ABS are made in the KITCHEN!

Left: 147lbs May 2013/Right: 137lbs Aug 2013

I posted the above pic on my facebook and instagram (both "fitnaturalbelle") and got so many people asking me the same question, "what did you do to get your belly down?" and "how many crunches/sit ups did you do?" My answer is always "eat clean and train mean".  I often get the confused face and the follow up question is, "what was your ab workout?" NONE at all!  I have no specific ab workout.

So let me preface this post by saying that I am by no means a fitness or nutrition expert.  Once again I will say that I am a health nut and do a lot of my own research and figure out what works for me.  I am also by no means showing this pic to show off my abs because I still have a lot of work to do.  I am always a work in progress.  I am hoping that this post can help others, especially us mothers with the mommy tummy to not make excuses and to get the body that you want.

That's right! There is no excuse to not have the body you deserve.  No we aren't all supposed to look like the people on tv or magazines, but you  can have the body and abs that's healthy for you.  If others can do it, then so can we!  So how did I start to lose the belly fat?

That's right folks...it's all about what you are putting into your body.  The secret is no complicated grueling ab workout, but it's all about what I ate.  Eating consistently clean was what made my six months preggers lookalike belly start to go away.  What is eat clean you ask?  Well that's a post within itself, but pretty much just stop eating crap!  It's only putting natural, unprocessed foods in your body.  Nope it's not a diet at all.  I have tried many different diets and calorie counting and failed at them all except clean eating.  When eating clean I can eat whatever I want as long as it's clean and in moderation, and get results at the same time.  I finally learned that if I was consistent about eating a mostly clean diet, then I could start to get rid of the spare tire.  The saying is true, "you can't out exercise a bad diet".  Yes I have tried that too.  The picture on the left at 147lbs I worked out for hours on end almost daily, but still looked like that.  I have always eaten healthy, but not consistently clean, and you can see the difference on the right.

Now don't think that all you need to do is change your diet, but to get lasting results you have to workout as well.  To get the results above I stopped working out so much.  I worked out about five days a week for about 30 minutes.  During that time I was doing a combination of running, Jillian Michael's Body Revolution, and Focus T25.  There were many weeks where I didn't get to workout as much, but continued to get results as long as I was consistent.  I did not do a lot of ab workouts either.  I pretty much did cardio and lots of strength training.  I strength trained with 8 and 10lbs weights, which is all that I have in my house.  Also I strength trained using my own body weight of course.

So what the heck do you eat?  Well here is a helpful list above.  Try to incorporate these foods in most of your meals and snacks.  A slim belly day can look a little like...

Breakfast:  oatmeal with strawberries and egg whites
Snack:  apple slices and peanut butter or a handful of almonds
Lunch: salad with chicken breast and dressing on the side
Snack: protein shake
Dinner: lean meat, with steamed brocolli

And that's about it...in a nutshell!  Don't just take my word for it, do your own research.  The basics of what I am trying to say is you have to eat healthy by eating clean to get rid of that GUT, and throw in some exercise too.  So again all you have to do is "eat clean and train mean".

No this is not me...not yet :)