The Ultimate Beach Body Diet To Get You In Shape For Summer

You already have a beach body – if you’ve got a body, and you’ve got a beach, you’re golden! However, we often neglect our bodies and our health throughout the year, and it’s easy to feel just a little insecure about faulting your bod when summertime rolls around. Check out our ultimate beach body diet guide to get you in shape and feeling great for summer!

1. Dieting Guidelines

First things first: weight loss boils down to the simple principle of calories in, calories out. In order to lose weight, you need to consume less calories than your body burns for energy. The average Australian needs roughly 8,700 kilojoules a day to maintain their weight, but many will have to adjust this based on their sex, age, and activity level (work out your daily kilojoule goal here). Slow and steady weight loss is best for sustained weight reduction, to encourage fat burn over muscle burn, and to generally make any diet easier on you both mentally and physically. Aim to lose roughly 0.5 kilos a week for sustained weight loss, try to fit in 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week, always talk to your doctor if you have any concerns, and have fun!

2. Breakfast

They don’t say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day for nothing! As dietician Sarah Elder explains: “The body uses a lot of energy stores for growth and repair through the night. Eating a balanced breakfast helps to up our energy, as well as protein and calcium used throughout the night.” Studies also suggest that people who regularly eat bigger breakfasts tend to have a lower BMI than their counterparts who eat larger lunches and dinners. Feel free to dedicate the most kilojoules to your breakky, and pack it with protein, fibrous carbs, and healthy fats:

3. Lunch

If you’re more the intermittent fasting type, or breakfast just isn’t your deal, get a good start to your (eating) day with a healthy lunch. Eating in the middle of the day reenergises your body and can raise your blood sugar levels, helping you to focus when your concentration starts slipping. Those who eat lunch are less likely to compensate and overindulge at dinner, and a midday meal helps to keep your metabolism up and running. Try out these yummy lunch recipes to keep you going throughout the day:

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4. Dinner

Many dieters prefer a lighter dinner – not only is a small dinner ideal in line with the circadian rhythm of our metabolisms, but our bodies find it harder to digest carbs at night, and digestion in general gets more difficult the closer we get to bedtime. However, a calorie is a calorie no matter what time of day you consume it, and if a bigger dinner works for you during your beach body diet, go for it!

5. Snacks

The jury is still out on snacking – some suggest that eating the right snacks at night can increase serotonin levels and help you sleep, while others believe that snacking mostly comes down to boredom or food availability as opposed to real hunger. Choosing the right foods will help you keep the kilos off, which is why we recommend opting for snacks that come in at roughly 100 calories or less if you need a little pick me up between meals while on your beach body diet. Some examples include cottage cheese and cantaloupe, a small handful of almonds, air-popped popcorn, apple slices with peanut butter, a cup of strawberries, a boiled egg, greek yogurt, baby carrots with hummus, or a cup of tomato soup.