My Diet & Workout Routine – EYLEM ABACI (2024)

As a fitness influencer, you can imagine that I receive countless messages about fitness, nutrition and how to get a fit body. For a while, I have been taking notes of the most important questions from these messages to answer them here. I will talk about fitness from A to Z: what I do, what I eat, what I keep away from my diet, what I personally recommend etc… This post is the guide of my body – with the right steps, you can also get to your dream body! 🙂

1. Do you follow a diet? How many meals do you have?
For me, anything with strict restrictions has never been sustainable. That’s why I don’t have a diet that strictly doesn’t allow me to eat some food, but there are still things I don’t prefer to consume, of course. I have a clean diet, eat intuitively, listen to my body and don’t count calories. I counted calories in the past; being interested in nutritional values ​​has been very advantageous for me in terms of ‘understanding’ food and I gained a feeling for the food I consume. It has helped me with a more balanced diet. After I gained that feeling, I stopped counting calories and for a long time I have only been eating intuitively. As for how many meals I have per day, my answer is 2: breakfast and dinner (and healthy snacks). Actually, I’ve been doing intermittent fasting for years (intuitively) 😀 I have breakfast at 10-11am, and my last meal is at 18pm. Lunch has never been a part of my daily life, because I have breakfast relatively late. Instead of a big lunch, I snack fruits or nuts or mix a delicious smoothie. This is my daily diet. Apart from that, I have one “detox” method: Once in a while I switch my diet to ketogenic for 7-10 days if I feel like it, if I need it or if I realize that I’ve been consuming too much carbohydrates for a while. It’s not something I do very often, but it has a positive effect on my body though. 🙂

2. Breakfast: What do you usually consume?
I lololooove porridge and I’m addicted to oats in every form 🙈. Try your porridge with finely ground oats and oat milk, the consistency becomes suuuper creamy, omg my mouth waters lol. I also love to prepare myself a colorful breakfast plate with 2 eggs, half an avocado, olives, cucumber and smoked turkey. If I’m in a hurry, an omelet or an oat toast (which I make from oats + eggs) would be my quick brekkie.

3. What do you think of cheat days?
A healthy and balanced diet can “survive” a cheat day you have once in a while. If you eat 90% clean, that “unhealthy” meal you consume wouldn’t destroy your health or body. This is also fact for the opposite: If your diet consists only of burgers and pizza, the salad you have once won’t make you fitter either. In fact, what we call “unhealthy” when it comes to diet, is the excess of something. 1 slice of pizza or 1 burger isn’t unhealthy, but it’s unhealthy if it happens several times a week. For example, an apple – a very healthy fruit; 1 apple is healthy, but if you eat 10 at a time, it becomes unhealthy. The important thing is always balance and how clean the overall diet is. Otherwise, a cheat meal wouldn’t harm anyone. 🙂 But remember that a medium sized mixed pizza is around 2000 kcal (so you’ll nearly get your total daily calorie requirement from a single pizza). Making a cheat day during your weight loss period, slows down the process.

4. Which food do you avoid eating?
Of course, there is food that I don’t prefer to consume, but I’m not going overly extreme here. For example, I don’t consume white bread in my everyday diet, but if I’m in a restaurant I may eat a slice of white bread too. But in general, I avoid and don’t buy: cow’s milk, refined sugar, white flour. Fortunately, everything has a “clean” alternative and I really love cooking and baking my healthy dishes with them. Apart from that, I do not consume packaged and processed food which contain lots of preservatives and artificial additives. I’m that person who always checks the ingredient lists in the grocery. 😀 I try to keep my diet as natural and plant-based as possible. However, in order to get enough protein, I do not miss chicken, fish, meat and legumes.

5. What would you recommend to those who want to lose weight fast?
– This varies from person to person of course, but in general, reducing your portions and have a low carb diet would support weight loss. For a while, your plate may consist mainly of protein and vegetables.
– If you feel still hungry, wait for 20 minutes. It takes 20 minutes for the brain to register fullness. 🙂
– You can try the 16:8 method: during intermittent fasting you have your meals within 8 hours and you do not consume anything for 16 hours (apart from water/tea etc).
– Try to avoid stress-induced and emotional eating. Learn to separate the eating for pleasure from the eating which is needed for the body to function properly.
– Move. Even if you don’t exercise, a 30-minute brisk walk after a meal is better than doing nothing! You can set yourself a goal of 10,000 steps per day.
– If you are following my weekly workout plans, do not skip the cardio/hiit videos! Those are helpful for fat burn.
– Drink a looooot of plain water per day!

6. What advice would you give to people who want to change their diet?
It is a radical decision to change a diet, of course. After all, there is a lifestyle you are used to and you change it within 1 day. How long can you keep doing this happily? Be realistic.
– Start with small changes. Instead of eliminating things completely from your diet, reduce them first.
– Kitchen detox: Out of sight, out of mind. Take out the things from your kitchen that you don’t want to consume anymore. Be more selective in your grocery shopping as well.
– There is a healthy alternative for everything, research them. Instead of refined sugar you can use coconut sugar for example.
– Keep nuts at home.
– Meal prep. If you prepare your meals beforehand and store them in the fridge, you’re on the safe side. This way, your hand will not go to the phone to order fast food as there will be something ready in the kitchen in case of sudden hunger pangs.
– Natural peanut butter (sugar free) – a must in my kitchen. When you have cravings, eat 1 tsp of peanut butter or spread it on a banana, and no cravings anymore.

My Diet & Workout Routine – EYLEM ABACI (1)

7. How many times a week do you exercise and what does your workout plan look like?
I train 5 times a week, for about 60-90 minutes. My workout routine is mainly based on strength training. In my weekly workout plans which I share on every Sunday, I create the “Advanced” one the way I want to work out that week. So I definitely use my own videos to work out with. I sometimes add or change 1-2 videos depending on my mood and energy. Apart from that, I love doing my workouts with weights. Also, I try to add 30 minutes of jogging as cardio 2-3 times a week to my plan. Actually, I don’t have a day without sports, even on my ‘rest days’ there is always a walk etc. (thanks to my dog Mars :D).

8. How does exercise become a habit?
1. When you have fun. For me, that hour when I exercise is the most mood-boosting time of the day. Knowing that I’m “polishing” my body and doing something good for my health, makes me happy. It’s a matter of mindset. Also, since we release endorphins (the happiness hormone) while exercising, my happiness and energy are boosted for the rest of the day. I know, it is difficult at first to work out with my videos, especially because the muscles are not used to it. At this point, I totally understand that there is more pain than fun, and sometimes when you are not able to do the exercises properly or you feel the need to take a rest while I continue without breaks, the frustration can make you lose your motivation. But learning takes time, which should actually motivate you even more. With regular repetition, you will improve and be able to do the exercises properly – new achievements will be unlocked and then the pride you will experience will be incredible. So you may ‘push’ yourself a little bit in the beginning and don’t give up too early. However, if the kind of exercise you do does not make you happy even after some time, you may consider trying out something else. Maybe this is not the right training for you. Sports should not feel like a torture for anyone. Do whatever makes you happy. 🙂
2. Consistency is key. There is a 21/90 rule. To form a habit takes 21 days. Commit to your goal of working out daily at a certain time for 21 days and you unlock a new habit. Commit to it 90 days more to make it a permanent lifestyle change. Sounds easy, but you have to be consistent and disciplined of course.

9. What would you recommend to eat pre/post workout?
Before my workout, I snack something small that will not sit heavily in my stomach. It can be peanut butter spread on a banana or a handful of nuts… or an apple or a freshly prepared smoothie. After my workout it’s usually time for me to have my main meal. I always add food which is rich in protein to my meals. You can also prepare yourself a protein shake. A healthier alternative to regular protein powders which contain lots of additives and artificial flavors are natural protein powders like pea protein or egg white powder etc. Blend natural protein powder with plant-based milk, a banana and a scoop of peanut butter and here you go.

10. A bubble butt is the dream of many women. What is your secret?
Glute bridges, squats, stiff deadlifts and kickbacks… You need to “teach” your booty new moves that will activate it from all sides; otherwise it just keeps the muscles which are enough to sit/stand/walk. 😀 You don’t have to go to the gym for a bubble butt. My booty workouts on YouTube would definitely help you to make your booty look round and lifted. I also have videos with equipment – they are helpful in case of growing the booty. As you can see, the trick is to use weights if your goal is to build booty. Go only with your bodyweight at first, continue with a resistance band once you get used to the exercises, then gradually add weights. I always add weights to my booty days; especially doing my workouts with ankle weights is amazing. However, before working out with weights, I first do a non-equipment booty workout from my channel to activate and warm up my gluteal muscles so that I can feel the right parts and work the right muscles while exercising with weights.
Another important thing is the rest day. Never train booty two days in a row. The increase and growth of muscle cells, which we call hypertrophy, occurs during the resting periods, not while training the muscle! So if you work out daily, make sure to train another body part each day.
And of course: Have a high protein diet and drink plenty of water. These are essential for nourishing the muscle. Otherwise, do as much exercise as you want, if you do not eat enough and nutritious, half of what you do will be wasted.

11. Can you share your recipe for a slim waist and abs?
Many just make the same mistake: just focussing on the abs. This will unfortunately result with frustration, because you have to train your whole body and burn fat to get a slim waist. To burn fat, do cardio and HIIT and reduce your carb intake a little. Now to building abs: your bodyweight is enough, you don’t need equipment at all. Just do my abs videos regularly. If you’re just getting started, start with my beginner abs videos. That’s it, with regular exercise you’ll get abs! The most difficult thing about abs is to to make them visible! This is where it all comes together. Requirements for toned ab lines: trained abdominal muscles + a low body fat percentage. Abs become visible when the fat ratio is below 24% for women and below 17% for men. So, do abs workouts, don’t skip cardio and HIIT and have a clean diet. This is a long process, it requires discipline and you have to make it your lifestyle, here is the challenge. If it were easy, everyone would walk around with abs, right? 🙂

12. For someone who works 9 to 5, it can be difficult to make time for fitness and find motivation. What would you suggest?
I get a lot of feedback from my followers who have long working hours, that my videos are super helpful for them. My videos are 10-15 minutes long but still challenging. So, instead of spending hours in the gym in your already limited time, not knowing which exercises are efficient, you can do 2-3 workouts from my channel daily and save time. Moreover, since you can do them anytime and anywhere, you can squeeze your workout in your schedule easily. ‘I don’t have time for fitness’ is just an excuse. If you have absolutely no time during the day, then try waking up 30 minutes early for example, which is also an option.

13. Is it possible to have a fit body without going to the gym?
I also shaped my body at home, without going to the gym. This was the inspiration for my YouTube channel after all. During the pandemic I shared my fitness routine I did at home on my Instagram stories. It got so much attention that I “moved” my workouts from Instagram to YouTube. So all these videos were (and are) exercises that I already did (and still do). So the answer is yes – you can have a fit body without going to the gym.

14. What if the desired success is not achieved despite working out regularly?
Then you definitely need to check your diet. Working out helps you up to a point; yes, it shapes your body, increases your muscle ratio and contributes to your overall health, but if your diet is bad, it is very very difficult to get good results. Think of it this way: It varies from person to person, but with a 1 hour challenging workout, you can only burn around 300 calories on average. That’s not even 2 slices of pizza. Excess fat can be burnt with exercise – but a constant bad diet and late-night snacking related mindset cannot be “burnt” with exercise, unfortunately.

15. What’s your motivation?
I always say: discipline > motivation. This is my motto for success. If there is discipline, there is no need for extra motivation. 🙂

Okaaay enough for now. I hope this was informative and you had fun reading my answers. Let me know about your thoughts in the comments down below. I’d be more than happy to get in touch with you! ♥️

See you in my next workout video!
xx Eylem

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My Diet & Workout Routine – EYLEM ABACI (2024)
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