Stomach feeling flabby or just want to do a little toning up to get it looking good? Let these tips be your guide.
1. Always get enough sleep. You know you got full sleep when you wake up by yourself from bed without any alarm clock. Sleep deprivation slows your metabolism.
3.Eat lots of lean protein (like beans and nuts - have some meat, it is rather good for you as long as you do not eat the fat!), fruits and dark vegetables, and whole grain breads and grains. If you eat "whole wheat" it's like the same as(and try and have alot more water to replace food) eating white bread; except with white bread all the good fibers have been stripped away. These "whole grains" keep you fuller longer than white breads like cakes, cookies, and sweets. Also, stay away from high-fat dairy products (low-fat dairy products are a great source of protein and vitamin B6).
4. Eat smaller meals a day. To get a flat stomach you should eat many small meals throughout the day. Eat just enough until you feel full; don't overeat! Wait until you feel hungry again and eat a little more. Focus on only eating healthy food items, and do not eat any sugar; it will only make you feel tired and will cause you to crave more - a vicious cycle!
5. Eat food raw. This is to avoid the loss of enzymes that result from cooking food, which also decreases its nutritional value. Raw food, unlike cooked and processed foods, takes longer to digest so you feel full longer. Your body will slowly absorb the nutrients so you'll avoid any spikes or drops in your blood sugar until your next meal. Some of the best raw foods are:
- Cabbage
- Carrots
- Cauliflower
- Celery
- Cucumbers
- Zucchini
- Dark leaf lettuce
- Onions
- Pears
- Tomatoes
- Watercress
- Broccoli
- Bananas
- Apples
- Berries
6. Make sure you don't eat anything 2 hours before you sleep. Your body slows down when you sleep so you can't digest food properly. And if you go to bed really late, don't eat past 9:30 pm, because foods eaten late are normally stored as fat.
7. Drink plenty of water. You should replace it with all your regular beverages, especially soda and sugared drinks. Water will make it easier to lose weight. Consider flavored water as an alternative if you must. Drinking lemon water is said to be a natural way of speeding up your metabolism as well. Warning: Drinking fruit juice may seem healthy but it usually contains just as much sugar as fizzy drinks. If you like juice, try making it yourself.
- Your urine should be a light yellow or clear color; dark yellow with an odor could be a sign that you are dehydrated.
Exercise
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1. Do aerobic exercises daily at 30 minutes minimum and include 1-2 days of rest break each week. Anything that brings your heart rate up. Take up dancing, running, Tae-Bo, swimming,cycling and walking at a good pace. 2
To better work the entire abdominal region, vary your exercises: Crunches work the upper abdomen, leg raises work the lower abdomen, side bends work the obliques (also known as love handles). About 15 - 25 reps should be enough a day for certain exercises (but if you can do more than that, try adding a weight to your feet for the leg lifts). Sure, you can do 100 daily crunches. But if you've got a layer of fat covering up your ab work then what's the point? You need to burn the top layer of stomach fat to see the changes- Try the plyometric and cardio exercises in the section below.3
Do cardio exercise. Cardio exercises are best as they will heat up your core temperature and improve circulation, both of which will aid you in acquiring a flat stomach. You should aim for interval cardio training, such as alternating between sprinting and power walking. You can try sprinting for as long as you can. When you become too tired, you should walk. When you feel that you've caught your breath, sprint again. Do these alterations for a total of 20 minutes at a time.4
Include plyometrics. Plyometrics are exercises that require explosive power. They are not just cardio, but strength training as well. Some great plyometric exercises you can do at home include:- Modified jumping jacks. Start standing, then jump up with hands and feet spread apart, creating an "X" in the air with your body, then land back in standing. Repeat as many times as you can.
- Squat-Thrust-Push-ups. Start in push-up position, do one push-up,then push off with your feet and pull your knees up to your chest so your feet land between your hands(still on the ground in push-up position), then jump as high as you can, arms over head. Then squat back down with your hands on the floor, then jump back to push up position again. Repeat; do as many as you can do well with good form.
- Cartwheels. If you don't already know how to do them, once you learn, you can do multiple cartwheels in a row. The quicker you do them the greater the plyo benefit.
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Strength training. This will improve your muscular tone as well as increase your metabolism so you'll burn calories faster over time. Best strength training exercises (that don't require a gym or weights) include:- Push-ups
- Pull-ups (You can do these in a park hanging from the branch of a large tree)
- Squats
- Lunges
- leg lifts
- crunches
- plankholds
- 6" hold
- flutters
- scissors
- v-ups
- L-holds from a bar
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- Yoga arm balances
- Handstands (these take a lot of strength when repeated over and over)
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Consider some form of anaerobic exercise as well. Some simple resistance training or light weight lifting will not only help you burn fat more efficiently but tone up the rest of your body as well.3
Raising your metabolic rate is crucial. The higher your metabolic rate, the more energy (and thus fat) you'll burn even when you aren't doing anything. Try compound exercises like deadlifts with heavier weights. See "How to Do a Deadlift" for more information.- To increase your metabolic rate, increase the frequency of your meals to 6-8 times a day. Every 2 to 3 hours, ingest a small meal. This increased frequency will put your metabolism into overdrive. Do not overeat. For greatest effect, only eat carbohydrates before 2:00 p.m, from then on only proteins.
Tips
- Going to see a personal trainer or a doctor can help greatly as they can give you a dietary/work-out plan that will help you keep at your desired weight rather than going over it alone.
- Get someone to work out with you so you'll inspire each other. If you can't find anyone, try imagining you are with someone you know, a celebrity or an athlete with abs you admire (this usually works better than actually working out with the said athlete). Pretend they're with you as you work out.
- Music will also do wonders to get a workout moving along! Make sure it's upbeat and motivating.
- While crunches are good for your abdominal muscles, make sure that you have a well-rounded weight loss program. Millions of crunches won't help if you eat buckets of ice cream every day!
- Be patient! Some people find it harder to obtain a flat stomach than others, as this is dependent on your own personal fitness level.
- Doing crunches on an exercise ball will specifically target your abdominal muscles, while doing them on the floor strengthens mostly hip muscle. Just the act of balancing on the ball alone will help tone abdominal muscles.
- Find something that you enjoy doing that involves a lot of movement, for example jogging, biking, Wii Fit, etc.
- Drinking more water can help flush out toxins from your body.
- Cut out refined carbs. Foods such as white bread, pastas, potatoes, and white rice are rich in refined carbs and should be taken out of your diet. They have less nutrients and vitamins than the non refined kinds. Eat brown rice and whole wheat bread instead.
- Drink more herbal tea, such. Drinking without the addition of milk, sugar, or honey is best, so only drink water and skinny milk.
Warnings
- Do not starve yourself. Your results will only be temporary and you will feel frustrated sooner (and will probably give up quicker). When you starve yourself, your body goes into "starvation mode," and it causes your body to slow down your metabolism (which digests your food) and minimal weight loss. While you might think that by not eating completely is most effective, in essence it could do permanent harm to your body as well as make it hard to keep off the weight.
- Don't go overboard with the crunches. Your body will tell you when you need to rest. Take a quick break, deep breaths, and then continue until your workout is complete.
- Try doing a number of sets and repetitions (reps). For example, two sets of 20 reps. This means you will do 20 repetitions of a specific exercise two times, for a total of 40. After each set, take a short break.
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