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Wales Online
Wales Online
Lifestyle
Eve Rowlands

Beyoncé's diet and exercise plan for getting gig-fit

It seems the whole of the UK is scrambling to get tickets for Beyoncé's Renaissance tour after its early access tickets went sale on and people in Wales are scouring the internet for tickets to her first UK show in Cardiff. The Queen of Pop – otherwise known as Queen Bey/Beyoncé Giselle Knowles – is coming to the Welsh capital's Principality Stadium on Wednesday, May 17, as part of her latest global tour, giving fans the chance to see her in real life.

And it's no secret that the pop royal is one of the world's most beautiful women – in 2019 she was deemed the second most beautiful behind Bella Hadid, according to the Daily Mail. What's more is that every performance sees the 41-year-old give a stellar show that's full of energetic dance-routines, catwalk struts on heels, and unreal vocals that have you out of breath just watching her. But how on earth does she do it?

Here we take a look into the mind-blowing ways she gets gig-fit – and some of them aren't recommended for a balanced diet nor are they realistic without a nutritionist, personal trainer, or dietician on board keeping her healthy (she is a star, after all) so don't try them at home.

Read more: Beyoncé fans must follow these rules to get tickets for Renaissance 2023 tour

It's safe to say that Beyoncé, just like us mere mortals, works hard to get her body looking as 'Flawless' as it does é and her stamina other-worldly é and bouncing back from having babies and getting in shape for a tour or even festival performance hasn't simply been a case of 'I woke up like this'.

Beyonce (Carlijn Jacobs)

Oh no é in fact she has been known to push herself to get back in shape and when she undertook film roles and performed at music festival Coachella in California in April 2018 she was known to follow very strict diet plans. For Dreamgirls in 2006 she underwent a 10-day juice cleanse called the Master Cleanse diet, which is essentially a 10-day juice cleanse. This diet requires those taking part to drink only a lemon, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper concoction and eat nothing. For Coachella she did the 22 Days Nutrition plan by trainer and exercise physiologist (and friend of Queen Bey) Marco Borges.

It saw her eating plant-based foods and limiting herself to "no bread, no carbs, no sugar, no dairy, no meat, no fish, no alcohol...". She also gave up coffee and fruit drinks. This plan doesn't give nearly enough calories recommended in a day, which adds up to 2,000-2,500 for men and women. Alongside a limited diet she went pretty hard in the gym, tackling e– as reported by Women's Health – boxing, cardio, battle ropes, and dancing of course.

After having her twins Rumi and Sir Carter – a mere six months before her prep for Coachella began – she said in an interview with Vogue Magazine in August 2018 that she was embracing her fuller curves and body unlike her first post-partum experience after having Blue Ivy, now 11. She said: "I put pressure on myself to lose all the baby weight in three months, and scheduled a small tour to assure I would do it. Looking back that was crazy."

Indeed apparently the star lost a whopping 60lb. She told fans at a concert some years ago: "Y'all have no idea how hard I worked! I had to lose 60 pounds. They had me on that treadmill. I ate lettuce!"

Beyonce on stage at Cardiff's Principality Stadium in 2018 (Robin Harper/Parkwood Entertainment/PictureGroup)

After having Rumi and Sir Carter her view changed. She told Vogue: "It’s important for women and men to see and appreciate the beauty in their natural bodies." Though later in the chat she did add: "Whenever I’m ready to get a six-pack I will go into beast zone and work my ass off until I have it."

As for when she's not in 'beast-mode' for, say, a tour, she still works out and feeds herself good food – albeit with room for a treat every now and again. According to Refinery29 Beyoncé has a penchant for pizza and has shared that it's her go-to Sunday meal. She said: "I always treat myself to one meal on Sundays when I can have whatever I want. Usually it's pizza, which is my favourite indulgence."

Now if you've ever seen a Beyoncé performance, be that in the flesh or online, you will have noticed that she often flaunts her uh-mazing legs – and rightfully so. And it seems that to get sculpted legs like hers isn't completely unattainable. Marco Borges let ELLE magazine in on her leg workout some years ago and it's oddly simple.

He recommends three sets of jumping lunges, Plié jumps, pelvic lifts, and reverse-squat kicks. This sounds too good to be true – we know – but it does come with a caveat: you will be sore.

Alongside these Beyoncé amps up her stamina by doing sprints and boxing. Marco told Glamour Magazine previously: "Sprints are ideal for building stamina and explosiveness, which B needs to move across the stage." She alternates one minute of sprinting with two minutes of brisk walking for 30 minutes."

While sprints, boxing, kettlebell workouts and body weight exercises – one such circuit that she posted on her Instagram some years ago is standing side crunches, sit-ups with a medicine ball, dumbbell punches, forward lunges and lateral bench hops (for example) – keep her fitness levels up she also has impeccable balance.

This is apparently due to her 'single-leg step-ups', reports Glamour. To do it you "step up onto a sturdy chair, bring your left knee up to your chest, and return to the start. Do four sets of 15 reps, switch sides, and repeat."

After all of that work treat yourself to a Beyoncé special to help muscles recover: a smoothie made up pea protein powder, almond milk, frozen fruit, and spinach. But despite rigorous training sessions and strict diets Beyoncé does do one thing now that makes sense: listens to her body.

She told ELLE in 2021: “In the past I spent too much time on diets with the misconception that self-care meant exercising and being overly conscious of my body. My health, the way I feel when I wake up in the morning, my peace of mind, the number of times I smile, what I’m feeding my mind and my body – those are the things that I’ve been focusing on.

"I’m learning to break the cycle of poor health and neglect, focusing my energy on my body and taking note of the subtle signs that it gives me. Your body tells you everything you need to know but I’ve had to learn to listen. It’s a process to change habits and look past the bag of chips and the chaos everywhere.” For updates on tickets for Beyoncé's tour go here.

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