It’s time to embrace self-care and give your belly the love it deserves. Here, you’ll discover practical strategies and an example to enable you to plot your journey. These strategies are designed to bring about positive changes in your belly health.

Essentials before getting started
Measure yourself, your waist and the largest circumference of your belly. Don’t weigh yourself because weighing scales only measure your total weight, which includes water, bones, muscles and organs, not just fat. This can not only be misleading, but also demoralising and it can affect your final results.
Plan your shopping, exercise sessions and relaxation activities and schedule them in your diary to follow over the next seven days.

Nutrition: Eat good proteins, such as lean meat, fish, and eggs.
Include good fats, avocados, walnuts, macadamia nuts, olive oil, and fatty fish.
Drink 1.5 litres of water per day (a big glass 30 minutes before each meal)
Increase your intake of fibre, vegetables, brown rice, quinoa, and oats.

Avoid: • Low-fat diet products.
Don’t be tempted by the low-calorie versions, which are often high in sugar and chemicals and designed to encourage you to eat more, as they don’t provide lasting satisfaction. These products can disrupt your body’s natural hunger and fullness cues, leading to overeating and potential weight gain.

• Refined white carbohydrates, white pasta, pizza dough, white flour and many popular breakfast cereals.
• Processed food, your average takeaway or ready meal, along with cakes, pastries, biscuits and alcohol. All of these contain large

amounts of sugar, resulting in empty calories and weight gain.

Do: Skip the fruit and veg juicing. Eating whole fruit beats drinking juice because it’s full of fibre, which makes you feel fuller. A massive juice dose hits like a sugar bomb and floods your body with fructose (sugar). Juicing vegetables removes most of the fibre, so you miss out on many digestive benefits and feel less full than when eating them whole. Think of it this way: a large glass of apple juice requires 4-6 apples, but could you actually eat 4-6 whole apples in one go?

An example of a great meal day! (Remember to up your water intake and have a large glass of water 30 minutes before every meal.)

• Breakfast: 2-egg omelette/scrambled eggs – have this plain or add ingredients like grated mature cheese, salmon, mushrooms, spinach and tomatoes.
• Lunch: Chicken salad with avocado.
• Dinner: Salmon, roasted sweet potatoes and roasted veg with a sprinkle of parmesan.

Move and Relax
Whether you’re a beginner or extremely fit, striking the correct balance between exercise and rest periods is essential to your success. This balanced approach will give you the confidence that you’re on the right track to improving your belly health!

• Aerobic: from brisk walking to a fast run.
• Strength/HIIT: from pilates to a full HIIT session
• Breathing/relaxation: have a snooze, bath, read a book or meditate/breath work (there are some great free meditations on YouTube, Spotify and Apple).

• Monday: Strength/HIIT (30-45 min) + 10 min meditation for relaxation.
• Tuesday: Aerobic (30-45 min) + evening stretch/yoga (15 min).
• Wednesday: Active recovery/relaxation – light walk (20-30 min) + deep breathing/meditation (10 min).
• Thursday: Strength/HIIT (30-45 min) + 10 min meditation.
• Friday: Aerobic (30-45 min) + evening stretch/yoga (15 min).
• Saturday: Light activity/relaxation – optional gentle hike or an activity you enjoy.
• Sunday: Rest – focus on recovery with a nap, a book, or gentle stretching (20 minutes).

Here’s to your happy belly and good health! Remember, this guide is here to inspire and guide you on your journey to better belly health. Stay committed and you’ll see the results!

Sarah Maxwell is a multi-award winning Lifestyle Wellbeing and Fitness coach. You can find her at sarahmaxwell.com
Get in touch via email at sarahmaxwell@mail.com
and on social
@sarahmaxlife