My top 11 tips to make 2013 your most awesome year yet:

Firstly, I would like to wish you a very Happy New Year. I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and spent some quality time with friends and family. No doubt you indulged in foods you would not ordinarily eat and had a few beverages of the alcoholic kind…..I know I certainly did and it was great however I am ready to get back on it and prepare for an awesome 2013.

The start of every year is always full of great intensions but lets face it, how many people actually stick with it and reap the rewards? Well, sadly not many. So here are my top 10 tips that will ensure this is your best year yet. I am not just talking about the way you look here folks, I am so bored of new years resolutions being the same old aesthetics based ones. Let create a bigger picture here and discover real awesomeness. The 11 points I am about to mention are simple changes that will make a huge difference. Being awesome is simple really 🙂

1) Get more sleep:

Sleep is king, but far too many underestimate it’s power. I want you to make a huge effort to get your arse to bed early and aim for 8 hours sleep a night. Don’t say it’s not possible because it is. Getting more sleep will only do you good; fat loss, muscle recovery, more energy, improved health, increased growth hormone levels and better skin to name just a few benefits. 

2) Lift weights:

I don’t care if your goal is to lose body fat, improve fitness or to put on muscle, I don’t even care if your a man or a woman, GET LIFTING. Regardless of your goal, weight training is awesome. Lifting weights really does tick all the right boxes. Speed up your metabolism, burn fat, raise your testosterone levels, strengthen joints, ligaments and tendons, reduce your Resting Heart Rate (RHR), reduce blood pressure, get insane levels of cardio conditioning. Focus on the big lifts such as deadlifts, squats, presses, rows, pull ups, lunges, step ups and fit a some other creative stuff in here and there. So stop those tedious sessions on the cross trainer and grab some weights. 

3) Have performance goals:

I bet most resolutions will be “To go on a diet” or “to lose weight”. But this can get incredibly boring and its pretty unrewarding. Having a performance related goal is far more rewarding and stimulating. If your goal is fat loss then what happens when you achieve your target weight? This creates a stumbling block and also the opportunity to undo all your hard work. I want to run 10km is under an hour has room to be 10km in under 50mins etc. I want to do 5 bodyweight pull ups will soon be 10 etc. The fitter and stronger you get the better you will look, so a performance goal has a knock on effect. Name me a professional athlete that doesn’t look good? I can assure you that Usain Bolt didn’t become the fastest man in the world trying to get a six pack…but he has one. BTW I don’t count sumo wrestlers and darts players as athletes.

4) Chill the F*%@ out:

Stress is a real show stopper regardless of what your goals are. If your diet is bang on and your training frequently but your stressed and your cortisol levels are elevated then you will soon come to a crashing holt and your body and health will suffer. Whilst some stress is needed to function effectively, having constantly elevated cortisol levels will do you no favours. It will disrupt your sleep, lower your testosterone levels, reduce your ability to burn fat, affect your workouts, disrupt digestion and of course affect your mood and health. It’s time to reflect and chill. Don’t get so wound up about things, appreciate all the amazing people you have in your life and realize how fortunate you are. Life really is too short to stress so much. Besides, how important are the things you are stressing over? Stressed about work? Remind yourself you are great at your job and you can get the job done. Stay calm, collected and enjoy life. 

5) Avoid negative people:

We all know someone who is not happy unless they are moaning about something. I know things are not always rainbows and butterfly’s but being surrounding by negative people is draining and it can rub off on you quite easily. Don’t be afraid to dispose of the negative people that refuse your help or who like to dampen your parade when things are going well for you. I started avoiding said people last year and boy it feels good.

6) Start a blog:

I started blogging a few years ago and I am now hooked. I love it and find it so relaxing. Of course a blog should be about your interests and mine are about food, cooking, recipes,  training, nutrition, the mind and bacon 🙂 I love putting stuff out there that others may take some value from but whats important is that you write about the stuff you love doing. There are plenty of people out there who share the same interests as you and its a great way to share stuff and pick up ideas from like minded people. They don’t need to be long and require little thought as writing about stuff you love is easy. Give it a try and I bet it’s only a matter of time before you are hooked too.

7) Start making your own broth:

Bone broth is awesome and is jam packed with nutrients. If you want to improve your health on many levels then you need to get this stuff down you. Be it as a drink, in soups, stews, casseroles this will work wonders fro you. We have a blog and video on this coming up so won’t say too much hear. 

8) Buy a slow cooker:

As some of you may have notice both Keris and I love our slow cooker and are always posting recipes up on our Fitter Food page using one. Why a slow cooker? Thats easy:

•  Tenderizes meat or poultry.
• Allows you to cook in bulk meaning you can save for other lunches and dinner.
• Best way to make your own broth/stock (see point 7).
• Very time efficient. Throw your ingredients in and leave to cook. Nothing nicer than coming home from a hard days work to a hot and tasty meal thats ready to eat. Kind of feels like someone else has cooked it 🙂
• Great way to get your dose of vegetables and broth down you.

9) Go for walks:

I love going for a walk, it clears the mind, de stresses and is a great way to see places you would not normally see. Go for a walk around the block, to work or map out a nice route to do at the weekend. Walking won’t see you achieve superhuman fitness levels but it is great for the mind. Just get out there whatever the weather and clear your head of crap and focus on the important things, run your goals through your head and how you will achieve them, map out your success and visualise achieving your goals.

10) Eat foods that make you feel awesome:

I suppose you guessed this one would be on here, and rightly so. No more thinking bloating, wind, spots and poor energy levels are normal. It’s not and what you eat/drink should only enhance your life and make you feel awesome, most of the time at least. If something makes you feel rubbish then don’t eat it. This of course differs from person to person but learn to listen to your body and what makes you feel good. Your body deserves the best so clean your act up. 

11) Learn to cook:

Cooking your own meals as often as possible is one of the best things you could do to improve your health. You know exactly whats going in it and it will save you money. Buy yourself some recipe books and get cooking. We very rarely eat out as we love the food we cook and it tastes awesome. We cook in bulk so we can freeze some or take it for lunches and dinners which saves time and means we are not cooking everyday. Excuse the up sell here be we have just self published or own book “Fitter Food – A Lifelong Recipe For Health & Fat Loss” which shows you just how easy it is to eat a healthy and tasty diet. You can order yours here. Eating healthy is not complicated and many of our clients develop a love for cooking once they know how easy it is.

So there you have it, 11 tips for a healthy, successful and happy 2013. Wishing you all an awesome year ahead.

Yours in strength, positivity and good food,

Matt Whitmore