The photo was more than a little shocking. Shocking headlines followed when the nation’s gym teacher, Joe Wicks, uploaded a photo of himself to his 4.3 million followers on Instagram last week showing a swollen stomach and limp “bingo wings.” “Body coach Joe has let go!”
When her new book, Feel Good Food: Over 100 Healthy Family Recipes, topped the UK book charts, she admitted to eating a rather different diet, albeit occasionally. Chocolate cake and biscuits. Three bacon sandwiches for breakfast. French fries and beans. “I’m not very good at being a Body Trainer, is it?” published.
The country’s favorite physical education teacher, Joe Wicks (pictured), shook his followers with a message about his recent weight gain. He says the weight gain is normal and not superhuman.
You wonder if their editors swallowed it. Feel Good Food includes recipes like an oatmeal-roasted spiced apple and strawberry cauliflower smoothie. There are photos of Joe with sculpted abs and radiant skin while playing sports with his wife Rosie, 31, a former model, their three-year-old daughter Indie, and their two-year-old son, Marley. (A new baby is on the way, too.)
In fact, many of us found it refreshing that the famous coach, who received an MBE last Wednesday for his fitness and charity services at Windsor Castle, also struggled with body image. Frankly, the nation loves it – a million of us watched daily fitness sessions on YouTube during the pandemic and raised £580,000 for the NHS in the first block – it must be doing something far worse than bacon in the first place. we went out.
“I’m not perfect,” he tells me. ‘I have days when I emotionally eat and sit on the couch. Especially if I see something painful on the news or something triggers me and it really stresses and worries me.
During the quarantine, I felt a little bad in some places and was eating all the time.
“I say to myself, ‘OK, I’m going to the gym upstairs to release that energy. But then I can also say, “You know what, I can’t stand it, I’m going to make six slices of toast and eat four muffins and two bowls of cereal.”
“And then I do, because I think we’re going to have dinner at an exciting time. I felt a little bad in some places in quarantine and ate out all the time.
When he talks to me, he’s surprisingly honest about getting hit by the car and says, “I had another blast last night. But instead of dwelling on it, I joke around on social media and say, ‘I’m like a little weasel trying to find a snack in a cupboard.’ I share this and I’m very honest.
“But the next day, the alarm goes off at 6 a.m. and I’m going to do a workout, I’ll get my mind back,” she insists.
It’s often women who talk about weight issues in public, but Joe thinks it’s important to listen to eating disorders from a male perspective.
“A lot of people can be attracted to these things. He’s not just the typical overweight woman, he can be a fit young man who also has an emotional stress response in terms of food.
Joe says he doesn’t feel guilty for not taking a day off from his strict regimen. She tells her followers that her self-confidence depends on her family, not her Instagram.
He recently watched Freddie Flintoff’s documentary about his eating disorder.
“I love that guy. I met him and we all eat and drink together. I never would have looked and thought, ‘He has bulimia – he throws himself up after eating.
“But it’s an incredibly honest documentary to share. He was bullied by the media for his height and it’s terrible that he went through it when he was the best cricketer in the world.”
Although Joe is now the king of quinoa and sweet potatoes, he grew up on a restricted diet. While her mother suffered from OCD and eating disorders, she was very open about her father’s battle with drug addiction.
She was 17 when she gave birth to her brother Nikki and 19 when she gave birth to Joe. The family lived on a property owned by the municipality of Epsom. “I was born in 1985,” he says. “My parents were retired and the cupboards were full of junk food.
“There was very little fruit or vegetable. I remember eating cereal for dinner for years.
“There was a lot of screaming and dysfunction. Today I want to create a very peaceful environment for my children.’
Later, Joe was at the gym while his friends were drinking. He graduated in Exercise Science and became a personal trainer.
She also began educating herself about food by creating healthy meals on Instagram, where she calls broccoli “baby trees.” She now has a good relationship with her father, although she admitted that her father will always be a drug addict.
“It always falls back”.
And you feel like Joe sometimes goes back to his old eating habits and wakes up with a ‘food hangover’.
People want to feel good – losing weight is not enough
‘I wake up with cramps in the middle of the night when I eat a keg of ice cream that I love and can make very easily. My body can’t digest that much sugar, cream and fat in one sitting.
He doesn’t feel guilty for letting his strict regime slip away. “If I think, ‘OK, I’m going to have a lot of fun tonight,’ I agree to come in at night for some inconvenience. It’s very rare, but when I hear it, I’m so glad I don’t have to hear it every day.
“Many people go about their lives without really knowing what it means to feel good or energized with food. Maybe they can’t cook and they don’t feel very confident in the kitchen.’
If you eat junk food and processed foods every day, drink alcohol every day, and don’t provide your body with adequate nutrition, then you “float for life,” she adds. ‘I’m trying to change history a bit with my book.’
In recent videos we see Joe returning to HIIT workouts. It can take incredible shape in a few months. He no longer sees exercise as a physical thing, but as an essential tool for mental health.
And she underwent a 360-degree shift in diet. “In the past it was about fat loss and body transformation. But now I realize that what keeps people coming back is the mental health benefits of exercise and food – how they can help their relationships and how they feel about themselves.
‘People want to feel good – just wanting to lose weight is no longer enough.’ Joe may lose his stylish looks from time to time, but he has never been overweight as he is very active. However, she says it’s important for her to show that she’s not a superhuman, perfect eater every day.
Tonic or brittle, that’s Joe’s mantra to be honest. “My self-esteem doesn’t depend on my followers on Instagram. It would be awful if I lost my car, my bike, and my guitar, but in essence, I am attached to my wife, my children, my parents.
“If you can focus on that and not cling to material things, you will always be fine because your family will be there for you.”
- Feel Good Food by Joe Wicks (£20, HarperCollins) is out now.
Source: Daily Mail
