3 Tips to get Summer Ready

As the warmer weather heats up and the days become longer, we are seeing ourselves spending more time outdoors and socialising. Having said that, some of us may be feeling a little self-conscious that we were not in the best shape we hoped to be in especially, being beach ready.

Feeling good should not come at a cost of sweating it out at the gym everyday and eating zero calories but creating new habits to support your mindset change. Here are 3 key things you should be doing to get you in the healthiest mindset for Summer.  

1. Food and Hydration
Something we think we may have covered until we actually write it down on paper, what it is that we actually eat. It may come to you as a small surprise that you may not be eating a balanced diet every day which includes the following:
- Protein
- Carbohydrates
- Healthy Fats
- Vitamins
- Minerals

Now, when we actually want to lose a bit of weight, we should also consider that it needs to be a new Healthy Eating Habit that can be continued after the goal weight has been lost. Therefore, a diet of chicken, broccoli and brown rice every day for the next couple of months is not sustainable and you will come across a day of binge eating that would turn into regret.

Other things to consider would be to cut out or reduce caffeine, sugar and alcohol. Although it may be a struggle to eliminate these all at once, you can definitely try stopping one and then the other. There are also so many great alternatives to substitute the real thing. For example, caffeine to decaf, so many brands are doing great decaf now. Swapping sugar to sugar free or opting to try vegan desserts which always have some sort of cocoa base to them helping you with those chocolate cravings and then alcohol to alcohol-free drinks. Gone are the days where you could only find one brand of non-alcoholic beer, now there are so many that actually taste like beer.

Stay away or limit your take-away meals.  Choosing healthy take away options and avoiding snacking unless you’re topping up with veggie sticks and a handful of healthy nuts.

Lastly, you have heard it many times before but hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Drink that 3L of water a day. I was definitely someone who could not manage 3L of water until I got a bottle with the intake on it to keep me in check. So much easier than counting actual glasses of water.  

2. Cardio Fitness
You either love it or hate it, but doing cardio is one of those things that we should all reconsider adding to our fitness regime. First and foremost, cardiovascular fitness is the ability to handle aerobically challenging situations of varying duration. The easier it is to pump blood through your body, the less taxing it is on your heart. There are also many heart benefits of exercise such as:
- Exercise lowers blood pressure
- Helps lower stress
- It’s a key to weight control
- Helps strengthen muscles
- Can slow the development of diabetes

If you’re someone who needs to add cardio into their routine, start by adding a 20-minute jog into your day, but don’t push yourself to do it every day because that’s just setting yourself up for failure. Try every other day and then increase your time and move from a jog to a run. If running is not your thing yet, there are a whole lot of other cardio exercises you could do and or alternate, such as cycling, boxing and then there are many group cardio classes you could try such as RUN Athletic, Pursuit and StudioONE. When we exercise our body releases chemicals called Endorphins, the “Happy Hormones”.

3. Sleep
Sleep is important for losing weight. A lack of sleep can increase appetite by changing hormones, making us more likely to eat unhealthy foods (hello midnight snacking, you naughty thing), and influences how body fat is lost while counting our calories.

There are so many features on our phone and apps that can help assist us in getting ourselves ready for an early bedtime. Like our food changes, you do not have to commit to complete time change but gradually bring your sleep time 30 minutes earlier than the night before. A healthy recommended amount of sleep is 7–9 hours per night so start today if you’re someone managing less.

Making these 3 changes to your everyday lifestyle will not only help you get your body ready for Summer, but it will be a long term change that your mind and body will thank you for.