Lose Baby Weight and The Healthy Mummy are celebrating their 5th birthday this October and as part of the celebrations we’re sharing loads of helpful information around the number 5.
Information that will help you with your healthy eating plans and exercise routines to ensure they are a real success towards reaching your weight loss goals.
Often our tummies, especially after pregnancy, can hold excess weight. Here are 5 tips to help you focus on this area of your body to get a trimmer, tummy in no time:
1) Eat Well
It’s one of the most obvious tips but if you are feeding your tummy with high fat, high sugar foods that have little nutritional benefits then you aren’t going to lose tummy fat.
Eat a diet rich in protein, wholegrains, fruits, vegetables and nutrients so your body can function at its best and eliminate toxins and fat.
Try the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge Meal Plans so you don’t have to think about what healthy meals to choose as well as trying the Healthy Mummy Smoothies to get extra nutrients and vitamins in throughout the day.
2) Drink Well
Water is the ultimate drink to choose. It hydrates you without any additives, sugars, preservatives etc. Drink around 8 glasses of water a day to keep your body hydrated. Have a glass before a meal as sometimes feelings of hunger can actually be thirst so you won’t over eat.
Alcohol, especially sweet fizzy based drinks and beer make it nearly impossible to lose stomach fat and puts extra stress on your liver to clear out the toxins. This extra pressure on your liver can make it very hard to build muscle which is key to losing belly fat.
3) Move Well
Overall exercise, not just targeting the tummy area will help with tummy fat loss. If you are moving every day, whether it’s a 30 minute brisk walk to the park with the kids, a 5km run around the neighbourhood or a routine from the 28 Day Challenge exercise plans then your body’s metabolism will increase, helping it to burn the energy from what you eat as well as seek out fat stores that will be used to fuel your exercise session.
As well as overall exercise you can also strengthen and work your core so it is strong and when you do lose all over body fat you will have abs to show off! The pilates and core exercises from the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenges are ideal to strengthen this part of the body.
4) Train Well
Spending hours doing cardio exercises will only get you so far when it comes losing belly fat. The real secret is to add a few strength-training exercises in to your routine. The most effective way to lose belly fat is to build lean muscle in its place. Muscle gets very hungry when exercised and the more you work them the more they seek out fat stores all over your body to fuel them.
Try and include major muscle group exercises into your routine to see your belly fat disappear – such as squats which work the bum and thighs. The HIIT strength exercises from the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenges are ideal for strength training.
5) Motivate Well
If you want to lose stomach fat you will need to stay motivated for longer than a few days. We all have times when we want to give up, but it’s important to push though the hard times because the end goal is worth the effort. It’s important to keep track of your progress as this will remind you of how much you’ve achieved.
The key is to keep going once you’ve started your healthy eating and exercise plans. If you have a bad day or two or even a bad week, that’s ok, continue on with your healthy living goals to make them part of your lifestyle, not just something you do for a couple of weeks.
