SELF's 4-Week Guide to a Fitter, Healthier You

Welcome to SELF's 4-Week Guide to a Fitter, Healthier You! SELF Features Editor, Christine Byrne, shares her background, what you can expect over the next 4 weeks, and the goals of this course. We'll also introduce our 2 coaches, Jessica Jones, R.D., and Jessi Kneeland, a certified personal trainer.

In each of the following sections, you'll learn more about your 2-week meal plan and grocery list, 4-week workout calendar, plus receive expert nutrition advice, custom workout tips—so you can make your workouts easier or harder—and you'll get actionable advice to help with things like sleep and stress.

Meet our nutrition expert and registered dietitian, Jessica Jones, R.D.! In this video, she'll describe your 2-week meal plan, how to use it, and how to figure out your daily estimated caloric needs. Your 2-week meal plan provides guidance, but keep in mind there's plenty of room for flexibility so you can tailor this to your needs.

Meet our trainer and fitness expert, Jessi Kneeland! In this video, Jessi will explain what to expect over the next 4 weeks and how to use the attached workout calendar. Each week, you'll do 2 strength workouts, 2 cardio workouts, and you'll have 3 rest or active rest days. The workouts themselves will get progressively more challenging, but we'll always offer ways you can dial in back to suit your needs.

Before you dive into the course, we're offering 5 tips that our experts always recommend to clients before starting a new routine. This video covers the quick ways you can set yourself up for success—from removing "trigger foods" from your pantry to scheduling your workouts. Once you've done this activity, it's almost time to get started!

Turns out, your greatest strength gains don't actually happen in the gym—they happen outside the gym when you're resting. In this video, we explain why rest is essential to becoming fitter and healthier.

You've already taken one of the hardest steps just by signing up for the course! Now, it's time to recap what we've covered so far and get ready to start your first workout.

During this week, you'll focus on establishing healthy habits and get started working out, building healthy meals, and—oh, yeah!—hopefully having fun along the way.

Jessica Jones breaks down the primary components of a healthy, well-balanced meal, pointing out the mix of macronutrients (protein, fat, carbs), and offering tips for estimating portion size. (Hint: You may never need a measuring cup again!)

Trainer Jessi Kneeland explains the first workout in this course. In this strength workout, you'll be doing supersets—meaning you do 2 exercises back-to-back with minimal rest between moves. At the end of your superset, you'll rest, then repeat the pattern.

In this workout, you'll focus on doing bodyweight squats, incline push-ups, glute bridges, bent-over rows, and forearm planks. You'll need a set of dumbbells and an inclined step or bench. 

You can easily customize all of the routines in this program. Jessi Kneeland will explain specific ways you can modify each of the moves from Strength Workout 1A to make the workout easier or more challenging.

In your next workout, you'll also be doing supersets. The moves in this workout include bodyweight lunges, bent-over rows, offset Romanian deadlifts, dumbbell floor presses, and a forearm side plank. You'll need a set of dumbbells and a resistance band to get started. 

Our trainer will provide a new set of advice for making this specific workout less difficult or more challenging.

In this video, our host Christine Byrne provides an explanation of how sleep relates to overall health and weight loss—and why being sleep deprived, even for one night, can have a negative impact. 

Our host, Christine Byrne, recaps what you've covered so far. If you have any suggestions or thoughts you'd like to share at this point, let us know! We want to make sure this is a five-star course for you.

The hardest part about a new healthy routine is usually the first week—and you've already crushed that! We've got some fun things ahead in Week 2, including tips about mindful eating, new strength workouts, and advice on handling stress. Dive in!

What is mindful eating, and why should you care? Jessica Jones, answers those questions and explains how to incorporate mindful eating techniques into your daily life.

The format of this routine is the same as you did last week: supersets, followed by rest; and then on to another round. But this week, to up the intensity, you've got a little less rest than last week. You'll only need a set of dumbbells for this workout.

Jessi Kneeland details exactly how you can make this workout your own.

In this workout, you'll focus on reverse lunges, split-stance rows, single-leg Romanian deadlifts, and a standing overhead dumbbell press. You'll only need a set of dumbbells for this routine. 

Our trainer, Jessi Kneeland, provides several options for making this workout more challenging or less difficult.

According to research, more than 54 percent of Americans are concerned about their stress levels—but what can you actually do about it? We're here to help. SELF editor Christine Byrne covers how stress can impact your health and some science-backed tips for reducing it ASAP.

Congrats! You're halfway through this journey! There's still plenty of good stuff ahead to learn, so don't stop now! And don't forget, we welcome any feedback about this course. We want to make sure it's five-star, so feel free to reach out with any comments.

Congrats again for making it the halfway point in this journey! If you’ve been following our plan, you’ve completed the first 2 weeks of Jessica’s meal plan. Coming up, Jessica will dispel some common food myths (spoiler alert: eating at night will NOT make you fat); and our trainer Jessi Kneeland steps up your workouts. Let’s get started!

Our dietitian, Jessica Jones, breaks down 4 common food myths—and why you should stop believing them once and for all. 

Time to switch it up with the workouts! In his routine, you’ll do 5 exercises, back-to-back, for 10 reps each. You’ll repeat that circuit 4 times, and then you’re done! You’ll need a box or step, plus a set of dumbbells to complete this workout.

Jessi Kneeland explains and demonstrates ways you can make this workout easier or more challenging. 

For this workout, you’ll need a set of dumbbells, a resistance band, and a low step, block or box. This step only needs to be 3-12 inches. The format of this workout is the same as what you did earlier in the week: 5 exercises, 10 reps, 4 rounds. Let’s get to it!

Jessi Kneeland explains and demonstrates ways you can make this workout easier or more challenging. 

Given all the buzz, it’s tempting to see meditation as a trend, but it’s actually a thousand-year-old practice of calming and focusing the mind. Even small amounts of meditation have been shown to have benefits in just about every aspect of life. SELF editor Christine Byrne breaks down the proven benefits of meditation and explains how easy it is to start.

You’ve wrapped up this section, which means you’re more than halfway through the course! To recap, you learned about healthy eating myths you can stop believing, did some great workouts, and tried an 1-minute meditation that you can easily incorporate into your everyday life. You’ve done a lot already—but we’re not finished yet!

Can you believe it’s the final week of your course already? This week we’re switching things up. You’ll still have your 2 weekly workouts, but when it comes to nutrition, we’ll be talking about how to handle slip-ups. Because in reality, they happen. But they’re also no big deal.

We’ll let you in on a secret: No one—not even a dietitian—eats healthy all the time. And even though we say that, we also understand that when you have a setback, it’s easy to feel guilty. In this lecture, we’ll highlight what you should be doing instead of beating yourself up and break it down step by step.

We’re stepping up your workouts this week! For this routine, you’ll do 6 exercises back-to-back, 8 reps each, then rest for 60 seconds. Repeat the circuit 5 times total and you’re golden! Just grab a set of dumbbells and a resistance band to get started.

Our trainer provides 2 ways you can make the previous workout easier and 3 ways you can make it more challenging.

Here we are: the final workout in this series. In this routine, you'll do 6 exercises back-to-back, 8 reps each, then rest for 60 seconds. You'll repeat that same circuit 5 times total, and then you're done! You'll need a set of dumbbells, a resistance band, and a box step (or bench) for this workout. Let's get started!

Our trainer provides 3 ways to make the previous workout harder, and 3 ways you can make it easier.

Congrats! You’ve successfully completed all of your workouts and the majority of this 4-week course. You’ve learned how to bounce back from setbacks, and have a ton of workout variations to keep your muscles guessing. There’s more to cover in the final section that you don’t want to miss—so don't stop now!