Maria Wins Your Best Body Challenge!

After 10 weeks of dedication, Maria Hartwich was the unanimous winner of the Ballarat “Your Best Body” contest, claiming over $2,400 in prizes. Maria lost over 15kgs of fat and saw her quality of life improve drastically as a result.

Local fitness/weight loss expert and creator of the contest, Julian Gaylor of PerFit Health and Wellness says that Maria’s transformation is great inspiration and motivation to others. “Maria’s transformation is testament to how regular exercise and sensible eating is all you need to see great changes in the body. Dangerous weight loss pills and extreme dieting is never the answer”.

Gaylor’s Your Best Body Challenge is part of the fitness and weight loss contest phenomenon started by the hit TV show, The Biggest Loser.  “That show really focused the nation’s attention on the benefits of participating in a contest, guided by certified personal trainers, in terms of the motivation and accountability necessary for success,” explains Gaylor. “It’s difficult to lose weight on your own. Anyone who’s tried and struggled knows that – and unfortunately, that’s the majority.”

All entries were judged by Gaylor, his staff and all sponsors. Both Perfit Health and Wellness and major sponsor Gems and Jewels have generously awarded Maria $1,000 gift certificates while Jeanswest , Skin Ski and Surf and Salon Boji have kindly given Maria a new look to go with her new body.  “It’s definitely a town effort,” says Gaylor, “we couldn’t do this without a lot of help.  We’re all very grateful for the way this challenge is being received and look forward to helping a lot of folk lose weight and get into great shape in the near future.”

Visit www.YourBestBodyBallarat.com.au to see the winners before and after pictures.

PerFit Christmas Party

On the evening of Tuesday December 15th we held a night of good food, fun and games at the studio for staff, clients, friends and families that have been involved with PerFit Health and Wellness.

Games involved the “Egg on Medicine Ball” races and water balloon throwing. We also had the drawing of the eagerly awaited “Train the Trainer” contest. Congrats to Scott & Tanya, Dean and Mark & Jess for winning a 1 hour session to train the trainers!

YOUR HOLIDAY SURVIVAL GUIDE

Well it’s that time of year again, things are starting to wind up and the festive season is upon us. Christmas day and New Years is just around the corner and with each coming week there seems to be more and more alcohol and finger food laden parties. Don’t get me wrong, they are great fun and you shouldn’t miss them but if you’re not careful, this holiday period has the potential to ruin your whole year of good work in the gym! Here are some golden rules to follow to avoid sabotaging your progress.

• Get a head start on your holiday fitness

In the few weeks leading up to the holidays, you should really try and ramp up the exercise to give you somewhat of a head start before the festivities hit. Not only will it get you into the routine of exercising, you will be fitter and healthier than usual which means you will have more “breathing space” of sorts to indulge during the holidays.

Secondly, if you really focus on proper exercise and eating well right now, you will be in good habits when things may get a little difficult.

• Don’t get too stressed out! Enjoy yourself!

When it all boils down, the holidays are a time to be happy and relax a little. If you worry too much about exercise and eating right you won’t enjoy yourself during this period. You need to accept the fact that your diet and exercise habits might not be perfect over this period and not to stress about it. In a month’s time when you are back into the swing of it all, it will just be a distant memory. Being mentally relaxed is also a big part of your health and wellbeing so stressing out over missing a session or eating too much every now and then won’t help at all.

• Have a break from work, not exercise

Sure, the holiday period is a time for relaxing and taking it easy but don’t let your exercise routine suffer too much. If you currently exercise 3-4 times a week and all of a sudden drop off to 1 or even 0 sessions each week, not only will your progress slow but you’ll probably find yourself going backwards.

As nice as it is to sleep in and then “veg” out all day, getting to the gym or even exercising outside for 30-60 mins 3 days a week will go a long way to helping you maintain your health and fitness levels. Did you know that exercising for an hour 3 times a week is less than 2% of your whole week? Its not the much at all, is it ?You’ll also get more out of the day as you’ll be more energetic. However if you feel the need to snooze afterwards….at least you’ve earned it!

• Christmas Day survival guide

Christmas day can be worse than other parties as it’s usually an all day event!  Here are some quick pointers to help you out.

-          If you eat from a smaller plate you will not eat as much as in your mind will still be eating a full plate (or two….or three!).

-          Eat lean meats such as turkey and chicken instead of pork and ham.

-          Cut back on the trimmings such as gravy and other sauces.

-          Instead of snoozing on the couch, participate in the game of backyard cricket or whatever game the family is into. If there is no game going, start one!

• Improvise on vacation

If the gym is your soul outlet for exercise, when you go away during the holidays you may be limited as to what you can do so it’s time to improvise. Getting outdoors and doing some cardio work such as running, cycling or swimming can be a great change of pace. You can still get a good resistance work out in without machines and free weights. You can do body weight exercises such as push ups, squats, dips, lunges, chin ups etc. If you have advanced to a point where you need more resistance you could fill a backpack and put it on your back while doing these exercises. You can also use suitcases and bags as makeshift weights and dumbbells. You’re only limited by your imagination!

If you are interested in getting some ideas for exercise programs you can do over the holidays when you are away, getting involved in our men’s only or women’s only boot camps may be just what you need. You will learn some great exercises that don’t require a lot of equipment to help maintain your fitness while not in the gym.  Check them out at www.BallaratBootCamps.com

• Don’t let the parties poop your progress

I’m all for letting my hair down and having fun at Christmas parties. It is the silly season after all isn’t it? The problem comes when you have multiple BIG parties where you over indulge on the alcohol and nibbles. It’s quite easy to consume 3-4 times your daily calorie allowance at one party (that’s not including the rest of the day’s food either!). Let’s put that into perspective- Let’s say you had 3 big parties where you really let yourself go. You would have consumed up to, or even more than 12 days worth of calories (most probably coming from sugar and saturated fat). Hypothetically (PLEASE DON’T DO THIS) you would have to not eat for the next 12 days just to counteract the damage.

To minimise the effects of these parties, make sure to exercise earlier in the day. You should also eat a good meal before going to the party. This will mean you have already filled up on good food and won’t be nibbling on junk at the party. You should also plan to only have 1 or 2 big parties and pace yourself or don’t drink at all at the others. Not only will your body thank you, but you will save money and chances are you won’t be the one doing something embarrassing!

I hope you all have a relaxing holiday period and this article will help you to maintain your health and fitness over this time. If you have any questions or would like some help in other areas, feel free to book a consultation at the top of the page!

Transform your body and win over $3,000 in prizes!

Hi Folks,

I’ve got BIG NEWS!

Here’s the fastest way to your best body:

www.YourBestBodyBallarat.com.au

I’m not kidding. Take a look right now, you’ll be glad
you did.

Here’s the scoop…

I’m running a contest. It’s called the “Your Best Body
10-Week Challenge.” And it’s free for everyone to
participate. But don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s
not valuable. This is the fastest way to lose weight,
drop dress or pants sizes, transform your body and
look and feel better than you have in years…in just
10 short weeks.

If thats not enough enticement, there will be prizes…BIG
PRIZES. Along with PerFit, local Ballarat businesses have
donated over $3,000 worth of amazing prizes for the winners

There’s just something about contests/challenges like
“Your Biggest Loser” and others that really get folks
motivated to do more and be more, faster than they
would otherwise.

This is a great way to challenge yourself, with our
help, and it won’t cost you a cent (just a small, one-
time $10 donation to The Ballarat Cancer Research Center,
a great local Charity here in Ballarat).

I’m doing this to get more local folks the help they
need to get the body they want…and to raise much
needed funds for The Ballarat Cancer Research Center
So it’s a winner all the way around.

Take a look here for all the details, and to get my
“Your Best Body Challenge 10-Week Transformation Guide”
free. The Guide contains all the info about the
Challenge…AND…a complete 10-week exercise and
nutrition program for you to follow with or without our
help.

Just go here:

www.YourBestBodyBallarat.com.au

To your health, fitness and best body,
Julian Gaylor
PerFit Health and Wellness

P.S. Even if you’re not interested, I’d greatly
appreciate it if you’d forward this to all your
friends, family an co-workers in the area. They’ll
appreciate you giving them the “head’s up!

What Favorite Post-Workout Meal?

We all know it’s best to have a healthy snack after working out. Studies have shown that eating a small meal of protein and healthy carbs helps increase the benefits of your workout and speeds up the fat loss process. So what’s your favorite post workout meal?

What Is Your Favorite Exercise?

I was talking with a training client today and we got into an interesting conversation about his favorite exercise.  It was kind of neat learning about his preferences, likes and dislikes.  So I wanted to open this up a bit and ask you… what’s your favorite exercise and why?