Summer is fast approaching and when you’re forced to face the fact that you might have to get into a swimsuit soon, the idea of getting fit might be daunting. But have no fear, here’s a quick and easy way to jump start your summer tone up goals!
• First things first, look over your cupboards and refrigerator and remove or giveaway any unhealthy foods that will make you look and feel not your best. Those foods include, but are not limited to, processed carbs (breads, pasta, cookies, cereals, chips, bars, crackers etc), sugary foods (desserts, pastry, pie, ice cream, candy, chocolate, sugary fruits like bananas and watermelon etc), and processed foods in general (frozen pizza, mac and cheese, egg rolls, etc). When you remove these temptations, it’ll be easier to stay on track even at your weak moments.
• Next, get food delivery or go grocery shopping so that your refrigerator is filled with healthy foods. If you’re too busy to chop and cook, stock up on pre-cut vegetables like onions, mushrooms, pre-washed spinach, pre-cut broccoli, cauliflower, etc. You can even go to the store and get pre-made salads or soups and protein choices like roasted chicken so it’s easy to just grab something healthy at home because you have nothing but healthy options at home. Don’t leave foods in your kitchen that you know you cannot say no to if you are hungry or having cravings. This way, it’ll make it harder for you to eat unhealthy foods; the more obstacles you put up between you and unhealthy foods the better.
• Finally, for exercise, just start easy. Try doing some push ups or sit ups or crunches or lift light weights during commercials for TV shows. Or if you don’t have time to watch TV, try getting a treadmill desk at work or sit on a core ball instead of chair at your desk to strengthen core while working or take 5-10 minute breaks at work to walk up and down one flight of stairs maybe 5-10 times every 2-3 hours to get in some exercise daily or do squats while you’re on a conference call where you don’t have to be as engaged. These are the beginnings of establishing healthy habits.
• If you have time, consider getting online and trying out those 15-minute workout apps or even just try putting on music at home and dancing around your living room for 15 minutes per day to start and slowly work up to 30 minutes per day to get in your cardio to lose that winter weight and tighten up.
Now, these are just tips as a jumping off starting point. Ideally, living healthy should be a year-round lifestyle pattern but life happens and sometimes you might have a hard time staying on track. So, try to use these tips throughout the year, and not just during summer, to get yourself back on track whenever you’ve veered off from your usual healthy track. Once you’re doing well with this and seeing progress, you’ll probably want to ramp up your diet and exercise goals and that’s great!
But just remember to be safe and get a trainer or talk to your doctor to make sure that what you’re doing isn’t going to be too much too soon, because our goal is to have you moving and eating well always, not just in spurts of extremes. With healthy goals in mind, I hope that you’ll start to look forward to swimsuit season at beaches instead of dreading it!
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