1. Lower Your Net Calories

Of course, eating smaller portions is a key component to earning your beautiful bikini body. However, before you go crazy and cut it down to only a few hundred calories each day, remember that what really matters are your net calories. If you work out daily, you can eat more. Just remember that you need to eat everything in moderation and balance eating with exercise and your net calories will decrease drastically!

2. Listen to Your Body before You Break Your Body

Many fitness-junkies will tell you to push yourself past your limits. While it’s important to challenge yourself, you still need to listen to your body before you go to the point of no return. If you hurt your body permanently, you won’t be able to work out moderately down the road, and, without exercise, you'll never achieve your dream body.

3. Meal Prep Once a Week

Sunday or Monday, but truly any day you aren’t busy, needs to become your meal prep day! Get started by finding tons of healthy recipes that will last a full week, then cook those meals. Fill several tupperware containers with food for the week. Meal prepping takes away the temptation of eating junk food or binge eating when you’re trying to get a gorgeous bikini body.

4. Kick up the Cardio

Diet is definitely important, but in order to get your net calories down you really need to kick up the cardio. Doing cardio will help you lose weight much faster than dieting alone, and with summer just around the corner, timing is everything! Cardio comes in so many different forms that everyone can find a type that suits her-from running, to hiking, to water aerobics, to dance classes, I guarantee you’ll find an exercise that you love so much it feels more like a hobby than a workout!

5. Strength Training

It’s important to find the right strength training method for you, as well as ease yourself into weight training. Lifting weights isn’t the only way to gain muscle; you can also do yoga or pilates if you would rather achieve leaner muscles. If you do choose to lift weights, you don’t want to dive into the deep end before you’re ready. Weight training is a great way to sculpt your body, but you should start small and work your way up to avoid pulling a muscle.

6. Cut out Empty Calories

We often don’t realize how many empty calories we consume in a day. Caloric drinks, as opposed to water, chips you snack on while Netflixing, and midnight concoctions made of hormones and random pantry discoveries are complete wastes of calories. The key to cutting out empty calories is simply asking yourself if it’s worth sacrificing your goal body before you eat or drink anything.

7. Find a Healthy Accountability Partner

Having a workout and clean-eating buddy as an accountability partner can help you tons throughout your fitness journey. If you have someone to remind you to hit the gym, say no to an invite to eat, or put down the cupcake, losing weight will become infinitely easier!

Improving your body is a great goal to have, but you always want to remember that your health is more important than your appearance. Following these tips, you will still lose a lot of weight quickly, but you won’t run the risk of permanently damaging your beautiful body. How do you plan on achieving your bikini body?