You’ve been doing crunches, sit ups, planks, and leg raises to get rid of the belly fat and get tight abdominals. Has it worked? It makes sense to work the abs and strengthen the muscle. But how do you get the six-pack abs?
The truth is you could do 1,000 sit ups a day and it won’t get rid of belly fat. You’ll have great, toned abs underneath the belly fat that no one will see. Unless you get rid of the fat, you won’t get muscular definition.
Ab workouts strengthen the abdominals but don’t decrease fat.
This is an important statement to understand because you can spend a lot of time and effort in pursuit of washboard abs and never get there. Worse still, you can injure yourself. It’s important to learn the right core exercises to do for you that strengthen and tone but don’t injure your lower back.
If you want to get rid of belly fat you need to eat clean. Lowering your body fat level decreases the amount of fat around the stomach. How much fat you have has to do with your genetics and your lifestyle. You can’t selectively target areas for fat to decrease. How your body loses, and gains fat is also genetically predetermined.
Can you lose body fat and keep it off? That’s the real question when it comes to washboard abs. If you weren’t born with a naturally muscular physique, chances are you must work at keeping your weight down. Learning about your body and how to keep fat off is what losing belly fat is all about. It’s not something you do in a month or even a year. It’s a lifetime endeavor. As we age, our bodies slow down. Our nutritional needs change. How your body reacts to ratios of carbohydrates, proteins and fats has everything to do with how much fat you’re carrying.
If you’ve always dreamed of washboard abs and want to obtain them, start with your ability to lose body fat. Can you lose body fat through proper exercise and nutrition and keep it off? Challenge yourself to lose 5 or 10 pounds and keep it off for an extended period. It takes education, discipline, structure and patience to lose fat and keep it off. Setting small goals and learning what you need to do makes sense. Walk before you run. After you’ve reached your small goal, set another one. Lose more body fat in a safe and gradual way.
Your body’s genetic pattern for losing fat will determine how much fat you lose around your middle. Most people lose fat all over the body and not just the waistline. How much fat do you have to lose to create muscular definition in the abdominals? It depends on your body. Everyone’s different.
Getting rid of body fat is a combination of proper exercise and stellar nutrition over a long period of time. Learn how your body works and adjust your lifestyle for the long haul. You may just find your washboard abs yet!
