Kayla’s Itsine’s BBG

I first discovered Kayla Itsine’s Bikini Body Guide (BBG) on Instagram while I was doing Maxine’s Challenge in 2014. I loved the fact that she was an Aussie (she’s from Adelaide) and she was helping so many women achieve amazing body transformations across the globe! I was keen to start her program but waited until I completed Maxine’s Challenge 2014. I only made it to about week 6 then I hit holiday mode in December! I started again on 5 January 2015 with Kayla and her Instagram followers all eager to kick start NYE resolutions. I made it to about week 10 but had also started Maxine’s Challenge 2015 and struggled to make the 2 programs work together. I’m now almost fully recovered from a virus that knocked me around for weeks so I feel like this program will be perfect for me as it is less demanding that my previous routine.  

So what is Kayla Itsine’s BBG? It’s a 12 week exercise and training plan. There’s also a healthy eating plan you can follow and you can get them both here. The exercise plan is a mix of resistance training sessions, High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) or Low Intensity Steady State (LISS) cardio, and stretching. The intensity and number of sessions increases every four weeks to use a technique called progressive overload.

Run girl run

I went for my first run in just over a month this morning. I’m not a fan of running and after running my first half marathon last year I had intended to continue running at least once a week but before I knew I was running once a month!
Finding little motivators is huge for me and my running. I have to run outdoors, I can’t handle the dreadmill! I look for pretty scenery and cute wildlife. This morning I was rewarded with seeing pelicans and 2 dolphins in the river! 

12WBT – Intermediate

On 12 May 2013 I started the Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation (12wbt) which was my first 12 week challenge. I had travelled around Europe for 6 weeks and returned home without any weight gain but it was winter when I got home and all I did was eat – eat all the usual winter comfort food and a lot of homemade nutella crepes. So in a couple of months I had put on 5kg and realised I needed to do something. My initial efforts had the opposite effect and I ended up putting on more weight. A friend was doing the first round of the 12wbt and I could already see the difference in her so when registration opened for round 2 I signed up immediately.

The 12wbt is a 12 week challenge that gives you a meal plan based on a 1200 calorie restricted diet and an exercise plan based on your fitness level. You have to enter your current weight, measurements, your before picture and the results from your fitness test when you start.

I loved the idea of the fitness test because you used your results to help choose which plan to follow so I was happy I had made it into Intermediate because I knew I wasn’t a beginner. The other great thing about the fitness test is you re-do it every 4 weeks as another way to track your progress, in addition to measurements and photos. I felt this was a very well rounded approach to track progress and help stop my addiction to the scales.