Fitness Tips: Flat Belly Tips: Post 2

Hello, welcome back! Today we have more of the most popular topic on this site, flat belly tips!

1. Plank Exercise: This one is actually very fun, and takes a very short time. Just lay face down and prop yourself  up with your toes and elbows. Then, twist on your side and raise one of your arms. For a picture and some more info, click here.

2. No cutting back on food, replace it! Take this for example, a burger is 500 calories(just an example!). Well, you could substitute that for an apple,a hot dog, a salad, and some chips all for about 100 calories less. Use the calorie calculator from the previous post and keep your number with you all the time. If you want a little bonus link, an article from WebMD about Fats (and how to get good ones in and bad one out of your diet) click here.

3. Metabolism: We've all seen them, the super-fast metabolism types with no excess cellulite whatsoever... Well, now you can give your metabolism a boost with these simple tips:

• Gain some muscle! It takes 6 calories a day for muscle to sustain itself.
• Drink a fair amount of water. The body needs water to process calories, and your metabolism can slow down if you don't drink enough water.
• Eat gradually: It seems that eating bit by bit throughout the day can help your metabolism quicken.
• Try eating these: Cocoa, blueberries, flax, avocados, tomatoes, yogurt, garlic, fish, olive oil, and oats.
• Eat more protein! The it takes many more calories to actually digest protein, almost 25% more than fat.
• Crash diets don't help! Eating fewer than 1,000 calories a day can not only be terrible for your metabolism, but can make it so that your body won't function properly!

All of these tips (except the foods, that's from experience) come from WebMD.com . Seriously, go on there! You'll find some amazing tips! Oh, and for a Metabolism Calculator, click here.

4. When doing exercises, only do as much as you can take comfortably. If it starts hurting badly to exercise, try a different exercise or lowering the intensity. Try doing them with as much control as possible, and take your time with them to get the best results.

5. Try steering towards complex carbohydrates. White bread, white rice, and pasta are good, but by eating vegetables and beans as well as whole grains and brown rice.

I can't stress this enough. Keep a diet book! Make sure that you have at least a small notebook that you can take with you and whip out at the end of the day or at lunch and record what you've eaten.

Hope today's tips (I included an extra just for today!!) helped a lot,
-Craline <3