I have started a four week detox and exercise programme in London’s CityPoint Club.
And celebrity personal trainer Shaun Stafford is pushing me to my limits.
I’ve got a 4 week eating plan, an exercise plan (including weight-lifting) and a timetable of when to use the gym (at least 4 times a week).
Can I stick to it and will I transform my fat into muscle? Read my month long training diary to see how I’m getting on.
3 January
It’s my first session and I am scared. Yesterday, I went to TGI Fridays for my sister’s birthday and ate shrimp, ribs and chips followed by a chocolate brownie and ice cream. Just putting on my jogging bottoms was a mission.
However, Shaun welcomes me with a high-five and a big smile. He has a great physique, which makes me confident he looks like he knows what he is doing.
He shows me exactly what he does know during the hour session, as he weighs me, takes my heart rate and blood pressure and measures me in 13 different places with callipers to get an idea of my body fat.
WEIGHT : 58kg
4 January
Shaun’s detox eating plan starts today 
For the next seven days, my diet will consist of different flavours of soup plus hot water with lemon and no alcohol (ie no Champagne and no chocolate).
I spend the evening making three batches of soup to tempt me to stay on track. If they are ready in the fridge then I have to take them out and use them up. I’m visualising Madonna – if she has the willpower to eat weird food to stay in shape then it is humanly possible even for me.
Tomato and rosemary soup is really flavoursome but the chunky vegetable variety looks a bit beige plus I am not the biggest fan of pumpkin. The worst, however, is the clear soup that is made from healthy greens like cabbage and celery and then the chunky stuff is drained out so you are left with the liquid. Sooo watery and this will be my in-between meal ’snack’ for the next seven days…
WEIGHT: Next weigh-in will be Monday 11 January (a week today) but if I haven’t lost weight or fat after this hellish diet I will have a HUGE tantrum.
5 January: My first weights session with Shaun is intense. He tells me I need to start with a level of weight that I can lift 10 of and no more than 10. If I can do more then the weight gets harder. I bite my tongue and think of Madonna. Cameron Diaz also pops into my head as she’s quite sporty. I’d love a figure like Cameron’s at the end of the all this.
Shaun also times how many sit-ups and how many press-ups I can do in a minute. Let’s just say there is room for improvement…
At the end of the session, I get my first weights plan to do twice a week. I’ll get another plan at my next work-out on Thursday.
To put it simply, it involves pairing weight exercises up and going from one to the other followed by a minute’s break and repeating both three times.
Sounds do-able now that I have a programme with little drawings next to the names (the terminology was too complicated).
Plan is barbell squats, dumbell curls, free-motion lat pulls, split squats, leg press / hack squats, upright rows and standing cable rows.
The CityPoint Club is in the heart of the City Of London and looks so civilised from the outside – who would have guessed that it would be such a hive of intensive activity inside?
7 January:
Keeping to the soup regime while it has been snowing outside has been tough. I have to admit I cracked today and had a Kit Kat Chunky after an acting lesson (where it was freezing cold). I’m making myself feel better by saying that it is only one chocolate bar in four days and normally I have one a day (and probably had about 20 on Christmas day).
However, when I get on the scales at an unexpected weigh-in at my 630pm session with Shaun, the scales don’t show a good result. I am angry but Shaun channels that into a good work-out and by the end of it I feel like what the Pussycat Dolls probably feel like after a stadium gig (EXHAUSTED).
This time my weights programme (with drawings) includes hamstring curls, twisting chest press with gym ball, hamstring bridge and rolls with the gym ball, press-ups, back extensions, standing arnold press and the Turkish get-up.
I go straight home to avoid the temptation of going out and drinking Champagne (the Kit Kat chunky clearly did enough damage).
8 January:
I have a busy day with a couple of interviews lined up but I still find time to go for a 45 minute run in the park near my house in the morning.
The ground is still slippy from ice and snow and it’s dark outside as I am fitting it in before I start the day.
However, as I get in and eat my porridge (part of Shaun’s set eating plan), I feel more energetic and on an exercise high.
10 January
I run from my house to The CityPoint Club (approx 30 minutes) and then relax in the pool and sauna. The club has a fabulous relaxation room where you can zone out and watch fish and I spend a lot more time in it than expected, just planning my week and thinking about life.
Normally, I would do long run on a Sunday (at least 90 minutes or 10 miles and over), but the diet has left me with little energy. Plus the ground is slippy.
I promise to do a long run next Sunday when I get to eat more…And surely I need to save my energy to start the weights programme from Tuesday…And it’s the weekend.
11 January
I really want to lie today and say I go to the gym and lose tons of weight BUT….I don’t go.
Although The CityPoint Club has lots complimentary toiletries and even GHD hair straighteners in the changing rooms – meaning that you can look better after your work-out than before you went in – I just can’t face getting up early to fit in a work-out. I had meetings all day with PRs and cool people from The Nod website and by the time I got back home it was 7pm and cold and icy.
In my defense, I am going Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and probably Friday and I don’t see the point in over doing things. Shaun did tell me to have a rest day, and so this can be it.
WEIGHT: I’ll tell you tomorrow.
12 January
I am a big scared-y cat and cannot bear to step on the scales when I go to the gym today.
I was meant to weigh myself and tell Shaun what it is, but I am scared I’ll be heavier and then I’ll be unmotivated and then the world will end…(yes, this healthiness is really sending me a bit mad).
But the good news is I go to the gym and do the weights programme that Shaun set me on my own.
Admittedly, I do forget the names of some of the exercises, but there are some other instructors in the gym to remind me what a barbell squat is etc.
13 January
Weigh-in day so I get up at 615am (despite the snow) and do an hour of cardio to start the day.
I actually enjoy doing cardio at The CityPoint club as all the treadmills / bikes / step machines have big tvs with all the main channels. I work out while watching GMTV so get fit and get some gossip at the same time.
Then I have a 2pm weights session with Shaun, where he introduces me to interval training (read more on Shaun’s website). That is HELL!
But after hell comes heaven: I HAVE LOST 1 KG!!!!!!!!!!!!!
14 January
Still trying to be Madonna-esque when it comes to food. Although I am on solids now (no more soup), I’m not allowed carbs in the evening and my daytime carbs are from a strict list – quinoa or rye bread or half a sweet potato or butternut squash.
So thank goodness the restauarant at the CityPoint Club does a fantastic superfood salad which is qunioa, broccoli, beans, seeds and butternut squash.
I have a surprisingly tasty salad with Katie, the club PR, and I say surprising because I never imaagined eating healthy would actually taste that good.
BUT on the way out I bump into Shaun again and he tells me that he wants to see me in the gym tomorrow morning for another weights session.
What bad timing, if only I’d finished eating earlier I could have escaped and got out of the weights.
15 January
My alarm goes off at 6am and I think of Michelle Obama. Apparently Barack Obama’s wife gets up at 530am to work out before a day at The Whitehouse.
When I arrive at the gym it is actually a lot easier than I thought. It’s the second time that I have done this weights program on my own and I didn’t even need to ask the trainers any questions unlike last time.
I do an hours session and then use the showers and straighten myhair with the GhD’s feeling good about myself.
There’s one tricky moment in the day when I review thedim sum restaurant Ping Pong with the Zoe Griffin party squad but I think I make vaguely good choics. I avoided the sticky ribs and duck spring rolls (which I would ALWAYS go for usually) and have steamed scallop dumplings, chicken and mushroom dumplings, broccoli and pak choi.
Yes, I do have a bit of ice cream for pudding but it was only one spoonful…or maybe two, but certanly not a full portion. And it was mango and chilli flavour so that’s vaguely healthy, maybe? (Ok, I feel guilty)
16 January
As I am training for the marathon as well as doing weights to lose body fat, I have to keep the running up.
I haven’t been out jogging in ages, so I ambitiously schedule in a 9 mile run and shout loudly when my alarm goes off at 930am (on a Saturday).
The only reason I do it is because I am going to Brighton this afternoon for a mini-break and I tell myself I’ll have earned some Champagne before dinner tonight plus I’ll have the day off tomorrow.
But I am late to catch the train (as I havent done any running for ages) and I spend the whole afternoon hungry because my body is so drained from the run.
We’re only half-way through January – how am I going to last?!!
18 January
I wake up feeling guilty about yesterday. I planned to have the day off and treat myself after two weeks of being good but the more you eat, the more you want.
Lets just say it involved kipper and toast and croissant for breakfast, a huge chocolate cake for lunch and then let’s not even go into supper…
So I am feeling guilty enough to be motivated for the rest of the week today and was in the CityPoint club at 830am this morning for a session with Shaun.
And it seems despite the chocolate cake (and the rest), I have lost 3% body fat – a big achievement.
However, THAT did not mean Shaun let me off lightly today. He pushed me so hard that I can barely type this post.
I don’t think I would be the first client to lose my temper after how hard he pushes us. He has a broken nose injury that he says is from playing rugby for Oxford University. I reckon it’s becuase someone’s punched him….
WEIGHT: 56.5kg (but I am 3% less in body fat!)
19 January
I am still feeling achey from yesterdays session so I deliberately set my radio alarm clock to LOUD this morning (for 6am).
There is nothing like KISS Radio to get you up and out of bed – especially when it was blasting out of my alarm clock at dial 11.
Funnily, I felt smug as soon as I got in the gym at 715 and breezed through my program. (Although I know I didn’t push myself as hard as Shaun would have done).
I am almost scared to write this as it may mean Shaun pushes me harder at our next session on Thursday.
But a certain level of pain is good as when you are talking to dull people for work, you can feel the pain that you got from the gym and think to yourself you have an interesting life and there is more to life than work.
This may be what they mean when they say no pain, no gain. Let’s see if I can keep it up on Thursday!
21 January
After a day off from exercise yesterday, getting back to it is harder. It doesn’t help that work is particularly stressful right now as I went to the National Television Awards last night and have been trying to get a video online for my blog.
Trying to tear myself away from my computer to make the 11am with Shaun is tough and I have to admit I am 10 minutes late. Thankfully, Shaun gets me to work straight away with interval training on the rowing machines.
Afterwards, I am so out of breath that I can barely talk. That will teach me for turning up late!
In the changing rooms, I check my blackberry. I have a couple of vital emails so I end up getting lunch in the CityPoint club restaurant and doing my emails at the same time using the club’s Wi-Fi. However, I don’t stay too long, just in case I bump into Shaun again and he sets me another killer challenge.
22 January
Pampering Day!! After three works of painful work outs, I decide to book in for a massage that is specifically designed to help me to lose weight / boost my metabolism.
It’s called the Elemis Body Sculpting Cellulite Treatment and is clinically proven to target stubborn cellulite and sagging skin for visible rapid results. It involves a peel off body mask combined with massage to deeply cleanse the body, helping firm and smooth skin, stimulate circulation and reduce water retention. It finishes with cleansing of the colon through abdominal massage helping detoxify the body, working from the inside out.
I was advised to have it after exercise so I got in the gym early in the morning, half working out and half dreaming about the massage (I didn’t have Shaun to push me).
It was better than I imagined. The massage was at the perfect intensity and the Elemis products smelled fresh and cleansing.
Now I feel full of energy and motivated to start my exercise programme next week.
23 and 24 January
Sick days – annoyingly I come down with a 24 hour stomach bug that means I am unable to keep food down. This may be good for my weight (I hope) but I have no energy to get to the gym and I don’t want to lose my muscle tone…
Feel very frustrated.
25 January
Feel better today but not 100% so I am nice to myself and have a 30min swim. I couldn’t keep any food down at the weekend, so I have no energy for weights.
Then I book myself a pedicure.
Just the act of booking the pedicure makes me feel better as it gives me something to look forward to. I reckon I can handle weights tomorrow. Will set my alarm for 615am!
26 January
Mission accomplished – I get out of bed at 615 even though there was no Rickie, Melvin and Charlie on Kiss Radio. (Apparently, they are doing today’s drive-time show because it is Australia day).
I started off with a 10 minute run on the treadmill to get my heart rate up and then did some leg presses and chest presses. Then it was time for press-ups, which I did (sort of half-heartedly) and some leg bridge and rolls with the gymball.
It as actually a relief to get back to my training after two days of being ill. I never imagined I would feel this guilty when I missed a bit of exercise!
27 January
It’s a 45 minute jog this morning as I need to do exercise related to the marathon as well as weights. I’m exhausted and it’s so cold that my eyes start streaming as I run down the road. Hope nobody I know sees me. All this hard work better be worth it!
28 January
Check me out – new super soft work out gear by No Balls so I actually look sporty (when I first started this I was wearing cycling shorts that were so old they had holes in).
And I have a new body – OFFICIALLY!
I knew my personal trainer Shaun Stafford had a reputation for getting people into shape by checking out some before and after photos on his website but I never imagined he would change me so much (and it hasn’t been the full month yet).
I’ll tell you how he’s done it when I hurt less (as it was a heavy session involving cluster training today)
But the results after 23 days are:
WEIGHT 55 kg (down 3kg)
FAT LOSS 5% (down from 15% to 10%)
Inch Loss – 2 in from my waist and some from my bum too (I can’t remember how much as I just screamed with happiness when I heard my bottom was more petite).
I’m excited to see what the next week holds but just hope I can motivate myself for seven more days as it is NOT EASY.
I’m getting through it by thinking of Madonna and Cameron Diaz’s fabulous figures and willpower and setting KISS radio to loud so I get out of bed.
And going shopping for new gym clothes also helps. No more holey cycling shorts for me!
29 January
Feeling motivated by yesterday’s weightloss, I do a 45 minute jog first thing in the morning.
I have a photoshoot at the five-star Westbury Hotel in Mayfair today, so I can’t really turn up with a smelly gym kit but the temptation on photoshoots is to eat club sandwiches and chips and snacks all day while you are hanging around. I really don’t want to do this and ruin this month’s hard work, so I figured going for a morning run would make me appreciate my body more so when the mini bar M&M’s get handed round, I have more willpower to say no. Or have one and not the whole bag…
I’m still actually really shocked that I have managed to lose around 3 kg plus 5% body fat but looking back at this diary, I can see that I have been in the gym about four times a week! Now it feels like part of my routine, so I don’t actually realise I am going and it’s still doing me the world of good.
Also, my first week of the detox – when I lived off SOUP – helped shed a lot of the December indulgences.
Finally, I learned two key things from trainer to the stars, who now trains me, Shaun Stafford.
(1) Cardio is not enough to burn fat and transform that fat into muscle – you need to do weights. Doing weights like leg presses, bicep curls and standing rows are better than cardio as they get your heart rate up and tone at the same time. Before I met Shaun, I did cardio about three times a week such as swimming, jogging and then a long-run on a Sunday (ie 10 miles or more). I never looked at a weight, let alone picked one up. And that is why I had fat on my gluteal folds (ie my bottom) and around my hips.
(2) Interval training and Cluster Training are far more efficient ways of working out than standard jogging / lifting weights at the same pattern.
Interval training is where you do maximum intensity (on the treadmill or rowing machine) for 1 minute then slower for around 20 secs and then back up for a minute and continue that pattern for around 15 minutes. It really gets your heart-rate up so you are working harder than if you plodded along at the same speed for 15 minutes.
Cluster training is where you bash weights out in sets of five repetitions (instead of 12) but then have five seconds rest in between each set (instead of 30). It is a killer because your whole body wants to stop after about 15 reps and yet you have to get 25 out. Shaun and I did that yesterday and I still feel it in my legs today.
One other impressive achievement I want to shout about is that yesterday I managed to lift 35kg on the Barbell. That is a bar with weights on the end that you lift onto your shoulders and then squat down to the floor. It tones legs and upper backs but given that I weigh 55kg and lifted 35kg on my back, I feel proud despite aching.
30 January
Wake up feeling guilty as I didn’t manage to decline the chocolate treats My favourite Brighton chocolate shop ChoccyChoccywoccydoodah sent over a selection of products to shoot so I had to have a selection washed down with two glasses of rose champagne. (At least I am honest).
To compensate I go for an 11 mile run around Greenwich Park. It was hard work and I think that is mainly because of yesterdays indulgences but also because I have spent a lot of time in the gym rather than jogging. It’s hard to get the right balance – so much to do and not enough time!
2 February
Shaun arranged for me to spice up my exercise programme with a couple of things I would never normally try. I also think it is a way of him keeping track of me so he can ask his colleagues if I showed up to my appointments. Today was hypoxi training, which is a futuristic looking pod that looks quite scary.
It’s actually an exercise bike inside a vacuum so you do gentle exercise while the vacuum machine directs blood flow to the stomach and bottom and thighs. That means you lose weight and fat off your thighs rather than other areas (because for some reason I always lose it from my chest).
First of all, I had a dilemma – shorts or trousers – but the advice is light jogging trousers or the vacuum may feel uncomfortable on bare legs. Good job I was wearing my new No Balls exercise kit then!
Once I started it, it was really enjoyable especially chatting to the instructor, Lucy.
Lucy told me that Cheryl Cole, Kimberly Walsh and Sarah Harding from Girls Aloud all have hypoxi machines at home. If it’s good enough for Cheryl, it works for me!
3 February
One of the best things about TheCityPoint Club is that it is not just a gym, there is a brilliant spa with lots and lots of pampering treats. Today there was a launch party for a new addition to the spa – the medi-spa.
This will offer non-surgical treatments like botox and skin peels and even semi permanant hair removal – you can literally pop in in your lunch break if you work in the city.
4 February
I vary my programme yet again with another class on offer at The CityPoint club – boxing:
As I am the party princess, I had to attend…and signed up for semi-permanent hair removal. I’ll let you know how I get on!
I had a one-on-one session with trainer Leon Kew and released so much stress!
We did some hellish exercise like burpies to get my heart-rate up and then got into punching with pads, when I imagined certain people’s faces on the pads and just wanted to keep on punching!
Leon also does group classes called Fight Fit, which I think I may try after this detox programme ends. Such a good stress relief.
5 February
I ache when I wake up this morning – clearly I punched harder than I thought yesterday!
However, on Monday (in three days), it is the end of my four week programme with Shaun so I make it into the gym again for another weights programme.
I’ve worked so hard, I want to make sure I end on a high.
Plus I had to do some filming for Living TV last night, which ended quite late, which meant an unhealthy supper involving both chips (with salad!) and lemon tart. Oops!
6 February
A little treat arrives in the post from Vitabiotics:
Top right are vitamin pills specifically designed to strengthen my joints that will be strained during Marathon training. At the bottom is gel in case I do injure myself (or stretch my achilles tendon as I have done before). Emergency scenario is a heat patch if I injure myself badly, I can put the patch on the injured area to ease pain.
I’m starting the pills today. Now I’m approaching the end of the big weights push with Shaun, I need to get out jogging more. I think the plans will be to do weights twice a week from now on. Although it does depend on the results I get after my four week completion assessment on Monday.
8 February: THE END!
I feel sick when I meet Shaun at 830 for my weigh-in. I half consider being sick so I would weigh less…
But despite the occasional slip ups involving Champagne and chips and chocolate and cake, I have brilliant news.
WEIGHT: 54.5 kg (total loss 3.5kg)
WAIST CM LOSS: 6cm!!
TOP OF BUM CIRCUMFRENCE LOSS: 2cm!
BODY FAT: 10% – I am a lean, mean, fighting and running machine.
Photos are coming along with a table of all my measurements. I am so proud of the before and after shots.
So thanks once again to my celebrity personal trainer Shaun Stafford and The CityPoint Club
