Showing posts with label Flat Belly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flat Belly. Show all posts

Friday, July 30, 2010

Five Simple Steps To Losing Your Belly Fat Fast




How do you lose weight fast?

A real simple tip is and we've all been taught it, from the time we were kids from our parents, is increase our vegetable intake, more specifically your non-starchy vegetable intake. It's not to hard to choose a vegetable that's non-starchy.

The main reason is, because you want to be able to eat something that is not caloricly dense but nutrient dense and non-starchy vegetables. They're a great source of fiber which is very important for helping you feel fuller longer and not encouraging you to eat 30 minutes later. You're going to be full for a long time. The fiber takes longer to digest, so the body has to work harder and you keep your insulin levels in check which is big for preventing fat storage.

What is insulin which I mentioned above?

When you eat you get sugar in your blood and your body has to get that sugar out of the blood and either use it as energy or store it for use at a later time. Insulin does that. When you ingest food and you get these sugars into your blood, your insulin increases and gets those sugars, pull them out of your blood and either, like I said, burn them for energy or store them to be used at a later time. When all of your carbohydrate glycogen levels are full, then the only other alternative is to be stored as fat. Insulin tends to promote fat storage because most peoples glycogen/carbohydrate levels are usually pretty full, so the alternative is fat storage.

You want to keep that insulin response low, which is one of the main goals.

Now on to Tip number 2 which is eating protein at every meal. We hear so much about protein; again, most guys are probably meat and potatoes guys. Why is it so important - how do we make the transformation to just eating fatty protein sources to types of proteins that you should be eating to help lose that gut.

It should be easy to get protein into your diet since most men are meat and potato type of men, but you want to control the type of protein you eat. A fried chicken breast, or 18 chicken wings from Hooters, probably isn't going to be the best source. Yes, its protein, but you are also going to pack in a lot of extra calories that you really don't need if you're trying to lose your gut. So, one of the things you want to do is to look for those lean protein sources. Skinless chicken breasts, lean beef and steaks, fish grilled not fried. Eggs are another good source.

Dairy is also another good source. If you like cottage cheese or yogurts or things like that, you can get in your lean protein that way as well.

Tip number 3 Eat whole grain carbohydrates.

So now, what is a whole grain carb? What's a good carb? What's a bad carb? When am I supposed to be eating some of these carbs?

A whole grain carb would be carbohydrates that are considered a good source of fiber. Staying away from the - you've heard the thing of no white breads and things like that and white rice, and to a point there's validity to why people say that. I don't know that they always know why they are saying it, but the reason that they should try to limit those is because those are usually made with processed carbohydrates and very little fiber content. Whole grain carbs will say 100% whole grain. Wheat bread is just white bread that hasn't been bleached. So you need to look for the whole grain or the whole oats/grain wording in it to find out, and look at the fiber source. Most of them should have at least 2 grams of fiber per serving, if not 3 to be considered a good fiber source. So, that will help you get you your answer as well with that.

Alright, rapid weight loss diet tip number 4. Eat more healthy fats. Now, this is very confusing for people, I'm sure. Healthy fats, unhealthy fats, Trans fats, why is this going to be such a big deal when it comes to losing weight fast?

Your healthy fats is what's usually called essential fatty acids, and what that means is that it's fatty acids and fats that we can not produce in the body on our own, so we have to get them through diet. Why essential fatty acids are so important is because there's hundreds and hundreds of studies that are showing that it helps with numerous diseases.

It helps prevent certain diseases such as heart disease and cancer. The studies are actually now showing that it may actually increase your metabolism by as much as 400 calories a day and that's the big one when it comes to just specific weight loss.

If you want to just throw out all the numerous health benefits of why essential fatty acids are good and just go off of the fact for weight loss and fat loss, it actually helps increase your metabolism and there's also some studies showing that it may actually block what they tend to call pre-fat cells from turning into permanent fat cells. So, again, that's another huge step in regards to weight loss and trying to prevent weight gain. And, essential fatty acids primarily are, what you'll also hear or read, as Omega 3 fats.

You'll see that fish is an excellent source of Omega 3 fats. Use olive oil because of the essential fatty acids and the Omega 3s. Walnuts and Almonds are another good source and they're actually a good protein source, they contain good fiber, and they contain healthy fat.

So, if you want a healthy snack, throw some almonds in a bag and take them with you to work, keep them at your desk. They're a great snack to help you feel full; help boost that metabolism and it's actually a really good food for you in many ways. You're getting your fiber, you're getting your protein, you're getting your healthy fat, you're getting three of the five tips I'm giving you today just in one food, with that.

How to lose belly fat tip number 5.

Eat frequent meals. I'm sure you've heard it before eat smaller meals throughout the day. You're probably having a muffin and coffee for breakfast, having a big lunch, maybe not eating all afternoon, come home and eat a huge, huge dinner. How are you guys going to get 4-6 small meals a day?

You do have to do a little planning ahead, but if you use the previous four tips, you could cut up some vegetables ahead of time on a Sunday and just put them in bags so that you have them available to put into your lunch or as a snack. Protein choices you've got the yogurt, you could hard boil eggs, you could have string cheese as a snack. Almonds, as we talked about.

Doing those types of things and plan ahead to where you don't have to think the morning of, "Alright what am I going to eat for my snack today? What am I going to do for lunch? It's all already in the fridge. Plan on a Sunday for one hour and then all you have to do is pack your meal. Put it in individual bags, throw it in your cooler and put it in the refrigerator at work, so that it's available. That way, the less thinking you can take out of it, the better off you're going to be.

Every time you eat your metabolism increases to digest that food. Your body uses calories to digest calories? So, you want to keep that metabolism revved up every day.

What guy doesn't want to eat. The worst thing about trying to lose weight is you think you have to starve yourself and that's the exact opposite that you want to do if you're going to lose weight. You need to feed yourself and you need to feed yourself consistently because then the weight will come off. If you restrict eating and that metabolism plummets your body has to survive. It goes into a survival mode at that point and it's going to do everything possible to burn as little calories as possible because you don't feed it frequently enough.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Flat Belly Diet


Flat Belly Diet targets the millions of Americans who want to take a few inches off of their waistline. The writers, Liz Vaccariello and Cynthia Sass, both work for Prevention magazine; with Vaccariello (editor-in-chief) being the primary voice of the book and Sass (nutrition director) providing additional knowledge and insight.
In essence, the book promises a flatter belly and weight loss of up to 15 pounds in 32 days by following the diet plan. The diet itself is fashioned after the traditional diet of the Mediterranean – more specifically, the southern regions. It allows for 1600 calories per day, with an emphasis on wholesome, unrefined foods; including nuts, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, seeds, and lean protein. Red meat is restricted – only being allowed about once a month.
Before beginning the diet, dieters go on a four-day, anti-bloat, jump-start diet. The idea is to get dieters in the mindset for healthier eating while making them feel better by relieving bloating, constipation, and the general sluggishness that usually accompanies unhealthy eating. After the four-day period, dieters then start the 28-day program, with a focus on having a monounsaturated fat (MUFA) at every meal. This, according to the authors, is the secret to the Flat Belly Diet and what makes it different and more-successful. Exercise is optional, but encouraged.
All in all, Flat Belly Diet provides a fairly normal approach to dieting, with the addition of increased good fats (MUFA). There is no calorie-counting, which is a boon for many dieters. Instead, dieters choose from a list of 28 mix-and-match meal and snack plans. The book also includes 80 recipes, complete with nutritional analysis for each one. The drawbacks of Flat Belly Diet include 1) difficulty maintaining the weight loss rate after the initial 32 days, and 2) 1600 calories is too low for most people, which could result in binge eating and the yo-yo dieting effect.
If you decide to try Flat Belly Diet, we would recommend adjusting the calorie intake to meet or exceed your BMR and adding a fitness regime to start building muscle mass. Diet alone may help you lose weight, but exercise is essential for maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Get Flat Belly Tips


Here some tips to help you achieve your goal and if you stick to it, you will find that not only will your tummy get flatter, you will also reduce weight from all parts of your body. Correct eating habit and nutrition is the most important factor in getting a flat stomach. You will need to control your blood sugar levels to lose body fat. One way to do that is to consume five to six meals small meals daily. Please note, I said small meals. For example, you can divide the portion of your three daily meals into 5-6 smaller meals.

Next, cut your carbohydrate consumption to 50 percent or less from your meals. Most people eat way too much carbs and before their body can burn the carbs for energy, the carbs would have been converted to glycogen and fat. You need not go to the extreme by cutting your carbs drastically though. Eat your small meals every 2 to 3 hours. This is because when your stomach empties itself, your body will tend to conserve fat for energy and by eating frequently, you will be controlling your blood sugar level to encourage fat loss and you will start to lose weight gradually. However, if you are still not losing weight, then you are consuming too much calories and so if this happens to you, make your meals even smaller by cutting more carbs.

By the first week, you will probably lose between 4 to 5 pounds (about 2kg) of water weight. Subsequently, you should about 1 to 2 pounds per week. If you are losing more than that, then you are probably losing muscle weight too. However, if you are not losing 1 to 2 pounds per week, then reduce another 100 calories from your meals. Remember to abstain from sugar laden drinks as these drinks are chock full of calories. If you insist on having your ritual of sugar laden coffee, tea or soft drinks everyday, then you can say bye bye to having a flat stomach. You will need to be on this eating program six days a week reserving one day as "cheat day" to reward yourself for keeping up with the program successfully. However, I am not in favor the "cheat" day because people tend to use it as an excuse to gorge themselves and overeat. You will have to decide for yourself whether you want to include a "cheat day" or not. You may also want to include a weight training program because for every pound of muscle you gain on your body, you will burn 30-50 extra calories a day. You will then become a natural calorie burner. Part of your weight training program should include abdominal exercises to tighten up your abs to give you the flat tummy look. Lastly, set aside four to five days a week to perform cardio exercises for about 30-45 minutes. This is done to help you burn up even more calories. Is this flat tummy program easy? Nope, it is not and that is why so few people have flat tummies and tight abs. However, it is definitely achievable if your motivation to have a flat tummy or six pack abs is strong enough. You are the creator of your own destiny or in this case, having a flat belly.