Improve your fitness while enjoying the summer

Summer is very near and as the weather becomes warmer and you try to find ways to cool yourself down with nice treats such as a cold beer, a chilled glass of wine or even a deliciousous ice cream, think twice! As the old saying goes 'a moment on your lips, a lifetime on your hips' Ice cream is very high in fat and sugar, as well depending on the kind of ice cream you're eating it may also contain colourants and preservatives. Alcohol as well is high in sugar and contains 7 calories/ gram. It may not sound like much however if you consider that fat contains 9 calories/ gram, you can almost think of drinking as the same as drinking fat.yikes! Before you add on those extra empty calories, remember that you no longer have that nice winter coat to cover up with, summer means wearing slightly more revealing clothing.

What to do? Here's a solution! As a treat in place of ice cream, make yourself a fruity smoothy. Mix organic bio live yoghurt, frozen mixed berries, and a bit of agave nectar. The yoghurt makes it creamy, the frozen berries makes it thick and cool and the agave nectar is a natural way of sweetening it. Agave nectar can be found in most health food shops and some super markets. It's a natural sweetner for the agave plant in mexico and is low GI, meaning it won't give you a sugar spike.

Rather than the ice cold beer and wine, try having sparking water with lemon and/ or fresh mint to taste, also add a bit of agave nectar. This is an excellent refreshing drink. Make the smart choices now and you're still in plenty of time to shed those few pounds before summer is truly here! As well to give yourself an extra boost to shedding those pounds, start moving your body as well as thinking about what to eat.

Try resistance training to build muscle and help burn fat. Your body burns more calories at rest to maintain muscle than fat. What should you do? As the weather becomes warmer, it's a great idea to work outdoors.

Try training with a friend in the park. There's no need to carry equipment around with you, you're body weight is the best portable weight! Try this circuit: 5 Press ups, 5 forward lunges, 5 reverse lunges, 5 dips off a bench and 5 squats Do this circuit 5 times with a 2 minute rest in between each set. If you're still feeling quite energetic then have a few short races with your friend. Choose a tree or something approximately 100m's away. Have a rest and do it again! Enjoy the nice weather, look great and feel great all at the same time!.

Rosa Coelho is a Performance Coach, Personal Trainer and Sports Massage Therapist at Dax Moy Personal Training Studios in London. Rosa specialises in applying a holistic approach to health and fitness through The POWER Principles. For a Rosa's free report 'Highly Effective Metabolism Boosters' Go to http://rocofitness.blogspot.com/ or sign up to her FREE NEWSLETTER at http://www.rocofit.com/newsletter