[By Carol Higgins]

While a waifish figure might have enjoyed brief moments of popularity in the 1920s and swinging 60s, it is a no brainer that the 2-piece bikini, the de rigeur staple of a  summer wardrobe, is made with the hourglass figure in mind. By proportion the waist should always be around 9″ smaller than the torso, giving rise to the classic combo of ample chest, wasp waist and full hips that defines the curvaceous hourglass silhouette. Although only 8.4% of the population are born this way, these 5 proven tips will help you achieve such hourglass proportions, inching your way towards the epitome of Beauty Perfection just in time for bikini season.

Detox is just a sip away

It’s easy to overdo it in this city. Sometimes that includes seven consecutive nights of overtime work, a court citation, an alcohol-fuelled long weekend or the guilty pleasure of marathon Netflix. Whatever the case might be, it’s not going to go down well with your summer bikini bod prep. If you’re feeling sluggish, low on energy or just a little “off” from your best self, supplement the best of your weight loss efforts or start off on the right foot with a good, general detox.

The SW1 PURIFICATION 1-Day Cleanse is a superb way to go about with this, gently stimulating all of your key detoxification pathways to give you a fast and furious system reboot. Its unique formula features seven nourishing herbs that promote toxin elimination, helping to cleanse the blood and support the maintenance of a robust immune health. Simply drink all four ounces with water in the morning and go about your day without any changes made to your daily routine and dietary habits. The herbal ingredients do not have a laxative effect as they get to work quickly to nurture and gently flush your body’s primary detoxification organs, leaving you feeling refreshed, rebalanced and revitalized the very next day!

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Eat your way to the correct shape

Eat Well to Look Good— Food that boost metabolism for healthy weight loss

Embracing one’s curves does not equate to letting go and allowing yourself to expand sideways, eat right and not gorge yourself silly for the desired hourglass silhouette. The way you attain the body you want is to have a lifestyle that incorporates a healthy diet and regular exercise, designed to stabilize weight loss in a healthy routine that’s easy to follow. The hourglass diet highlights lean proteins and low glycemic index foods that will burn fatmore effectively, shrinking your muffin top to lend more definition tothe waist, resulting in a slimmer and more attractive body.

“Instead of the 3 larger portions of breakfast, lunch and dinner that most people are familiar with, breaking up your daily food intake into five to six small meals will keep your metabolism steady throughout for faster and better fat burning.” Explains Dr. Toby Hui, senior medical consultant with the SW1 Clinic (helmed by the founder of The Sloane Clinic), a fitness enthusiast himself with a keen interest in helping patients achieve their desirable body shape in a hollistic manner. “As constant nibbling throughout the day helps stave off hunger pangs, you are less likely to snack or overeat, translating to better weight control.”

Read More: Eat for Your Body Type. Here’s How.

I want muscles

To achieve the perfect bikini bod is not just about shedding the pounds and losing fat. Your muscles need to appear tone and shapely in order to best showcase your designer itsy bitsies. Besides aiming to drop your body fat through cardiovascular exercises such as jogging, brisk walking and lap swimming, retain your existing muscle mass and sculpt them to create a more toned look with resistance training (lifting weights).The gym is the best place for this as it’s purpose-built. You can hire a PT to show you how to perform basic compound exercises.These include barbell back squats, deadlifts, chest press and rows. Target your whole body separately for a total workout,  performing each group on different days of the week with rest days in between to let your body recuperate and build its way to a bikini hot bod.

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Get waisted with targeted moves

Body Slimming Exercises to engage in for an hourglass shape for bikini season

It takes a total body workout to get a lean and shapely figure, but there are targeted body slimming exercises that you can do to change your body structure to help it look curvier. The anchor point of the perfect female form is a tiny, slender waist, accentuating the va-va-vroom curves of the hourglass goddess to traffic-stopping perfection. To slim and tone your torso to the tune of an invisible corset, incorporate these two killer moves into your workout regime. I won’t sugar coat it in any way, it’ll take some practice and loads of determination before you start feeling strong and confident performing them!

1 Minute Jumping Oblique Twist— Stand with your feet together, bringing your arms to shoulder height with both hands together and nearly touching in front of you. Keep your upper body facing forward the whole time. Jump up 3-4 inches off the ground and rotate your feet to the right, and as soon as you land jump up again and rotate your feet to the left this time. Alternate back and forth for one minute.

15 Pilates Side Planks with Leg Raises—Position your body on its side and place your elbow directly underneath your shoulder. Your feet are stacked on top of each other and in line with your body. With slightly bent knees, lift your hips up off the floor, keeping your weight evenly balanced between your elbow and feet. Hold this position for 10 seconds. Then lift your top leg up to hip height and aim to hold it there for another 10 seconds. Repeat with the opposite side, and aimed for a total of 15 reps on each side.

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Body contouring for the kill

Exilis Body Magic combines radiofrequency (RF) with ultrasound as the energy source to melt down undesirable pockets of fat

An hourglass shape is about sexy, curvaceous contours that are pleasing to the eyes, not overhanging bulges and jiggly bits that no women of any body shape will look good with. To elevate your form from mediocrity to higher grounds, sculpt your body to hourglass perfection with Exilis Body Magic. This can be done either as a primary treatment or paired with cutting edge, fat-freezing Coolshape cryolipolysis and fuss-free body firming  Dream Body Tone treatment as part of the Supermodel Bodyfit Program, a comprehensive approach designed by the team of medical beauty experts from the SW1 Clinic as a body perfecting trio;busting those undesirable bulges affectionately known as the muffin top, love handles, saddle hips and thunder thighs in a non-surgical manner sans scalpel and needles.

The only body contouring device of its kind, Exilis uses two of the most popular energies harvested for body shaping in today’s market. By engaging radiofequency and ultrasound to systematically heat up skin to various depths, Exilis Body Magic effectively reduces fats, improved upon the appearance of cellulite and tackles loose, saggy skin for overall skin tightening. A built in Energy Flow Control System ensures high precision of the exact amount of energy delivered to the treated areas, with an intergrated cooling system preventing overheating, thus minimising the risk of burns.

Results are enhanced by pairing with Coolshape cryolipolysis, which literally freezes unwanted fat cells to death by employing advanced German Zimmer technology. With an in-built massaging mechanism replacing or adding on to manual means for better lymphatic drainage of broken down fat cells and the possibility of treating multiple areas concurrently as key features, Coolshape is certainly ahead of other similar fat-freezing modalities seen in the current market. By cutting down treatment time and shortening the recovery period with visible results seen earlier, Coolshape offers superior results which makes the choice simple and clear!

Complete your total summer body transformation for the whole package with Cellu-Melt, a body-cial devised by the beauty experts from the SW1 Spa to tackle unsightly cellulite that mars a perfect hourglass figure in a 2-piece bikini. Cellu-Melt uses a proprietary blend of actives in a skin plumping hyaluronic acid base delivered using a specialized ‘acu-point’ technique to address the ‘orange peel’ appearance associated with cellulite, targeting uneven texture and weakened dermal supports by boosting collagen and elastin production for firmer and smoother looking skin. Get me a one way ticket to Barbados, please!

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