Get summer-ready with our (realistic) six-week body plan
Summer diets. Often they come with promises to ‘shed a stone’ or get your ‘best-ever bikini body’, all in as little as a week or two. Most of us, however, want to forgo the fads and simply lose a little weight to have more energy and feel confident in our clothes. ‘Six weeks is a good amount of time to make a difference to your body shape,’ says personal trainer Matt Roberts, who has worked with Samantha Cameron. ‘If you try something new every few days, you’ll develop small habits that will add up to big changes.’ With that in mind, here’s your smarter shape-up guide…
Week 1: Identify your weak spot
Do you have a 4pm KitKat every day? Are your portions too big, or are you a late-night snacker (or all-day grazer)? Maybe you drink wine every night after dinner? Matt says most of us have a habit that we know is bad for us and that’s the thing we should give up for the next six weeks. ‘If you take away just one obvious thing, the difference in pounds lost and extra energy will be amazing,’ he says. ‘I tell clients they can pretty much cope with any change if it’s only for six weeks. And, interestingly, studies show it takes two weeks to break a habit, so after 14 days you’ll have fewer cravings anyway – and if that happens, give up something else.
Week 2: Break up with sugar
Amelia Freer, nutritional therapist and author of Nourish & Glow: The 10-Day Plan, says sugar is one of the hardest habits to break – but it can be done. These are her top tips: Apart from the obvious sugar baddies like biscuits and sweets, look for hidden sugar in your food and drink – particularly in alcohol, juices, white carbs (eg bread, pasta) and foods sold as ‘diet’ or ‘low fat’ that may still contain sugar or sweeteners. Make all your meals ‘complete’ with a little bit of carbohydrate, vegetables, protein and good fat so you’re less likely to crave sugar between meals. While everybody’s supplementing needs vary, a chromium supplement can be helpful in weaning yourself off sugar. Don’t give up on day one. Cutting out sugar is a process, and for the first few days you may feel tired or groggy.
Week 3: Sleep more
Trainer lee Mullins, who works with supermodel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, says a health kick should always be combined with better sleeping habits. ‘It doesn’t matter if you get your diet and exercise right, if your sleep isn’t good enough you’ll never look or feel your best,’ he says. ‘ good sleep helps you get fitter and feel happier and more energised.’ lee says a lack of sleep plays havoc with the hormones that increase your appetite and slow down your metabolism. ‘This is why a bad night’s sleep will often leave you craving sugary, carb-heavy or fatty foods – and your slower metabolism provides a double whammy when it comes to weight gain.’
Common sleep thieves include coffee after lunchtime, stress, and blue light from our laptop or phones – but only if we browse on them in the evening, when it disrupts the production of the sleep hormone melatonin. going gadget-free before bedtime could make all the difference.
Week 4: Rethink breakfast
Until recently, the well-worn saying that breakfast is the most important meal of the day had never been questioned. However, last year Professor Terence Kealey, an Oxford-educated biochemist, did just that with his book Breakfast is a Dangerous Meal. In it, he questioned the ‘glorification of breakfast’ – and now, it seems, many others are joining him. Personal trainer Max Lowery, creator of the 2-Meal Day plan, hasn’t eaten breakfast in more than four years. ‘I tell new clients to push back breakfast, until eventually they just have a large lunch and dinner with one snack, which extends the fast they’ve had overnight,’ says Max, who points to the science behind intermittent fasting (several studies link it to weight loss and improved heart health).
What’s more, researchers at Cornell University in New York found that breakfast-eaters actually go on to eat the same amount later in the day as breakfast-skippers, which challenges the notion that breakfast keeps your appetite in check for the rest of the day. ‘The other issue with breakfast is the type we usually go for,’ says Max. ‘If you rush out the door to work or to do the school run, you’re hardly likely to poach an egg before you go. You’ll grab something quick, usually made up of carbohydrates and sugar like toast or cereal. These are just about the worst things to eat because we’re more insulin resistant in the mornings, which means our muscle and fat cells are unable to use insulin effectively to lower blood-glucose levels.’
However, other experts we spoke to said that skipping breakfast – or having a late breakfast – isn’t right for everyone and, as ever, it’s best to listen to your body. ‘If you eat breakfast, make sure it includes some protein and fat,’ says Amelia Freer. ‘Add nuts and seeds to porridge or have poached egg with spinach and avocado.’
Week 5: Exercise first thing
On the subject of a later breakfast, Matt Roberts says early morning ‘fasting cardio’ is one of the best ways to burn fat. ‘This is where you do around 30 minutes of light-to-moderate cardio before you eat. I advise doing it three mornings a week, and it can be anything from a morning swim to walking your children to school or power-walking some of the way to work.
Basically it’s anything that gets your heart rate up and it quickly hits your fat reserves.’ A study published in the British Journal of Nutrition found that exercise before breakfast burns 20 per cent more fat than after. The rest of the time, Matt suggests doing something that gets you a little sweaty (‘a bike ride or a hilly walk’) and some weights four or five times a week. ‘If you can’t make the gym, do an at-home strength routine including squats, lunges, sit-ups and star jumps.’ He adds that 20 minutes is all you need.
Week 6: Get off your bottom
Personal trainer and Instagram star Shona Vertue says most of us spend too much time sitting down, which can give us a flatter bottom. ‘If you spend a lot of your day sitting down the gluteus maximus, a crucial muscle, loses definition,’ she says. She suggests introducing this bottom-lifting-and-firming move into your fitness routine: Breathing glute-bridge Lie on your back with your knees bent, heels on the floor (toes lifted), and your feet hip-distance apart. Position your arms out straight towards your ankles, palms facing up. Take a deep breath so you feel your ribs rise and fall. On your next breath out, pull your ribs in and raise your hips just off the floor by tucking in your tailbone. Then slowly lift and roll each vertebra off the floor one at a time. Squeeze your glutes at the top. Inhale to lower, one vertebra at a time. Repeat 10 times.
