Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide Review by Grace

Every now and then, we bump into some girls whose story is just as inspirational as it is motivating. Seeing fitness journeys unravel is always so informational just because we can see that it's not the same for all. What works for one girl, might work differently for another. Our latest Kayla Itsines Girl to have gone beyond her limits and obtained amazing results is 18-year old Grace! She shares her own personal insights concerning the highs & lows and the do's & don'ts of her Bikini Body Guide journey, and how these came intertwined with an emotional one as well. 

Follow her journey on her Instagram account kaylagbug!

What kept me going —

I think one of the main things that Kayla posts about that has really held true is that “motivation gets you started, habit keeps you going”. I have never been the type of person to turn down a piece of cake, nor do I think that this is necessary all of the time. But I promise you, things that you know will hinder your progress will soon seem unattractive to you, especially when you start seeing what your body is capable of. One thing that really made me continue was the perfect balance of structure that the guide provided me with. On Mondays, I worked out, same with Wednesdays and Fridays, it just happened. After a while it gets easy, I promise you if you keep yourself going for about four/five weeks, you won’t even know the difference. This is what really pulled through for me with my injury: I knew that I could continue with the plan, just not as rigorously, so that’s exactly what I did, habit made me do it.

Difficulties

There were DEFINITELY difficulties and things I liked less about my time using the guide and I want to be completely honest with you so here are a couple:

• It IS hard maintaining a completely clean diet alongside social events and partying. Not necessarily the BBG, but general getting fit does require a lot of willpower, which I definitely did not always have. I think the only way to sort this out is by doing everything in moderation, and by giving yourself allowances in advance. For example, if you know that you’ve got a girls night on Saturday and this time that having a good time is more important to you than a bit more progress, in this case I’d let loose and eat and drink what I wanted because I knew I wouldn’t regret it.
• It is hard not to get obsessive. There are days when I eat an enormous amount of awful foods and I actually feel horrible. This is when I want to spend a day in the gym to make up for it. I don’t think this is in any way the right thing for me as I wouldn’t want fitness to take over my whole life in a negative way. So when this happens, I usually try to stick to my usual schedule and just eat well, and the day after that I will at least feel a little better. This also assures that I don’t feel bad EVERY time I treat myself, and I think that is more important than compensating for every tiny thing you do that doesn’t comply with your goals. I feel this would be especially important in the case of people who follow the nutrition guide. I didn’t follow this just because I find it easier to work with what I have and listen to my body in terms of what I eat. Make sure that if you are following the H.E.L.P guide that if you get a few meals wrong even in a row, that’s okay and you’re probably doing a lot better than you think! Even if you’ve gone completely off track, you can only get better by continuing to try. It is much more important to listen to your body than to follow a set of sometimes hard to achieve rules.

Tips & recommendations

• Work out what works for you: I found that if I told myself I had to do 3 resistance sessions, 2 LISS and 2 HIIT in one week, I was much more likely to do none at all than if I made a smaller, more achievable goals. Another thing is that for me, making myself restart a circuit 3 times was too hard, so as I got better I preferred doing 14 minutes of one circuit and then 14 of the other.
• Everything in moderation! I am a big, big eater, so eating clean all the time again would probably just cause me to binge. As you eat better, you stop craving unhealthy foods, but if I want a piece of cake, I will have that piece of cake.
• Create a routine: I for one easily go off track. If I do one thing wrong then everything starts going wrong because well it might as well if I've already messed up. I can tell you now that this is just not true. Even if your cheat meal has turned into a cheat week or even month, resort to structure. I find that if I've been indulging quite a bit, the best thing isn't to go crazy trying to work it all off, but instead to stick to my normal routine. I'll get up, do whatever I would have done anyway that day, and try to keep everything as normal as possible until my urges go away.
• Progress is slow: I know that the amazing photos on Kayla’s Instagram are almost bewildering at times, and it’s hard to keep motivated for a long time. But please, KEEP GOING, it is so worth it.

Remember that, after everything, those 12 weeks are going to pass whether you’re doing BBG or not. Make them count!