Article by my fitness trainer, Holly Rigsby

Get Ready to Target Your Core!

If you’ve been searching for the most effective Tummy Flattener – you’ve found the right place! As far as your workouts go, you need to use upper body and lower body exercises that work many muscles at once – but I can hear you saying, what about my abs?

I want to get rid of my “mommy belly”!

Sure, including Abs as part of your routine is beneficial for strength purposes, but remember – no amount of “abs exercises” will make your belly fat disappear. Doing hundreds of crunches a day will do nothing to flatten your tummy. Believe me, I know from experience! I used to do 100 crunches/day with NO results until I found these exercises!

You will get three times more out of your workout by concentrating on the largest muscles. The “Abs” that you want to work through crunches are small….you can burn triple the amount of calories by doing full body exercises that also include a core component.

Your CORE is your body’s pillar. It must be strong in order for the exercises you do to be most effective, delivering faster results. Some of the best “ab exercises” actually use your whole body! (work your abs, use more muscles, increase your metabolism….that’s the way to go!)

Here are 3 Top Belly Blaster Exercises:

The Plank

The plank seems to magically flatten your belly as you engage the deepest muscles of your core. Be sure to form straight line from the ears, through shoulders and hips, to heels. Your body should not arch or sag. Engage your legs and your glutes and hold for as long as you can. Also make sure to hold in your belly tight. Ideally you will work your way up to 3 sets of 60 second holds.

The Side Plank

Raise your body in a straight line so that your body hovers over the mat.  Keep your back straight and your hips up. Hold your abs tight. Pull your navel into your spine but breathe normally. Hold this position for the recommended amount of time.

The Belly Blaster

 

Keep your back straight and your hips up. Push off your forearms and raise your hips and glutes into the air and hold for 5-10 seconds. Lower your back to plank position so your body hovers just above the floor. Repeat for the desired amount of repetitions.

These are tips that I’m learning from my fitness coach Holly Rigsby. She also has even more advanced belly blasters with different variations of the above exercises. As an athlete, this is very helpful for me because I tend to plateau in my weight loss. I love that she has incremental workouts so be sure to check out more of her exercises that focuses on all of those mommy trouble spots at Fit Yummy Mummy.

Naomi Trower AKA
FatLossMama
Quick Mom Workouts

You will find many sites on the internet claiming significant weight loss in just a few days with the Acai Berry diet. There are many anti-oxidant related benefits with the acai berry and it’s being stretched a bit to include rapid weight loss. Many of the before and after pictures are taken from sites where the loss was generated from months of a well balanced nutritional food plan and exercise.

Here is a great teleseminar that gives the truth about the acai berry fad that is dominating the internet at this moment

The Real Truth about the Acai Berry Fad

The Myths of Fad Diets

1. Diets that promise quick and easy weight loss are usually based on eating more of one food type and none of another. These do not give the benefits that you would get from a balanced diet. They may suggest you take supplements but many supplements are not absorbed by the body unless they are taken along with the foods that the diet has banned. After a few weeks, if you stick to it that long, you may begin to develop nutritional deficiencies.

2. Fad diets are often boring and over restrictive. After the novelty of the first day or two, you will not enjoy your meals. You will then start to crave food constantly and will break the diet. You may even feel guilty, thinking it is your fault that you did not lose weight.

3. Most fad diets do not follow recommendations of the American Heart Association and similar bodies for fat levels in the diet. Often the diet will recommend high fat foods and low carbs which if taken long term, could result in heart disease. The promoters may tell you that the diet is only intended to be followed for a short time. But you probably will not reach your goal weight in that time, and then what? You either continue with a plan that is not good for your health, or stop and probably gain back what you lost.

4. Many fad diets do not help you to incorporate enough servings of fruits and vegetables in your weight loss program, or give you the variety of foods that your body needs.

5. Quick weight loss diets are just a temporary solution and do not help you to make permanent changes to your eating habits. Permanent changes are the only way to remain at your target weight once you reach it. Fad diets encourage yo-yo diet-binge cycles of fast weight loss and equally fast weight gain. This is worse for your health and your self esteem than if you had stayed overweight all the time.

Whatever the publicity materials may say, these diets will not help you in the long term. The best way to sustain weight loss is to eat a varied and healthy diet, do not overeat, exercise regularly and avoid fad diets.

My Health Zone Store

Everyday chores burn plenty of calories. Moms, the things you do each day-washing clothes, dishes, mopping, and vacuuming (to name a few) provide resistance training and cardiovascular benefits. Performed in moderation, these activities add up to a ton of exercise opportunity.

How about mopping and sweeping the floor? Sweeping works the oblique abdominal muscles and the hips. Sweep the floor the first time using either the left or the right side of your body.

As you sweep, keep your hips stationery and move from the waist. Sweep the floor a second time using the opposite side of your body. I bet you didn’t think you could sweep your way to a slimmer waistline.

Vacuuming works the upper body and the legs. Increase the length of your stride as you sachet across the floor. Bend at the knees to pick up objects on the floor. Actively vacuuming for fifteen minutes can burn forty or more calories.

Washing windows and tubs provides a power-packed workout. The circular motions work the chest area, shoulders, and the triceps. To keep from getting fatigued, use the circuit training method of cleaning. Wash the surfaces of the bathroom and then clean all the windows in a room. Clean the next bathroom and then clean another room of windows.

If you need to mow the lawn, think of it as an exercise activity and make it fun. To work the lower body, take longer strides when pushing the lawn mower. Pushing the lawn mower works the chest and triceps muscles.

Mowing a lawn can burn several hundred calories per hour. If you have any hills in your yard, the extra exertion means more calories burned. After a few weekends of this, you’ll be ready to buy that little black dress you’ve been wanting.

Yard work in itself is a total body workout. You dig holes, pull up weeds, plant flowers, and spread mulch. Be sure to drink plenty of water and not to overexert yourself. Take a rest and re-hydrate before continuing.

When doing yard work and chores remember to protect your back. Lift objects from a squatting position. Instead of bending over to pull weeds, kneel on a soft pad. Use proper posture whenever possible to avoid injury.

I hate cleaning the house. This is a time where I love the concept of outsourcing! My housekeepers are my favorite people. My house is 4,000 square feet so that is a lot of house to clean with my various job titles, a hubbie and 3 kids. So I will stick to my normal exercise regimen.

Who knew housework could put curves in all the right places? Have fun with it. Turn on some tunes and boogie to the music as you clean the house.

Are You a Fit Yummy Mummy?