Closer Magazine Beach Body Special
About this time of year I get panic emails from Mums who have booked a family holiday and want to get beach body ready so you feel more confident in a skimpy swim suit.
If I’m honest I don’t really like the ‘beach body’ concept for several reasons.
1) It implies a temporary goal. Presumably once Autumn returns along with baggy jumpers, you won’t feel such a need to take care of your health.
Health should be a goal for everyone, regardless of size or shape. Health = a better quality of life, more energy, fewer illnesses and better mental well-being.
2) It suggests you can only be confident on the beach if you like at least slightly more like a Baywatch (showing my age there?) lifeguard.
Confidence is psychological, a mental state. Even if you do actually need to lose a few pounds for health reasons, you should still be confident. You’re still an amazing, beautiful person with or without those extra pounds.
3) It suggests bigger bodies must be covered up.
I hate overhearing people slag off big bodies in skimpy outfits on the beach. Mind your own business will you?! People can wear what they like, you and me included. Being slim doesn’t necessarily you even look good so it’s a mute point. And carrying extra weight usually increases body temperature, so larger bodies are even more in need to strip down and cool off.
But of course magazines are all over the ‘get a beach body’ theme at the time of writing so I guess if it encourages a person to make healthy, positive, long term changes to they way you eat and exercise, that can only be a good thing.
So Closer Magazine asked me to contribute to their Diet & Fitness special and here’s what I told them:
“Carbs aren’t the enemy. The body uses the right kind of carbohydrates for energy. But if you’re trying to lose a few pounds pre-holiday, ditching processed or refined carbs is a good way to see quick results. This is simply because carbs are metabolised by the body into sugar. And that sugar is then turned into fat.
Of course all food that’s ‘excess’ calories get turned into fat, but refined carbs and sugar are the easiest to overeat and least satiating, so since weight loss requires a lower calorie intake, they’re usually the best place to cut calories from. – This bit was missed by Closer, so I thought I’d clarify it here!
Closer suggests you swap refined carbs like white pasta and potatoes for high fibre foods like beans, brown rice and nuts. For breakfast, toast some rye bread and each with two protein rich poached eggs. For lunch, have a crisp green salad with prawns or mackerel. Then feed your body with nutrients with a dinner of stir-fried chicken and broccoli with brown rice.
“People try to improve their fitness and health by punishing their bodies with exercise they hate and horrible diets they can’t stomach. If you take a positive approach you’ll make better fitness regime choices, which will lead to a healthier body – without you becoming so resentful that you give up”.
This last quote is really important. If you hate your body, you won’t treat it well. If you don’t treat it well, it won’t feel good, it won’t look good, and diet and exercise plans that you do out of spite to your love handles just isn’t the way.
Respect your body, care for it and nourish it, and trust me the aesthetic results you’re after will happen too.
Click on the images below to enlarge them to see the magazine feature. And for a great exercise that tones your bum as well as giving you a stronger (less injury prone) lower back, click here for my fave glute exercise.
