The 30-Day Bikini Body Plan

When March arrives, there may still be a slight chill in the air, but one thing is for sure, hot weather is quickly around the corner.  When the hot weather arrives, it means that it is time to lose some clothing and head to the beach for vacation, swimming pool for leisure, or simply to look amazing for the summer vacation selfies and pictures.  Regardless of what you are planning for the hot weather ahead, now is the time to get serious and transform your look.

Over the next month, your goal is to challenge yourself to change and transform your body so you look and feel amazing for the summer months.  What this will entail is a diet and exercise plan for which you will need to maintain steady dedication.  One way to have this 30-day plan work is to make healthy living and exercise part of your daily routine.  Cutting out a particular food or forgoing watching two episodes of TV will not end your life nor will it be the demise of your social identity.  One month is a mere blink of an eye when all things are considered.  Listed below is your week-by-week guide on diet and exercise to have you looking and feeling great over the hot months of summer.

The 30-Day Bikini Body Fitness & Nutrition Plan

Week 1

Week one will be the hardest.  This is the week when you will want to tempt yourself and your old routine may get in the way of it.  You need to exude strong will power over this time in order to overcome the obstacles.  Your exercise plan needs to include at least five days per week and a great exercise plan can be found at this link here.  Monday, Wednesday, and Friday should be cardio interval days [1], meaning you will perform spin, interval running, or a Tabata-style fitness class on these days.  Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday should be resistance/weight training days.  Your weight training should include squats, lunges, side squats, planks, shoulders, chest, and back exercises.  Wait, weight training will make me bulky won’t it?  No, in fact weight training will be the primary way you develop a bikini body for the summer.  Muscular tone is different than looking like a body builder and it will take many years and many workouts to look like a body builder.  Your diet in this first week should be balanced, meaning you are not cutting carbs out of your diet, you are not starving yourself, nor are you jumping on a fad.  Aim to consume a reasonable and sensibly caloric diet during this first week with a smaller portion of your calories coming from fat sources.  Aim to eat lean protein and plenty of it during this time.

Week 2

Once you have settled in a good routine for the first week, the second week is where you pick up the pace.  You will still be on the same exercise plan, but now you will add abdominal toning exercises to the cardio days.  Following your cardio workouts, add three sets of abdominal crunches, planks, leg raises, or trunk twists (or all) to help tone and define your abs.  Your diet should be similar to the week prior, but challenge yourself this week to consume more vegetables at dinner and slowly subtract out pasta, bread, rice, or white potatoes.  More on diet can be found at the American Heart Association website.

Week 3

This is the week where you should be seeing results in your body.  You may not be losing the weight you want, but your biggest changes should be in how you look, feel, and how your clothes are fitting.  Maintain your cardio interval days, but add a fourth day now into the mix.  Your cardio interval days will now include Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  That means seven days of exercise for week 3, but say goodbye to some of the fat.  Your cardio interval days should last at least 30 minutes each now and you should be sweating a whole amount.  For every meal, substitute your breads, rice, pastas, bagels, muffins, and donuts for fruit, vegetables, or a better alternative (yogurt, banana, protein shake, etc.).  Your protein consumption should be higher than from week one and consider a protein shake (lean protein shake with water and protein only) following every workout to help recover exercised muscles.

Week 4

Your have been exercising regularly, eating better, and increasing protein consumption.  How do you feel at this point in time?  Week 4 is where you begin to maintain what you have earned or you expand on it.  You can slowly add in a bagel, small portion of pasta, or rice in your meals and your protein consumption can now be after every strength day.  You should continue with cardio intervals and now you may want to mix up your routine a bit by hiking, biking, or swimming outdoors.  After all, summer is looming or is near and you are eager to show off some of your hard work.

References