Carnival 2025 is in high gear, and the rush to get fit to look good and keep up the energy on the road on Monday and Tuesday is on.

Fitness professional Kerine Farmer says while losing weight may be part and parcel of keeping healthy, attempting to lose a lot of weight in a short space of time may not be such a good idea.

"People need to understand that if you're talking about losing weight in a healthy way, you're talking about losing anywhere from half a pound to two pounds a week.

"With just a few weeks before you're on the road for Carnival...if you're expecting to lose more than that, you're going to have to do something very aggressive and very drastic and most likely unhealthy.

"We need to be realistic about our expectations, especially if you want to do it in a healthy way.

[caption id="attachment_1133947" align="alignnone" width="1008"] Fitness professional Kerine Farmer is certified in a number of fitness areas, among them kettlebell and suspension training. -[/caption]

Farmer has been doing fitness training since 2016, and is certified in a number of fitness areas, among them kettlebell and suspension training, as well as CIRCL mobility – a mobility and flexibility programme designed to help the body move in the way it's intended to.

"I used to combine teaching lunch-time fitness classes at my corporate job, and then when the company that I was working for downsized, I joined the industry full-time in 2018."

She offers CIRCL mobility class online on Wednesdays at 6.30 pm and one-on-one personal training at her clients at their homes.

"But my services are such that if you want to set up a group class on your own time, and I have a slot for it, I would do it. But as of now, the only group training that I have that's ongoing is the CIRCL mobility class."

Farmer says nutrition plays a major role in losing weight in a healthy way.

She advises people whose fitness programmes are specifically geared toward meeting their goal by March 3 and 4, "You should calculate how much you could realistically lose in that time...Reduce your portion sizes of food and make sure there are vegetables on your plate, as well as complex carbohydrates – the type of carbs that have a lot of fibre, like ground provision.

"There should also be lean proteins – not the fried stuff, not the breaded stuff, not the processed deli meats and stuff like that.

"You should have three meals a day that incorporate those things, and you should avoid mid-meal snacking unless it's fruits or some kind of vegetables with low caloric dip or dressing.

"If you're drinking anything, it should be a low calorie beverage with no added sugar. Drink lots of water."

Farmer said although you can lose weight without exercise, you can't build muscle without exercise.

"You always want to make sure that you're trying to preserve as much muscle mass as possible."

In this case she advises prioritising weight training over cardio.

[caption id="attachment_1133948" align="alignnone" width="473"] Kerine Farmer: Attempting to lose a lo