Just Geen's Salmon Burgers

If you're a salmon lover like myself, you will definitely love this recipe. 

INGREDIENTS 

• Salmon filet (cooked or uncooked). 
• 1 egg white.
• 1/2 diced red onion.
• 2 spring onions.
• 1 bread of your choice (sandwich bread, mini pitta bread or any whole wheat bun).
• Burger toppings of your choice (lettuce, tomatos, onions etc).
• 2 tsp cottage cheese.
• Seasoning of your choice (garlic, ginger, pepper, herbs, thyme etc).

DIRECTIONS 

1.  Season your salmon with salt, pepper, garlic, thyme, mixed herbs.

2. Bake in the oven at 200°C for 13-15 minutes. (If your using cooked salmon, skip this step).

3. Flake and mash the salmon in a mixing bowl. 

4. Add the egg white and onions.

5. Gently shape the salmon into patties. 

6. Make sure you use a non stick pan on a medium heat and cook in a skillet using coconut oil.  the patty is cooked on both sides. Cook the burgers for about 5 minutes each side and cook until the burgers are brown on each side. 

7. Place the burgers on your choice of bread, spreading cottage cheese on one side of your bread and add your desired burger toppings. 

BON APPÉTIT 

Is the fitness industry a judgement free zone?

Is the fitness industry a judgement free zone?




I think not.




Recently, I’ve seen quite a few things on social media that has got me thinking, is the fitness industry too judgemental?




In my opinion, the answer is yes.




Some fitness individuals behave like they know it all, because they have what is perceived as the ideal body and workout- but that’s not good enough. It’s some of these individuals that will tell a person that they are training for the wrong reasons and knock what that person is seeing as motivation.




Side note: if I have told you your training for the wrong reasons in the past (which I doubt I have) I do apologise.

For example, a female says she wants to get a bigger bum and smaller waist. Some fitness individuals will class her as a fitness ‘foney’ and say that she is training for the wrong reasons. Why are they the wrong reasons? Because they don’t meet your standards? I don’t think she is training for the reasons... I mean at least she is training.












Another example is where a celebrity announces that they have adopted a fitness related lifestyle. Some that follow that celebrity will see it and may even find it motivating enough to start doing the same. 




Then you have the fitness critics who come along and tell them they’re jumping on the bandwagon. But if they’re jumping on the bandwagon SO WHAT? Is it not a good bandwagon to jump on? Some people might want to jump on the bandwagon to feel as though they are part of something and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that.




It annoys me when people say they do not train for aesthetics (looks) and knock down people that do. A person, who has always been active and has the “ideal body”, is not in a position to rain on someone’s parade, who is training to improve their appearance. Of course they can say that they don’t train for aesthetics, if they have never really had to.












When I first started training, I didn’t like my appearance and I needed something to keep me occupied. I began training in the hopes of achieving my goals physically and realised that it was not that simple. I then understood the level of hard work I needed to put in practice before achieving my desired results and then adopted a different approach to my lifestyle. 




Training to achieve a physical goal changed me mentally and put me in a better place. Imagine if I was told in the beginning that I was training for the wrong reasons and I was just ‘jumping on the bandwagon’, I probably wouldn’t be where I am today. I train for both aesthetics and ability and that does not make me any less of a person.




I think as individuals (myself included) we need to motivate and encourage without judging and mocking, despite what peoples' goals are. EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT and what motivates you might not motivate others. If you are trying to educate and inspire, you can’t judge or mock in the process because then your message lacks substance.




Anyway, that’s my rant over! This is just my opinion on the matter and if you don’t agree lets discuss or alternatively you can talk to FRANK.









P.s Fitness is not a competition 

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

How to avoid weight gain over Christmas

Christmas is only a few days away ecccckkkkk! Which can only mean one thing…CALORIES!!!

Personally, nothing sucks more than additional inches to your waist line after a Christmas binge. I mean, you didn’t work hard all year round, just to have to start all over again in the New Year, did you? Well I know I didn’t, that’s for sure, so I’ve come up with a few things to try and do over the festive period, to avoid unnecessary weight gain.

1. Have a weight maintenance goal

Let’s be honest, trying to lose weight over Christmas is just torture, so why not set your goals over the next 2 weeks to maintain your current weight. That way, you won’t be bothered if you don’t lose any weight and if you do, that will be a bonus.

2. The 80/20 rule

Aim to eat clean 80% of the time. The extra 20% will allow you enough room to enjoy yourself, without there being any harsh consequences.

3. Exercise more

Why not counteract the extra calories with more exercise.

4. Plan your eating habits for the week ahead

This is basically like planning your cheat day or cheat meal. For example, if you know that you are going to have to go out one evening and it’s likely that you are going to misbehave with your eating, plan ahead so you make the right food choices for breakfast and lunch or days leading up to that day

5. Set a date to get back on track

Aim to get back on track with your usual diet and exercise habits by January otherwise, you may find yourself leading up to spring still holding onto the extra Christmas weight.

6. One handful rule

When it comes to snacks, only have one handful.

7. Drink Smart

I think this is the most important one of them all. Christmas time comes with lots of alcohol and we often find that we drink more than we usually would. What people don’t really realise is the amount of calories they are drinking per glass. Alcohol tends to increase your appetite and interrupts your blood sugar levels, which is why people tend to crave sweet things when recovering from a hangover. Personally, I would rather eat my calories than drink them, but if you are going to drink:

- Eat a nutritious meal or snack with some protein before you have a drink as the protein should help stabilize any swings in your blood sugar level and should prevent you from craving sweet things.

-If you’re a wine drinker, opt for red wine over white. Red wine is better because it has higher amounts of the powerful antioxidants resveratrol, which is found in red grape skins.

- Choose sugar free or low calorie mixers for cocktails or stick to spirits.

-Drink water or low calorie soft drinks between alcoholic drinks. This will help reduce your calorie intake and will help reduce the amount of units you’re drinking.

So why not try these over the next two weeks and resume your normal routine in the New Year.

G

How to stay motivated to exercise during the winter

The clocks have been pushed back, the days are shorter, the temperatures are colder and motivation is hard to find. This can only mean one thing- winter is officially upon us *welcomes with open arms*.

Unfortunately, winter can even discourage the most motivated exercisers and it can become really easy to pack away your lycra leggings and dri-fit clothing for some extra moments with your hot water bottle and duvet. Most people dread winter training but strangely enough, I really enjoy it.

I actually prefer winter training to summer training. Why? Well “hot bodies are made in cold conditions”, that’s why.

From past experience, I've found that my body responds to exercise much faster during the winter than in the summer. I haven’t figured out why this is, but knowing that this is the case, I’m making sure that my winter training doesn't go in vain.

I’ll be completely honest though, I do have the odd occasional days where I can’t be bothered and would rather stay at home, but there are certain things I do to stop this from happening which I will list below:

1.    Going to work out straight from work

If you’re like me, then you know that once you get into your house and it’s warm, you’re not going to leave again. So, plan to workout straight after work. This should allow you to avoid the temptation of staying at home. Plus, I always see it as; I didn’t carry my heavy gym bag around me all day to not make use of it.

2.    Dressing appropriately

When you think about it, once you start working out, you actually can’t feel the cold, so the weather shouldn’t really be an excuse. However, you should invest in some thermal clothing, socks and gloves to keep those key areas warm. Also, wear layers that can easily be removed once you start to sweat. You don’t want that chilly feeling once you’re dry and your clothes are still wet because that way you’ll catch a cold.

3.    Home workouts

Why not exercise in the comfort of your own home. If you don’t own any fitness DVD’s YouTube is your best friend. There are tons of fitness workouts online that you could try, which don’t require any equipment. Im currently doing the ‘500 Core Ab Circuit’ at home, which I will upload in a separate post.

4.    Revisiting goals

I use this time to reflect on my progress over the last few months and decide what I want to accomplish before the seasons over. For example, one of my new short term goals, before the end of the year, is to be able to do full chin ups from a dead hang position, because I currently can only do them from a 90 degree angle. By re-evaluating your goals you can analyse how far away from them you are. It may be the case that you realise your short term goals have changed and you want to accomplish something new within the next few months. This should keep you on your toes and see the new season as a new challenge.

5.    Rewards

So once I’ve reached my goal, I plan to treat myself. I haven’t decided on the treat yet but I know the treat will not undermine my efforts. So no, I will not be treating myself to a trip to Hagen Daz lol but you get the idea...

6.    Try something new

I want to take my training to another level so I’m going to join a CrossFit gym and I’ve also started pole. Trying something new doesn’t have to be life changing; it can be as little as changing your fitness regime or trying a new piece of gym equipment. Either way, adding something new might be another way to stay motivated to exercise in winter.

7.    Buddy up

I currently work out with different people. For example, I work out with specific people when I’m doing legs, when I’m doing arms, and when I’m doing cardio. Just make sure whoever you’re working out with, has the same goals as you. Working out with someone else will give you a reason to keep going and to stay motivated as you won’t want to let them down as well as yourself.

There are probably loads more other things you could do, but these are the main ones that have and are currently working for me.

Why not try incorporating a few or all of these into your current regime and see if they help you stay motivated this winter.

G

Transformation Tuesday

So today's ‘Transformation Tuesday’ is dedicated to my mummy. She is my inspiration and living proof that getting into shape has no expiration date. She is 54 and has had four kids. After seeing my progress, she decided to join me on my journey and after a year, she has made this amazing transformation.

Most of her weight loss has been from nutrition rather than exercise as she ditched the oily African foods. Thanks to the help of @bigboatstrainingroom‘s nutrition plan, and my guidance, she has dropped from a size 20 to a size 16 on top, and a size 24 to a size 20 on the bottom.

Although my mum is lucky because she has me at her disposal to meal prep for her, and keep her on the straight and narrow, when it comes to her meals, she has worked really hard and has stayed committed to achieving her goals.

Her exercise routine is quite basic because she suffers from joint problems. She goes for brisk walks most mornings, in our local park, and does Shaun T’s ‘Hip Hop Abs’ and the ‘Brazillian Butt Lift’ DVD, three times a week. Although her exercise routine is not intense and does not consist of your typical cardio, she has managed to loose quite a considerable amount of weight, which to me, emphasises the importance of nutrition.

When they say weight loss is 70% your diet and 30% exercise, they are not lying. If she has managed to lose this much weight and keep it off without much exercise, imagine how much weight she could lose if she was to increase her exercise?

In my mums case, the focus has been on her nutrition and adopting a healthy lifestyle for long term results - which has clearly worked. She still treats herself to the occasional African meal but has adapted the way she cooks these meals. For example, she boils; grills and steams rather than frys her food, and these small changes have given her big results.

My mum is my inspiration and has showed me that it doesn't matter how old you are, if you put your mind to it, you can reach your goals.

So ask yourself this, if at my mum’s age she can do it, then what are you waiting for?

G

The Number Game

Ever stepped on a scale and freaked out because the number has increased by half a pound? Or do you weigh yourself everyday or multiple times a week to ‘keep an eye’ on weight gain? Well this post is definitely for you …

This happened to me this week. I’ve gained three pounds within the last four weeks.  But Im not upset about it *shrugs*, I’m actually quite happy. Why? Because I don’t let the scales define me and neither should you.

I think sometimes as females, we place too much emphasis on how much we weigh, to determine how healthy we are. We get so caught up on what the scales tell us but to be fair, the scales don’t really tell you anything other than your relationship with gravity.

If you starved yourself for 24 hours or went from a full head of braids to natural hair, you would definitively weigh less, but this doesn’t mean you’ve ACTUALLY made any progress. You could step on a scale and see a weight loss of several pounds, but this may not even be from fat and could be from water.

I used to chase an ideal weight I thought I would be happy with once I reached it. But to be honest, I was just chasing a magical number. Once I reached my ideal weight I still wasn’t happy and I just found other things that I wanted to fix or improve-so it just became a never ending cycle.

However, my mindset has completely changed. I’ve stopped focusing on how much the scale tells me I weigh and I’ve started to measure my progress in other ways. For example, I’m currently tracking my progress by monitoring my body fat percentage. 

Body fat percentage is the amount of stored fatty tissue compared to the amount of lean tissue in/on/and around your body. This number can be high or low; regardless of whether your skinny, fat, or in between. Remember, not all 5’5 women who weigh 10 look the same or have the same body type.

As you can see, she weighs the same in both pictures, but due to her dropping body fat and increasing muscle mass, she appears slimmer and more toned in the picture on the right.

I’m currently going through a shredding phase and the aim is to MAINTAIN and BUILD as much muscle as possible and focus on fat loss. I’m one month into my phase and within these four weeks I've managed to drop my body fat by 1% but I've gained three pounds. The extra three pounds doesn't bother me at all because it just means I've managed to lose body fat and build muscle-which means I’m on the right track to reaching my goals J.  As my aim is to get leaner, tracking my body fat percentage is the most accurate way for me to do this, but this may not necessarily be the case for everyone.

There are many other ways to track your progress such as progress pictures, how you fit in your clothes, how you’re feeling or even taking measurements. These methods will give you more of an accurate picture and won’t fluctuate as much as your body weight will on a scale.

So let’s stop obsessing over the scales and how much we weigh and focus on the bigger picture. If you feel good and are happy with how you look then playing the number game is pointless as numbers should not define you.

G

Can you lose body fat without losing your curves?

This is something I’ve struggled with since the beginning of my fitness journey and I know a lot of females can relate, so I thought to share my experience and explain how the process works.

So can you lose body fat without losing your curves? My answer is yes and no.

The thing is you cannot determine where you lose fat from. If you do cardio, you can’t only burn the fat off your waist area and keep it on your bum and thighs. Trust me I wish you could but it just doesn’t work like that.

Please bare in mind that your body does burn fat all over, it’s just that sometimes it can burn fat more in specific areas. For example, my fat burns quickly around my chest area (hence my lack of boobs lol) and although I still have a bum and thighs, I have still lost body fat in those areas.

Everyone has stubborn fat cells in specific areas. For me, I’d say my stubborn areas are my bum, thighs and waist, which isn't a bad thing except the waist area- but this, is not within my control. The only way I focused on those stubborn fat cells in my waist was to keep up the cardio until it finally responded and disappeared (it still hasn’t gone yet but its slowly getting there), although I did suffer the risk of losing my curves. So what do I do?

Well I know how my body works and I know it’s a lot easier for me to put on weight than it is for me to lose weight. So I took the risk (and still am taking the risk) in order to give my body the best possible chance of stripping down my body fat. I haven’t lost too much mass in the process as my cardio mainly consists of high intensity workouts (refer to previous blogpost) which has in some way retained my muscle.

But inevitably I was bound to lose fat from my bum, thighs and hips so I also weight trained those specific areas on days where I wasn’t doing cardio. I’ve now incorporated more leg days in my fitness regime focusing more on exercises which target my glutes, thighs and hips (squats, lunges, leg raises, glute bridges etc) in order to compensate for the fat burned in those areas.

I still haven’t replaced all the missing fat from those areas YET but just know I won’t stop until I do. Personally, I'm yet to see the gains of my work because I know this process will probably take a year to master effectively and my body doesn’t respond to muscle training as fast as I would like it to. But everyone’s body is different so it might not even take you that long.

There are two ways to do this, you can either lose the fat first then weight train or do both at the same time. I’ve chosen to do both at the same time because when combined with a good balanced diet, adding muscle mass will increase your metabolism and help burn off any excess body fat, so it’s a win win situation.

The only thing is that muscle takes a lot longer to build than fat takes to burn so this process requires the most amount of patience. My advice to anyone embarking on this part of their journey is to be patient and accept that slow progress is better than no progress.

Remember Rome wasn’t built in a day…and neither are your muscles.

G

Marathon vs Sprinter

The way you exercise is important because it determines the shape your body eventually moulds into. Here we have a marathon runner (left) and a sprinter (right). Can you spot the difference in their physiques?

Although both are runners, the difference in their training is important. Cardio is the most effective way to burn fat and calories. However, it can also burn muscle. Whilst doing long periods of cardio, the body has to find its largest resources of calories, which more often tends to be from the muscles. When your cardio is maintained for long periods of time at low/moderate intensity level, a hormone called Cortisol is released which leads to muscle burning.

However, short intense cardio utilises and uses up your bodies stored sugars more (needed for short bursts of high intensity) and has a greater after burn effect. Cortisol is again released by the body but this is also released alongside growth hormones and testosterone, which enhances fat burning and leads to a higher muscle building state.

You tend to burn more fat during high intensity workouts rather than low/moderate intensity workouts because high intensity has an after burn effect. This is basically where your metabolism has been kicked into overdrive and the body continues to burn off calories after your workout. 



Education is key and to be honest as I was reading this I surprised myself with the knowledge that I did know. Sometimes doing your own research and asking fitness experts in the industry is the only way to truly understand how the body responds to different exercises. This way you will always be pointing your body in the right direction as you’ll know exactly what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.

My current goal is to shed body fat without losing too much mass, whilst still maintaining my curves. Although the majority of my training involves high intensity cardio anyway, I will still embark on a few low/moderate intensity workouts to help target my stubborn fat. I will also combat any risk of muscle loss here by ensuring I maintain my weight sessions in the gym.



So next time you decide to do cardio, think about your goals and what you are trying to achieve. If your aim is to achieve lean muscle and get that ‘tight look’ as opposed to just weight loss, think about doing intervals or simply running that much faster so you reduce your time…remember it is NOT about duration, it is about intensity.

G

#MonthsOfShredding

 

So we had #MonthOfMadness and now we have #MonthsOfShredding. I say months because I don’t know realistically how long it will take, but I’m aiming for the end of the year to see some sort of difference.

As usual, me and my squad @bigboatstrainingroom and @jan885 are trying to see how much body fat we can lose in the next couple months  .

Fitness wise, I know I’ve got that area covered. I won’t be making many changes to my regime. I currently do constant steady runs and interval training. The constant steady run helps me stay in my fat burning zone, and the interval training shocks my body and prevents my cardio from being boring. For those that don’t know what interval training is, it is the best and fastest way to lose weight. It’s more about intensity rather than duration. With interval training you alternate periods of high-intensity exercises with low-intensity recovery periods and this increases fitness and burns more calories over a short period of time. I’ll still be doing my constant steady runs alongside my interval training to help me stay in my fat burning zone.

For example of interval training if you’re running outside or on a treadmill is:

• 30 seconds sprint/30 seconds recover

• 1 minute sprint/1 minute recover

• 2 minutes fast jog sprint/2 minutes recover

To make it harder you could make your recovery time lower:

• 30 seconds sprint/20 seconds recover

• 1 minute sprint/30 seconds recover

• 2 minutes fast jog sprint/1 minute recover

This can be done with any type of cardio –even with swimming. There is no hard and fast rule about how long your workout and recovery time should be. However, I always make my recover time less because it makes it that much harder. There are loads of other ways to do interval training and this is just one of them, but either way I hope you get the jist.

My main focus these next couple of months is nutrition! There is a lot of room for improvement when it comes to my eating. I'm aiming to reduce my daily calorie intake and before you get the wrong idea, this does not mean that I will be starving myself and eating less food. It just means that I'm going to be eating the same amount but I’ll be opting for lower calorie foods.

How am I going to do this? Well I'm going to increase my fruit and veg intake, but i'm going to be focusing on increasing my veg more than my fruit. This is because fruits tend to be higher in sugar and too much sugar can turn into fat-which is the opposite of what i'm trying to achieve. 

By opting for lower calorie foods I will be eating the same amount and saving myself some calories- and this is without even changing the quantity of food I've eaten.

Here's a list of some low calorie foods I will be looking to eat more of :

• Asparagus

• Broccoli

• Carrots

• Celery

• Spinach

• Kale

• Mushrooms

• Grapefruit

• Kiwi

• Cabbage

• Olives

• Apple

• Blueberries

• Goji berries

I haven’t set a target of how much body fat I want to lose but i’ll keep you posted every month.

See you in four weeks

G 

#MonthOfMadness

So my birthday present to myself was a trip to New York.

The annoying thing about holidays for me is that I always feel guilty for enjoying my holiday and not working out. So obviously I had to make use of my surroundings and workout whenever and wherever I could lol.

I'm gonna be honest, my diet was a shambles, I threw clean eating out the window and became the old Gina - the 11 stone 11 year old indulging in any and everything I wanted. The worst thing was it felt so good to do it and I didn't care about the repercussions!  You're probably thinking WTF but this was all planned.

Before I left, I had started to lose motivation and the drive to keep going hard-why? Because I didn't have a visual goal. I didn't have a beach holiday coming up or anything short term to work towards so going hard was getting boring, I wanted something to look forward to and I wanted a new challenge. Also, because it was my birthday month I was surrounded by alcohol, restaurants and endless cake.

So I said to myself, you know what, go on holiday, 'YOLO' and get it out of your system. I'm the kind of person where I need to feel before I hear so I knew I needed to see myself put on the weight to get that motivation to go hard again. It may sound silly but that's just how I work, I'm not scared of putting on weight because I know my body and I know how to put weight on just as much as I know how to lose it.

But I've come back, put on weight and have fallen in love with the gym all over again.

Funnily enough some of my other fitness friends are going through the same transition, so we've joined together to start a #MonthOfMadness. We all have individual goals, some are trying to bulk, shred, tone up.... you name it and for the next month we will be going hard like when we first began. If your on Instagram lookout for the #MonthOfMadness hashtag to see all the crazy stuff we will be up to.

I'm excited about the next 28 days and can't wait to share my results. If your up for the challenge, join in and hashtag #MonthOfMadness in your instagram pictures and lets go hard together.

G