Portion Control

So my mum always tells me I eat too much. My excuse and response is that I’m active so I need to eat a lot in order to keep me going. However, she might actually be right. I’ve been a serious lover of food from when I was a child and on reflection; I can honestly say that I’m quite greedy.

However, that’s all soon to change, because I’ve bought something that will help me adjust my portions.

Meet the Meal Measure …

This brilliant gadget is a plastic portion control guide that fits right over your plate. You can measure your protein, starch, vegetables and fruit for perfect portions. Each hole of the meal measurer has a 1 cup and 1/2-cup mark so you can adjust portions for your individual dietary needs.

What I really like about the Meal Measure, is the fact that you don't have to use measuring cups or scales to figure out just the right food portions for your meals. All you need is your Meal Measure, which will fit in most standard sized dinner plates. It’s easy to use, easy to clean and a handy alternative to an individual portion plate as you can use it to measure more than one meal at once.

The only thing I would say is that it is a bit over priced. I paid £15 for mine on eBay. Also, the product doesn’t come with any guidelines as to whether you should have half a cup or a full cup, but for me, a full cup is less than what I usually consume anyway, so it’s still been a massive help.
I ordered mine from eBay; however they also sell it on Amazon as well.

Using the Meal Measure has shown me how much I’ve been over eating over the years and although it’s a bit pricey, I think it’s a very good investment.  It definitely gets Just Geen’s stamp of approval.

G

Fitness Myths

Since it’s the beginning of the year, and a lot of people have taken their first steps to a healthy lifestyle, I thought it would be appropriate to discuss the exercise myths; I first faced when I began working out.












Myth 1: Women who lift weights become masculine




Fact: In regards to muscle size, testosterone is a key ingredient. Men have 20 to 30 times more testosterone than women, which is why they bulk up so easily. However, for a woman to reach a masculine physique, she would need to do far more weight-lifting than the average woman, and also have some sort of hormone imbalance (either genetic or induced with steroids). To be honest, weight training helps burn fat and tones the muscles, so it should be incorporated in your routine.










Myth 2: Only doing ab workouts will give you abs




Fact: The truth is you can do as many crunches as you like, but unless you get rid of the fat on top of your abs, your abs will never show through. The more reps you do, just increases muscle memory, rather than burning fat. For your abs to be visible, you would need to reduce your overall body fat because unfortunately you cannot spot- train and pick and choose areas where you’d like to burn fat. By doing cardio eating clean, and accompanying this with core workouts, your body fat should decrease, allowing your abs to eventually show.












Myth 3: You're not working hard enough if you are not sweating




Fact: Sweating does not necessarily mean you are working hard. Some people, like me, have high sweat glands so they sweat easily. I mean I get sweaty just by walking from my house to the station. Sweating does not mean you are actually burning fat. Sweating is a way of your body cooling itself whilst you’re working out. You initially loose water weight after an intense workout, but as soon as you drink fluids, you will replenish the water weight lost.












Myth 4: More hours spent in the gym leads to better results




Fact: Overtraining stops muscle growth. Instead of your body rebuilding its muscle tissues, it'll continue to break it down, which means you'll actually start to lose muscle. The key is to train smarter and not harder.












Myth 5: If you're not sore or in pain, you're not working out hard enough




Soreness can come from many different factors that have nothing to do with the quality of your workout. For example, the type of workout you're doing, what you eat before and after your workouts or whether you stretched after your workouts. A good way to judge the quality of your workout is by wearing a heart rate monitor and working at 60 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate.












Myth 6: Muscle turns into fat




Fact: You can’t turn muscle into fat, the same way you can’t turn fat into muscle. Building muscle and losing body fat are two completely different processes and while this can be done at the same time, it is very rare. Most of the time, you need to focus on one objective before you can focus on another. This is because, in order to gain muscle, you must consume more calories than you burn and, in order to lose body fat, you must burn more calories than you consume so your body will find it difficult to do both at the same time. 












There are too many myths to mention, but these are the most common 'myths' I hear when I'm in the gym, so with that said I will leave it here for now.




I hope this helps.




G

Just Geens Plantain Pancakes

Ingredients

·         1 and ¼ super ripe plantain, when I say super ripe I mean one that is dark brown/black in colour and squishy
·   1 egg
·         250 ml wheat flour
·         250 ml almond milk
·         1 tea spoon coconut oil
·         1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon (or more)
·         2 tablespoons of honey
·         1 handful of blueberries
 

Instructions

1.       Mix your pancake ingredients together: eggs, wheat flour, almond milk, coconut oil, cinnamon and 1 plantain (you’ll use the remaining ¼ for your syrup), until you get a smooth thick paste. I used a blender because whisking the plantain would have taken ages.

2.       Now heat up whatever you love to cook your pancakes on. I used a non stick frying pan and added a teaspoon of coconut oil.

3.       Add a small amount of your pancake mix to the hot frying pan and cook until bubbles begin to appear in the batter then flip. Cook for about 2 minutes per side, depending how big you make them.  I find that wheat flour makes the pancakes fluffy and softer than normal pancakes, so it breaks a lot easier. I would suggest making the pancakes small. The smaller you make them, the easier they are to flip and not break apart.

4.       Make all your pancakes.

5.       Dice the left over plantain into small pieces and fry for about 2-3 minutes.

6.       Add 2 tablespoons of honey and a handful of blueberries to the diced plantain and let it simmer for a minute.

7.       Stack your pancakes and pour your syrup on top.

Bon Appétit

G

GYMS KITCHEN

Gyms Kitchen – the UK’s first protein based restaurant.

They're definitely not lying; this restaurant is every gym go-ers heaven. Since it opened in 2012, I’ve heard nothing but good things. But word of mouth isn’t always gospel, so I decided to take a trip down there and try it out for myself.

My experience was nothing short of amazing. With fitness quotes on the wall such as “eat clean, train dirty”, pictures of the ‘fitness evolution’ and the weightlifting toilet signs, the restaurant's decor was impressive and it won me over, before I had even tasted the food. You can tell that a lot of thought went into creating the perfect atmosphere.

The menu was overwhelming, with so many options to choose from. Porridge, eggs, protein pancakes, wraps, sea food, smoothies anything healthy you can think of; it was all there. What I really liked about their menu was, not only did it provide you with the amount of calories per dish, it also listed the nutritional value contained in each dish, such as the fat content, the grams of protein and grams of carbs, which is pretty handy for a gym go-er, like myself.

As this trip was after a workout, myself and @bigboatstrainingroom were keen to fuel our muscles with as much protein as possible. For starters, we were served carrots and celery with homemade hummus. If you’re a hummus fan, then you’ll appreciate the authentic taste, in comparison to the store bought ones from places like Tesco and Asda.

For our mains, we decided to share the mixed grill platter. The platter was protein heaven and contained 268g of protein, split between both of us. The feast included Chicken Wings, Lamb Cubes, Chicken Cubes, Butterfly Chicken and, of course Lamb Chops, which we washed down with a Banana and Peanut Butter protein shake. The portions were generous and accompanied by a garnish salad and Gym’s Kitchen sauces. I wasn’t too fond of their chicken, but I would highly recommend the lamb. The lamb did not disappoint, they were perfect, succulent yet crispy and rightly seasoned.

To seal off the occasion, we decided to share their Protein Pancake Tower combo. The tower consisted of three different types of pancakes; Apple Crunch Protein, Banana & Chocolate Protein and Blueberry Protein. They were topped with fresh fruit and served with honey drizzle and peanut butter. The pancakes were a perfect way to end my experience and are a good alternative for those with a sweet tooth.

Overall, my experience at gyms kitchen was 10/10. The restaurant is a prime example that you can eat out and enjoy a healthy meal without having to restrict to a salad. Their nutritional balanced menu doesn’t hold back on taste and I would highly recommend this to anyone.

They currently have two locations:

Restaurant 1- 388-392 High Road, Leyton, E10 6QE

Restaurant 2- 376 – 378 Cranbrook Road, Gants Hill, Essex, IG2 6HW

For any non-east Londoners, I suggest you give either branch a visit. Trust me; it is definitely worth the journey.

G

Impossible is Nothing

I can't believe its 2014 already! I guess it's time to reflect on last years achievements and assess what changes you want to make in the New Year. Don't be discouraged if you didn't achieve all your goals, use this year as an opportunity to prioritise the goals you didn't achieve last year. 

However, be realistic when goal setting. Sometimes we aim to accomplish 101 things by the end of the year, without assessing whether this is even feasible. I mean there's no point completing the year having completed all your goals half heartedly. 

As the year was coming to an end, I got a bit upset that I didn't get to complete everything I set out to do. Nevertheless, I realised that there was a reason for the delay and it just wasn't the right time.

However, I have so many things to be thankful for that I don't even know where to begin. I'm not going to list all of them, because you probably don't want to hear them lol, but what I will say is, blogging has shown me that nothing is impossible.

Blogging was one of my resolutions last year and within a year I've had over 30,000 views. Anyone who knows me personally knows that I was very nervous and scared about blogging. I put it off for the longest time. I was scared that no one would read it or that it would be rubbish. To some people it may be just that, but my hits tell me I'm doing something right. I have had nothing but positive feedback and I would just like to say a big thank you to everyone that has followed me and supported me on my journey.

Your support means a lot to me and is the motivation I need to keep doing what I'm doing. I know I've said this before, but when I first started my journey it was all about me. I wasn't doing it to benefit anyone else and it was all about my personal gain. I was just a girl who liked posting gym pictures on Instagram, but I soon came to realise that I was beginning to inspire those around me without even noticing it, and for those reasons, I won't stop doing what I'm doing.

My advice for this year would be set yourself realistic goals that way you’re more likely to stick to it. If your goal is to finally get active and lose weight, instead of it being a resolution, why not have it as a change in lifestyle with the intention of it lasting a lifetime. As I've said before, fitness isn't a destination but rather a journey. It’s much harder to maintain your results once you've reached your goal.

I would suggest creating a 2014 vision board and placing images and words of all the things you want to accomplish this year. Have this board in a place you will see everyday. This should keep you on track and act as a constant reminder of your objectives for that year. Sometimes having your goals on paper, is what you need to take the steps to make it a reality. 

Let's make 2014 a productive year and focus on making those dreams a reality.

G