Is it possible to get toned in 3 weeks

Do two to three exercises for each muscle group such as chest presses, upright rows, lateral raises, biceps curls and triceps extensions. Vary your routine by doing body-weight exercises such as pushups or triceps dips off a bench. As you get stronger, increase the number of reps, sets and amount of weight you use. Tone up your lower-body leg and gluteal muscles with two to three lower-body workouts per week.

You can do these on the same day you do an upper-body workout for an extended strength-training session or on alternate days if you're short on time or fatigued. Choose two to three exercises for each muscle group including the quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteals, calves and inner and outer hip muscles. A sample workout may include squats, walking lunges, hamstring curls with a stability ball, calf raises and side-lying leg lifts. Train your core region for a strong and shapely set of abs.

In addition to the abdominals, the core also consists of the back muscles, hip flexors and gluteals. Do a core workout every second day to allow your muscles enough time to recover properly in between sessions. Fine-turning your diet before your deadline can minimize bloating, which can make you look trimmer and more fit.

While simply eliminating processed foods can help improve bloating issues, certain foods, known as FODMAPS, are hard to digest and can cause increased bloating, according to Harvard Health Publishing. These foods include legumes, onions, artichokes and asparagus, among others. Artificial sugars or sweeteners are also known to cause excess bloat or gas, according to Harvard Health Publishing. Avoid carbonated beverages — not only are sugary soft drinks packed with calories, but the carbonation in these drinks can trigger bloating.

Read more: 10 Ways to Beat Belly Bloat. While improvements in fitness don't happen overnight, creating a healthy exercise and diet routine can set you up for long-term success beyond your three-week deadline. Begin to build a sustainable routine and with some consistency and patience, you'll begin to see and keep the results you're looking for.

Nutrition Nutrition Basics Nutrition Facts. Bojana Galic. She is a graduate of the Arthur L. While three weeks isn't a long period of time, you can introduce healthy lifestyle changes to keep your fitness improving for the long term.

Video of the Day. Start With a Solid Cardio Routine. Add Intervals to Your Cardio. Don't Forget to Strength Train. And, the cravings were constant. Ice cream! There was no specific diet to follow, i. I just had to learn to resist eating any refined carbs, dairy, sweeteners, fruits, beans, legumes, corn, and beverages other than water or black coffee.

Balsamic baked chicken breast with roasted brussel sprouts lemon squeeze for flavor. Okafor warned me that the first adjustment during this program would be weaning off of sugar. In the first three days of the day program I felt sugar withdrawal—hard. I was sleepy, and slow, and my cravings were so, so bad.

I felt a dull, ache-y headache on my left temple that persisted day and night. I pushed through and, by the end of the first week my body adjusted. It got easier and easier to say no to sweets. Miraculously, cutting carbs, dairy, and the other restricted food were much, much easier. Also, giving up alcohol was more annoying, if anything, since my job takes me to so many social situations where drinking is expected.

Seltzer and lime became my best friend. The other difficult part of the program was adjusting to the workouts themselves and the fast pace of it all. By the end of it, I genuinely felt nauseous and had to lie on the floor with my legs up to get blood flowing back up to my upper body.

I noticed changes in my strength, fast for example, on week one, I could barely do five regular pushups, by the second week, I was doing 20 in a row.

Even looking in the mirror, I could tell my shoulders, arms, and back were more defined while my glutes looked more lifted and legs and waist overall seemed whittled down. After two tough weeks, I ultimately lost six pounds, two inches off of my waist nine inches off my body overall , and I could see the changes. Friends and colleagues did, too. My face thinned out. My stomach flattened. Even my thighs got leaner.

Most importantly, I felt great. I no longer let intimidation sink me whenever I walked into the gym. I feel more confident using equipment machines and weights—and now know not only what to do, but exactly what exercises make sense together and are most effective. One month after the project, and I've consistently weight trained three times a week, reveling every time I increase in weight or push through more reps than I was able to do the week before.

That being said, I found it extremely difficult to fit in working out a minimum of an hour and a half, at least five days a week with my super busy work schedule.