Ever wondered: how do you get a flat stomach?
I just want to be honest with people out there there’s no hard and fast way to get rid of belly fat. You may think that you can spot reduce, but ask any PT worth their qualification and they’ll bust this belly myth. That’s because your body decides where it wants to store fat, not you. Here are a couple to tips that can help you along the way.
1. Hard work!
The only guaranteed way to get a flat stomach is through—brace yourself—diet and exercise. To be more precise, you need to use up the fat you have stored around your abs. But because spot reducing is a myth, you’ll have to focus on reducing the fat throughout your entire body.
To do that, you’ll need to burn more calories than you put in every day, but it’s more complicated than “eat less, move more.” You need to eat fewer carbs while increasing your lean protein intake. Why? Your body will try to burn carbs for energy first, but if you haven’t ingested many carb-heavy foods, your body will target fat for energy instead.
Plus, protein makes you feel full longer. You also need to incorporate resistance training in your workouts to keep yourself from losing muscle mass in addition to fat (more muscle means burning more calories naturally). Low intensity cardio (check out the Stairmaster in Flyefit Stillorgan) training can help with burning more calories each day, but it won’t help you retain muscle, so make sure it’s not the only thing you do.
2. Get Planking or try out YOGA
The humble plank alone won’t get you abs like Peter Andre in his heyday, however it will strengthen the stabiliser muscles you need for HIIT – the proven workout style to torch fat. Come along to my Yoga class at 7.10pm in Flyefit Stillorgan and get going in the right direction
3. Rest up and Sleep
So much of your body’s fat burning happens when you are asleep. Not only do you process your food of the day, your muscles continue to metabolise and repair through the night. Also, you will be more likely to eat rubbish if you’ve under-slept. If you went out over the weekend you’ll need the shut-eye.
4. Abs are made in the kitchen
You’ve probably already guessed it, but eating either too many or too few calories will directly impact your weight and your waistline.
When you don’t eat enough your body compensates by burning stored calories (fat) i.e. weight loss and when you eat too much your body compensates by storing the extra calories as body fat for another time i.e. weight gain.
This is best demonstrated through the energy balance equation, which has three irrefutable rules;
- Eating more calories than you burn will result in weight gain
- Eating less calories than you burn will result in weight loss
- Eating the same number of calories as you burn will result in weight maintenance
In order to calculate the calories that you need to survive on a daily basis I would suggest to multiply your weight in pounds by 14.
If your goal is get ABs here’s what to do:
For Abs you want to take your maintenance calories and lower it by 20%, this will give you a good starting point to lose weight at a rate of 1 – 2 pounds a week whilst increasing the chances you’ll maintain your muscle mass.
It could take months before you start to notice a difference, so don’t expect the process to be easy. And if you do manage to develop a nice, toned six pack, it probably won’t change your life. You don’t need a perfectly flat tummy or washboard abs to be healthy and look good. Keep in mind, people can’t see your abs under your clothing, it’s hard work maintaining them (nonstop dieting), and the low levels of body fat required to have a flat stomach may actually leave you looking less athletic and attractive. So, if you really want a flat stomach, get ready to fight for it. Otherwise, just shoot for being healthy.
If you have any questions dont hesitate to contact @shanewalshfitness or email Shanewalshfitness@gmail.com for more nutritional guidance.
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