by Michelle Wilkinson

Created on: July 04, 2009   Last Updated: October 29, 2010

Summer is a great time for you to lose weight, get fitter and improve your health. As the sun comes out earlier and stays around for longer a wide range of physical activities open themselves up to you. No longer do you have to rely on the convenience of the gym when there are so many other challenges available to motivate you and help you burn some calories. As well as the amount of exercise you do, the arrival of summer enables you to make changes to your diet, so that instead of relying on warm, comforting stodgy food, you might prefer to choose light, refreshing, summery foods. Weight loss is difficult whatever time of year it is, but summer can improve your mood, and the happier you are the less you will turn to food for comfort.

During the winter months many people use the weather as an excuse to avoid exercising. It is too wet, cold and it gets dark early, which means it can be hard to motivate yourself to get out of bed and put on your running shorts or take a stroll around the block when it's winter. It becomes harder to use this excuse when the sun is a constant presence. Of course, there will always be those who maintain that it is too hot to exercise, but if you get up early enough, and get your exercise for the day out of the way you will not only be working towards achieving your weight-loss goals; you will also feel good. If you exercise in the morning the sun won't be at its hottest making it easier to tolerate. Your metabolism is boosted, you feel more awake and alert, and you can enjoy your breakfast knowing that you are burning calories whilst you do so.

At anytime of the year it can be hard to stick to a diet, but luckily summer offers many tasty temptations which can be low in calories. Strawberries, cherries and an assortment of other fruits are suddenly available in every shop you enter, and they are often relatively cheap. Obviously you still have to control your portion sizes - you can't simply eat strawberry after strawberry without it affecting the number of calories you consume - but as long as you are sensible you can find a summer diet easy to stick to when it is tasty.

Salads are also popular during summer, and although they don't tend to be as appetising as the fruits available, you will often find that in the summer heat you don't feel like a hot meal. Salads can therefore provide you with an opportunity to cut some calories from your diet. You still need to incorporate protein and complex carbohydrates into your diet plan, but you might actually find yourself wanting to eat more fruit and vegetables during summer.

Summer also means more ice cream and sometimes more alcohol, but you can still have these treats, as long as you consider the number of calories they provide you with and make adjustments elsewhere in your diet plan. In the summer it is especially important that you make an effort to drink plenty of water, particularly when you are exercising so that you don't become dehydrated. Drinking water can also help you to feel more full and stop you reaching for unhealthy snacks.

Don't simply wait for summer to pass you by before doing something about your weight, because you will probably continue to put it off whatever time of year it happens to be, whilst now is the perfect time to kick-start your fitness plan and start eating healthier.

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