Summer is upon us and it’s not too late to get your body swimsuit ready.  The formula is simple:  hard work + a clean diet + discipline = results.  Depending on your current fitness level, diet, effort, and intensity you can realistically and safely lose 1-3 pounds per week.  Unless you’re extremely obese, losing any more than that means you’re losing water weight and/or muscle mass – both can prove counterproductive in your pursuit to be swimsuit ready.

Hard Work

As much as you don’t want to hear it, exercise, particularly cardio, is key to losing the fat.  But don’t discount weight training.  It’s imperative to lift weights 3-4 times per week to tell your body not to burn off muscle to compensate for a reduced calorie diet.  Without weight training the body, being a tool of survival, will try to hold onto fat as it enters starvation mode.  Do not neglect weight training (this applies to you too, ladies)!

As for cardio, you can burn a significant number of calories through low intensity, steady state (LISS) cardio such as a 30-45 minute jog.  However, to maximize your results and prevent boredom you should mix your activities (e.g. biking, jogging, elliptical, basketball, etc.) as well as your intensity (e.g. a 30-45 minute jog one day followed by a day of 10-12 sets of high intensity sprinting, stairs, or hills).  You should do 4-6 days of cardio and try to avoid performing consecutive days of high intensity cardio as it’s very taxing on the body.

Consider enrolling in a fitness bootcamp for a group-oriented, fast-paced weight loss program to jumpstart your program.  Visit www.OneHourBootcamp.com for more details and to enroll for an Omaha-based camp.Do the math:  4 days of weight training, 6 days of cardio, only 7 days in week means you’ll be doing at least 2 days of 2-a-day workouts.  Be focused on your goal and get your workouts in.  Losing weight is no easy feat.

A Clean Diet

While exercise is vital to your swimsuit body, your diet makes or breaks your program.  It makes no difference how hard you work if you turn around and eat fried chicken, burgers, and fries and drink beer all the time.  Clean up your diet.As a general rule, when trying to lose fat you should keep your protein high (roughly 40-45% of your calories) and your carboydrates low (about 30-40% of your calories).  The remaining calories (about 20-30%) should come from healthy fat sources (e.g. peanuts, cashews, almonds, walnuts, olive oil, avacado, natural peanut butter).  Depending on your current build you should consider consuming 200-1000 calories less than your maintenance levels.  This will help ensure a slow, steady, consistent fat loss program while minimizing muscle loss through starvation.

Additionally, keep your metabolism stoked by spreading your meals out into 5 or 6 smaller meals rather than 3 squares.  Drink lots of water, watch the salt intake, and eat lean protein with each meal.  Consider supplementation when dietary needs cannot be met and always take a multivitamin to ensure no shortages of critical micronutrients.

Discipline

Losing fat is not a part-time commitment.  You must be focused on your goals at all times.  You must focus on not missing a workout and on eating clean 90% of the time.  The occasional cheat meal is acceptable so long as it doesn’t become a cheat day and so long as it doesn’t derail your motivation.  You must understand that fat loss is a marathon.  It’s unreal, and unsafe, to lose 10-30 pounds in a week (e.g. The Biggest Loser).  Consider yourself doing extremely well if you can consistently attain 2-3 pounds of weight loss per week.  Just know that, at this rate, you must be disciplined and consistent for several weeks to reach your goals.  Slow and steady wins the race!

Results

As mentioned before, a 2-3 pound weekly weightloss is an excellent target.  In a month you’ll manage roughly 8-10 pounds.  Take it slow, be consistent, and by the end of summer you can lose 15-25 pounds and be swimsuit-ready!

Goal Fitness and Nutrition

What have you got to LOSE? www.goalfitnessandnutrition.com