Year-round Bikini Body? Yes, Please!

I know what you're thinking, did I just blog on Monday?  Why yes, yes I did.  I'm going to do my best to stay on a routine/schedule of blogging throughout the week about several different topics.  Lucky YOU, get excited!!  Since I couldn't really narrow down my blog to just one main interest, I'm going to throw several different things at you each week.  Again, get excited.  Feel free to comment with things you want to read about or questions that you may have that I can tackle!
Today I was inspired by a friend who's in the middle of his comp prep.  He's a warrior.  For real.  It's ridiculous how well his body responds to his meals and training.  Notice I didn't say "diet"?  That's because it's a lifestyle!  The sooner you let yourself think that way, the better.  There's always a flood of selfies on Wednesday of "Workout Wednesday" or "Waisted Wednesday".  This friend included both, but saved us on the #hashtags.  I'm a little hashtag obsessed, so I put my own in for him.  #hashtaghumorisawesome  *have you seen the YouTube of Justin and Jimmy hashtag talking? hilarious...and true.*

Summer is quickly approaching despite Dallas' fickle spring weather.  I'm bundled up in a blanket and sweatshirt right now as I sip on my hot coffee.  Three days ago, I was in flip flops and drinking an iced coffee.  Gotta love Texas.  Now is the time to start shedding your winter coat.  Ladies, that could mean a variety of things, I know.  (leg shaving season, exfoliating all the dry skin off your body, etc).  What I'm referring to right now, is that nice little layer of body fat.  Love chub.  Winter coat.  Whatever you want to call it.  Abs are definitely made in the kitchen, sorry.  You can do a million crunches, but all that hard work isn't going to show if you go home and eat oreos.  My body is a prime example of that.  I had amazing results with my body transformation because I was lifting like a crazy person, but I was eating perfectly.  Not every person wants to do that, I know.  There are a few easy tweaks you can make, though!
Five Fab Abs Tips:
1.  Cut out alcohol!  There's a reason it's called a beer gut.  Alcohol turns right to sugar, causes insulin spikes, and in return our bodies store those cals as fat.  Womp womp.  Still want that glass of wine?  Make it a spritzer by adding La Croix or Pelligrino to your regular glass.  Half wine, half bubbles.  It's yummy!!  If you don't like the bubbles, just limit yourself to one 4oz glass and then switch to water.  Your tummy (and head) will thank you.

2.  Limit the amount of processed foods.  Seriously limit.  Anything from a box or can relies heavily on salt and sugar to flavor it.  Especially if it's low-fat.  They have to do something to make it "taste good" if they take all the fat out!  Fat isn't bad.  Processed food is the devil in food form bad.  Period.
3.  Watch your gluten.  Breads, pastas, cereals; they all have it!  While you may not be gluten intolerant, I almost guarantee you'll notice a flatter tummy when you take that nasty stuff out.  I know bread is delicious, trust me.  I could down a whole loaf of hot french bread, by myself.  However, that is here nor there.  We're talking about how to shrink your waist!  Bread will not help in that goal.
4.  Fasted cardio.  This means cardio on an empty stomach.  I believe it to really help burn fat.  Some say it doesn't matter.  Play around with it and decide for yourself.  If you're eating clean and lifting weights, I advise 20-25 min of cardio 5x/week for best results.  I see tons of cardio queens at the gym.  They're not skinny.  You can't out train a bad diet.  Fact.
5.  HIIT.  High Intensity Interval Training.  Heard of it?  Doesn't it sound scary?  I thought it did.  However, once I got over the scariness of it, I've learned to love it.  I can kick butt for 5-10 minutes and be done.  Think sprint intervals, tabatas, and small circuits.  Not only do they blast fat, but they can also help you build muscle...this in turn helps you burn more calories while you're at rest.  It may be all in my head, but I feel like I wake up looking amazing slimmer after my HIIT days.
Wanna try out some HIIT?  Here's what I did today:
Step Mill Sprints:
Easy walking pace (mine was level 8) - 1 min warm-up
*once you complete the 1 min warm-up, alternate running and resting for 30 sec for 5 rounds total*
Running pace (I did level 17) - 30 sec
Hop off step mill (I keep it going with one foot pushing a step every now and then) - 30 sec
You can control your speed.  I know that I'm only running for 30 sec, mind over matter!  I'm also wanting to die huffing and puffing after!
Jump squats: Drop down into a deep squat then hop up as high as you can.
5 rounds of 20 jump squats - rest 1 min between sets
Beginner's aim for 3 rounds of 10.  Work yourself up to 20, then to 5 sets!

I did the above combo, then an easy 15 min of elliptical at a 120ish heart rate.
Try it out and let me know what you think!!