Best Ways to Tone Your Whole Body

Eat plenty of vegetables

• Vegetables are rich in essential vitamins and minerals. They help in digestion, are an important source of hydration and provide nutrition without adding extra calories. Including vegetables in every meal would help your body get toned faster.

• Make cooked vegetables or salad a major part of every meal. Eat lots of leafy greens including spinach, kale, mustard greens, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, dandelion greens or collard greens.

• Include other vegetables such as carrots, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, cabbage, green beans, squash, onions etc. regularly in your diet. Try to include seasonal vegetables in your meals as they provide the most nourishment.

• Begin your day with a breakfast smoothie made of vegetables. Replace unhealthy snacks with broccoli, raw carrots or vegetable smoothie.

Have lots of fruits

• Eating lots of whole fruits is another way to receive the water, nutrients and fiber required by your body to look more toned. Ensure to eat several servings of fruit in a day, especially seasonal fruits.

• Eat whole fruits such as bananas, berries, pears, apples, oranges, melons etc.

• Replace unhealthy sugary desserts with a whole fruit or fruit salad or try preparing other healthy desserts based on fruits.

Eat lean protein

How to tone your body? To get muscle tone, you have to include lots of lean proteins in your diet. Protein can be obtained from meat, but nuts, legumes and vegetables are also good sources.

• Eat lots of fish. Fish contain not only protein but also the essential fatty acids that you require to make your body lean and strong.

• Have tofu and beans. Vegetarians can eat black beans, fava beans, chickpeas and other legumes to obtain the required amount of protein.

• Red meat such as bacon, hamburgers, steak and other pork and beef products should be eaten sparingly.

Also include grains and healthy fats in your diet: Include whole grains such as barley, steel-cut oats, quinoa and buckwheat instead of processed flours. Avocados, nuts, grape seed oil, olive oil and other types of healthy oils should also be included in your diet.

Drink lots of water: Drinking plenty of water helps in keeping you hydrated and flushing away toxins from your body, both of which maintains a healthy and toned look. Drink at least 8 glasses of water per day. Avoid drinking excessive alcohol. It leads to bloating of your body and has other adverse health effects.

Exercise Regularly for Great Muscle Tone

• Do cardio exercise to increase your heart rate: The best answer to how to tone your body is to combine cardio, which increases your heart rate and overall fitness with weight training, which results in strengthening of muscles. Perform cardio exercises at least 3 times in a week. You can alternate between various workouts such as running, power walking, swimming, hiking, biking or playing a sport within a team. Make sure that your heart rate is increased in the process. If you are sweating and breathing heavily, then probably you are getting a good workout. You can also purchase a monitor to measure your heart rate.

• Do resistance training: Incorporate some resistance training exercises in your exercising routine to help your body tone faster. After a couple of weeks, you will be more energetic and your muscles will become well defined. Include all the groups of muscles while exercising. Do strength training exercises that focus on your back, arms, legs, shoulders and torso. Do certain basic exercises such as pushups, lunges, squats, chin ups, burpees (also referred to as squat thrusts) or sit ups.

• Practice Yoga and plates: Doing yoga 2-3 times a week is an excellent way to be healthier and stronger. Yoga helps in building both strength and flexibility and also tones your body. Below is a pilates workout to tone your abs:

Some exercises to tone different body parts:

Tone the muscles of your back: Hold 2 dumbbells and begin with feet hip distance apart. Hinge at hips, knees slightly bent. Pull chest forward with arms hanging down straight. Move arms to sides, keeping elbows close to your body. Slowly move the arms down. Then open the arms out to side until they reach height of the shoulders. Return to baseline position. Both movements equal 1 rep. Do 12-15 reps, rest. Do 3 sets.

Courtesy lunge to tone leg muscles: Stand with your weight on the right leg. Extend the left leg out to the side. Place down left down, make a circle with right leg and begin bending knees into a curtsy lunge. Perform 20 repetitions on each leg. Hold onto a chair or a wall for balance to make the move easier.

Tone the muscles of your arm: Stand with legs shoulder-length apart. Hold each end of the resistance band. Begin with arms placed straight by side of your body. With palms facing up pull bands towards chest. Bend elbows fully and extend arms back to sides. Perform 3 sets of 15 repetitions each.

Bridge to tone butt: With your knees bent and feet lying flat on the ground, lie on your back. Keep the feet hip-width apart. Pull hips up to form a bridge. Keep shoulders and knees in one line and make sure lower back is not arched. Now lower pelvis and then lift it up again. Make sure the whole action is done by the glute muscles. Repeat for 30 

You can try fasting: How to tone your body? Fasting is a great way to release the toxins out of the body and cleanse your digestive tract. The result is improved tone and energy. Skipping dinner is the easiest way to do fasting. There are other methods of fasting such as intermittent fasting where you fast for as long as 36 hours or juice fasting; however, you should consult your physician before making any such drastic changes in your diet.

Keep a healthy attitude: While you are under stress, certain hormones are released by your body that results in weight gain and make you appear less toned. Take the following measures to decrease the stress in your life:

• Get enough sleep. Your mind and body needs time to rest after a busy day at work. Lack of enough sleep of good quality has been found to result in weight gain.

• Spend some time outside. Take a walk and breathe in some fresh air rather than relaxing by sitting in front of the television.