Summer is officially here! After six months of notoriously finicky weather, mother nature has decided to reward us with beautiful blue skies and pleasantly mild temperatures. It has always been my favorite time of the year. I always look forward to the yearly tradition of storing away my bulky layers of winter clothing, hanging my summer dresses in my closet and best of all … shopping for bikinis!

So, now that summer is here, am I ready to wear less?

It has been a challenge, but I have worked hard to maintain a good sensible diet and I regularly to go to the gym as often as my busy schedule will allow.

4 out of 5 American women say they’re dissatisfied with the way they look. That will change this spring. SHAPE magazine, the #1 women’s active lifestyle magazine, is excited to announce its first ever “Bikini Body Tour.”

SHAPE will hit the hottest beaches with forty exhilarating fitness classes, sand-tastic games, sizzling prizes and special guest, Victoria’s Secret Supermodel, Marisa Miller. The cover model of the special Summer Issue, will be on-hand as women push themselves to the limit with muscle-burning moves on the beach. Those sexy beach bodies that women covet all year long can now be achieved with the help of the tour’s intensive exercise classes! Once they’ve got the bod, they can check out the hottest looks at an exclusive summer fashion show hosted by SHAPE’s Executive Style Director, Jacqui Stafford.

Every day without fail my inbox has at least half a dozen personal training queries in it all asking the same thing. Whether it’s from a man or a woman, young or old, one thing that everybody wants is a flat stomach. They want to know what to eat, how to exercise, and more often than not why all the work they are currently doing (for some reason I tend to frighten off most of the couch potatoes from even contacting me in the first place!) just doesn’t seem to be working.

So here is the “inside” scoop on what it takes to finally achieve that lean and streamlined waistline you have always dreamed of having. Take a deep breath, relax, let it out, think of watching the ocean lapping the sunny shoreline of a Caribbean beach as you sip your pina colada. There you go, that’s your first step to a slimmer, flatter stomach! You don’t believe me?!