Weight Loss Achieved Now On To The Tummy Flab

I have actually lost the weight I wanted to lose (10 pounds) and the reason why is that, instead of sitting at my pc writing about my free weight loss program, I have actually gone out and exercised!

I found that once I got over the 'hump' when I felt a little run down and didn't feel like dieting or exercise, when I began keep fit and power walking again, it gave me the energy I needed to continue with the healthy diet (plus the choc ice, lol!) and I felt ok.

And now I have lost the weight I feel great! No more struggling to do up the zip on my jeans and no more puffing and panting when I run. I can look in the mirror now and see a slim person again (I had to breath in to do that before).

Nevertheless, although my weight loss program has worked well in terms of losing the fat, I am still a little flabby around my tummy. I said all along that the belly fat would be the hardest to shift (because of the damaged muscles) and I was certainly right!

So I have been doing my special exercises to try to tone up my stomach muscles. I'll tell you about them now.

Tummy Toning Exercises For Women:

When you are female, some of the exercises that work well for men when they are looking to tone their muscles, do not work as well for you and they can actually be harmful. In particular, 'stomach crunchies' can actually harm us if we are not very careful.

The reason for this is that we have wombs and our pelvic muscles are designed to keep them in place. If we do exercises to flatten our stomachs, like 'stomach crunchies' and we do them without a lot of care, we could end up damaging our pelvic floor muscles and could even end up, in middle age, with a prolapsed womb or other prolapses of our pelvic floor muscles.

The way around this when you want a flat tummy is to either do these exercises with great care or do another form of stomach exercise instead.

If you do decide to do 'stomach crunchies' (and I'll admit, these are very effective exercises for toning up a flabby tummy), then first make sure you have your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Then, take a deep breath before you begin, then pull in all of your pelvic floor muscles an dyour lower tummy muscles as you breath out and bring the upper part of your body forward into the 'crunchie'; breath in again while you are 'up there' and then breath out and make sure those muscles are still pulled in tight as you let your body back down. (In other words, keep that pelvic floor and lower stomach muscles pulled in tight all through the exercise but begin each movement on the out breath).

This may sound like the opposite of what you think about breathing and exercise, but if you do it this way, not only will you be adding benefit to the tummy flattening exercise, you will also be exercising your pelvic floor muscles too and protecting all those bits you want to keep in good repair!

If you feel you would rather not do stomach crunchies, but still want to exercise to get a flat stomach, then I would recommend first of all, getting to grips with the Pilates idea of 'zip up' before you do any exercise. This is basically the same idea, and strengthens your pelvic floor muscles as well as flattening that flabby tummy.

You can stand with your knees relaxed (not pushed back or rigid in other words) and then 'zip up'. You do this by imagining the inside of your body as an elevator. You take a breath and then breath out and pull up your pelvic muscles, feeling every one pull in and tighten as you go and then pull in the muscles of your lower stomach, followed by the rest of your abdomen - always in that order. The idea is that you feel all these muscles rising up as if they were inside an elevator. You can then take a breath, but try to maintain that 'zip' - the elevator is still at the top floor.

You can do this tummy exercise while you undertake most forms of aerobic exercise. You will forget now and again, but that's okay, just 'zip up' those muscles as soon as you remember and. most importantly, begin with the lower muscles first.

This may seem like a lot to remember, but after a while it does become second nature and it will do you, your flabby (now flat) tummy and your pelvic floor a whole lot of good. Honestly it does work!

Anyway, although I have lost the weight I was aiming for, I am still going to continue writing here at My Free Weight Loss Program as, now I have got rid of the fat, I can talk about more of the ways to lose weight, more dieting tips, and the exercises I do to help lose weight and keep slim and toned.

So I'll a see you again soon on my weight loss plan with some more tips for losing weight, keeping slim and keeping fit.

And wish me luck with those tummy exercises. With my flabby stomach muscles I am going to need it!