Sheffield fitness trainer gives tips for beginners to get in shape ahead of summer

Jimmy Ray, a personal trainer at Virgin Active, said the first thing you should do is to make time before making any commitment to a healthier lifestyle.

"People who want to get in shape obviously need to make time even before deciding on what sort of food you're planning to eat.

"Make time so you can commit to it. Get a hold of a diary and manage your time and block it out to do training...so get organised," he said.

Another important point, he added, is to make one or two changes at a time, instead of planning to make many changes in a short period of time.

"Make one or two small habit changes. For example you might want to start eating more protein and then dedicate to training three days a week rather than going all out and doing absolutely crazy with your workout.

"Just start off simple, like incorporating more vegetables and fruits in your diet and that's going to make a big difference.

"Once you make that into your habit consistently, then you can move on to other things," he said.

The 23-year-old, who has been a personal trainer for four years, said it is up to the individual on what they would like to incorporate in their diet as long as it is balanced.

"You want to eat food that you enjoy. Most importantly, establish your protein intake, generally three to four portions of protein a day.

"Protein like chicken or fish - choose what you want and that's what makes you want to stick to it... rather than doing a certain diet.

"It's the portion size that determines your weight loss and fat loss," he said.

In addition to losing weight, losing fat and building muscles are also essential.

"You need to weight train like two to three times a week. If you're doing cardio, you're going to burn calories,” he said.

"But you need to do weight training to lose body fat so what weight training does is it promotes muscle growth and it is better at burning fat rather than calories.”

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