A day in the life of Zanna Van Dijk…

We catch up with PT, Instagram star and WHL fave Zanna Van Dijk to see what it’s like to live a day in her shoes…

Q. What time do you usually get up and what’s the first thing you do when you wake up?

A. I usually get up at 5am for my morning personal training clients. I have to admit that the first thing I do is check my phone. Then I roll out of bed, drink some water and start my day.

Q. What do you eat for breakfast? What do you drink?

A. I usually have oats with protein powder, peanut butter, berries and maybe even a piece of dark chocolate melted on top. I also make a coffee with almond milk or a cup of berry tea – depending on whether I need the caffeine hit.

Q. How do you get to work?

A. I walk for about 20-25 minutes. It is a gorgeous walk over Battersea Bridge and I get to see the sunrise over London. During this I listen to educational podcasts about nutrition.

Q. Where do you work? 

A. I work out of Lomax gym in Chelsea.

Q. What do you do when you get to work? 

A. I usually have one to three morning clients. Then I will train myself and then go about my day. What happens after work changes every single day. I could be designing a menu, filming with a brand, doing a shoot, going to meetings or blogging. Anything and everything. It is very varied and I love it!

Q. What do you eat for lunch? 

A. I make my lunch in the morning after I eat breakfast. It changes, but usually it’s based around meat, veggies and carbs – such as chicken, rice, salad. I take this in tupperware.

Q. What do you do in the evening?

A. I have evening clients from about 5pm till 9pm. Then I get home at 9.30ish, eat, do emails, plan client sessions for the next day, and go to bed.

Q. What do you usually do when you get home?

A. I eat first! Then I do my emails, which have built up during the day. Then I plan client sessions for the next day and plan the next day out – timings, meeting locations, etc. Then I spend time with my housemates, chat and go to sleep.

Q. What do you eat for dinner?

A. This varies. Again, it’s based around meat, veg and carbs (e.g. lean beef bolognese packed with veggies and served with rice). I always have dessert too, which switches from yoghurt with toppings, to oats, to casein pudding, to anything I fancy…. even chocolate!

Q. When do you usually do your workouts? What sort of workouts do you do?

A. This depends completely on the day. I might do it after morning clients, but sometimes I start later and can do it first thing. Other times I can squeeze it in after evening clients if I finish early. Often I can’t train at all… it is a struggle sometimes to fit it in! I always plan it in the night before though. My secret to being efficient is my daily ‘to do’ list, which I do every night for the next day. This includes everything from the time I wake up, my clients, when I train, what I eat, where my meetings are, journey times, etc. It really keeps me on track.