Recently I’ve been very busy with work but as the thunder storms pass and the sun finally comes out in London I thought it would be a great time to talk about the Summer Diet. Holidays on the horizon, T-shirts becoming the majority of the summer wear, looking good is one of the biggest factors for many. The extra slice of toast or spoonfuls of peanut butter need to go and replaced by celery sticks and rice cakes or so many believe.
Losing weight and becoming lean for summer eating plays a huge role, but before I elaborate any further I just want to make one point. Don't believe you are going to look like your favourite fitness model you see posting pictures up on their Instagram or the recent cover model of your favourite fitness magazine. These are more so often than not pictures of them when they're stage ready, dehydrated, depleted of carbohydrates until the day before with the best tanning and lighting!!!! You need not to compare yourself to these but yourself and your own goals.
Now onto diet. Yes this needs to change from the diet you had over the winter consisting of high carbs and a few extra treats than you normally would eat but you don't need to cut everything out of your diet totally. Many believe a diet consisting of just protein and veg does the fix but you'll be thankful to know carbs are still essential. The best bit of advice I can give is split all meals a day into 5 similar size portions with breakfast, if any taking preference on the larger size. Look at the plate aiming for a fist size of protein and carbs, half a fist fat and unlimited vegetables, preference towards green. Try to avoid to much fruit, believing these are good for you. Yes they are nutritious but also contain huge amounts of sugar, empty calories which you really don't need. The main pointers to a great summer diet are:
- If you fancy a treat, have it!!! Keep it small and don't over indulge. Eat either pre or post workout when you're body is in need of food the most.
- Again keep your breakfast the larger size meal, along with a post workout meal.
- Stay away from eating to much fruit, post workout as a insulin spike is the best.
- Eat dense foods, keeping you fuller for longer, avoiding empty foods and more so drinks. Go with a high protein greek yoghurt with blueberries over a glass of orange juice for breakfast.
- Try to stick to brown rice, sweet potato, oats instead of your breads and pasta. This can have a place in your diet but try and keep it as a treat, avoiding it as a sustainable part within the diet.
- Lastly stay consistent!! Slow and steady will get you the body you want, a crash diet might make you feel good and look good for an evening but in the long run is not going to help you get that dream body. If you have a poor day of eating, don’t just give up and punish yourself, reverting back to comfort food. The next day get straight back on it, forget about what you've eaten the day before and start again.
