Ah, summer holidays! The perfect time to travel, explore exotic cuisines and spend quality time with your friends and family. Being away from home also means lots of restaurant food, shorter nights and less exercise… Do your pants feel tighter than they did at the beginning of your holiday? Stop worrying about it and take action! This 5-step plan will help you to lose those holiday pounds.
Step 1: A Green Smoothie a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
Start your day with at least one large glass of green smoothie (bonus points if you have more throughout the day!). Green smoothies are the perfect weight loss food. They supply you with plenty of minerals, they are very convenient to have on the go and they will keep your energy levels stable throughout the morning. Don’t know where to start? If you haven’t done so already, subscribe to the mailing list of Julie’s Lifestyle in order to receive your free smoothie eBook.
Step 2: Hydrate
You’ve probably heard this a million times before: drink your water! If you want to lose those holiday pounds and keep the weight off, you need to drink enough. It’s great if you are already starting your day with a green juice or a nice cup of green tea, but your body still needs at least 1,5 liter of purified water a day too. Water will help you to remove excess salt and toxins from your body. This, in turn, will help you to reduce bloating by losing water weight. Next time you feel like having a snack, drink a glass of water first. Cravings are often thirst in disguise!
Step 3: Fill Up on Fiber
If you are feeling bloated or sluggish, it is essential to get your digestion back on track. The best way to boost your digestion is by enjoying plenty of fiber-rich foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables, chia seeds, psyllium, quinoa, hemp seeds, lentils and beans. Fiber will both fill you up and act as a broom in your intestines, sweeping away any food residues or toxins that got left behind.
Step 4: Get Some Quality Sleep
Sleep is an essential part of a healthy weight loss plan. If you are not getting at least 7 hours of quality sleep a night, your body will go into ‘stress mode’ and start storing fat in order to protect itself. I don’t know about you, but I usually don’t sleep as sound if I’m not in my own bed. By catching up on those lost hours of deep quality sleep, your body will leave the ‘stress mode’ and start burning fat again.
Step 5: Hide your scales for a week (in fact, why not throw them away!)
Do you recognize this scenario? You just got back home after a relaxing holiday. While you are unpacking, you notice the scales in your bathroom and you decide to jump right on. A sense of panic rushes through your body as you notice that you have gained five pounds. How is that possible? Your relaxed holiday mood has suddenly turned into fear and guilt. Next time you get home after a holiday, give yourself at least a week to get back into your daily routine of healthy cooking and exercising before you hit the scales. It will only make you feel stressed and this can cause even greater weight gain!
Now I would love to hear from you! What are your top tips to lose those excess holiday pounds? Let me know by leaving a comment down below.
