How to lose weight and exercise when the weather is hot

Maintaining your weight loss program when the temperatures soar:

I don't know what it is like where you live, but here the temperature is soaring. Some would say this is not the best time to work hard on a diet and exercise program. And it is true that doing keep fit exercises in the heat can make you feel exhausted.

High temperatures can also make you feel lethargic. All you want to do is sit back in the shade and sip a high calorie beer (or is that just me? :) ). Doing a regular weight loss and body toning exercise program at a time like this can appear hard to achieve.

Our metabolism can slow down in summer also. We no longer need the calories to keep us warm and we move slowly to conserve our flagging energy levels. Not good for anyone trying to stick to a slimming diet and exercise plan.

However, with a little bit of 'tweaking' of our weight loss program, we can still lose weight and tone up our bodies, so that we can have those flat stomachs and toned bottoms we all admire!

To follow a weight loss program when the weather is hot we need to:

• Drink lots of water. Low calorie squash and even diet sodas are fine in moderation, but what our bodies need the most is plenty of water.
  

• Do our keep fit and body toning exercises in the morning or late evening, to take advantage of lower temperatures.
  

• Take advantage of all the low calorie food available in the shops at this time of year. These can really help our slimming plans. A low calorie lettuce, cucumber or celery may not seem that great to eat in winter, but come summer, when all these slimming foods look fresh and appetising and you do not have to slave over a hot stove to cook them, well, what more could you ask for?
  

• Warming up before doing our slimming and toning exercises is still important, but at this time of the year it does not take as long, and stretching after an exercise workout can seem extra luxurious when it is hot.
  

• Go for a walk in the sunshine. Power walking to lose weight and tone our legs may be difficult in the heat and is certainly not to be recommended during the hottest part of the day. Power walking or jogging in the beating sun is not good for you - you do not want to get heat stroke. But walking in the shade in the early morning or evening is still a great way to get some fresh air and keep in shape. Just remember to take a bottle of water with you and rest whenever you feel tired.
  

• Go for a swim. Swimming is one of the best keep fit exercises and one of the best calorie burners, so you will lose weight as well as keep fit. Not only does it use up a large number of calories, it tones the muscles in your arms, legs and back and is great for toning up that flabby stomach too. Swimming is also a low impact exercise, so it is not hard on our bones. So swimming in cool water is fantastic exercise to cool you down as you lose weight and tone up on a hot day.
  

• If you do most of your weight loss and toning exercises indoors, this can be a problem when it is hot. If you have air conditioning then please turn it up a little before you start your exercise routine. If you do not, then either do your exercises early in the morning or later at night when the temperatures are a little cooler.
  

You could also alter your exercise routine:

At this time of the year, Yoga and Pilates could be the answer to both your weight loss and body toning needs. Both provide great exercises for toning all parts of your body, including toning up that belly fat and firming your bottom.

You can find books and videos on Yoga and Pilates at most local libraries, so this can still be part of a free weight loss program.

Yoga in particular was developed as a series of body toning exercises (and of course a spiritual practice) in countries where the temperatures can soar, so it adapts very well to exercising and toning your muscles in western countries during the summer months.

Power Yoga is particularly good for weight loss as well as toning your muscles and, despite its name, it is usually much less demanding on your body when the weather is hot than a full on intense aerobics routine.

The above are just a few suggestions on how you can adapt your weight loss and exercise program when the weather is hot. I'm sure, with a little thought, you can now think of several more.

Enjoy your diet and exercise and the good weather. And I'll see you again soon on My Free Weight Loss Program.

My Free Weight Loss Program is Working

Well, I've started my slimming by eating healthy and exercising plan again after taking a break when I felt run down. Over the last few days, I have been taking daily walks with our dogs in the mountains near my home. I am feeling fitter and slimmer. The exercise is helping my free weight loss program a lot.

I am back on watching the calories. When I was feeling a little tired, I still ate a healthy diet, but I didn't watch my calorie intake and, with not doing much exercise at that time, I didn't lose any weight. But at least I didn't put any weight on.

Now, a few days back into the exercise plan, my legs are much more toned from all the walking (plus the dance to keep fit exercises I do regularly). The first day I started power walking again, my legs ached a little - my muscles had got out of the habit - but now they are okay.

My jeans feel much looser around my bum too, which is a good sign that I have lost weight as well as toning my muscles.

Eating more healthily and getting exercise in the fresh air and sunshine seems to be good for my skin as well as for getting to a slimmer, fitter me and of course I am getting a nice tan.

All in all, I am looking and feeling slimmer, fitter and more toned.

So how much weight have I actually lost?

Another 2 pounds. So I have lost about 5 or 6 pounds of body fat since I began my free weight loss program. In the grand scheme of things I guess this is not a lot, but I didn't have that much weight to lose - about 10 to 12 pounds at most, so I am half way there. A lot of my problem was having a flabby body and the exercise has helped a lot here as well.

When you think about it, I have probably lost more actual body fat than shows on the scales, because my muscles are stronger now and they may weigh heavier. And if that's true, as I know it should be, then they will begin to burn more calories, so I'll lose more body fat as long as I keep exercising. All good news.

The one thing I do now need to concentrate on, now my weight loss program is well under way, is toning up my flabby tummy.

A while ago, I had an operation which left me with flabby muscles on my stomach, which before that had always been flat.

Getting rid of my belly fat is going to be the hardest part of my slimming and exercise plan. It will take specific exercises to ever get anywhere near having my flat stomach back again. And I will have to be very careful what exercises I do as this can affect my body badly if I choose the wrong exercise routine (stomach crunches are out for one thing), but I do know a few tummy toning exercises which will work and I'll share these with you next time, after I have tried them out again myself.

That's the problem. All the weight loss in the world will not help me get a flat tummy unless I concentrate my exercise on this specific problem as I keep on with the slimming plan.

So that's the next part of my free weight loss program - the flab around my stomach has to go!

And that is not going to be that easy, so please wish me luck!

Weight loss when you do not feel like dieting

I've had a slight setback in my free weight loss program in the last few days. I've been feeling a bit headachy and lethargic and when I feel this way, doing any strenuous exercise to shift the fat does not help.

I do not think the headachy feeling was caused by dieting. I drink lots of fluids and eat a healthy diet. It's much more likely to be the stress of having to do a lot of extra computer work.

Either way, I've been sat around not losing any weight instead of doing my power walking and dancing keep fit exercise. But I am a great believer that it is not the right time to push yourself on any weight loss plan when you feel a little unwell.

In fact, trying to diet and exercise when you are feeling rough is more likely to rebound on you. You could end up 'treating yourself' with high calorie foods in an attempt to boost your flagging energy levels. And if you eat too many high calorie foods at this time, you could well end up feeling as if you have sabotaged your whole weight loss program and give up. And that oculd mean piling on the pounds.

Of course you will not really have damaged your slimming plan. You will simply have delayed it for a while. You can always resume the dieting and exercising when you are feeling well again, but so many people think that 'cheating', or even stopping their exercise program for a day or two sounds the death knell to their weight loss plan and that's a shame, because if they stopped to think logically about it, they would realise that the fat can still come off another day.

Having said all that, the way I have always found it best to cope at times like this is to not get stressed that I cannot lose the extra pounds right now. I rest as much as I can and try not to think about sticking rigidly to the weight loss plan and only do keep fit exercises if I really feel like doing them. I know that I will begin losing weight again as soon as I resume, so what's to worry about?

Anyway, I am feeling quite a lot fitter again now, so it's back on my free weight loss program with earnest. I started back today with some walking through the mountains to get some fresh air and exercise. It was a lovely day, so it felt good.

At the moment, I have no further weight loss to report, but I haven't put on any weight either, so that's okay.

And I'm back on plan now and will be reporting my next weight loss in the next few days. So I know the program is still working and that can't be bad.