Yes, I know — technically, summer’s not over till September 22nd this year. But, up here, for all intents and purposes, summer is a done deal. The kids are back in school, bathing suits are being put on less often (if at all), and the days are getting shorter.

Chances are you went to one too many barbecues, ate one too many cheeseburgers or drank one too many mojito this summer. Even though I’m more active in the summer, I tend to celebrate the season with more food and pack on a bit of summer fat.

If you’ve gained some summer fat, now’s the time to get cracking and make changes to lose it. Even if it’s just a few pounds, do you really want the summer fat hanging around till December, when “holiday fat” comes a-knocking? I don’t think so… Before you know it, you’ve added on 5, 10, 15lbs or more!

When it comes to getting rid of fat, it’s best to use a 3-pronged attack: nutrition, exercise and mindset. I’ve pulled together some links to help you attack your summer fat.

Attack Your Nutrition

For Do-It-Yourselfers

Generally speaking, fat loss comes down to calories in vs. calories out (putting aside any carb sensitivity issues). Use my Calorie Deficit calculator to figure out approximately how many calories you should be eating to lose fat.

To track those calories, you can use an online calorie counter like the FitWatch Fitness Tracker or a downloadable calorie counter like FitDay for PC or Weight By Date (they’ve got a mobile version, too!)

If you like to cook but need recipe ideas, check out Healthy Menu Mailer or Meal Mixer. They’ll send healthy recipes/menus right to your inbox!

Looking for Help with Nutrition?

There are tons of diet plans out there. I’m not completely against using a diet plan, as long as you *learn* something from it. Different diet plans can teach you about nutrition, calorie counting and portion control.

A few of the more popular, online diet plans are ediets.com, Fat Loss 4 Idiots, South Beach Diet, DietWatch — to name just a few!.

For those who need the convenience of a food delivery system, the top 3 choices are: NutriSystem, Deliciously Yours, and Bistro MD.

The most popular meal replacement plan is Medifast.

Many of these offer plans for people with special nutritional needs, such as diabetics and vegetarians — or geared towards men, women or seniors.

I’ve got a diet comparison chart you can check out (only 4 plans, at the moment). On that page, you can also download your free copy of “Keys to Finding the Right Weight Loss Program for You.”

Reviews:

Jillian Michaels Online
South Beach Diet
Bob Greene’s Best Life Program
Fat Loss 4 Idiots
Medifast Diet Plan
Ediets
Glycemic Impact Diet
Atkins Diet Online
Mediterranean Diet Online

Bonus Review:

Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (if you’re very serious about fat loss — a 300+ page ebook packed with solid information and a sensible lifelong plan for fat loss. If you really want to sink your teeth into fat loss, this is the ebook to get.)

Attack Your Exercise Habits

If you eat it, you’ve got to burn it — because what your body doesn’t use to keep itself alive and well will be stored as FAT. Getting your eating habits under control is one part of the equation. Another important part is exercise. You can accelerate your fat loss by jumping on the exercise bandwagon — or better yet jogging alongside it! (Ah, stop your groaning — it was kind of funny, no?)

“Exercise” can mean anything you want it to. It can mean being more active, walking, or going all out and starting a weight training program.

For Do-It-Yourselfers

You can use FitWatch’s calories burned database to give you an idea of the calories you burn doing certain exercises, and you can track it with my workout diaries/logs. The FitWatch Fitness Tracker, FitDay for PC or Weight By Date trackers I talked about before will also track your exercise.

Use the Target Heart Rate calculator to figure out your target zones, and use the weekly Workout Planner to plan out a week of exercise.

Or you can try one of these free online plans:

Paige Waehner’s 12 Weeks to Weight Loss Program
Wendy Bumgardner’s 10 Week Walk of Life Program

Looking for Help with Exercise?

A number of the diet plans I mentioned above will give you an exercise plan to follow, but two of my favorites that emphasize exercise are Jillian Michaels Online and Chad Tackett’s Global Health Fitness. (You can download 2 free ebooks from Chad — and he’s also offering a $1.00/7 day trial offer to his site! 7 days will give you plenty of time to see if Global Health Fitness is right for you.)

If you can’t get enough of her, America’s favorite fitness trainer, Denise Austin, has an online training program called Fit Forever

A developing trend I’m seeing is certified fitness trainers putting out ebooks to show you how to lose fat through exercise (and most will include a nutrition plan — they know how important nutrition is, too).

My top recommendations are:

Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle by Tom Venuto
Turbulence Training by Craig Ballantyne (hard-core, controversial)

And just for the moms out there: Fit Yummy Mummy

Attack Your Mindset

Oh, if only I could convince more people how your mindset is just as important as nutrition and exercise when it comes to fat loss! Some would even say it’s THE most important thing, because this is what gives you your motivation to continue with healthy eating and exercise.

Do you ever tell yourself that you CAN’T do something or you’ll “never” be fit? Is your inner critic constantly putting you down? If the answer is yes, then you’re setting yourself up for failure no matter what diet or exercise plan you follow.

Mindset is all about your attitude and your belief in yourself . No matter how well you start off with a nutrition or exercise plan, that nagging voice is going to hold you back at some point.

I didn’t truly understand how your mindset/belief system can effect you until I heard Tom Venuto talk about comfort zones and goal setting in his Burn the Fat Show audio program. Now I’m setting goals left, right and center!

You can only get the 3 audio shows by signing up for Tom’s Burn the Fat Inner Circle website (tons of great information — read my review here). But if you use this link:

===> Inner Circle $1.00 Trial Offer <===

... you can download all 3 audio programs (and lots more) for 30 days, all for just $1.00. Definitely worth checking out. (And if you sign up, look for me on the message boards!)

Another thing that can help change your mindset is hypnosis. Now, don't get me wrong! I'm not talking about the hypnosis you see on TV where they get someone to quack like a duck or do something stupid whenever they hear a particular word. You don’t stare at a swinging object and instantly lose consciousness. It’s done in a controlled, relaxing manner to help put you into a daydream like state – while you’re awake and fully aware of what’s going on around you.

In fact, medical hypnosis is approved for clinical use by both the British Medical Association and the American Medical Association!

Hypnosis for weight loss is all about destressing -- stress is terrible for fat loss -- and about visualizing how you see yourself and your behaviors. You’re simply planting seeds of thought into your subconscious mind so that they’ll take root and grow from there.

For specific help with weight loss through hypnosis, major-league weight loss psychotherapist, Dr. Roberta Temes, has finally decided to publish the same sessions she uses with celebrities and other VIP New York clients. It's a 4 CD set that's currently being offered with a free 28 day trial (you pay only a shipping/handling fee) -- the kicker is there's a 1 year risk-free, no questions asked guarantee.

You can check out Dr. Temes' CDs here: Enjoying Weight Loss.

So, if you gained some “summer fat,” NOW is the time to attack it with a vengeance. It’s time to change your nutrition and exercise habits — and time to change your mindset — so you can burn off your summer fat and look great when the next holiday comes around. Who knows, maybe you’ll even kick “holiday fat” to the curb by creating rock-solid habits right now! (Can you imagine never gaining weight over the holidays or the summer again?)

---

Eat better, move more, and believe in yourself!

(About Me)