Ten tips to a healthy, beach-ready body

Features

Mar 27

It’s bikini, tank top, and sundress season again! But if you haven’t earned your beach-ready bod just yet, don’t panic! You still have time to make it to La Boracay with an acceptable swimsuit body to boot. All you have to do is start now with our 10 tips to a healthy beach bod.

1. Exercise!

There’s really no fast and easy way to a healthy swimsuit body. With summer already in full swing, you would think it’s too late to exercise. Trust us, it’s not. If you really want to be serious with your beach body, be very specific with your workout. Start with a regimen that is targeted to tone your body like this Bikini Exercise or repetitive high-intensity aerobic interval trainings on an incline (e.g., running on a treadmill set to a 6% incline mixed with 1-minute sprints and slow walks).

However, if you have been a good girl and have been working out ever since, add these interval trainings to your regular workout routine and see a 36% increased fat oxidation. And that’s according to the Journal of Applied Physiology.

2. Eliminate Processed Foods

The following tips will help you eliminate one bad thing and/or add one good thing to your diet every day. This way, you don’t quit cold turkey and eventually quit on your diet. For day one, quit processed foods. They’re empty calories that are unsatisfying. They may even make you crave more food than your body need. To help you out, if you can’t pronounce a food’s ingredient, don’t eat it.

3. Quit drinking

Ever heard of not drinking your calories? Here goes your frappuccinos and cosmopolitans. Switch to brewed coffee (without sugar and creamer if you can) and cold press juices during Mondays to help you with your journey to sexy.

4. Fiber up

You don’t really need to quit carbs, just break up a little with it. Instead of eating three rice meals a day, substitute one meal with fiber such as quinoa, barley, or brown rice. You can also add flaxseed to yogurt or almonds to your salad.

5. Eat smaller meals more frequently

We know it’s tempting to starve yourself just to fit into a bikini, but we’re all grown ups here and we DO know that’s not healthy. This is an old adage but it goes without saying: eat smaller meals more frequently to fire up your metabolism and burn calories at a steady pace. Avoid binging and try to eat three small meals with 300 to 350 calories each and two snacks that are 100 to 150 calories each.

6. Eat water-based produce to avoid bloating

Watermelons, cantaloupes, cucumbers, spinach, and tomatoes are your friends; these are fruits and vegetables that do not retain water in the body. You can also grab potassium-rich fruits such as bananas and oranges to help you purge water that’s retained in your body.

7. Hydrate

What happens when your body does not get enough water? Your cells go into emergency mode and store water when they don’t have enough of it. Instead of the eight-glass rule, down two to three liters of water (that’s three refills of a one-liter Nalgene water bottle) each day. Sip slowly so the water will hit your bloodstream instead of your liver. This way, you also don’t have to pee as often as you need to.

8. Eat a high-protein breakfast, but only on beach day

With tummies exposed and bums out on beach day, you want to avoid unnecessary snacking throughout the day. So have a protein-rich breakfast to fill you up. Choose wisely though. Avoid the bad fat and opt for good fats like avocado, cheese, and egg whites.

9. If you can’t tone it, tan it!

However, if you did not heed our warning and waited up to the last minute to work on your beach bod, don’t worry. There will always be self tanners. A good tan can make you look slimmer instantly while hiding perceived imperfections.

10. Fake it till you make it

If self tanners are not easily accessible to you, make your bronzers and contour makeup work for you! Here’s a tutorial to highlight (yes!) and contour your way to fake abs. Caveat: Since you’re putting makeup on your body, you can’t go to the pool/beach or any body of water while you have this on. Also expect your makeup to run if you’re going to be out in hotter weather.

Got some personal tips too? What worked for you while you were slimming down?

Sources:

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/beauty/leg-makeup

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/beauty/how-to-get-rid-of-cellulite

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/bikini-exercises

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/weight-loss/bikini-ready

http://www.vogue.com/865799/how-to-get-a-beach-body-workouts-and-treatments

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