What’s not to love about summer? It’s the time to enjoy BBQ, camping, vacation time with endless margaritas on the rocks. Summer is also the most difficult time for anyone that doesn’t feel fit.

However, I have a good news: Did you know that it’s easiest to lose weight in summer than any other season? Yup that is true! Summer is my favorite time to shred some extra weight.

Here’s why:

• Nice weather encourages you to be active.
• Heat helps suppress your appetite.

Easy Weight Loss Tips

Eat Early:

Eating 3 – 4 hours before bed time really helps as this gives your body enough time to burn some calories.

Breathing:

It is believed that breathing alone can help you lose few pounds in a month. Isn’t that amazing! You just need few minutes out of your day to do this. You can even do this when lying down to sleep at night.

Read more about this at Breathing Tips

Reduce Sodium:

Throw that table salt right now! Salt may sound like a must have to add flavor to food but you can add so much flavor with other herbs and spices instead. Add less sodium to your food.

Skip the gym:

Yes, it’s not a typo and you read it exactly as it is written. There is no need to go to gym if you do not want to. Our body needs some kind of physical activity to stay fit though. Activities such as running, walking to work, hiking, taking stairs, dancing to your favorite music can easily replace gym for you.

My favorite is – taking stairs and pamper your partner to “no household chore day” on weekend. Doing a simple chore as washing dishes, vacuuming, cleaning the bathtub can burn many hundred calories plus reward you with a happy partner who could not have been happier

Welcome Whole Foods:

For these few weeks stock your house with salads, lots of vegetables, grains, lean meats and fruits and nuts.

However, not all fruits are equally good sources of fiber. As a general rule the best sources include the berries, citrus fruits.

Portion Control:

Most important is portion control. Just cutting down on portion size alone can make such a huge difference and can be a sole way to lose weight.

Did you know having a smoothie or a large bowl of salad before dinner won’t leave much space for a full size entrée?

Many of you wrote in and requested I do an ongoing updates & tips as I continue on losing weight. So I had to tweak this post and make it more of a challenge and motivator instead of basic tips. Hope my readers find it helpful.

Its upto you to set your own goals or follow mine. Whatever, is most realistic for you as an individual.

Weight Loss Challenge Goal:

Lose 8 pounds by August 12^th i.e. 6weeks. It’s not overly ambitious and totally doable without changing much!

Steps:

• Count your calories – I like to use myfitnesspal
• My goal is to not eat more than 900 – 1000( I find myself consuming more around 1000-1100) calories on days I am not physically very active. I plan to break sweat if crossing over that.

Week 1

Breakfast(upto100 cal)

Choices: Green Tea, Banana, Apple, Nuts

Lunch(upto 400 cal)

Choices: Veg or lean meat sandwich, left over from last night

Snack (upto 100 cal)

Choices: Green Tea, Banana, Apple, Nuts, energy bar

Dinner(upto 500 cal)

Choices: Grilled fish fillet, salad, lentils with brown rice, 2 multigrain bread or 2 roti with bowl of lightly cooked vegetable, Tofu and veggies stir fried with brown rice, smoothie(as a meal – add chia seeds to make it fulfilling).

Lot of recipes under 400 calorie Recipes

To see some slow but long lasting results:

• You don’t have to do much as even small tweaks can make a huge difference. Just make some healthier switches.
• Skip heavy evening snack and have an early dinner or have a glass of smoothie instead (add some chia seeds)
• Use cooking spray to lightly coat the pan while cooking
• Have heavy lunch but go for a very light dinner
• Go raw vegan for part of your dinner
• Skip dessert and have a little dark chocolate instead
• Go for grilled fish over chicken
• Go for wine or a shot instead of sugary cocktails.

 

Love

Riya