The Ultimate Body Plan: 75 easy recipes plus workouts for a leaner, fitter you. Gemma Atkinson

always scared that if I allowed someone to get too close and to break down my barriers, it’d be harder to deal with if they then weren’t around any more. But if you constantly put barriers up, you’re always going to miss out. You’re never going to give yourself the chance to experience something truly amazing. So I’m letting my guard down a bit. Plus, letting someone else pull my suitcase gives me a spare hand to hold my giant duty-free Toblerone. Winning!

      By improving my self-esteem I now have a much stronger belief in my ability to cope if things go wrong. I really believe that this 12-week plan will change how people view themselves. It’s given me the confidence to know my own self-worth. The physical and mental changes that happen when you do this plan truly will change your perspective on everything. You’re lifting weights, you’re owning it and looking after your body. Suddenly you find yourself thinking, ‘I’m not going to let anybody walk over me any more. I deserve good things and good people around me’.

      And, because you’re doing it for yourself, you’ll find you attract like-minded supportive people. People who are also secure within themselves so don’t drag you down. When you feel that way, you stop comparing yourself to others. Training will help you to discover what makes you happy personally and will give you the courage and mental and physical strength to go after it.

       12 weeks to a whole new you

      If you’re reading this book, you’re clearly up for making changes. For bettering yourself. For feeling the best you can be. Congratulations and hurray! That is the biggest step on this road to getting the body you love and discovering a leaner, fitter you. I feel so excited at sharing what has undoubtedly completely changed my life. It’s so simple really: eat well, train well and your body and mind will thank you for it.

      Whether you want a new challenge or are struggling with low self-esteem, please throw your all into this plan and I promise you’ll see results that will alter how you look and feel forever. You do not have to settle for feeling sluggish, lethargic, bloated, unhealthy, overweight, insecure or bored. Feeling out of breath walking up a couple of flights of stairs isn’t normal. Feeling puffed out while chasing after your kids for two minutes isn’t fun. Struggling to get out of bed every single morning isn’t okay. You can change those things!

      Please don’t do this in order to look good for someone else, for a one-off event, or to try to live up to some crappy notion of what you ‘should’ be. Do this to feel happier, healthier and more confident within yourself. I always think the universe doesn’t give you what you want, it gives you what you need. You picked up this book for a reason, so give it your best shot.

      You’ll need to learn how to prep your food and not get annoyed about it – make the time, it’ll be worth it (see here). Soon it’ll just become part of your day. The other day I made myself some chicken and rice with lots of spices, put it in a Tupperware for my long train journey the next day and then, when I was on the train and the trolley packed with sweets, biscuits and sandwiches went past, I ate my pre-prepared meal instead – saving both money and that horrible bloated ‘eugh’ feeling that inevitably comes with eating processed foods.

      This isn’t about making life hard – these recipes are delicious, healthy and filling. Plus, you don’t miss what you don’t want!

      Your body is unique. It’s got you this far. Why not thank it by focusing on it for a while. Start playing for keeps rather than for instant gratification. Sometimes I still think to myself, ‘My legs could be a bit slimmer, my waist, bum and hips could be a bit more J Lo. I’m quite straight up and down…’ But then I catch myself, give myself a metaphorical slap, and think, ‘You’re 34 years old, you’re half your mum, half your dad, and you’ve got good strong legs that have carried you everywhere you’ve ever been! Get over yourself.’

      Make a commitment to change how you live for the next 12 weeks. Yes, it’ll take some sacrifices. But is it really so awful to give up boozing and eating junk for just 12 weeks if it will utterly alter your life? 12 weeks! That’s it!

MY 10 ULTIMATE BODY PLAN COMMANDMENTS

       This chapter contains the 10 commandments you need to follow to get the most out of the 12-week plan. This entire process is about feeling empowered, about making yourself accountable for your own health and wellbeing. By pledging to follow these commandments, you’re promising to give this the best possible shot you can. You’re vowing to take it seriously, to not throw in the towel at the first sign of trouble and to give up all faddy diets that have never and will never work. Make a commitment to change, right here and now. Take these commandments on – remember them, write them down, put your favourite as an alert on your phone to ping up during the day – and re-read them whenever you need a kick up the backside.

       I’ll remember that I don’t have to be great to start, but I have to start to be great

      The quote, ‘You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great’, has pushed me to do a lot of things in my life, because we can all get held back by fear. It’s easy to see yourself at the end of the journey – to picture yourself lean and healthy and loving life – but the reality of getting there can seem massively intimidating and a lot of work.

      I’ll be clear: this 12 weeks is going to be tough. It’s going to demand sacrifice and you’re going to struggle at times along the way. But there’s no magic pill that’ll give you these results (not even on the dark web). There should be no embarrassment associated with getting fitter. So what, you have to tell your friends you’re not drinking for a while because you’re on a fitness plan? So what, you’re so exhausted after 10 kettlebell reps you have to lie on the floor in a puddle of your own sweat? That’s bloody great! You’re working hard, you’re committed and you’re getting stronger.

      Stepping out of your comfort zone is good for you. If you never start, you’ll never finish and so will never know what you can achieve. Yes, you’re nervous. Yes, gyms can seem intimidating. Yes, you won’t know what you’re doing to start with. But you were petrified on your first day of school and you got through that. Your first kiss – you got through that. Your first day at work – you got through that. You got through all of those major things so, no matter what size or shape you are right now, you can sure as hell get through starting a fitness plan, okay?

       I will try everything at least once and ask for help when I need it

      Remember that story I told you about my mum keeping secret the fact she was taking me to the modelling agency? I’ve always been dismissive, uninterested or suspicious about things I don’t know. When I was younger, if someone was doing something I wanted to do but was too scared to try, I’d say, ‘It’s not for me that, I can’t be arsed with it.’ When inside I’d be thinking, ‘I’d love to be able to do that!’ Stop talking yourself out of trying something through fear: ‘I can’t do that because I’m not tall enough/slim enough/funny enough/fit enough/good enough’, or ‘I simply don’t like it’. You’ll miss out on things you might actually love and that could really improve your life.

      If this sounds familiar, catch yourself the next time you do it and force yourself to have a go at whatever it is you’re avoiding. You might think you ‘can’t’ do Swiss ball exercises because you’ll look like a plonker, but who cares? If you don’t try you’ll never learn. If you’re working out at home and don’t get how something works, google it and watch a video or log onto an online forum and chat to others about it. Call up a friend who works out and ask them. Or bite the bullet and book a one-off