Summer is fast approaching and, fingers crossed, the weather will be good enough to be able to wear strappy tops, shorts and bikinis!

BUT…. Are you panicking that you have left it too late to get in shape and lose weight? Are you freaking out about what your clothes will look like? Are you worried that you’ll feel uncomfortable in shorts? We all like to feel comfortable when we are wearing summer clothes – it’s much easier to cover up in winter.

So, what can you do? Firstly, it is never too late to start looking after your health and fitness, and that is much more important than trying to look good in a bikini! However, we all like to do our best to look as good as we can! So, firstly, remember to break down your goals – aiming to lose 1lb a week is so much easier than thinking about losing a stone. If you look at wanting to lose a stone in as little time as possible, this is unachievable and setting yourself up to fail. It’s better to look at losing 14 lots of 1lb rather than a stone in one go. Breaking it down makes it much more achievable and each 1lb is a boost and a step in the right direction. You will lose a 1lb in a week, it’s very unlikely you will lose 1 stone (and super unhealthy to do so!) It’s easy to think that a pound isn’t that much but actually, a pound of body fat is equivalent to the size of a block of butter, so to lose one of those a week is a lot!

It’s also a good idea to look backwards instead of forwards. Looking too far forwards sets us up to fail as what we want seems so unattainable, but if we look at how far we have come then we can see that we have made improvements and moved forwards. Each small step is a win! Each pound lost is a step towards your goal. You can’t climb to the top of the ladder in one step, you have to climb all the rungs and this is no different.

Having a great fitness plan in place and being mindful of what you eat puts you on the right track. Look at how we can help you at W Fitness.

There are times when we need an extra boost, coming up to summer, holidays or special events so here are a few ways to burn an extra 500 calories. Your weight and the intensity of the exercise will affect the number of calories burned so these are guidelines.

Burpees! I know they are probably not your favourite exercise, but they sure do burn calories. As well as working the core, glutes, and arms, they increase strength and can burn up to 500 calories in 50 minutes. 50 minutes of burpees is hardcore so you might want to mix these up with something else 😊
Skipping. High intensity skipping can burn up to 500 calories in 20-30 minutes so grab that skipping rope and get your heart pumping!
Zumba. Get hot and sweaty and burn up to 500 calories with an hour’s Zumba class, as well as lowering your risk of heart disease, boosting good cholesterol and reducing your risk of high blood pressure.
Try a HIIT workout (High-Intensity Interval Training). This is a set of high intensity exercises repeated for a short time. You can burn up to 500 calories in 40 minutes if done at a high intensity.
Running. Running at a steady pace for 40-45 minutes can burn up to 500 calories and will help to lower your risk of heart disease. Running outside helps to reduce stress, anxiety and is great for your mental well-being!

If you’re looking for ways to incorporate burning extra calories without the high intensity of the exercises above, then try out the following that you can do at home, just do them for longer to burn up to 500 calories 😊

Cutting the grass. You can burn up to 205 calories per half hour cutting the grass, so depending on how big our lawn is, you can burn a significant number of calories.
Weeding. Weeding and clearing/tidying can burn up to 170 calories per half hour so an afternoon’s gardening can easily burn over 500 calories.
Cleaning the house can burn up to 170 calories per half hour so half an hour here and there can really add up and a spring clean will burn over 500 calories.
If the weather’s good, get outside and wash the car. You can burn an average of 320 calories an hour!
If you clean your own windows, you’ll burn about 230 calories an hour.

Ironing, folding and putting clothes away and cooking can both burn up to 150 calories an hour.

If you want to work a bit harder whilst doing the cleaning, add in some extra weight such as ankle weights or a weighted vest, reduce rests between jobs and add in one extra job that you were putting off for another day 😊

Burning that extra 500 calories a day can help towards your weight loss. But remember that exercise is so much more beneficial than just for weight loss, it can increasing your energy levels, promoting better sleep, lower blood pressure and help to prevent diseases such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes, so just get moving and you’ll see fantastic results both mentally and physically 😊

Much Love

Caroline & Hannah xx