If your goal is to drop a few pounds before Christmas, here are PT Emmet Rushe's six simple top tips:

The goal for most at this time of year is to get in shape for the Christmas party season.

New clothing will be bought, photographs will be taken and everyone will be out and about over the festive period.

So, who doesn’t want to look their best?

If you are looking to drop a few pounds on the lead up to the big day, I have a few tips for you below that I use with my Rushe Fitness members and it is EXACTLY what we use in all of our Challenges.

These tips will help you to get what you need from your training and nutrition before the big man comes to town.

There are a few things to consider when planning this out.

1) You MUST be in a calorie deficit.
It doesn’t matter what diet you follow or what guru says what, if you aren’t in a calorie deficit 1st, you will NOT lose body fat.

Don’t get caught up on ‘health’ foods, or the latest fad diet that will be floating about.

Eat wholefoods 80-90% of the time.

Eat less than you expend per day.

Don’t binge on the other 10-20% and you will get great results.

2) Eat Protein
Try to eat protein at every meal.

It is a basic recommendation for someone who is training and trying to drop fat.  It will keep you full and help to preserve muscle mass, which is important when trying to improve your physique when dropping bodyfat.

If you don’t want to count calories or grams of protein, use palm sized portions of protein and have 3-4 servings per day.

3) Weight Train 3-5 times per week.
If you want to target specific areas of your body, weight training is the way to do this.  While it won’t specifically burn fat from that area, it will increase blood flow to the stubborn areas and help to mobilise the fat.

It will also make your physique look better and weighing less, while looking worse physically makes no sense.

So add in some resistance training using bodyweight and weighted exercises and you’ll be glad that you did.

4) Prioritize fruit and vegetables as your carb sources.
You get more fibre, more food for less calories than starchy carbs.  It’s a win-win situation here.

There are loads of options when cooking with vegetables and to add flavour, think of things like spices, salt, pepper etc to flavour them to your liking.

5) Keep your starchy carbs for around your training days
A simple way to cycle your carbs is to have carbs with your meals on your training days and stick to vegetables on non-training days.

You will automatically reduce your overall calorie intake by doing this, and you will have more calories on the days that you need them most.

6) Add Cardio as needed
Is cardio needed for fat loss?  No!

Is it a benefit to it?  Yes!

Should you add it in straight away?  Not necessarily.

It is a tool that you can use.

You don’t want to use them all at once, because if fat loss stalls, you may have nowhere to go.

So use your cardio wisely and save it until you need it.

Fat loss is simple, not easy. (Remember that)

You just have to do it and stick to it.

If your goal is truly to drop a few pounds before Christmas, the guidelines above gives you a great way to achieve this.
#leanin2018

If you would like some help and want to do a program that gets AMAZING results, then our CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN CHALLENGE is for you!
8 week to get in the best shape possible for the Christmas party season.

Click the link below to find out all the information
https://www.rushefitness.ie/christmas-countdown-challenge-2018/