Bikini Body Countdown Part 2

Your summer holiday is approaching and the weather is hotting-up. You should be excited but the fear of stripping off in direct sunlight is niggling at the back of your mind... Well, don't panic and check out our Bikini Body Countdown Part 1 for how to get started on the road to your dream body by setting realistic goals and keeping track of your progress.

As anyone will tell you, the fastest way to kick-start your weight-loss is not only to watch what you are eating, but also to increase the amount of exercise that you do. Again, it is important to be realistic with your exercise goals. If you do very little exercise and you suddenly start going to the gym every day for two hours, you are going to lose interest very quickly (and quite possible do your body some damage too!) Ease yourself into a new fitter lifestyle by setting practical goals that fit with your lifestyle. Take a brisk walk in your lunch break or walk to and from work instead of driving. Get your family involved by walking the kids to school or going on a bike ride together at the weekend. Find an activity that you enjoy and you are much more likely to stick to it! Even small changes will make a huge difference to your level of fitness and will help you maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle.

If you need a bit more motivation to keep track of all of the positive changes that you are making, perhaps you should consider investing in a health tracker such as the Fitbit UltraWireless Tracker.

The Fitbit Ultra monitors your activity all day to provide you with real-time feedback on steps, distance, calories burned, and stairs climbed to encourage you to walk more and be more active. It wirelessly uploads your data to Fitbit.com so you can gain deeper insight into your daily or monthly fitness and sleep levels with free online graphs and charts. On Fitbit.com, you can earn fitness badges, connect with friends to share and compete on fitness goals, or join the Fitbit community for advice and encouragement. So you can get fit- one step at a time!

Bikini Body Countdown Part 1

The sunshine has finally come out and summer no longer seems a distant dream! But if the sudden prospect of sun on your bare skin has left you feeling terrified of cracking open your summer wardrobe then don’t panic! By making only a few changes to your lifestyle you could be bikini confident in no time!

Be realistic- you are not going to shed 5 stone before your Summer  holiday by drinking vinegar and having ice baths! Fad diets are difficult to stick to and can leave you feeling (and looking) worse than when you started. Yoyo dieting is one of the worst contributors to long-term weight gain. Eating healthily and getting more exercise is the best way to maintain a healthy weight- sorry, but there really is no magic lotion or potion!

Before you start trying to lose weight, weigh yourself- it might not be as bad as you thought!
Keeping track of how your weight changes can also help you track your progress and see the rewards of all your hard work! You can of course do this using a pen and notebook, but if you like to keep up to date with the latest gadgets and your smartphone is the centre of your life, then why not invest in a gadget to do all the hard work for you.The Fitbit Aria Wi-FiSmart Scale measures your weight, body fat percentage and body mass index (BMI) to provide a full picture of your weight trends. The Wi-Fi enabled scale lets you set goals, track your progress effortlessly, and stay motivated each and every day. Your stats automatically upload to your Fitbit dashboard where you can get a more comprehensive view of your health and fitness and track your eating and exercise habits so you can work out trends in your weight loss (or gain) and work out what really works for you!

Keep checking back for Bikini Body Countdown Part 2…

How to burn off the excesses of Easter!

After a long Easter weekend of roast dinners and more chocolate than you would usually eat in a year, you may be feeling a bit lethargic and bloated. With the summer just around the corner it is time to burn off those Easter eggs and shake yourself out of this sugar slump!

Start slowly if you are not used to doing a lot of exercise. The last thing that you want to do is injure yourself on the first day of your fitness kick and end up in bed for a week! Start by incorporating exercise into your everyday life. Exercise doesn’t have to mean jumping jacks and sprinting- anything that raises your heart rate above its normal pace for a sustained period of time will help with your overall fitness. Small bursts of exercise throughout the day will also help to increase your metabolism and get that chocolate bunny-bulge burning!

Try parking further away from your office or get off the bus a stop early and incorporate some brisk walking into your daily commute. Take the stairs not the escalator or lift and instead of browsing the internet in your lunch break, take a little walk around a local park. You could even try and get a few of your colleagues together and start a walking club, or do a quick exercise video in an empty office. Not only is exercise good for your body, but it has also been proven to have a positive effect on your mental state. Doing some exercise in the middle of your workday could help you to be less stressed and more productive too! It’s a win-win situation!

If you need a bit more motivation, you should invest in the Fitbit Ultra. This clever little gadget records your exercise all day and uploads it wirelessly to your smart device. Using a free app you can record how much exercise you do on a daily basis, how many calories burned and consumed and track your overall progress. You can even get advice and support from an online community who will encourage you to achieve your goals and keep you motivated!  

Get bikini ready quickly and easily!

Summer is quickly approaching; bikinis and crop tops are appearing in the shops. The countdown to our Summer holidays has begun!

If like a lot of us, this time of year has you feeling optimism and dread in equal parts, you are not alone- it is stressful pulling on last summer’s sundresses or trying on the first bikini of the year! But if you know that you are not going to like what you see- then why not do something about it now! 

There are plenty of ways to lose a bit of weight and tone up without having to starve or torture yourself! Find an activity that you enjoy- try a dance class or Zumba, or perhaps trekking in the fresh air? See what is available in your local area and step outside your comfort zone- you just might enjoy it!

Eating healthily doesn’t have to be a chore either- swap your soggy sandwiches at lunch for a nutritious soup and try out a new fruit or vegetable every week- you could be missing out on something really delicious!

There are some great apps out there to keep track of your calorie intake and exercise too. MyFitnessPal lets you record all the food that you eat and works out the calories and nutritional content of your daily consumption. It also lets you record your exercise and offset calories burnt against calories eaten, encouraging you to be more aware of your daily energy input and output. You can track your progress with charts and build up a support network of your friends and family or even other dieters.

If you would prefer to let a gadget record the amount of exercise that you are doing during the day (and gain a more accurate insight into your daily activity levels) you could invest in a FitbitUltra. The Fitbit wirelessly transmits the information that it gathers all day to your smart device or computer so that you can see where you can make improvements and congratulate yourself on your achievements. There is even the Fitbit Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale that measures your weight, body mass index and body fat percentage to provide a full picture of your weight trends. It allows you to set goals, stay in control and stay motivated every day.

A lot of people are surprised by the unexpected calories that they are inadvertently consuming every day and shocked by how little activity they do in their day-to-day lives- sometimes just being aware of where you are going wrong can make huge changes to your weight, fitness and overall health and help you get that bikini-ready body back in no time at all!  

Spring into action and shed that Winter weight!

The weather may still be chilly, but there is no doubt that fashion is hotting up ready for Spring. While it is exciting to see new trends and brighter colours bringing a ray of sunshine into the dreary knitwear laden shops, there is an element of dread that accompanies this time of year...

As the hemlines get shorter and we can no longer hide under a chunky knit, the extra pounds around our waistlines that did such a good job of keeping us warm in the winter months begins to play on our minds! January diets are long forgotten and the very real danger of sleeveless tops is looming just around the corner...

But don't panic! There is still time!  

As any personal trainer or health professional will tell you, it is best to make small changes to your everyday routine - that will eventually add up to big changes in your health (and your waistline!)

Change just one thing every day- Try to increase your number of steps per day; park further away from your office, walk your kids to school or get off the bus a stop earlier. Taking the stairs instead of the elevator or lift will make a big difference too!

If you need a bit more motivation to keep track of all of the positive changes that you are making, perhaps you should consider investing in a health tracker such as the Fitbit Ultra WirelessTracker.

The Fitbit Ultra monitors your activity all day to provide you with real-time feedback on steps, distance, calories burned, and stairs climbed to encourage you to walk more and be more active. It wirelessly uploads your data to Fitbit.com, using your smartphone or tablet, so you can gain deeper insight into your daily or monthly fitness and sleep levels with free online graphs and charts. On Fitbit.com, you can earn fitness badges, connect with friends to share and compete on fitness goals, or join the Fitbit community for advice and encouragement. So you can get fitter and slimmer- one step at a time!