The Ultimate Body Plan. Gemma Atkinson

       How it all began

      So, what inspired me to write this book? Well, since getting my first TV acting role when I was 15 years old (good old grumpy Lisa Hunter), I’ve spent nearly 20 years having my appearance scrutinised, analysed, criticised, complimented or casually dismissed in the press or online. You know what? I’m fine with it.

      At least I am now.

      Because since I started training and properly respecting my body and what it can do, I feel AMAZING.

      I have learned to not only give zero f***s about any negativity directed my way about how I look, but to actually love my body and truly appreciate the skin I live in (it’s true; stop rolling your eyes please). How? By discovering my inner Xena Warrior Princess, inner Jet from Gladiators and inner She-Ra (yep, spot the 90s kid). I can chest-press 15kg dumbbells for three sets of ten reps and deadlift 100kg. If you don’t understand a word I just wrote, don’t worry – I didn’t until a few years ago. But I do now, and trust me when I say that challenging my body and understanding how it works has boosted my confidence and self-esteem no end. It’s also changed my perspective on everything: ambition, family, friends… even love… Sound a bit dramatic? That’s because it is!

      This 12-week programme incorporates 75 delicious recipes, carefully curated to give your body what it needs, with monthly phased workouts – both home-based and gym-based, so you can choose what works best for you – that increase in intensity as the weeks go on. There is a ridiculous myth that women shouldn’t do weights. Bollocks! Weights are the only way to get truly lean and sculpt your body. This plan will make you fitter, healthier, stronger and leaner (and curvier in places you want curves – hello J Lo bum), but, most importantly, it will totally alter how you see your body. Instead of hating your ‘thunder thighs’ (a personal one for me – more details on that particular nickname in the next section), you’ll credit them for getting you around for 34 years, for being half of your mum and half of your dad, and for being able to do four sets of 20 walking lunges with 15kg dumbbells in each hand.

      All I’m asking is that you dedicate 12 weeks – just 12 weeks! that’s nothing in the grand scheme of things – to seeing how far you can go and how good you can feel. The results will be dramatic. You’ll lose fat, gain muscle, and even see other subtle changes like your skin, hair and nails becoming visibly healthier. Loads of people message me saying, ‘What creams do you use on your skin?’ Nothing but Egyptian Magic skin cream. My skin looks good because I eat well, exercise effectively and get proper sleep. That’s my not-so closely guarded secret!

      Follow this plan and you’ll see physical changes in just 21 days and discover a whole new attitude to life. If you really throw yourself into this and take it seriously, you’ll feel more capable, more positive and more able to deal with whatever comes your way. By the end of the plan, you’ll have learned how to break bad habits, how to stop punishing yourself for not being or looking like someone else, and to accept the things you cannot change. We’re all different and are built in different ways. This plan is about appreciating your body for what it is, working with it and trying to be the best version of you that you can be, both physically and mentally.

      Let’s get one thing straight right off: this is not a quick-fix diet plan that promises you’ll weigh a certain amount in a few weeks if you starve yourself to near-death and stop doing everything that makes life fun and worth living. I think those plans are unsustainable and bad for you. (Plus, I’ve always hated that the first three letters of the word diet are ‘die’ – I think that says it all really.) This plan is a lifestyle change – something that you’ll learn to fit into your daily routine that’ll overhaul things long-term. The longer you do this, the more your body will adapt and the stronger it will become, so when you do slip up (because hello, that’s life), or need a little time off, it’s fine, because you’ll know exactly how to get back on track. And the best bit is, you’ll want to keep at it because you’ll feel so much better doing it than not doing it.

      Sure, it’s easier to carry on watching TV than to work out, but it’s also going to be easier putting on that outfit and feeling good about yourself, than putting it on and crying because you feel like absolute crap. In 21 days your stomach and thighs will feel tighter when you sit down, your arms will look more toned, you’ll feel less bloated, you’ll be sleeping better and you’ll have more energy. And that’s in just three weeks. Imagine how good you’ll feel in 12.

      It’s time to look after yourself and to stop neglecting your body – it’s yours, and if you’re lucky, it’s going to be with you for a long time. So often people do everything to look after their kids, partner, dogs or mates, while disregarding themselves. It’s time to spend some time on you, for you.

      Nothing looks better on someone than confidence – and I’m going to help you find that. I’m going to help you feel and look great, so you can rock that bikini with pride, stride into that job interview with your head held high, get over that ex who didn’t deserve you, and give a big middle finger to anyone who says it can’t be done.

       Tomboys and thunder thighs

      Growing up, I was a tomboy. My family would wind me up saying if I’d been born first, my parents wouldn’t have had another child, because our kid, my elder sister Nina, really was the perfect baby. She slept through the night. She’d say, ‘Mummy, dirty hands’ and hold them out to be washed. She’d help with the food shopping and the chores. She was just all-round great. Then, seven years later, I arrived. I never slept. When I helped out I would sulk about it, or at least ask for some pocket money in return! I was trying to hustle from the age of 10, ha! I used to go and hide in my dad’s pickup truck, lay flat on the trailer and come in covered in mud. Mum would panic whenever I went out as I’d always come home with cuts on my head and scraped knees. Plus, I spent all my time in the garage with my dad and granddad, ‘helping’ them to build the Caterham Super 7 cars (two-seater sports cars) that my dad raced. I remember him working on this white and silver one for a year and when it was finished he’d take me and my friends, one-by-one, for a ride in it on Sundays. Whenever he raced, we’d make a weekend of it, piling into the caravan to go watch him with our packed lunches. Of course, this meant a lot of the time I was covered in oil and grease and I absolutely loved it!

      I was into Ghostbusters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Barbies and stuff? No chance. I had a WWE wrestling belt and ring instead. I had all the wrestling stickers and books. People still say to me actually, ‘You should be a WWE Diva’, and if anyone from the wrestling world is reading this – sign me up!

      Because I was into kick-ass women – the Xenas, the Jets and the She-Ras – whenever there was a chance to do sports at school, I took it. I did hockey, netball, rounders, athletics and trampolining. I also ran the 100m and was the fourth leg of the relay for local club Manchester Girls. I absolutely loved it for the comradery, being part of a team, and getting stronger, even though I didn’t come first (although at the time I clearly thought I was Sally Gunnell).

      That’s where the nickname ‘Thunder Thighs’ came from: the fact that I was both a runner and had big legs. At the time it never bothered me because it was only ever said in a funny, affectionate way, and it never stopped me from doing what I loved. But I think subconsciously it may have got under my skin a little