Mythbuster Monday: Sixth Edition

The Myth: Doing tons of crunches will give me six pack abs!

Oh, the ever elusive six pack. We all want one, and most of us dream of it every bathing suit season. Unfortunately it isn’t as easy as stopping at your local liquor store.

Watching infomercials alone is the best example of our obsession with perfect abs, and the crunch seems to be the one way we all think we’ll get there. Time to reboot your six pack navigation system, sweethearts!

To get a six pack, several things are necessary:

1. Intense exercise. Yes, it takes dedication in this area and that means movement. Exercising a few times a week or doing only cardio won’t cut it, or YOU.
2. The right diet. As they say, abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym. No matter how many crunches you do, a layer of fat will hide any muscle you do manage to build.

But to truly expose those beauties to the world, you’ll need to get your body fat down to between 7 and 9%. That's a brutal task for any woman, that involves serious AM and PM cardio sessions, at least one hour of weight training per day, and a diet so clean you can hardly taste it! (e.g. no gluten, no dairy, and no bad fats) If you're like most women and you're content with a flat tummy, you can expect it at about 15-20% body fat.

Whether your goal is major cuts or just a sleek, flat stomach, a combination of aerobic and resistance exercise should definitely be on the menu. Do those things consistently, and a slimmer midline is yours to behold!

Mythbuster Monday: Fifth Edition

The Myth: As long as I exercise, I can eat whatever I want.

You figure if you’re not losing weight, it totally has to do with exercise, and that you should simply get your sweat on more often.

Darlings, they don’t call it a diet and exercise plan for nothing! One without the other makes as much sense as filling your car’s gas tank with mud. Here’s the skinny on eating fat: even if you exercised 7 days a week, ice cream and potato chips will glue those extra pounds to your body no matter how much you sweat. And what good is building muscle tone if you have a layer of fat covering it?

But… (come on, you know there’s always a but) reducing your Cheeto's intake down to one bag is not going to solve the problem, so STOP. Put down the artificial cheese flavored corn puff, wash the food coloring off your fingers, and listen: it’s all about what you eat and how much.

A nutritious, healthy diet is packed with vegetables, fruit, carbs, fiber, lean protein, good fats, and water. Fill your dietary empire with these foods, and your exercise won’t go to waste. Soon your body will become accustomed to getting what it really needs and you won’t even miss all the deep fried, mineral-deficient, high fructose corn syrup disaster snacks of your past.

And trimming the fat is an important part of any well-run kingdom, right? So stop lying to yourself. Get to eating healthy, keep moving, and you’ll feel so invincible, that world-domination won’t seem so far off.

Make a list of everything you ate and drank for the last 3 days. Be honest. It will make you accountable for what you put into your body.