Forget the fads: It’s impossible to look like those #fitspo celebs

THIS will make you feel a whole lot better. Here’s why you need to stop comparing yourself to celebrities and get real.

OPINION

YOU want the secret to a perfect figure? It’s easy.

You just need to eat less meat, fast for two days a week, cut out carbs, eat more carbs, avoid sugar, only eat sugar, consume nothing but protein and, whatever you do, avoid protein at all costs.

Can you blame people for getting confused?

To make matters even worse, we’re constantly swamped by images of people who are apparently doing it all so easy. Log onto any social media site and you’ll be bombarded with pictures of bikini-rocking women or shirtless blokes, all casually flaunting impossibly fit and trim bodies — usually on a boat, for some strange reason — with feel-good hashtags like #fitspo.

So how are they doing it? By sticking to some fad diet? By running a daily marathon? By existing on nothing but home-delivered diet meals?

Kendall Jenner posted this picture to her Instagram in July. It’s literally her job to look like this, so don’t compare yourself.

The truth is that all those people look impossibly trim because it’s just that; impossible.

Show me one mum or dad, anyone with a full-time job or a study schedule — hell, anyone at all — who has the time, motivation, money and energy to spend countless hours at the gym, or clean-cooking healthy meals (or better yet, getting a private chef to do it for them), or sticking to some ridiculously rigid diet plan.

It’s all a lie, a myth, perpetrated by high-earning celebrities who “work” 15 hours a week, employ both a private chef and a personal trainer, and credit their success to some miracle cure or program — usually for a significant cash payment.

All these rippling and retouched photos set the most unrealistic of goals, and what’s more, rather than being in any way motivational or inspirational, they’re actually bad for you, savaging your mental health and making you less likely to be happy with your own, real-world physique.

It’s a sick (literally; it’s making people sick) obsession with body image and weight as opposed to actual health and fitness.

Stop trying to look like model Karlie Kloss. You never will.

And so it’s time to shift the focus off unsustainable weight-loss diets and quick-fix cures and back onto the only thing that actually matters: health.

The good news is, it’s much easier than you think to improve your health and fitness, and it doesn’t require diet of activated almonds or a personal chef.

Here’s four super simple steps anyone can take to improve their health in a hurry.

WATER MORE THAN THE PLANTS

We know already that water increases the flow of oxygen to your brain and muscles, and it assists in detoxifying your body. But did you know that drinking 500ml of water in the morning will boost your metabolism by up to 30 per cent?

Start your day with a tall glass of water, and your body will start the weight-loss process for you. How easy is that?

LIKE TO MOVE IT, MOVE IT

Not everyone has the time to commit to a strict training program, but it’s easy to accumulate serious exercise time by simply changing up your routine a little bit. Take the stairs instead of the escalator, walk to the shops, pretend the office lift is out of order.

Sneak more movement into your daily routine and you’ll be amazed at how quickly it accumulates into meaningful and effective exercise.

FIND MINUTES, NOT HOURS

A recent NASA study that focused on the most effective way to train their astronauts found that jumping on a trampoline for just 10 minutes is the equivalent to running hard for 40 minutes.

The point here is that its easy to find the time to exercise when you break it down into short, simple blocks of just 10 minutes a day.

GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK

We’re all busy, and we’re all human. So don’t be too hard on yourself if you skip a day’s training, or if you give into the temptation of the dessert menu. Just dust yourself off and start again the next day.

Adam MacDougall is a former Champion NRL player, best-selling author, host of The Health Hacker on Podcast One, health food entrepreneur and creator of The Lady Shake and The Man Shake.