Can Diet, Exercise, & Protein Powder Get Me Back on Track in Time for Summer?
With spring in the air and summer just a few months away, many people envision lounging on the beach with their ideal summer body, wearing their favorite bathing suit, and wonder how to get ready for the summer season. To begin, yes; diet, exercise, and protein powder can get you back on track with your beach body goals in time for the sunny season. Read on for a realistic springtime plan that involves a combination of diet, exercise, and strategic supplementation.
How to Get a Summer Body in Record Time
Setting targeted and achievable diet, exercise, and body goals is the best way to get fit in time for summer. Together, following a healthy diet and exercise plan may provide a clear and manageable roadmap to preparing for summer over the next few months.
Summer Diet Plan: Keep It Simple
Each person’s needs for a summer body often look quite different from others (for instance, some may be focused on building muscle, while others are looking to lose fat, for which each requires a different approach). However, the following summer nutrition tips are a brilliant start and may benefit virtually anyone looking to improve their fitness over the next few months.
Limit Sugar, Alcohol, and Processed Foods
Three food and drink categories that will ruin virtually any healthy diet when ingested in large quantities are sugar, alcohol, and processed foods. As enjoyable as they may be for some people, those hoping to improve their overall health should consider limiting their intake of foods and drinks that fall into these categories.
Consuming large amounts of added sugar typically causes a person’s blood sugar to spike then crash, increasing hunger and causing more cravings for sugar and refined carbs. This is why high sugar consumption is often associated with weight gain. Try to avoid sugary drinks, such as soda and sports drinks, as well as desserts, and prepackaged foods that may contain unnecessary added sugar, in order to limit overall added sugar intake.
By decreasing processed foods you will naturally avoid trans fats and reduce saturated fats, two types of fat that when consumed in excess tend to drive fat storage.
Prepare Healthy Meals and Snacks
One of the best-known ways to eat healthier is to prepare nutritious meals and snacks in advance, so that they're on hand when you're busy and need a quick meal. Many people take a few hours each week (e.g., on Sunday, before the work week begins) to prepare meals for the upcoming week that they can store in the refrigerator or freezer so that meals are ready when needed. Following are examples of healthy, balanced, and tasty meals that can be prepared in advance:
- Breakfast: Egg "muffins" with vegetables and cheese
- Lunch: Brown rice, black beans with roasted vegetables and air fried crispy tofu
- Dinner: Baked salmon with quinoa and roasted sweet potatoes
- Snack: Protein shake with frozen berries, nut butter, and greens, or hummus with sliced vegetables and whole-grain crackers
Preparing meals in advance can often save you money by making it less likely to order takeout or order from a fast-food drive-through on your way home from work, as well.
Pay Attention to Macronutrients
Weight loss is not simply about consuming and burning a certain quantity of calories each day. Achieving sustainable weight loss (as opposed to crash dieting) typically requires a balanced intake of macronutrients, or "macros": carbohydrates, fat, and protein.
The proper ratio of macros will depend on your specific goals but, those pursuing fat loss may aim to consume 40 percent of their calories from carbohydrates, 20 percent from protein, and 40 percent from fats. Consuming enough protein is thought to be particularly important, as it may increase satiety and preserve muscle during weight loss.
Keep Consistent
Rather than losing a significant amount of weight quickly by eating as little as possible, pursuing a summer body in an achievable way usually involves making sustainable changes to your habits, as well as maintaining consistency in the changes made. This is why eating satisfying meals and avoiding skipping meals are thought to be essential. In addition, allowing yourself enjoyable, but occasional, treats may help you avoid the "all or nothing, black and white" mentality that frequently leads people to abandon their weight-loss goals all-together.
Stay Hydrated
Maintaining adequate hydration is essential for overall health and well-being, and it can often promote weight loss in combination with additional healthy behavior adaptation. In particular, replacing "empty calories" from liquids such as soda for juice with added water has led to weight loss for many. Once summer arrives, especially when sweating often, consuming electrolyte drinks that are low in sugar may help replace lost minerals.
Take Protein Powder with Collagen
Eating plenty of protein is thought to reduce overall hunger, increase satiety, and reduce food cravings. In addition to consuming protein-rich foods such as meat, fish, eggs, and nuts, you may want to consider supplementation with a healthy protein powder for weight loss and muscle gain.
The Best Protein Powder with Collagen
Body Kitchen's Youthful Beauty Advanced Powder is thought to be the optimum healthy protein powder with collagen containing hyaluronic acid and resveratrol. Collagen may help improve the skin's elasticity to reduce skin aging, which may therefore increase your overall body confidence while fitting in last year’s bathing suit as summer approaches. Resveratrol, meanwhile, is a potent antioxidant that may help the body to repair skin breakdown related to aging. What differentiates Body Kitchen collagen powder from other available options is that it contains roughly 30 times the number of dipeptides as most other similar competitor products. Dipeptides are important collagen peptides, and with more dipeptides may come higher absorption rates and more nutrition for those using this powder. It is always wise to speak with a physician before incorporating any supplement into your routine, to ensure that it is safe and appropriate for your medical and dietary needs.
Summer Workout Plan: Summer Body Ready
Diet is only half of the answer to questions regarding getting fit in time for summer. The other is incorporating a beach body workout routine. Following are some tips for genuinely effective summer workouts.
Mix Strength Training with Cardio
Both cardio and strength training can have weight loss and fitness benefits, which is why combining the two is thought to be more effective than sticking to just one or the other. Because research shows that muscle burns slightly more calories than fat, building more muscle can increase the energy you burn daily (your resting metabolic rate). Strength training also helps to maintain muscle mass during fat loss. Cardio (such as running or bicycling) raises your heart rate and is thought to burn more calories than strength training, often leading to more significant weight loss in the short term.
Establish a Consistent Workout Schedule
Just as a diet plan should be realistic, so should a workout routine. Consider creating a workout schedule that you can stick to for more than a few days or weeks at a time. For example, instead of planning to work out seven days a week (an unrealistic goal), shoot for working out three days per week and include rest days for more sustainable progress. Prioritize consistent exercise over intense exercise, as consistency is thought to be the key to body transformation.
Find Forms of Exercise That Naturally Appeal to You
Because consistency is commonly an essential part of executing a successful summer workout plan, choosing exercises that you enjoy is one of the most effective ways to set yourself up for success, especially if you hate going to the gym. Examples of more enjoyable and engaging forms of exercise other than run-of-the-mill exercise machines, include swimming, yoga, dancing, hiking, kickboxing, Zumba, rock climbing, and more.
Work Out Socially for More Accountability and Enjoyment
Another way to make exercise more fun and increase accountability (thereby increasing the likelihood that you'll exercise consistently) is by working out with a friend or a group of friends. Whether this means scheduling walks or runs together, planning to meet up at the gym regularly, or doing another form of exercise with a group, turning your workouts into social occasions is incredibly effective for improving the consistency of your exercise plan.
Track Workouts and Progress Over Time
The best way to track your progress will depend on the nature of the exercise plan, but either way, doing so can boost motivation and help you celebrate the successes. For example, maintain a journal with the exercises and number of reps/sets completed for each workout session, the weight you can lift during strength training, and other measurable metrics that improve over time.
In conclusion, yes, diet, exercise, and protein powder can often get you on track to looking and feeling your best before the summer season is upon us. Just remember to visit us online at Body Kitchen's Youthful Beauty Advanced Powder and to consult a physician before beginning any supplementation routine, since everyone is different and has different medical needs as well as varied health goals.