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Couples that lift together stay together?
By Shannon Ullman — Written on Sep 11, 2022
This duo can attest to that as they have been deemed the world's fittest couple. What a title!
Hailing from Britain, Simeon Panda was deemed the seventh most influential fitness professional on the globe in 2017. He was only 30 years old at the time and had started blogging about his fitness journey in 2013.
With such a short blogging career, it hadn’t taken him long to build up a massive following of 8 million people across his different social channels. Not only is Panda impressive at the gym, but his passion has led him to launch a career in sportswear, e-books, and gym accessories.
His girlfriend, Chanel Coco Brown, shares the spotlight with him as this London-based couple is constantly turning heads on the streets and in the gym. Brown also has her own blog.
In a 2017 interview, Panda said that he met Brown, now 27, about five years prior to the interview.
“We first met in 2012 and I was blown away by how beautiful Chanel was inside and out. We had a great first date but for whatever reason, we didn't get together. Our second date didn't take place until late 2014. We hit it off and within a few months became a couple,” he said.
They hit the gym together and keep each other motivated to work out hard. “We work out together daily and push each other to perform our best during workouts,” says Panda.
So, what does it take to get as ripped as Simeon Panda? Well, you’ll have to hit the gym, every single day. That’s right, he works out seven days a week for a minimum of one hour, and a maximum of an hour-and-a-half.
During that time, he tends to focus on one muscle group per day. And he keeps his diet healthy about 95 percent of the time. While he doesn’t count calories, Panda says that he thinks he consumes about 4,000 calories each day.
When talking about what he eats, Panda says, “I don’t have a bodybuilder’s diet; I have a healthy eating diet. I eat a whole range of good, healthy, clean foods that not only keeps me trim but also allow me to steadily grow over a long period of time. I eat medium-sized meals five to six times a day consisting of whole grain rice, chicken, fish, and not so often, beef, all with a healthy portion of asparagus, spinach, broccoli... Dinners are always more interesting, from a seafood stir fry to a spinach lasagna.”
Brown’s diet is pretty much the same, except that her portions are much smaller.
Panda goes on to say, “Chan’s diet plan is almost the same as mine; however, I just eat copious amounts more and with bigger portions. Our diet is healthy 95 percent of the time, our regular meals are high in protein with whole grain carbs and a substantial portion of vegetables. A typical meal could be a power bowl of stir-fried diced chicken breast in olive oil, with butternut squash, beetroot, kale and whole grain brown rice.”
Despite the super-clean eating, these fitness gurus know that treating themselves is important for their health as well.
“At least once or twice a week I'll eat whatever I want; it's not a set day or time, it's simply when I feel like it. With eating clean healthy food 95 percent of the time, these cheat snacks or meals won't affect my goals of maintaining a defined physique. I also feel it's necessary to indulge in treats now and then as part of a healthy lifestyle,” Panda says.
And it seems like the super-fit couple's relationship is still going strong — so strong, in fact, that they'll be getting married sometime this year. The couple made the announcement through Panda's YouTube channel in July 2019, with a proposal video that's racked up over a million views.
So, if you want to look as good as the world’s fittest couple, you better hit the gym every day and watch what you eat. But don’t forget to treat yo’ self!
Shannon Ullman is a writer who focuses on women’s health, lifestyle, and relationships.
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Editor's Note: This article was originally posted on April 28, 2017.