Sophie Guidolin, 29, shares the secret to finding balance between exercise and family

She’s a super fit mother-of-four who has worked extremely hard to attain her enviable physique and washboard abs.

And Gold Coast fitness model Sophie Guidolin has proved that there’s no excuse for mothers not to exercise after pregnancy.

The 29-year-old mother has four young children – aged between two and 10 – but she still has time leftover to hit the gym – and train her kids not to be fussy eaters. 

Appearing on The Morning Show, Sophie and her husband Nathan Wallace revealed their secret to finding balance between fitness and parenthood.

Gold Coast fitness model Sophie Guidolin has proved that there’s no excuse for mothers not to exercise after pregnancy

The couple have four kids together, including two-year-old twin daughters Evie and Aria

The couple have four kids together, including two-year-old twin daughters Evie and Aria

The couple revealed their secret to finding balance between fitness and family

The couple revealed their secret to finding balance between fitness and family

‘So I try and get up early before the girls wake up. We get the kids off to school, and then we leave for work,’ she explained.

‘We all eat dinner together as a family.’

Despite running their own business, Nathan said he always rushes home after work so he can spend quality time with his children.

‘We own a gym so it’s a bit easy but I do try to make sure I fit it [exercise] in my lunch break because I obviously need to get some work done at the gym as well,’ he said.

‘I always want to make sure I’m home for dinners and be able to put them to bed. I used to train at night time but I wanted to make sure I was always there for the kids.’

The couple, who run their own gym in Burleigh Heads, have four kids together – two-year-old twin daughters Evie and Aria, Ryder, aged nine, and Kai, 10.

When asked about whether their children were fussy eaters, Sophie responded: ‘We’ve made sure that they don’t have a choice.

‘Whenever we’re cooking something, Nath would have the exact same thing that I would have that all the kids would have,’ she said. 

‘So if they don’t like something, that’s fine but we don’t make any other dinners. We always just cook the one thing and if everybody likes it, that’s great.

‘I just don’t have the time. I hear parents cooking four different meals for four different kids, and for us, it just doesn’t work.

‘So one meal on the table, if they don’t like it, that’s cool but yeah, we only make one dinner.’

Sophie is a super fit mother-of-four who has worked extremely hard for her enviable physique

Sophie is a super fit mother-of-four who has worked extremely hard for her enviable physique

When asked about whether their children were fussy eaters, Sophie responded: 'We've made sure that they don't have a choice

When asked about whether their children were fussy eaters, Sophie responded: ‘We’ve made sure that they don’t have a choice

With more than 360,000 followers on Instagram, the bodybuilding mother said she still gets negative feedback from other women.

‘I try and reiterate that we should be empowering for other women and I try my hardest to be able to show on social media how much of a juggle life actually is with kids,’ she said.

‘I definitely don’t showcase just the show reel and with four kids, it’s definitely hard. So whilst I do have a little bit of negativity on social media, the positive definitely outweighs that sort of feedback that I do get.’

Earlier this month, the bikini competitor and personal trainer explained that when she first became pregnant and moved away from home, she put on 30kg – thanks to a combination of poor nutritional choices and being in charge of her own grocery shopping for the first time. 

Speaking to Women’s Health, Sophie revealed how she lost the kilos, and the one thing that helped her to get leaner than ever.

Sophie (pictured before and after) recently revealed how she lost 30 kilograms after giving birth by tracking her macros and embracing the weights room

Sophie (pictured before and after) recently revealed how she lost 30 kilograms after giving birth by tracking her macros and embracing the weights room

The bodybuilding mother said she still gets negative feedback from other women

The bodybuilding mother said she still gets negative feedback from other women

‘It wasn’t a straight-forward path to the competitive stage,’ the Queensland-based fitness star told the publication.

How do you ‘track your macros’? 

* IIFYM, or ‘If It Fits Your Macros’ is a type of flexible dieting that helps people lose weight without feeling overly restricted. 

* Rather than focusing on calories, IIFYM tracks macronutrients instead – namely protein, fat and carbohydrates.

* In order to interpret how many macros you need to eat on a daily basis you need to use an online calculator to interpret your basic daily calorie requirement in conjunction with how much exercise you do.

 Source: Healthline

‘I suffered from “gymtimidation” and had absolutely no idea how to train when I started. I grew massive shoulders and carved obliques because they were the only body parts I knew how to train.’

Sophie said that when she first started trying to lose weight, she would ‘burn up hours on the treadmill’ and under eat in the hope that that would help her lose weight.

However, it was only when she started using the weights room properly and tracked her macros that she really noticed results.

‘Once I incorporated weight training and tracking macros, my life transformed,’ she said.

‘I realised I could eat the foods I loved and still achieve the physique I wanted. It was like a magic trick – all of a sudden, exercise transformed from a drudge to a passion, and I could eat anything I wanted.’

But when she started tracking her macros, Sophie (pictured) realised she could eat lots and as much as she wanted

Now she eats chocolates and carbohydrates every single day

But when she started tracking her macros, Sophie (pictured) realised she could eat lots and as much as she wanted – now she eats chocolates and carbohydrates every single day

This isn’t the first time that Sophie has extolled the benefits of tracking your macronutrients – or the quantities of protein, carbohydrates and fat in every single food you eat. 

Earlier this year, she explained that she swears by the approach over counting calories or dieting.

‘I was that person,’ she wrote on her blog, confessing that when she first tried to lose weight, she lived off 1,200 calories each day and was in permanent starvation mode.

‘Living off next to no calories – that chicken and broccoli lifestyle,’ she said.

But then, when she started to track her macros – and consumed 2,500 calories each day – everything changed. 

‘I increased my food – very, VERY slowly,’ she said. ‘At such a low starting point, that was the only route I could take.’

Now, Sophie said she eats everything she wants to on a daily basis – whether that’s chocolate, Nutella ‘snicker oats’ smoothies or carbohydrates. 

‘I’m at a point today where I only train 3-5 days a week which works well when juggling business, kids and a gym!,’ she wrote. 

‘Today, I can eating 2500+ calories daily, maintain a lean physique year-round and training no more than five times and usually 3-4 times a week.’



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