We’re big believers that any shape is ‘in shape’, as long as you feel confident and have a rocking bikini or swimsuit, you’re already summer ready. The most important thing is that you feel your best, you’re healthy and fit and feel confident enough to wear your favorite clothes when the weather gets warmer.
But we also know how it feels to be your best self and work on your health, get in shape and push yourself to be confident with your body. So if you are looking to build that confidence, you need to work on treating your body with kindness, giving it what it needs and working hard for the goals you set yourself. We are starting a little challenge of our own in the office, going to boot camp together once a week and we’ve started the keto diet challenge (we’ll give each other gifts if we stick to it). It’s not that hard to start pushing yourself when it comes to your fitness and health, you just need to realize it’s mind over matter.
STEP ONE
START A TWELVE WEEK PLAN
Start by getting yourself the Fit Is The Sh*t planner, you need to create a plan and keep a log of everything you’re doing. Julia Buckley of Julia Buckley Fitness says: “Most people don’t stick with exercise because they don’t have a plan. Doing identical daily workouts or wandering into the gym and doing “whatever” doesn’t get great results. You need a route map to get you to where you want to be. I usually recommend 12-week programs because I recommend reassessing your progress and goals every three months. If you’re following a well-devised plan, your body can change a lot in just a few months. If you’re not, it probably won’t.”
The Fit Is The Sh*t planner is your best friend for any twelve-week plan you sign up for. There are a few good ones that you can do from home, our favorites are Body By Simone, The Tracy Anderson Method, The Bikini Body Guide, and Bodyboss. They’re all different, for example, Body By Simone is more focused on dancing, while Bodyboss is a HIIT workout, and The Tracy Anderson Method lets you live stream classes. You can write down your progress with them all and track your progress photos in the Fit Is The Sh*t planner which will help you reach your fitness goals.
STEP TWO
EDIT YOUR DIET
After you enter your goals and your progress photo, it’s important that you keep an eating log. Write down everything you eat for a week and how you feel after you eat those certain things, you might notice that you always get stomach ache at the same time, for example. The only way to know how to make changes is by logging what you eat every day and how it makes you feel.
Next, you should make changes to your diet, take things away and record how you feel, you can try different things but remember it’s important to track your macros, stay in a healthy limit and see if what you eat affects your mood and your body. Write down in your fitness planner every meal and every snack you have. To reset your body, you might be tempted to try something like the keto diet, which is great, but the best way you’ll stick to it is if you write it down and track it. How do you feel? What do you need to improve on? You need to be determined to get to where you want to be. Try this meal plan out if you’ve been inspired by Jennifer Lopez’s recent no sugar challenge, cutting out carbs and sugar and re-assessing how you feel is a great way to start from scratch and build your own diet.
STEP THREE
YOU’RE DOING GREAT – NOW DO BETTER
The gamechanger for me and my body was trusting that I could go further. I always doubted my ability to take my running to the next level, to get stronger, to push it harder, until I started going to Barry’s Bootcamp and forcing myself to push. It hurts sometimes, but it’s always mind over matter, and once you realize you can do it, you feel so proud of yourself. Take what you’re doing, and think about how you can push yourself harder to get to where you want to be.
Women like Beyonce, J-Lo, and Victoria Beckham inspire me because no matter how busy they are, they always make time to work out and push themselves, and even though it’s tough, they prepare themselves for their incredibly busy lives that way. “I am very, very disciplined in the way that I work out, in what I eat. That’s how I’m happiest. I expect a lot from my body – I’m 44, I’ve got four kids, I work a lot, I travel. For me to do all that, I have to eat healthily and work out,” Victoria Beckham said. The fact that someone with such a busy, demanding life can find time to push herself (even though she probably wants to have a lie down) is motivation enough to get me off the couch pushing harder.
GOOD THINGS
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