Crunch Away Pounds - The Abs Diet Plan

Since there are so many diets out there, after a while the seasoned dieter thinks there can't possibly be a new option. Before long, you've tried every major dieting plan, and you know the effects that each has on your body. You're left thinking there couldn't possibly be something new to learn, which is where the abs diet plan comes in. Although the concept of losing weight through exercise is old hat, the abs diet plan offers a new take, with no "magic pills" in sight!

Essentially, the abs diet contends that the body uses energy on a regular basis simply keeping its muscles and internal organs in good working order. So, each time you add to your muscle mass, this necessitates that your body expend more energy. Instead of cutting back on your daily food intake to lose weight, the abs diet plan simply asks you to increase your energy level, what they call the "energy bill," above the normal level. Then, the calories your body would normally store as fat are absorbed by the extra muscle mass. This also requires the body to burn the fat already on hand to keep up with the demand for energy.

For each pound of extra muscle you add, the body burns 50 additional calories per day. So you do the math: 10 additional pounds of muscle = 500 calories of your daily intake, every single day, which translates into losing 1 pound per week. Notice also that this diet works on a "snowball" effect: the more you exercise, the more muscle tone you add, the faster you lose weight. With the extra muscle tone and shy those extra pounds, you are then able to exercise harder and lose even more weight! Once the "snowball" gets rolling, it can turn into an avalanche with minimal additional output.

As far as food intake, you are able to eat 12 nutrient-rich "power" foods, which provide all necessary vitamins, minerals, and fiber for your 6-week diet. These 12 foods include: beans and peas, spinach (and a few other green veggies), almonds, instant hot oat cereal, wholegrain breads and cereals, berries, eggs, low-fat dairy products, lean meats like turkey, peanut butter, olive oil, and protein powder. Unfortunately, all other foods must not just be "avoided" the way you might normally "avoid" fast food (except for that once a week trip to McDonald's) but shunned during the diet.

Although it may seem difficult to sign on for this diet for the long-haul, especially if 6 weeks sounds like a long time to you, the required exercises should make a huge difference. You will not only lose weight, but you will also be sporting some firm abs - maybe even your first six-pack - and a generally well-toned body. Since part of the fat is replaced by muscle, even if you feel like you're not losing weight, you should at least be replacing fat with muscle. And you should be rid of up to 12 pounds in the first two weeks of the abs diet plan!

Abby is a weight loss author for BestDietPillsOnline.org. For more information about the best diet pills on the market today please check us out. We have reviewed the top weight loss pills like Proactol and many more.

Six Pack Abs and How to Get Them

Six pack abs are a physical feature just about everyone wants but are incredibly difficult to get. We spend countless hours and dollars each year trying to create six pack abs. We see our favorite TV and movie stars with them and get jealous because they have all the time and money in the world to spend on creating those beautiful abs and we don't.

So what is the secret to creating six pack abs anyway? Lucky for us, there isn't really any secret movement or exercise to creating six pack abs. Instead, it is a combination of diet and exercise, but what diet and what exercises? There are several excercises you can use to achieve results, but the best options are as follows:

If you want to have six pack abs you need to do the following things:

Exercise those abs and lose the body fat.

What exercises are the best? Abdominal of course, but more importantly:

1. Crunches
2. Sit ups
3. Leg lifts
4. Jack Knife Sit ups
5. Static Holds and Side statics
6. Push Ups
7. Pull Ups

These exercises will strengthen your abdominal muscles so that they will appear once you start losing the body fat. There is nothing more awesome than seeing your ribbed stomach muscles for the first time. It is best to start out with 10-12 reps of each exercise with 3-4 sets each. As your muscles get stronger you can increase the number of reps.

Now how to lose the body fat:

1. Lift weights
2. Perform cardio (running, jumprope, riding etc)
3. Watch what you eat

Lifting weights will increase your muscle mass which does several things. It causes you to burn more calories from the food you eat. This helps to lower your fat reserves. Cardio work helps your heart as well as your metabolism. The higher your metabolism, the more calories you burn both during activity and at rest. This is key. Lastly, you need to cut down on portion sizes at meal time, eat smaller meals but more frequently, and increase your lean meats, vegetables and fruits in your diet. Try to stay away from all sugars as much as possible. Drink plenty of water as well! Increase your fiber intake and eat breakfast.

Eric Sage is a fitness and weightloss fanatic. Learn more about creating that dynamite set of abs at http://www.ziaebooks.com/sixpackabs

Good luck!

Get Great 6-Pack Abs Without Weightlifting

Do you want a great set of 6-pack abs without lifting any weights? Have you worked hard to develop great abs but were unable to lose to the fat layer that covers your abs? Do you want to lower your body fat count effectively?

If your answer to the above 3 questions is yes, then the health and fitness plan described below will help you achieve great looking 6-pack abs;

This plan consists of an Eating plan, Interval exercise and effective targeted exercise.

Eating Plan

It may be difficult to believe, but you have to eat to lose weight. Crash diets are dangerous and can have the opposite effect.

If you dramatically reduce the amount of food you eat, your body adapts by storing whatever is gets instead of burning fuel for energy. This causes you in increase weight and body fat count, which is the last thing you want.

It is best to eat at least 6 meals per day. Each portion should be no larger than your fist. Eating in this manner assures your body that there is a regular supply of food. The body then burns the fuel more quickly and efficiently which has the effect of lowering the body fat count.

Interval exercise

This exercise dramatically increases the metabolism of your body, which further increases the rate at which your body burns fuel and excess fat.

Sprint as fast as you can for 20 to 30 seconds then walk at a brisk pace for 3 minutes. Repeat this 5 times a session. This exercise should be done 3 times a week.

Targeted exercise

The following exercises are excellent for developing great 6-pack abs.

Leg lifts

Lay on your back keeping your hands behind your head. Using your abdominal muscles, raise your legs to a height angle of approx 60 degrees from the floor and keep them there for 10 seconds. Then let them down slowly without letting your feet touch the floor!

Start with 3 times 10 - 15 reps and work yourself up to 3 times 30 reps.

Push-ups and Chin-ups

Yes, these will help you develop great abs. Your abdominal muscles always support your stomach and back when doing different exercises.

When doing left lifts, doing push-up and chin-ups, it is very important that these exercises are done every second day. Your muscles need resting time to recover and build

Please understand that a well designed exercise program is the best way to develop six pack abs without the risk of injury. This also ensures that you get maximum results in the shortest time frame possible.

If you would like to know which abs exercise program we highly recommend, click here

The Quick and Easy Way to Tone Up Your Abs - Part 2

All About Abs - Nutrition

First Class Eating Habits = First Class Abs 90% of Ripped Ab Gurus Have Fantastic Nutritional Habits

Why Nutrition is 90% or More of Your Success

Let me explain this particular concept as it seems that the current direction is to buy fat burning pills, ab machines and do daily training. The problem is with all that training and other facts is they will never have as much influence on the layer of fat covering your abdominals as a good metabolic meal will that helps your body burn away fat every day.

Turning your body into a fat burning furnace should be your #1 priority.

Eating 5-7 meals per day is critical in order to make your body a calorie burning machine; you must supply it with 5-7 small but frequent meals. The reason you do this is because you will be continually burning calories to utilize the food. Be cautious of portion size. Eat too much of anything and you’ll never see those abs!

The more meals you have, the more your body must use energy to burn it. It’s like a furnace. You will RAISE your metabolism simply by eating more frequently.

You see if your nutrition isn’t nearly perfect, your body will always store some fat. And that fat will most likely be kept in the abdominal region. The only way to get to the sub-10% body fat region is with rock-solid nutrition. Countless people cannot do this. Their eating habits are never correct, they don’t track what they eat and they do not have the discipline necessary to eat correctly all of the time (with some cheat meals in there of course). The group of people who can do that are competitive bodybuilders.

Does this mean you can’t do it? Heck no! You just need to be acutely aware that having a ripped abdominal region is about a low percentage of body fat. To get that low, your nutrition needs to be impeccable. The more disciplined you are, the more fat you’ll burn and the more muscle you’ll keep. The lower your body fat becomes, the more your abs will show.

It’s just that simple but it’s not that easy. In the next few steps, you are going to learn exactly what you need to do in order to turn your body into a fat burning machine.

Step 1: Calculate How Many Calories a Day You Need to Lose Fat

Listen, figuring out how many calories a day you need to lose weight really isn’t too hard. And with the formula I’m about to give you plus a very cool website, you can easily track where you are and what you need to do daily to reach your goals. So lets’ begin!

IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE YOU ARE, THEN LOSING, MAINTAINING OR GAINING WILL BE IMPOSSIBLE!

Step 1:

Take your current body weight in pounds (lbs) and multiply by 11.

Example: 194 lbs x 11 = 2134 calories This is what I need to just keep what I have, without moving. But remember, you do move. So you have to then calculate your metabolic factors into this… so off to step 2...

Step 2:

Figure out your metabolic factor according to the table below.

But first, some definitions to help you determine where you might fit in:

Slow Metabolism: You basically look at food and you seem to put on pounds. You can gain weight by eating salads but it’s difficult to lose the weight.

Moderator Metabolism: You can gain weight if you try. You can lose weight if you try. You really don’t have trouble losing weight depending on what you want to do.

Fast Metabolism: You are the skinny guy or gal who can eat *ANYTHING* and it makes no difference. Gaining weight is difficult. Losing weight can happen overnight. Just by watching T.V. you seem to shed pounds.

Metabolic %

Under 30 years old Slow Metabolism- 30% Moderate Metabolism- 40% Fast Metabolism- 50%

30-40 years old Slow Metabolism- 25% Moderate Metabolism- 35% Fast Metabolism- 45%

Over 40 years old Slow Metabolism- 20% Moderate Metabolism- 30% Fast Metabolism- 40%

Example: 2134 calories x 35% (33 years old and with moderate metabolism) = 746.90

I took my calories needed above just to sit here and not move and multiplied it by my metabolic factor and I find that I need an additional 746.90 calories because of my specific metabolism.

Step 3:

Put it together. 2134 + 746.90 = 2880.90 calories I need 2,880.90 calories to maintain my current weight with my current activities.

Note: You can also adjust your metabolic factor if you do something that might take you to the next level. If you are a moderator metabolism person but you do distance running, it might make more sense to put your self in the fast category since you burn a lot more calories.

Step 4:

Lose Weight: I would take 2880.90 – 500 = 2380.90

Note: 500 calories a day is just a general term everybody uses to say that adding this amount is within safe limits. Eat too much, and you end up storing fat. Cut too many calories and your body just goes into starvation mode and ends up retaining more fat. 500 is a safe, recommended guideline. You can also eat 15-20% below your maintenance calorie levels to get a more accurate and aggressive plan. Avoid eating below 20% for very long as your body’s will start to slow down.

Step 5:

You must track what you are eating so you’ll know if you’ve made your goal for the day. And tracking food does not have to be complicated with weights and scales.

It's a shame that so many people just start training and never figure out what they need to eat daily to reach their goals.

You can keep doing the math over and over as you reach a goal.

Step 2: Calculate How Much Protein You Need a Day to Keep Muscle

Often overlooked, protein is the key component to building muscle but keep in mind; it’s also the same fundamental that will help you keep muscle. What this means to you is that if you get enough protein during this ‘cutting’ phase, you’ll burn more fat and keep more muscle. You want to keep as much muscle as possible because you want those abs to show.

As discussed before, having a low body fat percentage is core to the ripped effect but having abs to show is common sense. Protein has many functions that you’ve learned about in the Beginner’s Guide to Fitness and Bodybuilding, one of which is to help promote and maintain muscle.

Step 1:

Take your body weight in pounds Example: 194 lbs

Step 2:

Find your body fat % Example: 15.7% (which is .157 for the step below)

Step 3:

Take your body weight in pounds and subtract the % body fat Example: 194 lbs - (194 x .157 = 30.45 lbs of fat) = 163.54 lbs of lean body weight

Step 4:

Take your lean body weight and multiply by 1.14 Example: 163.54 lbs x 1.14 = 186.4g of protein a day

Step 5:

Divide your daily protein requirements by 5-6 meals and that is what your protein target is for each meal. Example: 186.4/6 meals = 31.07g of protein per meal As you will see, a person who is 286 lbs of lean body weight will require a lot more protein. And a person who is 286 lbs should not be consuming the same amount of protein if their percentage of body fat is 35%. But why use 1.14 for protein requirements?

The RDA recommends .75g of protein. But that's been shown to be too low for active athletes.

Some sites will recommend 2.0g of protein. But that seems a bit high and your body will have trouble absorbing that not to mention you will probably have a lot of excess calories which can lead to fat gains.

1.14-1.5 is the most efficient range for most active, healthy adults. This range will help build muscle but not lead you into a high protein diet. Feel free to adjust within that range if you feel you need more protein.

Step 3: Divide Up the Calories in 5-7 Meals Per Day (Ratios)

At this point you know how many calories a day you need to burn fat and how much protein you need to maintain the muscle. Your goal is to burn fat, not lose weight and certainly not lose muscle! What’s next?

Just divide up your daily calorie requirements by 5-7 meals a day in order to determine the calories per meal and your protein goals.

That might seem like a difficult tasks but once you start using some type of fitness tracking program (like FitDay) it becomes very easy to hit your targets and understand portion control.

If you don’t track what you are eating, then dividing this up will be nearly impossible unless you eat the same things every single day (boring).

There’s nothing fancy to this step.

Preparation Ideas:

* Grocery shop for the entire week so you have an ample supply of food

* Prepare things in bulk so putting together meals is quick and easy

* Use Tupperware as it’s easy to clean and easy to control portions

* Use the grocery list from the Beginner’s Guide to pick and choose foods that are proteins, carbohydrates and good fats

Step 4: Review the Nutritional Fundamentals

On page 68 of the Beginner’s Guide there are some nutritional fundamentals that you must master overall in order to get your nutrition dialed in and it working for you. When you turn your body into a fat burning furnace you need to review these key concepts.

* Eat about 15-20% below your calorie maintenance level. If you use a more aggressive calorie deficit, then do not keep calories too low for too long; increase calories to maintenance or maintenance +10-20% 1-2 days per week. * Getting your ratios correct (50% protein, 30% carbs, 20% fats) * Eating 5-7 meals per day * Having a lean protein source with every meal * Getting the good fats and avoiding the bad fats * Drinking enough water * Eating as many natural and unrefined foods as possible * Keeping your total fats and saturated fats low. A little bit of good fats (seeds, flax, fish) is better than a no fat diet.

Stay tuned for Part 3 that will discuss Ab training and the question that everybody wants to know - How Many Times Per Week to Train Abs?

If you can't wait, the Beginner's Guide to Abdominal Training is just one bonus book in the Beginner's Guide to Fitness and Bodybuilding http://www.beginning-bodybuilding.com