5 Quick Ways to Slim Down For Your Upcoming Trip

For this week’s tip, we focus on five quick ways to slim down for your upcoming trip. We consulted an expert, Dani, a Beachbody coach and creator of Ok, Dani. These are her tips.

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The wellness coach in me cringes whenever a new client comes to me asking how to get in shape quickly for an event. Changing your body doesn’t happen very quickly, and those changes don’t last. I often give tips on how to jumpstart weight loss, but I’m sure to keep up with my clients after their event so they maintain the loss instead of suffering the dreaded yo-yo dieting effect.

There are a few things you can do if you’re a few weeks out from your trip to slim down…. And, if you continue the habits after your trip, you can keep the changes for good!

1. Drink Up
2. Eat Clean and Green
3. Get Active (in a way you LOVE)
4. Start First Thing in the A.M.
5. Sleep Well

 

Drink up!

We’ve heard the old advice to drink half your body weight in ounces of water each day. That is an excellent baseline for general health, but if your goal is quick weight loss, you may want to ramp it up a bit. Start your day with a glass of water and replace your beverages (even your zero calorie drinks) with water all day long. If you have a soda with lunch that’s 140 calories a day that you’ll be dropping right away. If you drink juices, teas, coffees throughout the day, you can legitimately shave off 1000+ calories simply by making this one easy tweak.

Bonus: you’ll notice other health benefits besides the calorie deficit. Your skin will look brighter, and you’ll have more energy and feel less hungry for snacks.

 

Eat Clean and Green.

I am not a proponent for crash diets. They do much more harm than good. A great short-term program for getting your eating under control is The 21 Day Fix. You use portion control and eat healthfully as well as do the included workout program, and you WILL see the pounds/inches drop. If an at home program is not for you, switch your breakfast to something high protein and filling (example: 2 eggs, 1 Ezekiel toast with peanut butter, and berries), start your lunch with salad and skip the pastas/rice/breads. And start dinner with a salad and be sure to have a protein and greens. Dropping sugars (in the form of simple carbs like rice, sweet fruits, bread, pasta, sweet yogurts etc.) has a dramatic effect on your weight loss. If you keep up the change after your trip you’ll notice increased energy as well as the improved body.

 

Get Active in a way you LOVE.

I don’t care who you are, there is a form of exercise out there for you. If you like to dance, do that or try Zumba or Cize, If you like to work out at home there are loads of free workouts on sites like FitnessBlender or YouTube. If you’re a runner or biker, get out there and go. Pilates, Spinning, Yoga, Crossfit, Weights, Barre Class… there are so many options there’s no excuse not to find something you love. My go to for weight loss is running intervals HIIT combining sprints and slow jogging for a high calorie burn in less time.

 

Start First Thing in the A.M.

 Here is a quick and easy exercise tip. Do abs workout very first thing when you wake up. Like…immediately. You roll out of bed, down to the floor, stretch a bit, and then do 20 each of crunches, reverse crunches, scissors, bicycles (both sides), and hold a plank for 60 seconds. The whole thing takes 5 minutes max. You front-load your day with something good for you, your abs feel tighter, looks trimmest in the morning, and you’ll FEEL better about yourself and make healthier choices throughout the day.

 

Sleep.

This may sound counterintuitive but you need sleep in order to efficiently lose weight or change your body. While you’re dreaming, every cell in your body is hard at work. Your muscles are repairing and growing, your organs are working overtime and your fat is being transferred for removal. If you don’t get sufficient sleep your body can’t perform the necessary functions and your weight loss will inevitably stall.

So if you only have a few weeks before your next trip and want to slim down quickly those are my top tips. Good luck and happy (healthy) travels!!

 

Danielle Faust is the voice behind the family/lifestyle blog OKDani.com. The married mom of two is a certified life and wellness coach based in south Florida.