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Summer is over. What does that mean? It’s means patio season is done almost over. No more after work beer with the guys and gals. Do you know where you can go to instead of your local pub after work? That’s right, the gym. Now this isn’t meant to patronize you. The truth is, we are all guilty of letting ourselves go a little bit in the summer. Summer means barbecues, picnics, weekends away at the cottage and lots of delicious foods and alcohol, often consumed with reckless abandon. It’s not whether or not we pack on pounds during summer, it is simply how much. Unless of course you stayed very physically active during the summer, you are probably doing damage control now.

This article has you covered. Here are a couple of practical ways to shed off the extra summer pounds:

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Eat out less

Chances are, during the summer, you made eating out at restaurants a very common occurrence from week to week. Ok, well now it’s time to cut back. We all know the issues with eating out, the main one being not knowing the contents of your food. Whether a restaurant food is labelled as healthy or not, the job of the restaurant is to make it taste good. They will put whatever they need in the food to make it delicious and keep you coming back. Start prepping your lunch at home again. If you feel like you really don’t have time, you have two choices, either make different decisions in your life that will give you time to take care of your health or invest in one of the many healthy meal delivery services that your city has.

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Cut back on the alcohol

Alcohol is what we call liquid calories. Liquid calories. Alcohol also literally stops fat loss. Your body stops the breakdown of fat loss when you consume alcohol. It’s a great way to NOT lose weight. This doesn’t mean you should never consume alcohol again, but if you make it s common occurrence during your week, try switching to just one night a week to drink. And no, this doesn’t mean to drink a week’s worth of alcohol all in one night. Just a note, the less alcohol you have, the better for your waist line.

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Train 2-4 days a week with weights

Some people like to say that cardio is the key to fat loss. This just isn’t true. Although cardio does have its benefits, it doesn’t allow you to shape your body like weight training does. Do you want to get the benefits of weight training and cardio? Do circuit training in your weight training workouts. Perform different exercises back to back with little to no rest in between each exercise. This will get your heart rate going AND challenge your muscles.

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Get at least 6 hours of sleep

Yes, some people can get away with less sleep than is recommended for the general population, but there aren’t many of these people. Turn off the Game of Thrones. You can catch that later. Maximize your sleep. This will help to reduce cravings, lower stress and lower the stress hormone cortisol. When your cortisol is high from constant stress or chronic sleep deprivation, it can cause you to store fat. Again, make this most nights of the week. Staying out late is fine, just make sure you are getting enough sleep. People that get less sleep are also more likely to overeat.

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Get a coach

Got a fitness goal you want to hit? Get a coach to help get you there or at least to kick start things in the right direction. Although this article covered a lot, it didn’t get everything and it isn’t individualized to you. A coach can help you develop a game plan to achieve your goals in a timely fashion. Mark, pictured above, is one such coach who can get you to your results.

Summer was fun, but now it’s time to get back to business. Put these 5 practical ways into practice and the summer gut will be gone before you know it.