My diet tips for a flat stomach & tiny waist
Why is your midsection still fluffy?
You’ve put so much effort into toning it. You’ve said no to so many social events and given up on your favorite sweet treats, so why on earth is your midsection still not looking the way you want it to?
I’ve personally experienced how, for so many people, much of the most popular how-to-get-a-flat-belly advice just isn’t working! And how some of it might actually be working against you in your quest for a flat stomach!
I know we’ve been told it’s important to eat 4-6 small meals a day if we want to lose weight and achieve that nice, toned midline… But it’s simply not true!
You’ll eat healthiest if your eat your way. So if you prefer many small meals a day, stick with that. But if you prefer fewer but larger meals, don’t force yourself to split them into many smaller meals, as it’ll leave you always hungry and prone to cravings. And getting into a habit of having a “snack” once or twice a day can easily lead you to eat more calories than you intended! A protein bar or a small handful of nuts (30 g.) plus piece of fruit quickly adds up to 300 calories or more. And when you consider that the average woman needs about 2000 calories a day to maintain her weight, two such snacks make up more than 25% of her daily maintenance intake!
If she then wantes to lose weight but also eats 3 larger meals per day… It’s easy to see why she would struggle to reach her goals.
It’s the same when it comes to eating breakfast or not – if you’re hungry in the morning, you should definitely eat breakfast. But if you’re not, wait a few hours until you start having that desire to eat something. Make sure not to wait too long, you don’t want to reach a stage where you’re so hungry you’ll overeat and stuff your face with whatever you cen get your hands on, but it’s ok to wait until you feel slightly hungry before you eat.
Personally, I always have a cup of coffee (or two…) in the morning shortly after waking up, and I don’t feel like eating until I’ve been up for like 2-4 hours at least… Everybody is different so you should just listen to your body and eat accordingly!
While the timing and number of your meals can be however fits your body and schedule the best, you have to keep an eye on your portion sizes! One of the main reasons for our struggle with staying tight around the waist, is that snacks have become meals and meals have become feasts! We have lost the connection to our natural feeling of hunger or fullness, and whereever we go, food is so available and portion sizes are huge!
When you eat at home, measure your portion size and decide not to go for seconds. While you’re eating, focus on the food and taste. If you start to feel less hungry before finishing the meal, it’s ok. You don’t have to continue eating if you’ve already satiated your hunger. And you definitely don’t have to keep eating until you’re so full you can’t stomach another bite. Then you’ve already gone too far!
When eating out at at place that serves big portions, I always only eat until I’m no longer hungry and ask to get the leftovers wrapped in a doggy bag for me to take home. that way I don’t overeat and I same money and time by not having to shop or cook for my next meal.
In general, WHAT you eat have very little to do with what your stomach looks like. If you suffer from an intolerance or allergy, that’s a different sotry of course. But most of us can eat pretty much anything in the right amounts, and still be able to keep our midsection nice and tight.
If you have a lot of weight to lose or all your bodyfat is centered around your midsection, it can be necessary to adopt a more strict diet approach to help your really clean up your diet and improve your health. Those body types may be symptoms of your body having iddues with high cholesterol, blood sugar regulation, hormonal regulation or blood pressure. I recommend seeing your phycisian to get a full health check-up and professional help with your diet and exercise regimen if that’s the case!
If you’re around average weight but just feel like your midsection is too fluffy, it’s more likely that you can stick with your normal eating habits and just adjust the portion sizes according to your goals. Usually there is really no need for huge restritions, detoxes or anything like that! You can reach your goals with minimal changes, and actually, making smaller and more moderate changes is much more likely to make you succeed in the long run as it’ll be so much easier for you to stick with these small habit changes compared to a huge lifestyle change that will possibly also limit your social life.
If you’d like me to help you reach your goals you can read more about my online coaching packages here and my personal training packages here.
Hej med dig. Måske et dumt spørgsmål, men man kan ikke spise for mange grøntsager, vel? Altså hvis man nu f.eks. Er mere sulten efter den ene portion eller imellem to måltider, så taget man ikke på, hvis det er grøntsager man spiser, f.els. Gulerødder, eller kan man det? Altså ødelægge kalorieregnskabet med grøntsager? :-)