5 Weight Loss Tips You Can Use Right Now For Six-Pack Abs
By Gregg Gillies
Are You Ab-sessed? Learn How to Get Ripped Six-Pack Abs
Almost everyone wants to know how to lose weight. With these weight loss tips you can.
Getting lean enough to have six-pack abs isn't easy. If it was, everyone would have a flat stomach and a lean, sexy physique. Take a look around. You know that's not the case. So what can you do to get your own six-pack?
Here are some tips on how to lose weight you might want to consider if your fat loss progress is stalling.
1) Too Many Carbohydrates.
This doesn’t mean you have to eliminate carbs from your nutrition plan. The right carbs are a vital part
of your fat loss efforts, not to mention your health. However, any additional carbs above and beyond those needed have a good probability of being stored as body fat. Weight training does require a higher carb intake. But most people don’t train intensely enough for the amount of carbs that they take in.
2) Stack Your Carbs.
Yes, low-carb diest do work. You can drop a lot of fat with a low-carb diet. But at a certain weight your body sets itself. If you want to really get lean, you'll need another approach. Not to mention, carbs
are an important part of any workout program. Carbs fill your glycogen-stores after a workout so your muscles can get optimal recovery. Muscles boost your metabolism which makes it easier to lose fat and keep it off. Muscles also give your body it's sexy shape once you've taken off the fat. Without
muscles, you'll be what I call skinny fat. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. And it's not sexy.
So, instead of going completely low-carb, try stacking your carbs, getting your good carbs when you need them most, in the morning and immediately after your weigh workout.
Eat most of your good carbs in your morning meals and in your post-workout meal. This will help to stabalize your insulin levels and help you burn body fat for energy later in the day.
Forego the pasta, potato or rice at your evening meals for lean proteins like fowl or fish, along with
a side dish of veggies. Or enjoy your favorite protein shake recipe. Okay, maybe not your favorite if your favorite contains a lot of simple carbs, but you get the idea.
3) Too Much of the Wrong Type of Cardio.
What happens to the guy or gal who performs 1-2 hours of cardio a day? (We know you’re out there!)
They send their body into a tailspin, a state where the "starvation hormones" secreted by the body skyrocket (it’s your body’s survival mechanism, a response to too much exercise!) causing fat cells to try to hoard their energy!
Too much cardio will eat away at muscle tissue, causing your metabolism to slow down and your body to start storing fat. In other words, the exact opposite of what you are trying to accomplish. Substitute shorter duration, high intensity interval training for the slow, long duration cardio you've been doing and watch your metabolism get a boost as you burn more fat in less time. Just check out marathon runners? Is that the body you want? I didn't think so.
Try switching up your cardio to contain more high intensity interval training. It will
1 - Burn more calories by elevating your metabolism so you lose fat faster
2 - Increase your power
3 - Increase your speed
4 - Increase your endurance
No matter what your fitness goals, HIIT is one of the best ways of helping you achieve them. And the variations are endless. You can vary the training parameters (exercise to rest ratio, number of intervals) to make the workouts harder or easier, depending on what you are trying to accomplish.
You can also use any number of exrecises for your training, such as cycling, sprinting, treadmill, elliptical trainers, jump rope, rope climbing, hill sprints, and more.
Don't continue doing endless hours of aerobics that aren't helping you reach your goals anyway. Get more out of your cardio workouts by performing interval training.
Luckily for me, I have a hill just down the road that is perfect for interval training. I jog over to the hill.
This takes about 4 - 5 minutes and serves perfectly as my warm up. Then I sprint up the hill to the top. This takes me about 15 - 20 seconds. I turn around and walk back down, which serves as my rest interval. I then repeat for a certain number of intervals and the jog (or walk) home serves as my cool down.
Another great interval training program is jump rope. You may need to practice a bit on this one. After a brief warm up, I will jump rope as fast as I can for about 10-20 seconds, followed by a slower cadence for about half a minute.
This form of interval training is brutal and will get your heart rate up fast! You won't last long on this program.
Always warm up before starting your intervals. If you're not in the best of shape break into it lightly, starting with more low or moderate intensity cardio. You might also want to check with your doctor. No sense in getting hurt right when you start your interval training.
4) Cycling Your Calories:
I've mentioned cycling your calories in a previous article but here's an example again so you know what I am talking about.
Don't forget the numbers are for the example only. You'll need to adjust the calorie number to what's appropriate for you.
Day 1 - 2,600
Day 2 - 2,500
Day 3 - 2,400
Day 4 - 2,300
Day 5 - 2,200
Day 6 - 2,100
Day 7 - 2,000
Day 8 - 2,500
Day 9 - 2,400
Day 10 - 2,300
Day 11 - 2,200
Day 12 - 2,100
Day 13 - 2,000
Day 14 - 1,900
Day 15 - 2,400
Day 16 - 2,300
Day 17 - 2,200
Day 18 - 2,100
Day 19 - 2,000
Day 20 - 1,900
Day 21 - 1,800
At this point, I will take a look at my progress (using body fat calipers, the scale and the weight increases on my exercises) and then devise a new plan for the next three weeks.
The cycling of calories in this manner is good both for building muscle and losing fat. How high you start and how low you go depends both on your goals (building muscle or losing fat) and your individual metabolism. If you are building muscle you don't want to make your low days too low. You just want to
have some slightly lower calorie days so that you keep fat gain to a minimum as you add muscle.
For losing fat, you don't want your high days too high (for obvious reasons) but you also don't want your low days too low, otherwise you will lose lean muscle and put your body into starvation mode, which will cause it to slow your metabolism down and store fat - two big no no's. If the weight stops coming
off, don't always go lower on calories but consider increasing your cardio training (or just increasing the intensity of the time that you do your cardio - the more intense it is, the more calories you burn during the same amount of time).
You still need to be careful with the amount of food you eat when you do this. After all, it doesn’t take
too much to completely wipe out that week’s progress.
5) Eat Whole Natural Foods
Stay away from all processed foods. And while protein shakes and meal replacements can really help you get the nutritious calories you need (not to mention the convenience) don't go overboard. Get most of your calories from whole natural foods like vegetables, meats, oils, eggs and whole grains.
This is all pretty basic stuff. The problem is that most people think basic won't work so they go searching from one gimmick to the next, never really making any progress. Then they quit out of frustration without giving what really works a chance. How many people do you know that want to know how to lose weight andhave tried all these weight loss tips and stuck with them? I bet not many. If you want to know how to lose weight, go ahead and give these weight loss tips a try and see if you don't lose fat, build muscle and develop a lean sexy body
with six-pack abs in no time.
Gregg Gillies is the founder of http://www.buildleanmuscle.com . Want to boost your metabolism, burn more fat with less effort and lose all the weight you want...fast? Grab his free report at http://www.fatlosssecretsrevealed.com . Interested in gaining 21 pounds of muscle in only 9 weeks? Grab his free report at http://www.fastmasstips.com .
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gregg_Gillies
Are You Ab-sessed? Learn How to Get Ripped Six-Pack Abs
Almost everyone wants to know how to lose weight. With these weight loss tips you can.
Getting lean enough to have six-pack abs isn't easy. If it was, everyone would have a flat stomach and a lean, sexy physique. Take a look around. You know that's not the case. So what can you do to get your own six-pack?
Here are some tips on how to lose weight you might want to consider if your fat loss progress is stalling.
1) Too Many Carbohydrates.
This doesn’t mean you have to eliminate carbs from your nutrition plan. The right carbs are a vital part
of your fat loss efforts, not to mention your health. However, any additional carbs above and beyond those needed have a good probability of being stored as body fat. Weight training does require a higher carb intake. But most people don’t train intensely enough for the amount of carbs that they take in.
2) Stack Your Carbs.
Yes, low-carb diest do work. You can drop a lot of fat with a low-carb diet. But at a certain weight your body sets itself. If you want to really get lean, you'll need another approach. Not to mention, carbs
are an important part of any workout program. Carbs fill your glycogen-stores after a workout so your muscles can get optimal recovery. Muscles boost your metabolism which makes it easier to lose fat and keep it off. Muscles also give your body it's sexy shape once you've taken off the fat. Without
muscles, you'll be what I call skinny fat. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. And it's not sexy.
So, instead of going completely low-carb, try stacking your carbs, getting your good carbs when you need them most, in the morning and immediately after your weigh workout.
Eat most of your good carbs in your morning meals and in your post-workout meal. This will help to stabalize your insulin levels and help you burn body fat for energy later in the day.
Forego the pasta, potato or rice at your evening meals for lean proteins like fowl or fish, along with
a side dish of veggies. Or enjoy your favorite protein shake recipe. Okay, maybe not your favorite if your favorite contains a lot of simple carbs, but you get the idea.
3) Too Much of the Wrong Type of Cardio.
What happens to the guy or gal who performs 1-2 hours of cardio a day? (We know you’re out there!)
They send their body into a tailspin, a state where the "starvation hormones" secreted by the body skyrocket (it’s your body’s survival mechanism, a response to too much exercise!) causing fat cells to try to hoard their energy!
Too much cardio will eat away at muscle tissue, causing your metabolism to slow down and your body to start storing fat. In other words, the exact opposite of what you are trying to accomplish. Substitute shorter duration, high intensity interval training for the slow, long duration cardio you've been doing and watch your metabolism get a boost as you burn more fat in less time. Just check out marathon runners? Is that the body you want? I didn't think so.
Try switching up your cardio to contain more high intensity interval training. It will
1 - Burn more calories by elevating your metabolism so you lose fat faster
2 - Increase your power
3 - Increase your speed
4 - Increase your endurance
No matter what your fitness goals, HIIT is one of the best ways of helping you achieve them. And the variations are endless. You can vary the training parameters (exercise to rest ratio, number of intervals) to make the workouts harder or easier, depending on what you are trying to accomplish.
You can also use any number of exrecises for your training, such as cycling, sprinting, treadmill, elliptical trainers, jump rope, rope climbing, hill sprints, and more.
Don't continue doing endless hours of aerobics that aren't helping you reach your goals anyway. Get more out of your cardio workouts by performing interval training.
Luckily for me, I have a hill just down the road that is perfect for interval training. I jog over to the hill.
This takes about 4 - 5 minutes and serves perfectly as my warm up. Then I sprint up the hill to the top. This takes me about 15 - 20 seconds. I turn around and walk back down, which serves as my rest interval. I then repeat for a certain number of intervals and the jog (or walk) home serves as my cool down.
Another great interval training program is jump rope. You may need to practice a bit on this one. After a brief warm up, I will jump rope as fast as I can for about 10-20 seconds, followed by a slower cadence for about half a minute.
This form of interval training is brutal and will get your heart rate up fast! You won't last long on this program.
Always warm up before starting your intervals. If you're not in the best of shape break into it lightly, starting with more low or moderate intensity cardio. You might also want to check with your doctor. No sense in getting hurt right when you start your interval training.
4) Cycling Your Calories:
I've mentioned cycling your calories in a previous article but here's an example again so you know what I am talking about.
Don't forget the numbers are for the example only. You'll need to adjust the calorie number to what's appropriate for you.
Day 1 - 2,600
Day 2 - 2,500
Day 3 - 2,400
Day 4 - 2,300
Day 5 - 2,200
Day 6 - 2,100
Day 7 - 2,000
Day 8 - 2,500
Day 9 - 2,400
Day 10 - 2,300
Day 11 - 2,200
Day 12 - 2,100
Day 13 - 2,000
Day 14 - 1,900
Day 15 - 2,400
Day 16 - 2,300
Day 17 - 2,200
Day 18 - 2,100
Day 19 - 2,000
Day 20 - 1,900
Day 21 - 1,800
At this point, I will take a look at my progress (using body fat calipers, the scale and the weight increases on my exercises) and then devise a new plan for the next three weeks.
The cycling of calories in this manner is good both for building muscle and losing fat. How high you start and how low you go depends both on your goals (building muscle or losing fat) and your individual metabolism. If you are building muscle you don't want to make your low days too low. You just want to
have some slightly lower calorie days so that you keep fat gain to a minimum as you add muscle.
For losing fat, you don't want your high days too high (for obvious reasons) but you also don't want your low days too low, otherwise you will lose lean muscle and put your body into starvation mode, which will cause it to slow your metabolism down and store fat - two big no no's. If the weight stops coming
off, don't always go lower on calories but consider increasing your cardio training (or just increasing the intensity of the time that you do your cardio - the more intense it is, the more calories you burn during the same amount of time).
You still need to be careful with the amount of food you eat when you do this. After all, it doesn’t take
too much to completely wipe out that week’s progress.
5) Eat Whole Natural Foods
Stay away from all processed foods. And while protein shakes and meal replacements can really help you get the nutritious calories you need (not to mention the convenience) don't go overboard. Get most of your calories from whole natural foods like vegetables, meats, oils, eggs and whole grains.
This is all pretty basic stuff. The problem is that most people think basic won't work so they go searching from one gimmick to the next, never really making any progress. Then they quit out of frustration without giving what really works a chance. How many people do you know that want to know how to lose weight andhave tried all these weight loss tips and stuck with them? I bet not many. If you want to know how to lose weight, go ahead and give these weight loss tips a try and see if you don't lose fat, build muscle and develop a lean sexy body
with six-pack abs in no time.
Gregg Gillies is the founder of http://www.buildleanmuscle.com . Want to boost your metabolism, burn more fat with less effort and lose all the weight you want...fast? Grab his free report at http://www.fatlosssecretsrevealed.com . Interested in gaining 21 pounds of muscle in only 9 weeks? Grab his free report at http://www.fastmasstips.com .
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gregg_Gillies
