5 Easy Ways To Lose Weight Before Summer

We all want to look our best going into the summer season. Summer attire is one of the cruelest to wear when you don’t look and feel your best. So with the goal of that in mind, here are five ways you can start losing weight before summer arrives.

To be clear, weight loss is a journey, and losing weight takes time, but when you lose weight in a healthy and safe way, it will stay off. Because we know you aren’t losing weight, having no intention of finding it again, you’re getting rid of it!

Before you begin your journey to lose weight, find your motivation, why do you want to lose weight? Everyone’s goal is different. But by reading this article, you’ve already made the first step!

1, Drink Water

Drinking water is good for your help for so many reasons. It’s recommended that you drink a gallon of water a day, which may sound like a lot, but it’s very easily done. By using the same cup throughout the day and refilling it you can keep track of how much water you drink. So you might be asking what drinking water has to do with losing weight. Primarily, drinking water helps to boost your metabolism, cleanse your body, and also acts as an appetite suppressant. Drinking two cups of water before meals will help you feel fuller, to discourage you from overeating. And it may sound counter-intuitive, but drinking more water actually helps your body stop retaining water, leading to you dropping pounds of pure water weight. Also, remember to watch what you drink. Starbucks’ coffee, soda, and other sugary drinks are all empty calories that you’re wasting, and they all contribute to the fat your body is holding.

2. Try Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting is an effective way to lose weight in a shorter amount of time. Fasting forces you to reduce your calorie intake since you are limiting your eating habits to a short window of time. There are many different ways you can go about intermittent fasting, the most popular are the 16-hour fast with an 8-hour window to eat, or a 20-hour fast with a 4-hour window to eat. You’ve likely fasted for 16 hours before unintentionally after just waking up late. However, if you’re working out while you’re fasting, it’s advised to fast at a different time than your workout, so you don’t run out of energy. Though I can tell you from personal experience that your body becomes more accustomed to working out with less “fuel” and you can still workout normally. The bottom line is that intermittent fasting is an excellent way to reduce your calorie intake, increase your metabolism, and has many other health benefits including losing weight.

3. Up Your Cardio

In order to burn extra calories and lose weight, you need to increase your daily activity. It’s important to be active outside of the gym, it’s recommended to walk at least 10,000 steps a day, which can help you on your journey to losing weight. Cardio is important when it comes to losing weight. Studies have shown that your body doesn’t start burning fat until after 30 minutes of exercise, so when you increase the amount of your cardiovascular exercise, it will increase the amount of fat burned, and your body will continue to burn fat throughout the rest of the day. Furthermore, other easy changes you can make to leading a more active lifestyle could be changes such as walking or biking to work, taking the stairs, going for a walk outside, or even standing more. The bottom line, increasing your daily activity is a great way to burn extra calories, increase your metabolism, and lose weight.

4. Weigh Yourself Everyday

Unfortunately, one of the ways you can motivate yourself to lose weight is by weighing yourself. I know that this may seem like a daunting prospect and it’s not always a pleasant thing to do; however, by weighing yourself you can accurately determine your goals and track your progress. There are scales that calculate your body mass index, water weight, muscle mass, and more. While weighing yourself may make you feel discouraged, remember what your motivation was, to begin with. While a scale can be mean, it also can accurately show you where you are on your journey. With a scale, you can see where you are in respect to your goal. A scale can also show you the way your body reacts to what you eat and how active you are. After weighing yourself after a bad day of eating junk food and not being super active, you can see how your body reacts to just one day of “cheating”. The scale can also be motivation as a reminder to be mindful of what you eat and be more active. And if you’re really against weighing yourself, use a tape measure, it will have a similar effect!

5. Find A Buddy

Trying to lose weight with a friend can increase your motivation and help to keep you on track. Your friends already influence you on a daily basis, on where you eat, what you post on social media, what you text your crush, and more, so of course they can help you on your journey to lose weight as well. In fact, studies show that joining a weight-loss program like Weight Watchers gives you the ability to create a supportive environment and establish social networks that influence you in a positive way. When you work with your friends to lose weight, you can call them when you’re having cravings, inspire each other, set up exercise dates, create fitness goals together, and share what food you’re eating, all of which help to keep you accountable and on track to reach your goals.

Losing weight can be hard but follow these steps and you’ll be well on your way to making progress. Losing weight and keeping it off might mean changing your lifestyle to be healthier overall, but you can do it! Educate yourself on ways to safely lose weight, and you have plenty of time before summer arrives to reach your goal. So go out and get it!