Cosplay Summer Body
- Tsunde Rei
- Apr 29, 2018
- 6 min read
( Source )
With summer just right around the corner, everyone’s fighting for that summer body everyone dreams about, especially cosplayers. Summertime is when the bulk of conventions occur, and everyone wants to look their best. Here at Closet Cosplay, my main goal is to help you feel confident in your cosplays. And from personal experience, my lack of confidence isn’t always because of my cosplays. Most of the time, it’s due to my body.
For most of fall and winter, it has been an onslaught of trial and error for what works for my body regarding losing weight.
Everyone’s body is different, especially when it comes to weight loss. What works for me may not work for you, but it may lead you towards the right direction to finding what works for you.
My body type is very curvy and busty. I’m short so fat collects in a smaller space so I have a prominent muffintop/pooch. My main goal has always been to get rid of it with little success. However, I recently created a new plan that I’ve noticed pleasing results in just two weeks. Today, I’m sharing that plan with you.
Supplements
Supplements are a great way to get an extra edge on weight loss, and it’s very daunting to research them. Now, keep in mind these aren’t magical pills that’ll burn fat for you, it takes a little team work and effort. When paired with a healthy diet and regular working out, supplements can give you an extra boost.
Here are my recommended:
COQ10 ( helps metabolism )
Green Tea Extract ( has the same healthy properties green tea, which is great for losing weight and cardiovascular health )
Ginger ( for digestion health and decreasing appetite )
CLA Safflower ( you may have to get the oil yourself and capsule it. This is a new health trend on the rise that I have yet to try that is said to burn fat )
Be sure to buy these items from a trusted place, like the Vitamin shoppe. This way it’s garunteed to actually do its job. I would stay clear from Walmart or Target supplements.
I’m currently using COQ10, Green Tea extract, and ginger. I bought all of these for $30 and they’ve shown to be very effective and helpful.
Diet
I hate this word. I immediately leave an article when I see the word diet because it usually means you can’t eat your favorite foods ever again. Often, I’ve found the after a week, my progress plateaus with diets and there’s not much change after that. Then I’m stuck in a limbo of not losing weight and not eating my favorite foods. However, I’ve found a diet strategy that prevents this plateau. Before we get into my new dieting strategy, let’s introduce some other ways that help with weight loss.
Food Diary
This is the best way to keep track of your calories and what you eat throughout the day. As you eat your meals, write down what you ate and how many calories it was. But don’t drive yourself crazy with getting the exact calorie count.
This trick was recommended to me by a nutritionist to be more mindful on what I eat. There’re several food diary app; I use Lifesum to keep track of my calories.
Drink Your Breakfast!
I drink a protein shake for breakfast every morning. It’s full of protein your body needs to burn fat and build muscle instead of carb filler like with cereal. It kickstarts you day with the essential you need. Drinking your breakfast promotes weight loss and leaves you fuller longer. I personally drink Arbone Essentials Protein shake.
Never Skip Meals
When you skip meals, your body thinks it’s starving and clings on to every bit of fat for dear life. The average minimum amount of calories you should eat daily is 1500. Being too low makes your body freak out.
Snacking
Studies show that having a healthy snack at 3pm - 4pm prevents you from afternoon binge eating until dinner. It’s said to help with weight loss and curb apetite.
Must Have
About 75% of weight loss depends on your diet. There are essential vitamins that your body needs to function its best.
Daily vitamins
Fruits
Vegtables
Proteins ( lots! )
Good fats ( cheese, avocados, dark chocolate 70% cocoa, nuts, and whole eggs
Also, so you don’t get bored of fruits and veggies, try some smoothie recipes!
Carb Cycling
I love carbs like my life depends on it. Whenever I have to give up grains like bread and pasta, I’m always reluctant to give up these delicious carbs. Then I discovered carb cycling. Carb cycling rotates carbs throughout your diet so you don’t plateau and stop progressing.
Here’s a simple example of carb cycling:
5 days - eat no/low grain carbs (breads, pasta) and now sugar 2 days - eat as much grain carbs and sugar as you want within your given calories.
Water
This is kind of a no brainer, but drinking plenty of water has been proven to help you lose weight and keeps you from bloating. Without enough water, your body can’t give its peak performance in weight loss. A lot of sites recommend drinking half your weight in water.
So, because I’m 158 lb I drink about 80 oz of water a day. At the very least drink 8 cups or 68 oz of water a day.
Work Out
Before any work out, you should warm up for 10 minutes. The 10 minutes is the magical number that makes calorie burning more effective after you pass it.
Workouts with weights are proven to be more effective than without weights.
Standing up workouts burn more calories than sitting down workouts.
Doing cardio/HITT after your main workout is proven to be better for weight loss goals. Cardio/HITT before exhausts you and you won’t have enough energy for your actual workout.
In your week, an alternative to doing cardio every single day is doing a HITT workout for 15 minutes for 3 days.
If you target a certain part of your body, like arms, let those muscles rest and recharge and build up for 24 hours. So, every other day, do the arm workout.
My Workout Routine
Day 1 –
Stomach and back with weights, light cardio after
Low/no carb and no sugar
Day 2 –
Butt/legs with weights and 15 min HITT
Low/no carb and no sugar
Day 3 –
Stomach and back with weight, light cardio after
Low/no carb and no sugar
Day 4 –
Butt/legs with weights and 15 min HITT
Low/no carb and no sugar
Day 5 –
Stomach and back with weights, light cardio after
Low/no carb and no sugar
Day 6 –
Butt/legs and 15 min HITT
Carbs and sugar allowed
Day 7 –
Rest
Carbs and sugar allowed
Reps and Sets
With each passing day, I’ll add more reps to each set to increase strength and muscle build. Always start low and work your way up.
Muscle Building
Cardio alone won’t get you the quick and effective results you want, to I always recommend building muscle.
Muscle burns fat for energy, so build muscle and get a toned body for the most effective fat burning weight loss.
Also remember, muscle weighs more than fat, so the scale won’t properly show your progress if your goal is to lose weight. Use measuring tape to measure the inches you lose instead and keep note of them.
It’ll be a lot more motivating and your progress will be more noticeable.
Sleep!
Get plenty of sleep! Whenever you’re sleep deprived, your body will cling to more fat. Good sleep is essential to repairing your body and weight loss.
Don’t stress
When we stress, it releases a horomone that creates and clings to fat in the stomach area. As someone diagnosed with anxiety disorder, this is quite the task to achieve. A quick and easy way to calm the nerves and stop producing this horomone when you’re stressing out is to breathe deeply. In your nose, out your mouth in deep breaths. Also, meditation helps tremendously with stress control.
Motivation
You have a body goal in mind, but that should only be a small part in motivating you. You should workout and eat right because it makes you feel good. It’s makes you feel powerful. It makes you feel strong. This is a time where the journey is more important than the destination. As for myself, whether or not I see results, I always feel my best after successfully getting myself to workout. Do it because it makes you feel good, not just for a body that you want. Making healthy decisions in your lifestyle builds your body feel good, regardless if you have a two inch waist or not. I certainly don’t, but healthy living helps me love the body I have, even my waist, all thirty-two inches.
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