Tummy Tip Wonders!

I keep receiving numerous e-mails from people who have subscribed to my Tummy Tips and have lost weight as a result of simply following the advice and making adjustments here and there. This is very encouraging.

If you haven't described to my weekly Tummy Tips, you can do so here.

Kudos To The Abs Diet Book!

I got an email this morning from a lady who was thrilled with David Zinczenko's book, The Abs Diet. (I've left her name and e-mail off for privacy purposes)...

I just wanted to thank you so much for your advise on The Abs Diet. I have been on the Atkins diet and I did really well with it, but then I reached the point of being bored with it and just plain frustrated because it seemed to be getting harder and harder to stick with.

I was looking for something that would give me a wider variety of food and after reading the Abs Diet book, I just knew I could enjoy this diet. The recipes are quick and easy but the good thing is you can come up with your own as well. I just started this diet or new way of eating today and so far I'm really enjoying it.

Thank you so much,
S----

Get The Abs Diet Book here.

Food Is Not Always The Enemy

I don't think people realize how much of a role self esteem plays in losing weight and the ability to keep it off.

If you've ever wondered why it's so hard to get motivated to exercise and/or keep the pounds off, perhaps you need to dig deep and explore the real problem. Read this article.

Weight Loss Gone Too Far

I'm all in favor of living a healthy lifestyle and finding a weight that's healthy for your individual body frame, but weight loss can go too far. In fact, it already has for many people.

I receive an influx of disturbing e-mails from teens every week who are obsessed with being thin, even though they are a healthy weight. But can you blame them if this is what our society accepts?

I was so glad when Tyra Bank's started the "So What!" campaign because I think it's exactly what this weight-conscious world needs. Read more about it here.

Flat Stomach Happy Foods

There's so much talk about what kinds of foods you should eat to achieve a flat stomach. But keep in mind, foods can also have a major impact in your mood.

Joy Bauer's book, Food Cures, provides outstanding information on healthy eating that will benefit your stomach as well as your mind.

For example, here are 10 foods that researchers found to be great for weight loss and mood lifting...

1. Wild salmon (rich in omega 3 fats and vitamin D)

2. Spinach - (rich in folic acid and soluble fiber)

3. Skim milk - (rich in Vitamin D and B12)

4. Ground flaxseeds (rich soluble fiber, omega 3 fats and folic acid)

5. Blackberries (rich in soluble fiber and folic acid)

6. Omega 3 fortified eggs - (rich in omega 3 fats, Vitamin D and B12)

7. Sardines ( rich in omega 3 fats and Vitamin D)

8. Soybeans - (rich in soluble fiber, folic acid and omega 3 fats)

9. Beans (rich in soluble fiber and folic acid)

10. Brussels sprouts (soluble fiber and folic acid)

Plus an extra for good luck!

11. Sunflower seeds - (rich in soluble fiber and folic acid)

To learn more about healthy eating and foods that are good for you mind and body, get Joy's book, Food Cures.

Beware of The Whole Grain Claim

I got a very helpful e-mail today from Mike Geary, author of "The Truth About Six Pack Abs".

Lots of cereals (and other carb products) are now plastering the phrase "Whole Grain" across the front of the box to make you think their products are made entirely with whole grains. Mike explains that while they may add some whole grains, a lot of these companies are still using mostly refined flour and sugars.

He also gave a great tip on how to tell if a carbohydrate source is actually good or not. Check the label and make sure there are at least 2-3 grams of fiber per every 10 grams of carbohydrates. While this is not the golden rule, it can be applied to most carb products.

If you want to receive Mike's useful eating and exercise tips, you have to buy his book. I must admit, I've learned a lot from him in the past few months.

I'd Be Happy If I Were Thinner

I will be writing an article for my site on this shortly, but I HAD to blog on this topic because I think it's super important.

I was watching an Oprah show that I had "Tivoed" yesterday. She had a woman on there who had gastric bypass surgery. She had been overweight for most of her life and just knew that if she lost the weight her life would be better and she'd be happy.

Turns out the opposite happened. Since her stomach was reduced to the size of a walnut, she could no longer use food for comfort so she turned to drinking. She drank so much that she began tearing her family apart and her oldest daughter (who was 20) says she wished her mom was fat again.

The point is so many people think the weight is what's keeping them from being happy, when really the weight gain is just a symptom of a deeper issue.

I get e-mails from people all the time who say "If I could only be skinny, then I would love myself" or "If I could just lose 50 pounds, then I'd be happy." But in reality the food addiction or weight gain is a symptom of a much larger problem.

If you don't love yourself, then weight loss is not going to change your life. Gastric bypass surgery will help you lose the weight, but it doesn't change your thoughts about yourself. Or if you are really emotionally wrecked over something in your past, then weight loss won't cover it up. It will continue to resurface in your life in other ways.

Just some food for thought. Stay tuned to my site because I will be writing a more in depth article on this topic, because I think it affects more people than most people even realize.

Fed Up With Teens & Weight!

I am a little disturbed by the number of healthy teens who e-mail me because they are obsessed with being thin. I'm not talking about teens who have legit weight problems. I'm talking about the ones who are in a normal weight range, but are obsessed with looking like celebrities and even going to the extremes of copying their diet plans.

Many are dieting and damaging their body's metabolism before they reach the age of 13. And what they don't realize is they are making adulthood even more difficult when it comes to weight management.

It is sad. Parents, please wake up! Your already-healthy children are reading magazines and are aspire to look as thin as some of these unhealthy celebrities.

They are getting teased at school for their size and e-mailing me for help. I'm sorry but I won't give them dieting advice. Not to be mean, but it's too difficult for me to determine via e-mail if the weight loss desires are truly necessary or stem from low self esteem.

Plus, young people should seek advice from a licensed professional when it comes to weight loss and dieting and I am not a physician.

We live in a weight-obsessed society. And while my site, flat-stomach-exercises.com does discuss tips for flattening the stomach and lose weight, I want to point out that it's for people who really need it. It's not for already-healthy or too thin teenagers who think something's wrong with their bodies.

It's time to start teaching our young people to love themselves and to stop believing they have to have a super thin body to fit in and be accepted.

I was teased as a child for being too thin and I remember thinking I had to gain weight to fit in. When I look back on those days, it wasn't that I was that unhappy with my body, but I was comparing myself to my peers instead of loving myself enough the way I was.

Even though I had the opposite problem of many teens today, the point is that I still wanted to fit in. I felt something was wrong with me if I didn't look like everyone else, and that's the same thing many of these teens who want to lose weight are feeling. Society glamorizes being thin so children grow up thinking that's the only way to be.

We've got to stop the war on weight and start teaching young people to love themselves. And if you are a teen, please read this article.

Need Some Workout Ideas?

One of the reasons people stop working out is they get frustrated and bored with their workout routines. After all, there's only so many crunches and side bends you can do right?

Well, on January 23, 2007 a new site called workoutpass.com just launched. I think with the explosion of web video we are going to see a lot more sites like this. Very cool.

For one membership fee, you receive access to hundreds of different kinds of workout routines and you choose the ones you want to view. The workouts are neatly organized by category/exercise type and many of them have videos that show you how to do the exercise.

I promise you'll never get bored again with your workout if you try this site. There are even sample tour videos you can view so you see what you get for your money. Pretty neat. :-)

Weight Loss Goals For 2007

Wow! I wasn't prepared for the great feedback I would receive on my weight loss goals for 2007 article. I wrote it because I had received so many "new years resolution weight loss" emails so I figured I'd sum up a few tips for success.

Thanks to everyone for the great feedback. Probably one of the most important tips is Tip #10 that talks about your sugar intake. A report here on my local news station just reported that 80% of people ignore what they drink when trying to lose weight.

People forget that sugar in drinks can be just as fattening as cookies or cupcakes - especially if you consume a lot of sugary drinks in a day (soda, fruit juice, kool-aid).

Yes, it is possible to drink your way to added weight and some people consume up to 800 calories per day in their drinks alone.

I'm glad you enjoyed the article and here's to a healthy and happy 2007!

The Best Ab Training Advice

Cardio exercise and a healthy diet are two things that will help you burn fat around your middle. However, if you want solid, toned abs you have to perform strength training exercises that work certain muscle groups in the abdominal area.

As I mention often on my site, I am not a personal trainer. Yet I still get numerous questions on weight lifting that I unfortunately cannot answer.

I was so happy to find Mike Geary's book, "The Truth About Six Pack Abs." Not only have I learned a lot, but it answers a lot of the questions on toning the abs that my site does not answer.

Geary is a personal trainer and his book offers great advice on proper diet and strength training exercises. Read my review of "The Truth About Six Pack Abs" here.

Can't Go To The Gym?

Email from Anonymous

I need your help. I work at home with 4 children and there's hardly time for me to get away to go to the gym or even take a walk for exercise. My stomach is bulging out of control and I know it's because I don't exercise. I only do crunches. How can I lose weight if I don't have the time to go to the gym?

Lisa's Response

You don't have to go to the gym to get your exercise time in. There are tons of things you can do around the house...

• Jumping jacks
  
• Aerobics/Exercise DVDs
  
• Jogging in place
  
• Walking/jogging up and down the stairs (Great exercise!)
  
• Trunk Twists
  

Pick a variety of exercises and set aside 30 minutes to do them. It doesn't matter where you are, what matters is that you're elevating that heart rate enough to burn fat.

Keep in mind if you're only doing ab crunches and not eating healthy or doing cardio, then they won't help you lose your stomach fat. You need a combination of both ab crunches, cardio AND healthy eating.

Why This Stomach Info Is Free

OK, this post is a little different from the rest here, but I receive so many emails from people asking why I provide so much good information for free, I felt it would be good to address it here.

To be quite honest, I originally created the site with the intention of testing out a Web host called Site Build It! (SBI!). If you've never heard of SBI! it's an all-in-one suite of tools that teach you how to build a Web business based on your own knowledge, passion, hobbies, etc. with NO product to sell. You earn money from affiliate programs (linking to Amazon.com books for example), sponsor ads, etc.

For years I kept reading all these case studies about people who had made money from their SBI! site, so I decided to see if it was really worth all the hype surrounding it. After all, you receive a full refund if you're not satisfied so I had nothing to lose.

When you buy SBI!, you are first instructed to brainstorm for a topic of interest and then use its automated brainstorming tool. There's honestly nothing like it on the Net. You enter the topics/keywords you're interested in for your site and through a series of formulas, it calculates a "Profitibility Index".

In other words, it tells you which of your topics will bring you the most free, targeted search engine traffic with the least amount of competition. This value is based on the number of search engine searches performed (Google, Yahoo, etc.) and how many sites currently exist on that topic.

So that's how I came up with the idea for flat-stomach-exercises.com. I knew I wanted to talk about fitness, but the brainstorming tool helped me narrow down my topic and find a good "profitibility index."

I began writing articles on my stomach flattening experiences as the SBI! Action Guide suggests and after a couple of months, I started receiving a few hundred visitors per day from MSN and Yahoo.

I just kept building new pages (SBI! makes that part easy because they have a block-by-block site builder if you are a beginner.) The more pages I created, the more the free traffic kept piling in.

I joined Google's free Adsense program where they pay you to advertise their sponsor ads. One year later this site earned enough to make a mortgage payment with some change left over. :-)

So while the information on this site is completely true, genuine and free it's nice to have the financial rewards from affiliate programs, sponsor ads, etc. SBI! showed me how to set all that up.

If you would like to try creating your own information Web business like I did, I would highly recommend Site Build It!. Now that I actually use it, I can confidently say IT WORKS!

If you buy SBI! from this link, I do earn a commission. I'm not ashamed to admit that because I'm proud to recommend the product. I use it. It works. And I've made money from my site.

Then you can do what I did and join their free affiliate program. Get your friends and family members to start their own info Web business and for each person you get to buy SBI!, you'll earn $75. AND when they renew their subscription each year, you earn that commission again.

I've found that it's much easier to get people to buy once you have a successful site yourself, many people prefer to wait until their site starts receiving traffic, etc. before recommending SBI! I actually recommend that approach. I'm not saying you cannot successfully make money promoting it if you don't own it, but when you KNOW the product and have proof of your own success, your credibility will help tremendously as you convince others to buy.

SBI! is not for everyone. So if you're looking for a get-rich-quick scheme that will make money overnight with no effort, please don't buy SBI!. You'd waste your time and money. There are no get-rich-quick products out here that work. If there was, we'd all own them and be rich now wouldn't we? ;-)

However, if you are serious about this and don't mind taking the time to learn and follow SBI!'s guide, I encourage you to give it a try. Don't worry if you've never created a Web site before - most SBI! customers haven't. The tools are so user-friendly that I promise your 95 year-old grandpa could use them. :-)

As I mentioned earlier there's a money back guarantee that I promise it will be honored.

Good luck!

Too Old For a Flat Stomach?

Email from Anonymous

I love your site! Wow, it's about time someone stopped pushing all these dumb diet pills and fad diets that screw up your metabolism. I am 45 years old and have tried for years to get a flat stomach. Is it still possible at my age? I've had 3 children.

Lisa's Response

Yes, it is possible. I'm not saying it won't be challenging but it's definitely doable. Unfortunately the older you get, the weaker your muscles become. If you've had children this adds to the challenge because childbirth weakens your abdominal muscles even more.

You should start with Kegel exercises. These are internal muscles located in your lower abdominals that can be re-trained and strengthened, thus improving the look of your tummy. There's a great article on post pregnanacy and how to do kegel exercises here.

Don't forget that diet is equally (if not more) important as exercise. It's crucial you work on limiting your intake of bad carbs (white bread, potatoes, pasta, white rice), eat more veggies, protein, less sugar and cut out those late snacks. Drinking at least 8 glasses of water per day is also key.

Just remember it's a process and you have to remain consistent. You can't do this for 3 days and then go back to your old eating habits. Yes, it will be more difficult the older you get, but it's certainly not impossible to have a flat stomach just because you're in your 40's.

Weight Loss Tips for Teens

I received an email from a young girl yesterday who said she unsubscribed from my Tummy Tips because there wasn't enough tips for teens. It suddenly occurred to me that a lot of young people view this site.

I realized that much of the information on www.flat-stomach-exercises.com is geared toward adults, so I created a page for the younger generations that may be struggling with weight issues.

View my weight loss tips for teens page.

Weight Loss Pills - UGH!

Every now and then I'll get an email from someone asking me what I think of diet pills. The answer in short is, "I HATE them."

In my opinion, using weight loss pills is a lot like using medication to cure depression.

Yes, the pill may work in the short term, but it doesn't attack the root of the problem. If you are overweight (no matter if it's your whole body or just your stomach area) it's either due to lack of exercise, poor diet, gland issues, etc.

In order to achieve weight loss success for the LONG TERM, you'll have to address these issues because they are the ROOT of the problem.

There are more problems. Diet pills can be habit forming, some of them aren't FDA approved and those that are may still be recalled in the future after further research. It happens all the time.

I also know that people that use diet pills tend to gain the weight back twice as fast once they stop taking them. So what happens is they go back on them and risk addiction.

Please stay away from diet pills. Exercise, portion control, and changing your diet may be hard, but it's a much safer and will keep the weight off long term as long as you continue your good habits.

Can Jogging Flatten Your Stomach?

I receive many emails from people wanting to know if jogging or playing sports can help flatten your stomach. Yes and no.

Cardio exercises burn fat. So yes, they will help you burn the fat all over your body. Not just your stomach. On the other hand, cadio exercises don't tone. So yes, while playing sports, jogging or any kind of cardio exercises will burn fat and keep additional fat from forming, you still need to do crunches and strengthen your abdominal region if you want to tone your stomach.

Men Can Apply These Tips Too

I got an email today from a guy wanting to know if my flat stomach tips worked for men too. I guess I never really thought that people may believe my tips are only for women.

Sure, men and women have different builds, etc. but the tips you see on www.flat-stomach-exercises.com are for both sexes.

No matter your gender, we can all flatten our stomachs by changing our diets and exercising 3 to 4 times per week. Visit my site above for specific tips.

Here's a shout for all the men reading this: Consider yourself lucky since the pounds tend to shed faster for you than they do for women. :)

Weight Loss Tips for Teens

Email from Anonymous

I am 14 years old and I am teased about my weight in school. Most of my weight is in my stomach and thighs. I would love to lose weight but I can't afford to spend any money.

Lisa's Response

First of all, if you are a minor living with parents or a guardian, you need to conuslt with them or your family physician first. They can give you advice on how to begin. Sometimes children who are overweight may have problems that have nothing to do with their eating habits - perhaps it's a gland problem. That's why it's important you talk to your parents or doctor first.

In the meantime, there are things you can do to help your situation:

1) Get some exercise. Even if you jog in place or do jumping jacks in your home, that will help you burn calories. When you're watching TV, just stand up and start jogging in place for least 20 minutes. Do this 3 times per week.

Walking through the mall is also a fun, effective exercise. Grab a few of your friends and go to your favorite mall to walk around for about an hour. Not only can you check out the latest styles, but you can get some exercise and burn some calories in the process.

2) Limit your fast food intake. For kids, it's sometimes harder to resist fast food since you and your friends tend to hang out there often. Plus, the food is pretty cheap.

Fast food is loaded with saturated fat and sodium and really shouldn't be eaten at all. However, it's OK to treat yourself once and a while.

If your friends insist on going to a fast food place, order one of their grilled chicken salads with light dressing instead of a burger and fries.

3) Pack a lunch for school. The food in school cafeterias is very unhealthy and not much better than fast food. If you can, take your lunch so you can eat healthier foods like a turkey sandwich, fruit and vegetables.

4) Another thing you need to remember is that kids are cruel. Those bullies that are teasing you about your weight are only teasing you because they are unhappy about something in their life. They look for weak people with lower self esteem to make them feel better about themselves. Bullies are very sad people on the inside but they try to cover their hurt by teasing you. Don't let them get to you!

It's great you want to lose weight to feel better about yourself, but just understand that you are not any less of a person because you aren't thin like some of your classmates. You are still a beautiful person and don't let anyone else tell you otherwise!

Toning Specific Problem Areas

I feel like I'm being redundant sometimes but I keep getting emails from people wanting to lose weight in certain areas. Last week a lady wanted to know how to lose her double chin. Yesterday someone emailed me about losing their arm flab.

I cannot stress enough that there isn't a way to spot tone one area. If you want to lose flab ANYWHERE on your body -- whether it's your face, arms, neck, stomach, you name it...you MUST lose weight all over.

When you start exercising regularly and eating properly, you will lose weight in those problem areas.

Now of course once the weight starts coming down you can tone certain areas with weight lifting - particularly your arms, legs, etc. But weight lifting without eating right and exercising will just make you bulky. You'll just be adding muscle on top of your existing fat. That is not an ideal solution.