Summer is upon us. This means you will be reviewing your wardrobe and getting ready to air your summer clothes. Plus, there is a very high chance you have booked, or are booking, a well-deserved holiday. Looking great and feeling confident is really important when the summer months arrive. During the autumn and winter months it is easy to cover up and hide away. But with warmer UK temperatures imminent as well as the heat of foreign climates, there has never been a better time to turn your attention to getting your body summer ready.
There are two key ways you can whip your figure into shape so you are ready and full of confidence. The first is making essential changes to your diet. And the second is through exercising right. So with this in mind, let’s take a closer look at The QHotels Collection team’s super quick summer slimming tips:
1. Diet. Don’t cut back or starve your body. However, address diet issues head on. So start the day with a healthy and nutritious breakfast. The best breakfasts include porridge, bananas, yoghurt, eggs, oily fish and avocado. Avoid sugary breakfast cereals (or skipping breakfast!) and opt for natural choices instead.
Lunch and dinner should always include lean proteins, unrefined / whole carbohydrates and plenty of vegetables, pulses, legumes and salad, which is a great way to fill up on just a few calories. And say goodbye to takeaways, ready meals and fast foods as they are laden with fat, sugar, salt and calories, as well as refined carbohydrates (cakes, biscuits, pizza, white bread, white rice, white pasta etc.) which are full of sugars. These are all bad news if you are on a weight loss campaign. So switch to cooking healthy and low calorie meals, and incorporating unrefined carbohydrates (brown rice, brown bread, wholemeal pasta, quinoa, pulses, legumes, jacket potatoes etc.) instead.
Keep a close eye on both your portion sizes and also your daily calorie intake. Women should have no more than 2000 calories per day and for men it is 2500 calories per day. Remember, drinks all add up too, especially your favourite cappuccino, latte and fizzy pop. And it is worth giving up, or at least drastically cutting back, your alcohol intake. Alcohol is full of empty calories which your body turns to fat.
Make sensible snack swaps, such as unsalted nuts, fruit, vegetable sticks and hummus in place of crisps, chocolate and pastries. It is important to keep your blood sugar levels stable throughout the day as this helps with weight loss. So regular mealtimes with healthy snacks in between is advised.
2. Exercise. Burning calories and toning up will lead to weight loss. However, if you are looking for super quick results then it is time to start thinking about how to exercise smart.
High intensity interval training (or HIIT as it is otherwise known) is taking the world by storm. It’s a brilliant way to squeeze exercise into your daily schedule. Each HIIT workout lasts a maximum of 30-minutes. But because the focus is on short, sharp and super intense workouts you will spend the entire session working your body harder than you ever would in a normal gym workout. A serious combination of cardiovascular and resistance work with quick rests in-between will see you burning a vast number of calories, as well as toning your muscles and boosting your metabolism.
Furthermore, try to incorporate more physical activity into your daily routine. For example, go for a 30-minute jog or power walk after lunch. The benefits of jogging and power walking are definitely not to be dismissed, and this is easily something you can do at work or home. Both jogging and power walking will help to tone the muscles in your core and legs, as well as burning off plenty of calories. And why not think ‘exercise’ all day long! Take the stairs rather than the lift. Get up and move around more often. There are plenty of ways to get more active.