6 Tricks For Losing Belly Fat and Getting Abs

Obesity is skyrocketing, and kids are taking notice. As the adults get fatter, the children seem to be copying their parents and mentors in droves.

I firmly believe that parents are to blame for childhood obesity. Unless of course, you make the argument that the parents didn’t know what they were doing (that is really a bit scary to think about). Youth are great at learning from those around them–friends, teachers, and parents. If kids are fat, there are not getting the activity or the good food they need and parents are to blame.

I read several studies showing a correlation between student grades, mood, and proper nutrition. Similar studies performed on prison inmates showed a link between reduced fighting and proper nutrition and poor mood and poor nutrition.

It’s not rocket science.

While we adults may have a hard time eating right based on our poor habits, we have no excuse for dragging down the children. It is our duty to give them an opportunity to live a full and rich life. No child should be thinking about dieting, and if weight loss is part of their vocabulary, parents need to sit down and have a serious think session on whether or not they are fit to parent.

There is no excuse for not helping a child to eat right and get enough exercise.

As busy as you are, setting a good example for your child can start with as little as 10 minute walks before meals, and showing your child how to eat right by making meals with them and having set meal times.

If you want your child to grow up happy and healthy, teach them how to do it. Feed them nutritious meals on a set schedule and get out and exercise with them, but most importantly show them how to do this by doing it yourself.

Social networking site Facebook gave people tools to stay connected all over the world, and then it took things a step further. It allowed users to play games and share their scores with others.

And now a diet site has turned weight loss into a Facebook-style event, changing the way dieters approach life, losing weight one point at a time. The best part of this belly fat busting phenomenon is its price.

Free.

Its hard to believe that American’s #1 weight loss and fitness website is completely free, but that’s the way it is.

Getting Started
Sparkpeople.com was started by former Ebay employee Chris Downie, and is what he calls his “life mission.” He reports having sunk in over $5 million out of his own pocket to get users connected and losing weight.

And people have lost weight. Inspirational stories of SparkPeople have been shown in People, Fox News, and the Today show.

The site is based on social networking principals of support and motivation coupled with goal setting and dieting information. People with motivation to lose their belly fat and get abs are not the only ones showing up online. Sparkpeople helps individuals add healthy exercise and lifestyle habits to keep them disease free. Much like Facebook, where users play games for points, dieters on Sparkpeople receive points for taking steps to reach their healthy goals.

Users have the option to join teams and sign up for general goals, or to make their own. The site gives each new member a yearly exercise goal of 2,160 minutes of some form of activity. Each time you exercise you track your points online and watch your exercise counter get closer and closer to your goal.

What SparkPeople Offers
The site offers dieting and exercise guides, weight loss counters, fitness and nutrition tracking, blogging, and forums to get up to the minute information from other users when you need support most.

As a little incentive, when you reach your point targets, you are rewarded with different online medallions to show off to your new friends and weight loss supporters.

If you haven’t tried SparkPeople yet, don’t check it out unless you want to lose weight and get healthy. The online dieting network is seriously addictive—truly Facebook style.

References: Fox News Chicago

You set a goal to exercise every morning for a week. You woke up and you did it. Day one was great. But day two came along, and suddenly, your exercise goal just didn’t seem as important. You couldn’t remember why you set this silly goal in the first place.

Making motivation a no brainer

You want exercise to be natural, and something you have fun doing, so you have to find a way to make it a habit. The key to getting motivated and making exercise a no brainer is to pick one habit to change at a time. According, to Dr. John Berardi of Precision Nutrition, research has shown that if you attempt to make one new change in your life, you have an 85% chance of succeeding. If you try and take on two new changes, suddenly your chance of succeeding drops to 35%. Think about what that means if you want to get abs.

These numbers are astounding and a key piece of the puzzle for anyone who tries to take on to much at one time, making goals to change all exercise, eating, and fat loss habits at the same time.

If you want to get healthy, you will need to break down your healthy goals into steps, and attack them one at a time. If you want to lose weight, you may have to start with a simple goal like eating protein at every meal or drinking two glasses of water before you eat. Every 30 days, you can start focusing on a new habit.

Make it stick

Once you decide what new habit you are going to make in your life, visualize the real reason why you want it. This needs to be a powerful reason that is compelling enough to stick around in your mind. You will want to think about it as often as you can. Putting a picture next to your bed or writing out this reason so you see it every morning is an easy way to remember your motivation every morning when you wake up.

Use this reason as the motivation you need to make your new habit stick over the next 30 days. When you are tempted to break the new habit you are creating, think of this new visual to stick with your goal.

This visual serves as a reminder, much like tying a piece of string around your finger. You can remind yourself to create your mental picture by placing notes on your phone, your fridge, your desk, and in your car. The more you remember the goal, the easier it will be to stick to it.

Making new habits is never easy, hence the old saying, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” If you want exercising or losing belly fat to be your healthy goal, make it could be a cinch by starting just one new habit at a time. Your body will thank you.

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Recipes for Life After Weight Loss Surgery Delicious Dishes for Nourishing the New You Healthy Living Cookbooks

Learn how to eat right after weight loss surgery.

In the past decade or so, there have been explosive increases in both the incidence of severe obesity and weight loss (bariatric) surgery. It has been shown that the incidence of bariatric surgical procedures has increased over 600% in the last decade. It is estimated that approximately 200,000 Americans (and another 200,000 adults world wide) will undergo a bariatric operation in 2006. This dramatic increase in operative cases is in part a testament to the safety and efficacy of the currently performed surgical procedures including the roux-en-Y gastric bypass, laparoscopic adjustable gastric band, and the biliopancreatic diversion (with or without duodenal switch).

Weight loss surgery is not a magic bullet, but with life-long positive lifestyle habits, including a healthy diet, you may be able to enjoy vibrant health you’ve never felt before.Once the surgery is over, there is a lifelong maintenance program to ensure not only that you keep the weight off, but that your body gets the right balance of nutrients. When you can only eat as much food as you can hold in your hand at a sitting, it’s vital that you are eating the right foods and taking the correct supplements to nourish your body for life. What sets Recipes After Weight Loss Surgery apart from previous cookbooks is the combined expertise of Margaret Furtado, MS, RD, LD/N and Lynette Schultz, a combination of almost 40 years’ experience in clinical nutrition and the culinary arts, respectively. Together, they’ll help you navigate your way through the sometimes turbulent waters after your weight loss surgery, and will provide you with general clinical guidelines after your procedure, as well as helpful hints for easing your transition from surgery to your new, healthy lifestyle. With sections on home entertaining and eating-on-the-run, Ms. Furtado and Ms. Schultz will help you to feel like a person, rather than a patient, after your life-altering weight loss surgery.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars worth it
My husband had lap band surgery and he loves that I got this book! There are alot of wonderful recipies and he’s loved every one we’ve made so far! Not to mention they’re healthy too! I would definitely recommend this book!

1 Star Not a good choice for WLS patients, despite its title
As another reviewer said, I should have been tipped off by the photo of toast with berries on the cover. Where’s the protein in that?

Everyone with whom I have entrusted my care during my banding journey — from the nurses to the doctors to the nutritionists to even the psychologists — emphasizes the importance of protein. It was drilled into me that 65 grams of protein are a daily requirement, and foods I’d long seen as “good foods,” particularly fruits and vegetables, would now need to take a more ancillary position to protein on my plate.

Imagine my surprise when I see a full chapter devoted to salads. Dr. Duc C. Vuong, in his outstanding book ULTIMATE LAP-BAND SUCCESS, writes: “Everyone thinks that salad is a healthy choice, but as a bandster, it is very important that you unlearn this. Salad is not a band-friendly choice.” He lists several reasons why, but primarily because the protein content is insufficient.

I’m also shocked to find soups (a big band “no-no”), as well as plenty of muffins, wraps, sandwiches and other carb-heavy options that my doctors stressed I should avoid. There are recipes in here with fewer than 3 grams of protein per serving. That means I’m trying to pack the remaining 62 grams of protein into two meals, and considering how little I can physically consume, that’s almost impossible.

The recipes in the book do look tasty and are probably good options for non-WLS patients, but many of the recipes here fly in the face of everything most WLS patients are taught.

5 Stars my mother loves it!
My mother just recently went under gastric bypass. She was afraid of what types of food she would be able to eat afterwards. She loved this book.

5 Stars One book you must have!
If you can only get one cookbook make it this one. Most recipes have color pictures, ingredients are inexpensive, and instructions are very clear. It is also very easy to keep track of protein and calories. So far everything I have made has been favorful and eaten by the entire family. Definitely my favorite weight related purchase.

5 Stars great!
if you have gastric bypass surgery, this is the cookbook to get. i took it to my nutritionalist who also agreed. i have tried many satifying recipes. its great!

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