5 Foods To Never Eat (If You Want A Flat Stomach)

Do you know the 5 worst foods for fat loss? Not many people do. What's worse is that... you probably eat one of these every day.

It's right in this picture (and you won't believe your eyes when you see it).

But when you cut these out of your diet, you'll be amazed how fast the weight comes off. In fact, if you avoid these 5 foods (while doing nothing else) you'll lose at least 2-3 pounds per week.

Knowing When to Take a Step Back!

A truly healthy body knows its limitations. http://www.flatbelly-now.com

So many of us (especially when we start finding out just how enjoyable and invigorating fitness is) can really start to love pushing ourselves. We can literally get addicted to the feeling of reaching that next level, moving that much better, that much faster, that much stronger.
When this is the case, what often happens is that we learn to stop listening to our bodies. Both of us have done this in our own lives and we’ve seen it happen to our clients.
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Your Body Knows Its Limitations.

Now, that doesn’t mean that limitations are absolute. A limitation can well be overcome with practice and time. It certainly shouldn’t be rushed.

Tyler got into a particularly difficult situation with an injury once. It was so bad that he couldn’t lift his arm past shoulder level. Having been so active for so much of his life, he found it incredibly difficult to stop moving and competing like he had for so many years.

But he had to. He had to recognize his body’s current limitations or risk injuring it even further.
The situation turned out to have a silver lining— overcoming this injury and, more importantly, finding the tools and techniques he needed to overcome this injury is what led to a lot of the methods we’ve incorporated into this program. http://www.flatbelly-now.com

Tyler figured out that he had only been focusing on bits and pieces of his fitness before – strength and agility in Cheerleading, for example, or strength and leanness in Bodybuilding.

Working through his injury and relearning how to work with his body taught him to focus on the “big picture” of his fitness. He got into corrective work and started seeking out certifications and improving his knowledge base.  He began developing workout solutions that worked for where he was at and what he was capable of— the very solutions we’ve included here in Flat Belly. He didn’t force himself into a mold, and let his body work out its injuries in its own way.

When he went back to the doctor to check on the status of his injury, he no longer had disk issues. He didn’t have any pain.  He had a full range of motion in his arm for the first time in months.  It was an amazing result considering the extent of his injury; plus, he didn’t have to spend tens of thousands of dollars on surgery.  It’s been six years since he had that issue and luckily he hasn’t suffered from it since.  And he did it all by tuning in and listening to his body, and with exercises he could do in his home— the very exercises we’ve included here in Flat Belly Programme.

Listening to Your Body

A critical factor in all of this is learning to listen to your body.  As you begin to make the necessary adjustments to your nutrition and lifestyle and begin to incorporate the exercises in Flat Belly into your way of life, you will begin to notice that you become much more attuned to what’s going on with your body.

As we discussed in the nutrition chapter, you become much more aware of how and when you need to eat or consume water. And, as we discussed in fitness, you become much more aware of what your body can do and how you hold yourself and move.

This somatic awareness is really key to Forever Body Transformation. It is this new knowledge and awareness that really creates the change necessary to help you lose weight and keep it off. http://www.flatbelly-now.com

Healthy eating plan: foods that will 'restart' your health

We all need to hit the reset button now and again, especially after the hard-hitting festive season. Here's how to eat to give your health a kick-start.
2013 is here and the calorific onslaught of the festive season is now a distant memory. However, we still bear the scars; all those mince pies, hot toddies and late, alcohol-fuelled nights mean many of us go into the new year looking, and feeling, a little bit worse for wear.
Thankfully, it's never too late to start again, and certain foods allow us to undo the damage done during the holiday season. And here's a clue - not one of them comes with a serving of brandy butter on the side.
MSN Him spoke to nutrition consultant Claire Harper (thenutritionguide.co.uk) to find out which foods allow us to hit the re-start button and get back to our best........
Healthy eating plan: foods that will 'restart' your health

Where to Begin!

Even the most experienced of us sometimes have trouble figuring out exactly what our skill level is. Since Flat Belly is designed to work directly with your needs, however, it’s important for you to figure out what your fitness level is and, as a result, where you should begin in the program. Here are some a general guidelines that you can use to figure out which exercise phase you should start out with.
If you have not been active for at least 6 months, start with Section 1 of the Exercise Phase you’ve selected.

What does ‘not active’ mean? Perhaps you’re coming back from an injury or illness and have not been very mobile for several months. Maybe you have never had much experience with exercise, or have a very sedentary lifestyle. In this type of scenario, you would probably not be able to run for more than a few minutes at a time. If you have been moderately active for at least 6 months, start with Section 2 of the Exercise Phase you’ve selected.

What does ‘moderately active’ mean? Maybe you enjoy going for walks on hikes on occasion. Maybe you have young children who keep you active playing ball or riding bikes. In this type of scenario, you would probably be able to jog or run a relaxed mile, which means sustaining a jog or run pace for at least 10 minutes. If you have been consistently active for at least a year, start with the Phase 3 of the Exercise Phase you’ve selected.

What does ‘consistently active’ mean? If you have been consistently active, you are regularly engaged by and committed to active exercise. Perhaps you jog every morning or go for a hike after work every other weekday. In this type of scenario, you might be capable of running a 5k at a reasonable pace. http://www.flatbelly-now.com

Living to Eat vs Eating to Live!

What is your relationship with food? Are you an emotional eater? Do you view food as a pleasure, a luxury? Or maybe you're someone who disregards food entirely and then eats a ton at once to catch up? http://www.flatbelly-now.com

Either way, you’re putting too much importance on food. Wait a minute, you’re thinking, didn’t you say that nutrition was one of the most important elements of FBT? Absolutely— but there’s a big difference between real nutrition and the way most of us in our culture approach food.
Food is an obsession for us. Food is everywhere we look. Food even has its own TV shows and networks!

But what is food, really? Food is energy. Food is what your body needs to perform optimally and ideally. Food is like oxygen— an essential element to living a full and healthy life, but not really that noticeable. 

Consuming food should just be a normal and natural thing that you do every day so that you can stay energized and be healthy.

When you are able to reprogram yourself and truly manifest a productive and healthy relationship with the nutrients you put in your body, the weight will naturally come off and stay off. http://www.flatbelly-now.com

It's Not How Much You Eat - It's What You Eat!

Nutrition is probably one of the most confusing things to many people when it comes to getting healthy and losing weight. The truth is that there is a lot of misinformation out there. There are a thousand theories about what kind of nutritional plans are the most effective; plus, there are a lot of products that claim to be “nutritious” and, quite frankly, are not.

But more importantly, there has been a lot of misinformation about the concept of ‘how much you eat’. For the last 30 years and more, the prevailing wisdom has been that you have to adjust ‘calories in’ vs. ‘calories out’ in order to lose weight.

And this is simply not true.
To get the FBT body, you need to eat real food, first off (and we’ll look at exactly what that is in a bit). But here’s the rub— eating real food (the right food) makes ‘calorie in’ vs. ‘calorie out’ a moot point.

It’s not how much you eat. It’s what you eat.
The traditional concept of calorie reduction (or even exercise increase) is too simplistic by half. Why? Because it’s missing a crucial element— how our bodies deal with the calories that come in. If losing weight were just about energy in vs. energy out,  eating 2000 calories of strawberry shortcake every day would be equal to 2000 calories of well-balanced, whole meals.
But it’s not.
Having a balance among carbohydrates, protein, and fat will allow you to lose weight, feel great, and keep hunger at bay.  Even certified personal trainers like Tyler and Candice have had problems with their relationship with food. Candice, for example, had a particularly difficult time learning how to eat the right food at the right time. You’ll see this often with athletes, surprisingly— they exercise a lot, move a lot, and eat whatever they want. But, in reality, even they need to reassess their relationship with food and start using food in the right way for the right reasons.

Candice was always very fit growing up. She was always playing 2 or 3 sports at a time, always active— but never nutritionally healthy.  Her average breakfast would consist of pop tarts and chocolate milk and my lunches would be pizza hamburgers or whatever I wanted. No matter what kind of athlete you are, you can only get away with this kind of behavior for a short while. Once Candice stopped playing sports, she started gaining weight and what she was eating started catching up with her.  After a year of putting on excessive weight— especially after being such a fit athlete— she had had it.  She started reading up on nutrition, on everything we’re talking about here, and started really thinking about choosing one food over another.  She reassessed her entire relationship with food.

And by doing that, after 3 and half months, the weight started coming off.  She started looking and feeling different and was more active and energized than she had ever been.  By accompanying good nutrition with the right training, she was able to sculpt her body in the way she wanted.   She was actually able to see shoulder definition and really feel like she had toned arms. 
What did this transformation mean? She had gone from living to eat to eating to live. http://www.flatbelly-now.com

Every time you eat a meal or snack, include a source of protein or heart-healthy fat.

Why?  Protein and fat take longer to digest so you will stay full longer.  Also, when you pair a carbohydrate (starch or fruit) with protein and/or fat, it prevents the blood sugar spike which promotes fat storage.

Here are some examples:   
 Veggie omelet with sweet potato or fruit
 Quinoa lettuce wraps with ground turkey
 Taco salad with chicken and beans
 Lean beef and brown rice stir fry with vegetables
 2% Greek yogurt with fruit
 Hummus with olive oil and veggies
 Apple with peanut or almond butter

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Refuel Within 45 Minutes Post Workout!

Studies show that your body has a unique “window of opportunity” which begins the moment your workout ends and that window closes 45 minutes later.  This window is when the enzymes and hormones in your muscles are at their peak to replenish and restore the energy (called glycogen) that your muscles used to work out. It’s not uncommon for someone to not have any desire to eat after they finish working out.  Sometimes an intense workout will kill your appetite for an hour or two, but more common is the feeling of not wanting to eat because you just burned a whole bunch of calories.  You don’t need to eat or drink a lot, but don’t skip this step or you’re muscles will be fatigued when you have your next workout.
 
So, what should you eat?  I hate to say it, but I hear WAY too often from people at the gym something like this, “That was a great workout!  Now go eat (or drink) lots of protein.”  Yes, you’re body does need some protein, but post-workout, your body also needs more carbohydrate. 
Can I fill you in on a little secret?  You can spend lots of money on “post-workout recovery drinks and powders.”  Don’t do it.  Research shows that the ideal ratio is found in fat-free or 1% chocolate milk.  If it’s going to be a while until you eat your next meal or snack, then just go ahead and drink 1 cup of chocolate milk after your workout.  If milk isn’t your thing, just make sure you are eating some protein with starch or milk to get you the carbohydrate you need.  Keep reading, there will be more detail on this later. http://www.flatbelly-now.com

Drink At Least 80 Ounces Of Water Daily!

 Because each body is different, this is a starting point.  If you live in a hot climate, work outside, or sweat heavily, you will typically need more.  One way to know if you are getting enough water is to check the color of your urine.  It should be pale yellow, if not clear. 

And yes, you should be going to the bathroom often.  Water is necessary for your body’s metabolism of the nutrients you eat.  Think of it like the oil in a car, water keeps your engine lubricated and functioning at its optimum performance.
  
Something else to remember is thirst can often mask itself as the “munchies.”  If you have always under-hydrated your body, you may actually crave food as your body’s mechanism to try to get fluid.  When you get that feeling like you need to eat something, sometimes you just need a big glass of water, so start with that. http://www.flatbelly-now.com

Why You Need To Eat Every 3 to 4 Hours?

There are a few reasons why this is an important guideline to follow. First, eating this often prevents you from getting too hungry which typically can lead to overeating. Second, eating this often prevents spikes in your blood sugar. Elevated blood sugar causes a rush of insulin from your pancreas which increases the likelihood of fat storage. Third, eating this often allows you to maintain portion control. You don’t need to eat large amounts if you are eating again in 3 hours. One thing to remember; however, eating this often DOES take more planning, but it’s worth it! http://www.flatbelly-now.com/