Nutrition and Fitness: Get Focused This Fall

There’s something about summer that just makes most people wanna party. Sure, fresh fruits and vegetables are more readily available and on hot nights salads sound great. But then there are the BBQ’s, the beers, the wine, the margaritas, fun fruity drinks at the beach, ice cream trips after dinner…

Have I made you want to hang on to summer forever yet? After an awesome family vacation to close out the summer, I’d certainly like to hang on to it a lot longer.

Unfortunately, I have no say in how long summer sticks around. School is back in session, the hot weather is wrapping up and if you’re like most people, September probably feels like the start of a new year. It might be time to refocus on some projects at work or tackle some items on that growing to-do list at home.

And yes, it might be time to reign things in a bit nutrition and fitness-wise if you’ve indulged more than normal during your summer vacation.

Let’s talk about a few tips on how you can get focused this fall and shed any unwanted summer vacation pounds!

First, here’s a short list of some things you absolutely DO NOT have to do to shed the summer vacation pounds:

Enlist in two-a-day training sessions.

If exercise feels forced or feels like punishment you won’t do it. Plus, you don’t need to train twice-a-day (unless you are a professional athlete or have a very specific goal) and if you keep it up for too long you may even experience some of the stinky effects of over-reaching and over-training.

Skip meals, eliminate entire food groups, or go on some crazy diet or cleanse.

Starving yourself is not gonna get you anywhere good. You’ll be cranky and tired and eventually you’ll just eat whatever is right in front of you, even if it’s a 2-day-old piece of cake at the office. Gross, right?

Feel guilty.

Seriously, it’s not that serious. <— see what I did there? 🙂 Just because you ate a little more than your body may have needed or you drank a few extra alcoholic beverages with friends and family doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. Calm down and get over it.

Here’s a short list (yes, it’s short on purpose) of some things you absolutely SHOULD DO to shed the summer vacation pounds:

Drink water.

Aim for a gallon a day and you’ll feel a whole lot less bloated (and hungover) in no time. It’s no margarita at a 3:00pm happy hour, but it will make you feel good.

Exercise.

As mentioned above, you shouldn’t go crazy forcing yourself to exercise every single day, but it’s time to hop back on the training train if you’ve taken a bit of time off or lost your focus on fitness a bit. Fall is a great time to join a new gym, look for a new training partner or even just to take your workouts outside!

Sleep.

Get some. You’ll be a lot less likely to keep craving junk (and indulging) if you’re well-rested. Plus, if you’re training and eating right, sleep is when the fat-burning magic happens anyway.

Plan.

Go to the grocery store as soon as you can, even if you don’t feel like it. Plan out your food for the first few days after vacation. Stick to the plan. Same goes for workouts. After you stick to the plan for the first few days, usually you’re geared up and feeling excited about continuing.

Did you have an awesome summer? What was the best thing you did?

Any tips for getting back into a healthier groove after vacation and summer?

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P.S. If you’re feeling stuck with your nutrition and you’re ready to take action and get focused this fall, check out my 12-week online nutrition group starting up on September 29th. I’d love to see some of my readers get involved this round!