Tone your stomach to the way you want

Getting a beautiful flat stomach is like a dream come true for every girl. But having a flat belly is not so easy. It requires lots of efforts and regular exercise. The best way to tone up your stomach muscles is with an exercise that stresses the stomach muscles directly at the front and an exercise that hits the side abs. First of all we need to understand where the fat is stored. Examine your body in the mirror.

You may notice that your actual stomach is pretty flat, but the area around your belly button still protrudes and this is where the real problem is. If this is case, your problem is your lower abdominal region more so than your stomach. Fat is stored here for a number of reasons. For some, it's genetic and that just happens to be where the body stores its fat. It may be indigestion. If your food is not digesting properly, it can cause a bulge in your lower abdominal area. IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) is another common cause for this problem), so get it checked out at your local GP.

Sit ups and crunches are great for toning muscle, but wont get rid of the layer of fat that lies over it. You need to do some cardio exercise, such as running, to burn the fat as well. Combine the running with sit ups and crunches and you should have a flat stomach in no time!

Try these exercises regularly and take care of your diet and you will be thrilled to see the result.

Double Straight Legged Stretch: It is very, very good for toning up the lower abdominal area. In fact, after about 5 repetitions you can really feel that area working.

To perform this exercise: Lie on your back with your legs straight. Slowly raise your head and neck off the mat as if you're starting a basic crunch. Place your hands behind your head. Bend both legs in and raise them off the floor then straighten and point them in the air at 11 o'clock. Keep your head and neck off the floor. Slowly move both legs down (keeping them together and as straight as you can) until they are about a foot from the floor. Now raise them back up and begin again. Repeat this 10 times.

Chair Leg Lifts: You can perform this exercise in almost any kind of office or desk chair.

• Sit upright with your back flat against the back of your chair.
• Place your hands on the desk in front of you or on the seat of the chair by your legs.
• Slowly lift your knees up toward your chest and hold for 5 seconds.
• Then slowly lower them back down, resting your feet on the floor.
• Breathe out when you lift your legs up and inhale when you lower them to the floor.
• In the beginning, you may find that you're only able to do a few of these. That's okay. As your abdominals get stronger, you'll be able to do more. Hang in there.

Pelvic Thrusts: Start by lying on your back with your knees bent and arms straight beside you.

Slowly lift and tilt your pelvis upward as you exhale. As you tilt your pelvis, be sure you keep your lower back on the floor so you get the most out of the movement. Hold the movement for about 5 seconds and inhale as your relax your buttocks back down on the floor. Do about 10 to 15 reps and take a 90 second break between sets. Perform a total of 4 sets.

Go for cardio every morning before breakfast. Go out for a jog, pedal on your exercise bike, or anything you like, just get active. Get yourself sweating lightly for something like 20-25 minutes. It's very important to work out before breakfast, since your stomach will be empty then, and all the calories burned at that time are calories of fat. Burn more fat calories, and get more definition. I can't stress this enough!

Diet:

Reach for the apple and skip the bagel. Load up on fruit instead of bread. The vitamins and nutrients will rejuvenate you, and they'll also give your metabolism a boost, causing you to burn through more fat calories throughout the day. They can also be filling without you eating too much, so if you eat an apple and an orange, you shouldn't get too hungry. Eat smaller meals. You can go for pretty much whatever you usually might eat, but instead of gorging yourself on three large meals, it's much better to have five smaller meals. These method kick-starts the metabolism and it won't need to burn all those big meals, and can work on burning more fat instead.

If you have a busy life, you can do simple things, like first thing in the morning when I wake up, remain in bed but turn on to your stomach and lay flat, face down. Then put your arms behind your back and hold your hands, then try lifting your body up backwards (almost like you're trying to get your head to touch your feet) so lifting backwards, you will start looking like a C shape. Then at work you can suck your stomach in (so you can feel your muscles clench) and hold it for 5 seconds and breathe out, do it a couple of times at day.

(Sources: tonethatstomach.blogspot.com, ?flat-stomach-exercises.com, toptipsforgirls.com)