How To Lose Fat For Your Upcoming Beach Vacation

If you are planning an upcoming vacation to the beach, you might be trying to find a way to drop some fat. It's important to focus on losing fat and not simply losing weight. You don't want to lose muscle and end up looking skinny fat in your bikini or shorts. So, it is important to diet correctly and work out smartly. Here's what you should and should not do.

Don't Crash Diet

Everyone has heard that crash dieting is bad, but they might not know exactly why it is a poor idea. First off, you will lose weight on a crash diet. However, there are two major problems. The first one is that you will likely lose muscle as well as fat. Secondly, you are going to risk messing up your metabolism. When you put your body into starvation mode you stand the chance of slowing down your metabolic rate. This in turn reduces the number of calories you burn a day. You will also feel tired and unable to perform exercise optimally. So avoid crash diets to prevent muscle loss.

Try A Small Caloric Deficit And Adequate Protein Intake

A good rule of thumb is to try and lose no more than 2 lbs a week. Any more than that is going to require too much of a caloric deficit and can result in muscle loss and a slowed down metabolism. You can use an online caloric calculator to determine your daily maintenance, and also set a number for 1 or 2 pounds a week. However, you need to do more than simply reduce calories, since you also need to have adequate protein.

If you have difficulty meeting your protein needs from whole foods, then you should consider supplementing with whey protein. This is protein made from milk. It is very efficient from a caloric standpoint. You can mix it with water for a low calorie protein boost throughout the day. If you are lactose intolerant, you can choose soy-based proteins or even protein powders made from peas or oats.

Hire A Personal Trainer And Hit The Gym

You want to start lifting weights. Running is healthy, but you want to retain muscle, which means resistance training. However, lifting weights is not something that you can learn a lot about quickly, which is why you need a trainer. You are going to want to focus on the big lifts (deadlifts, squats, and bench press) because these hit multiple muscles. If you stand around doing bicep curls, you might get nice arms, but the rest of your body is not going to get much benefit.

The big lifts are a bit complicated to learn how to do correctly unless you have a trained person instructing you. For instance, if you lift the bar incorrectly when dead lifting you risk injuring your lower back. So, get a private trainer and tell them your goal is to lose fat and maintain muscle mass for an upcoming vacation.

For more information, contact local professionals like Halevy Life.