Wouldn’t it be great if there was a personal Mr Motivator in your sub-conscious? You know, the one to help drag you out of bed for that power walk on a winter’s morning. And the one to help you say ‘no thanks’ when the dessert menu arrives. While motivation is a hard thing to harness, and a very individual one at that, you might like to check out some of these tried and true secrets to success below.

1. Get married

Perhaps this is the greatest motivator to help women achieve a goal weight. It’s natural to want to look and feel your best on the big day. Plus the photos will act as friendly reminder to how fabulous you can look, for many years to come.

2. Have 0.0 days

A great way of keeping the kilojoules on track is to have appointed alcohol free days, no matter what, for the same days every week. Yours might be Mon, Wed and Sunday. If you’re out socialising on an alcohol free day get into a new signature drink like rich tomato juice with all the condiments or a cranberry spritzer.

3. Dine with a fine view

Research shows that women eat less at a meal when they dine with an attractive male. So, make it a habit to dine with a date as often as possible!

4. Take a European vacation

Just watch your pedometer clock over as you wind through cobbled streets, around hill top towns, up bell towers, and through breath taking chapels and art galleries. Even if you stop to enjoy the odd French pastry or two, most people find that all the extra walking leaves them looking great, feeling fit and invigorated after an overseas holiday.

5. Reward points

As well as setting your goal weight and targets, make sure you match these with some well earned rewards. You might start with tickets to a show when you lose 3kg and work up to a shopping spree for new clothes when you hit your goal. Remember to factor in the biggest rewards for maintaining your weight loss over 6 and 12 months.

6. User pays

Most people hate to see money go to waste, so one of the best ways to keep motivated with physical activity is to pay in advance. You might like to sign up for a 10 session pump class or buy a 20 session swim pass. Just make sure that there is a fairly tight use-by-date, so the pass is not still floating around in your wallet a year later.

7. Buddy or team up

Join a walking group, a netball team, a lap swimming club or find a friend to partner with. Research shows that most people could do with a little help from their friends. Make it a rule to forget the mobile phones if you meet for a regular walk. That way, no one can call to say ‘I’m running late’ when they’re really ‘running low on motivation’.

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Folate is involved in more than 100 different processes within the body. It’s essential for the formation of new cells and tissues and the health of the blood, brain, nervous and immune systems. Most people think of B vitamins giving them back their b..b..bounce. And it’s true that B vitamins are required to release energy from food. But there’s been a lot more buzz about this B in recent years.

Fuss about folate

Folate has been found to be essential for a healthy pregnancy and baby. Specifically, it helps prevent neural tube defects, like spina bifida. As well as B for baby, it’s also B for a beating heart. Research shows that folate lowers homocysteine levels and the risk of heart disease. It could also be B for bones. Until recently, the only vitamins related to bone health have been vitamin D and vitamin K. However, there is new research on folate and lowered blood homocysteine levels and the link with osteoporosis prevention. One study has found that the risk of hip fracture nearly quadrupled in men in the top quartile of homocysteine levels and nearly doubled in the top 25 per cent of women. The newest area of research on folate is focused on genetic health and keeping your cellular material, like DNA, in tip top shape.

So how much folate do you need?

Well that really depends on how you define optimal intakes. Currently the adult recommendations are for 200 micrograms per day. During pregnancy this jumps to 400 micrograms a day. However, this recommendation is really for anyone planning pregnancy, as 400 micrograms of folate per day is needed to boost levels for at least 6 weeks before a woman conceives. That’s why there is a push to raise the recommended dietary intake to 400 micrograms per day for all adult women.

To achieve some of the other reported folate benefits, large, therapeutic doses were used in the nutrition research studies. It’s too early to say what the magic folate level will be, but chances are that they’ll keep raising the bar for this B vitamin.

Where do you find it?

One of the best and most available sources of folate is the Aussie favourite Vegemite, which also is a good source of other B vitamins. Fresh vegetables and fruit, orange juice, legumes, nuts, liver and yeast are also good sources. These days many food products are also folate fortified including certain breads and breakfast cereals. Just check for folate on the nutrition information panel.

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New research at the Australian Institute of Sport is focusing on the best way to test for suboptimal iron status and the findings will follow through to all people, even sports fanatics of the spectator variety. Sports scientists are honing a new, super sensitive blood test for iron status known as serum transferrin receptor.

Why is low iron a concern?

Constantly searching for ways to boost athletic performance, scientists have long been researching poor iron status and the fatigue factor, in both female and male sports people. When it comes to iron stores, fatigue can set in well before your tank runs dry and iron deficiency anaemia is diagnosed. Iron depletion can also result in increased recovery time, decreased immunity, cold like symptoms and depression.

Why are athletes at risk?

Along with being at risk of low iron intake from dietary imbalances, athletes undergoing vigorous training regimes or running sports, commonly experience increased iron losses due to foot strike haemolysis. Haemolysis, the breakdown of red blood cells and therefore iron loss, occurs at a faster rate than in sedentary people from the training stress on blood vessels when feet are constantly “striking” or in contact with hard surfaces.

Why is a sensitive test required?

Scientists have found it difficult to set “ideal” blood testing levels for the markers of iron status, as they’re most interested in detecting impaired performance when iron stores are slightly depleted, not by the time true iron deficiency anaemia has occurred. Iron depletion may be present when regular blood tests for iron are normal. Recently published data in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine is revealing that this new super sensitive iron test could pick up 66% of athletes with iron depletion that would have been missed with traditional blood tests.

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Pain and tension are enemies of good movement patterning and smooth coordination and you have to become aware of their effect on the body before you can fully overcome poor movement habits. Poor alignment causes tension and tightness. Muscle imbalances can cause aching in the lower back or tightness in the shoulders and neck. Unfortunately, holding tension in certain parts of your body can become habitual and unconscious. Often we tense up because of stress but if we don’t learn to let go then our bodies never fully relax and return to a state of ease.

As you journey through the bones, observe where you tend to hold tension. Perhaps you grip your buttocks or pull your knees up tight or clench your jaw. Quietly let go and feel the muscles soften. When you perform the exercises be aware of tension creeping in. As you work on one part of the body, make sure that you are not gripping elsewhere. It is counter-productive to hold yourself tightly in an effort to ‘work harder’. This disrupts holistic balance and coordination and interferes with sensitivity to fine adjustments in a movement – not to mention making the exercises much less enjoyable to do.

Unlearning tension can be a difficult process, in the same way that it takes time and persistence to retrain your movement patterns. Nevertheless a release technique can be as simple as becoming aware of your breathing. You can often release tension from your jaw, neck and shoulders simply by breathing out and this is a useful thing to remember throughout the day.

Exercise itself can help you relax. As you concentrate fully on your physical self, your mind calms down and tensions from everyday life recede. Your session should leave you feeling refreshed, deeply satisfied and returned to yourself.

copyright: The Australian Ballet 2005

Extracted from Bodywise, discover a deeper connection with your body; ABC Books; rrp: $34.95; fully illustrated. Available from all good bookstores.

Bodywise is written by staff at The Australian Ballet. In 2005 The Australian Ballet is performing throughout Australia and internationally. Visit The Australian Ballet’s website, www.australianballet.com.au for details.

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