Home made protein snack bar

We all look for healthy snacks to eat between meals, and it can often be hard to find one with a good balance of carbs / fats / protein.
Well here you go! Some of my own home made protein bars! They take about 5 mins to make, and 12 mins in the oven, so no excuses!

150g Oats
2-3 tablespoons of Whole Earth Organic Peanut Butter
3 Handfulls raisins
140g Chocolate Protein Powder (great with a chocolate and banana mix!)
2 Bananas mashed
50g Golden Caster Sugar
400 ml Milk (goats, rice lacto free for those that are lactose intolerant!)
5 tablespoons of ground almonds and brazil nuts

Pre heat the oven to 160degs.
Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl, then spoon into a buttered/greased cake tin or tray. Aim to keep it no more than 1" high.
Place into the oven and cook for 12mins.

Once you remove them, I cut them into good 6" by 3" slices, leave for 5 mins then remove to cool. I have found they keep fresher by cling film wrapping them individually once cooled.

Eat these as a snack, or pre workout and you won't go wrong! Enjoy!
Let me know if you have any additional ingredients you have tried.

Stretching for results

Having flown home for 13 hours yesterday with 2 young daughters, I had a touch of jetlag to say the least!
Not just that, but my body felt it had been squashed into a tiny box for most of the journey, and my notoriously tight calves felt like concrete for the next 24hours! Suffice to say my plantar fasciatis reared it's head again for a few hours afterwards.

If you have tight muscles, not only will you be affecting your posture, but you could also be hampering your results.

Ladies - are you continuously trying to firm up your bottom, and give it a better shape, but the only things that seem to change are your legs? This could well be down to the fact you may have tight hip flexors, located at the top of your thigh, connecting to your hip. When tight, these muscles will inhibit your glutes from working correctly, and will therefore limit your potential for results.

Men - Struggling to get a decent shape to your back? Well, if you bench press too much, and have tight pectorals, your shoulders will round forward giving you a stooped look, and inhibiting your back muscles from firing correctly.

If you stretch occasionally when you go to the gym, you really are cheating yourself from results! Ideally, look to stretch any tight muscle groups, 3-4 times a days for around 30seconds each stretch. If you're working out, stretch the tight Opposing muscle between sets. Ie if you're performing Deadlifts, and extension exercise, and you have tight hip flexors, stretch them between sets.

NOTE: It has been found that stretching a muscle, prior to using it in an exercise can actually have a detrimental effect on the exercise, and the power output will be decreased. An example would be stretching the pecs before performing a pressup.

In summary;

Perform dynamic, movement based stretches prior to working out.

Perform static stretches on any tight muscles before working the opposing muscle.

Perform static stretches, 3-4 times a day for 30secs each on tight muscles during the day

Perform static stretches on all tight muscles after a workout.

Sorry Skippy!

Earlier this week, our last week in Perth, we went to a restaurant for lunch, and I had.......some kangaroo! Yep, sorry skip, I ordered some.....and it tasted great. If you've not had it before, it tastes like a great fillet steak, very tender, meaty, and a great flavour!

The best sources of protein, will be from those animals which are active. They will be leaner, more tender, and a better flavour, than from those animals which move less. Other protein sources, like fish, has little fat.
Why? Well, do you ever see a fat fish that doesn't move much?! Exactly!

Do yourself and your body a favour, eat less manufactured carbs, more leaner protein, workout 2-4 times a week, and you could look leaner, and trimmer, and maybe good enough to eat?!!

Are you having your life and efforts sucked away?!

While in Malaysia we all managed to get bitten by Mosquito's except my eldest daughter who didn't get bitten once! Not sure what we did wrong?!

Mosquito's are literally sucking your life force (blood) to feed themselves - thankfully though, with a mozzie bite you're left with nothing more than a few marks for a few days.

However, if you have people around you that will 'suck your life force' or positive energy you could well find your efforts and targets slowly fade away.

I'm talking about people who knock your attempts at fitness, who always question why "you're eating healthily or rabbit food", people who are always looking at the negative aspects of life. People who always seek out the negative in the things that you do to improve your health, your fitness, your life.

Everyone knows somebody like this, be it a family member, work colleague, even a friend?! These people could endanger your chances of success, if you let them.

It's not always possible to "reason" with these people and their views, so where possible you will need to either limit your time with them when you are at a crucial stage of your success, or associate yourself with more like-minded people who are attempting to achieve similar goals, and feed off each others positive views and efforts.

An example of this is Weightwatchers and similar clubs. Although I don't really agree with some of their rules (counting calories all the time) it works for most people, because they go for weekly weigh-ins, and will be around like-minded people who are after the same goals, and can talk the same language. They are also help responsible for their own actions and success at these "weigh-ins" and so they are more likely to be strict with the food during the week. Health and fitness forums are also great areas for people to talk, discuss, and find people who are working towards the same goals.

If you want to succeed, find like minded-people, be positive, be responsible for your actions, plan your goals, and keep your focus. You should then be much further towards success than the "negative people" around you.

If you want to join like-minded people, come and join our community forum, Fat Loss and Fitness Solutions, and you too will be on your way to achieving what you are after!

I've found the Fat Loss Secret!

YES! I've finally found the secret formula for Fat Loss and Fitness whilst holidaying in Malaysia!!


Seriously though, whilst walking through the shops in Langkawi, I came across the above in the tea section. Maybe this is why there are no gyms here on Langkawi?!!


As posted previously, the diet here comprises of fresh foods and fruit, nothing processed, hardly anything packaged. This must say something?


There are NO secret potions, pills or powders that will give sustainable fat loss or fitness benefits. It will just be hard work on the fitness front, and sensible, fresh, natural eating to give you maintainable weight loss, sustained energy and vitality, and a healthy life.


Oh, and a touch of sunshine always helps!
One more day and then off to Oz for the next update!
A quick pic of our beach! ;-)

Further confirmation that Fat Loss is food!

Well after a long flight, we arrived in Malaysia! The weather is a change from the snow we left in the UK - lovely and hot, a welcome sight!

We are staying on an island called Langkawi, and like many of these islands, there aren't the luxuries of back home, in the form of gyms and the alike.

One thing which is apparent is that there are no obese people here on the island - or none that I have seen!

WHAT?! How can that be? There are no gyms! There is no one out running, I've not seen anyone working out!!

Well, just another confirmation that weight loss, or maintenance is about the calories you consume.

Here there are no coffee shops, bakeries, fast food shops, crisps, burger chains etc.

The food people eat is fresh, and natural. Food your body can do something with.

Everything is based around fruit, meats, fish, rice, noodles, vegetables etc.

The choices we make, are just that, choices. Sure you can treat yourself now and then, but stick to the 'core' foods, outlined above, and you will notice the benefits.

Be in control of your choices, take 100% responsibility for yourself and your actions.

OK, back to the beach, and some fresh fruit!

Away but not gone!

Well tomorrow, fingers crossed myself and the family will be jetting off for our annual holiday, stopping at Malaysia for a week, before spending time with my brother in Australia.


The temperature and climate will certainly be different to what we've been experiencing in England recently!


Everyone needs to recharge their batteries at some point during the year, a change of scenery, a change in daily routines and lifestyle. You (hopefully!) come back fresher, invigorated, and ready to take on new challenges, even when travelling with a 4 year old and 14th months old, half way around the world!

Sure, holiday's are now not the relaxing, lay on the beach reading, or doing nothing, that they used to be! Going to bars and restaurants when you have children is now more of a challenge, and often a mission in itself! But like anything, when you have to adapt, you do so, you plan and prepare, and this becomes part of your new 'routine'!


If something new becomes a challenge, or is different to your usual 'routine', but could well benefit you in the long run;
allow yourself to adapt, resolve the obstacles, and accept this into your routine, and you will reap the benefits of it's addition.


Well, it may be quiet postwise on here for the next week, but once we land in Oz, I'll get some updates back on, so keep checking back!

Thanks as always for your continued interest, I really appreciate it :-)

Mark

An unwelcome sight this morning!

We had it forecast, but still waking up this morning, this was the view from the back of our house! OK, to some of my readers in 'snowy' countries it may not look a lot but in England, this is quite severe!

I was supposed to have a busy day today, with 8 PT clients - I now have zero!

Even worse, myself and the family are supposed to be flying to Malaysia and then Australia on Wednesday night, and currently our two main airports are closed, with flight backlogs due to be a problem.......hmmmm we didn't plan for this?!

Sometimes though, things happen which are outside your control. With these issues, you just have to "ride with them" and make the best of a bad situation. Deal with what you can and plan ahead as per usual.
Only when you are creating your own problems by eating too much too often, eating the bad types of food too often, are you making things harder for yourself, and affecting your OWN outcome.

I'll just use today as an extra day to pack, plan my upcoming bootcamps further, and then take the kids out for a bit of sledging.....getting an unexpected workout in at the same time!

Here's to the snow clearing soon......!