Measure your waist in line with your belly button. Breath in, then exhale and relax… no sucking in! Take the measurement in inches and write it down.
Follow these simple steps over the next 4 weeks and you’ll see the kind of inch loss you thought was impossible!
Before you start your 4 week plan…
1. A watched waistline never shrinks. Don’t measure it again until after 4 weeks!
2. Forget about the 3 bad P’s – Pills, Potions, and Patches. They don’t work.
3. Remember the 3 good P’s - Plan, Persevere, Praise.
4. Plan… design a timeline for the 4 weeks, identifying all potential setbacks.
5. Persevere… think about how you’ll get back on track after each setback.
6. Praise… for each setback you get through without giving up, praise yourself!
7. Avoid perfectionism at all costs. It’ll never be perfect. Ever!
8. Understand that losing inches is a 4 week marathon, not a 3 day sprint.
9. Visualise how you’re going to manage the hurdles along the way.
10. Your goal is to cross the finish line, not give up at the first hurdle!\
Your 4 week waist shrinking nutrition…
11. Set yourself the goal of tracking your nutrition every day for four weeks.
13. Request a free nutrition tracker from everythingzing.com and update it daily.
14. Use it to plan your meals as well as keep a diary of everything you eat.
15. Aim to eat a good breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, no skipping meals.
16. Breakfast should be good quality, ‘slow-energy-release’ cereals with milk.
17. Try all-bran / branflakes / weetabix / shredded wheat / museli / porridge.
20. Replace sugar with sweetener, or even better sprinkle dried fruit on top.
18. Avoid buying sugary cereals or bars – you’ll end up scoffing them at night!
19. Lunch should be good quality protein with rice / potato + mixed veg / salad.
20. The portion = 1 hand protein, 1 hand rice/potato, 2 hands mixed veg/salad.
21. ’1 hand’ is the amount of food that would sit on your open hand.
22. Example – chicken breast (1 hand), rice (1 hand), mixed veg (2 hands).
23. Dinner should be good quality protein with mixed veg / salad.
24. The portion = 1 hand protein, 2 hands mixed veg / salad.
25. Example – 2 egg omelette with onion, pepper and mushrooms and salad.
26. Between meals snack on yoghurt / fruit / cold meats / low-fat cheese.
27. Strive to fill your diet with colour – reds, greens, oranges, purples.
28. Ideally eat every 2 to 3 hours, avoiding large gaps in between meals.
29. If you’re serious about shrinking your waist, don’t eat after 9pm.
30. Once you’ve planned your meals for the week, go to the shops and stock up!
Things to avoid for 4 weeks…
31. Cut out all beige foods – bread, pasta, crisps, cakes, sweets and biscuits.
32. Even the ones that have been artificially coloured… nice try smarty pants!
33. If you are a ‘beige addict’, it’s easier to go ‘cold turkey’ than ‘in moderation’.
34. A simple way to cut it out? Keep yourself full with good quality food.
35. Keep telling yourself – “after a week without beige food, I won’t even miss it…”
36. You will miss it, but for the love of God keep telling yourself you won’t!
37. Try to limit alcohol to just one night per week, you’ll save 1000s of calories.
38. Remember… our fat burning metabolism works best when fuelled so,
39. Avoid ”end-loaded nutrition” – undereating in the day, scoffing late at night.
40. Avoid “polar nutrition” – undereating in the week, scoffing at the weekend.
…Have you done your shopping yet?!
Managing your friends, family and colleagues for 4 weeks…
41. Tell your friends and family what you’re up to, you’ll need their support.
42. Even better, get them to do it with you, the more the merrier!
43. Take a tupperware box with your lunch and snacks in with you to work.
44. Get into the habit of preparing your lunch each morning or night before.
45. If you’re offered beige foods, a swift slap will show them you mean business.
46. For the less violent, just say “No”. It works for drugs. It’ll work for beige.
47. If you have kids then avoid the 1000s of calories of leftover food. Bin it.
48. Never underestimate how ‘smidgens’ add up to massive guts.
49. Never say no your Gran’s cake, no waistline is as important as Gran’s cake!
50. Just get back on track after – remember the bit about hurdles along the way?
Fat burning exercise for 4 weeks….
51. Set yourself a goal of completing 140 minutes of aerobic exercise per week.
52. Try 20 minutes a day… 20 x 7 = 140 minutes.
53. Or 35 minutes 4 times a week… 35 x 4 = 140 minutes.
54. Or even 70 minutes twice a week if you feel like a challenge!
55. Don’t beat yourself up if you skip the odd workout, just make up for it.
56. Use your food diary to track your minutes of exercise each day.
57. Use a 1 to 10 scale to find the right intensity – 1 easy, 10 maximum effort.
58. For optimum fat burning, exercise at a 6 to 7 out of 10.
59. No pain no gain is out. You don’t have to hurt, you just have to sweat!
60. Always listen to music during workouts, you’ll burn more and enjoy it more.
Some good fat burning options….
61. If you go to the gym use the treadmill, crosstrainer, bike, rower or stepper.
62. Avoid boredom by mixing up different pieces of equipment.
63. Try 5 mins bike, 5 mins cross trainer, 5 mins rower, 5 mins treadmill, daily.
64. Never underestimate the cumulative benefit of daily 20 minute workouts.
65. Set yourself mini-challenges – how many calories can you burn in 20 mins?
66. If your local gym isn’t for you, try walking, jogging, cycling or swimming.
67. Get your best friend / partner / pet chiwawa to go with you for support.
68. Feeling social? Then try local dance classes or group exercise classes.
69. Move more… take the stairs, walk to the shops, hide the remote.
70. If it gets you out of breath then it counts towards your 140 minutes!
Waist toning exercise for the 4 weeks….
71. Set yourself a goal of 350 sit ups a week for the next 4 weeks.
72. Break it down into 50 situps a day, or 100 sit ups every other day.
73. Remember, if you miss a few days you can always make up for it!
74. The perfect situp is performed at a speed of 2 sec up, 2 sec hold, 2 sec down.
75. Think ‘control’ – If you look like you’re having a fit, you’re doing it wrong.
76. Keep your chin off your chest at all times to prevent strain on the neck.
77. Learn how to engage your ‘core muscles’ for optimum results.
78. If you’re not sure, hire a personal trainer to show you the correct technique.
79. The best time to do them is straight after your aerobic workout.
80. The more you do them the easier they’ll get… so don’t be afraid to do extra!
Some other things that will help the waist shrinking cause….
81. Yoga or Pilates. One class a week will really help you learn ‘core control’.
82. Hula Hooping. All that hip swivelling has to do something, right?!
83. Martial Arts. If Bruce Lee’s waistline is anything to go by.
84. Boxercise. Lose inches, and all your pent up aggression.
85. Horse Riding. A great waistline workout, on and off the horse.
86. Lift weights. It boosts metabolism, which means you’ll burn more fat.
87. Good posture. Stand up tall, draw your tummy in and hold. Forever.
88. Relax more. It reduces corsitol levels, a hormone that increases belly fat.
89. Get more sleep. You’ll feel more awake and crave less beige foods.
90. Drink more water. It helps to reduce appetite and calorie intake.
Staying motivated…
91. Email your food diary to a friend each day.
92. Even better, email your food diary to a skinny friend each day!
93. Write a list of all the good things that come with a slimmer waist.
94. Keep it with you and read it whenever your motivation is flagging.
95. Every morning, visualise how you’ll look and feel with a slimmer waistline.
96. Challenge a friend or colleague to see who can lost the most inches.
97. Even better, challenge your whole office to see who can lost the most inches!
98. Print off this list and keep it by your bed.
99. Every night run through this list to see how you’re doing.
100. If you’re hitting 50 or less, challenge yourself to do better tomorrow!
101. And remember… it’s only for 4 weeks!
And when the 4 weeks is up…
You might not have followed all 101 ways to the letter, but if you’re doing more cardio, more situps, eating more regularly, and cutting down on beige foods… you’ll be amazed by the results!
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