When the summer is here, chances are you’ll just want to get into that bikini or trunks and lounge about on the beach. But how do you make your body beach-ready? Read on to find out.
Tips to Get the Perfect Summer Body:
Frontload Your Meals
If you are aiming to become slim, it would be best if you restrict the majority of your daily calorie-intake to the first half of the day i.e. before 3 PM. Have a big breakfast and ensure that lunch doesn’t get pushed to being too late in the afternoon. Keep dinners as light as possible. Studies have shown that people who consume the majority of their calories earlier in the day are able to lose more weight than those who consume the same amount of calories throughout the day but have heavier meals later.
Watch What You Eat
It’s a universally-known fact that you need to be mindful of your diet if you want to get into shape. But it’s easy to forget this in the face of so many culinary temptations, large and small, that you might come across during the summer. Constant vigilance is necessary when it comes to regulating your food intake. For instance, try swapping cheese and bacon for some creamy avocado slices instead. Satiate your craving for crunchies with crispy veggies, sliced carrots, and red peppers, rather than calorie-heavy salsa and chips.
Drink Up
What you drink is as important as what you eat, when it comes to watching those pounds. Perhaps the healthiest drink of them all is water. Make sure to drink two cups of water before every meal. Not only will this keep you hydrated amidst the summer heat; but, as research has shown, will lead to your consuming fewer calories during the meal. You might also want to avoid high-calorie sugary drinks like sodas, and replace them with healthy and low-calorie fresh fruit juices.
Grab a Cuppa
Caffeine sometimes gets a bad rap when one talks about health. But the truth is that caffeine when consumed in moderation, and at the right time, can be great for your body. One of the times when grabbing a cup of coffee can be particularly beneficial for you is right before a workout. Not only will the caffeine give you a much-needed jolt of extra energy, but it will also help protect your body from the harmful effects of prolonged exposure to the sun.
Yoga in the Morning
Stress causes you to hold on to fat and is thus detrimental to your efforts to get that perfect body. So why not do away with stress? It’s easier said than done of course. But regularly practising Yoga would be a good place to start, and a good way to start your day. Incorporate simple yoga techniques, like some basic stretches and lunges, into your morning routine. You’ll not only be giving your body a great workout but also clearing your mind of anxiety – both of which will go a long way towards giving you a body you can be proud of.
Crank Up the Intensity
Summers tend to make for some great outdoor weather. Why not take advantage of that, while also burning off a whole lot of calories, with some High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). Enjoy the outdoors while giving your whole body a workout with weight-lifting, push-ups, walking lunges – whatever is your preferred form of circuit training. HIIT not only enables you to immediately rid yourself of some calories but by increasing your metabolic rate, it causes you to lose additional calories in the hours that follow your workout.
Sleep Tight
Getting, and maintaining, a truly summer-worthy body requires a fair bit of work. But a fair bit of rest is a necessary prerequisite as well. In addition to numerous other physical and psychological benefits, a good night’s sleep can also keep your calorie intake low. This is because too little sleep leads to greater carb cravings during the day (as high as 50 percent more), since the more sleep-deprived you are, the more your body seeks energy through greater carbohydrate consumption. So be sure to get a good 7-8 hours of shuteye every night, and put those pesky cravings in their place!
Follow these tips to the T, and you’ll be rocking that swimwear, and your world, in no time.
