You have to Eat to Lose Weight

You can't just stop eating to lose weight. Many people think the key to an effective weight loss plan is to skip meals and starve yourself. This is one of the worst diet mistakes people make. Eating smaller portions and cutting your caloric intake is usually a good idea when on a diet. It's not a good idea to starve yourself and only eat one or two small meals per day. In fact, your body will go into a survival mode, slow down its metabolism, thus lowering your metabolic rate. This means your body will not burn as many calories as it used to, so more food can be turned into fat and less fat is burned off. It's a vicious little circle.

What you need to do is eat, and eat right to lose weight. Eating within one hour of getting up kick starts your metabolism and helps you burn more calories through the day. If you work out first thing in the morning, it's even better, and will have a longer lasting effect on your metabolism.

Do your cardio.

If you wait until noon to have your first meal, your metabolism is already going to be sluggish. Also, your will power will be reduced and you will be more likely to eat more then you normally would. On top of that, since your metabolism is lowered, your body will not burn the food off as efficiently as it could and wham…more fat gained.

The are other things you can do to your diet. Try not eating past 6:00. Lay off the sweets and sugar. Use milk instead of cream in your coffee. Try some supplements. There are a lot of diet supplements and weight loss pills out there. Some work, some don't. I'll be writing about my experience with them, and give you the low down and what is worth trying, and what you should avoid.

The way to go is eat more frequent, smaller meals. Eating smaller, frequent meals is the boosts your metabolism and keep it going all day. Digestion also burns calories so if your body is doing this 5-6 times per day, it only helps. As I said before, every little thing counts. Also, eating more frequently will tend to keep you from over eating and feeling too hungry. You have to experiment and find the right balance of diet and exercise that works for you. Remember to lay off the empty carbs and simple sugars. Get enough exercise, get enough sleep, and drink plenty of water. You will be pleased with the results.

The Best Exercises to Flatten your Stomach

What are the best exercise to flatten your stomach? There are many, but no one thing will work. If you are not eating right and doing cardio, no amount of crunches and sit ups will help. To flatten your stomach, you need to do cardio exercises and eat right. Abdominal crunches tone and give you definition, but cardio (jogging, aerobics, stairmaster, etc.) burn the fat that is hiding your abs. If you do not eat right and exercise, you could do 500 crunches a day, but if you aren't burning your body's overall fat, you'll just be building muscle on top of our existing fat. You've got to work on changing your eating habits, i.e lean protein, low fat, no empty carbs. Then you'll find that the crunches and cardio you do will be more effective

To get those six pack abs you desire, you have to get your body fat down to less than 10%. That is a tall order for even the healthiest of people. That means a lot of cardio, lean protein, and strength training. How easily six pack abs develops depends on your age, genes, diet, and metabolism. Some people can obtain one pretty easily while others have to really work at it. If that is your goal, then I am sure you can achieve it; you will just need some help on the way.

Now on tp the exercises:

The Basic Crunch

This exercise works the upper area of your stomach and abs.

1. Start out by lying on your back.

2. Place your hands crossed on your chest and lie flat on the floor with your knees bent. You should always bend your knees because it provides necessary support for your lower back.

3. Slowly raise yourself up using your abs while pressing your lower back to the floor. As you reach the top of the crunch slowly exhale. Then slowly lower your back down to the flow as you inhale.

4. Repeat this process 20 to 25 times and rest for about 90 seconds. Then perform 2-3 more sets of crunches with 90 second rests between each set and you're done for the day!


The Reverse Crunch

This exercises work the lower portion of your abdominals.

1. Start by lying on your back. Bend your knees slightly with your legs in the air and cross your ankles.

2. Place your arms on the floor alongside you.

3. Rest your head on the floor while keeping your back straight.

4. Slowly raise your hips about 2 inches off the floor. Try to keep your hips steady without rolling then backwards.

5. Hold this position for about 2-3 seconds and really squeeze or crunch your abdominal muscles while keeping your head and shoulders on the floor.

6. Slowly lower your hips back to the floor and repeat the process.

Again, you should really feel your lower abs working after about 20 to 25 ab crunches. Take a 90 second rest after your first rep and then do 2 to 3 more.


Breathing

When doing ab crunches, or any type of exercise, it's important to exhale and breathe out as much air as possible on your way up from the floor. This adds more power to the movement and you will be working your abs more effectively. Once you get to the top of the crunch movement, breathe in and out a few times before you lower your body down to the floor.

Diet and Exercise, What you eat and When!

One of the biggest keys to losing weight is lowering your food intake and making sure you get some exercise. You have to pay attention to what you eat. Just because a salad sounds healthy, it can quickly turn into a "fat trap" after the dressing and cheese is added. A taco salad sounds healthy but is one of the worst things you can eat while on a diet. It's not just fat, but think of it as fat and empty calories, i.e. sugar. You have to cut back on the empty calories.

There are empty calories everywhere from candy to soda to soft drinks. Think about what you are drinking. Alcoholic beverages are even worse. You get the double whammy or empty calories and the effects of alcohol. Even juice has a lot of sugar, be it natural or added in. Some of them are high in fructose and may contain as much as 30-40 grams of sugar in one serving. That is a lot of sugar for one drink - especially when experts recommend you only have 48 grams in a day.

Why are empty carbs so bad, well, sugar is a carbohydrate so when it is not burned off, it turns into fat. Bottom line. If you take in more then your body, i.e. metabolism needs, it gets transferred to fat. Period.

It's not all about sugar and fat though. You have to get enough vitamins, and watch your Sodium. Sodium comes in everything from salty foods like popcorn to diet coke. It's used to preserve foods and used in everyting from frozen dinners to pudding. Sodium is bad because it may cause you to store more weight around the mid section.

The more active you are, the better, and that will only help in the long run with your diet goals. Stick to some basic fundamentals and you will have great success.

* No fried foods.
* No Empty carbs.
* Don't eat anything past 6:00 p.m.
* Drink Plenty of Water.

If you can do that, you will start to see a huge difference in no time. Add exercise to the equation, and look out new you. Every little bit helps. Drink cold water, your body has to spend calories to warm up the water you just drank. In addition to that, water encourages proper kidney function and increases the efficiency of the liver's fat burning capabilities.

Tight Flat Abs, Diet, and Exercise

It is one of the most problematic areas on a person's body. The stomach. Everyone is obsessed with flattening it and everyone has a better way to do it. Some sell pills, others gels and wraps, some sell exercise, and some others, who knows. Unfortunately many people think they can eat whatever they want and get a flat stomach by performing hundreds of crunches and sit ups per day to burn off the extra fat and calories. That just is not going to work. You will have great abs under all of that blubber. I’ll be writhing about some great exercises, but not only that. You have to focus and learn about food and nutrition. You have to eat the right kinds of foods for you and learn what makes your body work. In a nutshell, getting a flat stomach is more than exercise alone. You must learn how to eat right and do it consistently. You need to know what is the recommended daily intake for carbohydrates (carbs, sugar, starch) fat, sodium and sugar. You have to balance the diet with the exercise. What I will stress is that everything is ok in moderation, and we will explore this in more detail. I’m going to discuss some flat stomach dieting myths and try to separate the fact from the fiction. I’ll also tell you how dieting alone is not the answer, and how starving yourself will never work. In essence, dieting alone will never work. You need to understand that your stomach will never be flat until you lose weight in all areas. Maintaining a toned middle means developing good eating habits for life, stop crash dieting, exercise regularly and have tons of patience. Crunches alone will never get the job done. This willlead to a leaner, more powerful, more confident you and sense of self. There is a huge connection between weight loss and self esteem, and how others look at us, and I will explore this topic in great detail as well. I will try to motivate you and get you moving in the right direction to a happier, healthier, leaner you.