FYI- situps and crunches will not tone up your stomach. We all start out with a six pack, it is just covered by body fat. A tight stomach is a result of losing body fat, i.e. cardio and careful diet (not necessarily caloric restriction, for a LOT of six-packers it involves eating protein, protein and more protein!). You will lose the tummy when you lose weight overall, point blank.
When you lose 10 pounds in two weeks most of that is water. You would gain it back the minute you went off the diet.
Also, the Slim Fast diet is really a waste of your money and can end up being unhealthy. If you want to lose weight and keep it off you have to modify your diet in ways that you can maintain. You have to be willing to change the way you eat permanently, not just have shakes for a month or two. It doesn't have to be Atkins, it can just be about eating healthy. The Slim Fast shakes are really low in protein and incredibly high in sugar. I know plenty of people who started the SLim Fast diet but none who kept weight off on it and most of them had digestive problems while they were on it! A better website that can be of use to those losing weight is
www.fitday.com - they aren't trying to sell you any nasty, sugar-filled shakes, they just help you keep track of what you eat, your goals, and how you are doing in general.
Instead of wasting your money on a 2.00 shake, eat more whole-grain foods (less white rice and processed junk, more brown rice, whole grain wheat bread), healthier forms of protein (white meat chicken and fish) and fruits and vegetables. That's the only way to really go about losing weight in a healthy way and KEEP IT OFF.
The BEST way to lose weight in my experience (and I lost a good deal of weight two years ago and have kept it off) is to exercise. Walking is a good place to start, but you really want to concentrate on building muscle (which will cause your metabolism to increase since it burns faaaaaar more calories than fat and since most conventional diets result in a LOSS of muscle, which is why people who go off diets gain all the weight back- they lowered the amount of muscle they have and the amount of calories they burned on a daily basis).
I am NOT trying to pretend that it is easy. Losing weight can be anything but! Unfortunately, there are no quick answers. The only way it can be done healthfully and PERMANENTLY is NOT a quick one nor is it an easy one.
It DOES happen to be a cheap one though!
I know that people will end up doing what they want to do regardless of how many times you tell them what a good/healthy way is, but I just wanted to share.
good luck!
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Originally posted by DZTUBAGIRL
I also tried the atkins diet. It was not for me! I love bread and fruit too much. Now I am on slim fast and I have lost 10 pounds in 2 weeks. That might not be much but I feel much better about myself. I am also walking an hour each night and doing ab crunches to get rid of the belly. Slim fast has a great web page that helps you keep track of your weight, food you eat and your exercise program. It helps to keep track of what you eat. You don't realize how many calories you eat until you try to stay under 1200 a day.
Good luck with finding the right diet for you!
Anne Marie
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