You cannot put a price on feeling good about yourself and being happy and confident with your body.
Going on holiday is wonderful – nothing beats sun, sea and sand when you’ve been working hard.
But for so many women there’s always that dread about being in a bikini on the beach or around the pool if your body confidence is low.
I know because I’ve been there before. But for the first time in a long time, I felt really, really good in a bikini on my holiday.
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I used to wrap a sarong around me when I walked from the pool to the beach bar, but I didn’t on this holiday.
I felt really, really good and that’s down to the six weeks I’ve had here at Ultimate Performance; what I’ve been doing with my training and nutrition has really paid off with my confidence. Mentally it’s made me feel really happy in myself.
Your confidence soars when you feel good – and that’s when I believe you look good.
A lot of the time people walk around and you assume ‘oh, they must feel amazing’ but sometimes they don’t.
They’re miserable because they’re either starving themselves or pushing themselves too hard, pretending to everyone that they like how they look, but inside they’re not happy and it makes them miserable.
I think with training, with the endorphins that you release and how your body changes, it does make you feel happy and confident, and to be able to just walk around the beach bar in just my bikini and no sarong or shorts felt great!
I looked far from perfect (but who is?) and of course there are still areas I can improve on physically, but mentally I was 100% happy and comfortable and confident and that’s what’s important.
I was thinking ‘You’re 32 and you’ve still got it, kid!’ There’s still something there’. And it’s all down to training and good nutrition. It really is.
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I can’t encourage people enough, especially women, to come and train and to try a program and push themselves to places they didn’t think they could go.
I mean, women carry kids for nine months and give birth, so I reckon they can do 12 weeks training at UP. LOL!
What we as women can do is incredible; we are so much stronger and tougher than we realise. So now, I just can’t wait to see what I can achieve in another six weeks of training.
I have a photoshoot in July, so that’s my end goal. Then I’m going away again later this year with the girls, but we’ve booked a hotel with a gym so I can still go out with the girls and have fun but I can also still train in the day and get my sessions in.
It’s just about finding that balance – this is something that I found on my week’s holiday.
I didn’t want to go away and not train at all and completely binge, because that’s going to mess my metabolism up and make it harder when I come back.
Catch up with Gemma’s Week 1 blog and how she lost 5lbs in just seven days weight training at UP.
But I also didn’t want to go away and be so strict to the point of feeling I may as well have not had a holiday! I wanted to have the odd cocktail on the beach and the odd plate of chips so it was all about finding that balance really and making sure I stayed on track whilst making sure I still had a good time and socialised.
After all, you don’t want to start resenting your training, you want to enjoy it.
The holiday was really good. But due to the recent problem with flights, we ended up going to a different destination and it didn’t have a nearby gym.
I had my skipping rope with me and I downloaded some HIIT workouts onto my phone before I left and although training-wise it didn’t quite go how I had planned, I just made the most out of what I had there.
I did lots of swims, long walks along the beach and stuck to the food that was on my plan apart from the two days where we went out for drinks and I had some chips cause they on the menu but I thought ‘well I’m on holiday’.
I probably didn’t eat enough, to be honest, with it being so hot. But having a week off from training I’ve really noticed the difference.
I’ve just had my first session back and it was harder than my first session six weeks ago. I literally thought I was going to be sick or cry or storm out and I’ve never felt like that before in a gym session.
But it’s made me realise that even a week off from what you are used to makes a difference.
I actually feel a lot weaker, but my trainer Steve said I was lifting the same amount, if not more.
So obviously my strength isn’t lost, but I’m finding it a lot harder to do. But I’m jet-lagged and had about three hours sleep so I don’t think that’s helped me.
Now I’m back, I’m looking forward to getting stuck back into my UP transformation now and feeling good again.
The first session was always going to be horrendous, and it was horrendous but I got through it. So it’s only going to get easier now because I’m going to get stronger, it’s a fresh start. I’m going to sleep all this weekend and get over this jet lag, come back on Monday and get ready to tear it up and get it done.
If you’re inspired by Gemma’s journey and want to start your own body transformation, talk to us about our Personal Training Plans or BOOK A CONSULT NOW!
