Get a Six Pack Stomach in 10 Easy Steps

Many people wonder how to get a six pack stomach fast. Most of them aren’t aware that fat cannot be turned into muscle, nor do they understand that six pack abs won’t appear until you burn off your belly fat. Anyone can have a six pack stomach, even without doing a single sit-up or crunch. However, strength training (and especially abdominal exercises) will speed up the process of helping you get a six pack (and make your abs look better too!).

To begin with, try and avoid following any fad diets. Consult your doctor especially if you plan on following any of these diet plans:

Negative calorie diets

Very low calorie diets

Very low carb diets

Any other type of unbalanced fad diet

Changing your diet should be considered a part of a healthier lifestyle. Do what you can to learn everything about nutrition. The more you understand, the easier it will be to implement healthy nutrition in your diet.

Let’s take a look at ten ways to speed up the process of burning fat, for achieving a six pack stomach quickly, through safe and healthy ways.

Instead of using butter or margarine, substitute fruit purée. They are quite simple to prepare with a food processor and will greatly reduce calories and fat.

Cheese can be good for you, but the saturated fat is not. Try this: microwave cheese for a few seconds to drain off any excess grease, or choose a lower fat substitute.

If you exercise before eating, you will just end up more hungry. Seek to perform exercise AFTER you eat, so the body will work harder during digestion.

Avoid television while eating. Focusing too much on something entertaining will take your mind off your appetite, and you will end up eating more than you should.

Don’t skip breakfast. Your metabolism is higher when you wake up, so you will burn more calories. Also, breakfast will temper your desire to eat a large lunch and dinner.

If you mix water with fructose, it will be more effective in suppressing your appetite than water with glucose or diet sodas. A glass of orange juice 30-60 minutes before a meal can reduce your appetite.

Stay away from trans fatty acids as much as you can. Instead, use canola oil or olive oil. Anything that lists partially hydrogenated oil contains trans fatty acids, which slow fat burning and increase your risk of heart disease.

Drink skim milk. You’ll get all the nutrients without the extra fat.

Remove as much fat as you can from meat before cooking. This one step alone will drastically reduce your calories and fat intake.

Use health Supplements. I can honestly say that I could not have built the body I have today without the convenience and enhancements supplements provide. This is a choice that you must decide for yourself. You will be spending your money on these products, so make sure that you know their place in your program.

Thanks for visiting. To get started why not subscribe to the 21 day fitness plan at the top of this page. Look in the red box, it is right there.. Thanks Bill

History of Fad Diets

There is an entire industry based around helping people lose weight in strange ways. This is the world of fad diets. I remember years ago my dad did a diet called the Mayo Clinic diet that was based around just eggs and grapefruit. Now the Mayo clinic is a very reputable organization but anytime that you find a diet surrounding only a couple of foods then you know that it can’t last. This is a fad diet.

When you are considering a fad diet what you have to look at is if this diet will become a part of your ongoing lifestyle. If you have an all liquid diet that is suppposed to help you lose weight then what are you going to do after the fad diet is over? Keep eating only liquids or go back to your old diet that was helping you gain weight in the first place.

Fad Diets and Shortcuts

Most diet pills, liquid diets, and diet supplements are short-term solutions that won’t work without long-term changes in your eating habits and physical activity level. And many produce side effects, which can be especially dangerous for people with other health conditions.

Fad diets can be another no-lose/no-win situation. Most are based on an eating plan that is not nutritionally balanced; some even eliminate an entire food group. This can cause health problems, and the weight lost is usually regained quickly once the diet regimen is stopped.

Just about every few months we will find another diet book on the book shelves and creating press around. The Diet Blog has for years now written about every diet including fad diets but just because a book has sold lots of copies does not mean that it is not a fad diet and that it will work fore everyone.

Instead of Fad Diets, Supplement Instead

In my eyes there is nothing inherently wrong with supplementing, this is not the same thing as a fad diet. Do not take green tea pills or whatever the latest product is just for the weight loss possibilities, look instead at how these supplements will help you get healthier in the long term. Supplements are especially powerful when combined with a healthy diet and exercise program to help you lose weight and get healthy. Say no to fad diets.

Most people that have tried to lose weight have heard of both the Jenny Craig Diet as well as Weight Watchers. Studies have shown pretty conclusively I believe that these diets seem to help people lose weight over the long term although the weight loss never seems to be very substantial according to the studies. So why do these diets seem to work pretty well? I have thought about this and as usual I have a list of things that I think make Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig work where most fad diets just don’t seem to.

1. Commitment by spending money - It is hard to give up on a diet that you have to pay money to every week. When you know that on Tuesday they are going to charge your credit card or some other form of payment you are going to think twice before eating that piece of chocolate cake.

2. Success all around - In a Weight Watchers meeting or at a Jenny Craig office you get to see people like you and people that used to be like you that have lost weight. It does not seem like so much of a fantasy when you see a few people that you can actually see and talk to that have lost 50 pounds and feel great about it.

3. Something to believe in - There is a long track record in both weight Watchers as well as at Jenny Craig. Both of these diets have seen a lot of other diets come and go so most people look at them both as pillars in the weight loss community.

4. Writing things down makes you accountable - This is the big one to me. Both Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig both make you right down in some form what you have eaten today and what kind of exercise or other activity that you participated in.

I don’t think for a moment that either Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers are the best thing out there for everyone but they do seem to work for most people. The real diet that will work for you is a process that you believe in without a doubt so that you will not question it and a way to hold yourself accountable.