I know the size and shape of your abdominal area is important to you. Keep thinking that way…..

A fitness assessment is performed by a professional trainer before you start your exercise program. Body fat measurements will let you know where you are and how far you have to go to reach your goals.

You should focus not only on your belly fat…..focus on burning total body fat with full body circuit strength training and short, intense interval cardio sessions.

Your strength training sessions can be about 30-40 minutes (3 times a week) and your cardio sessions about 20 minutes (2-3 times a week). Your strength training workouts will include core exercises like planks, bridges, back extensions and mountain climbers to help burn your belly fat. If you want to do extra “belly fat burning” core exercises on off days, you can.

There is a correlation between chronic diseases, such as cancer, and abdominal fat.

Work to shrink your waist size and abdominal fat. Researchers from the American Cancer Society warns us about the deadly risks of having too much belly fat.

Eric J. Jacobs, PHD, American Cancer Society strategic director, and his colleagues found that people with very large waists (47 inches or larger in men, 42 inches or larger in women) had approximately twice the risk of death compared to those with the smallest waists (35 inches in men, 30 inches in women) during the study period.

It didn’t matter if the person was normal weight, overweight or obese (according to body mass index).

“We found a pattern showing that expanding waist size was linked to a greater risk of dying regardless of body weight,” said Jacobs. “Similarly, people with the smallest waist sizes had the lowest risk. The take home message here is watch your waist size regardless of your weight.”

Burn your post-baby fat as soon as you can. Don’t let post-baby fat follow you to subsequent baby births, if possible. Excess weight/fat gain and failure to lose this weight six months postpartum are predictors of long-term obesity, according to research.

Exercise plays a huge part in the fat-burning process. Many women continue to do strength and cardio training well into the third trimester of their pregnancies. Sometimes medical conditions don’t allow much exercise. After the birth of your baby, resume your regular workouts as soon as you can.

And, get a good fat loss meal plan that you can maintain. It obviously plays a huge part in the success of your fat loss and weight loss efforts.

Start slimming down your tummy region now (summer is coming)!

Be sure and download my FREE 14-Day Accelerated Fat Loss Program and torch body fat now!

“Exercise is not my life…..exercise makes my life better!”

Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Check out my other great blogs:

My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named one of the 50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody—including athletes!

Here are some tips to burn the flab and get and keep your dream body:

1. If you want fat loss, weight loss and a lean and toned body then you MUST eat for fat loss. Everyone needs a meal plan. You need to have some sort of idea of what you are going to eat for the day. If you don’t have a meal plan, you might eat anything at any time. If you have a plan, you are more likely to follow it or at least eat similar foods. And, record what you eat in a food journal to hold yourself accountable.

2. Burn more fat with full body strength workouts. Train large muscle groups, don’t workout longer. Maximize your time in the gym and get the results you want. The quality of your workouts are better than the quantity of your workouts.

Shorten your weight training workouts to 50 minutes (3 days a week) or less and ramp up the intensity! Doing this will give you more fat burn and calorie burn during and after your workout.

Compound strength exercises like squats, deadlift, lunges, standing bentover rows, squat-to curl-to press and bench press are great examples. Full-body core exercises like planks and side planks work well also.

3. Do short, intense cardio workouts (about 20 minutes, 3 days a week)! Sprint Intervals or similar cardio exercises activate and shape the bulkier, shapely fast-twitch muscle fibers. This type of cardio will also burn fat and calories like crazy and give you superior heart health.

4. Walk 30 minutes every day, especially on your non-workout days. Walking helps you to keep an active lifestyle.

You can also build muscle mass with bodyweight workouts and burn flab. Bodyweight workouts use natural body motions that don’t limit your natural range of motion like machine lifting does….and your body will look beautiful and not man-like!

Bodyweight workouts can also be strength and cardio workouts combined……so it will save you even more time during your busy day. If you have been doing regular weight training for a while, this workout can be a good change of pace for you.

Many bodyweight exercises are compound exercises. Do as many compound strength exercises standing up as possible to burn more calories.

Burn your body flab and keep it off!

Be sure and download your FREE eBook: “10 Must Know Fat Loss Tips,” Free Fat Loss Meals and Free Fat Loss Workouts!

“Exercise is not my life…..exercise makes my life better!”

Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Check out my other great blogs:

My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named one of the 50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody—including athletes!

1. Drink plenty of water. Drinking water is a good idea while working out–especially while pregnant. I drank at least a gallon of water a day before I gave birth. It was important for not only my health but also my baby’s health. Staying hydrated during pregnancy assists in transportation of nutrients to your baby. Drinking water will also help prevent bladder infections, which can be dangerous if you’re pregnant.

2. Calorie and food intake. During pregnancy you often hear the excuse, “I’m eating for two.” That’s not a free pass to eat anything you want. You need only 200-300 more calories a day than normal during pregnancy, but those calories should still be of the healthy variety.

You also need healthy carbs, so even as a competitor, this isn’t the time to “carb deplete.” Make sure you continue to eat plenty of protein and also include healthy fats. Omega-3s are very important for a fetus’ healthy brain development.

While staying away from certain fish and high amounts of peanuts/peanut butter (since they’re thought to possibly cause peanut allergies in babies), you can still find great sources of omegas. I ate plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, which provided the folic acid that’s extremely important in preventing birth defects.

3. Weight Training. Weight training is perfectly safe and also healthy to do while pregnant. Yet it’s important to listen to your body and not do anything in the gym that makes you uncomfortable. While pregnant, you should avoid lying in the faceup position.

Don’t do any moves that require you to lie flat on your back or–obviously–on your stomach. There are certain core exercises you can do, but you should avoid doing crunches, even into early post-pregnancy. You don’t want to permanently damage the muscles that aren’t yet healed, especially if you had a Caesarean section.

4. Cardio. It’s a great idea to do cardio while pregnant. I often did two-a-days because the cardio made me feel better. It relieved morning sickness and helped energize me throughout the day. On the days I missed cardio, I often felt tired and nauseous. Keep a close eye on your heart rate, and don’t overexert yourself while performing your cardio routine.

5. Watch dangerous chemicals; add more natural foods. During my pregnancy, I was the healthiest I’ve ever been. I attribute my good health in large part to what I was eating and products I was using on my skin.

I was more conscious of what I was breathing and exposed to, such as house-cleaning products. I’m a bit of a clean freak and am constantly cleaning, but I found “greener” ways to do it. I began using all-natural products and switched to organic foods, including organic milk, eggs and meats.

I stayed away from caffeine and all sweeteners. I also limited my protein shakes to one a day. Obviously, everyone is a little different in their needs. You should listen to your doctor and do what’s best for you.

If you need help with fat loss, download my Free women’s fat loss guide now!

Mark Dilworth, BA, PES

One quick way to start burning abdominal fat is to cut out all sugars like sodas, sugary drinks (including some fruit juices), candy, donuts, package/boxed foods, etc. This one step alone will cut tons of calories for you if you replace them with foods like fresh fruits, fresh veggies, water, unsweetened drinks (like tea), and low-fat yogurt, etc.

Don’t look for shortcuts. The quick weight loss gimmicks lead to yo-yo dieting and even more weight gain! There are no quick solutions to permanent fat loss and weight loss.

Make the commitment to change your eating habits permanently even if you have to take small steps to get it done. And mix in regular weight training (including bodyweight exercises) and interval cardio. This is the proven recipe to give you the toned, healthy body you want and need.

Advertisements such as “lose 30 pounds in 30 days,” sends a message that has a short-term solution to your weight problem. Why? Because weight lost that quickly (without regular exercise) will be mainly lost muscle mass instead of fat mass (this will slow down your metabolism). You also might be very ill after losing that much weight in such a short period of time.

It’s not going to help you much if your body looks good (for a while) but your health and quality of life suffers! Exercise hard and smart. Build a foundation for your body.

If you are significantly depending on these fat loss supplements or diet pills to fix your weight problem, you will be disappointed with a lighter wallet to boot!

And, some of these products are potentially harmful. If you’re wondering about the safety of any supplement, check out the “Generally Regarded As Safe” (GRAS) list published by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

One reason that you get frustrated with your fat loss results is that your expectations are unrealistic. If you expect fat-burner supplements to give you a lean and toned body, you will always be disappointed. Save your money!

At best, fat-burner supplements might give you a short-term boost. At worst, they could kill you (remember the Ephedra horror stories)!

Don’t be a “scale junkie.” What’s a “scale junkie?” My definition of it is a person who is so worried about losing weight that they lose sight of the fact that fat loss and inches loss is much more important.

Permanent fat loss takes longer and you have to really work hard and smart to achieve it. Pills, powders and patches won’t get the job done when it comes to permanent fat loss/weight loss.

Work hard and eat smarter to burn your abdominal and body fat.

Download your FREE 14-Day Accelerated Fat Loss Program!

“Exercise is not my life…..exercise makes my life better!”

Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Check out my other great blogs:

My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named one of the 50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody—including athletes!

According to the International Journal of Obesity (and many other sources), butt fat is healthier than belly fat. Their research shows that gut fat increases risks of heart attack, stroke, diabetes and premature death.

Women tend to carry too much fat on the butt, hips and thighs while men tend to carry too much belly fat. The research showed that women with more butt fat/thigh fat than belly fat have better blood sugar levels, blood fat control and slower fat turnover (prevents inflammation and promotes metabolic health).

A fitness assessment is performed by a professional trainer before you start your exercise program. One of the critical measurements taken is your Waist-to-Hip Ratio (waist measurement divided by hip measurement).

This measurement is important because there is a correlation between chronic diseases and abdominal fat. A ratio above .80 could put you at risk for a number of diseases, including cancer.

For example, if your waist is 31 inches and your hips are 41 inches, your Waist-to-Hip Ratio would be .76. Some people who consider themselves to be “skinny” could really be “skinny-fat“, which is a skinny person with too much body fat. A “skinny-fat” person could have an unfavorable Waist-to-Hip Ratio.

Today is the day to start your exercise program—NOT JANUARY 2012! You can get alot accomplished in 1 week’s time!

Procrastination is one of the biggest barriers to achievement, fitness goals or otherwise…maybe you need to determine why you keep putting your fitness program off….is it fear of failure, you don’t know what to do or how to do it, you’ve tried “everything” and nothing has worked or you’re just frustrated in general? There’s a reason and you need to be honest with yourself—it will give you a new start now and not January!

You could be well on your way to losing the fat and weight and building the lean body you want by this time next week!

What are you waiting for? Start burning fat today!

Subscribe to my FREE Fat Blaster eNewsletter and get FREE eBooks: “10 Must Know Fat Loss Tips,” Free Fat Loss Meals and Free Fat Loss Workouts!

“Exercise is not my life…..exercise makes my life better!”

Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Check out my other great blogs:

My Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as a Top Health Blogger! Quite an honor coming from that institution!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named one of the 50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody—including athletes!