLATION FEE

CUSTOMISED TRAINING PLAN

EMAIL VIDEO COURSES

TRAINING PLANS TO DO OUTSIDE OF SESSIONS

OVER 600 RECIPES FOR ALL DIETS

YOUR OWN GOOGLE DRIVE

SEAMLESS BOOKING

SESSION REMINDERS

FITNESS CHALLENGES

OVER 100 ONLINE WORKOUTS

PROGRESS TRACKERS

ELIGIBLE FOR FREE MONTH OFFER

NO LOCK IN

NO MINIMUM TERM

NO SESSION CANCELLATION FEE

CUSTOMISED TRAINING PLAN

EMAIL VIDEO COURSES

TRAINING PLANS TO DO OUTSIDE OF SESSIONS

OVER 600 RECIPES FOR ALL DIETS

YOUR OWN GOOGLE DRIVE

SEAMLESS BOOKING

SESSION REMINDERS

FITNESS CHALLENGES

OVER 100 ONLINE WORKOUTS

PROGRESS TRACKERS

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LOCATION

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FAQ: PERSONAL TRAINING IN TOOWOOMBA

How Does The Free Month Actually Work?

As I mentioned above, you are more than welcome to accept my offer. It is the same as claiming two 45-minute sessions with me. You can make this work for you however you want. Spread it over the month, use it all up on two 45-minute sessions or anything in between. There is also no contract or no minimum term - if working with me doesn’t work for you, then we don’t have to continue at all. Just be honest and upfront with me.

I Have A Friend, Do You Do Group Sessions?

As far as I am concerned, whatever makes your training work for you, it works for me. I would love to train you and your friend or partner in the same session. It is also more cost effective for you as well - which is a win win for everyone .

How Do I Pay For Your Services?

Once your free month is over, I will set you up with a subscription for my services. The money will then come out every four weeks for your sessions. All payment is done via a system called Stripe.

What If I Want To Downgrade?

You can upgrade, downgrade and change your sessions however you wish, whenever you wish. All I would ask is that you understand consistency is really important to success, and try to make sure you choose what you might be able to do for the longest possible time.

How Do I Book My Sessions?

I will send you a link and you can just book away to whatever time slot is available and that works for your life. My availability will vary from time to time, but we can always just catch up on what has been missed. My scheduling system makes sure there is never a clash in my diary, as well as sends you reminders and allows you to set up repeat bookings.

What If I Have To Cancel Last Minute?

This is never an easy situation for anyone. I like to think I am very understanding, as life happens right? Each situation is unique and different when it comes to cancellations, so I figure we just take them as they come, and figure out what is best from there. I do just ask that my clients respect my time and energy.

Do I Need A Gym Membership?

Not at all. I have set up my business so that you meet me at the Gym I work from, in Central Toowoomba, and I train you there. You have access to the gym for as long as I am training you there, and if you wish to join the Gym as a Member you are more than welcome to. To find out where I am head here: The Gym Starter, Toowoomba on Google Maps

What Is Hybrid Training?

It is a mix of in-person and online training. I typically would see you for one session a month, and then you are responsible for training other days of the month outside of seeing me. Of course, I provide your programs, and online support as if you were training with me in person. But this is ideal for someone who has a Gym Membership, but still would like a little guidance to keep them on track over longer periods of time and wants to see a trainer in a more cost-efficient way.

You Talk About Getting Stronger…I Don’t Want To Look Like A Bodybuilder.

I get it. This is a common worry, especially for women. The truth is that without diligent tracking of food, a lot of supplementation, and using illegal drugs you have nothing to worry about. Women do not have enough testosterone to build that much muscle, even if they are training 3x a week. Generally, nothing bad can come of getting stronger, in your mind, body and soul. That doesn’t mean you will look like Arnold Schwarzenegger, I promise.

Do You Do Mobile Personal Training In Toowoomba?

Personally, I prefer seeing my clients at the Gym in which I work, Having one location means I can see and help more people. Added to that access to equipment is an important aspect of having a successful fitness journey. That being said, depending on your circumstances, and what you have available at your house, I will for sure chat to you about these options.

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Creative Ways To Increase Your Steps Each Day

Steps are very important for your fitness journey - and sorry but I don’t mean the 90s pop band with whom I have a great affination - and yes that is a “tragedy”.

Sorry for the awful joke.

I mean walking. Or rather, I almost view it as physical meditation.

Steps are one of the single most important pillars to pin any fitness journey to for anyone. Simply because in terms of exercise especially, they are so easily accessible to everyone.

Although having said that, I have certainly noticed how much harder it is to get my steps in regularly since moving to Australia compared to living in the UK. Its a lot easier to walk in the rain than it is in the sun!

This is me most days here in Queensland.

Steps are a golden tool to help you in your fitness journey - especially if it is weight loss orientated - and so I am going to take you through as many ways as I can think of to help you increase those steps each and every day to help you conquer your goals.

The idea for this Blog Post came from a BBC article [1] I saw titled:

“Walking can boost your fitness and Mental Health says PHA (Public Health Agency)”

The article highlighted that in Northern Ireland two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese and that the average step count in Northern Ireland was 3000-4000 steps a day.

It also goes on to say that walking is often overlooked as a form of effective exercise, despite its ability to build stamina, burn excess calories and improve heart health.

The section that stood out to me the most was the comment by the NHS that said:

“walking is often overlooked as a form of effective exercise”

And I know this to be true. The number of times I have had to convince a client on the Strong & Confident Program that their daily steps are more important than their workouts, especially if they are wanting to lose weight is far too great. This is because the fitness industry and society will make you think that a workout burns more calories than it actually does compared to the daily habit of hitting that step target.

One thing the BBC article does miss out on is actually helping you figure out how to increase your steps so that you can improve your overall health and fitness. Which is exactly why I wanted to sit down and write this for you.

Now I am sure you have a million and one questions all about this topic - but don’t worry - I will of course take you through it all in the rest of this article.

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Table of Contents for Creative Ways To Increase Your Steps Each Day:

1. Why Should You Increase Your Steps?

2. How Many Steps A Day To Lose Weight?

3. Can Walking Help Your Mental Health?

4. How To Increase Your Step Count at Home

5. How To Increase Your Step Count at Work

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Why Should You Increase Your Steps?

I wanted to start by answering this question because without showing you the value of your steps each day it is far less likely you are going to nail the target you have set for yourself.

Let us start with your metabolism and how it is broken down.

Metabolism basically means the “amount of calories you burn each day” and it is a very hard thing to “break”. If you think that your metabolism is broken, and you don’t have hypothyroidism or another diagnosed metabolic condition by a doctor, then I come with good news.

Your Metabolism isn’t broken. It is more than likely you just aren’t understanding what goes into it and therefore what you can get out of it.

Our metabolism is a pretty static thing throughout our whole lives, even when as a woman, you go through pregnancy and menopause. Your Metabolism just doesn’t change.

As a study called Daily Energy Expenditure Through the Human Life Course [2] found out.

It looked at a cohort of people over their lifetime and analysed their metabolism from 8 days old to 95 years old and it found between the ages of 20 and 60 metabolism was stable.

You can see the trends in the graphs above. It should also be noted, there are some outliers from the trend, and if this is your lived experience then that needs to be noted.

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READ MY BLOG THAT OUTLINES EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR METABOLISM:

IS YOUR METABOLISM BROKEN?

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Now that you know your Metabolism is pretty stable from the age of 20 years old, what goes into it and how can you get the most out of it.

The two sections I really want you to take note of in the above image are:

EAT and NEAT

EAT: This is your Exercise Activity Thermogenesis and it is simply how many calories you burn when doing a prescribed movement. HIIT, a Group Fitness Session, a Monthly Issue Workout, a jog, a bike ride - anything that is “fitness”.

And it is worth just 5% of your Metabolism or “the number of calories you burn each day”.

NEAT: This is all other movements you do in your day. Standing on the tube to go to work, doing your grocery shop, cleaning the house, brushing your teeth, fidgeting at your desk, and yes, your daily steps.

This is worth a whopping 15% of your Metabolism or “the number of calories you burn each day”.

And is also the biggest portion of your Metabolism that is directly under your control.

In a weight loss scenario, this is crucially important to know and is a huge reason one of my 5 Awesome Rules for Fat Loss Life is 10,000 steps a day.

Not that you NEED to do 10,000 steps a day - but more on that later.

Understanding your Metabolism in this way is also why I frame movement for all of my clients and have called my online coaching program the Strong & Confident Program. You won’t lose weight by doing some workouts in the Gym. Workouts are designed to get a human strong, not smaller, and your Metabolism would agree with me.

There are many other reasons you should increase your step count each day which will be sprinkled in the rest of this article.

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How Many Steps A Day To Lose Weight?

No.

It really isn’t.

And here is the good news: you don’t have to do Ultra Marathons to lose weight.

Earlier in this article, I mentioned the dreaded: 10,000 steps a day.

There are studies that back this up, but with a kicker, seldom spoken about when setting step targets.

A study called: Pattern of Daily Steps is Associated with Weight Loss: Secondary Analysis from the Step-Up Randomized Trial [3] found the following from 363 participants in this 18-month study:

“Results support the recommendation of accumulating 10,000 steps·day, with approximately 3,500 of these steps per day being performed at a moderate-to-vigorous intensity in bouts of at least 10 minutes, to enhance weight loss in response to a behavioural weight loss intervention. While these results have implications that inform public health recommendations for physical activity.”

Key things to highlight here are:

Firstly the participants were in a Calorie Deficit.

The second is they completed 3,500 steps at a vigorous intensity.

Third is that it took 18 months for the participants to achieve a greater than 10% of body weight loss and only 263 of them managed to stick with it.

The origins of 10,000 steps a day are quite odd really, it was invented as a target by a Japanese company that wanted to sell their pedometers - and then the figure just stuck - and it was popularised by FitBit.

Essentially there is no magic number of steps a day to lose weight - and all weight loss efforts are futile if you aren’t in a Calorie Deficit.

But increasing your NEAT is always going to help you burn more calories and increase your weight loss efforts - all else being equal.

For some of you, this would be 10,000 steps a day.

For others, an increase in your step count could simply be increasing to 5,000 or 8,000.

What I tell all my clients who are working on a Fat Loss phase is, to work on creative ways to increase their steps over the day, and then still target a walk at vigorous intensity - and the best way to judge that is to challenge yourself to walk fast enough to struggle to hold a conversation, or if you are outside in a colder climate, to a point where you don’t need to wear a jacket.

Let me tell you about my client Jason who lives in Wisconsin and is on the Strong and Confident Program.

Jason is a truck driver. He gets up at 2am and drives from Wisconsin all the way to Ohio to deliver bricks and other materials for buildings, and then he drives back.

His ability to get steps in is really tough. We are constantly working on his diet to make sure he is in a Calorie Deficit when he is on the road, and we have had to come up with some really creative ways to help him regularly hit his step target. Things like walking around the truck when waiting to load and unload. Doing Truck laps when he is at a rest stop.

He has now lost 10kg in three months. His starting weight was 124kg, or as he is American, 272lbs. And in the last screenshot below you can see he hit 252lbs recently.

Here is a snapshot of the hard work he put into increasing his steps from his feedback forms over the last few months of his training. You can see his increased focus on steps week on week and the outcomes associated with them just from what he is feeding back to me.

It really is an awesome insight.

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FOR MORE READING ON THIS TOPIC HEAD HERE:

IS 10,000 STEPS A DAY ENOUGH TO LOSE WEIGHT AND BE HEALTHY?

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Can Walking Help Your Mental Health?

It certainly can.

I am of the belief that a walk cures most things.

We know, at this point, that exercise benefits your mood, as it helps reduce stress levels, it increases dopamine in your system, releases endorphins and gives you a sense of productivity.

Walking also fits into this narrative very easily.

There is one other key benefit of walking that you don’t get from being in a gym.

Nature.

Being in nature is a great stress reliever as well. Getting Vitamin D on your skin, looking at trees, fresh air and all the good stuff that outside giving you is worth its weight in gold when it comes to improving your mental health.

Another added benefit to your mental health from walking is the fact you will sleep better. This comes from having increased activity levels, but also from your body being able to tell the difference between night and day. The more sunlight your body gets, the more it will help regulate your circadian rhythm which is responsible for the timing of your internal body clock.

I say to all my clients that a walk cures everything.

Stressed…go for a walk.

Anxious…go for a walk.

Angry…go for a walk.

Depressed…go for a walk (if you can).

Feeling pent up…go for a walk.

Feel like you need to move…go for a walk.

Walking demands you create space and time between whatever it is that is stressing you out, and your response to that stress. It allows you to process things not only mentally but physically too. Going for a walk is simply a way for you to iron out anything snags you have in your life.

And I think thats pretty cool - and something worth valuing in one’s life.

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How To Increase Your Step Count at Home

Over the years I have trained many, many people who have office jobs and busy family lives.

Simply telling them to go for a vigorous walk at lunch was not possible.

Or, a walk when the children were in bed at night time, in East London, considering I train mainly women, was not a good idea either.

So we had to get creative - and I also had to educate them on what steps actually meant.

Your Apple Watch doesn’t just pick up steps when you walk, it picks up any intentional movement that also picks up your heart rate just a touch.

This means you can clock up your steps whenever you are doing any sort of task - because remember the goal isn’t to increase actual steps the goal is to increase your NEAT activity,

You can therefore increase your steps at home by:

• Cleaning the house

• Tidying up after your kids

• Mowing the lawn (I have a two-acre yard, its like walking a marathon every time)

• Squatting when you brush your teeth

• Climbing the stairs in the ad breaks when you are watching Love Island

This reminds me of a very funny post I once did:

When I was working in London I had a couple of clients who refused to train with me if it clashed with Love Island - hence I decided to make them workout whilst they watched it.

As you can tell…I am not a Love Island fan…

• Making your bed

• Dancing in your living room

• Having sex (hopefully lots of it)

• Decorating

• Doing some building work

• Sawing some wood

• Chopping some wood

• Work upstairs so each time you need to eat you climb the staircase

• Gardening

• Chase your children

• Play with your pets

• Do calf raises whilst the kettle boils

Basically, anything goes in your house so long as it increases your activity level.

And yes, it may feel superfluous. It might feel a little weird, and a little forced. But the more you do it, the more normal it will feel, and the more you do it, the more likely you are to see the fruits of your labour, which will likely make you more and more motivated to continue.

And remember, if my fiancee was able to get 10,000 steps in a day when she was in a hotel room isolating as she returned to Australia during the covid-19 pandemic then I am sure there are many ways in which you can explore your entire home to increase your step count.

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How To Increase Your Step Count at Work

You could set off a fake fire alarm…

But I don’t personally recommend it as you might get into trouble with the authorities.

This is quite a hard topic to approach because every job has different demands, and a nurse for example, probably won’t need to read this section. However, a lawyer or an administrator might need to. A truck driver has far less opportunity to increase their steps at work compared to a teacher.

What I will do is approach this section from the point of view of a generic “office worker” and hopefully some of it might give you some ideas to then adapt and take into your own professional life.

And remember, its not just about steps on your watch…its’s about increasing NEAT activity.

• Park your car further away from the office

• Stand on Public Transport during your commute

• Offer to the morning coffee run

• Make all the tea and coffee in the office all day for your co-workers

• Drink lots of water so you have to make more journeys to the toilet (I recommend 2-3 litres a day)

• Eat lots of fibrous food and remember Elmo…

• Fidget at your desk

• Walk on your lunch break

• Have walking meetings

• Always stand up when you are on the phone

• Take the stairs, not the lift

• Collect your own printouts

• Hand out the days post

• Greet your colleagues by saying hello each morning around the office

• Go for a walk as opposed to grabbing a snack

• Get a walking pad in your office

• Get a standing desk

• Get a foot cycling thingy like this:

As you can see, there are lots of opportunities in and around your office to help increase your steps at work. One thing I know very well from having worked in corporate and many different office setups, from being a City Banker to working in world-class stadiums, is that the first barrier to some of these changes is your co-worker’s judgement on what you are doing, and the second thing is really what is most important.

Focussed activity equals more productivity. I fully appreciate that the argument to your boss to allow you to work out during your work hours will likely fall on deaf ears - more fool your boss when you look at the science involved with this.

There was a study [3] in Denmark 15 randomized trials took place in the workplace. It totalled 3500 employees across 10-52 weeks and gave the employee one hour of training a week. The training - matched something known as Intelligent Physical Exercise Training (which is a fancy term for a personalised training session with a Personal Trainer) as well as meeting other physical activity guidelines.

Its conclusions are rather epic. So epic in fact, I decided to give you the whole conclusion verbatim:

“Physical exercise training at work as IPET benefits the worker in terms of decreasing health risk indicators, improving physical capacity and functions as well as perceived health. Also, the employer may benefit from allowing the employees work time for such training through decreased sickness absenteeism and presenteeism in terms of improved or maintained productivity and workability. Finally, on the societal level exercise can be “more than medicine” since exercise in a specific manner can maintain the individual's ordinary daily physical functions and ability to move (walk, run). This is becoming more and more important among the ageing workers and in a public health perspective.”

Now because despite the evidence on display, your boss isn’t going to give you a free pass to head to the gym for an hour a week, it still shows that physical exercise, any physical exercise, even to the level of walking more, will make you more productive. It will decrease your sickness, it will improve your mood and it will give you more energy to focus on your tasks at hand.

So despite what your co-workers might think, despite how odd it feels pedalling under your desk, it will all feel better when you have far less stress relating to your job, when you feel more socially included with your co-workers and when you are being more productive.

So if going for a walk at lunch takes you some way towards that…then it can’t be a bad thing, and you are also increasing your steps whilst at work.

What a win-win.

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A Final Word…

I truly hope you found this article helpful. I have spent the best part of the last decade of my life helping people reframe and reimagine what fitness means to them and how they view their relationship with fitness.

Whether that is their relationship with food, exercise or themselves, I have helped 1000s of people focus on getting stronger in their mind, body and soul to help them have more increased confidence and self-esteem.

I do this in a variety of ways:

• My Blog - www.thegymstarter.com/blog

• My Training Program - The Strong and Confident Program

• My Books - 27 Ways To Faster Fat Loss

As well as the usual social media channels.

If you would like to find out more about getting stronger then please drop me an email by using the form below:

Have a great day,

Thanks for reading

Coach Adam,

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References:

1. Connolly, M.-L. (2023) Walking more can boost fitness and Mental Health, says Pha, BBC News. BBC. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-65163071 (Accessed: April 10, 2023).

2. Daily Energy Expenditure Through the Human Life Course | Science (no date). Available at: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abe5017 (Accessed: April 10, 2023).

3. Author links open overlay panelGisela Sjøgaard and AbstractBackgroundPhysical activity (PA) includes muscle activity during exercise (2016) Exercise is more than medicine: The working age population’s well-being and productivity, Journal of Sport and Health Science. Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095254616300096 (Accessed: 17 May 2023).

A Practical Fitness Plan for Football and Soccer Referees

That’s me. Refereeing here in Queensland Australia.

This was my third game back in 2022 after a few years off. I retired from football in 2019 in the UK, my last game was a very cold, very wet, pre-Christmas game where I was very very happy to be hanging up my boots after about 8 years as a referee. I managed to get to Level 4 in the UK in the space of three years and completed 8 full seasons as a referee in the UK. I am now starting my tenth full season overall, and second in Queensland.

I had a lot planned when I retired in the UK - a move across the world being one of those things, and I just needed to claw some time back in my life to be with my family and focus on my business.

I’m telling you this for a number of reasons, but the first one is that coming back to refereeing is what inspired me to create a podcast with my good friend Ed Connell. I realised I had been out of football for a number of years, and over that time a lot of the Laws had changed - and I had no idea about them.

So I messaged Ed, and said to him that I need to re-learn the Laws of the Game. But I am a very poor reader and was constantly trying to find an audio version of the Laws. Alas, this didn’t exist - so I told Ed - lets's make it a podcast. That way I can pass my theory exams, and hopefully it will help other referees too.

So we created a podcast which you can listen to here: Red or Yellow

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LISTEN TO OUR LATEST EPISODE HERE

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This has now become one of the most popular podcasts on the internet in the art of refereeing, and our listeners are just the best.

They ask all kinds of questions, and we spend our time not just covering the Laws of the Game, but answering questions and coaching other referees all around the world.

And one topic that comes up time and time again is: Fitness for Refereeing.

Hence I am here. Writing this for my listeners, and for you.

I passed my latest fitness test just last Tuesday, and at the mean old age of 35, I am starting to learn lots of different things about my body and how it relates to the very strange conundrum of Fitness for Refereeing.

Referee fitness is a very different beast to many other sports - and this program is designed to help you through all aspects of that, in a practical way, that isn’t written for FIFA Referees, that takes into account your life as well as your desire to get better and better at refereeing.

I hope you enjoy it, and I hope truly that it helps your game improve - because that is what we are all after.

I am going to take you through a whole season, of football, from Pre Season to Post Season and everything in between.

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Table of Contents for: A Practical Fitness Plan for Football and Soccer Referees:

1. What Fitness does a Referee need in Football?

2. The Referee Fitness Test

3. Pre-Season Fitness for Referees

4. In-Season Fitness for Referees

5. The Importance of Recovery

6. A Note on Injuries

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What Fitness does a Referee need in Football?

It’s unique to say the least and it changes from level to level of what you referee. But I am going to presume that because you are here trying to find out how to improve your fitness, then you want to work to the highest level you possibly can.

A referee needs three main abilities:

• A quick change of speed

• Fast heart rate recovery

• Cognitive fitness

Simply saying “Cardio Fitness” is a little bit of a red herring, as there is so much more demand on your system than just your heart rate - important though it is.

My goal for the 2023 season is to cover an average of 10km a game.

The Asian Football Confederation outline [1] the following demands that are placed on a Referee for their fitness:

• The total distance equals 11-12km per game

• High-Intensity Activity for 4-18% of the total distance

• Sprinting 1-8% of the total distance

• Changes of direction >500 mostly 30-60 degrees

• Average Heart Rate is 85% of your MaxHR

That’s quite a demand.

Obviously, this is at a professional standard of refereeing. But it does still bring it into perspective even for the grassroots referee.

This is how the AFC sum up the fitness environment for refereeing:

I almost wanted to put the following GIF under the headline of “fitness environment for referees”:

We have a lot on our plate.

Add into that, no two games are the same, you must always prepare for the worst-case scenario.

The Asian Football Confederation also states this about refereeing:

“The majority of referees have jobs, trades or professions to earn a living. Refereeing is therefore an additional activity – a hobby of sorts in some cases. Finding a balance between the demands of work and life, family and officiating is challenging and similar to that found in amateur and most Olympic sports: schedules of training sessions, time away on refereeing duty, and so on.” 

Despite all of this, there is still an expectation of perfection to our performance - and yet we are not given the same tools as professional athletes to be able to produce such results.

I have found that many plans for referees are all designed for the highest level of performance.  Which of course is always the aim.

But how does that help you as a Grassroots referee? How does that help you when you have:

• A family to care for?

• A full-time job fit into your schedule?

• No access to professional coaching and technology?

• An ability to go to the gym maybe once/twice a week?

• A social life to squeeze into this?

Refereeing for so many of you is a hobby.  A hobby we should all strive to get better at, and keep developing with and learning from.  A hobby that can turn into a professional career.  But a hobby.  A hobby that a lot of the programs from football bodies just aren’t balanced correctly for you to develop and balance your life.

And that is why I am here writing this for you.

Let’s start at the start of your season:

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The Referee Fitness Test

If you listen to Red or Yellow you will be fully aware of my struggles with Fitness Tests.  I shan’t publicly shame myself here also.

 I have never failed a fitness test – but I have always found them a struggle – and they are pretty demanding affairs.

 I get very nervous about them, and am very aware that a lot of people see me as “the personal trainer who is a referee” – and I, therefore, feel a certain expectation is placed upon me.  Rightly or wrongly.

I am also very happy to state I am not the fittest referee in the world.  I do have a congenital heart condition, and that does impact my ability for high performance somewhat.  But we can all have excuses, and the truth is, in spite of this, I also need to make sure I work hard enough to stay on top of my ability to pass my fitness tests each season, if I want to continue the high level I do referee at – or even improve.

In the UK my Fitness Test used to be 2600m in 12 minutes flat as a straight run.

Now it is a FIFA Level Dynamic Yo-Yo Bleep Test which I have to get a minimum of 18.5 to pass.

This means I have to cover 40 meters, sprinting, with decreasing rest and increasing speed, over roughly a 15-minute time frame.

For context, to be at the National/International Level you need to hit 18.8+.  So I am performing at a pretty high level.  I had my Fitness Test last Tuesday and got 18.7, and running in January, at night in Queensland, is a whole other deal.

Over the years, and the fitness tests that I have done I have found these the most helpful strategies to pass them:

1.     PRACTICE THE TEST

“To fail to prepare is to prepare to fail”

— Benjamin Franklin

You can argue that the Fitness Test for refereeing does not mirror the act of refereeing very well.  You certainly get longer rest times on the field to recover your heart rate and therefore sustain your fitness over the 90 minutes of the game. 

However, it is part of the process of what you have to do to referee.=

So you need to get comfortable with doing them, and fighting them will not help you.  

Last year, I had no idea what the test was or how to do it.  I had no clue what a dynamic yo-yo was, and it was completely new to me.  I went into it, relying on pure grit, determination and a prayer – and I passed.  Just. 

This was because it was my first year here in Queensland refereeing, after three-four years off and it was just a different process from what I was used to.

I do not recommend this as a process.

Practice.  When the fitness test is performed, you won’t be refereeing, so you have plenty of capacity to practice the test.  

They are unique in their design, and therefore you can’t rest on your laurels to pass.   

You can download an audio guide to the Dynamic Yo-Yo Test here: FIFA Dynamic Yo-Yo Test

Go to Kmart buy a set of cones, buy a tape measure, and practice once or twice a week, for about 8 weeks before you get tested. 

If you are in the UK, then get on a treadmill and set yourself up for a 5km run.  Within that 5km, make sure you cover 2600m or 27000m depending on your level within the first 12 minutes of running your 5km, then finish off your 5km at whatever pace you can manage.

Do this once or twice a week for 8 weeks building up to the test.

I would also say, try and make your practice conditions a little harder than the testing conditions. 

·      Set your cones 42m apart

·      Practice in the heat of the day

·      Try and get your 2600m done in 11:45 on the treadmill

·      Practice when you are more tired than normal

·      Practice at the end of your Gym session rather than at the start

These little things will make it a lot easier when you have geared your whole day to be able to complete the test and you feel at your best.

By practising your Fitness Test you will achieve two things:

1.     Builds your ability to simply pass the test – sometimes you just have to pass what is in front of you.

2.     Builds your confidence – this is a big thing for me.  If I feel confident in my knowledge of preparation for a test, on testing day, when there is pressure on you when there are your peers near you, and nerves are jangling, you can lean into the preparation you have done and know, no matter what happens emotionally on the day, you can physically pass what you are doing. 

1.     DAY OF THE TEST

“Nerves are natural, it shows you are ready to face a challenge and perform”

— Dan Carter

Depending on the time of the day of your test, will depend on how you prepare for the test. But there are some principles you can adopt to help no matter what.

1. Sleep the night before - don’t stay up late, don’t drink alcohol, and don’t do anything that won’t give you the best chance of a good night’s sleep the night before. If I have an evening test, I also make sure I have time for a nap beforehand.

2. Hydration - you must make sure you are hydrated for your performance. You should be looking at about 3ltrs a day, especially on a game day, but for your test, if it is at the start of the day, have at least one litre in your system, and continue sipping as the day rolls on.

3. Wear the same kit you trained in - you want to replicate your training as much as possible.

4. Time your food - eat a main meal about 90 minutes before your test, this will give it enough time to be digested making you feel lighter when it comes to the test, but equally you will have the glycogen in your system you need.

5. Run your test - don’t try and keep up with someone you have never met and is a lot fitter than you. Equally don’t try and get your mate through the test if it will jeopardise your ability to pass.

6. Control your nerves - it’s normal to be nervous and you need to learn to work with them. Take confidence in your preparation and get comfortable with your environment, this will make the whole experience worthwhile.

7. Warm up on your terms - do what will make you feel best for your fitness test, don’t get dragged into a really intense warm up that you weren’t ready for.

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Pre-Season Fitness For Referees

Pre Season is undoubtedly the weirdest time there is as a football referee - I am going through it right now. It’s just weird. Weird energy, weird football and above everything else, you are trying to get fit as well as the players.

There is also no real defined “pre-season” time. Every league, every club and every country has a different length of pre-season, different rules around pre-season and my goodness, the weather is very different in pre-season.

So far my games have been in 32-40 degree heat.

Unfortunately, at this point, just doing Pre Season games is unlikely to be enough for you to get fit in time for the season to begin. This all depends, obviously, on how active you are in the post-season, but, you should have used that time to relax and recuperate, as the body always needs downtime, as does the brain.

No athlete should be going at their peak 12 months of the year.

My Pre-Season Objectives are as follows:

• To build strength and injury prevention work.

• To develop my long-term cardiovascular ability

• To keep flexible enough to enjoy the work needed to referee

Once I have my objectives in place for this part of my season, I then devise a training plan. I nearly always referee on the weekend, especially in pre-season, and therefore my plan is structured thus:

MONDAY: REST AND RECOVERY

My rest and recovery from a game usually involve going for a light swim, and continuing to walk, alongside just decompressing from my match and trying to just get the whole thing out of my system.

TUESDAY: MOBILITY EXERCISES

This can be anything related to mobility. At the minute I am very much working on my Hip Mobility to improve my agility and sprints.

WEDNESDAY: STRENGTH AND INJURY PREVENTION

I put this in the middle of the week because by the time I have recovered from my weekend, I am hoping I still have the energy with which to work out. I am only putting one Strength Training Session in here, and therefore there needs to be an element of full body work to it.

I would also suggest working to an intensity of 8 or 9 out of 10 on the RPE Scale for the workout.

The RPE Scale is known as the Rate of Perceived Exertion and is a subjective scale that will let you figure out what weights to put on the bar.

You will want to work your hardest in the gym during the preseason as there are fewer demands on your performance as a referee. This is about maximising your time to get as fit and strong as possible without the worry of competitive football.

My preferred workout is:

WARM-UP:

Mobility Work: 2 Sets, 10 Reps, RPE ~4

MAIN MOVEMENTS:

1.5 Dumbell Bench Press: 4 Sets, 8 Reps, RPE ~9

Barbell or Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift: 4 Sets, 8 Reps, RPE ~9

90 seconds rest after each Set

3 Rounds of the following SUPERSETS (do one round of all exercises before you rest):

Lateral Pull Down: 10 Reps, RPE ~8

Push Ups: 10 Reps, RPE ~8

60 secs rest after each set of Push Ups

Barbell Shoulder Press: 10 Reps on each side, RPE ~ 8

Lunge Driver: 10 Reps on each side, RPE ~8

Barbell Bent Over Row: 10 Reps, RPE ~8

60 seconds rest after each Barbell Bent Over Row

2 Rounds of the FINISHER SUPERSET:

Lateral Heiden Hops: 20 Reps, RPE ~8
1.5 Single-Leg Hip Thrust, RPE ~8

Plank Shoulder Taps: 20 Reps, RPE ~7

THURSDAY: NON-IMPACT CARDIO

Here I would just work at 80% of my Max Heart Rate for about 20-30mins.

To figure out your Max Heart Rate (MHR) you need to subtract your age from 220.

I’m 36 years old therefore my MHR is 184. 80% of that would be 147.2 beats per min.

Another way of figuring this out would be an RPE ~8 out of 10.

This could be executed on a walk, a swim, a bike ride…anything that is Cardiovascular work but not running.

FRIDAY: REST AND RECOVERY

This is pretty straightforward. It doesn’t mean go out and party, it simply means give your body some time away from the demands of moving under stress.

SATURDAY/SUNDAY: MATCH DAY & LIGHT MOVEMENT WORK

Depending on what day is my game, will depend on what I do on the other day. My light movement work would likely be:

• Walking

• Swimming

• Mobility

• A 60% of MHR Jog

I wouldn’t associate any performance goals or expectations to the movement, I would just make sure I am moving to keep my energy up and to help me sleep well the night before my game.

That is the Pre-Season plan I would stick to. Obviously, you might need to keep it flexible to work around your life, but if you have the structure, you can then group days together or make it match your life in the best way possible for you.

What I would say is that you likely know where your strengths and weaknesses lie. If you feel you need to do two strength sessions a week then feel free to substitute one in. Now you have a structure you can manipulate it to your needs and desires - and that is important as you know your body best.

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In-Season Fitness For Referees

Once the season starts, life can get very hectic for your fitness for four main reasons:

• Travel demands will likely increase

• Mid-Week Fixtures come into the fray

• Games will be more demanding

• Sleep will likely be impacted negatively.

A lot of what goes into your fitness during a season is more to do with recovering properly compared to working on your ability to perform.

And the more games you do each week, the more your focus needs to be on solely recovering rather than just performance.

If I am having one match a week my plan would look like this:

MONDAY: STRENGTH AND INJURY PREVENTION WORK

During the season my workout would have a slightly more upper-body focus compared to my pre-season training, as I would want to preserve energy and my ability to recover my legs for my performances and cardio work.

Now you are in the season, you want to drop the intensity of your workouts in order to allow for optimal performance and recovery from physical exertion.

My workout would look like this:

WARM-UP and HIP MOBILITY EXERCISES:

MAIN MOVEMENTS:

Barbell Squat - 3 sets, 10 reps, RPE ~7

Pull Up - 3 sets, 10 reps, RPE ~7

90 seconds rest between each set

3 Rounds of the following SUPERSET:

Single Arm Dumbbell Row: 10 reps on each side, RPE ~7

Barbell Hip Thrust: 10 Reps, RPE ~7

Incline Dumbbell Chest Press: 10 reps, RPE ~7

3 Rounds of the following SUPERSET:

Barbell Romanian Deadlift; 10 reps, RPE ~6

Russian Twists: 15 reps on each side, RPE ~6

Walkout: 10 reps, RPE ~6

Bird Dog: 8 reps on each side RPE ~6

60 seconds rest after the Bird Dogs

TUESDAY: CARDIO AND FLEXIBILITY WORK

This is going to be designed to give you enough time to recover in time for your game at the weekend, as well as put in enough work to feel the progress you are after.

In this session, you need to make your Cardio Session an RPE of 8 or work to 80% of your MHR and I would expect to see a 20-30-minute session here.

This can be:

• Running

• Cycling

• Rowing

• Swimming

And then your cool-down period is the Hip Mobility stretches below.

WEDNESDAY: REST AND RECOVERY

Just take a day off of physical work and enjoy yourself.

THURSDAY: CHANGE OF DIRECTION WORK ~10-20mins

There are many exercises you can do for a change of direction work, and they are all designed to help improve your agility and your ability to get around the field.

Remember a referee has to >500 changes of direction in a match. We need supple ankles, knees and hips.

Within this program, I have tried to encourage Hip mobility the most, as oftenn in sports therapy when there is an issue with a tight ankle or knee, the hip is the starting place to help recover that.

Change of direction drills can be:

• Lateral Hurdle Hops

• Lateral Broad Jump

• Lateral Single Leg Cone Hops

• Lateral A Run

• Bosu Single-Leg Hops

• Back and forth progressive sprinting

RPE for the whole session is ~7.

FRIDAY: REST AND RELAX

Use Friday to recover from your week, and prepare yourself mentally and physically for your game. If you haven’t already; text your team to check in for the day ahead, lay out expectations and find out what they want from the game as well.

SATURDAY/SUNDAY: MATCH DAY & LIGHT MOVEMENT WORK

This is very much the same as in Pre-Season, do what you need to get yourself ready for the game ahead.

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The Importance of Recovery

The most important thing I want you to remember here is the following:

“Rest is your fuel for the future”

— Adam Berry

You must take your rest and recovery seriously in your season. The purpose of rest and recovery is to make sure that you get yourself physically able to perform at your highest level as quickly as possible.

As I have gotten older, this is becoming more and more a key feature of my week.

If I recover correctly, it means I can keep on top of my training schedule, which makes me a better referee overall.

Recovery can be broken into two key features:

• Sleep

• Active Recovery

Sleep is critically important for the body to be able to recover, and to make sure that you don’t start fatiguing faster than you should be. The more active you are, the more importance you must put upon your sleep.

Some important things for you to put into practice with your sleep would be:

• No caffeine past midday

• Go to bed at the same time each day

• Wake up at the same time each day

• Reduce alcohol intake

• Make sure your room is as dark as possible

• Only use your bedroom for sex and sleep

These are all very important to make sure you are getting into deep REM sleep. Alcohol and caffeine block your body’s ability to get into the more restful sleep cycle, as does light infiltration and blue light from televisions and screens.

Obviously, there is a balance to be struck with all things, but by outlining what the expectation should be you can see areas of your recovery to work on.

Added to this, deeper stronger sleep makes you more resilient, helps you perform more physically, and will help you not fixate and stress out over decisions you made in the game. You need time away from football not just physically but mentally as well - and the better you sleep the better your mental state for each game will be.

Active Recovery will look different for all of us. So what I will do is outline the recovery process I use and you can then adopt and adapt it for your needs.

GAME DAY

On the game day my post-match recovery starts the second I wake up. I put a big emphasis on being hydrated and I make sure I take my daily magnesium supplement.

About three hours before my game I will put on compression tights and wear them to the game.

In the changing room, I will stretch and foam roll, alongside my warm-up with my assistants for the game.

Post Game I will put on my compression tights again and wear them until bed and have a protein shake with creatine monohydrate in it.

Then I will do everything I can to make sure I get a great night's sleep.

GAME DAY +1

The next day is a really cold bath in the morning for at least 10mins with magnesium salts in it.

Followed by 20mins on the foam roller or a light swim.

Depending on how tight I am I might have some time on the massage gun as well.

Again, I am keeping my nutrition well-balanced, and my hydration high.

I also get a remedial massage once a month, and if I have any further issues I might go more frequently.

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A Note on Injuries

I have had three major injuries. in my decade as a referee. The first was a pulled tibialis anterior, which occurred at the same time I was training for the London Marathon.

The other two were last season. I wasn’t entirely sure what happened in the first instance, but I can only describe it as my Glutes, Lower Back and Hamstrings lit up like a Christmas Tree and. running seemed to not help at all.

The other was a pulled calf muscle and I have had to be very careful about my calves ever since.

I say this for two reasons:

The first is that injuries are a natural part of being athletic, and trying to perform physically. You won’t get into too much trouble with them if you listen to your body, don’t push through the pain and make sure you seek the right help to rehab yourself properly.

If you do push through pain, don’t seek advice, and try to carry on, you are more than likely to make the problem much much worse.

For most muscular injuries a good way to look after them is the following RICE acronym:

Rest

Ice

Compression

Elevation

The other thing I would like to say is that injuries are a sign of two things:

1. Too much load

2. A weak body to cope with the load

If you are finding joint and muscular issues a regular theme in your fitness, then you are likely lacking in strength and flexibility and you are doing too many matches for your ability.

The good news is that your ability can change if you get your training. in place and build your muscular strength.

Yes as referees we need endurance and the ability to run. But if you aren’t strong enough to run, then you can have the greatest cardio in the world, but if every time you go running you break down, that cardio is being put to waste.

There is a great deal of balance to be struck with all runners between strength and cardio, and as referees the more strength you build the more you can improve your cardio as you will be able to put a lot more into your running as well.

I think only having three non-chronic injuries in a decade of high-level officiating is a testament to the balance I put into my training program.

The balance I have tried to outline here for you to grow and learn from as well.

I’m 36 and still improving. That likely means you can as well.

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A Final Word…

I truly hope you found this article useful, and that there are plenty of things in here you can take into your season.

If you need help with anything in relation to your fitness then please send me a friend request, by filling out the form below. Since starting Red or Yellow I have loved connecting with other referees all over the world, and helping them has bought me so much joy. When you send me a friend request I will send you free workout manuals and nutrition guides to help you even further with your fitness.

If you would like any other advice right now to help you with your fitness then I can recommend this further reading:

1. The Ultimate Guide: What To Eat When Working Out

2. Four-Week Beginner Strength Training Program

3. How To Set A Fitness Goal

I truly wish you all the best with your refereeing and of course your fitness.

Good luck for your season.

Thank you so much for being here.

Coach Adam

References:

1. AFC refereeing guidelines - footballfedtas.com.au (no date). Available at: https://footballfedtas.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/afc-refereeing-fitness-training-guidelines.pdf (Accessed: January 25, 2023).

Easily Lose Weight Without Counting Calories

In this very website, I have plenty of articles on both sides of the counting calorie conundrum.

(if you want to read those they are at the end of this Blog for your further reading pleasure).

Personally, I am not in favour of counting calories, nor am I against it.

The decision to choose to count calories or not simply comes down to the behaviour patterns and previous dieting history of the person who is trying to figure out whether or not is a good idea to count calories or not.

The list of people who shouldn't be counting calories is:

• Anyone who has an eating disorder

• Anyone who is a perfectionist

• Anyone who suffers with food guilt

• Anyone who refuses to eat because it will take them “above their calorie limit”

• Anyone who has a history of yo-yo dieting and diet clubs.

If you are in one of those cohorts of people and you are still actively trying to lose weight, then you are in the right place.

If you are not in one of those cohorts of people, but still want to learn more about losing weight…then you are in the right place as well.

Basically…if you are trying to find out more about losing weight…

As always, thank you for being here, and I can’t wait to help you figure this crazy journey out.

Before we progress, you need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight. This means consuming fewer calories than your metabolism is burning each day, and that can be achieved both through counting calories and without counting calories.

If you need more information on Calorie Deficits then head here.

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Table of contents for Easily Lose Weight Without Counting Calories:

1. Is Calorie Counting the best way to lose weight?

2. How to be in a Calorie Deficit without counting calories

3. Signs that you are in a Calorie Deficit

4. Really Simple Solutions

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Is Calorie Counting the Best way to lose weight?

Calorie counting does work.

This study (1) took a cohort of people and found that there was a correlation between consistent trackers and weight loss outcomes:

“Only consistent trackers had significant weight loss (-9.99 pounds), following a linear relationship with consistent loss throughout the year. In addition, the weight loss trend for the rare and inconsistent trackers followed a nonlinear path, with the holidays slowing weight loss and the onset of summer increasing weight loss. These results show the importance of frequent dietary tracking for consistent long-term weight loss success”

But as I mentioned in my introduction if you match any of the cohorts I spoke about, then these results will not be accessible to you.

The other thing I would say is this: calorie counting is the quickest way to know if you are in a calorie deficit. You simply get immediate feedback on what you are eating and provided you have done your calorie calculations correctly, you will know whether or not you are indeed taking the steps to lose weight each day.

If you want to do your calorie calculations then get my calorie calculator sent to your inbox right now.

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If you aren’t able to, or just don’t want to count calories, then I will lay out for you exactly how to lose weight within that.

But you will have to meet me half way with regards to the process.

You will need patience.

The only way to know if you are losing weight, for sure, without counting calories, is through consistent work on the process I will outline below, and then comparing month to month at markers that will indicate weight loss - a topic we will get onto later in this blog post.

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How to be in a Calorie Deficit without Counting Calories

Over my decade in the fitness industry, I have made many many mistakes. One of those mistakes was asking clients who were contra-indicated to count calories.

In fact, now I am older and wiser, I would argue the vast majority of the people I work with, mainly people just like you, who really want to lose weight, but might also have a very fragile relationship with food, with the scale, with their body image and are low on self-esteem, do not need to count calories.

I am now far less likely to ask a client to count calories when working on their weight loss - and the results I get are just as effective. If not more so, because my clients aren’t reliant on the control that calorie counting gives them, and don’t have to learn to regress.

We go slower to start with, building strong proper foundations, so that they are empowered to be able to stay at a weight that suits them for their whole lives.

In fact, I would also argue, that most people who count calories, lose weight, and then stop counting calories are far more likely to regain their weight, then have to go back to calorie counting to lose it again…and they repeat this process all of their lives.

Also please remember body weight will always fluctuate. It is not a static thing, and in each different phase and aspect of your life different body weights will emerge - and that is ok.

Losing weight without counting calories is possible, but it requires a combination of diet and lifestyle changes to help us make sure that we are getting you into a calorie deficit.

Here are a few tips to help you get started, backed by scientific research.

Let’s start with your dietary changes:

1. PORTION CONTROL

Portion control is your best friend when it comes to organising your diet into a calorie deficit.

1. Don't feel like you have to finish everything on your plate: It's okay to leave a little bit of food behind, and it can actually be a good thing to listen to your body's hunger and fullness cues. When your mum told you that you must finish your plate, little did she know that when you grow up, this could have a major impact on your relationship with food? It’s not your mum’s fault, but you must understand that you don’t have to finish your plate as an adult.

2. Focus on the quality of your food, not just the quantity: Rather than trying to eat less of everything, try to fill your plate with a variety of nutritious foods. Start with Protein, and build your plate around that. One of my Five Awesome Rules for Fat Loss Life is to Protein and Veggies at every meal. This will increase fibre and nutrients which will make you feel fuller for longer whilst losing weight.

3. Be mindful of your snacking: Snacking can add a lot of extra calories to your diet, so it's important to be mindful of what and how much you're eating between meals. The cliche is true, fruits and vegetables are your best friends when it comes to snacking. Try to limit your snacks to two a day between your meals.

4. Don't be afraid to ask for a to-go box: If you're eating out and the portions are larger than you're used to, don't be afraid to ask for a to-go box and take the rest home for another meal. This is a massive thing in Australia which I had to get used to. In England, you either finish your plate or leave food on there, you hardly ever get a “doggy bag”. But here its quite common practice - and it’s such a good thing to do. It saves on food wastage, it saves you from overeating, and it means you have leftovers for the next day so you are automatically meal prepped.

5. Don't deprive yourself: It's important to enjoy your food and not feel like you're constantly depriving yourself. If you really want that second serving or dessert, go for it, but try to be mindful of how much you're eating. Remember balance always.

6. Find what works for you: Everyone is different, so it's important to find what works best for you and your body. Don't be afraid to experiment with different portion sizes and see how you feel.

2. STRUCTURED EATING

The role of structured eating in your diet has astounding benefits from improving your relationship with food as well as helping you get into a calorie deficit.

However, for the purposes of this article, its use is to regulate and stimulate your hunger hormones (2).

By making sure you regulate these hormones (grehlin and leptin) you will be able to avoid the classic “hangry” feeling and therefore not end up eating everything in sight when you get the opportunity to.

By eating in a structured way, your body will no longer guess when it will and will not be fed, and therefore having a much more regular diet will decrease your overall calories not just during the day, but also over the weeks as well.

This study (3) also concluded:

“While no one eating occasion contributes more than any other to excess adiposity, eating more often than three times a day may play a role in overweight and obesity in both younger and older persons”

The structure you need to stick to is:

• Breakfast.

• Lunch.

• Dinner.

• Two snacks.

• Each meal must fit on one plate.

• You should also eat uninterrupted and participate as much as possible in the making and creating of the food.

The other thing to remember with structured eating is that it requires mindful eating as well. This will help you pay attention to your body's hunger and fullness cues, and eat only when you are hungry and stop when you are satisfied. Avoid distractions like TV or phone while eating, as these can cause you to eat more than you need (4). Mindful eating has been shown to be effective for weight loss and the prevention of weight gain (5).

3. WATER INTAKE

Another one of my five awesome rules for fat loss life is the promotion of trying to drink 3 litres of water a day. This can be a shock to the system, to begin with, but build up slowly and you will be on also remember it is a purposefully high target, because if you fall short you are still covered.

Drinking enough water can help you feel full and satisfied, thus helping your hunger cues be quelled, and helping to keep you in a calorie deficit. I always suggest to clients on the Strong and Confident Program to work towards trying to drink 3 litres a day.

A study of 50 adults found that those who drank 375ml or 500 ml of water before a meal lost significantly more weight than those who did not (6).

Now let’s look at some physical changes you might need to make:

1. SLEEP

The more I write about fitness, the more I am realising that sleep features in every aspect of your fitness journey. Not just for weight loss, but for performance as well.

You have to get enough sleep. However, I am not ignorant of the fact that if you have a young family that simply will not be possible. I appreciate that, and if that is you, then be aware of the impact of sleep, but don’t get stressed about the fact you can’t access enough sleep; just be aware that when things settle down, you should think about addressing this part of your life.

If you are reading this, and you don’t have a young family or a medical reason that you can’t get enough sleep, and you aren’t getting enough sleep then you need to get enough sleep.

Adequate sleep is essential for weight loss and overall health. In fact, it is that important, I would put it as high up on the list of helping you lose weight as being in a Calorie Deficit.

A review of 17 studies found that people who slept 7-9 hours per night had a significantly lower body mass index (BMI) compared to those who slept less (7).

One reason lack of sleep is associated with weight gain is that sleep deprivation can lead to an increase in appetite, particularly for high-calorie, sugary foods. This is because sleep deprivation can lead to an increase in the hunger hormone ghrelin and a decrease in the hormone leptin, which regulate hunger and fullness. As a result, people who don't get enough sleep may feel hungrier and eat more.

In addition to increasing appetite, sleep deprivation can also lead to an increase in the hormone cortisol, which can promote fat storage and weight gain. This is because cortisol is released in response to stress, and sleep deprivation can be a source of stress for the body.

Furthermore, insufficient sleep can lead to a decrease in physical activity and a decrease in the body's ability to burn calories effectively. This is because sleep deprivation can lead to fatigue and decreased energy levels, making it harder for people to be physically active. It is also not uncommon to see a drop in fidgeting and other calorie-burning activities throughout the day, because of tiredness.

Overall, it is important to get enough sleep in order to maintain a healthy weight. The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adults aim for 7-9 hours of sleep per night.

2. STRUCTURED MOVEMENT

As I mentioned above, we need to work on both sides of the energy balance equation to easily create a calorie deficit, especially if you aren’t counting calories.

The most important thing for you to remember when it comes to physical movement, in pursuit of losing weight, is to not view calorie-burning as the reason you are exercising.

Yes. Exercise does burn calories.

No. You don’t have to earn your calories in the gym.

Yes. Exercise is amazing for your overall health.

No. Exercising doesn’t burn as many calories as you would think.

Yes. Exercise is a great tool to help keep you on track dietarily and emotionally with a weight loss goal.

All exercise will help you create a calorie deficit. Notice the word “help”?

The most important aspect of exercise with regards to this is that you chose the exercise you enjoy the most because you will then be far more likely to continue doing it for long enough to see results.

I very recently got this message on Instagram in relation to a workout I give away for free:

The person who sent me this, was in a phase of not counting calories, although she is quite calorie aware, and she was wanting to begin the journey of feeling her best for her wedding which is in a few weeks (as I write this), and she is about 7 months post-partum.

The results are immense. But for me, the best result isn’t the weight loss she created, its the fact she felt more empowered as a result of exercising, and she is evidently more confident as a result of getting stronger. Its the dream scenario.

The workout she completed was this:

If you want the same strength workout I gave her then just put your email address in here and I will send it to you in a day or two:

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Or if you would like a four-week beginner strength training routine for beginners with video tutorials then head here.

Aim for 2-3 workouts a week, which last for about 30-40mins and that make you feel two inches taller when you walk out of the Gym compared to when you walked in, and you will be right where you need to be when it comes to working out.

3. INCREASING YOUR NEAT

You could look up any advice about losing weight across the whole internet, and I promise you that every weight loss plan you find will feature something in relation to your NEAT.

Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis.

This is the largest portion of your daily caloric burn. It is responsible for burning as many calories as structured movement and how many calories you burn through digestion combined.

Essentially the simplest way it can be measured is by your step count.

But there are other aspects of it as well. When I designed my five awesome rules for fat loss life, I made one of those rules: 10k Steps A Day.

Science has since shown that 10k steps a day are not necessarily needed for improving your health, the figure stands at around 7.5k steps a day if you are only focused on improving your health.

But as you aren’t counting calories, and I am telling you that you can lose weight easily, then we need to put in some targets here.

This is the simplest way to make sure that your step count is right:

1. Take your previous month’s daily average number.

2. Multiply it by two.

3. That is your new step count.

4. Then after about two weeks, you need to multiply it by two again.

5. And continue doing this all the way up to 10k steps a day and then keep it there as consistently as possible.

Now if you just don’t have time to fit in that amount of steps a day in, there is another solution. We need you to walk faster. If all you have is the maximum time in your day to do 5k steps a day, then a great way of making that 5k steps as effective as possible for you is that every time you walk, do it with as much purpose and direction as you possibly can.

Don’t dilly-dally. You aren’t strolling, you are walking with the intention to get to your destination as effectively as possible.

Other great ways to increase your NEAT are:

• Incorporate more movement into your daily routine by using a standing or adjustable desk.

• Take regular stretch breaks throughout the day to loosen up and move your body.

• Take the stairs instead of the elevator or escalator whenever possible.

• Walk or bike to the store or grocery shop instead of driving or taking public transportation.

• Park further away from the grocery shop in the car park.

• Every time there is an ad break on TV, climb your stairs three times.

• Wear ankle weights when walking.

• Take up a new hobby that involves movement such as rock climbing, ice skating or roller skating.

• Do some gardening.

• Every time there is an ad break on tv, use it as a Dance Break instead.

• Never sit down when you are on the phone, always stand or walk.

• Take the kids or grandkids to the park and play games or sports with them.

• Carry your shopping as opposed to using a trolley.

Walking is your solution to most things. Emotional stress, physical stress, or maybe you just need to find some more energy to help get through the day. You might want to improve the quality of your sleep or even to help you easily lose weight without counting calories, I promise you, walking solves more issues than you will ever thought possible.

How Do You Know If You’re In A Calorie Deficit

As I mentioned earlier, counting calories gives you instant feedback on whether or not you are in a calorie deficit.

So if we are taking counting calories away, it is useful to know what other signs you can look for, to get similar feedback on your progress.

Here are the kinds of things I always tell clients to keep aware of to measure their success when they aren’t counting calories:

1. SCALE WEIGHT

This one is always tricky as many people who aren’t counting calories, likely won’t be the most comfortable with getting on the scales either.

However, if we are directly answering the question of “easily losing weight”, then at some point you will likely check in with your body weight.

Now read this very carefully:

You should only compare your scale weight on a monthly basis, not weekly, to determine if you are in a calorie deficit or not.

You can track daily, or you can track weekly. But from only comparing Day 1 to Day 31 will you know if you are in a Calorie Deficit or not.

This is because scale weight is a fickle fiend and comparing weight loss on a shorter timescale will drive you insane due to all the fluctuations involved.

Please, if you want to look at your scale weight in relation to easily losing weight only compare monthly readings.

2. MEASUREMENTS

These are probably your better friend than scale weight to track your progress. Again, only compare on a monthly basis maybe even a 6-week basis. Another great sign of your measurements changing is feeling different in your clothes - if you feel like they are fitting you better, or you feel like you are wearing them better, then you are probably making an impact on your measurements.

The measurements I ask my clients for, if they are comfortable doing this, are the following:

• Neck

• Chest

• L Bicep

• R Bicep

• Waist at the Belly Button

• Waist 2in below the Belly Button

• Waist 2in above the Belly Button

• Hips

• L Thigh

• R Thigh

3. WORK IN PROCESS PICTURES

I don’t call them before or after photos. I don’t call them “progress pictures” either.

Simply because a photo solely looking at your physique, can often cause more issues than it solves. It automatically puts you into a mindset of “the way I look is all that is important”.

And it’s not.

The way you look is one aspect of you, and it is likely one of the last reasons anyone enjoys being with you.

Think of your friends. Are you only friends based on the size of their body? Of course not.

So I like to try to change the narrative of photos. Your work in process pictures are just that, designed to capture your process and the changes you are seeing along your journey.

This could be, photos of you working out, or on walks.

This could be family snaps where you remember not feeling awkward in the photo.

This could be a photo on a night out where you didn’t automatically feel anxious when someone asked for a picture, and you resisted the urge to want to look at it, in case you didn’t like it and wanted it deleted.

These are work in process pictures.

When you engage in a weight loss journey, sure weight loss is the goal, but in truth its the least interesting goal that actually occurs.

Use your photos to celebrate your journey, celebrate your building confidence, celebrate your consistency, celebrate your confidence changing as you progress.

These are all signs of progress too, aside from seeing your belly reduction on two photos that are six weeks apart.

Your physique can and will change. But a photo only focussed on your physique will never capture the internal changes that have occurred to you over time. Get photos that describe your internal monologue as well.

Document that progress.

It’s so much more rewarding.

4. CONSISTENCY

Another incredible sign that you are in a calorie deficit is recording your consistency. Tick off these things:

• How regularly you are getting your workouts in

• How regularly you are keeping your structure with food

• How regularly you feel less guilty about the food you are eating

• How regularly you are trying to move away from calling foods “good” and “bad”

• How regularly you are getting your steps in

• How much water you are drinking

• How regularly you are getting 7-8 hours sleep a night

You can do this on a calendar, a tracking app or a journal.

Remember there is a key difference between consistency and perfection. In order to be consistent you need to be hitting your goals and habits 25 days out of 30 in a month.

5. HUNGER

Going to bed and feeling a little hungry is also a good sign that you are in a calorie deficit. At no point in your life do you want to be ravenous, and hunger should be managed relatively well throughout the day, especially if you have a structure with your food.

But going to bed and feeling a little hungry is a good sign that you are in a calorie deficit.

Really Simple Solutions

When I first became a Personal Trainer, one of the firs things my Coach gave me to work on was the concept of KISS.

Keep, It, Simple, Stupid.

And therefore over the years, I have always worked on trying to distil weight loss and fitness into the simplest and most effective messaging I can come up with.

And here is what seems to have stuck:

THE 3, 4, 5 SYSTEM

I remember where I was when I came up with this a few years ago. I was on the Gym Floor with one of my best Australian friends, Ben. I had been training him for nearly a year at this point, and he was aware his life was getting busier again, and it was about to cause havoc on his progress. I could never get Ben to track his food, so I asked him to stick to this.

3 litres of water a day.

4 movement sessions a week; Walking, Workouts and anything else you might enjoy.

5 moments with food every day: 3 meals, two snacks.

Its simplicity gave me so much joy. I then introduced it to one of my online clients in Colorado, doing my Strong & Confident Program and she sent me this as it was her lock screen to keep her on track.

What a beautiful idea.

DAILY AWESOME SALAD

The DAS.

Get your protein source. Add a huge bag of salad and some carby veggies.

Job done.

Do this for lunch each and every day. It’s easy to prep, its cost-effective, and it will do a good job.

BUILD MEALS AROUND PROTEIN

Start with protein.

Then add veggies to your plate.

Then if you look at your meal and still feel like you need something else, add a Carbohydrate source.

Try to aim for 100g of protein a day. This is the equivalent of:

My recommendation to clients is to always start with 100g of protein a day, or if you are vegetarian or vegan then aim for 80g of protein a day.

You can get more complex if you like, but if you don’t want to count calories, then there really isn’t much of a need to past those recommendations.

And always make sure it fits on one plate, as mentioned in the structured eating section of this article.

FIVE AWESOME RULES FOR FAT LOSS LIFE

I have written about these many times.

In a nutshell, they are:

1. Be in a Calorie Deficit

2. 10k steps a day

3. 7-8 hours sleep a night

4. Protein and Veggies at every meal

5. 3 litres of water a day

If you want to find out more about how these rules work then head here:

5 Easy Ways To Do A Calorie Deficit Without Working Out

FOLLOW THE DADDY HUMPHREYS PLAN

Here is my Dad and I, out on the Golf Course back in Essex where we used to live together. I since moved to Australia. My Dad was recently diagnosed with Cancer at the age of 67.

He recently went from 80kgs to 75kgs in a matter of about 4 months.

He has never been overweight or really had any body weight concerns. But when he got Cancer, he was told that getting his BMI down a touch would be helpful, and would help him feel better in general.

His Cancer is quite serious, it is Stage 4, and he can only get onto Maintenance drugs to help him, never into full remission or be Cancer free.

But in terms of his treatment, it has all been relatively easy compared to what most people go through with chemotherapy. His side effects have been some hiccoughs, and interrupted sleep and that’s about it. My point is, he didn’t suffer weight loss as a result of his treatment.

He got his bodyweight down through behaviour, none of which was counting calories.

Here is what he did:

As you can see, it’s a pretty simple, and sensible solution.

The Daddy Humphreys Plan: I wonder if it will sell….

What’s Next…

Well, I am an Online Coach who has helped thousands of people work through the challenges in this article.

And it would be my pleasure to help you too.

My program is personal one-to-one online training called the Strong & Confident Program.

If you have ever wanted to achieve the following:

✅ Escape the constant dread of dieting?

✅ Release the guilt you attach to eating certain types of food?

✅ Learn to stop worrying about “the pesky last few pounds” and focus on all your body can do?

✅ Become truly happy with what your body is and what is capable of?

✅ Enjoy the feeling of being stronger and fitter as opposed to trying to reduce your size all the time?

✅ Achieve all of this and still lose body fat at the same time without huge restrictions and slavery to a fitness regime?

✅ Do it all on your own schedule, in your own way, with a program specifically designed for you?

Then please click on the button below and fill out an application form to start working with me.

If you feel like you need more help learning how to lose weight and release the need for counting calories then you can look through the following articles of mine as well:

• How To Stop Yourself From Counting Calories Obsessively

• How To Heal Emotional Eating

• 5 Easy and Healthy Eating Habits for Weight Loss

Thank you so much for reading my work, and good luck with building a stronger relationship with food.

I cannot wait to see how you go!

Coach Adam

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References:

1. Ingels JS, Misra R, Stewart J, Lucke-Wold B, Shawley-Brzoska S. The Effect of Adherence to Dietary Tracking on Weight Loss: Using HLM to Model Weight Loss over Time. J Diabetes Res. 2017;2017:6951495. doi: 10.1155/2017/6951495. Epub 2017 Aug 9. PMID: 28852651; PMCID: PMC5568610.

2. Klok, M.D., Jakobsdottir, S. and Drent, M.L. (2007), The role of leptin and ghrelin in the regulation of food intake and body weight in humans: a review. Obesity Reviews, 8: 21-34. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-789X.2006.00270.x

3. Howarth NC, Huang TT, Roberts SB, McCrory MA, Lin BH. Eating patterns and dietary composition in relation to weight change over 7 y. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2001;73(2):209-218.

4. Van Walleghen EL, Hogg MM, Bell EA, Rolls BJ. Television viewing increases motivated responding for food and energy intake in adults. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2010;91(4):829-835.

5. Kristeller JL, Hallett CB. An exploratory study of a meditation-based intervention for binge eating disorder. Journal of Health Psychology. 1999;4(3):357-363.

6. Pre-meal water consumption for weight loss. (2013). Australian Family Physician, 42(7), 478. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.405716872190923

How To Heal Emotional Eating

Emotional Eating is one tough subject, as is how to heal emotional eating.

It’s tough because writing this Blog I want to make sure that it is nuanced and careful enough to show empathy with what you are struggling with and show you the action steps to try and help you move forward.

It’s tough as well, because of how much you are suffering with it, and the difficult work that you will likely have to do to unpick your emotional eating behaviours in order to rebuild your relationship with food, and in truth, yourself.

The next most important thing to say here is that there is an inherent link between emotional eating, disordered eating and eating disorders. It is a sliding scale of severity, but I would encourage you to reach out to a Medical Professional if you feel like you may have any of the following eating disorders:

• Anorexia Nervosa - severe food restriction and sometimes extreme exercising and other purging behaviours

• Bulimia Nervosa - repeatedly binging on large amounts of food and then purging it

• Muscle Dysmorphia - affecting men more than women, a disruptive obsession with musculature and physique. The individual will fixate on obtaining the ‘perfect’ form of musculature.

• Orthorexia Nervosa - someone becomes so obsessed with planning a perfect diet that it disrupts their life.

There are 12 eating disorders and if your experience isn’t represented above then please head here to find out more.

Added to that there are some excellent charities that will be able to help you as well:

• BEAT - UK

• NEDA - America

• Butterfly Foundation - Australia

Despite there being a link between eating disorders and emotional eating, I am not a medical professional. I will not be dealing with how to help you with an eating disorder. This blog will be about how to heal your emotional eating tendencies. If you recognise yourself to have any of the above eating disorders then please contact one of the charities above, or see your GP; please do this.

The only other thing I want to say is to thank you for being here. Thank you for trusting my words to try and help you through such a difficult topic.

Thank you for being open and willing to do the work involved in improving your relationship with food, and yourself as well.

It can be overcome. It can be worked on each and every day, and I have every faith you can conquer this.

So take my hand, and let’s help you figure this out so that you can stop being overwhelmed and controlled by your emotional eating behaviours.

We will find solutions.

I promise.

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Table of Contents for How To Heal Emotional Eating:

1. What triggers/causes emotional eating?

2. Strategies to stop emotional eating

3. How to improve your relationship with food

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What Triggers/Causes Emotional Eating?

This is a big list - and even the list I have curated here doesn’t cover it all, simply because the causes would be very different for everyone.

• Stress

• Boredom

• Feeling unheard

• Feeling unappreciated

• Feeling overweight

• Feeling lonely

• Food guilt

• The need for affection

• The Media

• Living in a fat-phobic society

• Medical concerns

• Feeling out of control

• Lack of self-confidence

• Lack of self-esteem

• Addiction to food

This Blog post will reach thousands and thousands of people, and they will all resonate with something on that list. This is good news for you because it shows how normal it is. It shows that you’re not the only person who struggles with this and that you aren’t alone.

And not being alone is always a good place to be.

I can remember two very clear occasions when emotional eating took me over. I am a human being with a good understanding of my emotional self, I don’t suppress emotions and I do have a balanced relationship with food.

The first was when my agent, who I had been with since I left Drama School, told me that he could no longer represent me.

The second was when I split up with one of my past girlfriends.

On both occasions, I responded to my emotions with alcohol - and that does seem to be the food I go to when I do emotionally react to food.

However, on both occasions, I knew that I was emotionally resilient for that reaction to not embed itself into me as a habit.

I had two things helping me here.

The first is my resilience. I do think of myself as more resilient than your average person, I don’t think you could be a semi-professional football referee and not be a resilient human.

The second was the fact I was responding with alcohol. That put a natural barrier in place for me to not allow it to become a habit - because I know how addictive such a substance can be, and because of this my objective brain will always take over.

The causes of my reactions are quite clear here. The ending of two very significant relationships
in my life. Things that meant a great deal to me, and still do.

Please remember this:

“To fix emotional eating, don’t focus on the eating: focus on the emotions”

— Adam Berry

Every time I have a client working with me online on my Strong & Confident Program, and they tell me that they are struggling with emotional eating, they always follow it up with this statement:

“I love food”

We ALL love food.

Truly we do, because food gives us life. Whenever you say this statement or my clients say it to time, they are actually saying:

“I am addicted to the comfort that food gives me when I am feeling vulnerable. Food is my safety”

And this makes much more sense at a neurological level. In the study Mood, food and obesity [1] they illustrate this pathway really clearly:

In the study they also state:

“Reward and gratification associated with food consumption leads to dopamine (DA) production, which in turn activates reward and pleasure centres in the brain. An individual will repeatedly eat a particular food to experience this positive feeling of gratification. This type of repetitive behaviour of food intake leads to the activation of brain reward pathways that eventually overrides other signals of satiety and hunger. Thus, a gratification habit through a favourable food leads to overeating and morbid obesity”

This is critical for your understanding on how emotional eating works. When you eat, you get a hormonal response to the food you are eating, through what is also known as the “feel good” hormone; dopamine.

When you eat, you feel good, at a cellular level. Food bridges the gap for you.

Let's say you have had a disagreement with your boss at work, and they patronised you, made your points or concerns feel worthless and you were frustrated and upset by the whole exchange.

You might then turn to food because of these feelings. By doing that, you know you will get the sense of pleasure and comfort which you are craving.

This pleasure and comfort come in the form of dopamine. The more you practice this routine, the more you will come to rely on it. You also learn to develop this routine in other areas of your life where you might feel vulnerable.

And before you know it, your emotional eating has become a habit, a reflex, that feels out of your control, and the part of this equation that seems easier to fix, is trying to fix the food you are eating, as opposed to the emotions you are feeling, because you physically see the result of the emotions in the food, but seldom in life is trying to change the result of something a worthwhile endeavour without fixing what is causing that result.

The reason I have outlined all of this at the start of this post is so that you can now see why it is so hard to heal emotional eating, you are not just having to wrestle with your emotional core, but also your physiological self.

And that’s ok. It can be worked upon, and understanding your emotional eating in this way will hopefully help you start the process of healing from it. because you can now empathise with yourself a lot more on why it has been so damn hard, as opposed to just feeling like a constant failure every time you try.

So how do you heal from emotional eating…

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Strategies to Stop Emotional Eating

The first thing to say is that you shouldn’t shout at yourself, nor should you think that it is a switch that can be turned off overnight.

You will always feel emotions. You must eat.

We cannot stop these two human things, so just trying to “stop” will be futile, I assure you.

My best piece of advice when it comes to healing emotional eating starts with the following quote which I want you to imprint on your brain.

Space and Time

“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

— Viktor E. Frankl

Take that mental picture of the quote…

This is one of the most powerful quotes there is when it comes to understanding human behaviour. Viktor E. Frankl was an Auschwitz survivor during World War Two and after the war, he became a psychologist developing his theory of psychology called logotherapy in Vienna.

Logotherapy is based on the belief that striving to find meaning in life is the primary, most powerful motivating driving force in humanity.

When you are in a pattern of emotional eating there are a series of events that occur which causes you to “emotionally eat”.

1. Conflict occurs which will trigger/upset you with someone else or within yourself

2. Your search for a resolution to the conflict doesn’t end positively.

3. No human collaborative resolution occurs.

4. You find emotional resolution in the food you eat.

It is the lack of resolution in steps two and three that drive you to emotional eating.

The timeframe will always differ based on different situations and how strong the emotions are or how intense the conflict is, but in every situation there is one common occurrence:

You are failing to find a resolution to your conflict.

In the quote above “resolution” is what Viktor E. Frankl is referring to when he says “space".

When you are faced with a conflict, the most important thing to do is to develop your own space. When we are in conflict as humans we often look for a resolution to conflict from an outer source; another person, a parent, a partner, a child, or a colleague.

The issue you have here is that you aren’t taking responsibility for managing your emotional self, you are allowing others to do it for you…fast forward that ten to twenty years and your whole centred self is dependent on others.

Which removes your own power.

Jim Carey was right:

Or more: you have the power.

And your power to lies in creating space and space is the key to healing you from this complex web of emotional eating.

So how do you create space and time in order to choose a different response to your emotions?

Strategy 1: Sit with uncomfortable emotions

This is a lot harder than it sounds which often means it is the first place to look - the harder the work, likely, the more positive the result.

One of the more obvious ways to create space and time is to simply let time pass. The issue with this is that it will mean sitting in the uncomfortable feelings that are driving you towards emotional eating.

The food you eat is your current solution to these feelings, but you also want to stop using food as the solution to these feelings. Here you need to get objective about the role food is playing in your life in these moments.

When you “fix” these feelings with food it is temporary relief because soon after you begin to feel guilty and upset about the food you just ate, leading you to more uncomfortable emotions. When this occurs you need to work with objectivity towards your food. Recognise this role it is having in this cycle of behaviour and do things to distract yourself from reaching for the food:

- Go for a walk or get some exercise in

- Journal about what caused your emotional state

- Talk to a friend about what happened

- Meditate for 10mins and practice some box breathing

- Reflect on how the situation could have occurred differently, what you weren’t happy about with what happened and how you might re-approach a similar situation in the future.

All of these actions are designed to help you process the emotion and distract you away from the need to reach for that food. To pattern interrupt your default setting, so that over time you can develop a different reflex in reaction to an emotional trigger.

Strategy 2: Have a structured diet

There are very few things in fitness that a structured diet will not help tremendously with, and emotional eating is high on that list.

In this day and age, we don’t protect our meal times as much as we need to. Whether that is protecting the time we actually eat, or whether it is protecting the moment we have with our food from distractions and other intrusions which de-values the role food has in your life.

Your body is then constantly guessing when it is going to be fed, and how it is going to be fed, and your relationship with food is equally compromised because hormonally you have a lack of regulation, and you aren’t valuing how food can impact your life each and every day.

By eating in a structured manner, you will manage your hunger hormones in a much more level way, and this will allow you to not overreact to your hunger signals when you are feeling stressed in other parts of your life.

A structured diet is also the first step to repairing your relationship with food in all areas - something that you should always be looking to improve, to help heal emotional eating. You have a right to eat, you have a right to nourish yourself with food, as opposed to allowing your emotions to dominate all aspects of your diet.

A structured diet should look like this:

• Breakfast.

• Lunch.

• Dinner.

• Two snacks.

• Each meal must fit on one plate.

• You should also eat uninterrupted and participate as much as possible in the making and creating of the food.

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FOR MORE HELP wITH THIS HEAD HERE:

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Strategy 3: Sleep

A lot like having a more improved structure to your diet, there are few things that optimal sleep doesn’t help cure. The issue here is that optimal sleep isn’t as available to everyone as being able to structure a diet properly is.

I do believe, deep down, you know this next statement to be true: lack of sleep equals more emotional responses to the world around you.

We are all more cranky when we are tired. We are all more sensitive when we are tired. We are all more stressed when we are tired.

This means that we are also a lot more emotional when we are tired, and therefore more susceptible to emotional eating.

There is a part of your brain which is responsible for your emotional responses to the world, it is known as your amygdala. The less sleep you have, the more active your amygdala is, and therefore the more likely you are to respond emotionally to stimuli around you.

Therefore the more likely you are to try and fix that feeling with food.

This is important for you to know for two reasons. The first is that there are some easy wins here for you. If you can improve your sleep, in any way that is accessible to you, then you will naturally be more likely to improve the chances of healing your emotional eating.

The other reason is that you now know that you can take action to improve your emotional eating in an accessible way, because we all have to sleep right. So by optimising that, you have a clear and direct path to improving this aspect of your life, overnight.

Some top tips I have for improving your sleep can be found here.

Strategy 4: Stop trying to change the size of your body

If emotional eating is a constant recurrence in your life and that is paired with constantly trying to lose weight then your desire to lose weight will always be a difficult process.

This comes down to the foundations you are setting yourself up with.

To lose weight and to be able to sustain it you will inevitably need to have a good relationship with food, as well as yourself.

One of the key aspects of building a better relationship with food, is loving the role food has n your life, as well as loving yourself within that process, and for as long as you are eating in a guilt-laden emotional state, then you will forever be destroying that relationship with the food you are eating.

Food is love. Food is nourishment.

In the same way, I am always telling my clients that the gym is a place to get stronger, I am telling them that their food is not there to be demonized, in fact, is a thing in your life to be celebrated and enjoyed.

Food is not destorying your body. It is sustaining it.

When you only view the food you are eating through the prism of how it is causing you to gain weight, as opposed to it actually keeping you alive, then you will inevitably begin to walk down a path of developing a toxic relationship with your food.

But you can’t avoid eating your food.

And then you reach emotionally to this frustrating situation you are in.

This leads to more food, which leads to more destruction of how you feel about the food and yourself.

The best way to stop this cycle is to stop trying to lose weight and start trying to build better habits and relationships with those habits surrounding your food.

And then by taking the pressure of your physique away from your food, and building these better habits, you will more than likely end up with a much stronger and more solid foundation to set a weight loss goal when you feel in a much stronger place with which to do that.

Some things that you will need to work on to get into this stronger position would be:

• Releasing your guilty associations with food

• Engaging in a much more balanced diet

• Sticking to structured eating as outlined above

• Keeping yourself hydrated

• Not feeling exhausted at the prospect of being on a diet aka “diet fatigue”

• No longer view yourself as “on a diet” or associate with a particular dietary style

The aim for you is to turn around that mental war you have with yourself which is associated with trying to lose weight. Once you do that, by working on the bullet points I laid out above, then you can begin to see the positive role food has in your life.

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How to improve your relationship with food

Being an emotional eater is a sign that you don’t have a very positive relationship with food.

And if you start taking on everything else I have outlined in this article, then I would hazard a guess your relationship with food will start to improve.

However, there are some other signs that you might need to work on your relationship with food:

• Avoidance of “bad” foods

• Speaking about food in the negative most of the time

• Speaking about yourself in the negative most of the time

• You have “can” and “cannots’” in terms of what you eat outside of medical reasons

• You believe certain foods are “good” and certain foods are “bad”

• You are stressed when eating in a social setting because the food choice is out of your control

• You ignore your hunger cues and fullness cues

• You are overly reliant on calorie counting to control your food

• You have had a history of yo-yo dieting

• You over-exercise in response to overeating

• You engage in disordered eating patterns or engage in eating disorder behaviour

You might not relate to all the things on that list, but you probably have one or two that really stood out to you.

But don’t worry, like any relationship, if you put in the work you can get more out of it and heal what is going on here.

1. Releasing yourself from dichotomous thinking

When I say: “Pizza”, “Doughnuts”, “Alcohol”, “Sugar”, or “Cake” what is the first word you think of in relation to these foods?

And when I say “Salad”, “Vegetables”, “Water”, “Protein”, or “Unprocessed Foods” - what word springs to mind?

This is dichotomous thinking; believing that certain things only fall into a good or bad category.

The truth is that all food has a place in your life - all food nourishes a part of yourself. A doughnut can be like eating a small hug, which has an emotional nourishment to it, and eating a broccoli stem might have a nutrient value that provides nourishment.

Either way, you are being nourished by that food.

Food has no moral value, and by telling yourself that eating a bag of crisps is naughty or bad for you, you are essentially telling yourself that you are naughty or bad.

And over time, if you do this with everything you eat, that will have an effect on your self-esteem - believe me, I have seen it in thousands of clients over the years.

It is also standing in the way of your ability to actually lose weight, as this study [2] describes:

“We conclude that holding dichotomous beliefs about food and eating may be linked to a rigid dietary restraint, which in turn impedes people’s ability to maintain a healthy weight.””

— PMID: 25903250

This thinking is often related to diet culture in the sense that you have an ingrained belief that eating “good” foods will lead you to lose weight and change your physique.

If you are trying to heal emotional eating, then that should be the goal, and in order to get there, understand that you require a balance of all foods in your diet because that is part of the process of healing this relationship.

If you do feel like you need a physique goal associated to this project, then I would suggest getting stronger should be your goal and that will help release the pressure of always trying to lose weight.

Remember, nothing bad can come of getting stronger…can it?

2. You have to give yourself permission to eat anything

This relates to my first point about dichotomous thinking.

But knowing there are no good or bad foods is one thing, actually allowing yourself to eat that way is a whole other.

In my experience, the lack of permission to eat anything always comes from a place of fear.

And fear is:

False

Expectation

Appearing

Real

Your fear of eating a McDonald’s is that it will lead you to gain body fat. When in truth, it really doesn’t.

A common misconception here is that 3500kcal equals one pound of body fat. In strict terms, it’s actually between 3,436kcal and 3,752kcal.

But if you were to eat 3,500kcals in one sitting then you still wouldn’t gain 1lb of body fat. This is because your metabolism is perpetually working. You have to digest the food, you are likely moving when you eat it and still moving throughout the day, you are breathing, you might be fidgeting and all of this leads to you burning calories.

Therefore the key message here is:

You need to eat 3500kcals MORE than you burn each day to gain 1lb of body fat

One Large McDonalds Big Mac Meal has around 1,320kcals in it. Three of those in one day would be around 3960kcals. So to gain one pound of body fat, to be eating 3500kcals MORE than you burn each day, you need to eat 6 Lagre Big Mac Meals.

Now I am not saying that you have a free pass to eat 5 Big Mac Meals every day. I am simply trying to outline the scientific facts behind body weight and help you to release your false expectations when you engage in eating such food.

Of course, I would always recommend a varied diet, full of nourishment, but never to the detriment of your physical or emotional health.

Balance. Always.

3. Mindful Eating…

In truth, I am not a huge fan of this term, simply because it has been overused and therefore
over complicated.

All mindful eating really is, is the following:

• Be involved in the preparation of your food as much as possible.

• Sit with your food with no distractions other than family and friends, at a table.

• Give thanks for the food you are eating, and the people you are with.

• Give thanks for what the food is doing to help sustain your life.

That’s it.

There’s no need to worry about it above that. The first port of call here is to take away all distractions. Don’t scroll social media when eating dinner. Don’t watch the news when you are eating lunch.

You can then layer in other questions about the food you are eating to help you with this.

• How does the food feel?

• What am I enjoying about eating this food?

• Why am I eating this food?

• What is my emotional state when eating this food?

And so on and so forth.

In Conclusion…

As you work on this process you can begin to look for signs that you are improving your relationship with food and getting a much stronger relationship with it:

• Not feeling guilty about eating food.

• Avoiding restricting certain foods from your diet.

• Feeling less stressed when food choice is out of your control.

• Not feeling the need to burn off calories through exercise.

• Seeing the way you speak about food change.

I really really hope you can start to notice some of these things change in your life as you improve that relationship with food, and allow yourself to heal from emotional eating.

Being a slave to food your whole life, through fear and anxiety, is no way to live, and it is actually getting in the way of you being able to live the life you want.

Work on what is laid out in this article, and i truly hope it brings you the freedom you deserve to enjoy.

What’s Next…

Well, I am an Online Coach who has helped thousands of people work through the challenges in this article.

And it would be my pleasure to help you too.

My program, which is personal one-to-one online training called the Strong & Confident Program.

If you have ever wanted to achieve the following:

✅ Escape the constant dread of dieting?

✅ Release the guilt you attach to eating certain types of food?

✅ Learn to stop worrying about “the pesky last few pounds” and focus on all your body can do?

✅ Become truly happy with what your body is and what is capable of?

✅ Enjoy the feeling of being stronger and fitter as opposed to trying to reduce your size all the time?

✅ Achieve all of this and still lose body fat at the same time without huge restrictions and slavery to a fitness regime?

✅ Do it all on your own schedule, in your own way, with a program specifically designed for you?

Then please click on the button below and fill out an application form to start working with me.

If you feel like you need more help balancing your relationship with food then you can look through the following articles of mine as well:

• How to stop yourself from counting calories obsessively

• How much weight do you gain on vacation?

• The Ultimate Guide: What to eat when working out

Thank you so much for reading my work, and good luck with building a stronger relationship with food.

I cannot wait to see how you go!

Coach Adam

References:

1. Singh M. Mood, food, and obesity. Front Psychol. 2014 Sep 1;5:925. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00925. PMID: 25225489; PMCID: PMC4150387.

2. Palascha A, van Kleef E, van Trijp HC. How does thinking in Black and White terms relate to eating behavior and weight regain? J Health Psychol. 2015 May;20(5):638-48. doi: 10.1177/1359105315573440. PMID: 25903250.