Exercises to Tighten Up Stomach & Flatten the Tummy

Fat loss should not be mixed up with weight loss because the two are not the same. One may lose fat by exercising and eating healthily but at the same time gaining weight from the increase of muscle mass. It is always a better practice to strive to lose fat and gain muscle definition as merely losing weight can be risky to one’s health. Learn a few good exercises to tighten up stomach and get rid of stomach fat in this article.

For other articles on how to eliminate stomach fat and slim down your belly, please visit:

• Healthy Way to Get Rid of Belly Fat


• Lower Ab Crunches for Sexy Flat Tummy


• Easy Lower Abdominal Exercises


• Food that Eliminates Stomach Fat


• Tummy Flattening Exercise

A group of muscles that often gets neglected in stomach exercise routines are the transverse abdominals, the core and deepest abdominal muscles that lie below the rectus abdominus and the lumbar multifidus which cannot be felt from the surface.

Most abdominal exercises target the rectus abdominus and the vertical abdominals, and do nothing for the transverse abdominals. Even sit ups or crunches, the basic of most abdominal workouts, ignore the transverse abdominal muscles. These muscles are actually the most important to target as they connect to both the lower back muscles and the rectus abdominus and function as a girdle for the entire abdomen.

They also support posture, provide proper balance and stabilize the lower back and control deep breathing during power movements, such as heavy squats or heavy lifting. By Incorporating some exercises to flatten the tummy that target these muscles in your workout routine, you can have a flatter stomach.

Just to have a feel of how this muscle work, try blowing out all the air in your lungs and pull your tummy in. There, you have just used your transversus abdominus muscle to execute that movement.

You can target these muscles and really get rid of stomach fat effectively by performing the following exercises to tighten up stomach. As with any workout routine, be sure to consult a professional before starting and always warm up properly to avoid injury.

Pelvic tilts
This is a good exercise to flatten stomach. This exercise workouts the lower abdominal underneath the navel. Start by lying on your back on the floor or a bench. Protect your spine with a mat or towel. Bend your knees so that your feet are flat on the floor. Lift only your pelvis off the floor, hold for a moment, and then bring it back down. Repeat for an entire set. Remember to maintain a controlled movement to allow your abdominal muscles to do the work on the exercise rather than your body's impulse. Also, keep your upper body on the floor all over. Do 3 sets of 15-20 reps.

Crunchless crunch
This exercise targets the upper abdomen. You will try to to pull the belly button in towards the spine in this exercise. This may involve using muscles which you may not be used to activating. To begin, either lie or on your stomach or kneel. You can try both poses to see which one is more effective for you. Relax, use only the lower abdominals to move your belly button toward your spine. Hold for ten seconds or as long as you can. The goal is to hold the contraction until you either cannot feel it, or you feel other muscles working harder than the transverse abdominus. When you achieve this, release the contraction. Perform 3 sets of 15-20 reps.

Scissor kicks
This is another good exercise to flatten stomach that requires you to lie on the floor. Put your hands below your butt and your back pressed against the floor. Slowly arouse one leg to as high as ten inches, then slowly bring it back down to the floor. As you lower your leg, raise the other. Repeat this motion for an entire set. Maintain a controlled motion and make sure your upper body rested firmly on the floor through the entire move.

Stomach vacuum
Stomach vacuum exercises are a great way to target the deep, hard-to-target transverse abdominal muscle. To start, stand upright and place your hands on your hips or over your head, and then expel the air out of your lungs thoroughly. At the same time, expand your chest and suck your stomach in as much as you can, hold it in, breathe normally. To be blunt, just suck in your stomach. Imagine trying to reach your backbone with your navel. Repeat the exercise for a few more sets. This will train your abs muscle to continuously hold your tummy giving you flat stomach look.

Standing pelvic tilts
Standing pelvic tilts are another technique of stomach vacuum exercises. Start by standing with your legs about hip-width apart, and your knees slightly bent. Inhale deeply through your nose, then exhale through your nose while pulling your belly towards your spine and rolling your hips out in front of you. Repeat for a few sets.

There are many of other exercises to tighten up stomach that targeting the transverse abdominals, but these five should be enough as a start. Such exercises to flatten the tummy are key to get rid of stomach fat and have a flatter stomach, and they are especially good for pregnant and postnatal women.

If your goal is to flatten your stomach with exercises, here are some additional tips:

• Improper eating habits can ruin a great, hard workout. Be sure to incorporate your fitness routine with clean eating habits. Read Losing Weight by Counting Calories for basic diet guidelines.


• Adequate water intake. Stay hydrated the whole day to keep the body functioning at it's highest level.


• Keep a low to moderate body fat percentage. Depending on how you hold your weight, anywhere from 12 to 15% is acceptable.


• Get enough sleep. This means not only getting plenty of sleep, but also getting the right kind of sleep. Also be sure to schedule off days into your routine to give your muscles a chance to rest up and rebuild. Further reading on sleeping and weight loss: Sleep Deprivation and Weight Gain.

There you go, some best exercises to tighten up stomach you can perform to get rid of a stomach fat. By practicing these tummy flattening exercises combined with the above tips, you can lose an inch or two from your stomach and have a flatten stomach in as little as three to four weeks.

Best Diet to Get Rid of Belly Fat – Food that Eliminates Stomach Fat

One of the best diets to help reduce belly fat and also a healthy way to get rid of belly fat is a reduced calorie diet. Reduced calorie diet is very effective diet to get rid of belly fat and flatten stomach. The benefit of reduced calorie diet is that you don’t have to change the foods that you eat, you don’t have to consume supplement food that eliminates stomach fat or starve yourself instead you just need to eat a little less and select the right foods to eat for a flat belly.

Check also Burn Calories while Sleeping and Calculate Average Weight for Male for further reading.

Although a reduced calorie diet requires that you cut the calories you eat, you should only cut down a little. Cutting calories to a point of starving yourself is useless since the body has a mechanism for keeping fat to remain. Roughly 3500 calories makes one pound of fat going by the analogy one should not attempt to reduce fat more than 2lbs.a week.

Losing weight by counting calories and cutting down on the calories you eat is actually simple to do but it may be challenging. However, with some basic changes and consistency, you’ll be able to flatten your stomach by choosing food that eliminates stomach fat. You can eat a little less and start to burn belly fat off. You can purchase a calorie counter book or look up common foods online to help you. Find out how much calories each food contains and plan a diet to get rid of belly fat, even the best diet to flatten stomach for you based on it.

Even if you are burning more calories than you are taking in, you must also watch the type of calories you eat and start thinking about increasing the quality of the calories you take. The best diet to flatten stomach is not about what foods to get rid of belly fat but what should you eat to flatten stomach and what you should not. In other word, you need to choose the right foods to eat for a flat belly. More, if you want to streamline the fat burning process you have to cut out empty calories. Here are some easy changes you can make to help you burn belly fat off.

Cut down carbonated drinks from your diet to get rid of belly fat
If you drink soda, start to gradually cut down or eliminate soda, even the “low cal” ones from your diet and start drinking water. Soda contains a lot of processed sugar and can add unwanted calories to your diet. You don’t need the artificial sweeteners and chemicals. If you drink about 3 to 4 cans a day. That is a possible 450 – 600 calories of unneeded calories per day.

Avoid processed foods
Avoid all processed foods by cutting them down in a natural state. If you enjoy fast food during the work day, try bringing in your lunch. For example, replace the burger and fries with meat and a baked potato. If you use the proper proportions, you are bound to save calories and you will be feeding your body better.

Daily food intake
What should you eat to flatten stomach? Foods to eat for a flat belly include carbohydrate and protein rich items such as oatmeal, beans, green vegetables sprouted cereals, peas apples and leafy vegetables in your daily diet to get rid of belly fat. Cutting done fat-rich beef and fried items and addition of more vegetables not only help reduce fat but also keep the system more disease resistant. You don’t need supplement food that eliminates stomach fat.

If you have a sweet tooth and are sometimes tempted to have chocolate it may be better to have a small bar occasionally instead of obsessing about it and then pigging out with dozens of candy bars. Buy fresh fruit and each time you have cravings eat some fruit.

Moreover, smaller quantity of protein and carbohydrates at lesser intervals would help you for easy digestion and fat loss than fewer heavy meals.

Lastly, most supplements or "fat-loss" pills which advertised as supplement food that eliminates stomach fat do nothing at all to help you get rid of belly fat. Even, about 90% of the products are worthless, and won't create any noticeable changes in your body. Yes, there are some great meal replacements for people that don’t have the time to prepare a real food meal. And, there's also a high quality, fast digesting protein like whey protein that is good to supplement your post-easy lower abdominal exercises smoothies. However, the right choice of real foods to eat for a flat belly is always better for you than processed supplements. So, stick to whatever diet to get rid of belly fat plan you are comfortable with and eventually you’ll get that flat belly you want.