Doing countless crunches, sit ups and torso twists will not get rid of the belly fat. Strengthening your midsection is critical for back support and core strength for your entire body. But the key to losing fat is diet and cardio. Focus on those 2 items and before you know it you’ll be shedding inches from your midsection and other areas.

Here are a few tps to get you started.

1. Fist thing in the morning do 20 minutes of cardio on an empty stomach. This will help to jump start your metabolism and energizing the body.

2. Cut back on fatty foods and carbs. You don’t have to cut them completely but cutting back will help a lot.

3. Eat several small meals through the day. This will keep your metabolism burning at full capacity.

Develop your plan, stick with it, and before long you’ll start seeing results.

Popularity: 26% [?]

The first month of my new quest I easily lost 20 pounds. The next month and a half I have basically just maintained and haven’t lost a single pound. I think I have finally figured out why. The first month of the challenge I was very strict in my diet and exercise with a specific goal in mind. All I had to do was make it to my birthday and then I could have a cheat day. Eat a nice meal and have some beers. I was honest to myself and made the goal. Since then I haven’t had a goal to make it to, so the desire to cheat comes more frequently. I think to myself, well since I don’t have a goal in mind why don’t I just try and make it to the weekend.

I’ve decided that in order to start making progress again I am going to have to set a goal. Once I reach the goal I can reward myself with somthing I am a sucker for, like Cheese Cake or beer. Then set another and before long I will have achieved my ultimate goal of being in shape.

First goal. Make it to April 18th, 2008. That is when my vacation starts. Should be doable since its not even a full month away.

Popularity: 41% [?]

I figure since I am trapped inside today, due to a major snow storm rolling through I’d do some linking to sites and videos that covered the Arnold Fitness Expo. Good thing it was last weekend and not this weekend. Would have been canceled or low turnout.

OK so on to the linking.

The official Arnold Fitness Expo site

Testosterone has some nice video and pictures by Chris Sugart

Bodybuilding.com of course always has good coverage. Check it out.

Female Muscle backstage with some female bodybuilders

Female Muscle has several other Arnold 2008 posts

Popularity: 41% [?]

Well February has come and gone and my results were not the desired ones. In fact my progress bar flat lined for the month. I weighed 226 at the beginning of the month and 226 at the end of the month. I wish I could sat that I put on more muscle and lost some fat but that just isn’t the case. I am exactly the same. Now after going to the Arnold fitness Expo over the weekend I have a new found motivation level and still have the desire to keep pushing forward. I’m going to dial in my diet even more and really push through this stagnant period. My new goal is to drop below 200 by the time I go on vacation April 12th.

So how do I plan on getting there? Well that first thing is to make sure that my caloric intake is right for sustaining the types of weight loss I am looking for. Secondly I am going to somehow overcome the barrier that I seem to have with doing any type of exercise early in the morning. I want to at least get 20 minutes of cardio in each morning to get my metabolism going. Anything from walking briskly, jogging, jumping rope, or tabata.

Also going to continue taking in a ton of water and keep on my supplements. Through the month I will see where and what I need to adjust and figure out one way or another how to get these 26 unwanted pounds.

Popularity: 44% [?]

For millions of people the ability to successfully lose weight eludes them. They think there is some magic that goes into dieting and that dieting doesn’t work for them. Well first thing they need to realize is that dieting is not taking a magic pill. It is a change in your lifestyle and getting rid of some bad habits. Here are the guaranteed ways of losing weight and living a healthier life at the same time.

Reduce your caloric intake - By reducing your caloric intake by 15 - 20% is your first step. As you go through these steps this one will sort of just happen by cutting other things out. We will touch on those in a second. If you are currently taking in a very high amount of calories you may have to adjust this so that it will work for you

Drink more - No I’m not talking about Beer. In fact if you drink a lot of Beer you need to switch that for water. So the key here is to drink a ton of water. At least 8 glasses of water a day. Drinking a lot of water will also help you eat less. If you start off each meal by drinking a glass of water you will feel fuller quicker and essentially eat less.

Eat more meals - Eat smaller meals more frequently through the day. This will reduce overeating and increase your metabolism and burn more calories more efficiently.

More protein - You should eat approx. 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass. Protein helps repair your muscles and you will see why this is important in just a minute.

Reduce the bad carbs - You should lower the number of carbs you take in. Especially the ones from breads, sugars and beer. The good carbs that you want to get your energy from are fruits and vegetables.

Enlist friends and family - Don’t go it alone. Get others that want to join you on this lifestyle change. It will help you remain accountable and encourage each other along the way.

Do cardio in the morning - Do at least 20 minutes of cardio in the morning. This helps turn on your fat burning machine to help you burn calories all day long. Even while your sitting in front of your computer at work. Exercise breaks down muscle tissue which proteins help repair.

Keep Score - This is what I like to call tracking your progress. Keep a food journal , exercise log, take pictures so you can see the changes, track your BMI, log your weight, and most importantly write out your plan and make it part of who you are. If you write things down and make them a part of you, your chances of success go through the roof.

So now its time to take action. Stop putting this off and start today. You are the only person that can 100% guarantee yourself that you can shed the pounds and get that body you have always wanted. Good luck and I will be here with you the entire way.

Popularity: 34% [?]