7 Secrets to Your Bikini Belly
Summer's around the corner! YIPPEE! So of course this means, here in Bondi, apart form the excessive influx of backpackers and hours lazing on the beach, you’re bound to run into hordes of scantly clad beautiful beach bodies. If you’re busting your butt and hope to add to the impressive array of eye candy (even if only for your own bedroom antics) take a look at my favourite Bikini cheats.
1. Cut out inflammatory foods
This is the most important part of my regime if I am ever to bust out my teenie weenie striped bikini. The most common culprits are refined sugar, caffeine, alcohol, soy, processed foods, gluten, dairy and wheat. Anything your body finds hard to break down will often cause inflammation in your gut. Bloating, gas, diarrhea, constipation, feeling over full or just general discomfort, especially around the lower part of your abdominals can be a sign you are sensitive to certain foods. Apart from feeling slightly to UBER uncomfortable, inflammation prevents you from having a wonderfully flat belly. Fix this by excluding inflammatory foods from your diet and - if you’re like me and like to research everything to the n-th degree - keep a food journal and log how you feel after each meal. What foods make you bloated? Tired? Irritated? Gassy? Full? You’ll soon figure out what’s holding you back!
2. Start your day with a protein meal
Strange, I know, but having meat for brekky (dinner for breakfast = brinner) is one of my favourite tricks for slimming down quick smart. Brinners of high protein and healthy fats have been proven to stabilise blood sugar levels throughout the day and help curb sugar cravings and energy slumps (that lead to sugar cravings). Our first meal sets up how our body is going to function for the rest of the day, so if kick starting your metabolism and having better physical and mental energy (to waste on Bikini shopping) is what you’re after, than give some poached chicken and avocado a go for brinner ;)
3. Take note of your toilet stops
If what your putting in isn’t matching up to what your putting out (taking into account energy used for your daily activities) than there would be no surprise if your holding a little (or a lot) of extra weight around the middle. This could be either from the inability to burn the excess fat off your belly, distention due to how much your holding inside, or a mix of both. If you’re worried things aren’t moving quite as much as they should your first steps are to increase your water intake (when you’re dehydrated the first place your body takes the much needed H2O from is the gut, leaching it from whatever fecal matter it’s hiding in, leaving stools dry and hard to pass, if at all) and make sure you’re getting enough fibre through a balanced diet. If this is an on-going problem for you, best get it sorted out a.s.a.p. by meeting with a health professional.
4. Move it!
No doubt if you’re on a ‘Bikini Slim Down’ you’ve got this one covered... to some extent. But none the less, knowledge is power so here goes! Exercise to increase your muscle mass. A higher percentage of muscle means you increase your resting metabolic rate causing you to burn more fat during your day. High intensity anaerobic training (so the opposite of long, slow, aerobic sessions!) increases your fat burning hormones and is also more time efficient. Try sprints or a good circuits / weights session and keep your eyes peeled for the Fat Burning Workout coming soon!
5. If your belly was Superman, than Sugar is its kryptonite
If there’s one sure way to self sabotage a bikini belly it’s eating sugar. Sugar actually converts to fat quicker than fat! If you’re still having sugar every day but complaining about the stubborn fat across your belly, waist or hips, it’s time to cut it out! Because sugar is such an addictive substance, try cold turkey for 5-7 days to help kick the habit then slowly begin to add healthy sugars, like low G.I. fruit, back into your diet.P.S. Alcohol is FULL of sugar!P.P.S. Diet products are not your friend either! They often have more sugar to make up for the taste lost because of reduced fat, or they have artificial sweeteners like Aspartame which is just as bad if not worse.
6. Laugh more
Life is funny. Even when you’re the one that trips down the stairs. Stress is not funny. Especially when it’s stopping you achieving your dream belly. Once cortisol (stress hormone), runs rampant through our bodies, we are unable to burn fat. This is due to the increase in insulin. Unfortunately, this mix of hormones causes a big dumping of extra fat around our middle. Whoops!
7. Sleep more
Your body will interpret lack of sleep as stress. Referring to the above point: stress = higher cortisol levels = retaining , and the inability to burn through, fat (especially around the midsection!). 7-8 hours each evening is optimal - this also means you’re able to work harder, recover better and get better training results. Arhhhh... bring me my feather doona at once!