Get Back in Shape After Summer Vacation
Summer vacation is excellent for your mind and your body, but sometimes the accumulation of too much alcohol, eating out, lack of sleep, and not enough exercise creates the opposite effect.
When most people want to get back in shape, the first thing that comes to their minds is to completely change their diet and start to exercise very hard. Unfortunately, in most cases, this will come to a brief end after a few days. If this situation sounds familiar, let me share some tips with you to avoid the most common mistakes and get sustainable results.
First of all, re-establish a regular sleep schedule. For sure, your sleep rhythms have been mixed up during your vacation while traveling to another time zone or because of long evenings spent on the patio. Whatever applies to you, it is time to stick to a regular sleep schedule, because the body needs to recover and recharge at the end of every day. If you want to take a nap, try to limit it to less than one hour to make it easier for you to fall asleep at night.
There are a lot of debates around how much sleep you should get to reach an optimal level of recovery. Even if I feel good after 6 hours of sleep, I do my best to sleep at least 7 to 8 hours. Being sleep deprived has bad consequences on our immune system and is counter-productive to any steps leading us to a better shape. For examples, hormones responsible for helping to burn fat, and managing fullness and hunger all balance and regenerate when we sleep. In case of lack of sleep, these hormones do not balance efficiently and the body holds on to fat, we get cravings, and we end up eating larger portions.
Since the body is built in the kitchen, adopting a healthy eating plan is more effective than spending long hours at the gym. Despite being a restaurant aficionado, I have to admit that I try hard to cut on eating out. In fact, even when I am not traveling I am used to going to restaurants at least 3 to 4 times a week. It is not a secret that restaurants serve larger portions, so taking the decision to slow down on eating out is the best thing I did so far.
On Sunday, I plan my meals for the week, including my snacks. I’m not saying that I cook all my meals on Sunday, but I make sure to have everything I need for my meals to go through the week. When you make your own meals, you are in control of the ingredients and you avoid the excess sugar and salt found in many restaurant meals. Moreover, to maintain this habit in the long run, focus on easy to do meals compose of ½ vegetables, ¼ plant-based protein, ¼ healthy carbohydrate, and a small portion of a healthy fat. For breakfast, I am a huge fan of green smoothies while I prefer having toasts for snacks. I share some of my favorite recipes step by step on Instagram.
When it comes to exercise, my recommendation is to start small with 2 or 3 structured workouts per week combining cardio and resistance work to burn fat. Summer is the perfect season for outdoor activities and I invite you to try running. All you need is a pair of sneakers, no gym membership required!
Beyond what diet and exercise can achieve, some of you might look for liposuction in Montreal as a solution to reduce these areas of unwanted fat. Some stubborn areas of fat simply don’t respond to even the most diligent efforts, and plastic surgery is a safe and effective way to get to your goals. Whatever you chose to do to look good, do something that makes you comfortable.
Getting back in shape after summer vacation is both a mental and a physical challenge. To make sure to get on that healthy train again, create an exciting routine that will make you feel and look better. Whenever you manage to achieve small- or long-term goals, reward yourself every day to stay motivated. Moreover, do not feel bad to take a day off or days off occasionally. Follow along my workout routine in my Instagram Stories 😉
