English TV actress Michelle Keegan has one of the most admirable physiques in the entertainment industry. With washboard abs on an hourglass figure, it is bikini season all year round for the 35-year-old actress. Given her love for Magnum ice cream in bed, how she maintains her figure is a mystery many want to crack!
So, what is the secret behind Michelle's toned curves? Read on to find out!
Michelle Keegan's 2-Hour Gym Sessions
The first thing that you need to know about Michelle Keegan is that she's a foodie. She loves her cheeseboards and binging on Chinese food on a Saturday night. Keegan doesn't believe in beating herself up over something she eats or stopping herself from eating something she really craves.
This is where the story of her two-hour gym sessions begins. Since Michelle would always eat something or the other which could be considered a cheat meal, she would feel guilty about it and try to work it out in the gym by exercising for two hours at a time. This eventually turned into a pattern where the gym sessions would make her feel hungry and she would eat, workout, and repeat.
Some time ago, the actress revealed why and how she managed to come out of this pattern.
How did she quit her two-hour gym sessions?
Eventually, Michelle was able to break her habit of guilting herself into two-hour gym sessions. During the pandemic, she was inspired by her husband Mark's live virtual sweat sessions, and started working out at home.
Michelle Keegan confessed how watching Mark roll out of bed and go into the garden to set up his equipment made her feel guilty for lying in bed, which further motivated her to sweat it out with some HIIT workouts in the bedroom for half an hour.
Michelle would feel set up and ready for the day ahead, having completed her workout in the morning, and she would also feel positive.
How Else Does Michelle Keegan Stay Fit?
Michelle Keegan has found healthier and more sustainable ways to maintain her overall fitness rather than spending two hours in the gym every day.
1) She doesn't force herself to go to the gym everyday
Michelle Keegan told Cosmopolitan UK in an interview that she has stopped guilting herself for missing a day or two of gymming. If she "really, really doesn't want to go, she doesn't go." She tries to exercise three times a week for 45 minutes to an hour a time, but she doesn't punish herself for not going if she can't make it.
Positive thinking is a great practice for those looking to lose weight and stay fit. Negative thoughts can contribute to stress eating and further weight gain.
2) She finds her workout inspiration on Instagram
Michelle Keegan is as much a fan of scrolling through her feed as anybody else. She often finds workout inspirations on Instagram from certain accounts she follows.
Watching other people's transformations motivates Michelle to stay fit. Alexia Clark and Amanda Finnie are two fitness gurus she follows.
3) She avoids eating late at night
Michelle hates feeling really full before going to bed, which is why she avoids eating carbs late at night.
Last year, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that eating late at night raises glucose and insulin levels in the body, both of which can cause diabetes. Scientists also found that this kind of irregular eating can cause bad cholesterol levels to rise, which raises the risk of heart disease and heart attacks. So, it's best to eat early like Michelle does.
4) Weight training
Michelle does not like cardio, for she dislikes the feeling of being breathless. However, she still included 40 minutes of cardio exercise in her routine a few years ago. Now, she prefers to do weight training instead. Keegan feels that the more weight training she does, the more she sees a change in her body.
She divides her workouts into upper body and lower body workouts.
5) She includes variations in her workouts
Michelle gets bored if she's doing the same kind of workout over a long period of time. Varying her workouts allows her to keep her body in the fat burning zone and avoid hitting a plateau.
She often does HIIT exercises before hitting the weights, as it makes her feel like she has sweated before even going into the weights. Michelle takes inspiration from different HIIT workouts on YouTube. This is something she quite enjoys.
Takeaway
Michelle Keegan realized some time ago that fitness cannot be about guilting oneself over cheat meals or over missing the gym once in a while. Carrying a feeling of guilt is the worst thing one can do while on their fitness journey, as a positive and forgiving attitude will help in losing weight quicker than a negative one.