The only wall you have is yourself

CEO of Fitssi. Inspirational fitness blog and my own personal journey to getting a toned physique.

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Tofu Gimbap (Source) VeganFoodPornPictures.com | Vegan Cookbooks On Sale! Like Us On Facebook | Follow Us On Twitter

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When people say vegan food is boring... It's only as boring as the chef!

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20 Meatless High Protein Foods (Good Vegetarian Sources of Protein)

We’ve ranked the best meatless high protein foods in terms of their protein content. You don’t have to go vegetarian or vegan to reap the benefits often attributed to those lifestyles, including reduced risk of heart attack and cancer. Simply cutting back on the amount of meat you eat each day...

It can be pretty tough when you’ve been a meat eating and training, when you switch to a vegan or vegetarian diet. Particularly because you have no idea what to replace your previously animal protein with. So here are 20 meatless high protein foods, to make life easier.

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Wow! This is a sexy gym and I didn’t even know gyms could be sexy!

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Arm Workout For Women: 13 Exercises to Get Rid of Flabby Arms - Page 5 of 5 - Fit Vivo

Exercise 12 Archer Row This workout puts much emphasis on upper body strength. The fact that it’s a dumbbell-lifting exercise ensures your arms will definitely be challenged which would translate to muscle growth therefore burning the fat in your arms. How to do it: Grab a dumbbell that is not too light or too heavy. Go into the pushup position. Maintain the straight line from neck to ankle. Tighten your core and your butt. Spread your feet until they are slightly wider than hip-width. Turn your feet and have them both point to one direction. With your free palm flat

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Amazing infograph from Lushious Lifts! Will definitely be trying this one.

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Is it impossible to be 100% Vegan?

So before coming to Italy, I was finding it quite easy to be vegan but with restaurants it was still hard. However in Italy it is pretty much impossible to live a vegan lifestyle (in the countryside anyways). So I am currently living what I call a “mostly” vegan diet.

Firstly, I’m in the middle of nowhere so soy milk isn’t available in most local supermarkets or cafes. I have to drive to a commercial center and stock up. So I’ve been drinking most of my teas and coffees black. I’m also part of a unique start up accelerator program here so all of the food is prepared for us. The food is prepared for everyone as a group, the first dish is always pasta or risotto for dinner and the second dish is normally protein with salad. There’s normally also cheese involved at some point. So I’ve decided that for now, the best option is to try to limit the animal products wherever possible but not completely. (Plus I’m still learning Italian so it’s not been easy trying to explain or ask about food)

I think a lot of people in the vegan community tend to disagree with this, it’s an all or nothing situation. However I don’t think this is always practical. Being able to say your are reducing your consumption is a great first step. In life there is always different approaches for different people. Some people are better at going cold turkey from smoking, others want to reduce the amount they smoke. They still know smoking is bad for them and the ultimate goal is to stop completely but they don’t have to both agree on the methodology. That is life.

Also a friend of mine made a good point, with commercial farming there are big machines which collect the crop and often during this process small animals are killed. So it’s pretty much impossible to live a completely vegan diet unless you are harvesting all your own food or you verify it was hand picked. This isn’t a point to say “Oh there’s no point, you may as well eat meat.” Having two crops, one for cattle and one for human consumption means still more animals are being killed pointlessly than the crop going directly to human consumption. The point is that we can reduce it as much as physically possible. So I think having a go at people for living a mostly vegan diet isn’t really helpful. The positive should be that they are taking the right steps towards reducing animal suffering and living a life which is better for the environment in general.

[gymaaholic]

After a leg day, every step is a mission.

I hope everyone know that feeling !

http://www.gymaholic.co

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A veggie-only Pret has opened in London

More people are embracing vegetarian options because of social media and environmental awareness, the boss of Pret A Manger believes. Clive Schlee said the internet and social media had allowed the younger generation to educate themselves about the ethical, health and environmental benefits of eating less or no meat, as championed by a wave of food bloggers and health gurus such as Deliciously Ella, Madeleine Shaw and the Hemsley sisters.

I find this truly exciting! Could this be the start of a main stream vegetarian restaurant?

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A great video on tips on how to tone up based on your body type. Very informative and easy tips.

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Find your perfect work out buddy!

January is here and thus a new year has begun! We often make commitments in these first months but never end up sticking to them for the whole year. However having someone you can train with to help motivate each other to go further can really make a difference. This is why Fitssi is such a great new app! It’s the first social fitness app that connects users (like myself) with other fitness fans because while Karen who’s a great laugh down the pub might be your first person to call, she probably isn’t going to be the best fitness partner when it comes to sticking it out. So having that mate who will say yes instead of no, is definitely one of the best things you can have for your fitness goals. In fact, a study at Stanford University found that just one phone call a week from a fitness partner can increase the amount a person will exercise by whopping 78%!

It’s really easy to download the app from the Apple store (sorry no Android yet guys!), connect it with your Facebook and you’re ready to go. The app itself, is beautiful and really simple to use. It feels like what insta would be like if it was about photos and physically connecting people rather than virtually. It also uses Facebook for user authentication and you can join existing groups if you don’t fancy going it alone with a buddy!

As an added bonus for January 2016, they’re also doing a fitness challenge called Kickstart 2016 where users are challenged to find seven new fitness partners in the month. You can then post a work out selfie looking your sweaty best on the app. Though my favourite part, since everyone loves a freebie, healthy goodies will be given away to users taking part!

So get your trainers and I’ll meet you in the park!

Click here for the Fitssi App

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Now Spring is here and it's time to get yourself beach body ready!! Fitssi is here to help!

[gymaaholic]

Nothing Is Impossible

If you dedicate your mind toward a goal every day.

You will find a way to make it happen.

http://www.gymaholic.co

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So as you may have guessed from my last post, I've decided to become vegan. For those following the health community, you may have noticed that there is a growing vegan gains community. I must admit I had a lot of the same misconceptions about veganism that most of the population do. However the film Cowspiracy really opened my mind. I then watched videos from Gary Yourofsky and an really interesting talk called 101 Reasons to be Vegan. These really made me realise that a lot of the things I believe to be true are actually completely false I won't go into details here since I know not everyone may be ready to hear the information but for any meat eater I would recommend to watch the above so you can make an informed decision about your diet.

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Some common misconceptions about Veganism and that like any diet, Veganism can be healthy or unhealthy depending on the food choices a person makes.

Being away of what vitamins and minerals your diet may be lacking is important as both an omnivore or vegetarian or vegan.

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So it still feels like winter and you’re in a constant rush. I know, it’s so hard trying to be healthy on the go!

I usually get up in the mornings and make a smoothie but I know it can sometimes seem like even making a smoothie is asking too for much in the mornings!

The next best thing? Before you go to bed, take one glass of juice and put one dessert spoon of Chia seeds together into your container or bottle. When you wake up in the morning you’ll have a nutritious juice with the added benefit of low carb but high fibre chia seeds.

Once they’ve expanded in the juice in the morning, depending on how you thick you usually like your smoothies, you can either drink drink it like it is or add more juice.

This is such a quick and easy way to get a healthy breakfast and you can use a whole range of juices including fruit and vegetable mixed juices. I also use cold press juices to make sure I’m getting all the lovely vitamins I can!

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You can make excuses or you can get on with it. 2016 is not a year for excuses.

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One of the hardest things in fitness is staying motivated. Particularly when it’s winter and it’s cold and your body is telling you it wants every single unhealthy carbohydrate that has ever come out of a factory.

Two of my favourite instagrammers for helping me look at their bodies and reminding myself why I am on this journey is Nicola Mejia (nicola_mejia) and Lisa Morales (misslisamorales).

What I love most about Nicola in particular is that she encourages you to be think and fit. Her body is probably one of my biggest inspirations that I’ve ever come across and probably why I really started to look into changing my physique. Especially when I’m feeling like what’s the point, looking at her achievements really pushes me to do that little bit more.

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Find your perfect work out buddy!

January is here and thus a new year has begun! We often make commitments in these first months but never end up sticking to them for the whole year. However having someone you can train with to help motivate each other to go further can really make a difference. This is why Fitssi is such a great new app! It’s the first social fitness app that connects users (like myself) with other fitness fans because while Karen who’s a great laugh down the pub might be your first person to call, she probably isn’t going to be the best fitness partner when it comes to sticking it out. So having that mate who will say yes instead of no, is definitely one of the best things you can have for your fitness goals. In fact, a study at Stanford University found that just one phone call a week from a fitness partner can increase the amount a person will exercise by whopping 78%!

It’s really easy to download the app from the Apple store (sorry no Android yet guys!), connect it with your Facebook and you’re ready to go. The app itself, is beautiful and really simple to use. It feels like what insta would be like if it was about photos and physically connecting people rather than virtually. It also uses Facebook for user authentication and you can join existing groups if you don’t fancy going it alone with a buddy!

As an added bonus for January 2016, they’re also doing a fitness challenge called Kickstart 2016 where users are challenged to find seven new fitness partners in the month. You can then post a work out selfie looking your sweaty best on the app. Though my favourite part, since everyone loves a freebie, healthy goodies will be given away to users taking part!

So get your trainers and I’ll meet you in the park!

Click here for the Fitssi App