Cat Meffan

My Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide Progress

A while ago I told you I was starting Kayla Itsines’ Bikini Body Guide training programme and I’m now ready to give you a bit of an update. Please note that I am only using her workout guide, not the nutrition guide, as I’m happy with my nutrition plan.

Even though I’m quite toned due to the amount of exercise I do, my legs have always been the part of my body I want to improve. I blame all those years of gymnastics… even though my calf muscles and quads tell the story of years of rugby!  😉

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From the many Kayla Itsine’s transformation photos I looked at one thing was clear, the main results were abs focused, or at least it’s the most obvious result and the one girls seem to be most proud of. I decided to give it a go anyway and I’ve just finished week 6, so exactly half way through.

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The hardest thing for me has been finding the time to fit in the LISS  (low intensity steady state) cardio training – in other words, a 35-45min power walk. I’ve got myself into a routine now, so even though I haven’t quite managed 5 per week (as requested at this stage of the programme, only 2-3 sessions in weeks 1-4), I’m doing better than I was. I love the resistance workouts, as they’re very similar to the training I was doing originally, but the best part is the format of them. It just seems to go so quickly! On a couple of occasions – even though I’m mega sweaty and in pain – I’ve forgotten which circuit I’m on and gone to start a fifth set of 7 minutes!

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Due to my knee reconstruction years ago and on-going issues with my knees, I do find the legs & cardio workouts much harder than abs and arms. Especially the Friday workout of week 6 – SO MUCH JUMPING! This obviously doesn’t put me in a great position for the results I want, as the impact makes my knees sore and then I have to focus on arms and abs instead. Not that I’m complaining though, I love a good abs workout!

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Even though I love going to the gym and doing these workouts, I still love all of the other things I used to do, so have kept up with one class per week, which isn’t to do with Kayla’s programme. One week it’ll be yoga and the next it’s adult gymnastics. It’s so important to love the activity you’re doing, which is why I keep doing these!

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Eating wise, like I said, I’ve been doing my own thing and it works for me. I follow my own nutrition guide, similar to Kayla’s although I’m sure I’ve had a few extra cheat meals than she’d have liked me to had, even though I do just try to have one a week. A typical day for me is as follows:

Breakfast 1 (approx 6:30am) – Homemade green smoothie

Breakfast 2 (aprrox 10am) – Porridge with almond milk & blueberries or egg with avocado

Lunch – Chicken salad or rye toast sandwich

Afternoon Snack – apple with peanut butter or 1 slice of rye toast with peanut butter

Dinner – Pesto chick with sweet potato and lots of green vegetables

Summer is a bit of a nightmare, as there seems to be a birthday, BBQ or wedding happening every week! Drinking wise, I rarely drink alcohol apart from said weddings, and I’m a water freak, so am constantly drinking it!

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I haven’t seen a huge amount of change in my body, as you’ll see in my transformation photo…. although as I’m writing this I’m still not sure I definitely want to put it up. It’s so easy to take a selfie for my Instagram page and make it look good, but these are so unforgiving!

In my week 4 shot I stupidly took the photo after a huge dinner, hence the slightly bloated tummy, but I was more surprised to see a slightly bigger gap between my legs. I know, not a huge change, but I’m getting there!

Before I took the week 4 photo I was actually feeling really down about the whole thing, adamant that I hadn’t changed at all. Just goes to show why the photos are important. I’ll update you again when I complete week 8, as hopefully the change will be more noticeable.

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Results aside, I actually just love having a programme to stick to and an end goal, and because of that I’m much happier. I definitely recommend downloading the free workouts. Let me know what you think!

Thanks for reading – sorry it’s a bit of a long one!! Check out my interview with Kayla here x

 

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