Is there anyone out there missing their abs? Great news…I know the formula to ensuring their return! Follow these steps exactly for the next 60 days, and you will not only notice an instant change in your waist size, but you will be very surprised at how great you feel physically and emotionally. Because the hip to waist ratio is directly related to overall health, you may also see a change in cholesterol, blood pressure, sugar levels and your overall ability to keep yourself free of illness.
1. Food focus: Work on comprising each of your meals of all kinds of vegetables, dark green leafy lettuces and lots of protein. Ensure your protein list excludes soy, lentils and other beans (black, kidney, etc.). Other things on your "to avoid" list are nuts, grains, milk and any sugars, including most fruits (although berries are OK).
The food focus is as such because in order to make your body as efficient as possible, you must expend more energy than you are taking in without a drop in your over- all energy throughout the day. In other words, you cannot feed your body foods that take energy from you, but only foods that give you life energy. If for some reason you do notice your energy declining, you are not eating enough of the good foods, especially protein.
2. Exercise: Big surprise? Here’s how it works. In order to uncover that six-pack, the most important type of exercise is cardiovascular. It is extremely hard to "spot train" your abdominals, unless you are already blessed with amazing abs. The point is to get rid of the outer layer of fat first, and then you can continue with some great toning techniques. As long as you are following step one, you will truly only need about 30-45 minutes of your favorite cardiovascular exercise three to four times per week. In order to accelerate the process, add resistance training as well. This doesn’t necessarily mean heading to the gym. Push-ups, sit-ups, dips, standing squats, lunges up a hill, using bands or weights, etc. will give you the extra boost you need to keep your metabolism running at full speed. Always remember to change up your workout every three to four weeks in order to avoid a plateau.
3. Things that will only cost you money and cause you frustration: Watch out for abdominal isolation gimmicks. The body works as a whole. Trying to use a de- vice that isolates only the abs is not going to work if you are not addressing the rest of the body at the same time.
There are also many over the counter supplements claiming to reduce or target belly fat. These are usually referring to a Cortisol issue. A good theory, but again, if you do not address the reasons why the Cortisol is high in the first place, you may as well buy some stock in the company, because you would have to take that particular supplement for the rest of your life (not a healthy choice) to try to keep things regulated.
It is true, however, that an increase in Cortisol can cause you to hold on to belly fat. When your body goes through stress (either acute or chronic), your adrenal glands begin to overproduce this hormone. Handling the adrenal fatigue is the first step in regulating your Cortisol levels. And that requires the exact recommendations as in numbers one and two above, as well as some specific nutritional support in most cases.
To set this process in stone, make sure you are ac- countable to a friend or family member, and keep a journal. Journaling your foods and exercise will help you to know where you are coming from, and where you are going. Completing this daily journal is truly the key to your success!