There are tons of trainers on Instagram, but Anna Victoria stood out to me right away because of her approachable take on shifting into a healthier lifestyle. And her ab situation didn't hurt, either. Victoria's own journey started after six years of eating fast food three times a day. Yep: Every. Single. Day. "I didn't even know I was eating badly," Victoria told me when she stopped by Allure HQ recently. "To me, eating meant eating the most delicious, indulgent things. All I did was binge-eat—I would eat until my mind was satisfied, which was way beyond when my stomach was satisfied. It was never about consuming to have energy or so my body could run properly." It all caught up with her eventually with an emergency hospital visit. Talk about a wake-up call.
After that, Victoria began to research health and fitness. She started her first Instagram account in 2012 to keep herself on track. Having created one of the first feeds on the 'gram dedicated to fitness, she quickly amassed a devoted following. Her current Instagram account has nearly 900,000 followers. When she told me about her Fit Body Guides, a 12-week plan for diet and training that helped her transform her own body, I was excited—and a little nervous—to try them out. Up until then, I'd never done any consistent strength training on my own. I'd tried Kayla Itsines's Bikini Body Guide and loved it. But Victoria's guide is geared more toward strength training, whereas Itsines's is based slightly more on cardio. So to answer the inevitable question: I don't think one is better than the other—it just depends on your needs. I'd already gotten my cardio routine down, so I wanted to focus on strength and toning.
Since I'd already adjusted my diet to fit a high-protein profile with meals I primarily cooked myself, I focused mostly on the training, with high intensity and short intervals broken up by three days of cardio, and three of strength training. It's now been more than six weeks since I started Victoria's guide, so here's what I can report:
Yes, it takes willpower. Unlike having a personal trainer who helps hold you accountable for your sessions, guides like these require you to be mentally prepared to commit to the workouts (but hey, at least it costs you a lot less). For motivational purposes, I highly recommend that you also follow Victoria on Snapchat (@annavictoriafit). It's like having your own trainer to cheer you on, and she also offers up a ton of health facts through the platform. She'll also share snaps of her healthy meals so you can get inspiration for your own.