The 30-day Swimsuit Plan! – Week 1


Studio 5 Health & Fitness Contributor, Melanie Douglass, shares a 30-day
plan to slim down, tighten up and feel amazing this swimsuit season.

Okay, here it is! A simple 4-week program to kickstart your metabolism,
wake up your muscles and help you look and feel your best in a swimsuit.

Each week, we will post a new workout and a simple meal guide. It’s totally
doable and lots of fun. Most of all, it’s a challenge for you to accept—and
own it! If you’ve been wanting a change, or to find the motivation to make
that change… now is the time! You can do this!

Ready to take the challenge? Let’s go!

Week #1 Workout: Calorie Scorch
· Frog Squats
· Snowboarders
· Scissors with Blades
· Donkey Kicks
· BurpeeAirjack

The point of week one workout is to help you jumpstart your metabolism
and
sweat, sweat, sweat! There are 5 exercises, each performed for one
minute. I
start each exercise as “low impact” and then progress to “high impact”.
You
can choose if you want to work low or high based on your abilities and
fitness level. But do push yourself!

Repeat the 5-minute video clip (ie, “the circuit”) at least 3 – 6 times, so you
get a good 15 – 30 minute sweat/burn session!

(Workouts for Week #1 and #2 are available in the video playlist above)

What to Eat
This is a meal plan for the crazy-busy person (know anyone? J). Follow the
recommended meal guide below for 5 straight days, yep. Then, make your
own healthy choices and eat in moderation, for 2 days.

Simply cook the chicken breasts, a big bowl of brown rice and bake a
couple
of large sweet potatoes the night before you begin. Separate them into
little
Tupperware bowls and stick them in the fridge. I put my sweet potato
strips
in snack bags, stick ‘em in the fridge, and snack on them cold all week.
They
are a perfect snack! (recipe below)

Breakfast:
· ½ cup dry oats cooked in water, with ½ cup blueberries

Lunch:
· Big salad with chopped veggies, ½ cup beans, 2 tbls dressing and a
sprinkle of cheese OR lean meat

Afternoon Snack:
· 8 sweet potato strips
· 1 oz. of lowfat cheese (string is fine)

Dinner:
· 3 oz baked chicken breast (size of your fist)
· 2/3 cup brown rice
· 2 cups of cooked or fresh veggies
· 1 glass of milk, soymilk or lowfat yogurt

*6-8 glasses of water throughout the day

Baked Sweet Potato Strips
Wash and slice the sweet potato into ½” x 4″ (ish) strips. Place on a cookie
sheet and toss in olive oil (I do about 1 Tbsp per potato). Sprinkle salt and
pepper. Bake at 450 for ~30 minutes until brown and toasty. Try them
cold!
Mmmm

**Note:This meal guide is about 1200 – 1300 calories per day. It’s low
enough to help you burn; yet high enough to not let your body think you
are
“starving”. Remember that hunger and starvation are not the same thing
when it comes to weight loss. If you’ve been eating too much – and the
scale
shows it – then when you cut back, you will feel hungry! It’s a necessary
part
of the cycle. Starvation occurs when people drastically cut calories (less
than
1000 per day) AND when they don’t have any excess energy/gat stores.
Just
don’t get too concerned about hunger. It’s part of the positive change.



Melanie Douglass, R.D., NASM, AFAA
melaniedouglass@gmail.com

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