Honestly, the prospect of putting on a swimsuit has always been a source of anxiety for me. Truly when it came to swimsuit mandatory events, the more covered up I could be, the more comfortable I felt. That being said, I never wanted to miss a social event (extrovert, enneagram 7, what can I say? I'm just here for the party.) so I usually sucked it up, starved myself for 24 hours, and completed the mission - even if it meant keeping my cover-up on until the very moment I dove - or silently slipped - into the water. Now that I'm an adult, I know everyone feels self conscious at some point (even your tightest ab'd friend) and putting on a bathing suit is now more about figuring out how to keep things covered when I bend down to do whatever is required of me by my three little fish. But we all still want to feel good during swimsuit season, amiright? Sooooo, in the spirit of rock hard abs and long pool (or lake or beach) days, I've decided to create a little Summer Challenge for myself and if you'd like to join me, I'd love to have you. Here's what I'll be doing:
Ditching gluten, dairy, and added sugars during the week (i.e. Monday-Thursday) and giving myself a break on the weekends.
This means the majority of my meals will be greens, veggies, lean proteins, and healthy fats. HELLOOOOO - this is good for you - rock hard ab goal or not. And of course I'll be sharing my meals with you, silly! I've done this for an extended period of time before and I can truly say that it makes you feel GOOD - give it try.
I do want to make this disclaimer - this isn't a diet. This is simply setting a goal to eat a little better for a defined period of time - if this feels negative to you - don't do it. And if you do want to try but are a little nervous - just go for it! No one's watching you. If you want a piece of bread or an ice cream cone on a Tuesday, have it. And if you're bummed out about it afterward, dust yourself off and hop right back on the train. No biggie. You're still awesome.
I'm not looking at the weekends as "cheat days" but rather setting realistic expectations because our weeks are pretty predictable and prepared but we love a good impromptu pool party and often will grill out or order pizza or go for ice cream on the weekends.
Setting the goal of moving my body 4-5 times per week - even if it's just a short walk. I have a Peloton bike so I try to get a ride (20-30 minutes) in a couple times a week but sometimes it feels good to just get out and walk around a little.
Daily abdominal workout. Now about this: we all know abs are made in the kitchen but I've been doing this 4 minute ab exercise for 2 weeks now and I have to say I feel stronger in my core already so I can only imagine what it would look like to consistently do a {short} ab workout each morning along with a little tweak in the diet. I'm guessing we'll be seeing a stronger posture and possibly a flatter tummy in our swimsuits. So, why not?
Tracking hydration. Possibly the biggest shift you can make if you aren't already good about drinking your water. The standard guide is 8 glasses of water a day (or 64 ounces). I prefer to closer to 1.5 times half your body weight (in pounds) - complicated? Example: if you weight 140 lbs (140/2 = 70 x 1.5 = 105 ounces). That may seem like a lot of water but I promise, the more water you drink, the better you'll feel. Bonus: being well hydrated can also help curb food cravings. And it’s hot outside - so drink your water!
Well that's it. As for what I'll be eating? Mostly the same things on the meal plan for next week. I'll be following the same dinners (they're all gluten free and if they have cheese in the recipe, I'll just skip it on mine) and having a smoothie for breakfast and the Avocado Chicken Salad for lunch (maybe over greens?), and if I get tired of that, my go-to: egg and veggie scramble. If you want to follow along, you can keep up with my meals on my Instagram story.
Need a more laid out, visual plan? Me too. Here you go:
You can click the meal plan above to go to this week’s meal plan with recipe links.
Alright - now that we’ve planned it all out, let's go prep and feel amazing this summer!
