Yes, you understood me correctly...there are only 3 things you need to focus on when trying to attain the envied swimsuit model abs. Forget what you have heard about doing 1000 crunches morning and night, or eating grapefruit with every meal to boost your metabolism. Now, I'm not going to get you too excited for these 3 keys, because they shouldn't be anything too novel or unique, but the point is...that they work! So here we go....
1. CARDIO
Yes, cardio is the main key to losing weight, including the spare tire you have hanging around your hips. It is optimistic to believe that we can spot-train, meaning "I have a flabby stomach, so I am going to do an hour of crunches to get rid of the fat." Nope. Sadly, this is not how our bodies work; being physically active and integrating cardio workouts into our routines is the only way to lose fat.
2. DIET
No, I don't mean a "fad" or "crash" diet of eating only cabbage soup for a month, or drinking some concoction of tomato juice, cayenne pepper, and lemon juice; I mean being conscious of what we are putting in our bodies. Diet is defined as food and drink considered in terms of its qualities, composition, and its effects on health-in other words, it is not a negative word! A huge part of losing fat, including the belly, is taking in less calories than you use! So pay attention to what you eat, and how many calories you consume. Visit http://www.mypyramid.gov/mypyramid/index.aspx to help calculate how many calories are appropriate for you and your activity level.
3. BODY WEIGHT EXERCISES
Alright, you have the cardio, and the diet to get rid of the fat in your midsection, now you need to build some muscle to tighten it up; but, crunches are still not the key. There are many layers to your core, and in order to build a flat stomach you need to train all of them, just crunches will not do this, visit http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/abdominalcorestrength1/a/Best_Ab_Ex.htm to see the different layers and exercises on how to strengthen them!
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