Get a sneak peek at Kayla Itsines’ new book—and how she stays motivated

Kayla Itsines is arguably the most influential trainer in the world, who has inspired millions (8.2 million on Instagram alone) to embrace the Aussie fitness phenom’s heart-pounding, strength-building Bikini Body Guide workouts on her Sweat app—and of course, post the results on social media for fellow members of #BBG nation. And although that inspirational quality has wowed everyone from wellness insiders (like CAP Beauty’s co-founders) to the thousands of fans who turn up for her IRL events, she doesn’t have it any easier when it comes to motivation—but she’s figured out a way to work out and eat healthy, even when she doesn’t feel like it.

Yep, even Kayla doesn’t feel psyched to to get those burpees in every single time. One trick she swears by? Planning for failure. Itsines admits that (realistically) she won’t stick to her healthy eating and workout plan 100 percent of the time.

“You can say, ‘Today I’m going to try and eat the healthy option of whatever food it is that I want, but if I don’t, then the next day I’m going to get back into it. Once you’ve done that, once you’ve actually planned for failure then you don’t feel demotivated,” Itsines says.

Of course, it’s a good idea to take a closer look at what may be behind a lack of motivation, too. “If you’re feeling demotivated you can ask yourself, ‘What are the triggers and how can we fix it?’ Once you do that and overcome the bad habit one time, then you’re like, ‘I can do this.'”

She’s sharing these insights and more in her new book, The Bikini Body Motivation & Habits Guide, which includes a 28-day Bikini Body Guide program, along with Itsines’ tips for how to stay on track and build healthy habits that contribute to sustainable success.

Keep reading for an exclusive excerpt from the Aussie fitness phenom’s new book.

At some point in your life, you have probably known someone, or you may have even tried yourself to kick-start a new lifestyle with fad diets or by overtraining. You might have noticed quick results to begin with, but those changes probably didn’t stick around for the long term. My approach doesn’t include quick fixes. To me, good health is about focusing on how you feel.

As I have learned with many of my clients, for a healthy lifestyle to stick, there are three important considerations: balance, flexibility, and simplicity. You need to be able to balance your diet, workouts, and me-time to help yourself stay on track. The same goes for flexibility: your healthy lifestyle should still be able to accommodate some of the things you want to do (such as going out for dinner with friends), or else you may feel overwhelmed or deprived and want to give it up. Finally, if your training and eating plans are not simple enough for you to understand, it can make it very hard for you to follow them correctly.

Many women ask me how I stay so motivated to work out and eat healthily. My honest answer to this question is always the same: I don’t.

I am a big believer that you should do something every day to feel good about yourself. Taking a small step, such as learning more about healthy foods, can make a big difference, particularly if you build on this with more small steps. Eventually these steps lead to good habits of looking after yourself physically and emotionally.

It’s no surprise that motivation levels can change frequently with your mood or environment. Many women ask me how I stay so motivated to work out and eat healthily. My honest answer to this question is always the same: I don’t. It’s true—there are times when I don’t feel motivated to train or eat well but because I’ve developed good habits over a long period of time, my discipline kicks in and I can get over these feelings of low motivation.

I want to help educate you and women just like you to understand HOW to form these good habits. I understand that for many of you, it can be hard to know where to begin, or what is right for you. My first book focused on the basics of diet and nutrition education, to empower you with the knowledge to make good decisions. In this book, I will teach you how to focus on your goals and how to get results by understanding what motivates you and how to form good health habits.

The Bikini Body Motivation & Habits Guide by Kayla Itsines. Copyright © 2017 by the author and reprinted by permission of St Martin’s Press.

Find out what it’s like to workout with Itsines IRL, and how Kayla got real about her history with female pattern baldness.