If you're planning to have a flat tummy within two weeks, you must already have very little abdominal fat between you and your goal. Remember, you can't target abdominal fat specifically. You'll have to lose fat evenly all over your body to make it disappear in any specific area. As such, your two week program should include not only direct abdominal training, but also diet and cardiovascular exercise.
Step 1
Decrease your caloric intake. Take an inventory of what you consume on a normal day, then use your calculator and the relevant nutrional information to determine your average daily caloric intake. Since you're working against a tight deadline, aim to immediately decrease this number by 1,000; according to MayoClinic.com, since 3,500 calories is equal to one pound of fat, this should allow you to lose four pounds of fat from diet alone over the course of your two-week program. To facilitate this reduction, first eliminate sweets, desserts and soft drinks. If this fails to decrease your intake by 1,000 calories, proceed to decrease the size of your meals as necessary.
Step 2
Engage in regular cardiovascular exercise. Since you're working against such a strict deadline, aim to schedule a cardiovascular exercise session each day of the week. At each session, perform at least 30 minutes of exercise, and up to 60 minutes, if possible. When choosing an activity, remember that anything that will reliably raise your heart rate goes. As such, you'd be well-served to choose something you enjoy, since you'll be doing it every day for the next two weeks. By following this routine consistently, you'll burn excess calories and keep your metabolism up, ensuring that you'll lose as much fat as possible over the course of the two week period.
Step 3
Train your abdominal muscles directly. Three to four times each week, select five abdominal exercises to perform in succession. Your best exercise options are bicycle crunches, captain's chair, exercise ball crunches, vertical leg crunches and long arm crunches, says the American College of Sports Medicine. For each exercise, perform two sets of as many repetitions as you can manage before reaching the point of failure. Rest for two minutes between sets. If your diet and cardio programs have gone as planned, you'll see a slight difference in muscularity after two weeks.
Things You'll Need
- Calculator
- Cardiovascular exercise facilities
- Abdominal exercise facilities (optional)
References
- ExRx.net: Fat Loss & Weight Training Myths
- "International Journal of Obesity"; High protein intake sustains weight maintenance after body weight loss in humans; M.S. Westerterp-Plantenga, et al.; 2004.
- American College of Sports Medicine's Health & Fitness Journal: An Electromyographic Approach to the Evaluation of Abdominal Exercises
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