After 1 full year of weightlifting and eating according to the IIFYM motto, I have really been able to transform my body while eating the foods I like, taking part in my favorite activities, and not spending hours at the gym at a time. I can finally say that I am living a balanced lifestyle, have a healthy mindset towards my body image, exercise, and food, and am more confident in my own skin than I ever have been. I have put on muscle, increased strength, and blasted away more body fat than I even knew I could burn from weight training alone.

Now that summer is approaching and I'm counting down the weeks to my cruise (6-weeks!!), I am making small changes in my exercise schedule and diet to feel my best in the summer months. I want to first say that I am confident in my body all year long now, because the way I live my life is sustainable and allows me to have a toned and fairly lean physique all year long. However, I do know that I will be practically living in a bikini for a few weeks this summer, so I want to make sure I feel my best and I don’t let any insecurities keep me from fully enjoying my time off. With 6 weeks until my cruise and the beginning of summer, here is what I am doing to get bikini ready:

1. Making a small cut.

I am just coming off of a bulk, so I am well fed and well conditioned, so please remember that you might not be starting in the same place as I am, but that’s okay. A bulk is a period where you eat over your maintenance calories for an extended period of time (anywhere from 4-24 months) in order to gain muscle mass. Because it is difficult to gain significant muscle if you aren’t eating excess calories, people often bulk during winter months to focus less on looking lean and spend time adding muscle in the gym and fixing or speeding up metabolism. My bulk went very well; I ate excess calories for about 6 months and cut cardio down to about 30 minutes per week. In these 6 months, I only gained about 3lbs, but I became much stronger, and I have revved up my metabolism to allow me to eat almost twice as much as I did a few years ago, without gaining much body fat. Because bulking has allowed me to make such great changes in not only the appearance but the function of my body and the way it burns calories, I only have to make small changes to my diet and exercise routine to see great changes.

This month, I made small adjustments to my calorie intake by making small cuts to my carbohydrate and fat intake. Because I was able to slowly build my metabolism up so much over the past year of tracking macros and increasingly add more calories, making this very small change to my diet will result in a good amount of fat loss. If you continue to drop your calories, you will slow your metabolism down over time, so please keep that in mind when trying to lose weight. This is why a slow, gradual increase in calories during a “bulk” season can be so effective.

Eat more protein! Protein is extremely filling and doesn't turn into fat as easily as fats and carbs, but rather supports muscle growth and sustainability. To satisfy your sweet tooth nd hit your recommended daily intake of protein, find all of my favorite protein-packed snacks here!

2. Adding in cardio.

Rather than spending hours on the treadmill at a time, I am adding in 2 15-minute HIIT sessions per week and 1 30-minute LISS session each week. Let me break this down for you.

HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training): a form of interval training, a cardiovascular exercise strategy alternating short periods of intense anaerobic exercise with less-intense recovery periods. HIIT can be more beneficial for fat loss because you are constantly elevating and slowing your heart rate, burning more calories in a shorter amount of time, although a combination of the two will keep you from getting bored in the gym, so I like to do a combination of them both.

Benefits of HIIT:

• Helps build endurance
• Burns calories and fat in a shorter period of time
• Effective energy use
• Boosts metabolism
• Burn calories and fat hours after you leave the gym
• No equipment necessary
• Lose fat and not muscle
• Choose your own workouts
• Good for heart health
• Challenging

To incorporate HIIT and LISS into your workout, try any of my favorites below!

For more ideas on challenging HIIT workouts, watch my own video from my fitness channel here.

3. Be patient.

Above all, I believe it is most importance to be patient. Put in the work, and stay dedicated, but don’t give into the temptation to crash diet and starve yourself. It is easy to get frustrating and take the easy way out, but extreme methods of weight loss do not last, and they ruin your metabolism and ability to lose weight more and more each time. Start today, but don’t make summer your goal. This lifestyle should carry out into the winter and years to come.

Watch me transform and give weekly health & fitness tips on my fitness vlog here!

*Disclaimer* I am not a registered personal trainer or dietician, all of my recommendations are based on personal experience and secondary resources.