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5 Tips For Getting Lean In Summer 2017
Fitness | June 17, 2017
We’re well into the summer now, and if you’re like many people, you may have given up on your New Year’s resolution to get fit, or, you’ve fallen off the wagon.
Use these 5 tips to inspire and motivate you to get back on track!
1. Burn More Fat with HIIT. HIIT stands for high-intensity interval training. HIIT workouts deliver maximum effort with minimal time. HIIT workouts create an oxygen debt since you are using so much more oxygen during these workouts, that you end up burning additional calories for hours, as your body refills the “debt” in oxygen. HIIT is the closest thing you can find to a “magic pill” out there to help with a sluggish metabolism, weight gain, improve endurance and shed body fat. Research in the Journal of Sports Medicine & Doping Studies, show that HIIT training may help your body regulate the production of testosterone, growth hormone and insulin, resulting in an increase in fat burn, appetite management, and weight loss.
2. Watch What Your Drink. As boring as it may seem, ditching the soda, alcohol and sugary drinks will go a long way to getting you lean. According to the Diabetes, Obesity And Metabolism study done in the Journal of Pharmacology And Therapeutics, these drinks can wreck your metabolism and interfere with your fat burning hormones. These beverages add up. When you consume them, you are taking in excessive calories that proved zero nutritional value. If you want to see fast fat loss results, stick with water and hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! Replace your sugary sodas and drinks with sparkling flavored water and herbal teas.
3. Earn Your Carbs. I’ve talked a great extent about the benefits of earning your carbs with a workout. I call these meals WEM. WEM stands for Workout Earned Meals, and these meals tend to be higher in carbs. I eat these meals when I have completed a high-intensity workout. After a HIIT workout, your body is like a fat burning furnace, ready to be fueled by carbs. In this state, instead of storing carbs as body fat, your body uses them to replenish your glycogen stores, and fuel your muscles. To enhance your results, get back on track, and become leaner this year, save the whole grains, potatoes, pasta, rice, quinoa, fruits and all other carbs for the days when you’ve done a high-intensity workout. It actually doesn’t matter if you have your high carb meal before or after your workout, as long as you do your HIIT that day, but I prefer to “earn” my high carb meals, because it’s easy to tell yourself: “I will do my training later” and then have it fall through.
4. Get Enough Sleep. Instead of staying up late, watching your favorite shows, save them for another night and prioritize your sleep. If you’re looking to jump-start your leanness this year, sleep is essential. Lack of sleep throws off your hunger hormones Leptin and Ghrelin. Without sufficient sleep, you suppress leptin, the appetite-suppressing hunger hormone which is usually produced in abundance at night, while you catch some zzzs. Without adequate sleep, you also increase ghrelin, your appetite stimulating hunger hormone which is also secreted at night, but normally in lesser amounts…unless you didn’t get enough sleep…then it’s secreted is large amounts! When your hunger hormones become imbalanced, you experience carbohydrate, sugar and caffeine cravings. Getting enough sleep is crucial to putting you in control of what you want to eat, instead of being ruled by your hormones. Lack of sleep also slows down your metabolism. Take a slower metabolism and combine it with imbalanced hunger hormones and you have a recipe for unhealthy weight gain, binges, and major sugar and energy crashes.
5. Use An All Natural Fat Burner. I love my pre-workout protein blend because it contains a unique blend of all-natural ingredients that are fat burners! These ingredients boost energy, promote fat loss, and helps aid in muscle recovery. My pre-workout protein blend with fat burners gives you a safe and natural advantage that helps boost your overall caloric burn. Fat burners alone, certainly won’t create results for you, but by combing this with the over four tips on this list, and it will help you to maximize your results!
Private Member |
Good information! I thought you had to eat carbs within 2 hours after your workout for it to be ok! Thank you! Good to know! 🙂
Private Member |
Water and sleep are high priority on my list. I put about 5-6 water bottles in my fridge and I track my intake with an app. I average about 100oz + of water daily. It makes a huge difference. Good reminder article.
Private Member |
ramona, ca, usa
I agree with you, I prioritize water and sleep. I am not one of those “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” people.
Edited to add that I’m not a mother so I have the luxury of sleeping when I want to.
Private Member |
Michelle,
I make sure I go to bed at 10pm or close to that time, my son is a teenager so right now I have the luxury of sleeping in 😉
Private Member |
mza, argentina
which app do tou use to track water intake??
Private Member |
Stephanie I use the My Water app on iPhone.
Private Member |
massachusetts, united states
Thanks for the information, it’s nice to be reminded of these things every so often, especially in the summer when you want to look your best!
Private Member |
So I have to do twice as much because I get up three times a night for my baby…
Private Member |
mitchell, nebraska, united states
Evgenia; I remember those days! Babies are tough and they do take much of our earned energy as Mom’s. Sometimes I would get a 1 hour workout, sometimes not even 10 minutes. Sometimes I was so tired I would see things that were not there. My girl never slept. You are not alone. We have all been through this. It’s so nice to hear that others have gone through what I did. I kept at it, took my naps, drank lots of water. I had great workout days, and then yucky days. My daughter started going to the gym with me when she was 6 weeks old. She fussed all the time, but eventually she got used to the schedule. I would teach classes and she would have fun in daycare gym. She was with me through out my entire fitness routine. I worked out with her up until the night I had her! She is now almost 17 and she is an amazing basketball player, she is committed, strong, fast, smart, beautiful and mostly a good person. We do so much more than just work out with our kids. They see our commitment and our strong sense of self-worth. The world is a very tough place to live in, and as parents we need to be true to ourselves. Always let our kids see we are tough and we care …….. and we do not give up, no matter what.
Stick with it, do your best and that baby will know how great you are! All the best to you, much love.
Private Member |
Thank you, Susanna, from the bottom of my heart! So nice words to hear from you, it is easy now, to go through this special adventure with my baby!!!
Private Member |
I can completely relate! With night wakings and breastfeeding I find my appetite and energy levels are all over the place. Mine is 11 months old and has only ‘slept through’ twice in his life. I have hallucinated through sleep deprivation, and have also developed restless leg syndrome which drives me crazy. One day we will sleep again and all will be well! We must believe! Hope you’re doing ok.
Private Member |
michigan, usa
Yes!! So sleep deprived from baby I feel hungover daily 😵 just have to remind myself-this too will soon pass. 😴 Thankfully working out gives me a boost of energy but recovery is much more difficult.
Private Member |
ca, usa
Hi Nadia, your comment brought back what I have been through and I know it is a hard time! Just wanted to tell you that I had RLS also and increased my magnesium to tolerance (loose stool) and my symptoms are no longer there. Maybe this would help you too.
Private Member |
Thanks Cari, it’s nice to know I’m not alone! I’ll try it. I used to supplement extra magnesium but have been slacking lately.
Private Member |
Sorry to hear about your problems with the leg and sleepness, Nadia! Hope everything will be ok finally! It can not be!I know that day will come, until then we put our best and don’t give up!! Mine is almost seven months 😏Thanks to the Zuzka’s workout from 2009, I’m in best shape of my life, had a wonderful pregnant period, and fast recover after birthing of my baby! Thank you for support, it nice to hear that you are not alone!
Private Member |
just out of curiosity…whats with the pillows? Looks like you are herding throw pillows!!
Private Member |
santiago, chile
Great advice on how to stay on track, thanks very much! In my country it’s freezing right now, but I’m always preparing myself for summer 😉
Sleep is a priority for me and it’s hard to get enough: my four-year old daughter wakes up a lot some nights and my husband snores… I get great sleep when I’m traveling for work, hahahahaha!
Private Member |
british columbia, canada
Oh wow, do I relate to the sleep deprivation/exercise bit! I have 8.5 mo old twins and (although they are pretty good sleepers) they do wake multiple times from 3-6am and need to be re-settled.
I would love to see some nutrition tips for women who are post-partum and beginning their baby-weight loss journey and regaining strength etc… It’s ridiculous trying to decipher the nutrition recommendations for breastfeeding a single and then apply that to twins and figure how many additional calories it means when you add HIIT to your day! I’m not that good at math! 😉
I also find that much of the information supported by the AAP and AMA is outdated when it comes to the latest nutrition research. Add in breastfeeding and you have a recipe for disaster if you don’t know how to manage your eating/workouts/milk production well.
Private Member |
switzerland/, france
I can understand the frustration and eagerness to do all things well. I breastfed my 1st kid 7month at 100%, then partially up to 12 month…BUT I didn’t train back then..and had much weight the loose. I kept on the cautious side that my baby health is more important than my weight (I was not obese, so no immediate health threat on me). For my 2nd kid, unfortunately, breastfeeding didn’t go as hoped, and had to stop at 4 month. I started HIIT (as came across Z in 2011 ) and mindful eating only at that precise moment. I do have 2 colleagues that are underweight as they are nursing (1 kid) and need to take supplements per their doctor, so I get that depending on people, breastfeeding can take a toll on you.
my 2 cents advise for you would be to follow your intuition and don’t over calculate. Still plenty of drinking as you produce milk. Your health and babies’ health should be the nr 1 concern…so indulge yourself, don’t look right or left…just look at your own life.
I do currently have health issues that hinder my nutrition and workouts, and have to beat myself to not overdo it. It is hard to go slower than the rest of herd, and frustration and concerns that go along. Luckily on your side ,you know that nursing will resume one day 🙂
happy mommy, I miss those days.
Private Member |
british columbia, canada
Thanks for the encouragement Laila! Especially “not to look right or left but only at my own life”. SUCH GOOD ADVICE! It is certainly this that is causing all sorts of angst for me. A bunch of my friends have 1 baby or are not breastfeeding and look amazing at only a few months postpartum.
I have to constantly remind myself that it is a HUGE blessing that I am able to feed TWO babies all by myself! My body knows what it needs to accomplish that and if it’s not dropping the weight it’s because I need it!
Mindful eating and consistency will do it when the time is right. Thanks again for sharing your wisdom!
Private Member |
switzerland/, france
it’s driving me crazy, my symptoms are back and still don’t know what it’s about. I need to take another appt with (hopefully a smart) doctor. I am not a random girl that sits on a couch watching TV, I want and need to workout and be able to give it all out! and I know it will not pass unless I do something about it. It so frustrating to not have a buy-in from medical world. Luckily internet helps, though it has bad sides for “self-diagnosis”.
Private Member |
tokyo
I cannot have a meal right before or after my WO, and after that it’s too late and I go to bed. When should I be eating my carbs then?
Private Member |
lake tahoe, nv, usa
It doesn’t matter at what time of the day as long as you do your high intensity workout that day. For example if you did your workout in the morning, you can have your carb meal at the evening. You can also have your carb meal in the morning, just make sure you do your workout later that day. It’s more relaxed approach but it still works.
Private Member |
tokyo
Thank you so much, that sounds doable! So I will eat eat in the morning and do the WO in the evening 😉
Private Member |
yilan city, taiwan, taiwan
I can confirm that lack of sleep packs the pounds. I really havent been prioritizing my sleep and can testify (sadly) all my clothes are tight. Its just when after my kid goes to bed, my evenings are the only me time! I started this week doing a little yoga nidra or pranayama earlier to get me to bed, but last night I slid. Its such a hard habit to break!