At this time of year, it’s hard not to think about your summertime body goals!
To help you look your best, here are some helpful tips:
- Add seasonal fruits and vegetables to your meals. Fruits and vegetables are typically rich in fibre, so you’ll stay full longer. Fresh asparagus, green beans and strawberries have wonderfully robust flavour when picked at their peak — and they are naturally low-fat and low-calorie!
- Substitute a sprinkle of chopped walnuts for hollandaise sauce, a splash of olive oil for butter and sliced avocado for sour cream to keep the focus on heart-healthy fats.
- Move away from those heavy “comfort foods” like casseroles and cream-based sauces. Instead, try a fresh salad filled with rocket, luscious tomatoes, grated carrot, tuna and reduced-fat feta. For dessert, grab some fresh berries and non-fat Greek yoghurt with a bit of Stevia mixed through.
- Spring may have past, but it’s never too late to tackle your spring-cleaning! You’d be amazed at how many calories you can burn by getting that vacuum cleaner into those hard to reach places. Turn the music up load and it won’t even feel like a chore!
- Dig out your gardening tools from the shed and get pruning! Gardening can provide hours of enjoyment while improving your strength, flexibility and suppleness. It can also get the heart rate up so it counts towards your 30 minutes of physical activity a day.
- Grab your walking shoes and hit the pavement, beach or trails. Instead of focusing on how far you need to walk, pay attention to the unique sights, sounds and smells of summer. You’ll feel rejuvenated by the time you return home.
- Using comfortable weights, resistance tubes or even cans of vegetables, add 15-20 minutes of lightweight training twice a week to tone up your muscles. Some people overlook resistance training when they are trying to lose weight, but it’s very important for a toned, beach-worthy body! According to Melbourne-based exercise physiologist Trent Malcolm “One kilogram of muscle will burn about 627 to 1465 kilojoules per day, while 1kg of fat only burns about 20 to 40 kilojoules per day.” So don’t forget to do add exercises like squats, lunges and tricep dips into your routine.
- Adopt a fresh attitude. Just like a gardener can retrain a vine to grow in a new direction, so can a negative, judgemental thinking-style be guided along a positive, self-accepting path.
