It's only April I hear you saying but at Kick Start we start to discuss getting prepared for your holidays and what/what not to do. I start to get them in the right mind-set/prepared and to write down their goals so here are.....
My Top 10 Tips to get you Summer Ready!
1. Start now don't wait till 2 weeks before your holidays.
Stop waiting until the last minute then try and starve yourself and exercise like crazy!
I see this all the time and its madness, your body doesn’t work that way, in fact starving yourself before then bingeing on holiday is a sure way to come back even bigger than you were before! Just start now introducing little steps until it becomes a habit then move on to another.
2. Swap those sugary drinks and caffeine laden drinks for water with sliced lemon and lime to flavour and herbal teas. You will be amazed how much this can make a difference and how a simple change like this can dramatically reduce your calorie and sugar intake hence losing some inches.
3. Increase your protein and veg/salad portions and decrease...….
Decrease your refined carbs especially bread and pasta and swap for more of a natural starchy carb eg brown rice, sweet potato etc and fill up on your protein, veg and salads. When looking at your plate the largest portion on your plate should be veg/salad then your protein then only a small section of starchy carbs.
4. Get lifting those weights.
Get some weight sessions, this is the only way to tighten, lift and change the shape of your body to make it wobble free. It’s one thing looking good and feeling slim in clothes but how do you look when you are stripped off? Weights really will help with this.
5. Walk as much as possible.
Walk as much as possible, ditch the car, plan some leisurely family walks etc. Leisure walking really helps reduce the stress hormone cortisol which in excess can prevent us losing weight so not good! Our ancestors walked all the time and they never had a weight problem so get walking!
6. Increase your fluid intake.
Drink 2-3 litres of water a day, that can include fluid intake from herbal teas as well ... but even more if exercising or in hot weather. If our body is even slightly dehydrated it puts extra demands on the liver to help the kidneys out instead of it doing its job of metabolising fat.
7. Snack on healthy snacks.
Ditch the sugary and fat laden snacks for nuts, fruits, slices of protein, protein bars, Greek yoghurt, veg dipped in hummus etc...
8. Don’t skip meals.
Skipping meals is a sure way to set yourself up for over eating and binging at your next meal so don’t do it! Plus if you consistently skip meals your body will fight back by storing fat not burning it!
9. If you fall off track just jump straight back in.
Don't think everything is ruined because you ate something you shouldn't, or had a bad day or even a bad week! Realise it takes more than one binge or a couple to spoil all your efforts so far, just like a couple of workouts isn’t going to give you the body of your dreams! Just jump straight back in give yourself a break, move on and remember you are only human and only ever a meal or a workout away to reset those hormones to burn fat.
10. Finally love your body.
I know this can sound corny but love your body, it’s amazing! The more you beat yourself up about things the more you are likely to be depressed ditch workouts and reach for that biscuit tin. We all have flaws and things we are not happy with, but learn to love what God gave you!
Enjoy the process and journey of change.
There is nothing sexier than self-confidence.
There you have it, my top 10 tips to help you get summer ready.
Remember if you feel overwhelmed with all the above steps you don't have to do them all at once just focus in on one until it becomes a habit then move on to the next and if you start now you will have plenty of time!!
So let’s get cracking....
Remember I am here to help you. Try one of my 7 day programmes to get you on track.
