5 ways to MAINTAIN a flat tummy

Studies show that women who achieve less than 6 hours sleep per night are more likely to be affected by an increase in cortisol which can lead to storage of belly fat and block your path to maintaining a flat stomach. As your baby sleeps, pop your head on a pillow a little more often than jumping into that housework.

2. Burn calories with aerobic exercise 

By simply adding an extra 5 minutes of cardiovascular activity to your workouts (either before or after) this can assist with fat burning and help to maintain your flat stomach.

In addition, interval workouts such as HIIT or Tabata provide the necessary intensity and rest periods to increase your fat-burning potential.

You can access our awesome Tabata workouts plus many many more when you join our 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge!

3. Engage in compound exercises 

Especially those that deeply engage the core like Pilates, and those that specifically target the deep transverse abdominus and obliques such as V lifts, bridge and leg raise exercises.

Although spot training is a thing of the past, building muscle and maintaining strength in your abdominal muscles is a must for maintaining a toned, trim tummy.

There are a range of exercises that include engaging the core as well as Pilates on the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge App. 

4. Check your caloric expenditure 

Following hard work to reap the rewards of your new body, it can be too easy to increase your daily intake of less than optimal foods. Ensure your caloric intake and expenditure is balanced, making sure you don’t consume more calories than you burn each day.

Choose foods that are going to feed your flat tummy as opposed to store fat. Choosing low GI foods such as leaner meats, more green and coloured vegetables, beans and a variety of fruits may help you along this path.

You can work out how many calories you should be consuming each day through our 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge App.

5. Engage in outdoor activity 

Regular outdoor activity can not only help to decrease stress and the hormones that come with it, but may also improve your body’s fat burning potential and help to keep your tummy flat. At least twice per week, engage in an activity outdoors that gets your heart rate up for 20 minutes or more.

Breathe deeply, connect with nature and know you are helping your body to move you faster through plateaus and give you an extra fat burning boost.

Walking, playing tennis, throwing ball with the kids, swimming or taking an easy interval based jog could be just the added outdoor activity your body needs to feel good and maintain your flat tummy.

Maintaining a toned tummy can mean even more than just feeling fit and healthy. A strong and powerful core can help you to move to the next level of your fitness regime, improve your inner and outer health and avoid injury.

Adding just 2-3 of these tips into your regime each week can help you maintain a flat tummy and continue building a strong and toned core.

Stephanie’s amazing 3.4st weight loss journey