The 7 diet rules this celeb trainer swears by for weight loss – from meal prep to drinking coffee
IF you're looking for #fitspo, look no further.
Sarah Lindsay, AKA Roar Fitness Girl, is both a celebrity PT and a body transformation coach who knows a thing or two about shedding body fat and getting strong.
A former Olympian athlete, she's trained everyone from Caroline Flack and Melanie Sykes, to Professor Green and Lauren Pope.
"I initially trained with Sarah for 12 weeks in the run-up to my Women's Heath June cover shoot and I was thrilled with how quickly I saw my body change," Caroline Flack has enthused.
Melanie Sykes said that Sarah's gym was her favourite and that she knows "exactly how to shape your body into a work of art".
So, what kind of nutritional advice does she give her celeb clients to get them in shape?
Talking to Healthista, Sarah revealed her top seven tips for getting in shape:
1. Drink coffee
Coffee often gets shunned but I am a total coffee addict. It’s not great to rely on coffee but there’s nothing really wrong with having it.
I actually only started drinking coffee when I was 30 but when I retired, I decided I wanted to like coffee; this thing that everybody was obsessed with – which clearly was a mistake because now I’m one of them and I drink coffee all day.
2. Cook your own treats
I like quality food and I like food that tastes real, (so) I wouldn’t eat things like cake or doughnuts because to me those foods don’t really taste of anything.
They also don’t have any nutritional benefits – it just doesn’t taste of food to me.
I like real flavours and I quite like the theatre of making your own food.
So I’ll put the time and effort into making a carrot cake or a chocolate avocado cake or something like that. It’s still high in calories and high in fat, but to me, it tastes like real food.
3. Plan meals around exercise
I eat four meals a day. My meals are mostly made up of protein and vegetables, which is the base of my four meals. I then time my carbs around my training.
If I’m training in the morning, I will add oats to my morning breakfast and then after training, I will have a sweet cereal – something that’s high in sugar in my post workout shake.
Having sugar after training is important as it replaces muscle glycogen (carb stored in muscle to be used as energy). Exercise depletes these stores which you need to replace and it’s easier to absorb high glycemic/sugary carbs at this time rather than slow release carbs.
If I’m training in the afternoon, then I’ll have sweet potato or rice or another type of carbohydrate with my lunch.
I have some complex carbs before I train and then I have some sugary carbs after I train. Because I ate quite late (at night), I generally keep carbs and fats out of dinner.
For dinner, I often have white fish, white meat and vegetables. It’s easier to digest protein so normally I’ll have seabass with vegetables.
4. Meal prep
Food prep wherever you can. Knowing about your food, learning and being able to make more educated food choices is the key to a successful diet.
If you know what’s in your food, it will help to control the quality of the food you are eating, instead of always eating on the run. If you plan your food, you know what’s going into it and the quality of it.
One food I often meal prep are mini egg muffins. I often leave the house early in the morning and if I train early I don’t want to feel sick, so I need something quick and easy that I can take with me.
Sarah's mini ham and egg muffins
Ingredients:
Makes 6
- 6 slices Parma or Serrano ham
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 2 spring onions thinly sliced
- 50g cheese grated
Method:
1. Lightly grease a 6-cup muffin or Yorkshire pudding tin.
2. Lie in the ham, shape to make a cup.
3. In a jug, beat the eggs along with a pinch of seasoning then stir through the cheese and spring onions.
4. Then carefully pour the mixture into the ham-lined cups.
5. Place into preheated oven set at 200c/ gas mark 6 for 12-14 minutes or until eggs have set.
6. Remove from the tray and cool on a rack.
5. Drink more water
Water. It’s important. It’s vital.
I always say to literally everyone, water water water.
You always need to drink more – so drink more.
6. Don't follow anyone else's food plan
Just because (a diet plan) it worked for someone else does not mean it will work for you.
People say things to me like, ‘Oh but they drink loads of wine they just don’t eat their dinner’. That’s SO not a good thing, just because they’re thin and they do that doesn’t mean that it’s good for them or that it will be any good for you and your health and fitness journey.
It’s important that you get some professional insight so that you can find a plan that really works for you, that way you’re more likely to stick to it long term.
7. Eat whole foods
The first port of call always has to be quality nutrition – quality food for optimal health.
This means eating organic or unrefined food. It really is important that you become mindful of the quality of the food you are eating.
Then think balance, vegetables, protein, complex carbohydrates and essential fats, you need to be making sure you’re not missing out on any of those main macros.
"Macros" stands for macronutrients which are proteins, carbohydrates and fats, essential to include in every meal.
This article first appeared on Healthista
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