Real fitness from Stacey Holland

Sports, lifestyle, health, fashion and beauty expert, Stacey Holland talked fitness and staying beach-body ready with Fourways Review.

Holland, a Midrand resident, is known for her Real Health talk show on The Home Channel on DStv channel 176. She believes that fitness training should always be enjoyable and gives five tips to be ready for this coming summer season.

Holland advised that:

• Start hydrating – your body retains water when it is dehydrated so perhaps some of the bloatedness one feels is due to a lack of water.

Go green, eat better – “We will never get away from the benefits of eating leafy green veggies and if you want to lose weight and look better, start eating more green veggies.

“All of us know how to lose weight, you know exactly which habits trip you up and which treats you should be eating less of. Start easing into it, love chocolate. Start by replacing your favourite bar with a dark chocolate version, then try a 70/85 percent cocoa bar and then try some raw cacao.

“Cannot do without ice-cream? Swap it for reduced sugar frozen yoghurt and then try some organic plain yoghurt with some honey and fruit.”

• Move more – “Get yourself a fitness tracker like FitBit or download an app on your phone and complete 10 000 steps in a day. Our lives have become so sedentary. We travel by car everywhere and park closest to the entrances of the places we frequent. Parking further away, taking the stairs and being aware of how much or little you move starts to add up,” she said.
• With the third tip in mind, start lifting heavy objects – “In other words, if you want to look better on the beach, get weight training. Simply put, muscle burns fat and you cannot build muscle without resistance.”
• To balance the work you will be doing by applying step three – “I would recommend you take up yoga as a means to lengthen your muscles and increase flexibility. It also does wonders for the mind, so consider it as a means to de-stress. Stress works against our weight loss efforts from a chemical perspective, so you would be surprised as to how something so calming can actually help shed the pounds.”