Summer’s almost here! Is your body ready for the beach? If you find yourself wishing you could keep hiding under loose-fitting sweatshirts and long pants, it’s time to make some lifestyle changes. Learn how to improve your health by the first day of summer with our comprehensive guide on how to get fit in 30 days.
Adopting a healthy diet
Your diet is the first thing you need to change to get fit in 30 days. However, you shouldn’t starve yourself to lose weight. Instead of going on a diet, follow these tips for healthy eating:
Learn your eating triggers
Stress, boredom, loneliness and even happiness are all triggers that can lead to emotional eating. Learn what your triggers are and satisfy your needs with something other than food, such as gardening, reading or starting a new hobby.
Eat the right food
It’s easy to label food as “good” or “bad,” but a healthy diet includes foods from many different categories. A clean eating diet simply needs to be healthy and well-balanced.
- Eat fat from healthy sources such as avocados, cheese, almonds, olive oil and fish.
- Choose sources of lean protein, such as fish, chicken, dairy and legumes.
- Limit your intake of carbohydrates, and when you do eat them choose your favorite fruits and vegetables.
- Take multivitamins to supplement your diet with the vitamins and minerals your body needs.
- Avoid calorie-counting; instead, focus on being carb- and sugar-conscious.
You can find examples of complete healthy recipes that will help you maintain your ideal weight at BMI of Texas.
Engage in portion control
You don’t have to give up all your favorites to get fit in 30 days; just watch your portion sizes! When you eat out, ask for a take-home box at the start of the meal so you can pack up half the food for later. For dessert, take a sliver of cake rather than a whole piece. When snacking, munch on a few chips instead of a few handfuls.
Get your body moving
Your body was meant to move! Physical activity is critical to improve your health, so follow these exercise tips to help you prepare for summer:
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- Engage in moderate physical activity for at least 150 minutes per week. That’s just under 40 minutes per day, four days per week. Brisk walking, bike riding and shooting baskets all count.
- Engage in at least 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week, or just under 40 minutes per day, two days per week. Aerobics, jogging and swimming laps all count.
- Squeeze physical activity into your daily life. You don’t have to block out 40-minute chunks of time to break a sweat. Much of your daily routine counts toward your total physical activity, including gardening, walking the dog and doing household chores.
- Start slowly. If you’re not currently physically active, work your way up in the next 30 days. Go on nightly walks, visit the neighborhood pool on weekends and take the stairs at work. Small changes go a long way in making a healthier you.
Sleep
Even with all this talk of getting enough exercise, your body still needs enough rest to be healthy. To set yourself up for a good night’s sleep, heed this advice from WebMD:
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- Cut the caffeine and nicotine.
- Don’t use alcohol as a sleep aid.
- Establish a bedtime routine to help you relax.
- Exercise daily, but not too close to bedtime.
- Keep the bedroom dark, cool and quiet.
- Don’t eat too close to bedtime.
- Keep Fido off the bed.
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Now that you know how to get fit in 30 days, what are you waiting for? Implement these suggestions right away for the summer body you’ve always wanted! Contact our BMI of Texas weight loss experts for more information.