6 Rules to Live by for a Small Waist


So, you want a small waist, or maybe just a smaller one than you have now. Read on and find out what it takes for a thin mid-section.

First off - Your ribs and hip bone skeletal structure will have a big say in how small your waist can get, and the measurement it will naturally lean toward. However, the rest depends on the amount of fatty tissue covering your muscles and organs.

You have probably heard about diet pills, breathing exercises, electronic vibrating belts, or a routine of 200 crunches a day. None of these will work. If they did, I'm pretty sure that folks everywhere would be walking around with belts buzzing under their t-shirts. And doing 200 million crunches a day won't make your waist smaller. In fact, it will make it bigger, because you didn't do anything to shed fat - you just made your stomach muscles bigger.

Now that you've got some backround information, choose a goal for yourself. Write it down. Post it where you can see it and where it will influence you to make the right decisions. Near the TV or computer are great spots, since mindless eating usually happens in front of one or the other (or both.) The fridge is another good spot; it might prevent you from grabbing out that food in the first place.

As far as diet goes, there's no strict diet you have to follow. My advice to you (and to myself) is to just not buy junk food. If it's not in your cupboards, you're most likely not going to eat it. Shop around the outside of your supermarket. If you start eating your favorite fruit often (I loooove strawberries) you will eventually crave the sweetness of that fruit, rather than the refined sugar in whatever prepackaged box of crap you were bringing home before. Also besides reducing sugar, you may want to think about sodium and salt. These both make you retain lots of water, keeping you looking and feeling bloated. Reduce these things and you'll see a big change, before you even start on the rest of your plan.

I know you'll never believe me until you try it, but don't skip your breakfast. In fact, make your breakfast the biggest meal you have today. And every day. This is the time where you should be eating alot of your carb intake for the day. Mornings are best for carbs, because you've got the whole day to use it up and get them out of your system, so they aren't stored as fat when you go to sleep at night. This is also the reason why breakfast should be the largest. Think of it this way - the more hours you have ahead of you in the day until the time when you fall asleep, the more food you can allow yourself. So, eat a large breakfast, a medium sized lunch, and a light dinner. Try not to eat for 3 hours before you go to sleep at night. Your waist measurement will thank you for it the next morning, and you will be excited and motivated for another day of eating right.

Try to make most of your meals half veggies. Veggies should be the main staple of your diet. After breakfast, let protein take over. If you exercise after breakfast, make sure you have some low-fat lean protein with your veggies at lunch. A chicken breast, or an omelet (egg whites are lower calorie than whole egg) are two good choices. This is not to say you should eat no carbs after breakfast, but that time of day is where they should be focused for the most part. Besides, veggies are healthy carbs with lots of fiber. They won't make you bloated or fat. So fill up.

Make sure to get lots of cardio. You should be getting no less than 2 hours of cardio a week if you're serious about getting a nice stomach. Thats a half hour session, 4 days a week. I do at least 4 hours of cardio a week, but aim for 5. Do this much if you enjoy it, and if you eat enough (healthy) calories to sutain yourself. Don't try this much cardio on a low-calorie diet. Also, don't waste your time using going for a walk as your cardio. Don't just go through the motions, you have to push yourself to lose weight. If you're not sweating and your heart rate isn't up, then you're cheating yourself, and probably aren't doing yourself any better than you would be sitting at home in front of the TV. When the level of cardio you're currently doing gets easy for you, and you no longer feel that it's a challenge to finish the whole routine, step it up a notch.

Doing ab exercises are a good way to see definition. But if you have a medium to large layer of fat over your abs, you will not see any muscle until you use cardio and exercise to lessen it. Until your waist measurement is around 28 or lower, it's my opinion that doing alot of ab exercise will only be in vain. You will make your ab muscles bigger, they will push the fat out even more, and you will be discouraged that you got bigger as opposed to smaller. So to start, focus on cardio with light resistance ab exercises using your own body - never weights. Incline sit-ups are good, as well as leg lifts. Pilates is also helpful. Once the cardio starts getting rid of enough fat to see your tone, you can decide on how much definition you want to see, and go from there.

One last thing I need to get out there, and I know you've heard it before, is drink your water. Drink lots of it. Drink at least 2 litres a day. You may think that drinking water will puff your stomach out, and it may in the beginning. But the more water you drink, the less water your body holds on to. This means in the future, drinking water will not make you bloated, but actually get rid of bloat. You'll be well hydrated, and your system will be much better and faster cleansed. Everything will pass through much easier, excess fat will be flushed away and you'll spend less time with a puffy stomach. Which means flat abs for you!


So to recap -

1. Eat breakfast, and get your carbs.
2. Fill up on veggies, and finish with proteins.
3. Don't eat after 6 or 7pm.
4. Get lots of cardio - get that heart racing.
5. Tone up after slimming down.
6. Drink your water!