CATALYST TIP 1:

KNOW YOUR FOOD
Make sure you know the basic make-up of the food that you are eating. For example, how many calories are in the food, and where do those calories come from? How many calories come form fat, sugar, oils etc. What is the total amount of carbohydrates in the food, and know if they are simple/high GI or complex/low GI (quick- release or slow- release.)

                                

CATALYST TIP 2:

DAILY INTAKE OF CALORIES
You should have a set amount of calories that you consume per day dependant upon your activity level.

Each meal should contain roughly the same amount of calories and should also combine protein and carbohydrates.

                                

CATALYST TIP 3:

6 MEALS / DAY
Eat six meals per day. Following on from tip No. 2, if you were to consume 2300 calories per day divide 2300 by 6 so each meal should contain around 383 calories.
Also each meal should be approx 3 hours apart.

                                

CATALYST TIP 4:

BALANCE YOUR CALORIES
By keeping each meal to a certain number of calories you are helping to avoid over eating, and by eating every 3 hours you are teaching your body to store less fat and to increase your metabolic rate.

                                

CATALYST TIP 5:

BE ACTIVE
Be active every day. Do some kind of physical activity everyday. Some days it might be a 30 min walk, and other days it might be a 1 hour weights/cardio session with your personal trainer.

Remember the intensity of the exercise can vary day to day, but the consistency of doing the exercise on a daily basis should not.

                                

CATALYST TIP 6:

USE SIMPLE MATHEMATICS
Also remember that your body is just simple mathematics. For example if you consume 2300 calories in one day, and you have been sitting at work all day on the computer, or at home on the couch, you might only burn say 1500 calories. So therefore you have an excess of 800 calories.

Those extra 800 calories get put straight into storage and eventually become fat. If you consistently have days where you don’t exercise and have excess calories in your body, then you will eventually become fat.

This process is sped up even more if you consistently eat the wrong types of high fat high sugar foods.

                                

CATALYST TIP 7:

MUSCLES
The more muscle that you have on your body the better. Having muscle helps increase your metabolism because muscle requires more nutrients to survive. Muscle needs to be fed, they are like little calorie burning factories.

So when you are having a slack day on the couch, if you have plenty of muscle on your body then your going to burn more calories (at rest) than the average Joe who doesn’t, because your resting

                                

CATALYST TIP 8:

HOW TO GET MUSCLES
Well the simple answer is progressive resistance training.

Being committed to a physical training program that is suitable to your fitness level. Then by slowly increasing the resistance and the intensity of each workout.

Using correct form when performing each exercise is also very important when it comes to actually engaging the desired muscle, if you don’t engage the muscle properly then the muscle won’t develop as well.

                                

CATALYST TIP 9:

MUSCLE MYTHS
There is a common stereo type associated with muscle.

Women especially in my experience, tend to avoid the weights section of the gym and usually stick to cardio equipment. I always hear ‘I don’t want to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger’ or ‘I don’t want big muscularly thighs.’ They usually say this to me without ever having picked up a weight.

The fact is that women in general don’t have enough testosterone in their bodies to get to the Arnold stage, but should still incorporate resistance training into their fitness programs if they want that nice fit lean look to their body.

                                

CATALYST TIP 10:

REST
Everyone likes a rest. In order for your body to make any improvements what’s so ever it is essential that you get adequate sleep and rest.

If you think of exercise as damaging your body (in a safe way) then think of sleep as the work shop where everything gets fixed and rebuilt. Therefore if you don’t get enough sleep or rest in your daily routine, or are over worked, or stressed then you will find if a lot harder to improve on your current fitness level.

You will eventually become frustrated. This will lead you to hate exercise. But remember its not exercises fault, you just need to rest.