Pay attention ladies!!
We are only 12 weeks away from the official start of summer. This means we need to start doubling down our efforts and finally get ourselves into the beach body we want for the summer holidays.
Good news though, we have plenty of time if we start now to get the body you want. Here are our top nine tips on how to do just that.
- Exercise the BIG Movements
If you are looking for ultimate fat loss, then we need to start exercising the most ‘Bang for your Buck’ exercises which work the biggest muscles in the body. This means lots of squats, presses and pulls. These exercises involve much more muscle and burns a lot more calories when you do them compared to things like bicep curls. This means you will be burning more calories during your exercise, but you will also be enhancing your metabolism by preserving a large amount of your muscle tissue.
- Try out intervals
In an effort to spark some form of weight/fat loss, many people turn towards long distance running. This is mainly because it is very to start doing compared to other forms of exercise. However, this type of running is very time consuming, not very effective and can easily become boring. As an alternative, try doing shorter, intense bursts of 30-60 second of exercise followed by rest. This style of training is much more time effective and it will also enhance your fat burning because it gives you a large after-burn effect so that your body burns calories at an accelerated rate during the 24-48 hours post workout recovery period.
- Get your Shuteye
You may not realise it, but sleep can very often be linked to the reason why some have such a large body fat percentage. This is because if you deprive yourself of decent sleep then your cortisol levels will rise up. Increased cortisol levels increases your appetite and can trigger cravings for high-fat, high-sugar foods. To make sure you get some good sleep then, you need to make sure your room is completely dark and quiet with a cool temperature. This will give you a better chance of getting a really good sleep.
- Higher in Protein, and Lower in Carbs
Protein is super important when it comes to creating an awesome physique because it reduces hunger, makes you feel fuller for longer and preserves your muscle whilst you are eating in a calorie deficit to lose fat. Also it is important to limit the amount of unhealthy carbs you consume, as these can mess with your hormones and lead to over-eating. So ditch the cake, biscuits, crisps, bread, pasta, sweets, chocolate and keep to your healthy carbs like sweet potato, brown rice, quinoa, white potato, pumpkin and chickpeas.
- Veggies at EVERY MEAL
When it comes to fat loss, vegies are massively important. Firstly, veggies are not very high in calories (34 calories in 100g Broccoli) and so you are able to eat a large amount of them without eating that many calories. This will help to keep you full and not starving whilst in a calorie deficit. Secondly, they will give you lots of fibre, vitamins and minerals that will get your body thriving and feeling good with consistent energy levels. So plan to get you leafy greens, cruciferous veggies, peppers, cucumbers, berries, etc to ensure you get some really good quality nutrition in you.
- NO Meal Skipping
Another common tactic used to lose weight/fat is to skip meals. The theory is simple, eat one less meal and I will eat less calories. Resulting in fat loss right?
Technically yes, but this tactic often backfires. Because those who often try and skip complete meals will suffer much greater cravings and desires to binge, of which will set everything you are working for back again.
- No Low Calorie Diets
Similarly to skipping meals, another futile tactic used is to go super low with calorie intake. This never really works (not in the long run anyway) because the body follows suit and down regulates its metabolism and starts to send messages to the brain to limit physical activity. This means you start to feel lazy, tired and hungry very quickly.
- Do the little things
Doing the little things will take you a long way towards your awesome physique. Building up some good, healthy habits is always helpful in maintaining a healthy lifestyle and body. Three habits that I highly recommend you start are being mindful of portion sizes, writing a food diary and chewing each bite at least 10 times. Doing this will be much better for you and your body than skipping meals or dropping calories super low.
- Be the boss of your choices
When it comes to fat loss, and quickly, is that some can become impatient, lose focus and give up. As a result, it is common for some to start blaming others or their situation for the lack of results they have seen. But if you want to build habits that are going to mean something and really stick, then you have to take make the decision and take responsibility for them. This eliminates guilt with the decisions you make about food because you have made the conscious decision to eat certain things and makes you entirely responsible for your own actions.