Serves:  1

Ingredients
3 sprigs fresh mint leaves
2 sprigs fresh coriander
20 mls lime juice, bottled
½ tsp palm sugar
20 grams snow pea sprouts
5 grams oyster sauce
130 grams barramundi fillets
1 spring onions (approx 15g each)
1 pump cooking oil spray
0.5 fresh red chillies (approx 45g each)

Instructions

1. Thinly slice the spring onions and chilli, then toss together in a bowl with the sprouts, mint leaves and coriander leaves.

2. Heat a medium sized non-stick pan over medium-high heat, spray lightly with cooking oil spray and cook the barramundi approximately 3 minutes each side or until cooked through.

3. Meanwhile, crush the palm sugar and place in jar with the lime juice and oyster sauce; place the lid on and shake to combine ingredients.

4. Transfer the cooked fish onto a serving plate, top with the salad and drizzle the dressing over the top.

~Serve with stir-fry veggies (zucchini, bok choy & red capsicum)

Serves: 1

Ingredients
150g Lean Beef Strips
200g Coleslaw or Stir Fry Veg Mix
5 Cherry Tomatoes, halved
1/4 Red Onion, diced
1tsp Sesame Oil
3 Sprigs Fresh Coriander, chopped
3 Sprigs Fresh Mint Leaves, chopped
Fresh or Dried Chilli
Cracked Pepper
Sea Salt

Dressing
2 Parts Olive Oil to 1 Part Balsamic Vinegar
Drizzle of Honey
Sprinkle of Dried Taragon

Instructions

1. Season the rump with salt and pepper and stir fry in sesame oil.

2. Add all other ingredients to a bowl and combine.

3. Top the salad with the sliced rump and drizzle with 2-3tsp of dressing.

Lunch Box Tips:

To prepare the night before
~ Add all salad ingredients to a Tupperware container and refrigerate.
~Cook beef as above then wrap in foil and pop in the fridge.
~Take salad dressing to work in a empty water bottle.

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When did eating healthy become such bloody hard work? I mean counting calories, low GI, low fat, low sugar, must eat protein straight after a workout… ENOUGH ALREADY! No wonder so many people are so god damn confused about what healthy eating actually looks like these days. I was even told recently that I should be eating meat & nuts for breakfast. WTF?! Like I’m going to get up at 5am and start chomping down on a piece of steak. There were no questions asked just eat this and oh take a bunch of these supplements – you will receive an invoice in the mail. Does no one have any bedside manners these days…..RAAAHHHHHH!!!!

Why do “they” have to make things so much harder than what they really are?! I’m a big fan of Keeping it Simple, so it’s time to bring it back to basics…

EAT REAL, WHOLE, NOURISHING FOODS 80-90% OF THE TIME. FULL STOP. THAT’S IT. OVER & OUT. GOOD NIGHT.

Or in other words…

CUT OUT THE CRAP 80-90% OF THE TIME.

If you have to ask if a food is healthy then it probably isn’t! But you already know that don’t you.

Enjoy your food, don’t be afraid of it. Enjoy your treats, don’t deprive yourself. If you tell yourself you can’t have something you’ll want it even more. That’s the nature of the beast (our minds).

I loooooooove potato chips, I can eat an entire bag in one sitting. Yup! I love’m and I enjoy eating them. I just don’t make a habit of it because I know what will happen if eat them all da time…

Remember that good ole saying “Everything in Moderation”?

So now you can have your cake, tim tam, glass of wine or bag of chips and EAT IT TOO! Just remember to save some for ron…

Over & Out
Dicko x

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Shit Happens Right?!

Wrong! Shit doesn’t just happen you’ve got to make it happen.

Ok, so if you’ve been following my blog posts you will know that I went through a pretty shit time a while back with a bunch of stuff like depression, illness, an eating disorder and whatever else. You will also know that I’ve done a shit load of work on myself to get to where I am today – HAPPY, FABULOUS & REAL!

So how does one person go from living a life of fear, not knowing who she really is and being so utterly down on herself thinking that life isn’t worth living, to…. being able to see the positive in EVERYTHING, thinking that life is pretty fucking amazing and realising that going through all that shit was the best thing that ever happened?

The answer is quite simple really….. I went through a process. The process of change!

Everything’s a process right?!  Even getting depressed is a process. It’s not something that just happens.  You don’t wake up happy one day to wake up depressed the next. Just like you don’t wake up thin one day to wake up 20 kilos heavier the next.

It’s all a part of a process!

There’s no easy way out, there’s no magic pill or overnight solution. But there is one thing – you can make a decision right now. That’s it! Just one decision can change your life forever.

So whether you want to be fitter, slimmer, happier, more in love, wealthier, whatever it is you must go through the process of change. You can’t just sit there and hope that things will get better because believe me they don’t…

You’ve got to make shit happen!

Now although I didn’t know it at the time but the steps that I have outlined below are the exact steps I went through to pull myself out of depression. So if you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired, of listening to your same old excuses, of living a life less ordinary and you know that you need to make some BIG changes to sort your shit out then believe me when I say it is all worth it. You just gotta go for it!

Step 1:  Figure It Out!

The first step of change is all about awareness right? So you’ve got to figure out what it is that actually needs to change.  What is really keeping you stuck in that rut of yours? It’s time to dig deep, get completely honest with yourself and uncover some home truths. Yes it may not be pretty and you may not like what you find but if you don’t start being completely honest with yourself then you will continue to stay stuck.

Once you’ve figured it out take full responsibility for it. Everything that has happened to get you where you are today is a direct result of all the actions and choices you have made. This may not be something you want to hear and I sure as hell didn’t want to believe it but now that I have my head around it, it is so utterly powerful that it gives me full control of my life.

Step 2:  Do Whatever It Takes!

So once you’ve uncovered the thing that you need to change most you need to do what ever it takes to change it. It’s not going to happen on it’s own so sit down and put together an action plan of how you can actually change it. When you put pen to paper you may be quite surprised as to what actually reveals itself.

Tip – figure out what it is you want to change and then do the exact opposite of what you’re doing now.

AND DON’T EVER GIVE UP!!!

Step 3: Just Stop Already!

Stop whinging and whining. Stop making excuses. Stop talking yourself deeper into that rut of yours. If you stop and listen to what you are actually saying to yourself you might be very unpleasantly surprised…

If you have “money issues” what’s the bet you’re saying stuff like… I’m always broke, I can’t afford it, I’m strapped for cash, I wish I could win lotto, one powerball!!!

If you are overweight (now I hear these everyday)… I’m a big fatty, I hate my wobbly bits, I’m so unfit, I hate my legs/hips/knees, I’m never going to reach my goal weight, I just couldn’t get out of bed this morning, I’m too busy at work, , I didn’t get home til….

You get the picture right. So what are you going to do about it?

Your thoughts become things right, you know it’s that whole law of attraction thing. You keep talking to yourself that way and the longer you will stay that way.

It’s time to stop what you’re saying right now and start a whole new language.

When I got really clear on what it was that was actually keeping me stuck in a state of depression I realised it was my mindset. I was soooooo negative it was ridiculous. I hated the world and everything in it. I could not see the good in anything. I hated people for being so happy – couldn’t they see how unhappy I was how dare they be so happy around me. OMG can you believe I even thought that way. Well I did. So that was exactly what I set about changing, my mindset! And it was no easy task but I persisted until I became the person I wanted to be… happy, positive, grateful, compassionate, loving, honest, the list goes on.

Step 4:  Get Angry!

Get angry, get sad, get totally honest with your feelings. Stop covering them up with cake, chocolate, wine, shopping, sex, drugs, tv or whatever it is that works for you.

Most of us were taught from an early age not to show our emotions like sadness or anger. That these emotions are bad. There is no such thing as good or bad emotions. They are all just emotions which all need to be expressed as we feel them. When we don’t feel them we don’t honour our true selves, we become dishonest by hiding what really is.

“The healing is in the feeling”.

When you express your feelings they just dissolve.  It took me a while to get my feelings of anger and sadness out and what I realised was that the anger was just there to hide my sadness. Behind all anger is a lot of sadness so just remember that when you came across angry people (especially men). All they really need to do is cry ALOT!

The best piece of advice I can give you for this one is to get help – whether it be a good friend who can give you unconditional love & support, a life coach, a counsellor, a psychologist, you need to find the person who can help you with where you are at right now. There are so many people out there that can help you. You just have to find them.

Step 5:  Let Shit Go!

Forgiveness is one of the greatest lessons I ever learned. When I think about what forgiveness has done for my life it truly makes my heart sing. And the best thing about forgiveness is you don’t even need to know how to do it. You just need to let go. Let go of all that shit you’re holding onto so tightly. It doesn’t matter who did what or why whatever happened to you happened. All that stuff is in the past. It serves no purpose anymore. It holds no power over you. You are the only person giving it power by not letting it go. You don’t need to do anything, you don’t need to say anything to anyone, you don’t need to physically do a thing… You just need to let go.

After you’ve forgiven the people you need to forgive in your life you need to then forgive the most important person of them all – yourself. Forgive yourself for not knowing how to deal with all that shit. Forgive yourself for being the person you needed to become to get through whatever you needed to get through. Forgive yourself completely.

“You can’t change what happened in the past but you can change your perception of it”.

GET REAL, GET HAPPY & GET OVER WHAT WAS so that you can be the person that you already truly are!

Loves
Dicko x

I used to think that being strong, being resilient, being so utterly tough was my greatest of strengths… I’ve now  come to understand that it is also my greatest weakness.

I’ve learned that being weak, being vulnerable and surrendering to what really is, is the strongest thing you can do.

This is my biggest life lesson and one that I continue to learn…. Or don’t!  It is the thing that sticks with me that I can’t quite seem to get my head around. I’ve mastered forgiveness, I’ve mastered happiness – you’d think I’d being able to master true inner strength right?! I guess that’s why they call it a life lesson…

So I know all this stuff right. I know what I need to do to get there. But there’s a difference between knowing and doing. Sometimes it’s easier to just get on with shit, to ignore what the universe is really trying to tell you and to toughen up and just get on with it.

So the universe has stopped me in my tracks again literally for about the 3^rd time in as many weeks. I obviously didn’t get it the first couple of times but I’m listening now (sometimes I just have to do shit in my own time. Is anyone else like that?) and I know exactly what it’s trying to tell me. STOP! BE STILL! JUST BE!

So now I’ve had some time to be still (physically) I’ve been having a think about what inner strength really means to me. So I’ve come up with Dicko’s path to enlightenment…

♥ Be still (mentally & physically)
♥ Saying no and being ok with it
♥ Giving up my vices that hold me back from really being me
♥ Putting myself before all others and not feeling guilty about it
♥ Being ok with being authoritative when I need to be
♥ Speaking only the truth (even to myself)
♥ Let go of control & expectations
♥ Trusting myself & the universe
♥ Get out of my head and into my heart
♥ Getting angry or sad instead of toughening up and getting on with it
♥ Nurturing myself

Ok so this list could probably go on forever but these are the things that really stand out for me. So I guess it’s now time for the doing, time to put the knowing into action and just fucking do it!

Lots of loves
Dicko x

Hey guys

Just letting you know I have updated our Boot Camp Timetable with the brand new Cardio Fit class. This class will be run 2 days a week on Thursday evenings at 6.30pm and Saturday mornings at 10am from the week beginning 6th June 2011. Unfortunately I can’t do any earlier on Sunday’s as I have a prior commitment however this will only last for the next 10 or so weeks. I will then revisit the Sunday time to see if you’d prefer an earlier session.

So if you’re keen to boost your cardio fitness and maybe even enter the City to Surf come and join in on our new classes. We will be including short distance running, interval training, sprints, hill runs and continuous running. We will concentrate on improving both speed and distance. Don’t worry if your cardio fitness is low as you can work at your own pace. You will be surprised at how quickly your fitness levels will pick up.

You will need to bring along a watch that includes a timer and stopwatch so that you can record your own scores.

Sessions will be held at the same place – Pottery Green Lane Cove. We may even venture out and take in some of the sites of Sydney while we hit the ground running.

Full details are on our Boot Camp page so check it out!

Rache
Your Personal Trainer in Lane Cove

Now that winter is almost here and the weather is getting colder & wetter I have organised us a nice, warm indoor location that we can use as back up. Kicktactics in Lane Cove has kindly let us hire their huge space which is currently empty between the hours of 6am and 5pm. So, all of our morning Boot Camp sessions can now be taken indoors should it be too cold & wet for us to train outside.

All of our evening sessions though will still be outside as Kicktactics have their own group training sessions in the evenings at their studio. So no room for us for our evening sessions. If the weather is horrible at night there is a small undercover area at Lane Cove that we can use otherwise if it all gets too bad the session will be cancelled or rescheduled to another night. You will be notified in advance if this happens.

All Boot Campers will be notified in advance via SMS if you training session is changed from outdoors to indoors.

So rain, hail or big fat storms ALL of our morning Boot Camp sessions will go on.

Our new indoor location can be found at…

Kicktactics Lane Cove
Suite 102, 79-83 Longueville Rd
Lane Cove NSW 2066

Which is in the arcade behind Subway right opposite Block Buster Video.

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Real Life Fitness is excited to announce our new Mums & Bubs Outdoor Group Fitness Classes in Lane Cove starting Tuesday 3rd May 2011. This refreshing outdoor group fitness activity will involve a methodical approach towards regaining your fitness levels. The fact that you also get to meet other new mothers and work your way to fitness is another exciting opportunity to join these sessions.

Our fitness experts have designed these programs to be fun, easy to follow and result oriented for all our members. Post natal needs are adequately incorporated in our sessions as we emphasize a lot on core stabilisation, resistance training and cardio exercises.

Here are some of the rich benefits of joining our Mums & Bubs Fitness Classes:

• Enjoy some much needed ME time!
• Regain your fitness & energy levels
• Have fun & meet other new mums
• Burn fat, tone up and feel amazing
• Hassle free as you get to bring your bub along with you

Our classes are held in the beautiful fresh air at Pottery Green in Lane Cove with an indoor location as back up should it be raining.

At this stage we have 2 classes a week on Tuesday & Thursday mornings from 9am – 10am.

If you would like to find out more about our Mums & Bubs classes or would like to register please click on the link below.

Click Here to find out more about our Mums & Bubs Fitness Classes

Hope you can join us!

Yours in health & happiness!

Rachel Dickman
Your Personal Trainer in Lane Cove

Do you get to about 3 o’clock and need something to get you through that mid afternoon hump? Before you reach for the cookie jar or that chocolate treat just remember that eating sugar will only make you hungrier and won’t curb your cravings for long. It will leave you wanting more… Did you say MORE?!

Instead… Kick your sugar cravings in the butt by replacing your mid afternoon sugar rush with these quick and easy Super Snacks. Full of protein & good fats, they will have you feeling fuller for longer and will boost your metabolism too.

Super Snacks

** Peanut Butter on Celery Sticks

** Tuna Salad with Avocado

** Boiled or Scrambled Eggs with some fresh herbs

** Hommus with Carrot & Celery Sticks

** Apple & Handful of Nuts (Almonds, Walnuts, Brazil Nuts)

** Greek Yoghurt with Frozen Berries

** Mini Frittatas

Be sure to keep your portion sizes under control and add in a cup of  Green or Herbal Tea or a big glass of water.

Kick your sugar habit, get rid of your cravings and boost your energy with real food that will keep you feeling fuller for longer.

Yours in health & happiness!

Rache

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Back in 2004 I decided to take part in an INBA (International Natural Body Building Association) competition. At the time I was overweight, depressed and seriously needed a kick up the butt to sort myself out. I wasn’t really eating very well – coffee for breakfast, coffee for morning tea, sausage roll or some other disgusting takeaway for lunch and not much for dinner. I felt fat and horrible and I was totally unmotivated but I knew that if I let it get any worse I would just spiral out of control.

So I needed a big goal – something I could put my all into.

At the time I was going out with a guy who was a Personal Trainer – he’d gotten me into shape before so I knew exactly what to do but I needed something bigger to pull me out of this hole I was in.

At the time he was training another girl for a Body Building comp and I had seen him prepare and compete before too. So I decided that that was what I wanted to do but I wasn’t so keen on getting big and ……………………………………………..buff. So, the Sports Model Category it was.

Right! The decision was made and I was in my zone.

14 weeks out and I had to get from 33% body fat to about 15%. I weighed in at about 65kgs and was told I would need to get down to about 54kgs to reach my target of 15% body fat.

My boyfriend handed me my nutrition & workout plan and off I went. I became an eating and training machine!

In the first month I was training hard every second day and walking for an hour on my in between days. Then my training increased to 5 days a week plus the walking. Some days I really don’t know how I did it as I was in a crap job working 12-15 hour days. I remember some nights I wouldn’t get home until 9pm after starting at 6am and then having to go a walk.

Because I was working such long days I remember taking one look at my Nutrition Plan and saying to my boyfriend (the PT) “how the hell am I going to find the time to eat all that in one day?” The answer – MAKE TIME! So I did… simple really! Right?!

It was tough! Mentally tough. My body coped really well – I was the fittest, strongest and healthiest I’d ever been. I was never sore no matter how hard my training got. But having to get through 3 months without any of my vices (like wine, beer, cheese & biccies) now that was hard.

I can’t really explain in words how it mentally challenged me but it did. I wanted to give up so many times but every time I pushed through it just made me stronger.

I started seeing my whole body in a completely different light. I was fascinated by how it was changing and how my body had just turned into this absolute machine. The more I fed it the more it burned and the more I trained the more my body shape just kept changing. This is when I really fell in love with fitness.

My training consisted of heavy weights and walking. That was it! I was supposed to run or something like that but I absolutely hate running and I wasn’t about to start now.

In 3 months I went from 33% body fat and 65kgs to 18% body fat and 56kg. I didn’t quite make it to the 15% mark – probably that daily coffee & sugar and the no running thing! Whoops!

I ended up coming in 4th overall out of 8 of us. Not bad for a first timer.

But it was more than that.  What I got out of the experience had nothing to do with the way I looked at the end of it but everything to do with discipline, inner strength and belief in myself.

Plus I got to learn about my body and exactly how it works. And still to this day I see my body in an entirely different light – it is like a machine and I know that what I put into it is exactly what I get out of it. I no longer look in the mirror and think oh my bum looks big in this or I wish I was thinner. Now when I go off the rails and put on a few kilos (yes it still happens as my eating reflects my emotions) I know that all I need to do is get back on track with my eating. When I’m in a bad space emotionally I under eat (not over eat) and I still put on weight. It’s that whole metabolism thing right – the more you eat the the more you burn or eat more, weigh less.  I don’t even bother looking at upping my training because I know that if I’m not eating properly then the training part is pretty pointless.

My clients often tell me that now they are exercising more they are finding that they are hungrier than ever. I explain that your body is like a furnace right – the more you stoke that thing the more fuel it needs so don’t be afraid to fire up that sucker. Eat more, weigh less I say!

That is why a diet will never work.

Now I have to apologise for not having my before photos on this blog. When I split up with my boyfriend I didn’t even think that one day I would be a personal trainer and I would be writing this story so they are probably still on his computer somewhere or maybe even gone forever. But trust me when I say that they were truly UGLY! I mean sausage rolls for lunch… Not Nice!

Note: No supplements or protein shakes, just real food and a bit of the sweet stuff too. Oh and my daily coffee which I was not giving up for anyone. Actually no I lie I did take a Chromium supplement for my incessant sugar cravings – something I had never encountered before this.