It Takes Grit…and Grace with Fitness Expert, YouTuber & Mindset Coach Rebecca-Louise Smith (VIDEO)

Fitness personality and wildly popular YouTuber Rebecca-Louise Smith had her mind set on conquering one of the biggest feats known to anyone on planet Earth: climbing Mount Everest in May.

But her ambitious plan changed in March, due to the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic. The British expat who moved to Southern California at the age of 23 found herself coming back from a workout class “crying because I just didn’t know what I was supposed to do.”

“I was lost,” she recalls. “But then I had a little chat with myself and I said, ‘Rebecca, OK what do you need to do. You need to adapt and you need to do whatever you need to do to be able to help serve these people.”

“These people” are Rebecca’s fervent fanbase and clients. She’s become one of the most successful fitness influencers and YouTube stars to date, with over 600,000 YouTube subscribers, more than 500 thousand Instagram followers and over 17 thousand Twitter followers.

Rebecca-Louise Smith, who initially moved to California to be a pilot, tells In The Zone that she attributes her success to “saying yes to every opportunity, figuring it out as I went along the way” despite whatever obstacles life threw in her path.

“I feel like I’ve always had this innate drive,” she begins. “When I moved to America at 23 years old, I’d never flown a plane before. I moved to London out of my small hometown (Eastbourne, England) at 19 years old to work for a bank. I’d gone through an eating disorder. I’d gone through a divorce. I’d gone through being a party animal. Toxic relationships. I just felt like I was able to keep bouncing back. I was just able to keep showing up.”

Bouncing Back

With her platform on YouTube, Rebecca-Louise wants others to show up too, even if in the comfort of one’s bedroom or living room, with her encouraging fitness, nutrition and advice videos.

When it comes to Rebecca’s fitness videos, viewers, both familiar and new, will find that they are no longer than 45 minutes. Many of her most-watched workouts clock in under 15 minutes, like her “6 Pack Abs in 10 Min (no equipment)” video published in February with over 179,000 views.

“Yes, the videos are short,” Rebecca notes, “but what I’ve found is that people wanna do one video and they’re like, ‘I’ve done one ten minute one. I’ll just do another one. I’ll do a fifteen minute one. I’m gonna add a five minute one on. I’ll do one more ten minute.’ And before they know it, they’ve done 45 minutes of working one and they didn’t even realize.”

But, it’s equally important to Rebecca-Louise Smith, that her viewers find comfort.

“I just feel it’s my duty to show up and help people, give them that boost. ‘Cause most people are feeling down. They’re feeling anxious about something, something’s worrying them. But if you change your physiological state and get excited about life, you’re gonna be excited about doing a workout as well.”

Finding meal plans that last forever

Rebecca’s thoughts on nutrition are just as matter-of-fact, but when her attention is tuned towards athletes, each meal plan is mapped out differently for every individual client.

Rebecca-Louise’s brother was a professional soccer player in England and is one of her coaches. They both follow strict nutrition regimens.

“We work specifically to dial in the right nutrition plan for somebody who’s going to be a cardio athlete, somebody who’s going to be doing strength training. Each client will come to me and they’ll have a different goal. Me and my brother know how important it is, especially if you’re an athlete, to feed your body the right nutrition because it will change the way that you play, it will change your recovery time, it will change how you’re able to show up for training. Those things are very specific to the individual,” Rebecca adds.

For everyday clients signed up to her B.T.E.S. app or customized nutrition plans found through her website, Rebecca-Louise Smith stresses the importance of finding “something that you can maintain forever,” instead of filtering through a number of short-lived diet plans.

“Find something you can actually do forever. For me it’s eating a healthy, balanced nutrition plan. It’s not limiting yourself, so you can’t eat carbs, you can’t eat fat. It’s everything just in balance,” she explains.

“If you go on a diet and you come off it, what happens — you go back to eating how you were before and you’re gonna put that weight back on,” says Rebecca-Louise Smith. ” If you just feed your body good nutrition on a daily basis and occasionally you have a treat here and there you’re gonna lose weight, you’re gonna feel better and you’re gonna be fueling your body with the right nutrition. If you’re not eating anything you’re gonna get hangry, you’re not focused for the day. Yes, obviously you’ll consume less calories if you’re only eating through a period of time. But then you’ve gotta do that for the rest of your life.”

Eating a healthy breakfast is also key for Rebecca, who says that doing so “is probably the most important thing because it’s gonna maintain your blood sugar level. It’s gonna set you up for the day. So if you’re skipping breakfast, your blood sugar’s gonna spike.”

It Takes Grit

A worldwide pandemic may have stopped Rebecca-Louise Smith from climbing Mount Everest, but she didn’t let it halt her first book, It Takes Grit, from being published. The “practical no-BS guide” is Rebecca’s latest effort to helping others take control of their lives, physically, emotionally and mentally. During a time where things appear uncertain, Rebecca is more than ever keen to embrace her role as a fitness expert turned mindset coach and author who moved on a whim to America with stars in her eyes and flight school on the brain.

Photo courtesy to Claudia Landis

“The whole point of being a fitness person is to help other people— inspire them to workout, to move their body, to lose weight, to tone up, whatever it is that they want to give them confidence. What have you gone through that you can share with other people? What are you excited about? What are you passionate about?” she says.

“It’s up to you,” Rebecca further states. “If you really do want to make a change, it’s your choice. You can! You have to take a hundred percent responsibility with zero excuses. Just take a step. You don’t even have to feel like it’s in the right direction. Take a step forward, to the side, wherever it is and boom you’re gonna get unstuck. You’re gonna start to make that progress.”

“I moved away to try and change…but it’s really you who has to change, not your environment.”

Connect with Rebecca-Louise Smith

To discover more about Rebecca-Louise Smith, including advice for aspiring fitness influencers and YouTubers, the celebrity she’d love to work with if given the opportunity, common mistakes people tend to do at the gym, and much more, watch this full interview.

For more information on Rebecca-Louise and her fitness and nutrition coaching plans, check out the following links:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCi0AqmA_3DGPFCu5qY0LLSg

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rebeccalouisefitness/?hl=en

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RebeccaLouise

Rebecca-Louise’s Website: https://rebecca-louise.com/

Rebecca-Louise’s book, It Takes Grit, is available to purchase in bookstores and to order via Amazon and Rebecca’s website now.