by Samantha Montpetit-Huynh

So there’s no denying it – summer is around the corner!  In case you haven’t noticed, people are walking around in less and less clothing. And if you are like many, you glance around you at all the cute tops, flirty dresses and sexy tanks some women are wearing and think to yourself, “wouldn’t that be nice?”

Apart from the (very small) percentage of women who are just naturally long and lean,  if you want to be, look and feel fit, you need to work hard for it.  The good news is – it’s not too late!

But you also have to be realistic.  If you’re looking for noticeable change and soon, you need to accept that there will have to be some significant sacrifices made in order to achieve the fitness results you want.

But I need to lay some ground rules; doing too much of anything will create a deficit in some form or another and can cause more harm than good.

Here are some of my best tips to get healthy and in shape for summer:

1.  Put the treats away.

If you want to lose pounds, burn body fat and look lean, nibbling on “just one cookie” can make or break your success. Fat loss is a very specific system but not rocket science. If you put crap in, you will get crap out.

2.  Go into the weight room.

Anyone can do cardio. Put your runners on, get outside and walk BUT doing only this form of exercise only burns calories while you are doing it. Instead, why not increase the number of calories you burn all day? Muscles need fuel to perform and burn calories just to exist. The muscles you have – the more calories burned.

3.  Eat more often – period!

Waiting too long in between meals is a fantastic way to ruin your metabolism and store anything that goes in, as fat. The more fat you have, it doesn’t matter how much your workout – you wont see the results of all your hard work!

4.  Eat more greens!

Although fruit is very good for you, it is also filled with a lot of natural sugar. Whether it’s natural or refined, raising your blood sugar is a no-no Three days a week is great for maintenance, but if you want results that you cwhen trying to manage your food intake and control cravings. The more sweet you have, the more you want so filling up with more green vegetables is a great way to be able to eat more often, avoid blood sugar spikes and crashes and keep that metabolism working.

5.  Workout AT LEAST 4+ days per week.

an see, you need to push the envelope! Strength train 3+ days and cardio 5+ days. The combo will give the benefits of burning calories while exercising as well as increasing the number you burn overall.

6.  Don’t over-train.

Now I realize I just told you 3-5 days of exercise but there are some that like to think “if I train every day, that will be even better, right?”. Wrong. Muscles need to rest and repair just like you do. If you want ideal performance at work, you need a solid night’s sleep; so do your muscles. That’s how muscles build. Rest and proper nutrition fuel muscles so they can work optimally and produce even more. Over-training will only get you in trouble and is a common cause of muscle fatigue and injury.

 

So if you want to lose fat (not muscle), look lean (not skinny) and feel strong, you need to raise your metabolic rate  which is a combination of strength and proper nutrition, plain and simple. There is no magic potion or pill (although billions are spent trying) because it just comes down to how bad you want it.

So how bad do you want to look good in that sleeves dress? Are you fed up with summer sneaking up on you every year and saying the same thing? Well if you are, it’s up to you to either spend another one repeating old patterns or stop and do something about it.  These 6 tips to get healthy and fit for summer will get you on your way!

 

Samantha Montpetit-Huynh is the mother of two beautiful girls and the founder of Core Expectations, Toronto’s only full services wellness team that delivers personal training, abdominal rehabilitation and other support services to the homes and offices of pregnant women and new moms across the GTA.