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We recommend a minimum of 4 weekly sessions to yield noticeable results. For weight maintenance, 3 sessions are sufficient. Our workouts are short but very effective. Once your current level feels easy, challenge yourself with the next level. Remember to rest at least once a week to aid muscle recovery and growth. Complement your workouts with proper nutrition, as it contributes significantly to 80% of your results.

Please ensure you have your doctor’s clearance, prior to beginning any exercise program. Typically, you can start to exercise around 6-8 weeks after giving birth. However, if you had an easier birth, you may be able to begin sooner. Exercising will help you get your pre-baby body back, and help you boost your self-esteem to avoid post-partum depression so that you are physically and psychologically fit to care for your baby. A few tips to ensure you safely start to exercise: 1. Start slowly. Don’t over-exert yourself. If you push too hard, you can slow down your healing process. 2. Warm-up and cool down. 3. Drink plenty of water before, during and after. 4. Strengthen your pelvic floor with Kegel exercises. Avoid intra-ab exercises (crunches, etc.) until you’re healed. 5. ***Diastasis Recti (separation of the ab muscles).*** If the gap is severe (a midline of more than 2 to 2.5 finger-widths, or 2 centimetres) you may need to work with a physical therapist to repair it. Avoid intra-ab exercises and torso twisting. Replace with planks on forearms instead. 6. Your body may still have the hormone Relaxin for up to 6 months. Please do not lunge or squat below 90°. IMPORTANT: Pay attention to quality form over speed and quantity. Listen to your body. Watch for bleeding as it means your body needs more time to continue the healing process.

Great news! The LK Fitness app offers three equally effective meal plans: Keto/Banting, Low GI, and Mediterranean. It’s all about seamlessly integrating the perfect healthy meal plan into your lifestyle. Before deciding, take a moment to explore each plan. Rest assured, all three options are readily available on our app for your convenience. KETO/BANTING MEALS CONSIST OF ROUGHLY 65% FAT + 20% PROTEIN + 15% CARBOHYDRATES That’s why Banting is ideal for people who are: Insulin resistant or struggling with obesity. Unable to lose weight when they eat carbohydrates, e.g. bread, potatoes, rice, sugar and other starches. Chronically hungry and struggle with cravings. In other words – if you feel bloated after eating bread or other carbohydrates, or if you gain weight as soon as you eat carbohydrates or sugar, this is the meal plan for you. Banting is a high fat, low carb meal plan where you cut out carbohydrates and sugar completely and allow more good fat into your diet. You get your energy from fats like olive oil, butter, full cream products, cheese, nuts etc. The carbohydrates you ingest are vegetables. Your Banting guidelines have GREEN, ORANGE and RED lists that tell you exactly what you may and may not eat. You may consume alcohol moderately, such as dry white wine, red wine, dry champagne or whiskey and water/soda. However, if you use alcohol and still struggle to lose weight, cut out alcohol altogether. With the Banting lifestyle, you only eat when you are hungry. Thus, this meal plan is just a guideline. If you aren’t hungry, you can skip meals altogether. If you do get hungry between meals, then you didn’t ingest sufficient fat in your previous meal and should adjust your fat consumption at the next meal. Did you know? Recent research has shown that it isn’t the fat in your diet that causes heart disease, but rather refined carbohydrates and sugar. Our Banting meal plans have been compiled by Anel Kirsten, a dietician from Cape Town and Dr Schoombee from Stellenbosch. LOW GI MEALS MOSTLY CONSIST OF FOODS WITH A GI (GLYCEMIC INDEX) VALUE OF 55 OR LOWER Therefore, Low GI is ideal for people who: Struggle with irregular insulin secretion, and thus find it difficult to lose weight. Still want to eat carbs like bread, pasta and potatoes, rather than limiting carbs to just vegetables. Prefer to avoid high-fat foods. (Tip: Never combine carbohydrates with high fat!) Cannot eat refined carbohydrates without it causing fluctuations in their insulin levels. The Low GI plan is also a low-fat plan, where you completely cut out high-fat foods and refined carbohydrates, and instead allow more good carbohydrates (with low GI index) in your diet. Low GI carbohydrates are better because they release energy slowly. With the Low GI lifestyle, one regularly eats small meals. If your portion sizes are too large, you will not lose weight. A portion should fit in the palm of your hand. If you find it necessary to snack, you can eat fruit between meals. Two extra fruits per day are allowed, or 1 extra fruit and one small container of low-fat or fat-free yoghurt per day. Did you know: Our low GI meal plans were compiled by Anel Kirsten, a dietician from Cape Town and Dr Schoombee from Stellenbosch. You can use the Glycemic Index (GI) to make carbohydrate exchanges. See below: MEDITERRANEAN MEALS CONSIST OF ROUGHLY 40% CARBOHYDRATES + 40% FAT + 20% PROTEIN Therefore, the Mediterranean menu is the ideal choice for people who: Love foods such as low carb vegetables, fish, whole grains, fruits, nuts, beans, legumes and olive oil. Enjoy tasty, flavoured foods. The plan uses garlic, rosemary, basil and oregano to give dishes flavour. With the Mediterranean lifestyle, you eat when you’re hungry, and stop as soon as you’re full. Fruit is usually eaten as a snack or with a meal. Red meat intake is limited, whilst processed foods are not part of the Mediterranean eating plan at all. Eggs play an important role in the Mediterranean diet. Since they have little access to red meat, eggs are the main source of protein. Eggs are usually served with vegetables, salad or as an omelette. Eating fresh and healthy foods will help you lose weight because you no longer rely on processed and packaged foods, which are loaded with sugar, salt and unhealthy fats. The benefit of consuming a large variety of plant-based proteins and whole-grain carbohydrates is that your blood sugar levels remain stable and you feel satiated for a longer period of time, which will prevent you from overeating. Did you know: Our Mediterranean eating plans were compiled by Anel Kirsten, a dietician from Cape Town. The whole purpose behind this particular meal plan is to eat like people in the Mediterranean region by eating fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, whole grain products, legumes, fish and other fat-free proteins. In addition to what you eat, healthy lifestyle habits such as daily exercise, stress reduction and enough sleep are important components to incorporate into your lifestyle, particularly if you want to lose weight or maintain your goal weight. Note: If you have any allergies or problems with certain foods suggested in the meal plan, or if you want to tailor it to your health requirements, you should discuss this with your doctor or a dietician.

At LK Fitness, our meal plans were crafted with women aiming to lose weight in mind. Nonetheless, with simple adjustments to portion sizes, these plans are equally well-suited for men. Follow the recommendations below: KETO/BANTING GUIDELINES 1. Protein: Increase the protein portion by 1.5 for all meals. 2. Vegetables and salads: Increase the portion size by 1.5 for all meals. LOW GI GUIDELINES 1. Protein: Increase the protein portion by 1.5 for suppers. 2. Carbs: Increase the carbohydrate portion by 2 for breakfasts and suppers. THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET GUIDELINES 1. Protein: Increase the protein portion by 1.5 for suppers. 2. Carbs: Increase the carbohydrate portion by 2 for breakfasts and suppers.