Achieving killer abdominal muscles is probably one of the hardest areas of the body to maintain, next to the infamous “Batwings” that appear with age. But, through a consistent healthy plan of regular exercise and eating the proper belly fat melting foods you can reach your goal without feeling like you are spending all of your time at the gym doing crunches.
Workout Do’s and Don’ts
Don’t spend all of your time doing sit-ups and crunches. These two exercises only work a small portion of your abdominal and core muscles, so it is important to do a variety of intense core muscle exercises in order to effectively work all of the muscles in your belly region.
To get the most from your abdominal workout you should include exercises that work the deeper layers of core muscles as well as the obliques and lower four-pack muscles; these are actually the invisible four sections of the ten sections of the abdominous muscles. Strengthening these lower sections increases the effectiveness of your workout towards achieving the six pack that you crave. Some examples of exercises that work these areas are:
- Abdominal Holds
- Side Crunches
- Squat, Thrust, and Twists
- Prone Plank
Belly Buster Foods
Although it is true that eating a healthy balanced diet will help with maintaining a healthy body weight, there are some foods that provide more abdominal fat burning benefits than others. Some of these belly burning nutritional options are:
- Bell Peppers/Broccoli/Brussel Sprouts – These vitamin-C rich vegetables help block abdominal fat caused by stress from accumulating around your mid-section by lowering the amount of cortisol in the body produced by stress. Cortisol is a hormone that stimulates the body to cholesterol to accumulate in the abdomen, in turn increasing the amount of fat located in this region.
- Bananas – Not only is this fruit packed with nutrients, it is also a great weapon against belly-bloat and gas. A study has shown that eating a banana twice per day between meals for 60 days can reduce bloating in the midsection by up to 50 percent. An added bonus is that the potassium in bananas helps eliminate water retention.
- Green Tea – Drinking four to five cups of green tea in addition to spending 25-minutes per day working out increase the amount of belly fat by blocking the body’s ability to store fat in this area. The antioxidant catechins blocks belly fat storage. Pears are another great source for this belly fighting antioxidant.
- Lean Poultry like Chicken and Turkey – Lean proteins like chicken and turkey stimulate a feeling of being satisfied so that you will not overeat. Studies have also shown that the process of digesting these kinds of proteins can boost after-meal calorie burn by up to 35 percent. The recommendation for how much lean protein you should eat per day is .03 – .04-ounces of protein per 2.2 pounds of bodyweight.
Sculpting a killer six-pack takes more than just exercise. It also takes incorporating into your diet those foods that aid in preventing belly fat, bloating, and water retention from developing in the first place. As well as eating nutritional foods like those listed above that combat the different causes, like hormones, of belly fat retention.