4th of July "Stay Fit" Tips
By Holly Rigsby on July 2, 2009
Happy 4th of July!
Cookouts, Celebrations and Vacations.
How do you plan to stay fit during these fabulous fourth of July events?
July marks the start of summer events for many families, including my own. Having a plan in place will make the difference between truly enjoying these festivities with confidence or holding yourself back out of the fear of what your body looks like to others.
Need some
Stay Fit Strategies so you do not Blow your hard earned Results?
With the right strategies in place, you can guarantee a super charged metabolism that helps you burn fat throughout the month of July- no matter what special event you take part in. Achieving your flat tummy goal is absolutely attainable!
Freedom from Fat: Five Fat Burning Tips for an Effective Summer Fitness Plan
1. Remember WHY
If the goal is to feel sexy and confident in your cutest summer outfits why abandon all of your healthy habits only to end up feeling like you need to be a “slave” to your workouts in order to make up for all the weight you gained. No amount of eating or drinking is worth the effort it will take to remove those excess pounds.
2. Prevention is Key
In the long run, prevention is always better than the cure.
If you already know ahead of time that you will be practicing in some overindulgence. Vamp up your exercise habits and fine tune what you are eating NOW. The best part about this type of routine is that you have a deadline. This will help keep you motivated to stick to your fitness goals.
3. Meal Management
WARNING: The last thing you want to do prior to, during or after a 4th of July event is to not eat. If you choose to skip your meals, two wonderful things happen to your body.
First, your metabolism slows down.
Next since you brain thinks that you are starving it will tell your body to store any food that it does receive in the form of fat.
Skipping Meals = Weight Gain!
The best thing you can do for your body is to begin each day with breakfast and eat a supportive meal or snack every 3 hours. This in turn will fuel your metabolism, provide you with an abundance of energy and allow your body to burn more fat 24-7.
4. Plan Your Splurges
If you know you will be enjoying a bountiful feast at a 4th of July cookout, avoid overindulging during breakfast and/or lunch. Instead make your other meals that day light and more supportive.
Cookout Saboteurs:
~ Nibbling
~ Alcoholic Drinks
~ 2nd and 3rd Helpings
These choices add very quickly to your calorie count. Decide ahead of time what you plan to indulge in and make more supportive choices until that meal.
5. Forget the Gym
Yes, to avoid unwanted weight and achieve a toned, flat tummy– you have to exercise – but your summer fat loss workout plan is not a tedious as you think. No hours of long, boring cardio, no fancy gym equipment necessary – some of the most effective fat blasting workouts can be done right at home – with your Own Body Weight.
As seen in “The Treadmill Challenge ~ Just Say NO!”
Even better news when you switch to a more effective way of working out….your workouts take no more than 10 to 15 minutes!!!
Using short burst resistance training and intervals to super charge your metabolism so your body burns more fat and calories all day long! Resistance Training is KEY for it is the only form of exercise that will reshape your body with fat blasting lean muscle – Muscle Burns Fat!
Choose movements that use as many muscles as possible such as:
Squats, Lunges, Push Ups, Pulls Ups, Planks, Wood Chops
Intervals keep your cardio short and sweet by vamping up the intensity. By alternating between short periods of high and low intensity, you will leave your metabolism super charged, but more importantly does not put you at risk for burning your lean muscle – the powerhouse behind your ability to lose more fat.
Need a step by step plan with detailed examples?
How about 16 weeks worth of fat burning, belly flattening workout plans – workouts that take a mere 90 minutes a week. Then grab a copy of Fit Yummy Mummy.
Once you do, be sure to join us at ClubFYM and guarantee your New Summer Ready Body with Challenges, New Workouts Each Month, Fat Burning Meal Plans and the BEST Motivation and Positive Accountability you could ask for!
What 4th of July events and celebrations do you have planned for this weekend? Leave a Comment Below!
Wherever you go, whatever you do, have fun, relax, and enjoy your 4th of July events and celebrations!
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Tags: 4th of July fitness tips, fat burning tips, summer fat loss plan
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 10:58 am and is filed under Fat Loss Tips.
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Great list – applies to us all (even us men)!! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you Holly! We leave today for our summer vacation. I printed this and am bringing it with me to read each morning, along with some personal notes. Of course, I’m bringing my FYM workouts and resistance band!
Have a happy and safe 4th!
Holly, is it okay to do intervals every day and super sets every other day? Do you have to keep the intervals at 10-15 minutes? Sometimes I like to go for 20-30 minutes (including a 2 min warm up and a 3 min cool down). Is this okay? Any benefit to doing your supersets and intervals on the same day versus alternate days? I like to get some movement everyday which is why I was wondering about doing the intervals daily, but if that isn’t the best approach, I assume that a 30-45 minute walk is okay? Thanks.
Hey Katherine – I actually teach intervals with intensity.
If you are able to say you “like” to go longer – then these are not true intervals. Actually true intervals have you saying…WOW I hope I can make it through this session.
The women I have worked with over the years – many of which were cardio queens – realize at the 8 minute mark that this is challenging and begin to question whether or not they can keep going.
This is what your intervals should feel like when you work with intensity.
Sure if you wish to add in a casual cardio day – it fits in your lifestyle and you are getting results – go for it.
Fit Yummy Mummys have an option to follow the 3 day or 6 day a week plan – for busy moms do not have a lot of extra time. The reason I double up resistance training followed by intervals is for the moms who are not able to schedule a workout-like activity every day. Instead – they consolidate them.
Others either Do have time every day or are not able to fit in a 30 minute block of time 3 days a week – so they choose to alternate intervals with resistance training.
If you like to move every day, then good for you – you are ahead of the gang!
No matter which format you choose – allow at least one day of rest for your body to recover so when you do get back into your routine you are stronger and have the energy to increase the challenge.
Thanks Holly. I did a 10 minute interval today (with 5 minutes for warm up and cool down for a total of 15. I was pretty winded while I was doing the intervals and was fairly ready to stop – although I might have been able to do a few more minutes. I was doing 1 min high/1 min active rest. I think I push myself pretty hard on the high (although there is always room for improvement, right?) but where I have the most trouble is knowing what the rest should be. I think I often want to pump up the intensity because I think that should be better for me. If I am marchingor walking outside in place about how fast should I be marching/walking during my active rest? Thanks.
Katherine
The “lows” need to slow down enough for you to catch your breath – these need to be viewed as “active rest” periods. So you do not want to overdo it here for it can affect how much intensity you can truly put into your highs. It varies from individual to individual so you will have to test it out. Another reason why keeping a workout log is super helpful. Allows you to remember what works and what does not so each workout you give your best.
Hey Holly,
When I do intervals, I do a four minute warm up, one minute intensity with 30 sec. active rest. The next day I do resistance training with some of the workouts you have posted. I read that you need to give your body a day of rest but is it ok that one day I do intervals and the next I do resistance? Or do I need to do resistance one day, rest a day, then do intervals the third day? Or even do resistance and intervals on the same day then rest a day? Which way would be the most effective?
Thanks,
Jenny
Hey Jenny – great question.
The day of rest applies to your resistance training program.
As far as scheduling your workouts – you can either double your workout up followed by your intervals or spread them out every other day. The way that is most effective for results is the routine that best fits your lifestyle and the one you are more likely to stick to.
Consistency trumps 3 days a week vs. 6 days a week.
Holly-
What an amazing website! You really are an inspiration! You gave such great tips in this recent post…I am the queen of skipping meals and I find that I actually end up over-eating by the end of the day. I’m going to try some of the tips you explained here. Trying to get my body back after baby #2 has been a struggle. Looking forward to following your site.