Who doesn’t aspire to look more attractive, and what makes one more desirable than having a fit and toned body? Especially a toned abdomen can add to your physical appearance in so many ways. It will make you look slimmer and ensure that your body is better shaped, both physically and mentally.
Whether you are struggling with obesity or want to lose some pregnancy weight, here is your comprehensive guide to a natural tummy tuck. Later, we will also guide you through abdominoplasty or the procedure you can get done for a simple tummy tuck.
1- Bid farewell to tobacco and alcohol
We know that you cannot go without a tasteful glass of wine every once in a while during dinner, and we won’t stop you from that. However, drinking beer and smoking cigarettes every day can be fatal for your appearance.
Both alcohol and tobacco make you feel relaxed because they prompt your body to release the stress hormone- cortisone. While cortisone gives you momentarily relaxation, it also diverts all your body fat towards your belly, and it gets stored there. So, no matter how much you believe that smoking contributes to keeping you thin, it doesn’t. These habits only ruin your appetite, sleeping schedule, and weight loss plans.
2- Live the life of an optimist
Your body has its self-healing mechanisms. So, whenever you start feeling stressed due to work or other problems, your body starts to release more and more cortisol, which also directs all your fat toward your belly.
To deal with weight gain due to high stress, you can adopt a more positive approach to life. For instance, there is no use fretting about backlog on your desk because, at the end of the day, it is your work to complete. Hence, it is better to work on your projects, looking at them as opportunities to strengthen your work profile. The more you smile through life, the less flab will accumulate around your belly.
If something is troubling you, you can try exercising, meditating, chewing gum, or any other activity to help generate happy hormones in your body.
3- Include calcium in your diet
Osteoporosis is a common, degenerative issue found in individuals who claim to be very active physically but start developing pores in their bones. This is because there is not enough calcium in their body to keep their bones healthy.
Apart from degenerative diseases, if you have weak bones, you can develop a lousy posture, which can also lead to the shortening of your abdominal cavity. And to your utter dismay, this is how muffin tops develop.
Therefore, to save yourself from the troubles caused due to weak bones, consume more dairy and other products, which are good sources of calcium. Remember, moderation is the key as access to calcium can be harmful too. Then again, you can try supplementing calcium with vitamin D.
4- Improve your Posture
It is always better to sit with a straight back if you want to leave a lasting impression. It not only shows that you are more attentive, but a good posture always makes your figure look more taught. Tucking in the tummy whenever possible, will gradually tighten the muscles, and once you become habitual of having a tight stomach, your body will adapt to it.
So, trust your mother when she tells you to sit and stand straight since a staunch posture makes you look 5 pounds thinner within seconds.
5- Potassium is essential too
Often, you are advised to keep bananas out of your regime as they have way too many calories. However, it can actually provide potassium to your body, keeping your tummy from looking puffy. Yes, potassium is great for making the body look more toned.
Apart from bananas, other potassium sources include spinach, white beans, dates, and baked potatoes without the skin.
We are not asking you to base an entire meal a day upon this potassium-rich food, just make sure that you do not eliminate them from your diet due to the fear of calories.
6- Avoid starving yourself
Many individuals believe that the less they are going to eat, the more weight they will lose. Frankly, this is a failed logic because the body needs food to function, and you need food to feel good all day long. No one can adopt a positive approach towards empty-stomached easily.
So, what you can do to lose weight is to substantially reduce the consumption of junk food, substitute the scoop of ice cream for dessert with fruit, and not substitute water with sugary drinks. Staying hydrated will ease the excretion process as well.
Another big NO should be sugar-free foods that contain artificial sweeteners like sorbitol and mannitol. They can cause acidity in your intestine, causing you to bloat, and there are no prizes for guessing that a bloated tummy doesn’t look toned.
7- Include more fiber in your diet
The more you include whole grains, fruits, and green and leafy vegetables in your diet, the better your digestive system functions. They are filling so your stomach will feel full faster to save you from overeating, which leaves you bloated. Consumption of more fiber also paces up the digestion process so that the entire waste is released from your body faster, allowing your tummy to settle in.
Some superfoods like almonds and soymilk are rich in fiber, proteins, and antioxidants, keeping your tummy full for longer. Once you do not feel hungry, your body will have time to heal itself and get rid of fat.
8- Stay hydrated
Drinking water is as important for your hair and skin as your gut health. It helps you deal with pre-menstrual bloating and cramps. When there is a shortage of water in the body, its immediate reaction is the retention of water, which can lead to dryness.
If you stay hydrated by drinking more water, the body keeps on cleansing itself in the form of sweat and other functions. The more your body gets cleansed, the fewer toxins reside in you.
9- You can lift weights too
Often, women believe that weights are masculine tools of exercise, and if they take them up, they will develop a bulky build. However, you did not know that developing a bulky body requires rigorous working out with weights and a dedicated diet. Hence, you should take weights to increase the intensity of your workout at least once or twice a week.
10- Experiment with various forms of exercises
Pilates, yoga and dancing are a few forms of working out that have been around and appreciated for centuries. They allow you to have fun as you lose weight and advance towards a toned tummy.
For those who are doubting whether these forms of exercising will be as beneficial as your good-old workout – yes, dancing to the beat of the music makes the workout more fun and equally effective. Plus, when you have fun doing something, you do it better.
11- Pick up a sport
Now that you know that dance can help you lose those extra pounds too, then discover other fun forms of exercising too – sports. You can pick up any from aerobics, kickboxing, golf, tennis, or squash. All of them are designed to facilitate intense bodily movement, providing you with the much-needed cardio for burning all the stubborn fat.
The more fat you burn, the earlier you will be able to get rid of your love handles or the oblique muscles, making a lot of difference.
12- Swim your way through a better body
Swimming is an incredible workout for those who want to get rid of the extra pounds but cannot have their workout any other way. There are even exercises that involve weight-lifting and cardio in water, making them all the more challenging. Apart from these crawl strokes and butterfly strokes, give your abs the tightening they need.
Professional swimmers swear by some underwater swimming to tighten their abs because abs play an important role in keeping them breathing, and ultimately getting toned.
13- Substitute exercising with chores
If you have your hands full with your career and home, you should inculcate some exercises in your daily routine. For instance, you can use a heavy vacuum cleaner that you have to push around to clean as you tone your abs. Or get a broom and start sweeping in a sideways motion. The more you take up physically challenging tasks in your house, the better your chances of losing all the tummy fat.
14- Gardening helps burn calories too
Not only is gardening the most mindful activity that allows you to reap the fruits of your efforts quite literally, but it can also help you get a better gut too. Kneeling to remove weeds, lifting heavy mud pots, bending to make pits, and more such activities in the garden turn out to be great abdominal workouts.
Kneeling and bending strengthen your core and legs. Since you are in your garden and not in a gym, it seems easier to push your body to do more repeats of the same routine.
15- Yogurt has got your back
One of the major accomplices of a toned tummy is a healthy gut. The more you are invested in keeping your system clean, the less you will be prone to feeling bloated even on the worst of days. For this, you can rely upon yogurt, which is loaded with good bacteria that help break down food in your stomach.
Now that you have discovered how you can get a toned tummy in all-natural ways, there is no reason why you should not give each one of them a fair shot. However, if you find it difficult to lose weight and tighten your abs with the help of the above techniques, you can opt for a tummy tuck.
Abdominoplasty for toned abs
Cosmetic procedures are always frowned upon by society because of their potential to go wrong and lead to deformities. But procedures, when done under the care of experienced professionals with the utmost precautions, can reap excellent results in little time. Tummy tuck or abdominoplasty is one such procedure that is completely safe and results in a flawless abdominal region once the patient is healed.
A tummy tuck is used to flatten the abdominal fat by removing the extra fat and skin from the region, leaving you with a tight abdominal wall. It should not be confused with liposuction, which can be an add-on surgery to a tummy tuck.
Even though the purpose of a tummy tuck is to flatten the tummy, it is a major surgery that requires at least a year to show its effects. So, opt for the procedure only if you can dedicate as much time to healing. Apart from that, any healthy man or woman can go for tummy tuck surgery.
Mostly, the women who have had several pregnancies and are struggling to get back in shape; and others who were once obese but are now struggling with masses of fat and loose muscles around their belly opt for an abdominoplasty.
It can also be an additional procedure for patients with ventral hernia as it tightens the muscular deformity created on the abdomen.
A tummy tuck may not be ideal for women who are planning to have babies in the future, and individuals who want to lose a lot of weight.
Conclusion
In the end, getting a toned abdomen is not a far-fetched dream if you work for it by following the above tips and more. The more you follow a healthier diet and workout regime, the better will be your progress.
As for a tummy tuck, you can opt for one due to medical or cosmetic reasons. Just make sure that you are ready to devote the time and resources that the procedure involves. Go through all the concerns of the patients who have previously gone under the knife for the surgery and learn from their experiences to avoid mistakes at the time of recovery.
