Fit and skinny are two words that don't go together. A fit person is not skinny, and a skinny person is not necessarily fit. A lot of people fail to realise that, and instead starve themselves so that they will fit into the skinniest pair of jeans and the smallest t-shirt, but more often than not, this endangers their health and fitness.

Since it's the summertime here in Australia, I have put together a number of tips to help you lose some weight, and more importantly, increase your fitness level. A healthy lifestyle also leads to healthy hair, nails and skin, so really, you're killing two birds with one stone here.

Exercise
I know this seems obvious, but a lot of people don't make the effort to exercise, and think that as long as they are losing weight by just eating less, that that is the way to go. My sister is the perfect example of another type of unfit people - she is super skinny and figures that she is healthy just because she is so skinny. In reality, she runs out of breath and the blood drains right out of her face just after walking down the block!

Hydrate
Water is amazing for your health and body. Drink at least two glasses of water as soon as your feet hit the floor in the mornings (a fantastic tip I picked up from Simplicité founders Robin and David), and make sure to drink at least 4-6 glasses of water each day. You lose a lot of water in the summer so be sure to stick to your 4-6 glasses per day!

Eat Healthy
Consume plenty of fruit and vegetables and make sure that they are a major part of your diet. A little tip you may not know - the healthy nutrients in fruit are best absorbed when the fruit is consumed before your meal instead of after, so take your fruit before your meals to maximise the benefits that you can derive from them.

Take Health/Weight Loss Supplements Carefully
Society today is no stranger to weight loss supplements, and neither am I. I am currently trialling the IsoWhey weight loss supplement. When you are taking meal replacement supplements, I highly suggest doing your research very carefully. Some meal replacements cannot offer you sufficient nutrients, and you might need to take some vitamins and health supplements to ensure that you are not starving your body of essential nutrition. Make sure that you are on a healthy diet outside of these supplements, and be sure to take plenty of water too!

Increase Your Metabolism
Increasing your metabolism is a great way to burn that fat right off, and you can do it in a number of ways. Take regular light, healthy meals every few hours - this trains your metabolism to work more frequently and is better than staying hungry and then consuming one large meal 3 times a day. Less frequent eating makes the metabolism sluggish, and can lead to weight gain. Another great way to increase your metabolism is to drink green tea - green tea is high in antioxidants too, so you're looking at great health and skin!

Now on to the good part! Fitness First has offered to sponsor a giveaway for Emily's Anthology readers, so I am giving away an iPod shuffle to a lucky reader! The iPod shuffle is an extremely convenient way to bring your songs to the gym with you. Trust me - I've tried both the iPod Touch and the iPhone and they are so annoying to lug around, plus I always get so paranoid about shaking my phone around too much! The iPod shuffle is compact and light, and perfect for carrying around the gym.

This giveaway was sponsored by Fitness First, a health club with all the facilities you need for a satisfying workout, including personal trainers, weight gyms and fitness classes.

To win this iPod shuffle, all you have to do is read the Terms and Conditions below, and fill in the form at the very bottom of this post.

This giveaway is now closed.

*Edit*

The winner of the iPod Shuffle - chosen via random.org - is:

Jayenny!

Congratulations - I will be in touch soon to collect your details. Thank you to everyone else who entered xx