Shrink Your Middle

8 Flat Belly Shortcuts

1. Speed Up Your Walk

Pick up your pace and you'll burn an average of 25% more calories--and target belly fat.

Aim for 2 or 3 weekly speed sessions lasting about 30 minutes each. You should be walking at an intensity level in which you can speak only a few words at a time. If you're unable to maintain that effort for the entire workout, practice intervals, alternating short bursts of fast walking with slower segments.

Some easy ways to incorporate intervals:
With an MP3 player: Speed up every other song.
With a sports watch: Alternate 3-to 5-minute fast-paced bursts with equal-length bouts at a moderate pace.
In a hilly area: Walk as quickly as you can to the top, then walk back down to recover. (You can do the same thing on a treadmill at a 5 to 10% incline, lowering to zero to recover.)

2. Get on the Ball

To get more ab toning from classic crunches, use a stability ball.

Planks offer an easy way to target this area: Lie face down with upper body propped on elbows and forearms. Tuck your toes and raise hips and legs off floor so body is in line from head to heels. Hold for 30 to 60 seconds. Then try a set of side planks: Balance on one elbow, forearm, and side of foot, with hips and legs stacked and opposite arm raised toward ceiling.

3. Pump Some Iron

A total-body weight-training routine boosts blasting belly fat results and firms your midsection even more.

Bonus: You'll be less likely to regain lost pounds. Whenever you lose weight, it typically comes from both fat tissue and muscle. Resistance training helps maintain or even add muscle mass, which prevents a slowdown in metabolism.

4. Balance on One Leg

Incorporating a balance challenge, such as standing on one leg or using a wobble board or inflatable disk (available at sporting goods stores), helps target and tone every little muscle.

Another way to work your abs while toning the rest of your body: Hold a light weight overhead during moves like lunges and squats. "Your core is the main connection between your upper and lower body," explains Christopher Mohr, RD, PhD, an exercise physiologist and co-owner of Mohr Results in Louisville. "By creating more length from your center to your fingertips, your abs have to work extra hard just to keep you upright." That creates a firmer, stronger midsection.

5. Turn in Earlier

Eating right and exercising regularly help ward off both stress and belly fat, but only if you're getting enough sleep. Skimping on sleep causes levels of the stress hormone cortisol to rise, along with levels of deep abdominal fat. Canadian researchers found that adults who averaged just 5 or 6 hours of shut-eye a night were 35% more likely to gain 10-plus pounds and were nearly 60% heavier around the middle than those who slept 7 to 8 hours.

6. Sip on This

Green tea is good for your skin and helps fight cancer--now researchers say it's even an effective belly buster. A recent study in the Journal of Nutrition found that exercisers who drank the equivalent of about 4 cups of green tea a day for 12 weeks lost over 8 times more ab fat than those who drank an ordinary caffeinated beverage--nearly 8% versus less than 1%. Researchers speculate that catechins (phytonutrients in green tea) may help speed the breakdown of fat.

7. Follow the Ultimate Flat Belly Workout

For faster benefits, here are all of the exercise-related healthy habits and flat belly-boosting tips combined into a weekly routine. If you don't have time to do everything, start with the cardio sessions. Then add total-body strength-training

and finally some ab exercises.

MONDAY: Steady-paced cardio workout

(at least 30 minutes)
TUESDAY: Cardio speed/interval workout (at least 30 minutes); total-body strength-training, including at least 2 standing balance exercises (20 to 30 minutes)
WEDNESDAY: Rest day
THURSDAY: Cardio speed/interval workout (at least 30 minutes); ab exercises (about 20 minutes)
FRIDAY: Total-body strength-training, including at least 2 standing balance exercises (20 to 30 minutes)
SATURDAY: Repeat Monday
SUNDAY: Repeat Tuesday

8. Eat Proven Flat Belly Foods

Counting calories, watching portions, and minimizing junk food are all flat belly essentials.

3 Proven Flat Belly Foods

Cheers,

Eve :-)