Day 5 of Week 3 How I Create My Abdominal Plan

Weight today: lost 1/2 pound

Total lost: 7 1/2 pounds in 18 days

1/2 cup of oatmeal: 150
2 tsp of sugar: 30
1/3 cup of skim milk: 30
total: 210

vanilla powder protein shake: 110
4 oz banana:100
total: 210
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running total: 420

coffee with 1 tbl of powdered creamer: 30
with sweet-n-low
total: 450

2 lefse:60
1 jumbo egg:90
1 jumbo egg white:17
1 tbl of mozzarella cheese: 20
1/2 oz of diced summer sausage: 50
Natural Oven Bakery Bread 1 slice: 120
1 tsp of Smart Balance light butter: 15
1 tsp of sugar (on toast): 15
total: 427
coffee with 1 tbl of powdered creamer: 30
also with sweet-n-low:0
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running total: 907

vanilla protein shake: 110

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running total: 1,017

6 1/2 oz of boiled, cubed potatoes: 143

1tsp of Smart Balance light butter: 15

3 oz grilled chicken: 105

1 tsp of Bacon Ranch dressing:23

coffee with 1 tb of creamer: 30

total: 316

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running total: 1333

recreational drink:) 150 (est)

bite of brat with bun: 40

total: 190

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total: 1523

Fitness: ran 35 minutes in the trails with high school girls...didn't get lost or trip and fall this time. That's about 3 -4 miles.
Also did abdominals

Today's challenge: Drinking lots of water

Note on picture: These are my tacos from last night's meal. 1 hard shell taco: 50, 1 low-carb, wheat taco: 50, over 1/3 cup of 95-98% lean cheese taco meat with sauce: 130, 1 oz of mozzarella cheese:80, 2tsp of light sour cream:14, 3 small olive:20, tomatoes:5, lettuce:5 total: 343

How I Create My Abdominal Plan

Sit-ups are a bride's best friend.

You can bring your entire stomach and waist in by inches, not lose a single pound, but bring in your waist simply by doing sit-ups.

Here's my official wedding dress story. We went to the bridal shop, I picked out my dress... horror of horror's I measured in at a size 12. (I think these wedding dress people inflate their sizes). Well...there was no way, Sunshine Mama was going to get married in a size 12. So, I ordered a size 10.

When the dress arrived...I tried it on and it would not zip up in back. In fact, the zipper was a full two inches apart from top to bottom. I had to somehow lose two inches to zip that sucker up. I refused to have things "let out" because in my mind that might destroy the integrity of the dress.

I can't recall how many weeks I had till the wedding maybe 5 or 6. Even though I tried dieting, I didn't lose weight, most likely because I was too stressed out to stick to anything.

So, I did sit-ups. Every day. Twice a day. Once in the morning. And all over again before I went to bed.

When it came time for the final fitting, I hadn't lost a pound. But ya know what? That dress completely zipped up in back.

Sit-ups work. I used to do them every day. Now I do them three times a week. I 've heard different philosophies about how many times a week to do them, all the way to which way is the best way to do them.

Me? I try to keep it simple. I don't use a ball, though, my abs might look better if I did. There are four types of sit-ups I do. I do 15 sit-ups, three times for each type of sit-up.

If I'm really out of shape, I might start with only doing two sets of 15 sit-ups versus the three sets until I can work up to the three full sets.

The first sit-up is your basic crunch where you lay down on your back, and focus on squeezing your center abdominal muscles to bring your head half-way up. I don't fold my hands behind my head, rather I extend them up in the air like I'm reaching for the sky. This also helps you focus on moving your abs upward. (1st pict.)

The second type of abdominals helps sculpt your waist and thus focuses on the abdominal muscles along your side. You lay down, I start by bending my right leg and then crossing my left leg over my bent knee. Then, you place your elbows behind your head and focus on your side abdominal muscles as you sit up and aim to touch your right elbow to your left knee. I like to do these with slow controlled movements so as to work those muscles to their maximum. I do 15 repetitions on one side and then switch my legs to do another set of 15 repetitions on my other side. Doing the right and left side counts as one repetition. (2nd pict)

The third exercise focuses again on my central abdominal muscles. I raise both legs straight upward. Then, I simply focus on using my abs to pull myself up until my hands can reach my toes or as close to my toes as possible. (3rd pict)

The final exercise focuses on my lower abs which is great for really bringing in your belly and strengthening your torso or the abdominal muscles that attach to lower body. These tend to be harder, but you want to make sure you do every single one of them with as much intensity and calm control as you can muster.

You lay down. Place both hands behind your lower back just above your butt. By then your back may be partially raised. Your hands are in this position to help steady yourself. Then, you simply concentrate on raising both feet simultaneously into the air, with toes pointed skyward. Slowly lift your feet about six inches off the ground and then lower them back down, but don't touch the ground. Let them hover about one inch off the floor. (4th pict.)

You don't want to raise them too high or touch the ground because you want to keep the tension where it's working your muscle the most. Also, if it seems like your legs are being worked too, they are, but that's why it's important to focus on those lower abdominal muscles.

Well, I hope this helps you with your abdominal program.

These photos, which are the ab exercises in the order that I have listed them in my article, are with my 14-year-old helper, Darling Rose.