Wellness Guru: Callum Melly, the Body transformation expert

This week our Wellness Guru is a true fitness fanatic who helps his clients transform their bodies and therefore their lives daily with his programme 'Body In 8'. Callum Melly who founded 'Body In 8' has designed each programme to help clients turn their lives around and reach tangible goals in just 8 weeks. Its truly inspirational! Check out his Wellness Guru interview below for more tips....

Thanks for joining us Callum, and congratulations on the success of your business 'Body In 8', tell us more!

1. Tell us about yourself Callum, and how you got to be where you are today?

Hey everyone! I’m Callum, I’m 27, I have a degree in journalism and I’m a qualified personal trainer and men’s fitness cover model. I left university at the age of 21 after 3 years of typical student life – eating junk, drinking way too much, not doing any exercise whatsoever and oh yeah... going to the odd lecture! As a kid, I was extremely active, I represented my school at football, rugby, cricket and basketball; I was a qualified snowboard instructor and naturally athletically gifted.

However, when I left university I was small, skinny, unconfident and really lacked clarity in life. If I'm honest, I was lost. So I decided to set myself a personal challenge and in January 2011 my new years’ resolution was to get into the best shape of my life and after just 8 weeks I was. Although I was nowhere near the physical shape I am in now, it was a dramatic change for just 8 weeks of dedication and people started asking me how I did it! I simply fell in love with fitness. I then decided to become a personal trainer and haven't looked back since.

2. Tell us how you spend your average working day

Before I get started, people need to remember that staying fit and healthy is my job; at the end of the day I am a great believer in practicing what you preach and if I want to inspire and motivate people to invest in themselves by leading a healthier and more active lifestyle, it would be a little contradictory if I didn't live that life myself! That being said, everything in balance and I’m not going to sit here and BS you saying I don't eat junk food or I don't drink alcohol because I do, but in moderation and in a smart way! So my day usually pans out like this...

• I get up at 6:30am and I’m in the gym by 7:00am to do 45-60 minutes of fasted LISS cardio for targeted fat loss.

• I’m home by 8:30am where I have breakfast – my "BODY IN 8" blueberry protein smoothie, then get my laptop out ready to start work.

• I have a weekly content list set by Sam from Gather Social – he is the BODY IN 8 project manager and he likes to keep me very busy! I also have daily content requests from my amazing PR representative and luckily my journalism degree and fitness expertise comes into play there!

• I usually work from 9am – 5pm on content and factor in business meetings, emails etc. around this work!

• I usually eat every 2-3 hours, so between 9am – 5pm; I have 2-3 meals – mainly high protein and healthy fat meals consisting on average of 25-30g lean protein, 10-15g healthy fats and greens. All meals are less than 350 calories as recommended in my BODY IN 8 programme.

• I then go to the gym in the evening about 6:00pm and follow my BODY IN 8 resistance/weights workout and then I like to do another LISS or HIIT cardio session for 30-60 minutes to maximise fat loss.

• Most evenings I like to keep myself busy and be social, I’m always out catch up with friends or spending quality time with my family. Something happened to me last year which turned my life upside down and put life into perspective, so I do always endeavour to live in the moment and make the most of every day, I think that is very important.

3. What inspires you?

To be honest, I love helping others, it fills me with a lot of satisfaction! I worked as a snowboarding instructor whilst I was at university and when I left I was able to transfer those teaching skills over and became cover teacher in Worthing High School, near Brighton. I loved it and there was nothing more rewarding than helping others achieve their goals. This is obviously why I love personal training, because inspiring and motivating people to change their lives and witness not only a physical change, but a mental change is priceless to me.

4. What’s your goal in life?

As much as I loved personal training, I became frustrated by other personal trainers who I felt weren't offering their clients what they should be. I’m not afraid to say it how it is – there is a lot of BS in the fitness industry and people buy into it because they don't know any different. People forget the first thing about personal training and that's the "personal" part; too many PT's don't give their clients their undivided attention for the hour they pay for, let alone the other 23 hours in the day and that's my point exactly! I was focusing on the full 24 hours, ensuring I was on hand as and when my clients needed me for support – I set them up with an 8 week exercise programme for when they weren't training 1-2-1 with me; I calculated their nutrition and created a bespoke meal plan and I attempted to inspire and motivate them on a daily basis via social media! At the end of the day, I have got to where I am now because of my positive attitude and ultimately getting people the results they wanted! The most frustrating thing for me was that I couldn't help as many people as I wanted to and that is why I designed BODY IN 8 – the world’s first in depth 8 week virtual personal training programme that allows me to take people through a structured and results driven workout 5 days a week for 8 weeks.

An example of the results the 'Body in 8' programme can achieve! Wow!

5. What does Wellness mean to you?

The term wellness to me encompasses every aspect of your life! It's not just about looking great, it's about feeling great, having a positive outlook on life, wanting to make the most of every single day, being excited by life, doing what you love and always living in the moment! Sadly, people forget that life is not a role-play – you only have one chance to really live and too many people become complacent with what they have and don't strive to better themselves. I have been guilty of that in the past and sometimes it can take a life changing event to put everything into perspective, but I guess what I’m trying to say is that it shouldn't take anything to make you chase your dreams, it should come naturally! I love being challenged and the great thing about the gym is you can never beat it, but what that teaches you about yourself is priceless!

6. What advice would you give to a person looking to transform their life?

If there is one thing I would have done differently when I first started training with the aim to transform my life, it would have been to have invested in a structured and educational lifestyle programme. I would have made double the progress in half the time if I had been educated as to how I should be training and eating. Ultimately, I believe we should had been taught this kind of information in schools and I hope in the future I get the opportunity to offer a BODY IN 8 educational programme for the younger generation.

7. Tell us more about Body in 8?

BODY IN 8 is the world's first 8 week virtual personal training and lifestyle programme that allows me to PT people worldwide. BODY IN 8 has taken me over a year to design and develop and I am extremely proud that I can offer an affordable life-changing product to help people get into the best physical and mental shape of their life, for life.

8. Tell us your Top 3 Tips for Wellness?

BALANCE! Balance in my opinion is the key to wellness and again that applies to every aspect of your life. You need to make time for yourself and look after your body, at the end of the day, your body is the only place you have to live! So my top 3 tips would have to be:

• Get active, even if only a 30 minute LISS cardio session a day or 20 minute home bodyweight circuit, strengthening your body and improving your general fitness can help to prolong your life and prepare you for the future.

• Eat healthier and make more informed decisions when it comes to food as it is extremely important for your health and wellbeing! Again, everything in balance and moderation, reward yourself with what I like to call a "cheat" meal if you have been training hard and eating clean. Realistically, we should have all been taught as kids to be eating nutrient and calorie dense foods; I personally think it is disgusting that schools and especially hospitals don't offer 100% healthy food.

• Enjoy life! Make the most of everyday, spend time with family and friends, take more holidays, live in the moment and just be positive!

9. So what’s next in your career/life?

I am literally so excited by what the future holds, BODY IN 8 for me is just the beginning! I hope this incredible brand will grow and allow me to reach more and more people so I can motivate, inspire and ultimately help them to get fit for life! Like I said before, I would love to create a BODY IN 8 educational programme for today's youth and implement this into schools nationwide, if we are taught the importance of looking after our bodies from an early age, we would have far less health based illnesses worldwide and far more people would be making the best investment you can ever make, by investing in yourself!

Find out more about Callum's inspirational BODY TRANSFORMATION programmes HERE

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