Fit Tip…Have Fun & Stay Fit This Summer
Memorial Day Weekend is only a month away, which means summer is almost here!
With summer comes backyard grilling, pool parties, and cocktails.
As the weather warms there are more opportunities for fun gatherings with friends and family, which can lead to making it hard to resist those yummy hot dogs, burgers, and cold beers.
However, with the summer here it also brings more opportunities for daily activities like walking, yard work, golf, tennis, canoeing, hiking and biking.
So here are some tips on how to make healthier decisions, stay active, and still have a fun summer!
1. Pace Yourself
Don’t eat 2 hamburgers or 4 hot dogs all at once while downing beers like college kid. Slow down and enjoy what you are eating and drinking. You’ll find yourself satisfied by eating and drinking less. So slow down taste the food, put your glass down between sips, and enjoy the conversation with those you’re with.
2. Load Up On Healthier Sides
Adding some healthier options like coleslaw, watermelon or corn on the cob to your plate will help you feel fuller without loading up on as many calories.
3. Preparation Is Key
Whether you’re the host or guest at a barbeque party, take some time and prepare a few healthy foods you bring to the party. After all, you should never show up empty handed to a party, bring something. Some examples could be turkey burgers instead of hamburgers, pasta salad instead of macaroni and cheese, coleslaw instead of potato salad, or homemade dressings instead of store bought ones.
4. Go Big Early
Fill up on healthy appetizers like vegetables and hummus, watermelon, and deviled eggs before the main course is served. That way you’ll be less tempted to go for that extra serving of mac and cheese. The key here is balance, we’re not saying to eat only the appetizers and skip the main course, but to find a healthy balance of both.
5. Tequila Today, To-Kill-Ya-Tomorrow
Drinking too much alcohol can ruin your plan to eat healthier foods at dinner or as an appetizer. Instead you’ll gravitate towards starchy, calorie-dense foods. Then the following day crave comfort foods to help recover from that hangover. Now, we’d never tell you not to drink – that would just make us hypocrites. But, we do recommend drinking one glass of water between drinks and eating first.
6. Skip Dessert
Try serving or bringing your own healthier dessert option, like a blueberry pie with a scoop of fresh blueberries and some fresh whipped cream instead of ice cream. That way you get the benefit of the fruit while still satisfying your sweet tooth. Or, skip it all together.
7. Stay Active
Take advantage of any opportunity to get some exercise in each day, we recommend at least 20 minutes. We’re not talking about dropping down in the middle of the party and doing 50 pushups, although if that is your thing go for it, just be prepared to get some strange looks. Instead, have games like horseshoes, badminton or volleyball set up to play. Take a daily bike ride or walk. Walk nine holes on the golf course, instead of riding. The more movement you get throughout the day the more additional calories you will burn outside of your two to three weekly workouts.
8. Fitness Doesn’t Take The Summer Off
It can be tempting to take the summer off from the gym, because you have more yard work, a weekly golf league, and more outside opportunities. But, doing this makes it hard to get started back up in the fall, like all habits once you stop it is hard to get back in the habit. You will also, lose most of the progress you’ve made over the past few months.
Instead, look at summer as an athletic season. Do athlete’s stop working out once their season starts? No, but they do scale back their workouts. So instead of three to four days per week, your goal is now two. Two workouts per week for three months may not sound like very much and you may think why even bother. But, two times a week is enough to keep your progress. After all this is your maintenance season with your fitness, so the goal is to just hold the line until fall so we don’t have to regain what was lost.
We hope you have great summer!
