Are you ready for the summer?
The summer season can bring a lot of stress for many people. Usually, you’re showing a bit more skin and that may make you a little uncomfortable.
Maybe you took a little time over the winter to relax on your diet.
Maybe you just want to see a little tone.
Maybe you’re ready to finally take on the change you need.
Maybe you’ve never felt comfortable in a bikini or shorts.
Whatever your reasoning is, I want to help you get summer ready.
So what should you do to get yourself shredded for summer?? Keep reading!
1. Create a deficit.
Track your intake for 3-5 days. Wherever you are at, you’re going to cut 20% of those calories from a combination of your carbs and fats.
If you don’t track, then watch this video to explore other means of tracking, but to be the MOST successful, you need to be aware of what’s going into your body. Key to losing weight is you need to be in a deficit...and how will you know you’re in a deficit without knowing how much food you’re eating on a given day. One day you could eat 1500 calories, the next 2500. If your maintenance caloric expenditure is 2000 calories, then you’re still averaging that and won’t see any results.
If you choose not to track, then simply cut out some carbs and fats from every meal. Don’t cut protein! Protein helps keep you full longer, fights cravings, and also helps maintain body composition so you’re losing your muscle composition when losing weight.
Ex. Instead of your usual bagel with butter and 2 eggs for breakfast, you’d have half the bagel and butter (but keep the eggs!!). Instead of chicken, 1c rice, broccoli, 1 tbsp olive oil, and 1/2 avocado dinner, eat half a cup of rice and again half the serving of olive oil and avocado.
2. Hydrate
It’s likely you’re not hydrated. Water intake will do a number of things. It will help flush out built up crap in your body, creating a healthy environment for your body to lose weight. It will assist in digestion and other organs. It will also help keep you full. Aim to drink roughly 100oz/day!
3. Veggies
Veggies provide you all the vitamins and minerals that your body needs. The assist with digestion. They help your liver detox itself naturally. The healthier you are, the easier it is to lose weight because inflammation is low. The higher the inflammation (i.e. stress), the harder it will be to convince your body that it’s okay to lose weight. Remember, your body doesn’t know what stress you’re experiencing. For all it knows, you’re starving in the tundra, so it won’t want to get rid of crucial body fat so easily.
The biggest advantage veggies bring to the table (great pun) is the caloric density. You need to create a deficit. Veggies don’t have as many calories and carbs per serving…meaning you can eat more! One of the easiest ways to create a deficit to lose weight, while also learning great eating habits, is to switch out some (not all) of your starchy carbs for veggies. For every cup of pasta you eat, you could eat 10 cups of broccoli. That’s plenty to create a hearty meal that keeps you full longer.
Take half of your carbs at each meal and replace with vegetables. Examples include sweet potato,
brussels sprouts, kale, cauliflower, peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, beets, the list goes on and on.
4. Booze
Booze makes you hold weight. It serves the opposite function of veggies. Veggies hydrate. Booze dehydrates. Veggies provide fiber. Alcohol is known as the “anti-fiber”. Veggies have very little calories/serving. Alcohol has a ton of calories/serving. Veggies help you lose weight. Alcohol does not.
Want to get summer shredded? Take a hiatus from drinking. If you can go anywhere from one to three months without drinking, then you’ll be markedly more successful. If that’s unrealistic, limit to 1 day/week or a max of 3 drinks/week.
5. Refeed
Cravings are real. Binges are real. They’re not a sign that you’re weak. They’re a sign that you’re a human being and your body is craving food.
Hunger is normal. You should be hungry in a deficit. That is a sign that your metabolism is still high and hasn’t adjusted to its new intake. Once you lose hunger, that’s a sign that your body is downregulating and turning off important hormones and will need to come out of the diet.
The solution is to program in breaks and refeeds. One day a week, eat a normal amount. If you’re counting calories and macros, then go back to maintenance for one day. If not, then go back to the normal amount of food you typically ate before trying to lose weight.
This isn’t a binge or something you can uncontrollably eat whatever is in sight. It’s just a planned day of higher calories, just to press the reset button.
6. Lift weights
Workout. Lift weights. Move your body and move it well. Not only does lifting burn more fat than cardio, it also keeps you and your muscles and bones healthy and strong.
There you have it: 6 key steps to getting summer ready! IF you’re not wanting to do it all by yourself, then don’t worry!! Apply today for coaching so you can love that bathing suit on ya this year.
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