Feel like you’re putting in the work and not seeing results? According to Alison Hammond’s PT, it could be down to your approach.
In a recent YouTube video, the 51-year-old TV presenter sat down with her PT, Ellis Gatfield, to talk about the work behind her 11-stone weight loss – and asked him what advice he’d give women of a similar age who were struggling to see results.
‘Many women out there are exercising and saying, “Look, I’m doing a lot. I’m exercising so much here, but just not seeing results”,’ Hammond said. ‘Let’s say women 40-50 years old, probably going through the menopause. What would you say to those people?’
The cortisol trap
After explaining the importance of nutrition as well as exercise, Gatfield replied: ‘Your approach has to change because your hormones are changing. So before, you might have gone and smashed a spin class, but now it might wreak havoc on your cortisol. Your cortisol will be up, and intense exercise will be very stressful on the body.
‘So, what I try and do is get the most out of what we can without causing as much stress. That’s why I’m big on steps. Weighted vests are really, really good, because you can just put a weighted vest on and go for a walk. It’s something that you can do daily. And then you just do strength training for 30-45 minutes, two to three times a week.’
Why making exercise fun is so important
Hammond added that making exercise enjoyable was essential to keeping stress levels in check.
‘For me, when I’m having fun, it changes my physiology,’ she said. ‘It changes how I feel inside; my hormones feel different. I enjoy working out with people, I’ll be honest with you. I like doing a bit of tennis. I like doing volleyball. I like swimming. I like doing a bit of football here and there. And for some reason, working out with other people, it helps my mental state.’
Gatfield agreed that finding forms of exercise you really enjoy is the key to building sustainable habits that actually lead to results.
‘Finding something that you really enjoy is huge, because we can all write an amazing plan of action, but if you don’t like what you’re doing, that’s going to be an underlying problem,’ he said. ‘There might be some aspects where you think, “Ah, this isn’t the best. Not today,”… but the majority of the workouts you’re doing [have to be enjoyable].’
He continued: ‘People online at the minute are setting really hard rules, especially around women over 40, saying, “You don’t do this and you don’t do that”. But there’s a fine line – people have still got to enjoy it.’
Staying patient
And as for how quickly you’ll see those results, Hammond said patience is key – as is looking beyond the scales to track your progress.
‘Because I was quite a big girl, it took so long to even see a difference,’ she explained. ‘So then you said, “OK, but what’s the difference now? How do you feel going up the stairs?” Seeing how I was progressing in that sense was really good. Seeing my trousers get a bit looser. That was so much better than just weighing myself because weighing myself didn’t actually make me feel good because it fluctuates. It goes up and down and it’s never consistent.’
The main takeaways? Keep stress in check, ditch the quick fixes and play the long game. If it worked for Hammond…
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As Women’s Health UK’s fitness director and a qualified Pilates and yoga instructor, Bridie Wilkins has been passionately reporting on exercise, health and nutrition since the start of her decade-long career in journalism.
After earning a first-class degree in journalism and NCTJ accreditation, she secured her first role at Look Magazine, where she launched the magazine’s health and fitness column, Look Fit, before going on to become Health and Fitness writer at HELLO!
Since, she has written for Stylist, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Elle, The Metro, Runner’s World and Red. Today, she oversees all fitness content across Women’s Health online and in print, spearheading leading cross-platform franchises, such as ‘Fit At Any Age’, which showcases the women proving that age is no barrier to exercise.
She has also represented the brand on BBC Radio London, plus various podcasts and Substacks – all with the aim to encourage more women to exercise and show them how. Outside of work, find her trying the latest Pilates studio, testing her VO2 max for fun (TY, Oura), or posting workouts on Instagram.