“Are you beach body ready?” the ad asks, with a picture of a woman in a yellow bikini next to those words. You may remember this ad getting a lot of bad press about a year or so ago when a supplement company rolled out their summer campaign. I won’t be going into that but I do want to focus on the being “beach ready” part.
I have been in this industry for some time now and if I had a quid for every time someone replied to my “what are your goals?” question with “I am going on holiday in X amount of weeks/months and I want to look good for that” then I would have been able to go on a very nice holiday myself.
I want to make it clear that there is nothing wrong with having such a goal. In fact, it’s a great goal to have as it gives you a deadline so to speak and some added motivation. However my question is this…
How many times have you gone on a “going on holiday” diet and training regime?
More the once? A few times? Every time you have been on holiday? Wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t have to do that? You can see where I am going with this I am sure. When starting a new nutrition plan, diet or whatever you want to call it, you need to ask yourself if you can imagine yourself doing it in 12 months time. If the answer is no because its too restrictive, boring and too much hard work then its not the diet for you and it will mean this won’t be the last “going on holiday” diet you go on.
What if I told you that many of our 1 to 1 clients and Fitter 365 members actually lose body fat when they go on holiday? And I’m not referring to food poisoning either but because they didn’t deprive themselves in the run up to the holiday, they didn’t go from a large calorie restriction to eating calories in abundance. They lose weight because they follow healthy eating principles, they get more sleep, they walk everyday and of course stress less. I have always said if you are doing things right then you should lose weight on holiday not gain weight (if you have a fat loss goal that is) and don’t for a minute think this involves sitting on the beach eating lettuce leaves and sipping on nothing but water and starting each day with a gruelling bodyweight session. On the contrary, our team members eat plenty of awesome food on holiday, they enjoy some vino and cold beers but they do so as part of a balanced lifestyle – and that’s what its all about. Enjoying these treats whilst remaining in complete control and not coming back from holiday and needing a holiday for a holiday 🙂
I want to share with you 3 tips that are very much achievable, enjoyable and will ensure this is the last time you go on a “going on holiday” diet because you will always look but more importantly feel beach ready, which is a state of mind anyway because EVERYONE is beach ready.
1) Give yourself more time
The number of clients who come to me with a few weeks to go until their holiday is insane, especially when you find out they booked it months ago. It’s actually pretty easy to lose weight quickly but I can assure you it will not be enjoyable, healthy or sustainable. It’s no wonder people hugely restrict calories when they have given themselves 3 weeks to lose a stone. When you drastically reduce calories over time you will start to lose lean muscle tissue and will slow your metabolism down meaning you will burn fewer calories throughout the day. So come holiday time and you go to the opposite extreme and over indulge because “fuck it, I’m on me holidays” your metabolism will not be able to cope and you will put on weight FAST. Give yourself a realistic time frame. Naturally the more weight you have to lose the longer you should give yourself. Sure it takes longer, but it means you will feel better, enjoy the process more and of course be far more likely to keep the weight off.
2) Go on a lifestyle change not a diet
Oh that classic it’s a lifestyle not a diet line. Well it’s true, because when people think fat loss they think nutrition. Whilst what you eat plays a huge role in your health and the size of your waistline it’s not the only component that requires attention. Exercise, daily movement, stress management and the mac daddy of health and fat loss sleep should all be equally considered. I often joke with clients and this normally works better with the ladies as blokes tend to be less bothered (so they make out ;-)) and say “what if you won a competition for an all expenses paid holiday for you and your partner to leave next week?” and the answers I usually get are “Oh I won’t eat for a week” or “I can’t wear a bikini looking like this” and let’s be honest, this is really sad. Since when did holidays become about how you looked in a bikini? I thought holidays were about spending time with loved ones, getting some well-deserved rest, seeing the world, catching some sun and taking a break. If you embrace a lifestyle change as a whole you will always feel beach ready and as mentioned previously when on holiday people often sleep more and stress less so they end up losing more weight. So as cheesy s the lifestyle line is it really is true.
3) Go on a diet for you not a holiday
Why are people making changes to their diet and training for a holiday? Why not do it for you? To feel better about yourself, increase energy, improve health, lose body fat and have a better quality of life? Of course we want to look and feel good on holiday but a holiday is a very small part of your year, think about we go away for a week, 10 days or 2 weeks if we are lucky so why do we focus so much on looking good on holiday? Think of the bigger picture, focus on you, eat great food, train in a way you enjoy.
For some tips on keeping your shit together on your holiday then check out this blog I wrote here.
If you would like to be part of our Fitter 365 family and discover how you to can eat amazing food, train in a fun and structured way, all whilst absolutely smashing your goals including looking smokin’ on holiday, then be sure to sign up now and have access to tons of meal plans, training plans, educational webinars and helpful cheat sheets all designed to help you achieve the results you have always wanted and keep them. You can see more information here.
Results are for life not just your holiday 🙂
BOSH
