How to ditch the summer weight slump with help from trainer Jamie

As the temperature rises, gym motivation decreases while the appeal of having a cold beer or a glass of wine has never been as tempting.

With kids off school parents loose freedom and begin to eat for convenience and it’s easy to see why it doesn’t take long to loose our ‘summer ready bods.’

But September brings fresh hope!

The barbecue covers go on, the kids go back to school and the sense of new routine provides the perfect opportunity to get things back on track.

It’s at this stage you must be careful with your choices. You want to cement healthy habits that will see you through the winter and beyond.

Unfortunately for many, the temptation of quick fixes and crash diets is too hard to resist. You must think of the bigger picture and find something that fuels you and motivates you like never before.

So how can you get it right this time? Let’s start with the basics…

Create a diet that you love The biggest misconception people have about dieting is that everything you eat must be green, boring and bland. I have a friend who pointblank refused to diet because they didn’t like salad, ‘‘so there would be no point.’’

We gain body fat because we are storing too many calories - not because we don’t eat enough salad.

Yes, a salad can be nutritional and help you feel full for a very low calorie addition - but eating five salads per day with an 18 inch pizza isn’t going to make a difference to your weight loss efforts.

I’m a massive believer in counting calories (I’m not going to get into it today) but the easier way for people to start making progress is to simply reduce the calories they are currently consuming. If you normally have four pieces of bread for breakfast; reduce this to three or two slices.

Rather than eating a ‘share bag’ of Walkers Sensations, buy a smaller multipack bag.

Small reductions in portion sizes across a full week will make a massive difference in your calories consumed.

Want to make an even bigger change?

Make smart food swaps that will allow you to consume similar quantities of foods but for less calories. Swap full-fat milk for semi-skimmed. Full sugar fizzy drinks for zero variations - or even better - water.

There are plenty of amazing low calorie breads and snacks that will allow you to cut back and help your waistline shrink.

If you really want to put the icing on the cake, this is when looking at your food quality comes in.

Consume more fruit and veg to boost your immune systems for these pesky autumn colds. Eat protein portions with every meal to help keep you full and your allow your muscles to recover.

Stay away from the ‘JustEat’ app just for a week or two to see the massive benefits that avoiding takeaways can bring. Limit alcohol consumption or at least swap to a spirit and diet mixer.

No matter how hard you exercise, the calories you consume will always dictate the rate of fat loss.

Have you been out of the gym for a few months/years?

This is not the time to begin your six times per week training assault.

You need to break your body in slowly and pick it exercises your enjoy and that benefit you.

Diet takes care of fat loss, but exercise will help you feel amazing, get strong, help with your weak back, get the heart pumping, elevate your mood and help you feel 100 times better than you did before you started to exercise.

It doesn’t have to be vigorous, you don’t have to run or do burpees, but including some form of resistance weight training will help with your posture, bone density and help combat the effects of the 9-5 desk life.

If you want my opinion on what the best form of exercise is?

You should come try one of our leaner, stronger ladies or male-only group sessions (I might be a tad biased though)!

Honestly though, anything that gets you moving, that makes you feel good and challenges you, is the perfect start.

Remember to give yourself plenty of rest between sessions and fuel yourself with food which allows you to perform well.

The two pillars of a leaner, more confident you all come from improved food choices and becoming more active.

If you can nail these two while working on an achievable daily step target, drinking plenty of water and getting enough sleep, you will supercharge your body and feel incredible in no time.

If you want any help learning more about implementing a proven successful model of long term fat loss and training in an environment which is dedicated to helping you get stronger, leaner and happier please drop us a message on social media or email. Check us out at One2One Fitness NI by Jamie Wilkinson and David Gamble