by thinkmarsh | Aug 13, 2018 | eating, education, product review
Back in October, I began the first of five modules of my Future Fit Advanced Nutrition and Weight Management online course. After running the Chicago Marathon, I had a few days with my feet up recovering so I started chipping away at it.
|
| Studying in my office with help from my personal assistant |
I started off with the longest module, Nutrition and Weight Management. I figured it would give me a good review of nutrition topics I had covered in my personal training course with more detail. There were 16 lessons all together in this module, each of which took 20-30 minutes to complete. For this course, I had to be online to play each lesson, which features an audio track of the text. There are knowledge checks periodically within the lesson to see if you retained key bits of information or to see if you have prior knowledge about the next topic. The information delivered so far is simply put and broken down into little chunks that were easy to digest. If I didn’t finish a lesson, it would save my place and offer me an option to resume where I had finished or to start at the beginning of the module. Before passing each lesson, you must complete a five question quiz and score 100%. You can repeat the test immediately of you missed one or two questions but if you take too long to pass, you will have to log out and back in to restart.
Each lesson also has a resource folder which includes a transcript, relevant forms, and sometimes a glossary. Any time I had a question, I could either email my tutor or submit a question through the website. Most of my questions were around the technology side of things, rather than the course material, because computers are not my forte. The Future Fit Training team were always quick to respond and very helpful.
 |
| No joke, this cookie is as big as my head. And when I get stressed, I eat the whole thing. |
Part of the course is a case study working with a client to help them learn more about their food habits and emotional links to eating. It was actually hard to find a volunteer that was willing to work with me for eight weeks. Through Twitter, I found two competitive male cyclists who wanted to drop some weight to improve their cycling performance. One of them was travelling a lot of work and was unable to check in with me on a regular basis. I am happy to say the other client was able to check in regularly and found the accountability very helpful. He tracked his food three to four days a week for me and started choosing fruits and vegetables over convenient processed foods. He didn’t loose any weight but he was sleeping better and feeling more energized during the day.
My tips for online study success? Give yourself deadlines to complete each lesson or modules by writing them in your diary. Think of them as exam dates that you cannot change. Set aside studying time in your diary each week too. I prefer to have the same slot every week (although that hasn’t be possible with marathon training the last two months) and keep plugging along but your schedule might be better to spend one day every other week. Set up a place to study that is free from distractions- no TV, no music, no kids (or dogs) interrupting you. You are taking this course to improve your health and knowledge, as well as to help your clients. Make it a priority. Have a notepad to take notes or print out the resource info to annotate as you go along.
Most of all, enjoy it! All of the information will help you fuel your body properly, feel energized and maintain a healthy weight that is appropriate for you. As they say, “health is wealth”.
Thanks to Future Fit Training for their support of furthering my nutritional education. All opinions are honest and my own.
by Mollie Millington | Aug 13, 2018 | eating, education, product review
Back in October, I began the first of five modules of my Future Fit Advanced Nutrition and Weight Management online course. After running the Chicago Marathon, I had a few days with my feet up recovering so I started chipping away at it.
|
| Studying in my office with help from my personal assistant |
I started off with the longest module, Nutrition and Weight Management. I figured it would give me a good review of nutrition topics I had covered in my personal training course with more detail. There were 16 lessons all together in this module, each of which took 20-30 minutes to complete. For this course, I had to be online to play each lesson, which features an audio track of the text. There are knowledge checks periodically within the lesson to see if you retained key bits of information or to see if you have prior knowledge about the next topic. The information delivered so far is simply put and broken down into little chunks that were easy to digest. If I didn’t finish a lesson, it would save my place and offer me an option to resume where I had finished or to start at the beginning of the module. Before passing each lesson, you must complete a five question quiz and score 100%. You can repeat the test immediately of you missed one or two questions but if you take too long to pass, you will have to log out and back in to restart.
Each lesson also has a resource folder which includes a transcript, relevant forms, and sometimes a glossary. Any time I had a question, I could either email my tutor or submit a question through the website. Most of my questions were around the technology side of things, rather than the course material, because computers are not my forte. The Future Fit Training team were always quick to respond and very helpful.
|
| No joke, this cookie is as big as my head. And when I get stressed, I eat the whole thing. |
Part of the course is a case study working with a client to help them learn more about their food habits and emotional links to eating. It was actually hard to find a volunteer that was willing to work with me for eight weeks. Through Twitter, I found two competitive male cyclists who wanted to drop some weight to improve their cycling performance. One of them was travelling a lot of work and was unable to check in with me on a regular basis. I am happy to say the other client was able to check in regularly and found the accountability very helpful. He tracked his food three to four days a week for me and started choosing fruits and vegetables over convenient processed foods. He didn’t loose any weight but he was sleeping better and feeling more energized during the day.
My tips for online study success? Give yourself deadlines to complete each lesson or modules by writing them in your diary. Think of them as exam dates that you cannot change. Set aside studying time in your diary each week too. I prefer to have the same slot every week (although that hasn’t be possible with marathon training the last two months) and keep plugging along but your schedule might be better to spend one day every other week. Set up a place to study that is free from distractions- no TV, no music, no kids (or dogs) interrupting you. You are taking this course to improve your health and knowledge, as well as to help your clients. Make it a priority. Have a notepad to take notes or print out the resource info to annotate as you go along.
Most of all, enjoy it! All of the information will help you fuel your body properly, feel energized and maintain a healthy weight that is appropriate for you. As they say, “health is wealth”.
Thanks to Future Fit Training for their support of furthering my nutritional education. All opinions are honest and my own.
by thinkmarsh | Sep 22, 2017 | eating, recipe
Packed lunches are a beautiful thing, if you get them right. I am a big fan of crack vegetables and will often have them as a side dish for lunch. Right now, I am trying some other dishes to expand my repertoire with an easy way to get a vegetable and carb serving in.
This week, I started working with Shannon S Nutrition after seeing the amazing results my co-Zero Advent Calendar founder, Becca, had. Shannon is teaching me to count macros, which is a new practice for me. During this first week, I am just getting used to logging all my food on My Fitness Pal and being aware of portion sizes. Next week, I will take more notice of my macros.
If you are new to the term, macros means looking at the amount of protein, fat, and carbs you consume. It goes a bit beyond calorie counting to ensure your body is fueled properly. Shannon has given me the ratio I need (30% protein, 29% fats, and 41% carbs on average) to achieve my goals. Now I just need to stick to it!
I developed the recipe below using what I had in the cupboard to get some carbs in, along with vegetables. Everything is to taste really so feel free to adjust the ratios to what you like and what is in your kitchen. I am a big fan of Mexican food, which is why I chose these spices.
Easy rice salad
2 servings of cooked brown rice
1 can black beans
150 g frozen corn, defrosted
2 tbsp coconut oil
Sauteed medium onion and one bell pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic granuals
Salt and pepper to taste
- Prepare rice according to package directions.
- While rice is cooking, chop up onion and saute in coconut oil on low to medium heat.
- Add one chopped bell pepper to pan once onions have cooked for a few minutes.
- Cook peppers and onions to desired tenderness.
- Defrost corn in microwave. It should only take 1-2 minutes.
- Drain can of beans and rinse.
- Add corn, beans, and spices to pan with pepper and onions. Heat through.
 |
| Ack! I will replace this photo soon. |
- Once rice is cooked, place in a large bowl. Add everything from the pan to rice. Stir to mix.
- Serve hot or cold. Keep in the fridge.
by Mollie Millington | Sep 22, 2017 | eating, recipe
Packed lunches are a beautiful thing, if you get them right. I am a big fan of crack vegetables and will often have them as a side dish for lunch. Right now, I am trying some other dishes to expand my repertoire with an easy way to get a vegetable and carb serving in.
This week, I started working with Shannon S Nutrition after seeing the amazing results my co-Zero Advent Calendar founder, Becca, had. Shannon is teaching me to count macros, which is a new practice for me. During this first week, I am just getting used to logging all my food on My Fitness Pal and being aware of portion sizes. Next week, I will take more notice of my macros.
If you are new to the term, macros means looking at the amount of protein, fat, and carbs you consume. It goes a bit beyond calorie counting to ensure your body is fueled properly. Shannon has given me the ratio I need (30% protein, 29% fats, and 41% carbs on average) to achieve my goals. Now I just need to stick to it!
I developed the recipe below using what I had in the cupboard to get some carbs in, along with vegetables. Everything is to taste really so feel free to adjust the ratios to what you like and what is in your kitchen. I am a big fan of Mexican food, which is why I chose these spices.
Easy rice salad
2 servings of cooked brown rice
1 can black beans
150 g frozen corn, defrosted
2 tbsp coconut oil
Sauteed medium onion and one bell pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic granuals
Salt and pepper to taste
- Prepare rice according to package directions.
- While rice is cooking, chop up onion and saute in coconut oil on low to medium heat.
- Add one chopped bell pepper to pan once onions have cooked for a few minutes.
- Cook peppers and onions to desired tenderness.
- Defrost corn in microwave. It should only take 1-2 minutes.
- Drain can of beans and rinse.
- Add corn, beans, and spices to pan with pepper and onions. Heat through.
|
| Ack! I will replace this photo soon. |
- Once rice is cooked, place in a large bowl. Add everything from the pan to rice. Stir to mix.
- Serve hot or cold. Keep in the fridge.
by thinkmarsh | Sep 13, 2017 | eating, exercise, family, outdoors, relax, running, self care
Of course, different strokes for different folks but I had an awesome weekend and think you should too. Here are my tips. Let me know which ones you try and how it goes.
|
| Burgess Park fishing late |
- Be a parkrun tourist- Due to my next tip, I needed to be in Elephant and Castle mid-Saturday morning. I started looking at different parkruns and found Burgess Park run would be closest to where I needed to be. After a quick shout on Facebook, I had a few friends meeting me there. The bonus was that a few other friends from track happened to be there and it was perfect running weather (sunny, cool, with a slight breeze). The course is flat and pretty with a fishing lake, open lawns, and wildflower gardens. They even had orange pieces at the finish. I was #224 and pleased with my sub-30 time. After saying goodbye to everyone, I put my Osprey rucksack on and ran another 5K towards my marathon training.
- Attend an instructional weight lifting session- I was lucky enough to be invited by Vlique to attend a Girls Who Lift session at One2One fitness studio near Elephant and Castle. Although I am a certified personal trainer, I don’t have any clients right now nor do I belong to a gym. It was great to have Anna review proper technique of cleans, squats, dead lifts, and pull ups. An added bonus was that Sabine from My Life My Challenges was there too. I hadn’t seen her in ages so it was great to catch up.
 |
| Working on my clean but I am fatigued from running 10K |
- Hit up an activewear sale- Lululemon leggings are my gold standard in terms of quality and fit. However, they are also a big investment. Sabine knew about a sample sale, which we spent a lot of time and money at.
- Have a delicious milkshake with a good friend- Maple syrup, Jack Daniel’s and vanilla ice cream. Need I say more?
- Go on a date with your partner- Sunday was our 7th wedding anniversary. We went to Luppolo in Wanstead as it is one of our favorites. We always order the same thing.
 |
| Goat’s cheese, red onions, olives pizza |
- Sleep in and then go for a run- Don’t set your alarm. When I woke up, I had a rough idea that I wanted to run another 10K. I added in a stop at Rinkoff Bakery for some crodoughs, I mean to add in a mile, too.
- Eat an outdoor brunch in Victoria Park- Yes, more eating. Are you seeing a theme yet? I met James and Oldland at a cafe for yummy food in the brisk air. The sun went behind the clouds but that didn’t matter as I ate a big plate of veg, egg, and halloumi while James had banana praline pancakes.
 |
| More eating! |
- Make your dog a cake- Not only was it our anniversary, it was also Oldand’s 3rd adoptiversary on Monday. I found a dog-friendly cake recipe online. After Oldland licked all the Greek yogurt icing off of the cake, he swallowed the cake in two bites.
 |
| Liking the plate |
- Watch Outlander- The 3rd series (“season” in America) started and I cannot wait to see how they adapted Voyager.
 |
| I was lucky to see Outlander on Thursday night as a sneak preview 🙂 |
If you have any suggestions on what I sure try this weekend, leave a comment below and let me know.
Thanks to Vlique for the complimentary experience. All opinions are honest and my own.
by Mollie Millington | Sep 13, 2017 | eating, exercise, family, outdoors, relax, running, self care
Of course, different strokes for different folks but I had an awesome weekend and think you should too. Here are my tips. Let me know which ones you try and how it goes.
|
| Burgess Park fishing late |
- Be a parkrun tourist- Due to my next tip, I needed to be in Elephant and Castle mid-Saturday morning. I started looking at different parkruns and found Burgess Park run would be closest to where I needed to be. After a quick shout on Facebook, I had a few friends meeting me there. The bonus was that a few other friends from track happened to be there and it was perfect running weather (sunny, cool, with a slight breeze). The course is flat and pretty with a fishing lake, open lawns, and wildflower gardens. They even had orange pieces at the finish. I was #224 and pleased with my sub-30 time. After saying goodbye to everyone, I put my Osprey rucksack on and ran another 5K towards my marathon training.
- Attend an instructional weight lifting session- I was lucky enough to be invited by Vlique to attend a Girls Who Lift session at One2One fitness studio near Elephant and Castle. Although I am a certified personal trainer, I don’t have any clients right now nor do I belong to a gym. It was great to have Anna review proper technique of cleans, squats, dead lifts, and pull ups. An added bonus was that Sabine from My Life My Challenges was there too. I hadn’t seen her in ages so it was great to catch up.
|
| Working on my clean but I am fatigued from running 10K |
- Hit up an activewear sale- Lululemon leggings are my gold standard in terms of quality and fit. However, they are also a big investment. Sabine knew about a sample sale, which we spent a lot of time and money at.
- Have a delicious milkshake with a good friend- Maple syrup, Jack Daniel’s and vanilla ice cream. Need I say more?
- Go on a date with your partner- Sunday was our 7th wedding anniversary. We went to Luppolo in Wanstead as it is one of our favorites. We always order the same thing.
|
| Goat’s cheese, red onions, olives pizza |
- Sleep in and then go for a run- Don’t set your alarm. When I woke up, I had a rough idea that I wanted to run another 10K. I added in a stop at Rinkoff Bakery for some crodoughs, I mean to add in a mile, too.
- Eat an outdoor brunch in Victoria Park- Yes, more eating. Are you seeing a theme yet? I met James and Oldland at a cafe for yummy food in the brisk air. The sun went behind the clouds but that didn’t matter as I ate a big plate of veg, egg, and halloumi while James had banana praline pancakes.
|
| More eating! |
- Make your dog a cake- Not only was it our anniversary, it was also Oldand’s 3rd adoptiversary on Monday. I found a dog-friendly cake recipe online. After Oldland licked all the Greek yogurt icing off of the cake, he swallowed the cake in two bites.
|
| Liking the plate |
- Watch Outlander- The 3rd series (“season” in America) started and I cannot wait to see how they adapted Voyager.
|
| I was lucky to see Outlander on Thursday night as a sneak preview 🙂 |
If you have any suggestions on what I sure try this weekend, leave a comment below and let me know.
Thanks to Vlique for the complimentary experience. All opinions are honest and my own.
Recent Comments