The one question I am asked more than any is, "how do I lose weight from just my stomach/arms/legs?" Everyone has one area that they want to improve on, but you can't “spot reduce” and lose weight from just one place.
To lose weight, you need to have a calorie deficit every day. This is done by burning 500 calories more per day, every day, than you take in for a week. Burning 3,500 calories more than you take in will result in a loss of one pound of FAT! Take it up to 1,000 calorie deficit per day to lose two pounds per week. This doesn't mean that you need to only eat 1,000 calories per day, though.
The average female body will burn between 1,4001,900 calories per day. This is before you do any sort of exercise. Add the 250 odd calories you burn in an average intermediate-advanced exercise session, and you are up to about 2,000 burned calories for that day. So, if you eat 1500 calories, you have burned 500 more calories than you have taken in. Check out this website to work out your (estimated) Basal Metabolic Rate.
This is an estimated number, as it doesn’t take into account your muscle mass and activity level. A good way to increase your metabolism is by building muscle and being more active on a daily basis. Interval training and high intense cardio exercises paired with strength exercises will help you increase your metabolism. The type of training we do in our classes and on the DVD is called HIIT, or High Intense Interval Training, and is designed to keep your metabolism heightened for up to 36 hours after you finish your workout. Steady state cardio like running, walking and swimming, while no doubt is excellent for the cardiovascular system, will not produce such an effect on the metabolic system.
Keep doing your sit-ups and ab exercises, but be aware that the toned ab muscles underneath will only be seen once the fat covering them is burned. There are some foods to stay away from. As a general rule, sugar is the devil! So, cut out all sugar from tea, coffee, cereal etc. Sugar is also found in white breads, rice, and pasta. Don’t be fooled by 0% fat yoghurts either - they will be loaded with sugar to make them taste okay.
Learn to read the ingredients list on food labels. They are listed in order of quantity. So a 0% fat strawberry yoghurt may list the ingredients as milk, sugar(dextrose/lactose), strawberries...This means the sugar content is quite high as it’s listed second. Look at the sugar per 100g too more than 12g of sugar is too high! You should only take in 24g of added sugar per day, which is found in a lot of cereals, cereal bars, chocolate, sweets, fizzy drinks, fruit juices etc.
So basically, it’s as simple as, eat less and move more! Do metabolic training exercises, cut out sugar and eat less, and you should see a difference in your stomach in just a couple of weeks!
