Prep Time: 2mins
Cooking Time: 12mins

Ingredients:

200g of Grounded Almonds
85g of Almond Butter
1 zest of Orange
4 tablespoons of Honey
2 tablespoons of Orange Juice
1 tablespoon of Vanilla Essence

Accessories

Oven
Baking Paper
Wire Cooling Mesh or Spare Oven Tray

The Simple Process

(1) Pre-Heat oven (fan assisted 180c)
(2) Mix all six ingredients together to form a dough
(3) Flatten the dough into a rectangle on a cutting board
(4) Cut evenly into 14 squares (2 bites per day)
(5) Place them on a sheet of Baking Paper and place in the oven for 12mins
(6) After the 12mins, take out your bites & place them on a wire mesh or oven tray to cool.

After 30mins your Almond Bites, which are packed with protein & healthy nutrients, are ready to eat! Empty your Cookie Jar and replace them with these tastier bites. Try and stick to just 2 per day and use them as a healthy snack when visited by food cravings.

For those with a sweet tooth, you can melt 100g of Dark Chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan of heated water & dip HALF of each Almond Bite into the bowl after the melted chocolate cools.

Interview with Tamaya Adams & Dan Corbett from Channel 4′s ‘The Fat Fighters’…

Follow Tamaya on twitter… http://twitter.com/tamayaadams

Follow Dan on twitter… http://twitter.com/DanFatFighter

Follow Matt on twitter… http://twitter.com/Matt_miller_tv

Follow Dalia on twitter… http://twitter.com/DaliaFatfighter

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THE ‘RIGHT’ WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT

Goal: Drop 88kg to 79kg in 12 weeks

15th December 2011
It’s the eve of attempting to become a new man! Okay, that’s a bit dramatic and OTT but basically after years of trying to lose weight & just as importantly -keep it off, I’ve decided to take hold of the situation and finally achieve my goal once and for all.

Over the next 12 weeks, I’m going to be blogging about what I find is working for me & what’s not. I also invite you to send me your comments/tips so those of us who share such a dream can achieve our goal together! I’ll post them below. Also please let me know if you have tried certain supplements that have/haven’t worked for you? Have you tried accupuncture, reiki, deep tissue massage, etc., to try compliment your training? If you wish to send me a private message, you can always email garry@garrykelly.ie

So tomorrow I’ve a 10am appointment with a personal trainer, where I’ll be assessed and a plan of action will be put in place in achieving my goal. I’ll also have a nutritional plan mapped out for me. I intend to go to a PT twice a week till the end of January to kickstart my metabolism and get my form right. I also hope to train 3 days (45mins/session) a week in my local gym. My goal is to lose 9kg in 12 weeks through healthy eating & exercise, and to be “normal” not an obsessed/intense athlete where I constantly monitor my intake of food. It’s all about a change of lifestyle yet to still enjoy the fruits of life e.g. pizza & a few beers

16th December 2011 (Weigh-In 87.8kg)
Well Day One of my 12 week project was a bit of an anti-climax because I got weak & dizzy after just 15 minutes of exercise! That’s right, 15 mins!

I got up at 5:45am today for work. Had porridge with skim-milk & 1/2 scoop whey protein plus a Latte (thank you Nespresso+) for breakfast. After work I then went to Unique Personal Training (Threadneedle Road, Salthill, Galway) to meet neighbour & trainer James Buckley. After 15mins of checking my height, weight, body mass index (BMI), mobility, flexibility, core strength, etc. I then hit the bike for 5mins to warm up, then did six sets of 20 punches at a bag broken up with a light jog, and minutes later I was in the toilets feeling weak & sick. I then realised how tough this whole journey is going to be. Apparently I have low endurance. Hence a few minutes of exercise and then the stars come out regardless of the time of day.

I must say though I was overwhelmed by the messages of support that I’ve gotten from friends over the past 24hours with some even suggesting that I do this for charity with donations per kg that I lose, which is certainly an idea I’d love to explore further.

What I do now know is to lose weight (and muscle) can be easy, but to burn fat, build muscle, develop core strength, heighten endurance, and sustain it -is going to be painful & extremely challenging. I’m attempting to achieve a level of fitness at 31 years of age, that I could never reach in my teens. Why? Because its something I’ve always failed at doing, and now I want to stop failing and start accomplishing things in life. This is only one of many dreams I want to reach in this short life, and not be afraid anymore of the things I fear or shy away from. This though, is going to make or break me!

I return to UPT on Monday for the ‘real’ Day One. Think I’ll be having a sleepless weekend as I dread Monday morning.

ps I’ll be doing a food diary too, if anyone’s interested? It’ll be a learning curve but overtime I’ll be implementing the various tips I get from nutritionists. I might also take a pic next week for comparison in March
19th December 2011
Woo hoo, and we’re underway! Day One of my workout at UPT, where I did light workouts on all key muscles. My wife was giving off at the weekend that my blogs are too long & not funny enough. How you make blogging about cruel workouts funny I don’t know. I think only a sadist would find it humorous so I’ll just keep them short. Anyways tomorrow is all about Cardionat my own local gym to get blood back into the muscles worked today 15mins on Bike, Treadmill, Rowing Machine & Cross-Trainer. Better to workout on a few different machines thn just one for 60mins, so I’ll work different areas. My current problem is lack of fitness, hence I’ve to work on cardio on my own time so i’ll be able for the stuff at UPT. Watching my diet though has been the hardest part of today
ps just for Chiara… Wife to her overweight husband: Last night there were two pieces of cake in this pantry and now there is only one. How do you explain that?
Husband: I guess it was so dark that I didn’t see the other piece.

Tips:

-Those who lose weight fast, will quickly put it back on. Those who build muscle quickly, will also easily lose it. The key to successfully losing weight, toning up & maintaining it -is to do it consistently and gradually.

-30% of the work is done in the gym, the other 70% is all about what goes in your mouth.

-Cardio machines only burn calories whilst your exercising on them, it’s building solid muscle that will keep burning the calories all day long for you. That’s why weight training is more important then a cardio session to lose weight. And remember your biggest muscle is your quads so build them up.

-Try substituting white bread & pasta with Spelt Bread & Spelt Pasta. And even better replace pasta, potatoes, & rice with Quinoa, which is just as nice and is full of protein.

Ms Clark (79) agreed to join them in the studio for the recording session in London last month.

She also appears in the songs official music Video which was revealed last week and has gathered over 38,000 views already...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItVEhL-T7qQ

With the backing of many well known dj’s in the country for The Saw Doctors single ‘Downtown’ to go to No. 1, Paddy Power have placed 5/2 odds on them making the Christmas no.1 and beating the Xfactor.

The single Downtown Ft. Petula Clark is out on iTunes on Dec 8th.

For more info on the Saw Doctors please visit www.sawdoctors.com

Linda Coogan Byrne
PR & Label management
Good Seed PR & Marketing
E: linda@goodseedpr.com

Last Wednesday, the Chairman of the Galway County Football Board, John Joe Holleran, indicated to me that I no longer had his support or that of the Executive Board for continuing in my role as Galway Senior County Football Manager.

It was confirmed to me this morning (Saturday 9^th August) that the decision was ratified at a meeting last night.

I don’t want to become a focus of discontent or to cause dissent about the process by which that decision was arrived at. For that reason and with extreme reluctance, I accept the decision.

When I was appointed last year I set out with a plan. A key part of that plan was building relationships with other sectors of the GAA in Galway, and in particular focussing on the development of younger players. As part of this, I developed a working relationship with the u21 management, resulting in the integration of a large number of u21 players into the senior set up, which will show positive results in the next number of years.

Already, ten of this year’s u21 team have been integrated into the senior panel. The promise is there:  the u21s won the All-Ireland title, the minors are in the All-Ireland semi-final and St Jarlath’s reached the All Ireland Colleges Final. Galway will again become a force in the GAA.

My management philosophy has always been based on the principles of player involvement, building a game plan by consensus, regular feedback and putting the team before the individual.

This involves empowerment and players’ input into the process. This was beginning to work in Galway and, despite media speculation during the early stages of my tenure, I’ve had a positive relationship with all of the players and this continued unchanged.

This approach cannot guarantee instant success. Look at, for example, the situation in Roscommon and Kildare in year one of a new manager taking over. In Galway, performance on the field, particularly in the Connacht championship, did not always match my expectations or those of the players. There were, however, clear indications at the latter stages of the league and in the championship game against Meath of substantial improvement.

Hence my conviction that, over the three year period I would absolutely have brought long overdue success to the Galway football team.

I hope they achieve that success and I wish the team well.

I also want to thank my backup team for their unstinting support during my time in Galway.