March 11th, 2010 by 
Tsuyoshi Suzuki
Stomach weight loss is a challenge for most people because your stomach is designed to store fat well. It is one area, too, that is not very receptive to toning. You could have fat arms and legs, but if you just start toning them, they will firm right up. Not so with the stomach. You must do cardio and lots of it. Toning alone will, indeed, give you great abs but no one will be able to see them without cardio because the fat will remain and hide your muscles.
You should start with a cardio regimen before you do anything else. You cannot see how well your stomach is developing if there is a lot of fat on top. Sadly, heavy and regular cardio is the absolute only way to reduce stomach fat. Thankfully, there are a lot of things that can make up a cardio work out. You can run, dance, swim, or bike–do anything that gets as much of your body moving as possible. Make sure you are sweaty at the end. This is an indicator of a good workout, not how long you spend doing it.
Simple lifestyle changes can really add up. If you take the elevator all the time, take the stairs. If you drive to the store down the block, just walk there. Walk your dog more frequently. Use an exercise bike while you read a book or watch television. Stand instead of sit whenever you possibly can. Even vacuuming or washing the dishes burns more calories than just sitting around.
Whenever you do something like this, target your abs by holding in your stomach. It will give marginal toning to them while you think you are doing nothing at all. This practice is not only good because it gets you in the habit of \’sucking it in\’ while in public, but it can help keep your stomach taut.
When the time comes to begin toning, do crunches. These are the most effective–definitely more so than sit ups. Sit ups can hurt your back and neck and there are dozens of ways to do them wrong. Crunches are very simple. Lay on the floor with your hands behind your head and your legs up in the air. Your knees should be bent so your calves run parallel to the floor. At the same time, lift your shoulders slightly up off the ground and bend your legs in toward your elbows.
These are so much better than sit ups because crunches force your stomach to sink down into itself and be tightened from both sides. Sit ups can build really big muscle on your stomach which is not great. When it comes to toning that area, the leaner the better. If you have any fat at all on your stomach and you build bulky muscle underneath, it will merely push out the fat more and make you look like you carry a lot more weight there.
Another big way to vamp up your exercises is to get a large rubber exercise ball. These balls are noted for being good for your back and for giving you challenging work outs in a comfortable way. For example, once you get used to crunches and your body does not respond quite as positively to them any more, you can do them on an exercise ball in order to target slightly different muscle groups.
You lie back on the ball with your legs straight out to hold you steady on the floor. You then will lift your shoulders back in the same way, only your knees will not come up to meet you. This angle will provide more toning for you.
Check out how to have that stomach weight loss you have been hoping for. With many choices of weight loss meals to help you out. Go online now and learn more.
