Despite the late night infomercials, there is no "secret fix" for a slim, sculpted midsection.
Blasting belly fat and tightening your core takes a few simple steps, beginning in your kitchen, and ending with basic exercises that you can do anywhere, without the need for special equipment or a gym membership. Just follow these eating guidelines and exercise routines and you'll be amazed at how quickly your stomach becomes slimmer, sculpted and toned.
Food rules for a flatter stomach:
1. Eat a breakfast high in protein.
Start your day with a breakfast high in protein to get your metabolism moving and to feel satiated and energized until lunch.
Blend yourself a smoothie with greens, almond butter and some fruit, or make an egg white scramble with veggies.
2. Don’t deprive yourself, but make healthy substitutions.
Make a few substitutions to reduce fat and calories without losing flavor. Choose Greek yogurt in place of sour cream, honey or maple syrup in place of white sugar, and finish your meal with berries rather than cake or ice cream.
3. Use fresh herbs.
Fresh herbs like parsley, cilantro, basil and mint will add flavor to a dish without many calories, which will curb the desire to add sodium through salt (which contributes to bloating), and will cut down on calories since you’ll use less oils and butter.
4. Eat plenty of complex carbs.
Rather than eating refined simple carbs like pasta, cereal, bread and white rice, choose complex carbohydrates like oatmeal, whole grain pasta or bread.
5. Definitely eat fat.
Consuming healthy fats actually helps you blast belly fat. Make your own salad dressing by using extra-virgin olive oil and your favorite vinegar or citrus juice. Add sliced avocado to your sandwich and skip the cheese. Although these are all small changes, by consistently choosing healthier alternatives every day, you can accomplish your goals without feeling deprived or dissatisfied.
Exercises to get a slim, sculpted and toned stomach:
Thanks to Mr. Joseph Pilates, Ms. Tracy Anderson and the thousands of talented and creative exercise gurus in between, there are hundreds of variations of abdominal exercises, but when it comes to whittling down your waistline, the integrity of your movements is more important than any fancy choreography.
To achieve a strong, toned and sleek stomach, you need to connect the dots between your mind and body. We advocate keeping the exercises very simple and focusing on connecting your breath to the movement. The below two exercises combined with a quick daily interval program, three to four times per week is enough to deliver visible results.
Plank
Plank is the holy grail of core exercises because it builds both strength and stability while shrinking your midsection.
How-to:
Situps
A proper sit up strengthens your transverse abdominal muscles (think about the muscles that work when you suck in to zip up a super tight pair of jeans) creating internal strength and that flat belly appearance.
How-to:
Cardio
Cardiovascular exercise, with all of its stress reducing and heart strengthening benefits, is the secret sauce for shedding stubborn excess weight from around your midsection. For targeting belly fat, cardio is 100% about quality over quantity. In fact, sprinting is one of the most effective abdominal exercises because your core engages at full effort to stabilize your body during a sprint. If you have never tried intervals before, but have no limitations to prevent you from running, try a simple interval program of alternating between moderately paced and intense bursts for 20 minutes daily. A beginning interval program could look like this:
How-to:
And there you go! Follow these healthy-eating guidelines, perform plank and situp three to four times a week and try the daily cardio interval training and you’ll be amazed how quickly you look and feel wonderful, as that stubborn stomach fat falls away.
Let us know how it works!
Co-written by Marra St. Clair.
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