Even if you've been exercising all year, there are special precautions that need to be taken in the hot, humid summer months.

Not sure how to keep yourself safe and healthy in the heat? Personal trainer and owner of Boot Camp workout program Kara Layfield said the most important thing to remember is to drink plenty of water.

"Of course this time of year you want to increase your water intake," she said. "You're supposed to drink half of your body weight in ounces a day. But this time of year, living in the South, as humid as it is, you sweat a little more, you want to drink a little bit more water."

She also recommends planning outdoor workouts for the early morning or the evening, when the sun isn't beating down and the air is a little cooler. If you still find yourself overheating, Layfield's bootcampers often dampen a towel or cloth and wrap it around their necks to keep cool.

If you're just starting a new health and fitness routine, Layfield also has some advice for how to ease yourself into it, which will make it easier to sustain.

"If you try to change everything at one time you're more likely to not be successful," she said, recommending that people gradually cut back on unhealthy habits -- such as, one week limit your diet soda intake, then the next week work on eliminating fast foods, etc. -- and keep a food journal to mark your progress.

"Just baby steps, just making baby steps," she said. "And then you start to see your body change, you start to feel better, sleep better, less stressful. And then you want to do more and more and more."

Layfield also stressed that regardless of your dedication to an exercise program, your nutritional habits will make or break your success.

"Food is everything. You can't out-exercise a bad diet," she said. "And it took me a while to learn that even after I became a personal trainer. I still had that mindset of you can eat whatever you want and then try to go work it off."

She said that setting and maintaining a healthy nutritional plan is the most difficult aspect of trying to lose weight or get fit, with people willing to dedicate themselves to an exercise routine but still wanting to eat fast food.

As for finding a nutrition plan or program that will help people eliminate unhealthy foods, Layfield said that people have to find something that suits their needs.

While she said many of her bootcampers enjoy and have found success with Weight Watchers, Layfield herself follows the Paleo diet, a plan that focuses on lean meats, vegetables and fruit, while eliminating grains, dairy and processed foods (commonly known as the Caveman Diet).

While Layfield's not as strict to the diet as some (she said she follows it about 80 percent of the time), her body went through a period of adjustment.

"The first week I didn't think I was going to be able to make it through my workouts," she said. "I had loss of energy because, you know, you cut out your sugar and your grains … your body's going through a change or a detox. But I got to a certain point where you don't want to eat those things anymore."

Though she recommends this type of diet, she also realizes it isn't for everyone.

"I recommend to do what works for you. So maybe the Paleo diet works for somebody -- I think the lifestyle is great -- but Weight Watchers might help somebody be successful on their journey and then maybe something like Paleo later," she said. "It just depends on where you are in your life …. It just depends on what you're willing to do to make those changes."