3 Flat Belly Walks

3 Flat Belly Walks

(As published in Prevention Magazine, Oct 2008 edition)

Forget Crunches! For a workout that really flattens your belly, get up and move your feet. Studies show walking is one of the best ways to shed belly fat, in less time than you think. Researchers reviewed 40 years of studies on exercise and belly fat and found that jus 2 1/2 hours of brisk walking a week - about 20 minutes a day - can shrink your belly by about 1 inch in 4 weeks.

Why does walking work so well? It appears to help reduce deep belly fat (called visceral fat) first, explains Tim Church, MD, MPH, PhD, of Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University. "If you exercise enough to lose 10% of your body fat, you may actually reduce visceral fat by 30%," says Church.

All walking burns belly fat, but for best results, crank up your weekly MET (metabolic equivalent) hours - the number of calories you burn. "Shaking up the intensity with on-again, off-again bursts of energy will give you the most time-efficient, calorie-burning workout possible," says exercise physiologist Peggy Pletcher of Source Endurance, an online coaching service based in Austin, TX.

Walk 20 minutes a day with our workout and your waistline may shrink an inch; double it and double your results. Or go an hour and lose inches everywhere. Try our smart eating tips and you could drop a size or more this month!

What to do:

6 or 7 days per week: Do one of the Flat Belly Walks, following our pace guidelines below. If your goal is to whittle your waistline with the bare minimum exercise, follow Plan 1. If you have more time and want to rev up your results, dive into Plan 2. To shed inches all over, go with Plan 3.

Everyday: Follow the "5 Food Rules to Live by" below to boost fat loss.

Find the Right Pace:

Use a scale of 1 to 10. It's the best way to determine how hard you should be working, with 1 being very easy and 10 an all-out effort. If you're on a treadmill, try our suggested speeds, but adjust the speed according to your effort level.

Warm-up/Cool-down: 2 to 3 (treadmill set at 3 mph). You can chat with ease.

Brisk Pace: 4 to 5 (3.5 to 3.8 mph). Your breathing is pleasantly harder. Can still talk, but with pauses.

Push Pace: 6 to 7 (4 mph). Some huffing and puffing. One- and two word replies.

Power Pace: 8 to 9 (4.2 to 4.5 mph or uphill at 3.5 mph). No talking possible.

Plan 1: Speedy Waist Whittler

Time: 20 minutes a day, 7 days a week

What you'll lose: Up to 1 inch off your belly in 1 month

Start	Warm-up
3:00	Brisk Pace
6:00	Push Pace
9:00	Brisk Pace
12:00	Power Pace
13:00	Push Pace
15:00	Brisk Pace
18:00	Cool-Down
20:00	Finish
	Total calories burned: About 100 (based on a 150 lbs person)

Plan 2: Lose-a-Size Tummy Trimmer

Time: 40 minutes, 6 days a week

What you'll lose: Up to 2 inches off y our waist (a pants size) in just a month

Start	Warm-Up
3:00	Brisk Pace
6:00	Push Pace
13:00	Power Pace
15:00	Repeat minutes 3 through 15 (brisk walk for 3 minutes, push for 7 minutes, power for 2 minutes)
27:00	Brisk Pace
37:00	Cool-Down
40:00	Finish
	Total calories burned: About 200 (based on a 150 lbs person)

Plan 3: Total-Body Fat Blaster

Time: 60 minutes, 6 days a week

What you'll lose: Up to 3 pounds plus inches off your hips, butt, and thighs; add in the healthy eating tips (below) and you can lose up to 5 pounds this month

Note: If you're doing this workout indoors on a treadmill, start with a 3% incline for the hills, working up to 5%. If you're outside, try to find a loop with two hills about midway through that will take you about 5 to 6 minutes to climb.

Start	Warm-Up
3:00	Brisk Pace
5:00	Push Pace
20:00	Brisk Pace
22:00	Uphill Brisk
28:00	Brisk Pace
32:00	Uphill Brisk
38:00	Brisk Pace
42:00	Push Pace
57:00	Cool-Down
60:00	Finish
	Total calories burned: About 330 (based on a 150 pound person)

5 Food Rules to Live By

1. Snack on almonds: When salty cravings strike, bypass the pretzels or popcorn. In a study of 65 men and women who were following a low-calorie diet, California researchers found that those who noshed on the nuts shrank their waistlines nearly 50% more than dieters who didn't eat them, despite consuming the same number of calories. Likewise, Spanish researchers found that even without increasing exercise, a diet enriched with monounsaturated fatty acids (aka MUFA's, found in foods such as almonds and avocados) decreased the accumulation of abdominal fat compared with a carb-heavy diet, which increased it.

2. Fill up on Fiber: "When you slow digestion, you slow the delivery of glucose (blood sugar) to the bloodstream, "says Marie Savard, MD, author of The Body Shape Solution to Weight Loss and Wellness. "That means less insulin is released, and with lower insulin release comes lower visceral (belly) fat storage." In a study of more than 2,900 adults, those who ate the most fiber weighted less and had lower insulin levels and slimmer waist-lines than those who ate the least. Aim for at least 25g a day from such foods as vegetables, fruits, beans, lentils, brown rice, and whole grain bread, cereal, and pasta.

3. Stay satisfied with protein: Gram for gram, protein has the same number of calories as carbs (and half that of fat), but takes longer to digest, so you feel full longer. It also seems to help lower levels of hormone ghrelin, which is known to stimulate appetite. In a Danish study of 60 mien and women, those following a diet that included as much fat after 6 months than those eating a diet with 12% protein. Include a serving of lean protein with each meal and snack-eggs for breakfast, a turkey sandwich for lunch, low-fat or fat-free yogurt or milk for a snack, and grilled fish and vegetables for dinner.

4. Skip the sweetener: In a 5-week study by Purdue University researchers, rats given unlimited access to artificially sweetened yogurt consumed more calories, gained more weight, and packed on more fat than those that ate sugar-sweetened yogurt. Researchers believe artificial sweeteners may hinder your body's ability to regulate calories based on taste, so you end up over-eating. Go with a little bit of sweetener, such as raw sugar or honey, instead.

5. Dump one high-cal item from your diet: Exercise works best when you don't offset your hard work with empty calories. By eliminating just one high-calorie item from your daily diet, such as a large latte, or substituting cereal and low-fat milk for a bagel and cream cheese, you can easily reduce your intake by 250 calories. Combine that with one of our walking plans and you can drop between 35 and 5 pounds in a year!