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Best Tips to Get in Shape FAST!

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Summer is literally weeks away, and the weather is finally starting to cooperate. Our favorite water park opened a week ago and we’ve already been 5 times! And trust me, nothing gets you more motivated to get in shape fast or stay in shape than living in your swimsuit for a week!

Plus, it’s literally the best time to break any poor eating habits you may have. I heard once that restaurants purposely keep it cooler than normal inside so that you order more food. It makes sense. During the Winter, I want all the food, but when the warm weather starts up, all I crave is fruit and water if anything at all. So if you have any sugar addictions or just trouble binge eating, take advantage of the warmer weather to hit your goals!

Our fave tips to get in shape fast!

Set realistic expectations. Be real with yourself. Healthy weight loss is about 2 pounds a week, so please don’t expect to drop 50 pounds by July. Setting realistic expectations will keep you from getting discouraged when you don’t see results right away. And you know what they say:

best tips to get in shape fast for summer

Make a realistic game plan. Set yourself up for success. For me, it’s not realistic to wake up at 4am and work out. It’s also not realistic for me to drop my calories down to 1200/day. If this was my plan 2 things would happen: (1) I would oversleep and skip my work outs and (2) I would eat 1200 calories for a couple days and then binge, making any progress disappear. To set a realistic calorie goal, track what you normally eat in a day while maintaining weight to figure out your maintenance calories and then subtract 2-300 calories to create a minimal, but realistic deficit.

Don’t skip meals. Skipping meals can be detrimental to success. There are so many times I hear someone say, “I’m doing great on my diet, I haven’t eaten anything all day.” And I get the meaning behind it; they mean they haven’t eaten anything bad, but they also haven’t eaten. You need to keep your body fueled for your work outs.

Eat protein. Protein is essential to maintain muscle mass and if you’ve read our post on quitting sugar, you know that protein can really help with those sugar cravings!

Prioritize your work outs. Yes, make them a priority, but also, prioritize the types of work outs you’re doing. For example, I only have about 30-45 minutes to really dedicate (or that I want to dedicate) to my work outs, so what am I going to do during that short amount of time to get the most bang for my buck? For me, it’s weights. I can get my cardio in chasing my kids around at the park.

Lift weights! Yep. Building muscle is fantastic. You will not get bulky and your body will start burning more calories at rest because muscle requires more just to maintain. (Stumped on a work out? Check out this leg day workout routine from Fit Girl’s Diary.)

best tips to get in shape fast for summer

Make small changes. Swap juice and sodas with water, cut out fried foods, eat more whole grains, etc.

Follow fitness accounts on social media. What a great reminder it is to log into Instagram and see other people working out! So motivational!

Track, track, track. This is going to be the most annoying tip, but probably the most important. If you have a specific goal in mind, then you need to track what you’re eating. If you’re just looking at this from a health standpoint and thinking, “ya it’d be nice to eat better and be in better shape,” then this isn’t necessary. BUT if you want to drop weight or lose fat and gain muscle, then tracking your food intake will probably make or break your success. (We love the free MyFitnessPal app for tracking-MFP Tutorial here)

Weigh your food. Okay, this is the most annoying tip. Weighing your food goes hand in hand with tracking it. Eyeballing the 2 tablespoon serving of peanut butter isn’t good enough. It is really easy to go over the portion size if you don’t weigh it and that could add an easy 100 calories to any meal. This is especially true with peanut butter, jelly, sour cream, ketchup, barbecue sauce, really just condiments in general.

Don’t make excuses. The easiest thing in the world is to justify skipping a work out or having a cheat day. Go all in for 30 days and then re-evaluate. 30 days isn’t long. Chances are, seeing your progress at the end of 30 days will be just the motivation you needed to keep going 😉

If you want to get in shape fast, whether it’s for Summer or vacation or just in general, it doesn’t have to be hard. It really is just as simple as making a conscious effort at working out and eating right for a prolonged period of time.

“Prolonged period of time” is the key phrase. Nothing happens overnight. Just make healthy living your new lifestyle. It becomes second nature, and you hardly miss all that junk food after the first few weeks 😉

best tips to get in shape fast for summer

Bobbi

Monday 12th of June 2017

Great post! So many women don't even consider lifting because they don't want to bulk up. I tell people all the time that muscle burns more calories than fat and women don't bulk up like men. I love lifting! It's a great way to release stress and look good, too!

Lexi @ That Fit Fam

Friday 16th of June 2017

yes! I totally agree! Lifting is my new favorite. Not only does it relieve stress, but I see the results I want quicker than just cardio =) thanks for stopping by!

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