Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Lose your Tummy without Losing your Sanity

By Teresa Brown

As a new mom you have the joyful but demanding task of looking after your baby and somewhere in the busy mix of family life and responsibilities, you have to find a way to lose the pregnancy weight. Starting your weight loss plan to lose your tummy is the easy part. It's committing to your plan that can put a strain on reaching your goal. Adding these 5 spicy tips to your plan may just do the trick to keep you motivated to stay in the game.

1. Yoga - Yoga focuses on establishing a balance in your body by connecting the mind, body and spirit. It creates this balance by developing your breathing, flexibility and strength. It's a popular exercise among celeb moms and moms alike to lose the tummy and tone the muscles. From the heat intensive Bikram Yoga to the long duration poses of Yin Yoga, there are several traditions of yoga available to discover. Find a yoga tradition that fits you and sign up for a couple classes or purchase a Yoga DVD and do it in the comfort of your home.

2. Kickboxing - When your workouts are getting tedious and boring, why not lose your tummy with some Kickboxing? It's a great way to decompress and get a thorough total body workout. You can burn the baby fat and learn some self-defense and get a killer body from doing so.

3. Tea Time - If you like a good cup of coffee, you can get to like a good cup of tea. Drinking teas such as Green or White tea gives you a three fold benefit by providing you with anti-oxidants, satisfying your caffeine needs and helping you to lose your tummy. Compared to a specialty coffee at your local cafe, a cup of Green tea will save you the calories and the money.

4. Beef is Back - Beef is an excellent source of protein, zinc, iron and B vitamins. Maintaining a healthy diet to lose your tummy includes ensuring a balance in the nutrients your body receives and in keeping your size portions small. Beef is no exception and like any good protein source, it needs to be eaten lean and in moderation. Also switching to lean meats helps to sustain low saturated fats in your diet.

5. Just for Laughs - There will be many times when you feel like giving up on losing the tummy but you must always remember to keep things in perspective. Laughter is capable of keeping you up when you're down and as this Yiddish Proverb states, "What soap is to the body, laughter is to the soul." So just for laughs find a comic outlet such as renting a comedy DVD and release some endorphins with a good laugh with your children, friends, or partner.

Losing your tummy can be a long and unpleasant journey but only if you make it that way. Getting healthy and staying that way will require throwing out the old bad lifestyle habits to embrace new healthy ones and having fun along the way. - 16650

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