FREE INSIDE JOE WICKS STAY LEAN IN LOCKDOWN

Inspiring four-page pullout

MILLIONS of us kept active during the first lockdown thanks to Joe Wicks. And now he’s back with a food and exercise programme from his book, 30 Day Kick Start Plan, to help us stay lean — and sane — now we’re stuck at home again. Gold stars at the ready…

SO HERE we are again: cooped up inside, trying to cope with everything that life’s throwing at us. It’s tough. But rather than letting lockdown get the better of us, it’s the perfect chance to get into good diet and exercise habits that will make us feel happier and healthier today and way beyond this challenging time.

My approach to nutrition and fitness, which I’ve set out in my new book, 30 Day Kick Start Plan, will do just that, and I’m going to be sharing it with you over the next four days.

I’m not promising a radical fat-loss transformation, but that’s not my gauge of success.

Having worked with hundreds of thousands of people, I’ve come to realise that the things you can’t see are more important and powerful than the things you can.

Instead, I guarantee that you will sleep better and have more energy, and feel happier, less stressed and more motivated every day, which is what we all need right now. Unlike faddy diets, these positive vibes will help you make changes for good.

I’m talking simple and achievable lifestyle changes that you can adapt whether you’re new to fitness and healthy living or you’ve recently fallen out of your positive routine.

There are four main pillars to my philosophy: nutrition; exercise; sleep; and motivation, and they are equally important. For example, poor-quality or too little sleep will affect your motivation to set goals, prepare healthy food and exercise, so putting effort into all of them is key.

Today, we’re going to about nutrition.

MOST diets focus on food intake but rarely emphasise the relationship between physical activity and energy expenditure. They ignore how important it is to create the energy deficit that allows the body to burn fat, and that’s key to my approach.

If I’m eating way more food than I need and not exercising consistently, I will have an energy surplus and start to gain body fat like anyone else.

The extra energy I consume has to go somewhere, and it usually gets stored around my tummy and lower back.

If I want to drop body fat, I do two things: I eat a bit less (cut out pudding or alcohol, snack less and focus on healthy home talk cooking) and get active to burn more energy. By simply removing some of those foods and increasing my daily activity, I start to tip those energy balance scales into a deficit and I get leaner. What this isn’t about is caloriecounting. I’ve never tracked or counted calories myself. Of course, you can lose weight this way; it’s a personal thing and if you’re target-driven, maybe it’s right for you.

But if you already find it a challenge to balance food shopping, cooking, avoiding junk food and exercising regularly, your focus should be on daily lifestyle changes and consistency.

As a result, you will start to intuitively feel how much food is too much or too little for you. I want you to fuel your body and eat the foods you love, not deprive yourself. I want you to enjoy treats and not feel guilty or upset.

So I encourage you to have three delicious and nourishing meals a day, as well as two healthy snacks.

A typical day could include pancakes for breakfast, cod and smashed avocado for lunch, chicken and chorizo pie for dinner and crackers loaded with hummus as snacks.

We’ll be sharing these yummy, healthy recipes — and more — today and into next week. As with all things, it’s about balance and consistency, and you should combine this way of eating with regular exercise.

We’ll talk more about the latter on Monday, but it’s essentially about eating low-carb meals on non-exercise days, then highercarb meals on days when you work out to replenish your muscles. It’s that simple.

So are you ready to kickstart your life? Are you ready to own it and be in control? Let’s do this!

4. SLOW-MO BURPEES

START standing, then place your hands on the floor in front of you. Slowly walk both of your feet back into a high plank (above). Walk both feet forward (right), and then stand up straight. Repeat as fast as you can.