Sunday, December 21, 2008

Flat Stomach Formula

By Jose Loni

Flat stomach exercises help to increase strength and overall fat burning, but there are two other factors that need to be considered as exercises for a flat stomach as well. Those are our diet, what we eat and how often we eat and the other is the management of our stress levels.

Flat stomach exercises are complemented by the quality and quantity of the food we take in. There should be an avoidance of fatty processed foods and sodas. Throughout the day, we should increase the frequency of our meals to 5-6 times per day, eating meals that are balanced in all components of the basic food groups as well as increasing water intake. By choosing better quality, healthier alternatives, we can affect our body's fat burning capabilities.

The exercises to flatten our stomach should begin gradually, walking for at least 20 minutes and progressing to 30 minutes. The intensity should be challenging so the body will utilize energy from fat.

Stomach flattening exercises are basically exercises that involve multiple joints that allow our bodies to reduce overall fat and at the same time allow for muscle growth and development. When we increase our muscle size, it also increases our metabolism and requires more fuel to be converted from fat, thereby getting the fat from the stomach area. Ab exercises are also good to help tone and increase core strength.

Stress reduction: Stress makes our bodies go into a panic mode. Our bodies react by sending hormones into our system that tell our bodies to store fat in our stomach to prepare for deprivation. So, the key is to reduce the stress or manage it in a way that will allow you to better cope with it. By reducing the stress in our lives, we control various physiological components in our bodies, which allow us to burn fat more efficiently, resulting in a flatter stomach.

A stress coping mechanism that is greatly used and very easy to do in any environment is deep breathing. Taking a deep breath through our nose and deep into our abdomen, then slowly exhaling and releasing the air through our mouth. This method allows for a greater exchange of oxygen into our bodies and carbon dioxide to be expelled.

The flat stomach formula just takes some discipline to commit to making changes in and monitoring our food intake, increasing our energy expenditure and managing our stress. This formula is just a simple guideline to help us achieve our goal to have a flat stomach. - 15438

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