That's right, no crunches! This might not make me very popular but abdominal work is overrated. Go ahead...lemme have it. It's mid April and it's time to think about hitting the lake. So, let's look at a plan, a no crunch plan, to sleeker abs.
Increasing cardio needs to be a priority. In order to make changes in body composition we need to be doing 30-60 minutes most days of the week. That doesn't translate into 20 minutes twice a week. Getting honest about the time you're putting in is an important first step. Keeping a log either on paper, or using an online or phone application is a great tool for this. Crank it up a notch!
Next let's get in the kitchen. Trimming off the fat requires a calorie deficit. This is most successfully created by a small reduction in total calories coming in, and an increase in calories out. We just did the later by increasing our cardio. You're halfway there. It's hard to reduce if you don't know where you are right now. Meet the food diary.
Track your food intake...every single bite, gulp and swallow for 3 days. I mean every bit of it. Even the stuff you snuck while no one was looking. Add it up. You can google (I love that word) BMR to find a calculator to determine your basal metabolic rate. Once you determine your BMR you'll multiply it by an activity level to find out about how many calories you should be eating. If I'm a 137 pound 40-something woman I should be eating about 1800 calories.
By tracking my food I know if I'm way over, right there, or way under. Next I'm going to create a small deficit of 250 calories - I'll hardly miss them. Add that to my increase in cardio and before you know it I'm burning 1.5 pounds per week. By the end of May I'll be down 9 pounds and you will see me sporting sleeker abs!
Need help figuring it all out? Let us know at Team Pitcher! You'll see sleeker abs in no time, and not a crunch in sight!
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