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Summer is full of fun activities like bike rides, camping trips, beach days and more. The thing is, all these activities require (or are at least more comfortable with) much less clothing than you’d wear in cooler seasons. Here’s how to get yourself ready to truly enjoy all of them.
Get Support
Let’s face it: Losing weight is hard. Don’t make it even harder by attempting to struggle through it on your own. Instead, look for a health and wellness program like Noom that provides cognitive-behavioral coaching, nutritional education, and group support. The idea is to help you create a healthier lifestyle that’s sustainable for the long term, and avoid methods like crash dieting that tend to lead to weight see-saws.
Skip The Alcohol
As delicious as a glass of wine or a frozen margarita might sound, both are filled with calories. Alcohol has a similar chemical composition as sugar, which means it also has a similar effect on your body. And the benefit of cutting out adult drinks is that it’s simple–you don’t need to do any sort of modifications to your diet. Give it a month or two and see how you feel. Even if you don’t drop any pounds, you can feel good about giving your liver a break.
Choose Fresh Produce
One of the best parts of summer is all the fresh fruits and veggies that come into season. Produce like watermelon, peaches, berries, broccoli, asparagus, and cucumber are great because they have tons of nutrients but not many calories, and help you feel full for a longer period of time. They’re also low in carbs, which is another weight-loss bonus, and have been shown to decrease the chances of certain cancers and type two diabetes. Aim for about half of your plate to be filled with produce, and at least five full servings a day.
Stay Active
The great thing about summer is that there are all sorts of different–and fun!–ways to get moving. Instead of forcing yourself onto a treadmill or through a weight-lifting routine (unless that’s what you truly love to do), find an activity that you truly enjoy. Go for a long walk in the park, play badminton or volleyball with some friends, try to learn how to slackline… whatever makes you happy! The most important thing is that you’re moving your body, not the exact way in which you do it. After all, finding something you love will make you much more likely to actually stick with it.
Switch to Seltzer
Summer is full of opportunities for sweet drinks like lemonade, juice, and soda, but do your best not to indulge. If you’re craving some sort of fun beverage, try sparkling water with natural flavoring (and no sweetener–fake or otherwise!). Just like eliminating alcohol, cutting back on virgin drinks is an quick way to decrease calories with very little thought of effort. Drinking more water will also help you stay hydrated, which is essential during the warmer months. And when you’re craving fruit, choose the whole, unpressed version. The most nutrition is packed into the skin, which doesn’t tend to make it through the juicing process.
