flabby stomach..

Hi navigator,

Stomach flab is oftentimes the first area to collect unwanted pounds, and fortunately, it's pretty easy to lose. Walking isn't the answer but neither is a ton of ab exercise reps.

Ask your friend to describe his diet. If it's full of processed foods (particularly pastries) and other 'white' foods likes potatoes, pastas, breads, cereals, rice, and full fat dairy then his answer is simple - get rid of the white. He should be able to drop 10 - 20 lbs in flab by replacing white processed foods with complex carbohydrates like whole grain breads, brown rice, beans and other legumes. Add in a bunch of fresh fruits and veggies with quality proteins such as fish, chicken (not fried), lean pork and beef. If he's a beer drinker, he should consider switching to wine. It's good for the heart and doesn't have the sugary carbs that beer has. Note: this is NOT a low-carb diet, it's a quality carb diet such as described by the South Beach plan or the low Glycemic Index plans.

Once he has his diet under control he should consider adding an exercise plan. The diet alone will help him lose fat, but the loss is magnified when you build muscle at the same time. There are a number of ways to build muscle, but walking isn't one of them. He can get some good cardiac training by walking, running, bicycling, playing basketball or volleyball, etc. but to build muscle he will need to add some strength training. Weights (machine or dumb bell) or resistance bands provide a good mechanism for strength training. Two good books for exercise plans that work for reducing stomach flab are "The Abs Diet" by David Zinczenko, editor-in-chief of "Men's Health" magazine and "8 Minutes in the Morning" by Jorge Cruise. They both have simple, quick, daily strength training routines that target different muscle groups each day. They both have quality carb food plans as well, but the exercise plans are the best parts.

Belly fat comes from eating simple sugars, primarily from processed foods. Simple diet changes can prevent the addition of more belly fat, begin to burn the fat that's there. Walking or other cardiac exercise can burn more calories and more belly fat, but to really get rid of it, he will need to add strength training (including ab exercises once or twice per week). The muscles can become as tight and firm as before, he just has to work at it, which usually means he has to really want it.

It is a real simple formula... but not a quick fix.

Calories in should not exceed calories used.

Eat less. Exercise more.

There is no such thing as spot reduction... in other words doing stomach exercise does not target stomach fat. What it does is increases the amount of calories your body uses and therefore reduces the amount of fat everywhere.

Forget pills and get thin quick scemes... they don't work.