Recommendations for SJ

This is the shape that we will be aiming for by the Summer.

Goldie looks fantastic in the swimsuit and her proportions are similar to SJ, (such a shame about all that filler in the face though, it looks so unnatural).

Movement plan;

SJ needs to work on strength and flexibility before we start the RockSculpt training, at the moment her muscles aren't strong enough and it would be demoralising.

She has had enough Pilates tuition to work on her own at this and ideally will commit to 30 mins daily of fairly intense core work.

In addition to this she must spend 2 hours a day in 'conscious movement', she can be doing anything from cleaning to cooking to watching TV.  But for two hours she must be upright with her chest raised, shoulders back and down, chin tucked in, core strong, and leg and knee muscles pulled up.

Ideally include in the conscious movement a daily 30 minute walk.

While watching television or relaxing, she has a number of simple all over body stretches to perform.

Next month when she has absolute control of her muscle groups and awareness how strong they are feeling and we will start to challenge those muscles with strength training. The approach that we are taking with her is a slower and more gentle as we need to account for the accident that she had a few years ago.

Food:
SJ does not eat a lot and grazes all day, you would think that the 'small but often' approach would boost the metabolism.  However there have been various scientific studies performed in this area.  Unfortunately in order to get a headline, the results were wrongly extrapolated to launch 'new diets'.  Eating more than 3 times a day, does indeed help to maintain glucose levels, boost metabolism etc, however there is an optimum number of meals that should be taken, and that number is actually 4 (the full report is published on Pub MED)
The reason for this is that the calorific content of each meal when grazing is so low, that the body doesn't get the 'spike' that it requires to boost the metabolism, so it defaults to restricted food/starvation mode.  Therefore calories 'grazed' through out the day could result in weight gain, the same number eaten in four distinct meals could result in weight loss.

The meal plan isn't rigid as this is unrealistic for SJ's lifestyle, however what she must do is eliminate sugar, and in her case also wheat in an attempt to overcome the 'bubbly' stomach.
The only guidelines are;

1. Four distinct set meals a day with NOTHING in-between
2. As much protein in as many forms as possible
3. No refined sugar or wheat products
4. Drink water freely throughout the day

SJ needs to get used to eating proper sized meals and it will be difficult for her to eat this much food in one sitting.  An example of her day will be;

Breakfast: 3 eggs cooked as she pleases cup of tea or coffee

Mid morning: Cup of tea or coffee (no sugar but change to full fat milk if this makes the transition easier)

Lunch: Rye bread, smoked salmon, salad, banana
cup of tea

Afternoon Meal: This is where the sugar loss will be painful, so a complex carb rich 'stew' would be recommended, a mix of onions, carrots, sweet potato, suede, with protein (beans, lentils or meat) all diced up and then seasoned with spices, curry, ginger or tomato or other natural flavours to SJ's taste and a cup of tea.

Evening meal: chicken/lamb/turkey/fish, baked potato, vegetables with seasoned sauce (made from yoghurt, vinegars, garlic, egg, again this is fairly free, but it shouldn't be oil or cream based) It is important that none of the meals are 'bland' she has to know that she has eaten and only flavours can do this.
Small bowl of porridge with fruit cut up on top.

Milky bedtime drink is fine, but again this should be sugar free and not contain any sugar substitutes.

SJ's challenge will be to actually eat all of this, and it is important that she does not continue to miss out meals and snack.

She must eat all of the meals and she must maintain a regular meal pattern. It is scientifically proven to aid weight loss.  The published paper proving that weight loss is indeed improved with regular meal times indicates that one of the reasons for this is that the 'thermic effect of the food is boosted', ie the amount of calories required to actually digest the food is higher when meals are eaten in a routine.  And with protein based meals, this can be as much as 30-40% of the total intake is used in digestion.  But be warned refined sugar has barely any thermic value and it will reduce the overall thermic value of any other food eaten so NO SNACKING.

The combination of food and exercise should result in subtle but real and long term results and an eating pattern for optimum long term health as long as she sticks to them over the next four weeks.