Summer is quickly approaching and along comes the pressure of achieving the perfect “summer bod.” Getting your dream body can be difficult and there are many different ways you can get fit. Working out is the main aspect that many think of when it comes to getting in shape, but your diet is also a very large part of achieving the figure you want. With these tips, you will achieve your goal in no time.

Diet

Going on a diet does not just include eating just salads, you should eat something from every part of the food pyramid everyday, according to cnpp.usda.gov. On the top of the pyramid are fats, oils, and sweets. These are not beneficial, but you can have these occasionally. Next on the pyramid is the dairy and meat section. You should have two to three servings of dairy a day. In the meat section it incorporates not only meat but poultry, fish, eggs, nuts, and dry beans. You should also have two to three servings of this section a day. The fourth section is the vegetable section. There are a variety of vegetables you can eat in order to have three to five servings a day. Next is the fruit group which includes apples, oranges, bananas, and many more. You should have two to four servings a day of fruits. The last and largest section is grains where you could find almost anything to eat. The servings you should have a day is six to eleven for this section. With this diet your health will not only increase, but your nutrition too.

“Healthy living is 70 percent diet and 30 percent working out,” teacher Amanda Krueger said. “What you eat is very important for a person getting into shape. Caloric intake is important as well as the types of food you eat.  A balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, protein and carbohydrates are essential for the body to function appropriately. Foods that are ‘clean’ can benefit a person’s overall health. These vitamin enriched foods fuel the body and help it function appropriately.  Proper nutrition can help you sleep better and function with more energy throughout the day.”

Workout

Working out can include going to the gym, doing home workouts or even playing a sport however because you do these things does not mean you are fully in shape. There are different workouts that you should incorporate everyday in order to accomplish your goal. First you should always include some sort of cardio. If it means running on a track, treadmill or even in your neighborhood you should do it everyday. Next, you should lift weights at a local gym or the school. Some people work out the same portion of their body everyday, but you do not receive the same results according to livestrong.com.

“As a guy when it comes to lifting you should build up a foundation so you won’t hurt yourself,” junior Max Zuccarello said. “So don’t try to lift the absolute most at first sort of pyramid your way up to your max.”

You are supposed to work out a different part of everyday. Never work the same muscle two days in a row. One day you can do lower body and upper body the next. Lower body includes legs and glutes. Some exercises you can do are squats, leg extensions and leg curls. Upper body consist of chest, arms, core, and back. Exercises that you can choose for this section are bench press, russian twist, lateral pull downs and front raises.

“If you want to get skinny then you should low weight with high reps and a lot of H.I.T. workouts, which is high intensity interval training,” senior Emily Schulte said. “These incorporate a lot of cardio and will build your muscle by keeping it lean.  Now if you want to get tone do high weight with low reps and only around 40 minutes of cardio per week.”

Consistency

Consistently doing these activities everyday can be hard to start and even harder to continue. A lot of effort and motivation will have to go into this, so having a friend to do it with you can help make it easier. For the diet you may have some cheat days, and that is understandable. If you want to slowly progress start off with having one or two days out of the week without being on the diet then slowly move to no cheat days.

“Obviously we are all human and sometimes we will let it go, but for the most part you need to do 90% healthy food and 10% junk or if you are starting out then 80% healthy and 20% junk,” Schulte said. “Eating some sort of junk food everyday will not help at all. One meal on one day out of the week can be acceptable, but cheating everyday will not benefit you.”

With the workout you may not be able to lift weights everyday, but at least try to get cardio in by walking or running outside. With social media always being used you can look up some workouts to do at home if you do not have the equipment, and if you do not have much time you can look up ten minute workouts. Summer is coming and with these tips so can your “summer bod.”