Using the cold to your advantage

Anybody else annoyed with the weather? I sure as hell am. It's ok when you're a kid and you can run around having snowball fights and making snowmen, but when you're an adult, you got things to do!

Anyway, the bulk of my training gets done in my garage at the moment and it's freezing in there. Even though I'm wearing plenty of layers, including double socks, It's still difficult motivating yourself to work out in these conditions, but it has to be done. In fact it can be useful.

Apparently working out in a colder temperature is good for you as the body uses slightly more energy to warm itself up. This would result in using more calories than you would if you did the same workout at a warmer temperature.

It's the same principle when trying to fit your three litres of water in a day. Drinking cold water requires your body to warm itself, therefore using a few extra calories.

Hopefully that should be some motivation to get out of bed on these bitterly cold mornings!

Eating Out

If you're out and about and you haven't got food with you, there are a couple of places I'd recommend for some healthy munch.

For lunch, Subway is always a great place to go. Get yourself a six inch wholemeal sub with some meat and salad (no Meatball Marinara or sauces!) That gives you a high protein, low GI lunch.

For dinner, Nando's is always brilliant. Get a half chicken with brown rice and you're sorted. If you want to reduce fat more, take the skin off the chicken, but that comprises the taste. If you don't mind it slightly bland, then go for it.

Other things to consider if you want to be careful when you're eating out...

• Drink water
• Get a baked potato (no butter) as a good carb hit
• Salad with no dressing's always good with chicken, eggs, fish etc
• Sorbets are a healthier alternative to ice cream

And if you don't want to be careful when eating out, go mad with the menu.