Abs are made in the kitchen.

I woke up at 3 am to a thirsty and scared little girl, I got her a drink and comforted her back to bed. I closed my eyes to return to a sleeping state again...and nothing. What do you do at 3 am when you can't sleep and the gym doesn't open until 5...well, blog of course! Today is a cardio day for me, cycling here I come but I always throw in a good 20 minutes of ab work in as well...but wait, Nikki, you just said abs are made in the kitchen! I know, I know let me explain. There is a common misconception that if you isolate and exercise your problem areas (abs, thigh, whatever) enough then they will become lean and sexy. You absolutely will grow and develop and tone the muscles in that area...but it does not isolate and burn off the fat in that particular area. You can do crunches all day everyday but if you have yet to clean out that pantry, the stomach fat will still be there so you will be unable to see that super strong sleek six pack you've been working so hard on. See, the basic formula for weight loss is simple...use more energy than consumed (energy being food). Once your body uses all it's consumed energy it goes into back up mode and fuels off it's reserved fat stores. Our bodies gain and lose weight proportionally to our different body shapes. Example, some people are pear shaped (small on top, bulky on bottom), or visa-versa, then others are rounder more like an apple and get it everywhere. Wherever your body stores fat, is where it will lose fat, it will not just drop in the tummy area because you are doing exsessive crunches. If you want a 6 pack, you have to drop that body fat percentage WHILE strengthening training those core muscles. WEIGHT LOSS IS 80% DIET, 20% EXERCISE. Lets break it down a touch further.

DIET:

Dropping body fat as stated above requires you to spend more calories than consumed- common sense will tell you that you need to eat fewer calories. But don't let that deter you food lovers. Less can be more...a 300 calorie meal could be a monster sized spinach salad or it could be 2 Reese's pb cups, which will keep you fuller longer? Chose your calories wisely. Fill those calories with protein, fiber, fruits, and vegetables...this will fill you up, keep you satisfied longer, and will give you a smaller caloric intake than a high sugar and fat meal. Eating clean has a natural way of lessening caloric intake without altering portion sizes...because you're taking out those empty calories. And as my blog is here to show you, eating clean doesn't have to be bland and boring- no need to sacrifice taste! It still enables you to indulge sensibly, but remember clean sweets can get up there in calories so you'll want to eat those in moderation to your goals.

Now with that said, you never want to create too large of a calorie deficit because your body will start fueling off of it's lean muscle mass as well instead of just your fat stores. Consuming enough protein and exercising regularly will help reduce the likelihood of that occurring. 

How do we get our bodies burning the most amount of calories per day without decreasing or depriving ourselves of too many calories? Calculate your BMR (or your resting metabolic state). HERE is a BMR calculator. Now whatever number it spits out, that's how many calories your body burns internally, at rest, without movement. Now add activity to that and you're burning even more daily. I never recommend consuming less that 500 calories than your resting metabolic rate, for moderate weight loss consuming 100-200 calories less than that BMR and adding exercise will easily give you a healthy 1-2 pounds of weight loss a week. If you lose too much more than that, odds are you're losing that lean muscle mass.

EXERCISE: 

Most people are familiar with crunches and sit ups and do them for days. Yes, they can be effective when performed properly, the problem is if that's all you are doing you are not strengthening all your core muscles. The rectus abdominis is the main centered abs that you see when admiring someones 6 pack and are the primary muscles used in your typical sit up. However, that's not all the muscles that make up the core. Balance is important or else you're asking for injury. There are hundreds of small stabilizing muscles through out your core that support your spine that need to be strengthened to carry you, with proper posture and control, through your daily life. These stabilizers are also needed to properly assist those larger prime movers through other exercises. So my advice is always start with stabilizing exercises then move onto the bigger exercises that target those prime movers. It's important not to leave out those back muscles and obliques as well. 80% of Americans suffer from chronic back pain, do not impose this on yourself by being sedentary or even more dangerously, by over working certain muscles but under working those back and other supportive muscles. Here are a few exercises to get you started. 

I tried to have my 5 year old son take a few photos of me completing these exercises. 1 out of 6 pictures turned out, so here are some strangers from the Internet you can admire. 

Most of you are familiar with the plank, it is an excellent stabilizing work out and there are many variations.  For those of you who are just starting out aim for 3-4 sets of holding it for 30 seconds at a time with forearms on the floor. Those more experienced hold it longer or advance to an elevated feet position or onto the stability ball as shown below.

For those back muscles, particularly the erector spinae (which is the muscle that runs directly along the spine) and the lower traps, try the cobra as pictured below. Be sure to lead with the chest NOT THE NECK, stare at the floor to ensure the neck stays in neutral! 3-4 sets of 15 for starters but hold the position at the top for 2-4 seconds before releasing back down each time.

Lastly, Lying oblique twists work wonders for the obliques as pictured below.

 3-4 sets of 12-15 (on each side) for starters, as you advance begin to straighten out those legs doing the same full range motion, or put a weighted medicine ball between the knees.  

Include your sit ups, crunches, or bicycles as usual! You could circuit through these few exercises back to back 1 set of each exercise with no rest, then take a 2 minute break and begin set 2 as described in my blog about circuit training for a more intense workout.

Questions, comments?! Hope this helps! Good luck readers!