Libby Babet is one busy woman.

She runs a whopping five businesses, is a trainer on Channel TEN’s The Biggest Loser: Transformed, a qualified journalist with a spot as fitness expert for Women’s Fitness Magazine, and manages to maintain an incredibly healthy lifestyle. Oh, and did we mention she’s 37 weeks pregnant?

Whether you’re part of the BUF Girl community, a fan or just a fitness fiend, you can get your fix this Saturday, when Libby and the BUF Girls (Cassey Maynard and Sian Johnson) will be at the Canberra Centre’s EDEN for a Fitspo Masterclass. We caught up with the vivacious Libby to find out what’s in store for this weekend.

How did BUF Girls begin?

I was diagnosed with severe and chronic hypertension (basically super high blood pressure) in my early 20s and was put on a whole lot of medication to reduce symptoms, which included severe headaches, shaking, sweating, and the constant threat of potentially suffering a stroke. This affected so many areas of my life—from my health and body shape to my fertility.

I was told there wasn’t much I could do but was determined to improve the situation, so I became obsessed with researching the body, from nutrition to fitness, mindset and restorative practices.

Slowly, one day at a time, I turned things around and over a period of about eight years, I worked my way back to a place of really good health and was able to reduce and finally stop taking medication.

When I was ready to get back into fitness, I just couldn’t find any non-intimidating options—everything was super hardcore, my options were basically weight loss groups, competitive running groups, weight lifting or CrossFit! At the time, I just couldn’t find a fun, supportive, understanding group to be part of, so I decided to get qualified and start my own!

BUF stands for Beautiful, Unstoppable, Fearless and these are the three pillars that slowly brought my life back from the brink of ill physical and mental health, to a place of strength, happiness and confidence—beautiful friendships with a supportive community of women who lift each other up in a non-competitive environment, an unstoppable body that was healthy, fit and strong, capable of helping me chase any goal or adventure, and a fearless mindset that was curious and embraced challenges as they came up, viewing them as a chance to learn, rather than a problem.

Tell me about the impact that health and fitness has had on your life.

There are a number of times when health and fitness has dramatically changed the course of my life, and now eating well and staying active are firmly aligned with my values and a big part of my life culture.

What I’d love people to understand is that fitness is not what most of the industry ask you to believe it is—it’s not about ripped abs, who can lift more weight or run the fastest, it’s not about eating a certain number of calories and sharing your before and after photos, it’s not about “toughening up”, or creating a certain body shape.

What it is about is optimising your life, making you just a little bit happier every day, elevating your energy so you can chase down your dreams and go on adventures, connecting you with awesome communities and helping you shift your state when you need to. It’s one of the simplest tools you have to make your life better every day.

What makes you most proud to be a BUF Girl?

In almost a decade in business, we’ve never used dodgy marketing tactics to draw more people to our brand—no before and after photos, no crash detoxes or false promises, no hard core approach. We’ve always stood for supportive, slow, happy change that lasts, and for making women and girls everywhere feel amazing about being part of our community and showing up to their workouts. We’ve operated from a place of love and fun, not body shame or judgement.

Do you have any tricks for staying motivated on days when you’re just not feeling it?

I’m all about creating a healthy, happy life culture where movement and healthy eating are aligned with your personal values and your life vision. When you have that kind of life culture, motivation isn’t a problem—you want to move and eat well. That’s not to say you can’t have a day off and enjoy a bit of choccy from time to time, though—life’s all about balance.

What have you got planned for the Fitspo Masterclass?

I’ll be taking participants through a Masterclass on how to create a healthy, happy life culture they love, one that helps them create real change that lasts. It’ll be an inspiring but also very practical chat, with lots of takeaways people can implement immediately to start shifting the way they feel for the better.

Then comes the part our attendees should be MOST excited about—a 30-minute ABCC (Abs, Booty and CardioCrave) class with BUF Girls head trainers Cassey and Sian (check them out @bufgirls). This workout is SO much fun, it’s set to a killer playlist that will have you walking out on a natural high!

I hope everyone walks away feeling like it was one of the most fun and mindset-shifting health and fitness experiences they’ve had.

You’re clearly very successful and have put a lot of work into what you do—have you had any “pinch-me” moments?

Aww thank you! I’ve definitely had a lot of these, from the first day of my very first business back in 2010 (I now have five in the health and fitness space!), to the opening of my two studios, BUF Girls and Agoga, to our BUF annual tours with the Hit Network, and of course landing the role as a trainer in last year’s The Biggest Loser: Transformed and working with 16 incredible humans ready to change their lives.

But my biggest pinch-me moment was actually in December last year, when I fell pregnant with my first child after more than a dozen years of infertility which began when I got sick in my early twenties. I’m now due to give birth in just a few weeks’ time, and I am still pinching myself!

How has pregnancy affected your approach to health and fitness?

It’s made me respect my body a whole lot more and realise how bloody incredible women are that’s for sure. The whole pregnancy journey is SUCH a ride and I feel so very lucky to have been able to experience it. It’s slowed me down and motivated me more all at the same time.

There seems to be a big shift in the fitness industry towards self-love and body positivity—do you think it’s possible to be body positive while working to lose weight or change your body composition?

Absolutely! In fact, I believe that sometimes you do need to shift your physical state to shift your mental state and vice-versa…body and mind are not separate things, they work hand-in-hand and you need to look at your entire wellbeing, not just one part of it. This is why so many people yo-yo with their weight, or with their mental state. You need to address the entire person and align your health with your values and motivations.

What are you most looking forward to about the Masterclass?

This will be my very last masterclass and our last BUF Girls workout experience before I give birth to my baby and take some time off, so I’m super excited to help create change for one last wonderful group of people —plus, I’ve never been to Canberra, so I’m pretty excited to meet the community down there and give them a workout experience that’s completely unique to anything they’ve done before!

The essentials

What: Fitspo Masterclass with Libby Babet and the BUF Girls
Where: EDEN at the Canberra Centre, Level 1 near Country Road
When: Saturday 1 September 2018, 10:30am to 12:00pm, and 1:00pm to 2:30pm
How much: $30, including a copy of Libby Babet’s book Totally BUF (RRP $27).
Book: canberracentre.com.au

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