OKAY – this is a no- brainer… Who wants a summer body in the winter?! I’m always looking to reach that summer body goal and I have the perfect person on the blog today to help us reach that goal. Bailey, of PROJECT SUMMER BODY. She is a kick-ass nutritionist and fitness QUEEN. She has REALLY great workout videos on YOUTUBE if you haven’t seen them yet, you need to click here NOW! She also creates personalized nutrition plans, find those here!
Bailey is a Canadian living in sunny Australia (are you jealous yet?!) and in perfect shape. She literally gives off the BEST VIBES! She shares her journey, her struggles, and everything in between. Grab your favorite Kombucha and read my q&a for some great summer body in December tips!
Q: Hi Bails! Thanks so much for coming on the blog today. Can you give the BYOK readers a little bit of a background?
Bailey: My friends call me Bails. I love a kale smoothie, as much as I love a (SKINNY) Spicy Margarita. I’m all for balance, living a healthy lifestyle should be FUN and enjoyable. Life is too short to not drink the champagne!
I actually struggled with my weight a LOT growing up. I was a really chubby kid and hated sports and exercise. In high school, I really struggled with my body image and it’s when I discovered dieting and got my first gym membership. I used to force myself to spend hours on the elliptical or treadmill and live off lettuce. I got really obsessive. Due to my obsession with dieting, I decided that I would study nutrition after high school, which was great because it actually taught me to look at food differently.
“I started to see food as something we should use to fuel and nourish our bodies, instead of something we needed to restrict.”
Same with exercise, I loved going to pilates and barre classes, so decided to get my certifications. Once I started teaching I had a lot less time for my own workout routines (which were about 3 hours a day at the time…) so had to find a way to stay in shape in 30-45 minutes a day. Teaching nutrition and fitness has really helped me find balance with food and exercise and now it’s no longer something that gives me anxiety or stressed me out.
I eat what I love and don’t beat myself up when I eat a pizza or need ice cream covered in Nutella! I just balance it out and make sure I have some greens at my next meal. I try and do my own workouts (alway less than 45 mins) 4-5 days a week, but don’t beat myself up if I miss a day (or five…). That’s why I really love my job. I love helping women find balance and ditch the diet drama. My goal is to make living a healthy lifestyle FUN and something you can do all year round.
Q: I totally agree – BALANCE IS KEY! I love when I hear nutritionists talk about drinking a cocktail or indulging. It is so relatable. What is your favorite way to exercise?
Bailey: Pilates + Barre and HIIT cardio. I sort of go with the flow these days, but if it’s a nice day, I will definitely workout outside and go for a run or hike down at Bondi Beach, where I live, followed by a 20-30 minute Project Summer Body Workout.
My training style focuses on all the smaller muscles that help to create both strength and length in the muscles. I love the burn of barre and pilates style workouts. Then I always include some fat burning exercises that get the heart rate up so that you can get that metabolism boost as well. It’s the form of workout, after YEARS of trial and error, I find really work for me
I LOVE to try new things, I’m pretty busy with teaching classes and clients these days but if I can get into a class somewhere, you can bet I’ll be signing up to try out a new fitness studio!
Q: Here’s a good one – because I KNOW I everyone can learn something from this one…..What is one of the most common errors you see people make when working out?
Bailey: I honestly think the biggest mistake people make when working out is doing some form of exercise they don’t LOVE. If you don’t love what you’re doing, you won’t be consistent. It should be FUN and something you look forward to. If you hate running, don’t force yourself to be a runner- you know? There are so many amazing ways to workout. Keep flirting with different workouts, classes, youtube videos etc. until you find something that makes you feel great.
Q: What about some advice for someone looking to UP their workout regime.
Bailey: 1) Schedule it. If I don’t plan my workouts for the week on Sunday night, then I would end up wasting so much time deciding what to do… or not even do it.
2) Do it FIRST Thing. If you can, I always recommend working out first thing in the morning, not only will it boost your metabolism but you set the tone for a healthy day and it will prevent making excuses later on.
3) HIIT cardio + toning. If you really want to amp it up, I would say to do HIIT workouts 5 days a week and try and do some strength workouts 5 days a week. It really boosts your metabolism and you will see results quickly! It seems overwhelming but HIIT is effective in 20 mins and I make my workouts 20 minutes and focus on different body parts each day i.e. legs, abs, arms, booty, and full body.
All in all exercise is so amazing and a huge part of having a healthy lifestyle and healthy body, but diet is equally, or more important. Consistency for exercise and eating are both key for long term health and fitness.
Q: Let’s talk about your YOUTUBE videos that I am OBSESSED with. Can you do a breakdown of the videos you create?
Bailey: I live in Australia, it’s summer all year round. My YouTube channel is called “Project Summer Body’ but It’s not just about getting in shape for a couple of months. My definition of a “Summer Body” is if you think of the time in your life where you felt the best. You felt confident in your own skin. You felt fit and healthy. You had a glow. You know? That’s YOUR summer body. And my goal, is to help you maintain that all year long.
What I envision when people do my workouts is that after they’ll feel the same feeling as a gorgeous summer night, where you’re laughing over a bottle of roses. You feel flirty, happy and relaxed. We film all the workouts on the beach to add to that relaxed summer vibe. The workouts combine tradition pilates and barre exercises with fat burning cardio moves and intervals to help you tighten and tone every inch of your beautiful bod! Recently I am focusing on including more diet tips and what I eat videos on my channel as well.
Q: Can you share with us the workout you created for the BYOK babes?!
Bailey: Absolutely here is the LINK. And I would LOVE if you babes would try out more of my workouts, and feel free to send me a DM on Insta, a Message on Facebook, or a comment on YouTube with any of your diet and fitness questions, or any feedback you have. I love connecting with, and sharing my tips and tricks with other women.
To connect with Bailey, find her website | instagram & youtube.
