Category: Fitness

As we are getting closer to summer, the stress on how our body will look in a bikini is overwhelming. So start planning from now, adjusting your diet and exercise regime to avoid panicking the last minute. Everything is possible as long as you stick to your goal and your goal should be to be happy with your image. Here are some tips to help you tone your body and boost your self-confidence before you hit the beach.

1. Stop Complaining and Set Up your (realistic) Goals.

No one is perfect and life is not a magazine.  We said before: flawless beauty is itself a flaw. So instead of whining about your big buttocks, your saddle bags or your mushy thighs look at the big picture and ask yourself: What do you feel is your best feature? This should draw away your attention from the parts of your body that could need some work and drive you to a more positive attitude to achieve your goals. It’s a fact: by concentrating on the negative aspects you only attract more negative aspects utterly sabotaging your own efforts. So positive thinking is the key. Loving and respecting yourself should give you the mind frame to set up realistic goals. Start slowly and aim for weekly tangible goals that give you the achievement thrill “Yeah! I did it!” and leverage your motivation to go for more.

2. Start Meditating

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No need to emphasize the effects of stress on the body and mind. Stress can cause hypothyroid and this is no good news for your metabolism or body weight management, not to say your overall health. Meditation helps your body relax and drop adrenaline levels and it is proven to even alter gene expression! Plus when meditating, you can visualize yourself in your ideal state and reinforce your positive thinking. There are plenty of guided meditations on the web, even iPhone applications that can help you get it right, at least if you are new to this approach. You may check The Chopra Center or Erick Brown Subliminal Guided Meditation available at iTunes or any other meditation available doing a simple google search.

3. Exercise

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There is no excuse: if you want to feel and be healthy you have to get your body moving! Even a 20 minutes walk every day is considered therapeutic, if you have no time for the gym. Alternatively you could exercise at home, there are so many quick and efficient programs out there on the web. I highly recommend Yoga Journal’s 21 Day Challenge available for both newbies and intermediate yoga students as your day’s class is delivered straight to your email and you also get nutrition tips and healthy recipes too! If you don’t even have 20 minutes to spare, check Ramona Braganza‘s, short clips where you may even find less than 4 minutes workouts for before you walk -not the red this time,but- the “sandy carpet” 🙂

4. Follow a Healthy Diet

No exercise however strenuous can outdo a trashy diet. Exercise and healthy eating go hand in hand. So make sure you implement healthy eating habits and take control of your diet. And when I say “diet” I certainly don’t mean starvation, nor the miracle diets or magic pills and teas. You heard about before and perhaps even experienced the yo-yo effects of such “easy fixes”. Try to eat lots of veggies and fruits and respond to your cravings by offering yourself healthy alternatives. If you are not sure what is best for your body it’s always better to spend some money and consult a nutrition expert. A visit would be best but still there are plenty of books on healthy eating or even e-books with online support communities to help you stick to your choice. In any case check the reviews and use common sense to listen to your body and its needs. Also you may have a look at the free healthy eating tips from USDA or Harvard’s healthy eating plate and pyramid explained below.

As a final but important step make sure you drink lots of water. Eight to twelve glasses of water per day are generally considered as necessary for your body but it also depends on your sex, your body weight, your activity levels or even the climate (all of us living in the Middle East know how easily we can get dehydrated). A good rule of thumb would be to have two glasses of water before every meal.

5. Pamper yourself

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This tip targets especially mums, including myself. We tend to take care of everyone else in the family but ourselves. Personally, even if there is a great choice of spas and salons in Bahrain, I don’t know why but I feel guilty spending my time having my hair or manicure done in a salon. I get so stressed having to be tied to my chair for as long as the hairdresser needs to wash and blow-dry my hair, as if the world around me will collapse. I have been trying for the last couple of months to book an appointment for a massage and I keep on postponing it with the excuse “I’m too busy for this”. I hope you are not in the same wagon as me. What? you are? Too bad! Get over it quick!

Force yourself, like I force myself, and I promise you once you are out of the salon you won’t regret it. The feeling of being taken care by a professional, even when it is just a manicure, is amazing. Your self-esteem will instantly skyrocket. Your body will be thanking you. Still think of it as a luxury? Then bring luxury home!  Turn your bathroom into a personal spa. Scented candles, a bathtub full of warm water and bath salts, a body scrub, moisturizing cream and essential oils is all you need. Then find some quiet time and soak in after all are asleep.

You need to take care of your skin if you want it glowing under the sun, and you need to start now. Be sure to check back our ginny piggy column as we will be soon writing about some of the best anti-cellulite and skin care products we have tried so far!

And please feel free to share your beach perfect tips, we’d love to hear from you!

So are you ready for the countdown? 3-2-1! GO! I’m sure you can do it!