Holiday countdown: One fortnight.

The two week countdown until we go on our honeymoon/first anniversary holiday has begun. Here are the 5 ways I am going to prepare my body for the beach. Though I generally try to eat healthily and exercise, all systems are go this fortnight so I can really enjoy myself whilst we are away. Not that I expect to look like Ellie Goulding in two weeks, but any head start I can get in the next two weeks will help. We are going on an all inclusive holiday so these two weeks are going to be obliterated whilst we are away. My body is going to need as much help as possible on both sides!

I find my results are about 80% nutrition based, so while I step up the exercise, it's what I eat that really makes a difference.

1. Low fat and low carb - seriously though.

During the day I will have two heavily protein based meals to fill me up...at the moment mainly shakes. I do buy ready made shakes, but like to try home made versions to reduce the monotony (see my Super Adaptable Protein Smoothie post). This also means lots of salads along with a lean protein like chicken or fish. Usually I'll cook chicken in a steamer bag in the oven with herbs, onions and tomatoes. This bulks it out and makes more of a meal. 

2. 5:2 it.

This means 2 days a week with just soup for dinner. This will create a calorie deficit for the week. I usually do a Tuesday and a Thursday. On the other days I am a little more liberal, so long as it fits number 1. For instance, I will never live without cheese, but at the moment I only have a little low fat grated cheese.
This also kind of goes both ways in that for two days of the week I don't adhere so strictly to the rules - weekends kind of off, but not undoing all the work from the week!

3. Love the herbs and spices.

Almost every main meal has an exciting array of herbs and spices to pep up the meat and vegetables. Whenever I go on a low carb, low fat phase I always end up having lots more chilli, and spices like paprika to make dinners more interesting. We love Tabasco on almost everything.

4. Have the main without the extras.

This essentially means keeping the key element of the meal, and ditching or switching the accompaniment. For example...

• Lose the rice from the chilli con carne. Serve in gem lettuce 'bowls'.
• Swap egg noodles in stir fry for konjac based noodles (like Slim Noodles, available from Holland and Barratt), or just use beansprouts.
• Lose the pasta from the pasta... as in meatballs on their own in sauce with salad.

5. Exercise every week day.
I will be doing ten minutes of abs work every day, and mixing cardio and toning during the week.

I like home work out videos and have a large collection now. Summer turns a bit into a bit of a program mash up. This year I'll be using circuit training from Gillian Michaels, Tabata from Shaun T, and some HIIT from TurboFire with a 5k run in there somewhere (still also trying to beat my park run time).

Wish me luck.
Especially as I am going to ruin it all on holiday!
Do you have any easy and liveable ways to get your body in beach shape?