How To Lose A Stone In A Week

The celebrity trainer who changed his fitness in just four months reveals how you can shed half a stone before Christmas - and still eat bacon and eggs for breakfast!

Matt Lindsay coaches celebrities including Daisy Lowe, Pixie Lott, and Lauren Pope

Fitness and nutrition coach says there is still time to hold back on Covid's weight gain

Matt, who works at Roar Fitness in London, specializes in body transitions

He says it's "perfectly realistic" for anyone to lose at least half a stone by Christmas

Written by Amy Gordon for Mailonline

Posted: 03:39 EST, December 1, 2020 | Updated: 05:07 EST, December 1, 2020

After months of eating and drinking breaks, there is no doubt that many people are finding themselves in worse shape than they were at the start of the year.

The Covid pandemic exposed good intentions and wreaked havoc on fitness systems as gyms were closed and sports equipment sold across the country.

But Matt Lindsay, fitness and nutrition coach, says there is still time to hold back from the weight gain.

Training celebrities including Daisy Lowe, Pixie Lott and Lauren Pope at Roar Gyms in London, Matt specializes in body transformations - helping people get in shape in under eight weeks.

And FEMAIL tells how we can all lose at least half a stone before 2020 finally thanks to a few simple tweaks to our daily routine - including big protein-packed breakfasts, fat-free evening meals, and plenty of movement.

Before and after: Lindsay died at a weight of 89 kg (left) and 75 kg (right) after following his healthy eating and exercise plan. He lost 14 kg at 16 weeks

Celebrity clients include model Daisy Lowe (pictured during a Roar Fitness workout), who has been training with him since the end of the first shutdown.

You can of course lose a lot of weight in a short amount of time - but it will have a massive bounce effect after that, says Matt.

Recipes: How to nourish your body with good food and lose weight

Here are some ideas for delicious meals you can prepare in minutes, using fresh, healthy ingredients, and on a tight budget. These meals are perfect for group cooking and for busy people on the go.

Total Calories for the day: 1550

Big breakfast: two-egg omelette

2 large eggs

2 bacon tomatoes

1/2 medium avocado

100 g of asparagus root

Spray fried olive oil

method:

1. Cook eggs any way. Shaken, boiled, or boiled is one of the healthiest methods

2. Grill or saute bacon using an olive oil drizzle - only one calorie per drizzle

3. Cut an avocado into slices, remove the stone and pour half of it

4. Cover the asparagus seeds with a little olive oil drizzle, season with salt and pepper and grill over a high heat for 2 to 3 minutes, until they are tender.

Lunch: a box of chicken

1 grilled chicken breast

100-150 grams of chopped mushrooms

Tilda basmati rice in the microwave with lemon and coriander

A large handful of spinach

method:

1. Season the chicken breasts with lemon juice, rosemary, parsley, garlic, paprika, and lemon juice

2. Roast on high heat for 10 minutes

3. Fry the mushrooms for 5 minutes, until they are light brown in color. Add garlic powder, Himalayan salt, or a little paprika to the mushrooms if you want them to have more flavor

4. To heat the rice, squeeze the bag and open the top corner to 2 cm. Heat up in a microwave at full power for 2 minutes (800 W). Open and flip out with a fork before serving.

5. Serve chicken, mushrooms and rice on a bed of fresh spinach leaves - which can be wilted with mushrooms, if you prefer.

Snack: an oatmeal energy booster

Heat 50g of oats with 200ml of unsweetened almond milk in a frying pan on the stove for five minutes. Add sweet cinnamon or a teaspoon of protein powder in your favorite flavor

Dinner: Fine sea bass

2 bass fillet

50 grams of low-fat hummus

2-3 green onions

100-150g mixed pepper

A large handful of mixed leaves

Dinner: sea bass served with mixed peppers, salad leaves and chickpeas

method:

1. Steam the sea bass fillets for five minutes with the addition of lemon juice

2. Wash and chop the onion, pepper and mixed leaves

3. Serve with chickpeas and enjoy!

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But as far as what you can lose realistically in three weeks, anyone can lose half a stone - it's totally achievable.

People respond differently but generally, for the first three weeks of living healthier, the average person loses 2-3 kilos - about half a stone.

"follow the below tips to lose weight."

Start your day with protein and fats to keep your energy steady

A great way to start your plan is to eat a breakfast rich in protein and healthy fats. Eggs, bacon, avocados, protein patties, lean meats and fish such as salmon or mackerel, or natural yogurt with almonds.

If you haven't eaten since the evening, you will be catabolizing - meaning your muscles will be used as fuel. If you're short on calories, you don't want to use muscle.

Each kilogram of muscle you have equals 50 calories of energy a day, so to preserve muscle mass, you have to eat.

It's all about your blood sugar levels - you don't want a lot of peaks and troughs.

You don't want big highs and lows because that will make your energy go up and down.

You need to keep your energy steady so that the fats are good for stable, slow insulin release when you wake up.

Plenty of scientific studies show that eating a high-carb breakfast leads to higher levels of cravings for sugary and carbohydrate foods as the day goes on - the higher the rise, the greater the decrease.

Eat carbohydrates at lunchtime during training

Ideally, you want some carbs in the middle of the day.

Our bodies have a limited supply of carbohydrates, so we use them optimally in training time when you are most active, or in the middle of the day because you have the rest of the day to get out of it.

Healthy sources of carbohydrates to eat with your lunch include brown rice, sweet potatoes, quinoa, couscous, butternut squash or oats.

Choose an evening snack so that it is easier to digest before bed

Evening should be a light meal. In general, the arguments vary but the rationale for Roar Fitness is that you want something easier to digest before bed.

You don't want to eat a high-fat meal or something that is a challenge to your digestive system when you go to bed because your body has to break it down, which will affect your sleep and digestion.

Movement and gym: Count those steps

Honestly, before we even got to the gym, the movement was massive.

I work with people in town and when I ask them how much they move, on average about 2-3,000 steps a day.

I think that applies to about half of the population. Walking 1,000 steps burns 50 calories.

If you don't walk and move around enough, good luck in facing a calorie deficit.

You're fighting a fight - it doesn't matter what training you're doing. If you don't move enough, you won't lose weight.

When it comes to the gym, weight training changes your body composition.

If you want to change your body shape - and not just a slim version of yourself - this is where weight training comes in.

The average person who does sports twice a week should stick to full-body sessions to cover all the bases.

Maintain body balance by working on the upper body, lower body, and core.

A typical gym session should start with compound movements - multiple muscles are used.

Start with the technically difficult moves at the start of the workouts because they're the hardest - so the squat, dead lifts, is something dynamic like a lunge.

Then, at the end of the workout, do the weight machines because your technique falters because you are tired.

We should all strive to drink two or three liters of water a day.

Not only is it good for your skin and your overall health, but it also aids in weight loss.

There are a million reasons your body can perform better when you are wet, but saliva is also a mouth's first line of defense against germs / infections; And it's important now to keep your immune system in top class.

liability

It really helps you to invest in a fitness and diet plan.

Having someone to share your journey with - the accountability buddy - is really helpful.

Send your weight, photos, or measurements to a friend every week as a way to take responsibility. If you gain weight, you should send it to them.

From left: Roar founder Sarah Lindsay and her brother Matt, with model, broadcaster and writer Jack Guinness, host of Sky Sports and Talksport Laura Woods

Tips for staying on track

Be organized

Know what to eat for the day. When we get the right foods in front of us, it is very easy to follow and make healthy choices.

If you eat spontaneously, it is very difficult and cumbersome to keep track of your calories plus having to make food decisions when hungry (and it's never a good idea as you are likely to choose something quick, easy, and comforting rather than something in line with your food goals!).

Stay active

Keep track of your step count and make each step count! Every 1000 steps you burn about 50 calories.

If you took 10,000 steps a day (500 kcal of movement) before the shutdown, and ended up moving only 1,000 steps a day when you were stuck at home (only 50 kcal movement a day) then you would struggle to lose weight

Enough moving is a sustainable habit to keep you on the right track to shedding body fat even when the gyms aren't open ... you'll just need to work a little more hard than usual to get it but perseverance, it's totally worth it!

Create your environment

Make adequate food uncomfortable. You don't have a cupboard full of biscuits, a fridge full of wine, and a freezer full of ice cream when trying to lose weight.

If your home environment is full of temptations and you are at home 24/7, then you definitely are going to eat it.

Eating prepared foods is easier than cooking, so don't put them near you.

If it is difficult for you to go to the stores to buy it in a moment of stress, then you will find that you will most likely decide against it and will be more consistent in staying on your food plan.

Stay away from alcohol

Alcohol makes dieting difficult! Drinking problems include poor sleep quality, poor diet, increased anxiety, and increased hunger.

And if you are hungry, it can be difficult to exercise or do well. So, if you plan to stay on track, I'll be hanging booze now!

Focus on consistency over perfection

Dieting during the lockdown - or the weeks after it - is difficult, so if it's not at 100%, it shouldn't be an all-or-nothing attitude.

Accept that if you step away from your diet, the key is not to panic or feel guilty, but simply bring your next meal back on plan.

Remember, you incorporate your most consistent habits.

So don't eat perfectly for a week followed by a week's reckless if you want to see positive results.

'A 75 kg female in moderate condition losing nine kilograms - a stone and a half - is totally realistic at 12 weeks, and I work with clients to do this all the time.

Focus on training, movement, and work on hydration and gut health.

“I don't believe in the macros approach because there is a lot of focus on eating everything.

What we've been doing is trying to make people healthier - move more, eat enough of the right things.

If you eat a large amount, moderate calories, you don't need to eat garbage.

This gives you stable blood sugars, making you less likely to go hungry and eat garbage.

“It is much easier to stick to a diet as the portion sizes can be much larger.

It's also about eating for function, not emotions. This does not mean it should not be delicious.

'But you have to look at the food; What is its purpose and how does it serve you?

If you eat well, your mood is better, your energy is better, your sleep is better - if you look at it this way, food can be a gift.

You can eat devastatingly if you like, it's fun in an instant but then your skin will appear bad, blotchy, your mood will diminish, and your energy diminished. Nobody makes a good food decision when they're hungry.