Take a mental snapshot of how you look in the mirror and make mental note of the things you want to change. This will be extremely helpful as you get closer to the summer season. If you don’t like what you see in the mirror, don’t get discouraged. Get inspired!Before you take off the bathing suit, look yourself in the eyes, and make a promise to yourself that you will stay committed to making the necessary changes.

If you haven’t been working out, start slowly and gradually build up your time and intensity. If you have been working out, start to kick the intensity up a bit. In the course of a week, you want to complete 3 – 5 cardio sessions, each lasting 25 – 35 minutes and 2 – 3 resistance/toning sessions, each also lasting 25 – 35 minutes. This is general guideline. Some weeks you may be able to do more and some weeks less. It is ok to do cardio and resistance on the same days if that is what your schedule allows.

Most of our foods have easy to read labels that are easy to understand. Use the calorie info on your labels and record these numbers next to what you eat and drink in your journal. Knowing how many calories you are taking in makes it much easier to adjust if you hit a plateau while trying to lose body fat. This method may require a bit of work in the beginning, but it is the method that has helped many of my clients defeat the body fat monster more than any other method in existence.

Step 5 – Realize that you are in control of yourself and that no outside force can keep you from what you are going to achieve. If you miss a workout, tomorrow is a new day. If you eat too much, or you eat junk food (it is ok to ‘cheat’ sometimes), let that fuel your motivation in your next workout. Better yet, before you even slip up with your nutrition, ask yourself this key question, “Is what I’m about to eat going to help me be swimsuit ready?" If you answer this question honestly, then the proper action will come next.

Your simple, new habits will be the magic that helps you get awesome swimsuit shape.