Five Steps I’m taking to Spring Clean my Body for my Summer Holiday

 

British Summer Time officially began last week  and as if on que the sun came out and it has stayed with us ever since. Unfortunately things are due to get chilly again but it has certainly brought to my attention that my body needs some T.L.C after winter. To get my body ready both inside and out for my summer holiday in June to Tunisia, I plan on taking five steps over the course of the next nine weeks. If you are interested in finding out what these five steps are then please read on.

Step One - Regular Whole Body Exfoliation and Moisturising : These are of course important things to do all year round but I will be the first to hold my hands up and say that due to being busy I do not always regularly exfoliate and moisturise. This has resulted in my skin being very dry, especially the skin on my legs and feet. To get my skin bikini ready, I plan on using a body scrub at least once a week and moisturising my whole body after every shower and bath. My favourite moistuiser just now has to be The Body Shop’s in Wild Cherry. It is so light weight and smells divine.

 

I am also going to file the dry skin on my feet once a week and apply a foot cream to them every morning and night. Once a week I will wear cotton socks to bed after applying a foot cream in order to allow the cream to really work its way in to my skin. Hopefully this will result in smoother, softer skin from head to toe!

Step Two – Increase my Fluid Intake: Like a lot of people I don’t always take the time to make sure I am drinking as much water as I should be. I am going to make a conscious effort to do so in the run up to my holiday in order to hydrate my body which will in turn also improve the condition of my skin. I do enjoy drinking water but I also enjoy tea and so what I have done is to swap black tea for decaffeinated green tea. Green tea contains more anti-oxidants than black tea and whereas black tea is a diuretic, meaning it passes through you, green tea counts towards your fluid intake. My very favourite type of green tea is Tetley’s.

 

Another type of tea which counts toward your fluid intake and is good for digestion is peppermint tea. I plan on drinking a peppermint tea after my evening meal every day if possible.

Step Three – Excercise : One of my new year resolutions was to exercise two to three times a week, needless to say I did not keep it up. Prior to my wedding last September I was exercising regularly and I do enjoy it. However, since getting married I have not been keeping this up and now that my holiday is coming close I want to tone up a bit to give me body confidence on the beach. In order to do this, I plan on walking to work when possible and going for a run at least once a week. I do not want to lose any weight as I am slim, but I am sure you will agree, with showing so much of our bodies on holiday it is nice to feel toned up. My top tip for a good run or walk is to make sure you take your iPod or mp3 player and create a playlist that is upbeat and will motivate you. This makes all the difference for me and often when a song comes on that I really like I push myself a bit harder. If like me you find the gym really quite boring then walking or running outside with your music is ideal and best of all it is free!

Step Four- Cutting out Junk Food and Fizzy Drinks: When I am exercising regularly I also like to cut out eating take-away food, sweets and fizzy drinks. Otherwise I feel it is counter productive and like all my hard work is going to waste. I find other ways to satisfy my sweet tooth  such as putting grapes in the fridge for snacking on and I swap ice-cream for frozen yoghurt or a Solero ice-lolly, which is delicious and only 99 calories.

Like a lot of people I absolutely love chocolate and in the past when I am trying to cut out junk food, I have allowed myself a couple of squares of 70% cocoa chocolate as it contains much less additives. I am not all that strict with my meals, as long as they are home cooked and I am not eating huge portions. My philosophy tends to be that if I am cutting out sweets and not having take-away food then I can have whatever I fancy at meal times. A diet that is too restrictive is bound to fail in my opinion and certainly wouldn’t work for me as I enjoy food too much.

Step Five- Eyebrow Shaping and New Hair Do : I have sparse eyebrows and I have never had them professionally shaped. I had them very slightly tinted before my wedding but it was so slight you couldn’t actually notice it. After recently over plucking my brows I have decided to let them grow and in a couple of weeks I am going to go and have them shaped and tinted.

As well as this I have decided that when I next go to the hair dressers, which will be in around four weeks time, I will get a bit more cut off than usual and have more highlights put in. My curly hair often gets ‘big’ on holiday due to the humidity and it makes me too warm and I end up wearing it up most of the time. I feel that having a few inches taking off will not only give my hair a new lease of life after the winter but it will also make it easier to manage on holiday. The reason I want to get a few more highlights is that I recently went a little bit darker and my hair has been a nightmare ever since. I have the type of curly hair that is fairly straight at the root and can get too soft in order to properly hold my curls. The dryness that the blonde highlights give me is ideal for changing the texture of my hair and in turn my curls sit a lot better.

I hope you have found this post interesting and as always I would love to hear from you. Perhaps you have steps that you like to take on the run up to a beach holiday that you would like to share with us?  You can do this by leaving a comment below, by joining Facekitt on Facebook or by tweeting us @thefacekitt.