The money is still rolling in from last Saturday's Zumbathon so hopefully I will have final figures for you next week. If you have still to collect sponsorship please can you get it to me as soon as possible as I would like to send the cheques off to the charities this week. Alternatively you can use the Just Giving pages - just do whatever is easiest for you!

This week saw the launch of new classes at Bursledon and Whiteley which were a great success. I think everyone who came to Zumba was totally surprised at the class. It just wasn't what they were expecting but the smiles throughout the class and the lovely comments afterwards told me how successful it was - hoping to see all of you and more again next week! We will have those hips, shoulders and booties shaking like you wouldn't believe!!!

This Saturday is the half day nutrition workshop which is guaranteed to be both informative and eye opening. I have been to many seminars that go on all day with little or no breaks and sooner or later the brain switches off. This is the one thing that I have not done. I have deliberately kept the workshop to half a day with a makeover, quizzes and question and answer sessions. I hope that by breaking it up and making you think it keeps it interesting and lively. The more questions you guys have the better, I love interactive workshops - I may not have all the answers and if I don't I guarantee I will come back to you within a week with the answer! It is not about me telling you how to eat, it is all about me explaining food so that you go away with the information you need to be to implement healthy eating in your own unique way. We all know deep down that diets just don't work so I refuse to give you a diet. I will however be giving you some sample recipes so that you can see how to put healthy meals together. If you are hungry for more information then feel free to talk to me after the workshop and we can either arrange further sessions or I can point you in the right direction to get the information that you want.

Heading into the last quarter of the year and my schedule seems to be getting more and more hectic! I am lots of workshops over the coming months including the F.A.S.T tour which I will report back to you in a couple of weeks! Two kettlebell workshops that I just cannot wait to attend, more freestyle and functional conditioning workshops - I love these styles of workshops as they are so relaxed but you come back with loads of ideas and more importantly the ability to create more and more options - brilliant!

I love learning and would go on a workshop every week if I could. They motivate and inspire but also it is great to be surrounded by like minded individuals, we come up with some amazing ideas as we bounce ideas off each other. In the fitness industry it is so important to be forward thinking and keeping up to date with all relevant research. Being able to ignore tempting claims but when you delve further, discover that the research has only been done on a limited number of people over a short period of time - in other words, not valid in my opinion. I like all research that I use to be over a long period of time (depending on the topic) and with a substantial amount of people.

How many of you read the fitness magazines or articles in papers and believe every word you just read? Do your own research and research that article. Where the claims based on firm foundations? I would suspect that most of them aren't. Of course there are occasions when tow fitness professionals may be arguing to sides to the coin but this is just opinion, not fact. It is really important to establish the difference. Those of you that know me know how frustrated I get when I hear these ludicrous claims of fat loss and I could go on about them until I am blue in the face, instead think of this:

If it sounds to good to be true then it probably is.

The only successful long term way to succeed in weight or more importantly fat loss, is to eat more of the right food and do more resistance exercise - FACT.

From today (yes that's right, now not Monday!) I am also changing my own fitness regime. So, if you are thinking about it then do it and we can do it together. We all know that when you work crazy hours diet gets left by the wayside, so I am off to Asda to get in the right foods. It will take time to prepare but work out what you will eat every day for the next week. I have also written myself a 15 minute workout every day based on weighted exercises to boost the metabolism. I will be exercising first thing in the morning. To plan it in at any other time is unrealistic for me - but work out what will work for you.

Good luck and let me know how you get on!