Monday, February 9, 2009

Four Things To help Display Your Six-Pack

By Rob Molloy

Before we look at the four steps you can take in order to get six-pack abs, we need to realize that no matter how much training you do, and no matter hard your six-pack is, if it's hidden away behind a layer of belly fat, nobody will be able to see it. Although this may sound a little strange at first, there are in fact 4 ways to get six-pack abs from the kitchen. If you give it a little thought, it really does make sense because as I've already pointed out, unless you shed your belly fat, those abs you just not going to be visible.

You also need to know that in order for abs to be visible; one needs to have a very low percentage of body fat. It's been established that men can have no more than 10% body fat if they want to be in a position where their six-pack becomes visible. Likewise, woman can have a slightly higher percentage of body fat but here again; it should be less than 14%. If we take this into consideration, I think it's safe to say that this is not going to happen for the average person unless they change their eating habits significantly.

So, how is it possible to get six-pack abs straight from the kitchen in 4 easy steps? Let's take a look at calories first. The most effective means of getting rid of fat is by depriving ourselves of calories. Providing your daily calorie intake is less than your body requires in its present state, you'll lose weight. For example, if your aim is to lose one pound of fat each week, then you'll need to ensure you're eating 500 calories less each day than you do presently. This is based on the fact that a pound of fat contains more or less 3500 calories. Also, the more exercise you do, the more energy your body requires and if you're not providing sufficient calories, your body will be forced into burning fat instead, in order to meet the demand for energy.

We know now that getting that calorie count down is the only way you're ever going to see your six-pack so here are four easy steps to follow.

1. Carbs are one of the bodies best sources of fuel and you can be rest assured, your body will always burn carbs before it starts burning fat. Of course, we can use this to our advantage if we want to lose weight because we know that if there are no carbs to burn, your body has to start burning some of its fat reserves. The less carbs you have in your diet, the more fat your body will burn. Unfortunately, if you're trying to build muscle, eliminating carbs is not something you want to do because they are the best single form of energy available. However, cutting carbs out of your diet never fails to deliver impressive results as far as fat loss is concerned.

2. Perhaps one of the most common problems people face when they go on diet, is that they tend to lose muscle as well as fat. Essentially this is because while on a diet, one is most often depriving one's body of much needed fuel. The best way to counter this negative result of carb deprivation is by including a lot of protein in your diet. Of course, as I've mentioned earlier, you need to remember that calorie intake must however still be kept at a level which is less than your body requires, which in essence means that you need to eat less than what your body needs. Under normal circumstances, those who are trying to increase muscle mass would need to ensure that approximately twenty to thirty percent of their diet consists of protein. On the other hand, if you're cutting back on carbs as part of your diet, then you should increase your protein content to about forty percent.

3. As you've more than likely already heard, there are both good fats and bad fats in various foods. Cutting out as much bad fat as possible is essential, even for those who are not on a diet but particularly for those who are. On the other hand, you need to focus on increasing the amount of good fats you eat as these help to increase your metabolism which has a direct impact on the rate at which your body burns fat. Unlike bad fats which can be used for energy and which are therefore stored by the body, good fats cannot be used for energy and are never stored.

4. When one considers that the human body is 70% water, it stands to reason that it requires lots of water in order to remain healthy. Of course, everyone should drink plenty of water as it helps to clean the body and if you're on diet, then you need to also understand that your body will store water for later use if you are not drinking enough in the first place. Of course having water stored is certainly not something you want when you're trying to make that six-pack show through. Another benefit of drinking lots of water when on diet is that it makes you feel full as well. - 15438

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