I have some many women asking me about how to make their stomach flatter. Well I have good news and bad news…first the bad news…there is no miracle exercise, no exercise machine, cream, or pill that will give you a flat stomach. It just ain’t happening that way. Don’t be fooled by commercials claiming if you buy this machine you will have a flat stomach or take this diet pill to lose “belly fat.” It’s all lies. The good news is that you can have a flat tummy but you have to put in work and have discipline. I will tell you how to do just that…keep reading.
90% of trimming your waistline down has to do with what you put in your mouth…the food you eat! I know it isn’t what you want hear, but it’s the truth. If you don’t genetically have a small waistline, the only way for you to get there is to clean up your diet. Here are five great tips to get you on the road to a sexy slim waistline.
Stop Eating Processed Foods
If you want to get a flat stomach, you have to put the processed food down. I am not only talking about chips, cookies, etc…those are the obvious things. I’m talking about the 100 calorie snacks, the Special K bars, the flavored rice cakes, the reduced fat cookies and crackers, slim fast shakes, all that stuff. If you want to get that flat sexy stomach, you need to eat REAL FOOD…fruits, veggies, lean meat, healthy carbs. Most people who are not genetically skinny and have had to WORK to get a flat stomach and a toned body do not eat processed foods. If it comes in a box (other than nuts, dried oats, and brown rice), you don’t need to eat it. If you can eat the food now or three months from now, you don’t need to eat it. Real food won’t last for 3 months, it will be raw and spoiled…those are the types of foods you need to eat.
Lower Your Carbs
I am a believer of low carb or reduced carb diets. They just work. Carbs are sugar and excess sugar turns to fat in your body. So if you want to get that flat tight stomach, you have to pull back from the carbs. You should primarily only consume complex carbs. These types of carbs do not spike your insulin levels and create excess amounts of sugar to turn into fat. Here is a short list of some good complex carbs. Although you should eat complex carbs, you should limit the amount of carbs you eat daily. Try to consume between 50g -100g per day.
Nuts
Legumes
Fruits (ONLY-plums, peaches, apples, oranges, pears, grapefruit)
Brown Rice
Sweet potato
Oats
All-bran
Most Vegetables ( exceptions- carrots, corn, root vegetables)
Drink Water
To get a flat tummy, you must drink WATER! Stay hydrated. All of your sugary drinks and even diet sodas need to be replaced with water. Easy!
Perform Short High Impact Workouts
If you want a sexy slim waistline, you have to get moving and get moving fast. I am not talking about 30-45 low impact minutes on the treadmill. I’m talking about performing short bursts of high intensity exercises. One of the things I do are Tabata workouts. These are 4-minute workouts where you push your body to the limit to burn fat. I like to call them “fat burning quickies” Here is how it works…you perform a high intensity type of exercise for 20 seconds with 10 seconds of rest eight times. I sometimes do a Tabata jump rope workout. Here is how it goes:
Jump rope for 20 seconds (as fast and as many times as I can)
Rest for 10 seconds
Jump rope for 20 seconds (as fast and as many times as I can)
Rest for 10 seconds
…Repeat for eight total cycles
This is a killer workout and it only takes 4 minutes (20 seconds X 8) + (10 seconds of rest X 8) = 240 seconds = 4 MINUTES
You can do any kind of high intensity exercises (sprints, burpees, squats, etc.) to have a Tabata workout. Also, because they only take 4 minutes, you can do maybe three Tabata workouts per day and burn major fat…not to mention this type of high intensity exercise boosts your sex drive (YEA!). Stay tuned for an in-depth post on this fat burning quickie!
One other note…I use a Gym Boss Timer to time all of my Tabata workouts to make sure I am going for 20 seconds and only resting for 10 seconds. You can get one at this link below. This timer will keep you on your toes and push you.
Gymboss Interval Timer and Stopwatch – VIOLET / PINK METALLIC GLOSS
Perform Full Range Motion Ab Exercise
So, now we are at the ab exercise portion of the post. After you clean up your diet and begin drinking water, you can jump into performing ab exercises. The most effective ab exercises are those that give you a full range of motion and work all or most of your core muscles. The plank is one exercise that does just that. If you are not familiar with the plank, it is shown below. You simply hold this position, stabilizing your core (make your tummy hard) for a specified amount of time.
The next exercise is the leg raise. Leg raises force you to work your lower abs as well as your mid and upper abs. You get a full range of motion to work the majority of your ab muscles.
Here is a quick little daily ab workout which can be done in the mornings
Plank (Hold for 10 -30 seconds): Repeat 4 times
Leg Raises: 3 sets of 10 leg raises
So ladies, if you get your heart rate up and start eating the RIGHT foods, you can have a flat stomach. To get that sexy waistline, stop eating processed “healthy” food and get your butt in the kitchen and COOK the foods you eat. You could do 1000 ab exercises in a day; however, if you are putting the wrong kinds of foods in your body, you won’t see any results. And stop chilling on the treadmill or elliptical machine thinking you are doing something. Push yourself to the max for a short amount of time and watch how your body changes. You will be surprised.
If you want to know more tips on getting a sexy waistline, send me an email at melinda@libifit.com
Till next time…
Melinda