Author: Gloria

Being involved with women’s weight loss, I regularly see a very common thread among women who are overweight. And that is that they tend to put themselves near the bottom of their list of priorities in life. This is particularly true of mothers. Many women are so preoccupied looking after their children, husband, house, and so on, that they tend to forget about themselves. And as a result, their health, wellbeing, and ultimately, their self-esteem, suffers. Basically, they’re just too giving for their own good. It’s important for women to shift their mindset to the understanding that their own wellbeing…

I just wanted to tell you about a really great food that you might like to try adding to your diet. It’s called soba noodle – thin brown noodles that are made from buckwheat flour. These are very well known to Japanese and Korean people since they form a very common part of their diet. Soba is the noodle of choice around Tokyo, and they’re very popular everywhere throughout Japan. You can get them as fast food at train stations, but they’re also served in very expensive restaurants, as well as everywhere in between. Shops and markets sell dried soba…

It’s been almost eight months now since I joined Team Bombshell, and I have to say that the experience really has changed my life. In about July or August of last year, I made a decision to get my body into great shape and I set a goal to get into a fitness magazine like Oxygen or Muscle & Fitness Hers. I was working out quite a lot at that time and I was in pretty good shape, but I knew I needed to tone up a lot more, so I started to focus specifically on my new goal by…

A sports bra is an essential part of your workout kit – much like running shoes, you really can’t get by without it in the gym. A good sports bra will not only reduce bounce and keep you comfortable and pain-free while you exercise, it can also help reduce permanent stretching to the support structure of your breasts that result in sagging. Here are 9 Top Tips to look for when choosing a sports bra: If you’re a larger-breasted woman, you may prefer a bra with underwire support. Look for a bra with wide, cushioned straps and flat seams for…

For many of us it’s been years since we were fully in touch with ourselves, when life was much more grounded and enjoyable. As children we’re very connected with nature and our own true spirit, but because of our modern lifestyle that quickly changes as we get older. We suffer in all sorts of ways and even end up doing unintentionally damage to our body. So why is it that we lose touch with our body? In many cases it’s the result of our not having any true goals for our life. In other cases we have too many –…

Now that summer has just begun again in the US, many women’s focus has suddenly shifted to trying to look good for the beach. Traditionally, this is the time of the year when diets and weight loss plans are put into action, in the hope of losing those extra kilos that inevitably went on over the winter. Now of course, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to lose a few kilos of body fat. The problem however, is that most women tend to leave things until summer actually arrives, and then expect to get into shape for their bikini in no…

When healthy meal options first appeared in McDonald’s TV ads some years back, it really caught my attention. I thought at the time that there was hope after all for kicking this obesity epidemic that’s gripping the whole Western world. After all, when a company like McDonald’s starts putting money behind something new, you can guarantee there’s something in it. They’re not the kind of people to act on hunches or wild assumptions. McDonald’s know their market and they know their business. And if they were going to the trouble of starting a new menu line and promoting it the way…

Women have strengths that amaze men. They bear hardships and they carry burdens, but they hold happiness, love and joy. They smile when they want to scream. They sing when they want to cry. They cry when they are happy and laugh when they are nervous. They fight for what they believe in. They stand up to injustice. They don’t take “no” for an answer when they believe there is a better solution. They go without so their family can have. They go to the doctor with a frightened friend. They love unconditionally. They cry when their children excel and cheer when their…

Protect your skin from the sun. Drink pure water, breathe good air, live in a clean house. As you grow older, don’t envy the fresh blossoms of spring. To have clear, smooth skin, care for it diligently by cleaning it completely, protecting it with loofah vine-water, and keeping a relaxed mind. Good skin comes from a clean body, so make sure to eat foods that purify the body. Eat the peels, rinds, and skins of fruits and vegetables. Too much makeup pollutes the skin. If your bad skin is inherited, you can change its condition by eating properly. Sleep at…

Well it’s my first week of Team Bombshell training this week, and already I’ve learned so much! Of course there are heaps of new exercises and nutrition tips I’ve learned about, that’s to be expected. But the most eye-opening part of the experience for me so far has been seeing what discipline and dedication is all about at this level. It’s easy to look at a Team Bombshell competitor and say, “oh yeah, she must train hard”, but it’s difficult to really understand what that means until you actually see what it takes. I’ve always trained hard in the gym,…

Well . . . big, big news for me this week . . . I have officially joined Team Bombshell, the most prestigious, well-known and highly-regarded women’s figure, fitness and bikini competition team on the planet! It’s a huge honor and a privilege to be part of this team of incredible women, and I’m going to work my butt off to do them proud and to be counted worthy of being a Bombshell. Because I’m actually the very first Australian Team Bombshell member ever, I feel like I have a lot to live up to! 5 years ago when I…

Well, I finally received my gym instructor/personal trainer qualifications the other day! I had actually completed the course a few months back, but only got around to doing my First Aid accreditation the weekend before last, so that was the only thing outstanding. They couldn’t send me my certificates until that was done, so that makes it all official. I’m a personal trainer! Finally! Yay!!!

As you can see from Jamie Eason’s eating schedule in my recent post, “The Fitness Model Lifestyle”, she’s big on egg whites for her source of breakfast protein. Why is that? Well, egg whites are really an amazing protein food, being almost pure protein dissolved in water. Here are some nutritional facts about egg whites: Calories per 100g: 48 cal Percentage Protein by Weight: 10.9% Percentage of Calories From Protein: 91% Percentage of Calorie From Carbs: 5% Percentage of Calorie From Fats: 4% And remember, the protein in egg white is complete protein, so it has all the essential amino…

Let’s face it, not many of us are really prepared to work on our figure and fitness to the level of someone like a fitness model, who virtually lives and breathes fitness. And nor should we. Each one of us has our own personal goals and at the end of the day that’s what’s really important. Even so, I thought it would be interesting to take a quick peek into the routine of a world-class fitness model, to see just how much work and commitment it takes to maintain such an amazing figure. Jamie Eason is one of the most…

One of the toughest choices for women to make when starting out on an exercise program is that of what equipment they need to buy. If your intention is to simply join a gym then of course this becomes a fairly trivial matter – you’ll really only need a few basics. But if your goal is to work out at home, then you’ve got some thinking to do. From my experience however, it’s always good to have at least some exercise gear handy at home regardless, for those occasions where getting to the gym just isn’t possible. With that being…

An interesting thing happened to a friend of mine last year. She’s in the business of organic skincare products. And as part of a market research campaign that she was conducting, she had a whole cross-section of women fill out a comprehensive survey about skincare, skincare products, and the advertising and promotion of skincare products. The results of one question in particular were especially interesting to me. The question was, “which of the following people’s endorsement in an ad do you think would most influence your decision to buy a skincare product?” Among the answers available to choose from (it…

The other day a close friend of mine was complaining about the group training sessions at her local gym. In fact, she was considering leaving the gym and finding somewhere else to work out. The problem . . . women who, whether it’s intentional or not, slow down the session by engaging the trainer in conversation, asking needless questions, socialize with each other, complain about the pace of the workout, and so on. I’ve seen quite a bit of this myself in gyms, both in group sessions – particularly small groups, and also with women working out on their own.…

A few weeks ago I decided I wanted to introduce 3 weekly resistance training sessions back into my workout routine. For a while now I’ve been only been doing resistance training as part of my functional training/conditioning program. That will continue, but I just wanted to increase my resistance training emphasis a little with the 3 straight resistance training sessions. The reason for this decision was simply to see if I can take my muscle tone up a level. Since starting these sessions, I’ve been doing a 4-day split arrangement, as follows: #1: Heavy Upper Body #2: Heavy…