You can do crunches and sit ups and all kinds of ab exercises till you're blue in the face, but you'll never actually be able to lay eyes on all your hardwork if you have a layer of fat covering those muscles. The key to getting abs (and actually seeing them) is by controlling your caloric intake and burning that fat right off your belly. In actuallity, this applies to getting that toned appearance all over your body.
It is true that muscle burns more calories than fat does, so strength training is always a good thing. But you need to form a balance between strength training, cardio, and a healthy diet. If you have read the about me section here on my blog, then you know I was succesful in losing some weight with just exercising and not really paying attention to what I ate, but I soon hit a weight loss plateau. And truth be told, even though I was doing strenght training and cardio, you couldn't actually see any major definition in my body. It wasn't until I started watching my diet that I began to see definition and see some major changes in my body.
There's nothing that makes me feel worse for someone than when I hear them talk about how much they just worked out and all the time they spent in the gym and then see them sit down to a plate of fried chicken, chips, and a piece of cake. Don't get me wrong, I occasionally indulge also but this can not be an everyday thing. You are basically eating every calorie you just burned off...plus MORE! Having the mentality of "Oh well, I just burned 500 calories at the gym so I can have that fried chicken, " is not the correct way of thinking and will not help you achieve that toned look we all are going for.
I aim to do cardio at least 4 days a week and strength training at least 3 days a week. Now does this mean I work out 7 days a week? No, not at all! Some days I do just cardio...some days I do just strength training...some days I do both! You have to figure out what works for you and stick to it! But the thing to always keep consistent is your healthy eating! I track my caloric intake daily and it really helps me to stay on track. If you are interested in keeping an accurate count of your calories, fat, carbs, etc., I recommend signing up on the Livestrong website. You just enter in a few things about yourself, such as your weight, activity level, male/female, and how much you want to lose per week and they calculate for your how many calories you should shoot for each day. Keeping track of all the food you eat can also open your eyes to exactly how much you may be eating. A lot of us don't realize exactly how many calories we are consuming when we sit down with a bag of chips and mindlessly eat. But having the responsibility of having to go in and truthfully track what you just ate can be a huge wake up call! Livestrong also has lots of other neat tools and things to check out! I highly recommend it!
Now as I said, I didn't see major differences in my body until I discovered healthy eating. I went back and forth with myself when trying to decide if I wanted to post these pictures but as they say "the proof is in the picture," and if this helps someone to realize that they need to make a change, then I'll take one for the team! :)
Before Healthy Eating...Only Exercise
After Healthy Eating for 3 Months
I have more definition on the sides of my abs and on my hips and love handle area. My stomach is also much flatter as well.
So before you lay down to do those crunches, I encourage you to evaluate what you have been eating and remember: ABS ARE MADE IN THE KITCHEN, NOT THE GYM!! :)
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