How to: Get the body you dream of in time for summer

Holly Leonard, CFT Weight Loss and Fitness Expert, BeFit Personal Training Studio This month I want to share with you 11 steps that will absolutely guarantee you'll have the body your desire in 90 days or less! Eleven steps to success 1. Persistence! Persistance is the single most important factor in any exercise or nutrition program. As you progress in your fitness program there will be days when it feels like you aren't seeing any results or you just don't feel like exercising or eating right, but if you reflect on your goals and be consistent your results will come fast and furious. 2. Enlist the help of a support partner or coach. Working out with others and having others hold you accountable to your goals will help you achieve your fat loss results much quicker. When you motivation drops your coach is there to supply you will a little kick in the butt! 3. Don't take advice from everyone. Listen to those people who are knowlegeable in the health and fitness field. Many well meaning friends and family provide uswith bad advice which sends us in a negative directions. It pays to get proper advice from the beginning. 4. Surround yourself with winners. One of the key qualities of all successful people is that they avoid negative people and they spend the majority of their time surrounded by those who have already achieved what they themselves seek to achieve. So if your goal is to lose 20 pounds by eating healthy and living an energy-full life, then seek out others who already live a healthy lifestyle and have achieved the same goals you have. Hanging out with people who just talk about getting in shape but never take persistent action will ensure that you never reach your goal. 5. Know your outcome. Have specific goals. Get a photo (or several) of what you will look like when you reach your goal, then focus only on that image. Quickly erase any negative beliefs or images that may enter into your mind during your day. 6. Increase you water intake. Water is a key component to life. It's impossible to survive without fresh, clean water each and every day. If you don't consume enough water every day, your body will age faster, appear fatter, be more susceptible to germs and colds, lose joint mobility, and much more. A general rule of thumb is to take your body weight and divide it by two to get the ounces of water you should drink daily. 7. Increase the number of meals consumed per day. The single most important factor to increasing your metabolism (the speed at which your body burns through food) is to increase the amount of food you consume. You should aim to consume five-to-six small meals consisting of lean protein, starchy carbs and fibrous carbs every three hours. This will help you stabilize your blood sugar levels, keep you burning fat and elevate your energy levels. 8. Visualize Clearly and Frequently. Design your new body in your mind first. You cannot achieve your idea of the 'perfect body' if you don't have an idea of what the perfect body means to you. Take 10 minutes, get comfortable, fully relax, then begin to dream about what you will look like when you have achieved your goal. Be specific, what will you look like, what will you feel like, what will others say to you. Then write this image down. Review this image frequently throughout the day. 9. Increase your lean muscle. Lean muscle is the key to stoking metabolism and burning fat like crazy. The single best way to increase your lean muscle is to perform resistance training three times per week. 10. Consume a post-workout shake. After your resistance workout it's critical to put your body into a recovery state and maximize metabolism. By comsuming a shake of protein and carbohydrates you'll ensure that you prevent any unneccesary soreness and start to rebuild your muscle tissue. 11. Cardio...Cardio...Cardio. Cardiovascular exercising in the form of intervals (varying from high to low intensity) helps to get you lean and maximizes your metabolism almost as much as resistance trianing. You no longer need to be doing slow borning cardio sessions. Not only are they outdated but they're ineffective. Stick to shorter more intense bouts of exercise and reap many more benefits. Holly Leonard is a weight loss and fitness expert, and President of BeFit Health and Wellness Solutions, Inc. She is passionate about empowering people with the absolute fitness truth. To discover the secrets of obtaining fitness and weight loss results in less time sign up for her e-newsletter at www.befithealthandwellness.com or by calling 413.387.6785.