10 useful tips to take care of your body and keep yourself fit for this summer

What’s the secret to be ready for the swimwear try-on? It’s all about perseverance and balance: here are 5 things to do (and 5 things not to do) to fully enjoy summertime at its best without restrictions or prohibitions.

If it’s true that with the spread of body positivity on social media the concept of swimwear try-on has now been overcome, and that everyone is beautiful and deserves love with no consideration of body imperfections and particularities, it’s also your own duty to take care of body throughout all the year and not just looking for summer.

A conscious approach to physical, mental and emotional well-being is key to help maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle, feeling at ease everyday. At the same time, nothing prevents from the will of paying particular attention to physical health right before summer, when much more skin get exposed and days spent by the seaside become an ever closer dream, in order to shine in your own light and show the world (or just yourself) the best version of you, and not simply from an aesthetic point of view.

This doesn’t mean that it’s needed to drastically change lifestyle, undertake prohibitive diets eliminating whole categories of foods, or even subject body to exhausting cardio sessions and consume expensive (and ineffective) drinks that promise to make you lose all the excess weight in a few days without any effort. It’s rather a question of adopting simple measures that will make you feel more energetic, toned and lively from a physical point of view, more serene and motivated from a mental point of view, enhancing your strengths. After all, there is no better trick to shine than just feeling good in your skin, regardless of the weight and the appearance of body and skin.

So here are five things to do (and five things not to do) to best prepare for the most vibrant, electrifying and carefree season of the year.

Hot to keep fit for summer? 5 things to do or not to feel great in your own body

The summer remise en forme does not concern the mere aesthetic aspect, but also overall well-being and general state of health. This is why excessively rigid diets or drastic solutions promising fast and great results will only put a distance from the goal of feeling healthier, draining the energies and motivation necessary to enjoy summer holidays to the fullest, making memories to cherish for a lifetime.

The secret to feel good in your body and regain some lost muscle tone and agility therefore lies in simplicity and balance, just living a healthy life and building good habits. This starts by adopting a plant-based diet mainly, preferring seasonal and whole foods, and by eliminating those habits (often just based on popular beliefs with no regards for nutritional education) which instead do nothing but lead to a cycle of prohibitions and excesses, making the goal achievement further and further. Let’s start right from this crucial factor.

5 things NOT to do if you want to keep fit for summer

1. Going for dramatic and unbalanced diets

For years, magazines, TV shows and social media have instilled the myth of flash diets, fat-burning supplements, cutting fats and carbohydrates, detox juices, entire days dedicated only to the consumption of vegetables and fruit extracts, solutions as extreme as unhealthy which despite the effort and commitment they required, very rarely they actually gave the desired results, and not in the long term. As a matter of fact, there is really nothing healthy or sustainable about depriving body of nutrients necessary for its optimal functioning, subjecting it to unnecessary stress and prohibitions.

Fortunately, recently nutritional education improved and so did the importance of listening to the needs of both body and mind, concepts that are becoming increasingly widespread thanks even to the same channels that previously contributed to the construction of unattainable standards of beauty. This is why when the temptation to rely on so-called gurus who promote miracle supplements or flash diets feels difficult to silence, it’s necessary keep in mind that your body is your temple, and that do exist healthier and realistic ways to feel better about yourself.

2. Skip daily meals

Closely related to the previous point is the very bad habit of skipping meals, with the illusion of saving calories and so losing weight more quickly. The reality is that eating just an apple instead of lunch, or even skipping it at all, will just make you even hungrier and voracious when the next meal comes, probably letting you to have more food, maybe even low quality, than the real quantity you would have consumed by having balanced and regular meals.

Not to mention that adopting such an unhealthy habit for long periods of time can generate negative consequences on health. In fact, skipping meals slow down metabolism, as the body tends to conserve energy in response to a lack of food, making it more difficult in the long run to burn calories and lose weight. Additionally, consider also nervousness, irritability and lack of physical energy and concentration that derive from excessively starving your body and depriving it of the nutrients it really needs, at the proper moment.

3. Practice too much sports

Subjecting yourself to exhausting training sessions in the gym or going running until you burn all the calories you had in a meal are other common and ineffective practices if you really want to get back into good physical shape for the swimwear try-on. The reasons are mainly of two types.

From a physical point of view, excessive training can lead to serious muscles and joints injuries, as the body’s tissues are excessively overloaded without having sufficient time to recover, thus making it difficult to keep optimal training performances, compromising the very possibility of continuing to train and feeling good about it.

On the other hand, excess physical exercise can also impact negatively from a hormonal point of view: in fact, when the body is subjected to extremely intense or prolonged training, it can react by producing high levels of cortisol, responsible for stress. High levels of cortisol in blood can cause several problems, such as increased sense of hunger, accumulation of abdominal fat and reduction of muscle mass. In short, exactly the opposite of what everyone wishes to achieve by practicing physical activity.

Moreover, over-exercising can lead you to adopt the so-called compensation mentality, making you believe you can afford to eat more or indulge in less healthy foods due to the amount of calories you burn while exercising. This translates into an imbalance in calorie intake, compromising efforts to achieve the goal of feeling and looking healthy this summer!

4. Have too much alcohol

What’s better than having a good ice-cold beer spending a long afternoon on the beach, or a glass of Spritz to sip admiring the sunset? For many people, summer is made of aperitifs with friends and parties on the beach, but we all know that excessive drinking of alcoholic beverages is extremely harmful for physical and cognitive health.

From a purely aesthetic point of view, an excessive intake of alcohol causes water retention and swelling (especially in face, hands and legs), contributing to that unpleasant discomfort sensation occurring when the swimsuit feels tight on stomach convincing you that you gained too much weight, even if probably it’s just a question of being bloated, so you could return to your usual appearance only by eliminating alcohol for a few days.

At the same time, don’t forget that alcoholic drinks are often rich in empty calories (they do not bring any benefit to body), as well as sugars. Therefore, if consumed in excess for several evenings in a row, alcohol can lead to ingest a caloric surplus favoring the accumulation of body fat, making it more difficult to achieve the desired shape for the swimwear try-on.

If you can’t say goodbye to alcoholic drinks, it would be a good idea to at least try limit the quantity and frequency of its consumption, preferring those with a low alcohol content, such as wine, or those that contain a smaller amount of calories, such as tequila, gin, and vodka.

5. Giving credit only to your actual weight

Finally, it is important to keep in mind that it’s not important focusing exclusively on your weight as a number data: although this is a useful parameter for monitoring your health, just taking numbers into account can make you obsessed about your progress, with inaccurate assessments of your remise en forme journey. Body weight can vary from day to day for a wide range of reasons, including water retention, menstrual cycle fluctuations for women, and physiological changes in muscle mass, but none of these refers to a lack of progress or a worsening of your starting condition (indeed it’s often exactly the opposite, because muscle weighs more than fat).

This is why you will have to learn to consider other indicators of progress too, such as changes in body composition (measurable only via specific scales or professional medical machinery), but also the improvement in muscle tone, clearly visible in the mirror, or by comparing the photos taken at the beginning of this journey with those taken during the different following phases up to the present moment. This change in perspective will help adopt a more positive and improvement-oriented mindset, staying motivated towards the state of health and physical fitness you desire.

5 things TO DO if you want to keep fit for summer

If avoiding the practices we covered above is already an excellent starting point to finally get noteworthy physical and mental results, you must keep in mind the key role played by healthy and correct eating habits and other simple everyday practices that can concretely help taking care of your body, from the outside as well as from the inside. Here are the five things to do before summer comes, which will hopefully become a good habit all year round.

1. Have a complete diet based on many whole, fresh and seasonal foods

If restrictions are banned this year, why not going for a diet based on an abundance of fresh and seasonal plant foods, even better if grown locally, naturally richer in water and mineral salts which are fundamental for replenishing those lost with increased sweating, as well as precious vitamins, antioxidant, energizing and detoxifying substances.

Green light therefore for watermelons, strawberries, cherries, tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers, which thanks to the high fiber and water content have a high satiating power despite the low caloric intake, perfect in combination with lean protein sources, such as eggs or salmon, and vegetables, whether lentils, tofu, or beans, and from a source of complex carbohydrates, preferably whole, such as quinoa, millet, brown rice, sourdough bread and sweet potatoes.

Don’t forget to include also a generous portion of unsaturated good fats, such as avocado, nuts, seeds and extra-virgin olive oil, which contrary to what one might think, do not generate body fat but provide precious nutrients necessary for its correct functioning, including metabolic processes that allow to burn calories faster and the promotion of a greater sense of satiety. In short, to stay healthy and ready for swimwear try-on it’s necessary to follow the complete opposite of a sad and poor diet!

2. Drink much more water and food rich in minerals

Keeping a good level of hydration is crucial throughout the year, but it becomes even more important in summer, when high temperatures favor the natural dehydration processes leaving the body tired, exhausted and with the feeling of being swollen and inflamed.

In fact, water supports the correct functioning of the digestive system, dissolving fibers and facilitating the passage of food through the intestine, preventing constipation and improving intestinal regularity, that’s key for a flat and toned stomach. Furthermore, contrary to what one might think, drinking enough water help reduce water retention: in fact, when the body is dehydrated it tends to retain more liquids, so maintaining proper hydration promotes the balance of fluids and reduces the risk of water retention and cellulite. Not to mention that correct hydration reduces skin dryness, wrinkles and signs of tiredness, keeping facial skin properly hydrated and luminous, and preparing it to better welcome the sunlight.

To optimize hydration along summer it is advisable to drink at least 8 glasses of water per day (even more, depending on individual needs and how much physical activity you practice), possibly relying on unsweetened drinks such as green tea, herbal teas or perhaps fresh water flavored with pieces of fruit and mint leaves, just in case you would like to try something tastier than mineral water.

3. Practice sports regularly, but be careful to keep the intensity balanced to your body

Training regularly preferring balanced and low or moderate intensity activities, such as pilates or total body, is key to avoid potential injuries or accidents that could force you to stop shortly right after starting (especially if you have never practiced physical activity on a regular basis or if you have been stationary for long), and excessive tissues inflammation, which could cause an accumulation of fluids in the lower limbs, making them appear heavier and more swollen than usual.

Furthermore, training your body without overly stressing it help maintain healthy hormonal balance and promote progressive and continuous weight loss. On the other hand, finding a physical activity that feels fun and enjoyable, and not too demanding, help keep motivation high and reduce the risk of burnout, making the whole process more rewarding and sustainable in the long run.

The advice is to train at least 3 or 4 times per week, alternating low intensity and resistance activities with aerobic activities such as cardiofitness, making sure to keep your body active even on the days in which you don’t have training plans, for example by having some walks or practicing stretching and mobility exercises.

4. Sleep good and for enough time

Although some might think that sleeping is not an important factor and that’s a feature of lazy people (even more in an era in which productivity represents the measure of success and social value), having a good rest is one of the best gifts to give to your body, even when it comes to losing some more wight before summer, feeling more energetic and fit.

In fact, at night the body regulates the production of a few hormones that influence appetite and metabolism. On the contrary, a lack of sleep increases the levels of ghrelin, responsible for the appetite, and reduces those of leptin, which instead regulates satiety. This hormonal imbalance can bring to greater hunger and therefore consuming more food, especially unhealthy one. Furthermore, during sleep your body works to restore and renew metabolic functions; so, sleeping an insufficient amount of hours each night is the fastest way to slow down your metabolism and reduce the body’s ability to burn calories efficiently.

This is why experts recommend sleeping between seven and eight hours per night, also with the help of natural remedies if necessary, such as chamomile infusions, and building a good sleep routine including regular times for going to bed and waking up, also turning off mobile phones (and other electronic devices) at least one to two hours before actually going to bed.

5. Pamper yourself to relaxing and stimulating body treatments

Last but not least, don’t underestimate the power of body treatments, a pure act of love for yourself and your body which ultimately is the real secret to feel healthier and more relaxed, making it easier to spend summertime happily and pass the swimwear try-on successfully.

Nowadays do exist body treatments for taking care of every need, like exfoliating treatments designed to remove dead cells from your skin, improving its brightness and uniformity and preparing it to better absorb moisturizers, or hydrating ones which restore your skin’s moisture improving its elasticity, as well as other draining, deflating and fat burning treatments, such as Reborn, a treatment by Acquaforte Thalasso & Spa in Forte Village.

Rebornby Forte Village Resort, the gentle effective treatment for a fitter body

Reducing localized fat deposits in a safe, painless and completely non-invasive way is now possible thanks to the highly effective Reborn treatment by the Acquaforte Thalasso & Spa in Forte Village, a real temple of well-being and beauty housed within the lush spaces of the most awarded resort in Sardinia.

It is no coincidence that, together with Sofwave and Ultherapy, Reborn represents one of the most requested and loved aesthetic medicine treatments by Dr. Francesca Marceddu’s patients, thanks to the innovative Power LED technology (a light source hundreds times more powerful than normal LED) that can reduce fat deposits located on arms, abdomen, thighs and buttocks, without causing thermal damage or particular discomfort, but just leaving a pleasant sensation of intense internal heat and relaxing external cooling.

The advice is to undergo at least 3 Reborn sessions, 4-6 weeks apart each other, to maximize the results of the treatment making them visible already after approximately 3 weeks from the second session, and reaching their peaks from one to three months after the last session.

Definitely, although your value and the love you have for yourself can’t, and must not, derive only from the size of your trousers or how flat your stomach looks, non-invasive aesthetic treatments such as Reborn can provide you with a valid help to increase your self-confidence and shine your own light when the time comes to put on a bikini, perhaps enjoying a wonderful beach holiday in Sardinia this summer.

Do you want to feel fit for this summer’s swimwear try-on and spend a dream holiday in a true paradise? Book your stay at the Forte Village Resort in Sardinia