Bikini Diet challenge

If you're already panicking about hitting the beach this summer, fear not...Mr Motivator is back with his team to help you get body beautiful in 28 days

The Bikini Diet is back!

From Monday 15th June Mr Motivator and his team will be helping you get in shape for the summer with a 28 day plan of exercises, recipes, tips and encouragement to help you get fit and confident about putting on your bikini.

The Bikini Diet team

Mr Motivator will be joined by fitness guru Deanne Berry who will be choreographing fitness routines, to get your heart rate pumping.  Amanda Ursell is also back with more delicious and nutritious recipes to help you eat more healthily.

Step One - Choose your body shape

Decide which body shape you are. If you are not sure what body type you are check out our guide. If you are still not sure, then just pick one of the three plans anyway, they will definitely do you no harm.

Step Two - Sign up

Join the Bikini Diet

You need to sign up to the plan by clicking above and from Monday the 15th you can follow Mr Motivator's plan on the website and receive a weekly newsletter crammed with hints, tips and recipes to help you get started.

Step Three - Getting prepared

From Friday 12th June you will be able to download your shopping list and buy all the ingredients over the weekend that you will need to prepare Amanda's Ursell's healthy recipes. That way, there will be no excuses on Monday when it's time to get started.

Step Four - Measure up with Mote

You may not lose a huge amount of weight during the course of the Bikini Diet, but if you stick with the exercises and recipes, you may well drop a dress size.We'll  be asking you measure your vital statistics on the 15th -  bust, waist and hips - so that you can monitor your progress and find out after 4 weeks just how many inches you've lost.

FAQs

What's so special about the Bikini Diet?
The bikini diet has been designed exclusively for GMTV by nutritionist Amanda Ursell, with a little help from Mediterranean cook Sylvana Franco. The food for the Bikini diet is loosely based on a traditional Mediterranean diet. The Mediterranean diet tends to include lots of fresh, natural foods and few processed foods.

In general, Mediterranean people eat lots of fruit, vegetables, bread, pasta, rice, beans and nuts and use lots of olive oil in cooking and as a salad dressing. Fish tends to be eaten in good amounts  Furthermore, food tends to be flavoured with fresh herbs, garlic, black pepper and red wine – although salt is still often added to many dishes.

In contrast, intakes of red meat, eggs and full-fat dairy products are usually only eaten in small amounts. It's thought that this combination helps lead to a healthy heart and a trimmer, slimmer body that looks good for the beach.

What exercises do I need to do?
The exercises have been designed for your different body shapes. Although all body types need to do some form of aerobic exercise to help burn fat, different areas need to be targeted for toning purposes. Pears for example need to do more exercises that tone the legs and bottom, while apples need to concentrate on more core / stomach exercises.

What foods do I need to eat?
The recipes can be eaten by each body shape, but there are specific dietary notes to bear in mind depending on your body shape. TOFIs for example need to keep an eye on their cholesterol, as they are more prone to heart disease, while Apples are more prone to diabetes so they need to watch their insulin levels.

When following the bikini diet, keep these simple rules in mind:

•    If you drink milk or add it to your tea or cereal in the morning, make sure you just have around half a pint of skimmed milk daily. Alternatively, if you have a dairy intolerance you can have the equivalent in low fat soya milk.
•    Stick to no more than 3 – 4 four caffeine-rich drinks like coffee, tea, cola and energy drinks.
•    Avoid all alcohol.
•    Try to drink water during the day. We need around 1200 – 1500ml of fluid a day which can come from any drinks, but it is good to get into the habit of opting for water since it is free from the tap and has no calories, colourings, flavourings or artificial sweeteners. You need to drink more water when you exercise and on hot days when you sweat more. The best advice is to be guided by your thirst. When you feel thirsty, have a glass of water.
•    Eat regularly and don't skip meals. Planning ahead can help you to stick with these rules.
•    You can follow the plan day by day, or if you prefer, can mix and match the breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Try to have variety where you can so that you get a good spread of nutrients.

Tell us why you're going to be joining the Bikini Diet by leaving a comment below. Good luck!