By Lindy Olsen | Images by Dallas Olsen

Let’s get started.  For those of you who missed the last two issues of Oxygen Australia, I’m going to take you on a journey so you can get yourself back into great shape. Whether it’s to lose those last 5kg or to simply feel healthier and fitter, you can use my principles to help you reach your goals (without torturing yourself in the process). No, you don’t need to go on some fan-dangled diet or eat at some rabbit café!  I’ve promised you before, and I’ll keep promising you: you can have your cake and eat it too… literally! All you’ve got to do is work smarter, not harder, and you’ll be surprised how quickly the little things add up!

The whole purpose of sharing my personal transformation journey with you is to show you exactly how important the three parts of your program – nutrition, training and cardio – really are. Great nutrition can give you great results and - as you can see from my progress shots - following my 7 Rules for Success and eating lots of fresh vegetables, complex carbohydrates and lean protein has allowed me to lose the excess pregnancy weight fairly well. However, I’ve still got a way to go if I want to reach my personal goals to tone up, and feel fit and strong again. I want to be able to keep up with my little girl who is already super demanding and full of energy!

Oh, and just so you understand how important the rules are, most people can achieve the health and body composition they desire just by following these seven rules alone. No kidding! In fact, I’ve spent months just supervising clients’ compliance to the rules. Sure, it works, but it’s an expensive way to learn. If you can do it on your own, you’ll save money and become accountable to yourself - and that’s a powerful weapon to have in your health and fitness toolbox.

Okay, so before you start eating this and eating that, you’ll need to have an understanding of the rules (grab the February issue of Oxygen or jump on my website www.lindyolsen.com) and you’ll need to know how to apply them to your everyday life. By doing this, eating well becomes easy instead of an overwhelming ongoing headache!

Now that you can see first-hand what nutrition alone can do,  here’s exactly what I’ve been eating:

Meal 1: Breakfast – ½ cup oats with 1 scoop of Musashi vanilla WPI protein powder

Meal 2: Brunch – Chia Chicken, Kumara And Kale by Fresh Meals 2 You

Meal 3: Mid-afternoon – Barramundi And Salad by Fresh Meals 2 You

Meal 4: Snack – a bar of white chocolate most days. Obviously vegetable sticks with a natural nut butter, tuna on rice cakes or a piece of fruit is a much better choice, but I promised you I’d be completely honest.

Meal 5: Dinner – Super Lean And Clean Eye Fillet and Greens by Fresh Meals 2 You

To help you get started on creating your own meal plan, I’ve put together a shopping list of some of my favourite items:

Grocery List

Meat and dairy:

- Extra lean beef

- Chicken breasts

- Smoked turkey breast

- Salmon fillet

- Eggs (carton) or liquid egg whites

- Small amount of cheese

Vegetables and fruit:

- Triple-washed raw spinach

- Whole mushrooms

- Red onions (Spanish)

- Fresh red tomatoes

- Cucumbers

- Fresh garlic

- Granny Smith apples

- Frozen blueberries (bag) Fresh where possible

- Frozen raspberries (bag) Fresh where possible

- Lemons (4)

Other:

- Coconut water

- Chickpeas

- Steel-cut/wholegrain oats

- Quinoa

- Oat bran

- Golden flaxseeds

- Extra virgin olive oil

- Butter, coconut oil or spread

- Cooking spray (canola or olive)

- Pecans

- Lemon juice (1 bottle)

- Salt and pepper

- Garlic powder

- Fajita seasoning

- Cinnamon

- Cumin

- Stevia

- Aluminum foil

The 21 superfoods to add to your trolley (if they’re not already there)

Proteins:

1. Lean red meat (93% lean, top round, sirloin)

2. Salmon

3. Omega-3 (eggs)

4. Plain yoghurt (lactose-free if you can find it)

5. Protein supplements (milk protein isolates, whey protein isolates or rice protein isolates)

Veggies and fruits:

6. Spinach

7. Tomatoes

8. Cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower)

9. Mixed berries

10. Oranges

Other carbs:

11. Mixed beans

12. Quinoa

13. Whole oats

Good fats:

14. Mixed nuts

15. Avocadoes

16. Extra virgin olive oil

17. Fish oil

18. Flaxseeds (ground)

Drinks/Other:

19. Green tea

20. Liquid exercise drinks (quickly digested carbohydrate and protein)

21. Greens+ (vegetable concentrate supplement)

We all enjoy different foods so it’s extremely important you design a meal plan that suits your tastes and lifestyle. I can’t stress enough how important it is that you enjoy what you eat. If you don’t like your meals, you won’t maintain your new lifestyle, and that’s the whole idea of the seven rules: it’s a LIFESTYLE that should eventually become second nature. So if you want to enjoy amazing results long-term, create a plan that makes you think ‘YUM!’