I’ve learned so many lessons during this 12-week body transformation at U.P.
But the one thing that’s really been incredible is becoming more in-tune with my body.
I now understand my body, I know which foods fuel it best, I know how to train to sculpt it the way I want, and I intuitively know how my body reacts to different things at different times.
Fluctuations on the scales don’t phase me – I can anticipate them and know the reason why I might have gained or lost from day to day.
I know that carbs are not to be feared and can actually fuel my workouts and make me look my best.
I know that if I have a blip or a setback, tomorrow is a new day with a clean slate, and I know exactly what to do to get back on track and keep progressing.
This knowledge of your own body is priceless. It’s a really empowering thing.
I know it will help me look and feel my absolute best when I walk down the aisle in two weeks’ time on my wedding day.
The training and diet have now become a way of life for me. It’s second nature.
The meal prep, I don’t even have to think about it. It’s sustainable – even when we’ve been out for meals.
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It’s a lifestyle now, not a diet…
We went out for a suit fitting with all of Jon’s groomsmen on Saturday. They all came up from London and we hadn’t seen them for ages and they all wanted to go out, so I just pre-planned where we were going and what I was going to have.
I’ve not craved alcohol even a little bit either. I enjoy a glass of wine and I enjoy going out for a drink, especially now the weather is getting nicer.
I’m looking forward to it and I’m excited about having a drink, but it’s not killing me to not have one. It’s not felt like a diet at all.
I don’t feel like I’m missing out or I’m depriving myself of anything, like so many people who go on those crash diets.
Rather than starving myself, I’m eating more than I ever have, and just keep getting leaner.
I’m now on three carb days a week now.
I react really well with carbs. My body fat percentage has dropped to the place where I’m so lean that on those carb days it doesn’t bloat me at all, it just fills me out my muscles in a really flattering way and I feel I really look my best.
Carbs aren’t scary when you’re having the right carbs at the right times, and fuelling your body in the right way.
Understanding my body better…
Mark is always there to reassure me to say ‘your weight is going to go up, because you’ve had carbs that day.’
But actually you find that your weight goes up, but you look better and more defined. It again proves that looking at the scales too closely isn’t the most important part of the process.
You really understand that these weight fluctuations, where your weight goes up, isn’t a good thing, or a bad thing; it’s just a thing.
My weight might jump up by a whole kilogram which might make some people freak out, but a day later I may have dropped by 1.5kg. It’s all part of the process.
It might be because I’ve had carbs one day, and then I’ve trained the next. Or it could be because I’ve had more water, or for many women, it can be a normal thing with your cycle. I’ve gotten into a rhythm with it now where I can almost anticipate what my body is going to do and how my body is going to react, which is amazing.
It’s nice being in tune with your body.
U.P.’s BodyProphet tracker is really useful too because you can see patterns forming when you’ve been filling it in for so long.
I have 10 weeks’ worth of data behind me; I can see where my weight has gone up a bit, or I might be feeling a bit sluggish one day, or I’m a bit more bloated. But I’ll know it’s because it’s that time of the month, or that I’ve had a glass of wine the night before, or I’ve not done many steps.
You can see why, and see what was making you feel like that or hold that little bit of extra weight. All of that data is there in front of you which means you have a really good reading into what your body is doing, and why.
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Looking my best in my wedding dress…
It gives you the power to change the way you look and feel – especially if you’ve got a night out coming up, or, for me, a wedding. I think ‘where have I felt my best?
That’s where we want to be for the wedding day’. It’s a really nice thing to think, if I put all of these things in place, then on that day, I will feel at my absolute best!
This week was a bit of a test for that. We added an extra carb day in to see where I’m at and how I’m feeling, then I’ll do some progress pictures and have a little look, then see where we’re at for the photoshoot.
This will show me the best strategy for my wedding day.
With the shoot I did a few weeks ago, the day before that we didn’t have any carbs at all. I limited my veg intake that day, because of the water content, so it might be something as simple as doing that the day before the wedding.
Obviously, then I will have so much food on the actual wedding day! It’s all just trial and error and testing, and that’s what’s so fun.
I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to do this 12-week online transformation with U.P.
I imagine for a bride, and it still is for me, one of the biggest stresses is the dress, as it’s such a big thing.
It’s something most brides have dreamed about for most of their lives, and so I think you put so much pressure on yourself to think ‘is it going to fit? Am I going to look great?’
I want to feel amazing, just like any other bride. So to be able to have gotten to this point, where that stress has been taken away by just eating healthily and training, it’s wonderful – and it’s just been so easy.
One of the biggest stresses of the day has gone. I’m not worried that the dress isn’t going to fit. I feel like the definition in my arms and on my back, I can show off with the dress and feel really confident.
We tried the dress on so I could see how I was looking. One great tip from Mark was taking your own progress pictures when you’re at home by yourself.
It sounds silly, but you’re the best judge of your own body because you see it all the time.
You see it how no one else will ever see it. So to have those pictures and see how you’re looking and see the days you feel your best and to understand why you feel better, it helps.
Taking those random pictures all week has been a good way of tracking things. You’re learning all the time and it gives you that knowledge, but it’s actually simple stuff. It’s not massive science, it’s just common sense.
Seeing how far I can push myself…
I’ve got two weeks left of my transformation and I really want to see how far I can push myself and what I can achieve. It’s great to be able to test myself. You’re in competition with yourself. You’re not trying to outdo anyone else or be better than anyone else.
It’s literally your own little battle chasing down your own little goals, and when you hit a goal, you want to hit another one.
It keeps you going and wanting to keep on improving yourself.
What I’m not thinking is ‘thank God, the 12 weeks is nearly up.’
At the start, you think you will feel like that. I’m not going to lie, I’m very excited to have a pizza when I finish, and so excited for the wedding day to be able to eat and drink and have a good time without feeling guilty.
But in no way do I want this to stop. I’m no way am I going ‘thank God I’ve got two weeks left and I’ll never have to do this again.’
I’m gutted. I’ve loved every minute. I really want it to carry on.
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